Satyam Scam

The financial fraud perpetrated by the founders of Satyam Computer Services was executed through a well-planned accounting system that used as many as 7,561 fraudulent invoices worth Rs 5,117 crore to inflate the company's sales, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) alleged on Monday.

To perpetrate the fraud, the accused also created an identity and code that not only bypassed all other accounting systems, but also managed to hide the fraudulent invoices from other departments, the premier investigating agency said.

"Investigations revealed that the accused have already entered 6,603 out of these false and fabricated invoices amounting to Rs.4,746 crore into their books of accounts thereby inflating the revenues of the company to this tune," said the CBI in a statement.

The CBI came to the conclusion using cyber forensic techniques to unearth the alleged Rs 7,000 crore scam that is alleged to have been perpetrated by group's founder B Ramalinga Raju and his associates.

The accused had used an emergency option of feeding invoices directly to the company's inventory management software, which in normal circumstances would be routed and validated through several software systems.

Simultaneously, the scamsters generated a new identification code called "Super User", that enabled them to hide or "unhide" invoices created in the company's Invoice Management System, thereby making the fraudulent invoices invisible to other departments.

"The amounts pertaining to these false and fabricated invoices were shown as receivables in the books of accounts of Satyam, thereby inflating the revenues of the company," the statement said.

The agency also identified the computer server used for storing the "incriminating data" resulting in the identification of the perpetrators of the fraud, unearthing the quantum of the fraud, and the modus operandi used by the accused.

Meanwhile, the trial court rejected the bail application of the Raju brothers and former chief financial officer V Srinivas on April 25 and gave CBI the permission to conduct further investigation into acquisition of assets by the accused and diversion of funds.

Chennai Passport Fraud

The CBI arrested Chennai's Regional Passport officer Sumathi Ravichandran on corruption charges. She has been accused for delivering tatkal passports for Rs,13,000, which is nine times more than the actual cost.

Sumathi has been arrested under the charges of Criminal conspiracy and Prevention of Corruption Act.

The CBI also recovered Rs five lakh from Sumathi's car. Sumati allegedly had a deal with Fathima, a travel agent and daughter of former MLA Abdul Samad to share the money.



Sumathi’s husband Ravichandran too has been arrested by the CBI. He stands accused of running a 'parallel passport office'.

The investigations began after a FACT India employee, Lakshmanan complained to the CBI about the travel agent.

Subsequently a CBI judge remanded both women to judicial custody until May 8.

Akkriti - Another Schood Mishap

Modern School Vasant Vihar in the Capital will remain closed for two days following outrage over its student Akkriti's death. The student had allegedly suffered an asthma attack in school.

The National Commission for Child Rights has ordered an inquiry following allegations of negligence by school authorities.

The decision to close the school was taken after students and parents protested against the school authorities on Thursday. The protests turned ugly when they surrounded the school Principal, Goldy Malhotra, and accused her of negligence and callous attitude.

Akkriti's parents had alleged that she was not provided adequate medical aid by the school.

Anguished parents and screaming students took on the school authorities alleging that Akkriti would have survived if they had rushed her to the hospital.

Parents and students outraged, blame school. Akkriti's parents, who are still in a state of shock, squarely blamed the Principal for their daughter’s death.

“Goldy Malhotra killed my daughter. She should be charged for murder,” Akkriti's father Vipin Bhatia said.

While Akkriti's mother Vani Bhatia said the school had a moral duty to give her daughter oxygen and call an ambulance.

The Delhi government has also ordered a probe into the death.

School’s version

According to the school, the Commerce student complained of breathing trouble at 1020 hrs IST on Tuesday morning; she was attending class at the time.

She was reportedly given first-aid in school and taken to Holy Angels Hospital, Basant Lok, where doctors declared her dead on arrival. Akkriti reportedly suffered from asthma.

While school authorities said the school nurse gave Bhatia oxygen and then took her to hospital, her father Vipin Bhatia alleged, "They waited till we sent a car to take her to the hospital; that's why she died. They had asked her to go to the second floor for permission to go home, and then asked her to go to the sports teachers' room. All this running around aggravated her problem."

However, Goldy Malhotra denied there was any delay on their part. She blamed the family for the delay in taking her to hospital.

"She was given oxygen and then she said she felt much better. The teacher told her she won't be taken to her home because she needed medical help. Then she was taken into the car and she was made to speak to her mother through the driver's phone. Mrs Kutty (the teacher who accompanied her to the hospital) also told her mother to come along because it's an emergency situation. Sometime between then and before she was taken into the hospital, she collapsed," the Principal stated.

The Managing trustee of Modern School, Ashok Pratap Singh said, "This was a very unfortunate incident. I am going to make sure an investigation is conducted."

RISAT

The Indian Space Research Organization successfully launched a revolutionary spy satellite that will help security agencies monitor the hundreds of mountain valleys that connect India with Pakistan and terrorist hideouts in Afghanistan further north.

The PSLV-C12, carrying the 300-kg spy satellite Radar Imaging Satellite (RISAT-2) and the 40-kg Micro Satellite ANUSAT lifted off from ISRO's Satish Dhawan space Centre.

At the end of a 48-hour countdown, the 44-meter tall four-stage PSLV-C12 blasted off from the second launch pad with the ignition of the core first stage.

The Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle, weighing 230 tonnes at the time of launch, soared into a clear sky at 0645 hrs IST from the spaceport, about 90 km north of Chennai.

This is the 15th flight of ISRO's workhorse PSLV, which had launched 30 satellites (14 for India and 16 for foreign countries) into a variety of orbits since 1993.

While the RISAT-2 has an all weather capability to take images of Earth, ANUSAT is the first student-made satellite built by an Indian University to demonstrate the technologies related to message store and forward operations.

What’s RISAT?

Designed by the Israeli Aerospace Industries, RISAT can take images through the thickest cloud cover, rain, snow or fog conditions during night and day.

While the RISAT will be used extensively for purposes like mapping, managing natural disasters and surveying the seas, it can also see through camouflage like cloth or foliage used to conceal camps or vehicles.

RISAT will enable India to keep a watch on terror camps, military installations across boundaries, missile sites and suchlike.



However, RISAT is not India's first spy satellite. The Technology Experiment Satellite has been used for photo-reconnaissance since 2001.

But unlike previous remote sensing satellites, RISAT is the first with a synthetic aperture radar, which gives it a day-night, all-weather snooping capability




It should also help keep track of ships at sea that could pose a threat.

The RISAT will reduce India's dependence on foreign suppliers like Ikonos for satellite imagery. But many more gaps need to be plugged. Despite the desperate need, India is still awaiting a dedicated military satellite.

Reason of Satyam Decline....

Fraud-hit Satyam Computer Services Ltd may have up to 10 percent excess staff, a local newspaper reported on Saturday, quoting the head of the company's government-appointed board.

Kiran Karnik told the Economic Times that 3,000 to 5,000 staff were in excess, over and above the normal 'bench' maintained at outsourcing firms.

The 'bench' refers to staff not working on any projects and is normally 10 percent of the total workforce that is usually maintained for readiness to take on new projects.

Satyam Computer was taken over by mid-sized outsourcer Tech Mahindra Ltd this week after it bid the highest for a controlling stake in the company.

Three months ago, Satyam's founder and chairman shocked investors by saying profits had been overstated for years, putting in doubt the survival of a company once ranked as India's fourth-largest software services exporter.

Economic Times said Karnik ruled out any government intervention to protect employees.

"It is for the board to decide and that will be Tech Mahindra," Karnik was quoted as having said. "... we (the government-appointed board) are in transition mode and we should be out soon."

MNC Salaries

Sachin's Wax Statue

Ten Rupee Coins...

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has issued a new coin for the denomination of Rupees ten. The new coin has been based on the theme of 'Unity in Diversity'.

It has an outer ring metal composition. It’s bi-metallic or simply put, made up two metals.

The face of the coin is divided into three portions. The central portion bears the "Lion Capitol" of Ashoka Pillar.

RBI says the new coin is a stylised representation of "Unity in Diversity", a defining characteristic of India.

Mahindra Wins Satyam's Bid

Tech Mahindra, the IT arm of auto major Mahindra and Mahindra, Monday won the bid for India's fourth largest software exporter Satyam Computer.

Satyam's new board of directors, which met to select the highest bidder, chose Tech Mahindra following its bid of Rs 1,757 crore for 31 per cent stake in the scam-tainted IT giant.

Tech Mahindra offered Rs 58 for each Satyam share.

The board will now have to inform the Company Law Board (CLB) of its selection. The CLB will will announce its approval, within a week. The new owner will take over the management only after CLB's nod.

Engineering major Larsen and Toubro (L&T) and private-equity firm WL Ross were among the other major contenders for the Hyderabad-headquartered Satyam.

Winning bid lifts Tech Mahindra, Satyam shares
Is Tech Mahindra best Satyam suitor? Experts react
L&T already holds 12.04 per cent stake in Satyam.

The six-member Satyam board is headed by Kiran Karnik, former president of the National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM) that represents the software industry.

Besides Karnik, the board comprises HDFC chairman Deepak Parekh, former Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) member C Achuthan and Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) mentor Tarun Das.

Karnik said, "This is the culmination of what we have been through. The final steps are now just about to be taken and I have very happy that at this stage Satyam is with a new investor. It has been a great company which was driven off-course. We as a board tried to put the fire and get it on course and I am please to say it has got it there now. There is new captain on board and he can take it forward as it deserves to be taken forward."

Welcoming the sale of 51 per cent stake in Satyam to Tech Mahindra, Director General CII, Chandrajit Banerjee said, “Tech Mahindra, a Rs 3,800 crores company is a competent IT services provider. This would help Satyam come back to its zenith. The takeover by Tech Mahindra would also immensely help Satyam regain its shareholder value and would also benefit its employees and customers.”

Tech Mahindra, which agreed to acquire a controlling stake in Satyam Computer Services, admitted the crisis-ridden IT firm's liabilities would add to the challenges usually associated with an acquisition.

"We have taken on a challenge and we will make it work," Mahindra and Mahindra Group Vice-Chairman and Managing Director Anand Mahindra told reporters after being selected as the highest bidder for the Hyderabad-based IT firm.

Mahindra said merger and acquisition decisions were taken in the best interest of shareholders. "We will try to make it as less painful as possible," he added.

Tech Mahindra Vice-Chairman, Managing Director and Chief Executive Vineet Nayyar also admitted that the ride is not going to be smooth.

"Satyam's revenues have dipped from $1.8 billion to $1.5 billion and may come down to $1.3 billion in the next quarter," Nayyar said.

"Liabilities are there in terms of Upaid and the class action suits," he said, referring to the UK-based mobile payment operator that filed a case accusing Satyam of forgery.

"We had, however, made a fair assessment of what these liabilities would translate into. Let's hope we were right," Nayyar added.

Satyam faces the threat of paying up to $1 billion as damages to Upaid. Apart from this, a dozen-odd class action suits have been filed against it in the US.

But Chairman of Satyam's reconstituted board Kiran Karnik is optimistic.




"Satyam is a fundamentally sound company with an impressive client roster and committed employees," Karnik said at a separate media briefing.

Satyam's reconstituted board has gone all out to get some clarity on its books of accounts, which were cooked by co-founder B Ramalinga Raju over several years.

According to a company statement, Satyam's revenue stands at Rs 650 crore per month, while its operating profit is between Rs 15-20 crore per month.

The Hyderabad-based major also has immovable assets in terms of 450 acres of land, of which 125 acres are in Hyderabad alone that is house to its campuses.

The total valuation of the 125 acres is around Rs 1,700 crore.

"We are trying to get the accounts restated for the past five years starting from last quarter of 2008-09. It will take a few more months," added HDFC Chairman and a Satyam board member Deepak Parekh.

Funny Image of the Month

Advani Manmohan India...What is this ??

Attacking Advani for repeatedly calling him a weak prime minister, Manmohan Singh retorted: "I am not used to abusive language. That is the culture inherited from parents, from teachers and the concept of what Indianness is."

"Using harsh language does not solve any problem and accentuates conflict," he said in his interaction with members of the Indian Women's Press Corps.

"Kamzor ya strong judge karne ke liye zor zor se baatein karne se nahin hota (By merely talking loudly one does not become strong or weak) ," he said.

Alluding to Advani's challenge to him for a American-style nationally televised debate, Manmohan Singh said that I can't match "Advaniji in public speaking or asserting things.

"I am not a good speaker, but I take decisions.

"I believe that the proof of the pudding is in the eating. What is the record of Advani?," he asked.




"The BJP has not allowed Parliament to function. The BJP shied away from all these discussions and now Advani wants to come and debate with me. And I don't want to give him the privilege that he is an alternative prime minister," he said.

Singh also took on Advani for taunting him for not contesting Lok Sabha polls. "There have been PMs from Rajya Sabha. Advani has to amend the constitution to ensure that his wishes prevail. Indira Gandhi had been one for one and half years, H D Deve Gowda, I K Gujral too," he replied when asked whether he was planning to contest Lok Sabha polls.

Book Tata Nano Online !!

Tata Motors is offering what insiders say is another first in the Indian automobile industry - online booking.

Along with retailing co-branded Nano merchandise such as watches, T-shirts and phones on the Internet, the dedicated website for the 'people's car' set up by the $62.5-billion group has a detailed section for applying for the car online, with a secure payments gateway.

Applications will be accepted during April 9-25.

"The Tatas have certainly devised a futuristic way of doing business," said auto expert and commentator Tutu Dhawan, who anticipates a good response for online booking, going by the initial response for the car.

"When almost everything today is available online, why not a car?" Dhawan told IANS, adding, "It is also time buyers are offered the ease and convenience of booking vehicles online."

Agrees Avinash Kalla, a Jaipur-based journalist, who is happy that the ease of booking the car through a few mouse clicks will save him time - and, of course, the trouble of queuing up for an application form.

For online booking, Tata Motors has a discount - Rs.200 per form, instead of Rs.300 for their printed counterparts, available at State Bank of India, as also Westwide apparel stores, Croma appliances chain and Titan watch showrooms, all promoted by the group.

"With a virtual showroom available online, packed with specs and an innovative feature that allows you to see your car online after choosing from a range of accessories, online booking was only logical," said Kalla.

"It will save me a lot of time," said the 30-year-old journalist, who hopes to graduate to a car soon, preferably the affordable Nano, from a motorcycle.

Tata Motors has also arranged for online financing for Nano with 15 non-banking finance companies and banks. This option requires customers to pay just Rs.2,999 as the booking fee, as opposed to nearly 75 percent of the price for the self-financed option.

"The availability of online booking will boost the numbers for Tata Motors significantly with quite a lot people having access to the Internet in both the urban and rural areas," said Arun Krishnan, an automotive industry expert with consultancy KPMG.

"It is a good innovation on the part of Tata Motors. This will ensure that the number of bookings easily surpasses the designated allotments in the first phase."

Tata Motors is expected to gross in excess of Rs.950 crore ($180 million) if a conservative estimate of 300,000 potential customers is taken into account, as opposed to 100,000 cars earmarked for sale in the first phase.

"A surge in interest is seen when there is a breakthrough product like the Nano. Usually, the bookings for a particular car are five-six times the supply," said Krishnan.

Those who have visited the Nano website say that it opens pretty fast, though it crashed a few times soon after the commercial launch. So worries remain on how well it will handle the web traffic once the booking starts.

Nehru Image Damaged in London !!

A statue of former prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru outside India House in London was allegedly disfigured by vandals.

The damage was discovered by authorities on Friday morning.

The remains of the statue were found wrapped in a white sheet, according to the authorities.

However, it is still not known who was behind this attack despite CCTV cameras installed at the site.

The CCTV cameras, which were trained on the statue, were apparently turned skywards by the culprits.

India's High Commissioner to United Kingdom, Shiv Shankar Mukherjee has said the police are investigating the matter.

CNN-IBN Correspondent Akanksha Banerji reports: "The High Commission was besieged on Thursday by Tamil protesters as they were upset with India's support to the Sri Lankan government in the ongoing war against the LTTE. Scotland Yard is investigating the incident. The Indian High Commission has not commented on who it thinks might have been responsible. CCTV cameras installed at the site were turned away from the statue."

Restrictions imposed by Taliban on women in Afghanistan

Taliban restrictions and mistreatment of women include the:

1- Complete ban on women's work outside the home, which also applies to female teachers, engineers and most professionals. Only a few female doctors and nurses are allowed to work in some hospitals in Kabul.

2- Complete ban on women's activity outside the home unless accompanied by a mahram (close male relative such as a father, brother or husband).

3- Ban on women dealing with male shopkeepers.

4- Ban on women being treated by male doctors.

5- Ban on women studying at schools, universities or any other educational institution. (Taliban have converted girls' schools into religious seminaries.)

6- Requirement that women wear a long veil (Burqa), which covers them from head to toe.

7- Whipping, beating and verbal abuse of women not clothed in accordance with Taliban rules, or of women unaccompanied by a mahram.

8- Whipping of women in public for having non-covered ankles.

9- Public stoning of women accused of having sex outside marriage. (A number of lovers are stoned to death under this rule).

10- Ban on the use of cosmetics. (Many women with painted nails have had fingers cut off).

11- Ban on women talking or shaking hands with non-mahram males.

12- Ban on women laughing loudly. (No stranger should hear a woman's voice).

13- Ban on women wearing high heel shoes, which would produce sound while walking. (A man must not hear a woman's footsteps.)

14- Ban on women riding in a taxi without a mahram.

15- Ban on women's presence in radio, television or public gatherings of any kind.

16- Ban on women playing sports or entering a sport center or club.

17- Ban on women riding bicycles or motorcycles, even with their mahrams.

18- Ban on women's wearing brightly colored clothes. In Taliban terms, these are "sexually attracting colors."

19- Ban on women gathering for festive occasions such as the Eids, or for any recreational purpose.

20- Ban on women washing clothes next to rivers or in a public place.

21- Modification of all place names including the word "women." For example, "women's garden" has been renamed "spring garden".

22- Ban on women appearing on the balconies of their apartments or houses.

23- Compulsory painting of all windows, so women can not be seen from outside their homes.

24- Ban on male tailors taking women's measurements or sewing women's clothes.

25- Ban on female public baths.

26- Ban on males and females traveling on the same bus. Public buses have now been designated "males only" (or "females only").

27- Ban on flared (wide) pant-legs, even under a burqa.

28- Ban on the photographing or filming of women.

29- Ban on women's pictures printed in newspapers and books, or hung on the walls of houses and shops.

Apart from the above restrictions on women, the Taliban has:

- Banned listening to music, not only for women but men as well.

- Banned the watching of movies, television and videos, for everyone.

- Banned celebrating the traditional new year (Nowroz) on March 21. The Taliban has proclaimed the holiday un-Islamic.

- Disavowed Labor Day (May 1st), because it is deemed a "communist" holiday.

- Ordered that all people with non-Islamic names change them to Islamic ones.

- Forced haircuts upon Afghan youth.

- Ordered that men wear Islamic clothes and a cap.

- Ordered that men not shave or trim their beards, which should grow long enough to protrude from a fist clasped at the point of the chin.

- Ordered that all people attend prayers in mosques five times daily.

- Banned the keeping of pigeons and playing with the birds, describing it as un-Islamic. The violators will be imprisoned and the birds shall be killed. The kite flying has also been stopped.

- Ordered all onlookers, while encouraging the sportsmen, to chant Allah-o-Akbar (God is great) and refrain from clapping.

- Ban on certain games including kite flying which is "un-Islamic" according to Taliban.

- Anyone who carries objectionable literature will be executed.

- Anyone who converts from Islam to any other religion will be executed.

- All boy students must wear turbans. They say "No turban, no education".

- Non-Muslim minorities must distinct badge or stitch a yellow cloth onto their dress to be differentiated from the majority Muslim population. Just like what did Nazis with Jews.

- Banned the use of the internet by both ordinary Afghans and foreigners.

And so on...






Many of the anti-women rules that Taliban practiced were first of all the rules formulated and practiced by Rabbani-Massoud government after they came to power in 1992, but no one talk about them and it is painful that today even they are called the champaions of women's rights!!

ON November 8, 1994 the UN Secretary-General presented the interim report on the situation of human rights in Afghanistan prepared by Mr. Felix Ermacora, Special Rapporteur of the Commission on Human Rights, in accordance with Commission on Human Rights resolution 1994/84 of 9 March 1994, and Economic and Social Council decision 1994/268 of 25 July 1994.

Parts of the report about women's rights sitaution says:


The Special Rapporteur's attention has been drawn to the Ordinance on the Women's Veil, which is reported to have been issued by a nine-member professional committee of the High Court of the Islamic State of Afghanistan and which reads as follows:

"A denier of veil is an infidel and an unveiled woman is lewd".

"Conditions of wearing veil:

1. The veil must cover the whole body.
2. Women's clothes must not be thin.
3. Women's clothes must not be decorated and colourful.
4. Women's clothes must not be narrow and tight to prevent the seditious limbs from being noticed. The veil must not be thin.
5. Women must not perfume themselves. If a perfumed woman passes by a crowd of men, she is considered to be an adulteress.
6. Women's clothes must not resemble men's clothes.

"In addition,

1. They must not perfume themselves.
2. They must not wear adorning clothes.
3. They must not wear thin clothes.
4. They must not wear narrow and tight clothes.
5. They must cover their entire bodies.
6. Their clothes must not resemble men's clothes.
7. Muslim women's clothes must not resemble non-Muslim women's clothes.
8. Their foot ornaments must not produce sound.
9. They must not wear sound-producing garments.
10. They must not walk in the middle of streets.
11. They must not go out of their houses without their husband's permission.
12. They must not talk to strange men.
13. If it is necessary to talk, they must talk in a low voice and without laughter.
14. They must not look at strangers.
15. They must not mix with strangers."

SRK tells Gavaskar: T20 is not your game

Reacting to Sunil Gavaskar's harsh criticism of Kolkata Knight Riders' head coach John Buchanan's idea of having multiple captains during a match, team owner Shah Rukh Khan jumped to his rescue, asking the former Indian captain to stay away from his team's affairs.

"I respect Mr Gavaskar--his knowledge about cricket is a billion times better than me," Shah Rukh told CNN-IBN. "But this is an era where Mr Gavaskar has not indulged in, nevertheless his knowledge about the game does allow him to make comments."

The Bollywood superstar added, "This is a new format that's being tried out. Please give it some breathing space. I am the owner of the team, I bought it. If he wants to implement something then let him buy a team."

In his column in Sunday's Hindustan Times, Gavaskar said that the Indian media gave undue importance to Buchanan, who he said is a failed first-class cricketer making a living telling international players to do what he couldn't do.

"To comment on his multiple skipper theory is to give it the importance it doesn't deserve but what does require comment is how he has got his Queensland pals lucrative jobs with KKR," he wrote.




"They have a very big support staff which includes his son and most of them are from Queensland. The owners - poor souls - have little idea that they are being milked."

Buchanan's multi-captain theory - of having three or four captains in a single Twenty20 game, drew criticism from a majority of cricket pundits, as well as Kolkata's regular captain Sourav Ganguly, although Kumar Sangakkara and Ricky Ponting thought the idea was worth experimenting.

TCS, RIL Paid Lawrence Summers

Two Indian companies were among global organisations that paid thousands of dollars as speaking fee or for advice to a top aide of US President Barack Obama, with possible conflicts of interest now with government programmes, a media report said.

Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Industries and top IT firm Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) are among the firms that gave the money to Obama's chief economic advisor Larry Summers, says Huffington Post.

Quoting from the personal disclosures of high-ranking administration officials, the paper says Reliance paid $187,500 toward advisory board compensation to him, while TCS paid $67,500 as speaking fee as on September 21, last year.

The documents were released by White House late on Friday and show that these firms, which paid hundreds of dollars to Summers, "have direct financial interests before the government or are intimately involved in the White House's bank relief programs."

"The document provided for Summers, who serves as one of the president's closest confidants, underscores just how close some of these officials are to the industry over which they now have oversight," it says.

"The speech payments will undoubtedly raise questions as to the impartiality of the economic advice Summers is providing to the president," the paper says.

"Already viewed as too favourably disposed to Wall Street interests, the lavish payments for speeches will provide further fodder for those who think the administration has been forgiving in their approach to the banking industry."

The website of Reliance Industries lists Summers as a member of its innovation council that has the stated objective of providing vision to the group. When contacted, a company spokesperson said Summers had joined the Reliance advisory board during "his Harvard days" but quit when he joined the government.

"There is no conflict of interest," he said. "When he (Summers) joined the government, he quit all his other posts, he quit this (the Reliance assignment) also. What he does now cannot have a bearing on the past."

A TCS spokesperson said he was not aware of the issue, adding: "Larry Summers participated in TCS North America customer summit in September 2008. He delivered a keynote address along with management guru C K Prahalad. They were the two keynote speakers at the summit."




"The company has no other relationship with Larry otherwise. The reference to payment could be in that context."

Top TCS officials were not reachable for comment.

Citibank, JP Morgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, hedge fund DE Shaw, Lehman Brothers and PricewaterhouseCoopers are among the companies that made payments to Summers running into millions of dollars.

Even though the issue has raised a major controversy in the US, White House spokesperson Ben LaBolt defended Summers.

"Given that Dr. Summers is widely recognized as one of the country's most distinguished economists and formerly served as treasury secretary, there was considerable interest in hearing his economic insights from companies across various industries," he said.

IPL Story in South Africa -- hit or flop show ??

The cheerleaders will be there as will the best players in the world and all the entertainment of a glitzy T20 carnival.

"We will be playing flavour of India and carnival of India all across the tournament," says IPL Chief Lalit Modi.

The tournament may have moved out of India but there will be no shortage of crowds flocking to see the games the double header to kick off the IPL in Cape Town has already been sold out.

IPL bosses have smartly priced tickets at very affordable rates. The lowest ticket is available at just about 70 Indian rupees and the most expensive ticket will set you back by just a shade over 1000 rupees.

"We have taken IPL sto South Africa to ensure that we deliver once in a lifetime experience to the South African fans. Not only the game of cricket will be interesting, but also the bollywood, the entertainment and the local performances that go along with it," says Sundar Raman

And in a bid to maximize commercial time on television, it has been agreed that there will be a 5 minute break after every ten overs allowing the broadcaster to fit in more advertising.

The break may upset the momentum of a game but teams concede that this format needs to consider the demands of Indian television audiences.

"Obviously this is a great event for the Indian crowd. Not only Indians in South Africa but also across the globe," says TV co-ordinator, John Buchanan

So whether you are watching at home or at the stadium it promises to be quite an African safari.

Break For Cheap Chinese Mobile Phones in India

Cheap Chinese cellphones that do not have an International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI)--a unique 15-digit identity code--will be phased out from the Indian market by April 13.

The Department of Telecom (DoT) has directed telephone operators to disconnect services to handsets that do not have the IMEI code as such phones pose security threat.

IMEI helps the authorities identify the handset used to make a call on the GSM network, while the electronic serial number (ESN) is used for the CDMA network.

Following the DoT directive, telecom operators have already started alerting their customers to stop using illegal handsets.

"Airtel has always been compliant. We will comply with the authorities and bar the services as required," Bharti Airtel deputy chief executive Sanjay Kapoor told IANS.

Added Gurdeep Singh, chief executive of another telecom operator Aircel: "We will follow the timeline and have already intimidated our customers regarding the same. Though our customers are important, compliance is the topmost priority."



Earlier, the DoT had extended the deadline for telecom operators to disconnect services to Chinese handsets from March 1 to March 31.

Now it has further been extended to April 13.

Telecom officials said this time they would stick to the deadline.




The government's move came after investigating agencies found that terrorists have been using non-IMEI mobile phones for their communications.

The decision would affect nearly 2.5 crore handsets, with most of them being Chinese-made.