Month: July 2020

California accuses Cisco of job discrimination based on Indian employee’s caste

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

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California regulators sued Cisco Systems Inc on Tuesday, accusing it of discriminating against an Indian-American employee and allowing him to be harassed by two managers because he was from a lower Indian caste than them.

US employment law does not specifically bar caste-based discrimination, but California’s Department of Fair Employment and Housing contends in the lawsuit that the Hindu faith’s lingering caste system is based on protected classes such as religion.

The lawsuit, filed in federal court in San Jose, does not name the alleged victim. It states he has been a principal engineer at Cisco’s San Jose headquarters since October 2015 and that he was born at the bottom of caste hierarchy as a Dalit, once called “untouchables.”

Like other large Silicon Valley employers, Cisco’s workforce includes thousands of Indian immigrants, most of whom were born Brahmins or other high castes.

Former Cisco engineering managers Sundar Iyer and Ramana Kompella also are defendants in the lawsuit, which accuses them of harassment for internally enforcing the caste hierarchy.

Cisco spokeswoman Robyn Blum said the network gear maker followed its process to investigate employee concerns in this case and would “vigorously defend itself” against the lawsuit.

“Cisco is committed to an inclusive workplace for all,” she said. “We were fully in compliance with all laws as well as our own policies.”

Iyer and Kompella did not immediately respond to requests for comment. It was not immediately known if the two have retained attorneys.

The civil rights group Equality Labs in a 2018 report cited in the lawsuit found that 67 percent of Dalits surveyed felt treated unfairly at their US workplaces.

At Cisco, the unnamed employee reported Iyer to human resources in November 2016 for outing him as a Dalit to colleagues. Iyer allegedly retaliated, but Cisco determined caste discrimination was not illegal and issues continued through 2018, the lawsuit states.

Cisco reassigned and isolated the employee, rejected a raise and opportunities that would have led to one and denied two promotions, according to the lawsuit.

Hindus traditionally grouped people into four major castes based on ancestry, and Dalits in India still struggle with access to education and jobs 65 years after India banned caste-based discrimination.

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

Stock Market Highlights: Sensex ends 498 points higher, Nifty above 10,400; financials surge

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

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Stock Market Highlights: Indian stocks ended higher on Wednesday helped by heavyweight financials. The Sensex ended 498 points higher at 35,414 while the Nifty rose 127 points to settle at 10,430. 4 of the top 5 gainers were financials. Axis Bank, Bajaj Finserv, ITC, HDFC, and Bajaj Finance were the top gainers.

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

Assam flood situation remains bleak; death toll rises to 25

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

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The flood situation continued to be grim in Assam, where three more people died due to the deluge, pushing the death toll to 25, officials said. Two persons died in Barpeta district, while one death was reported from Dibrugarh district, the Assam State Disaster Management Authority (ASDMA) said in a bulletin.

Flood waters, however, receded from Udalguri and Kamrup (Metro), but continued to submerge 23 other districts, including Dhemaji, South Salmara, Lakhimpur, Nalbari, Barpeta, Kokrajhar, Goalpara, Kamrup, Morigaon, Golaghat, Jorhat, Dibrugarh and Tinsukia, it said.

On Tuesday, 25 of Assam’s 33 districts were hit by floods, affecting over 13.2 lakh people, besides claiming four lives. According to the bulletin, Barpeta is the worst-hit district followed by South Salmara and Nalbari. Crop land totalling 75,700 hectares have been damaged across the state, it said.

The district administrations have evacuated 3,245 marooned people during the last 24 hours in five districts, it said. The floods have inundated much of the Kaziranga National Park in Golaghat, Pobitora Wildlife Sanctuary in Morigaon and Orang National Park in Mangaldoi, the ASDMA bulletin said.

The district authorities have set up 265 relief camps and distribution centres across 21 districts, where 25,461 people are being provided shelter. The mighty Brahmaputra is flowing above the danger level at Guwahati, Neamatighat in Jorhat, Tezpur in Sonitpur, Goalpara town and Dhubri town, it said.

Embankments, roads, bridges, culverts and many other infrastructure have been damaged at various places, the bulletin added.

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

Hong Kong marks handover anniversary as national security law takes effect

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

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Hong Kong authorities threw a security blanket across the city early on Wednesday, the 23rd anniversary of the former British colony’s handover to Chinese rule, hours after new national security legislation took effect in the financial hub.

The contentious law will punish crimes of secession, subversion, terrorism and collusion with foreign forces with up to life in prison, heralding a more authoritarian era for China’s freest city.

Among the details certain to unnerve democracy and rights activists in the city is a ban on violators of the law standing for election and greater oversight of non-governmental organisations and news groups.

For highlights of the law, click

Speaking at a flag-raising ceremony to mark the anniversary of Hong Kong’s handover in 1997, the city’s embattled leader Carrie Lam said the law was the most important development since the city’s return to Beijing.

“It is a historical step to perfect Hong Kong safeguarding national security, territorial integrity and a secure system,” Lam said at the same harbour-front venue where 23 years ago the last colonial governor, Chris Patten, a staunch critic of the security law, tearfully handed back Hong Kong to Chinese rule.

“It is also an inevitable and prompt decision to restore stability in the society.”

About a dozen demonstrators rallied to protest against the new law, which critics fear will crush wide-ranging freedoms promised to Hong Kong for 50 years when it returned to Beijing under a “one country, two systems” style of governance.

Authorities barred an annual march due to be held on Wednesday, citing a ban on gatherings of more than 50 people in a bid to curb coronavirus, but many activists pledged to defy the order and march later in the afternoon.

The annual rally is traditionally held to air grievances over everything from sky-high home prices to what many see as Beijing’s increasing encroachment on the city’s freedoms.

“We march every year, every July 1, every October 1 and we will keep on marching,” said pro-democracy activist Leung Kwok-hung.

On July 1 last year, hundreds of protesters stormed the city’s legislature to protest against a now-scrapped bill that would have allowed extraditions to mainland China, trashing the building in a direct challenge to authorities in Beijing.

Those protests evolved into calls for greater democracy, paralysing parts of the city and paving the way for Beijing to directly impose national security law on Hong Kong, a move that has drawn condemnation from some Western governments.

Critics fear the legislation will crush wide-ranging freedoms in Hong Kong denied to people in mainland China that are seen as key to its success as a global financial centre.

Authorities in Beijing and Hong Kong have repeatedly said the legislation is aimed at a few “troublemakers” and will not affect rights and freedoms, nor investor interests.

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

Essar group places bid for Petrobras’ Bahia refinery

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

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Indian conglomerate Essar Group made a binding offer to Brazil’s Petroleo Brasileiro SA to buy the country’s second largest oil refinery, two people with knowledge of the matter said on Tuesday.

Petrobras, as Brazil’s state-controlled oil producer is known, has received at least two offers for the 323,000 barrels per day Landulpho Alves refinery in Bahia, known as Rlam. The other is from Abu Dhabi’s Mubadala Investment Company.

If Essar’s bid is successful, it would mark the group’s debut in Brazil. Essar has invested roughly USD 28 billion in assets in energy, infrastructure, mining and services, according to the company’s website.

It is still unclear if the third pre-qualified group, China’s Sinopec, has also delivered a bid.

In a recent note to clients, analysts from Bradesco BBI valued the RLAM refinery, based in the northeastern Brazilian state of Bahia, at $2.5 billion.

According to Petrobras’ asset sale rules, the top bidder must enter into an extended round of negotiations, usually lasting several weeks, to finalize contract terms. Depending on the outcome, it may require a final round of bidding which could potentially change the result of the competition, a third source said.

Petrobras declined to comment. Essar did not immediately reply a Reuters request.

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

Carlyle to acquire about 25% stake in Airtel’s data centre business

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

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The Carlyle Group will invest $235 million for approximately 25 percent stake in Nxtra Data Ltd, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Bharti Airtel engaged in the data centre business.

The post-money enterprise valuation of Nxtra is approximately $1.2 billion and Carlyle will hold a stake of approximately 25 percent in the business upon completion of the transaction, with Airtel continuing to hold the remaining stake of approximately 75 percent, Bharti Airtel said in a regulatory filing.

Nxtra offers secure data centre services to leading Indian and global enterprises, hyperscalers, start-ups, SMEs and governments. Nxtra has a portfolio of 10 large data centres and more than 120 edge data centres around the world which provides customers with co-location services, cloud infrastructure, managed hosting, data backup, disaster recovery, and remote infrastructure management.

“Rapid digitization has opened up a massive growth opportunity for data centres in India and we plan to accelerate our investments to become a major player in this segment,” said Gopal Vittal, MD & CEO (India and South Asia), Bharti Airtel.

The transaction is subject to the necessary regulatory approvals, including approval from the Competition Commission of India, the company added.

“India is set to become one of the largest markets in the world for digital services. Airtel, with its proven track record of solid execution and customer focus, is well-positioned to leverage the potential growth of data centres in India. We look forward to collaborating with Airtel to unlock the full potential of Nxtra,” said Neeraj Bharadwaj, Managing Director of the Carlyle Asia Partners advisory team.

Why is the deal important for Airtel?

The deal puts Airtel into the league of Google, Amazon, Microsoft, Oracle that have been expanding their data centre presence in India. Indian enterprises across sectors are rapidly adapting to digital services.

Research firm Business Wire released a survey in February that found that India’s data centre market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 4 percent till 2025. With enterprises realising the importance of digital services between March and June (due to the lockdown imposed due to the COVID-19 pandemic), the number is expected to increase. With a marquee investor like Carlyle on board, the deal will give Airtel financial muscle to be able to expand its footprint.

Carlyle has bought 25% in Nxtra and 75% is still with Airtel. This could potentially give Bharti Airtel an additional lever to bring in more capital at a later date if it were to look at divesting more stake.

With Jio upping the ante and establishing itself in the digital asset space with a slew of investors, bringing in Carlyle into Nxtra will give Airtel additional ammunition to meet the competition.

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

Weak trend continues in GST collections, Rs 1.56 lakh cr collected during April 1-June 25

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

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In what looks like a matter of concern for the government, the revenue outlook remains to be weak with the Goods and Services Tax (GST) collection continuing its downtrend. The GST collection during the period April 1-June 25 stood as low as Rs 1,56,846 crore, sources told CNBC-TV18.

Out of this, Rs 1.13 lakh crore was yielded from domestic supplies. Rs 11,833 crore has been collected as compensation cess, said the sources, who did not want to be named.

While Rs 27,900 crore (approx) was collected under Central Goods and Services Tax (CGST), Rs 34,600 crore was collected under State Goods and Service Tax (SGST).

The government has given extended deadlines to file GSTR3B for February-August 2020 due to the crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

As reported by CNBC-TV18 earlier, the GST collections for business activity in May, recorded till June 25, stood at only Rs 43,913 crore.

“The numbers are worrisome as GST collections are still not picking up despite the fact that business activities started resuming in May,” a senior government source had told CNBC-TV18.

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

Coronavirus is expected to have cost 400 million jobs in the second quarter, UN agency estimates

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

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The coronavirus pandemic is expected to have resulted in a 14% drop in global working hours in the second quarter of 2020, the International Labour Organization has said.

The United Nations’ labor agency said this updated fall in working hours was the equivalent of 400 million full-time job losses globally in the second quarter, based on a standard 48-hour working week.

This marked a “sharp increase” on the 10.7% fall in working hours, or 305 million job losses, that the ILO forecasted for that period, in its previous report on the impact of Covid-19 on the labor market, published in May.

In this fifth edition of its “Covid-19 and the world of work” monitor, the ILO said that the Americas were the most affected region, with an estimated 18.3% drop in working hours, or 70 million full-time jobs.

The working-hour losses are calculated based on the ILO’s “nowcasting” model, which is statistical forecasting drawing on real-time economic and labor market data. It uses the fourth quarter of 2019 as the basis for falls.

In the first quarter, the ILO calculated a 5.4% fall in working hours worldwide, equating to 155 million jobs, in comparison to the fourth quarter of last year.

The ILO said there were multiple factors causing this global decline such as, shorter working hours, temporary leave — or furlough — as well as unemployment and “inactivity.”

The second half of 2020
The ILO’s report also outlined three different scenarios for a labor market recovery in the second half of the year.

The baseline model projects a 4.9% decline in working hours, or 140 million job losses, compared to the fourth quarter of 2019. This scenario is assuming a rebound in economic activity according to existing forecasts, the lifting of workplace lockdown restrictions, in addition to a recovery in consumption and investment.

A pessimistic scenario would see an estimated 11.9% fall in working hours, or 340 million job losses. This is based on there being a second wave of coronavirus cases, prompting the return of lockdown restrictions, therefore meaning a “significantly slow recovery.”

The optimistic model would work out to an estimated 1.2% decrease in working hours, or 34 million job cuts. This best-case scenario would be the result of workers’ activities resuming quickly, “significantly boosting aggregate demand and job creation.”

Gender inequalities exacerbated
The ILO report also highlighted the disproportionate effect of the pandemic on female workers. It pointed out that 510 million, or 40%, of all employed women globally work in the four most hard-hit sectors by the coronavirus crisis, compared to 36.6% of men.

The fact that women also dominate the domestic work, health and social care sectors, has meant that they are at greater risk of infection and transmission of the virus and of losing income. Meanwhile, the distribution of unpaid care work of children, for example, has become more unequal during the pandemic, made worse by the closure of schools and care services.

The ILO said this impact on women risked undoing some of the progress on gender equality in recent decades and exacerbating work-related gender inequalities.

Guy Ryder, director-general of the ILO said: “The decisions we adopt now will echo in the years to come and beyond 2030.”

Despite the fact that a lot has already been done to help deal with the impact of the virus and that countries were at different stages of the pandemic, Ryder said that “we need to redouble our efforts if we want to come out of this crisis in a better shape than when it started.”

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