Category: Education & Careers

Telangana beedi worker’s son ranks 27th in UPSC Civil Services finals

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Nandala Sai Kiran from Telangana ranked 27th at national level in the recently-concluded UPSC Civil Services final exams. He achieved this feat against stiff odds. After Sai Kiran’s father had succumbed to cancer in 2016, his mother Lakhsmi took up the challenge of raising her young children singlehandedly, with education her primary goal.

Lakshmi’s small income as a beedi worker has come a long way with her son now an IAS officer. Her daughter Sravanthi is working at Mission Bhagiratha after completing her education at IIIT in Basara.

Hailing from Velichala village of Karimnagar district, Sai Kiran shared his story in an exclusive interview with News 18. “No one advised to me to set the civil services as my lifetime goal and I reached it as my target. My mother’s hard work and commitment had played a key role in my achievement,” Sai Kiran said.

ALSO READ | A vegetable vendor’s daughter in Solapur is among the top 500 in the latest UPSC results

After his graduation from NIT in Warangal, Sai Kiran took up a job with a software company in 2018, carrying on his preparation for the UPSC exams through online courses alongside. He succeeded in his second attempt.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

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Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Wipro workforce shrinks for sixth quarter in a row with net decline of 6,180 employees in Q4

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Wipro continued to witness a decline in its employee count for the sixth straight quarter, the IT services giant’s financial results for the January to March 2024 period showed on April 19. In the quarter under review, the firm saw a net reduction of 6,180 employees taking its total headcount at the end of 2023-24 to 234,054.

In the past six quarters, the company has seen a net reduction of more than 27,700 employees. The most recent decline of 6,180 employees is relatively higher than that in the September and December 2023 quarter in which the net drop stood at 5,051 and 4,473, respectively.

Speaking about hiring at a press conference after the announcement of the latest quarterly result, CEO Srini Pillai highlighted that the company will honour the earlier made offers before we make fresh offers. “We will make sure every fresher offer is honoured,” he added.

The attrition rate — employees leaving an organisation —  in the fourth quarter of the fiscal year remained at the same level as in the preceding quarter at 14.2%.

Wipro Q4 results come weeks after Thierry Delaporte stepped down before the completion of his term as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO).

Wipro’s peers Infosys and Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) also reported a drop in their workforce strength. While Infosys saw a net reduction of 5,423 employees, TCS’ strength dropped by 1,759 employees in the January to March 2024 quarter.

Also Result | Wipro Q4 Results: Prospects of revenue decline in June quarter maintained, slight margin beat

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

A vegetable vendor’s daughter in Solapur is among the top 500 in the latest UPSC results

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Swati Mohan Rathod ranked 492 in the latest Union Public Service Commission results. She is the daughter of a vegetable vendor in Solapur, Maharashtra.

The Rathod household, which included three daughters and a son, on Bijapur Road in the Adityanagar area of Solapur, was marred by financial constraints but that didn’t stop Swati’s march.

“My mother mortgaged her gold but did not let it become a problem for my studies,” she said in a conversation with Local18.

By the time Swati finished her secondary education at a school run by the civic body, Mumbai was unaffordable for the Rathods, so the family shifted over 400 kilometres away to Solapur.

Swati’s academic journey was a testament to her dedication. After completing her secondary education from a school run by the civic body, she pursued her masters in geography at Walchand College in Solapur. It was during this time that she decided to take the UPSC exam.

It took her five attempts to crack the civil services examination. “I gave more importance to solutions than problems and worked on them,” she told Local18.

ALSO READ: 

Meet Aditya Srivastava, the Lucknow boy who topped UPSC civil services exam 2023

UPSC 2023: Ananya Reddy leads Telugu candidates with third rank nationwide

As appraisals near, employees fear ‘dry promotion’ 

Three pro tips to ace your appraisal interview and three absolute no-nos

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

OpenAI makes first India hire in bid to shape regulation early

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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ChatGPT developer OpenAI hired its first employee in India, appointing a government relations head just as the country votes in a new administration that will shape artificial intelligence regulations in the world’s most populous nation.

The Microsoft Corp. backed-company recruited Pragya Misra to lead public policy affairs and partnerships in India, people familiar with the matter said, asking not to be named as the appointment isn’t yet public. Misra, 39, previously worked at Truecaller AB and Meta Platforms Inc. and is set to start at OpenAI toward the end of the month.

The hiring highlights the generative-AI company’s efforts to push for favorable rules as governments around the world consider how to regulate the rapidly developing technology. India — with its 1.4 billion people and a fast-growing economy — is a massive growth opportunity for global tech companies, but it’s also proven a difficult one to navigate because of lawmakers and regulators seeking to ensure local firms don’t get trampled.

OpenAI representatives didn’t respond to requests for comment outside regular US office hours. Misra didn’t immediately respond to a LinkedIn message.

Misra previously headed public affairs at Stockholm-traded contact verification firm Truecaller, which counts India as a top market. Before that, she was at Meta Platforms Inc., where she led WhatsApp’s campaign against misinformation in 2018.

In India, OpenAI faces competition from the likes of Alphabet Inc.’s Google, which is developing an AI model specifically for the country. Its product will be able to handle more than 100 local languages across speech and text, a drive that would widen internet access beyond the country’s urban English-speaking minority.

Countries such as India should support AI research in ways that can improve government services like health care, OpenAI Chief Executive Officer Sam Altman said during his visit to India last year.

“The main thing that I think is important is figuring out how to integrate these technologies into other services,” Altman said at the time. “That is an area that I think governments are behind on, and don’t have the answers yet.”

Altman, who met with Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the tour, also said that India was an early adopter of its generative-AI service ChatGPT.

Altman has previously called for more regulations and said his “greatest fear” is that the technology would cause significant harm. He has also said that big regulatory changes weren’t needed for current versions of the technology, but would be soon.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Future Female Forward: Women need to embrace self-care and aspirations fearlessly, says Radhika Gupta

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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For many women, achieving a harmonious work-life balance remains a challenging feat. Approximately 70% of women view work-life balance as the primary obstacle to career advancement. This statistic underscores the intricate dance between career aspirations and personal responsibilities that women grapple with on a daily basis.

During CNBC-TV18’s event, Future Female Forward, Radhika Gupta, the Managing Director and CEO of Edelweiss Mutual Fund, shared her perspective on this perennial challenge. Gupta reflected on her pre-motherhood mindset, where she compartmentalized her life into three distinct buckets: work, family, and personal growth. Personal growth, she emphasized, was a vital component, encompassing endeavours unrelated to her primary work or family obligations.

However, the birth of her child introduced a new dimension to this delicate balance. Amidst societal expectations and personal apprehensions, Gupta found herself confronting the daunting prospect of juggling motherhood with her demanding role as a CEO. Yet, buoyed by the unwavering support of her family, particularly her mother and husband, Gupta embraced the mantra that a happy mother is the best mother. Encouraged to seize every opportunity without sacrificing her own aspirations, Gupta embarked on ventures like participating in Shark Tank India Season 3 and authoring her second book.

Gupta’s journey highlights a common dilemma faced by many women: the tendency to prioritise the needs of others at the expense of personal fulfilment. She cautions against succumbing to this pattern, emphasising that short-term sacrifices often yield long-term regrets. Gupta advocates for women to prioritise self-care and pursue their aspirations unapologetically, rejecting the shackles of guilt that often accompany such endeavours.

Furthermore, Gupta shares a poignant revelation from her own journey—an encounter with storytelling during an Edelweiss leadership session. Through sharing her vulnerabilities and imperfections, Gupta discovered the profound impact of authenticity and relatability in connecting with others. As she recounts receiving messages from readers who found solace and inspiration in her story, Gupta underscores the power of storytelling in empowering women.

Watch the accompanying video for the entire conversation.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Infosys headcount declines for the fifth straight quarter in Q4 with net reduction of 5,423 employees

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Infosys saw a net reduction of 5,423 employees in the January to March 2024 quarter which took its total strength to 317,240 at the end of the 2023-24 fiscal year, according to the firm’s financial results released on April 18.

This is the fifth quarter in a row that the IT services giant has witnessed a net decline in the total workforce. In these five quarters, the firm has seen a net drop of more than 29,000 employees.

This is also the second reporting quarter after Infosys said it won’t hire fresh talent from campuses this year since it still has a “significant fresher bench” while there is a decline in demand in key markets like the US.

Meanwhile, the attrition rate — employees leaving an organisation — continued to ease in the fourth quarter of the fiscal to 12.6% at Infosys.

In the press briefing after announcing the results, Jayesh Sanghrajka, CFO, Infosys said the firm’s hiring model has changed significantly in last few years. “We are at 82% utilisation and there is headroom for growth there; 85% is our comfortable level,” he said.

Last week, Infosys’ peer Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) also reported a net drop of 1,759 employees in the January to March 2024 quarter, which took its total workforce at the end of the 2023-24 fiscal to 601,546 — the lowest in the last two years.

At a time when Infosys had implemented a campus hiring freeze, TCS boasted of being the first one to hire from institutes. “We have already gone to private institutions and made 1,000s of offers,” TCS CHRO Milind Lakkad said, adding that experienced talent is hired every quarter based on the required demand.

Also Read: TCS explains the changing role of developers amid AI adoption

Track Infosys Q4 results live updates here 

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Google terminates 28 employees amid protests on cloud contract with Israel and labour conditions

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Tech giant Google terminated 28 employees on April 17, according to an internal memo viewed by CNBC. The move follows a series of multi-city protests against labour conditions and the company’s $1.2 billion contract to provide the Israeli government and military with cloud computing and artificial intelligence services.

Following the protests on April 16, CNBC reported that nine Google workers were arrested on trespassing charges after staging a sit-in at the company’s offices in New York and Sunnyvale, California, including a protest in Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian’s office.

According to the CNBC report, the arrests were live-streamed on Twitch by participants.

The protests were led by the “No Tech for Apartheid” organisation and focused on Project Nimbus — Google and Amazon’s joint $1.2 billion contract to provide the Israeli government and military with cloud computing services. These include artificial intelligence tools, data centres and other cloud infrastructure.

According to the memo sent by Chris Rackow, Google’s vice president of global security, Googlers were told that “following investigation, today we terminated the employment of twenty-eight employees found to be involved. We will continue to investigate and take action as needed.”

Some of the arrested workers in New York and Sunnyvale also told CNBC earlier that during the protest they were locked out of their work accounts and offices. In addition, they were placed on administrative leave and told to wait to return to work until being contacted by HR.

Meanwhile, No Tech for Apartheid released a statement saying, “This evening, Google indiscriminately fired over two dozen workers, including those among us who did not directly participate in yesterday’s historic, bicoastal 10-hour sit-in protests.” It added that in the three years that the group has been organising against Project Nimbus, it has yet to hear from a single executive about its concerns.

Read Google’s full memo here

Googlers, 

You may have seen reports of protests at some of our offices yesterday. Unfortunately, a number of employees brought the event into our buildings in New York and Sunnyvale. They took over office spaces, defaced our property, and physically impeded the work of other Googlers. Their behaviour was unacceptable, extremely disruptive, and made co-workers feel threatened. We placed employees involved under investigation and cut their access to our systems. Those who refused to leave were arrested by law enforcement and removed from our offices.

Following investigation, today we terminated the employment of twenty-eight employees found to be involved. We will continue to investigate and take action as needed.

Behaviour like this has no place in our workplace and we will not tolerate it. It clearly violates multiple policies that all employees must adhere to – including our Code of Conduct and Policy on Harassment, Discrimination, Retaliation, Standards of Conduct, and Workplace Concerns.

We are a place of business and every Googler is expected to read our policies and apply them to how they conduct themselves and communicate in our workplace. The overwhelming majority of our employees do the right thing. If you’re one of the few who are tempted to think we’re going to overlook conduct that violates our policies, think again. The company takes this extremely seriously, and we will continue to apply our longstanding policies to take action against disruptive behaviour up to and including termination

You should expect to hear more from leaders about standards of behaviour and discourse in the workplace.

Chris

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

CBSE Board classes 10, 12 results 2024: Expected date, how to check, and other important details

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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The Central Board of Secondary Education will soon announce the Classes 10 and 12 exam results. Though the exact date is not confirmed, the results are likely to be out soon. This year, the CBSE conducted Class 10 exams from February 15 to March 13, while Class 12 students took their exams from February 15 to April 2. According to reports, more than 39 lakh students appeared for the CBSE Class 10 and Class 12 examinations.

How CBSE plans to release results this year

Every year, students face issues while checking their results. As the traffic increases, the official website tends to crash. To tackle this, the board has decided to make the results available on multiple platforms and the official website. This year, the CBSE results will be available on the DigiLocker website, DigiLocker mobile app and UMANG app.

Let us look at the various ways of checking the results of CBSE Board exams 2024

CBSE Board Results 2024 Date and Time:

The Central Board of Secondary Education is yet to announce the exact date and time of the results.

List of Websites where you can check your results:

cbseresults.nic.in
results.cbse.nic.in
cbse.nic.in
cbse.gov.in
digilocker.gov.in
results.gov.in

List of Mobile apps to check your result:

DigiLocker
UMANG

How to check your result:

Candidates who took the exams can download their results by following these steps

Visit the official website of CBSE or any other website mentioned above.

Log in to the account by entering the roll number or the registration number

Click on the Submit option after entering the required details

Your result will be displayed on the screen.

Candidates can download their results in their desired form.

The results downloaded by the candidates are considered as a provisional marksheet until the schools distribute the official ones.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Elon Musk apologises for ‘incorrectly low’ severance packages sent to some laid-off Tesla employees

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Tesla boss Elon Musk, in an internal email on April 17, told staffers that the electric vehicle manufacturing company had sent out a few severance packages to several laid-off workers earlier in the week that were too low.

“As we reorganise Tesla it has come to my attention that some severance packages are incorrectly low…My apologies for this mistake. It is being corrected immediately,” Musk wrote, according to an email cited by CNBC International.

This comes two days after Musk told employees that the firm is reducing headcount by more than 10% as part of a global retrenchment extending into its executive ranks. This is on the back of duplication of roles and the need to reduce costs amid slowing demand for its electric vehicles.

If the dismissals apply companywide, they would amount to more than 14,000 employees.

According to a Bloomberg report, Senior Vice President Drew Baglino and Rohan Patel, vice president of public policy and business development, have resigned.

Also Read: Firms line up over 15 new EVs in India for 2025 while Tesla struggles with sales

As per the memo shared on April 15, Musk has said the layoffs would help, “prepare the company” for a “next phase of growth”.

All of this comes against the backdrop of Tesla suffering its first year-over-year sales drop since the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The electric carmaker handed over 3,86,810 vehicles in the first three months of 2024. That fell so far short of analysts’ average estimate for 4,49,080 deliveries that it was its biggest miss ever.

Consumer demand also remains a concern as high interest rates have kept some buyers on the sidelines and Tesla has warned investors that it is “between two growth waves.”

Also Read: What Elon Musk’s pay package vote means for his $174 billion fortune

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Entrepreneur Anupam Mittal lists 3 qualities while hiring for leadership roles

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Wrong leadership can kill a company, Indian entrepreneur Anupam Mittal has said, listing three qualities he doesn’t ignore while hiring people to lead teams. Mittal, the founder of Shaadi.com, said, “You can have a revolutionary product, a passionate team, and a booming market – all brought to their knees by a few bad decisions at the Leadership level.”

In a LinkedIn post, Mittal, one of the sharks of the Shark Tank India show, highlighted the importance of hiring good leadership in the competitive world of business.

He also shared three methods he uses to select a leader for his business. In his April 17 posting, he wrote that hiring the right senior folks was not easy despite having fancy recruitment tools, psychometric evaluations, and interview techniques.

“While we all know this, hiring the right senior folks is yet another thing that falls in the list of – “Simple but not easy” Founders & CXOs today are bombarded with fancy recruitment tools, psychometric evaluations, and interview techniques promising the perfect hire. But, most of them are only marginally effective. Unlikely that a smart senior individual will fail an interview, no?” Mittal added.

He further explained three strategies he used to hire any senior leader for the organisation. First, he advised multiple meetings to find a potential candidate and meet in a relaxed environment.

“Everyone has their guard up during office hours and official interviews. The key is to be in a more relaxed environment and the best setting is over a meal- it saves time too. Also, one such meeting won’t do. You specifically need 3 and here is the brilliant hack -> If every meeting gives you more confidence, you got your hire. If you get more doubtful, move on,” he said.

Second, he suggested random and anonymous reference checks for selecting candidates.

Mittal said, “Named’ ref checks don’t work. I use my networks to find common connections and request them for a confidential 15-20 min ref check.”

He also shared his “PEARL” reference check theory which emphasises P – Promise reciprocity E – Ensure confidentiality A – Ask targeted questions R – Retrieve critical insights L – Learn rehire potential.

Last but not least, he suggested that companies hire builders with specific traits, including high learning agility, strong ownership, outcome orientation, and a high degree of candour.

“What you want in a leader is -> High learning agility + Strong ownership + Outcome orientation + High degree of candour. ‘Builders’ are usually like that – they like to roll up their sleeves and get shit done. Preachers & politicians can create toxicity in an org, what you are looking for are scientists who love questioning the status quo and finding the right answers,” Mittal added.

“Building a winning leadership team takes time, but hire correctly and you will cut down half your workload,” he concluded.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow