TCS Kochi start layoffs at the Kakkanad office. Sacked employees issued termination slips

Reports are coming in that TCS has issued termination slips to some employees at the TCS Kochi office (at Kakkanad) as part of its recently announced restructuring exercise. TCS had earlier announced that there will be layoffs across India as part of their restructuring. This has nothing to do with the strength of TCS as the leader in IT outsourcing but a strategic move. “Involuntary attrition” is the term used, though it basically means employees get fired.

The number of employees sacked is unclear but has been reported in reputed newspapers like Indian Express.

It is always better to check as sometimes it just turns out to be a rumor.

http://www.newindianexpress.com/states/kerala/Layoff-TCS-Hands-Out-Pink-Slip-to-Employees/2014/12/31/article2595990.ece

Globally, many companies like Microsoft and IBM have done regular restructuring over the past few years.

TCS officially distances itself from the claim that lots of employees are being laid off. According to the article in Money Control yesterday

http://www.moneycontrol.com/news/cnbc-tv18-comments/tcs-allays-layoff-fears-no-pink-slips-for-employees_1263016.html, they refute that any unusual number of layoffs are happening. Apparently 1-1.5% involuntary attrition per year is standard, except that for the size of TCS, that works out to 3000 to 5000 employees.

Kakkanad in Kochi, Kerala, is home to software companies like TCS, CTS and Wipro, while Infosys is located in Trivandrum, which is the capital of Kerala and located 200 Kms away from Cochin.

There is even a Facebook page created called “We are against TCS layoffs” – ostensibly by employees affected by the layoffs.

The reports also include photographs of the termination slips issued to the employees affected by the Layoff.

While TCS is a very large organization that regularly has employees leaving involuntarily, this time the apparent size of layoffs is causing people to get jittery. There are unconfirmed estimates that upto 30 000 employees may eventually be affected by the layoffs across India.

TCS has over 330 000 employees, so even a count of 30 000 employees fired would only come to 10% of the size.

In addition TCS is on course to recruit 50 000 people next year.  It is unclear if the freshers being recruited in 2015 are going to be affected in the restructuring – TCS has said that their hiring plans are on course. Those who have been given offer letters through campus recruitment will be called for training. In previous years, sometimes the freshers who have been offered jobs in IT companies like TCS have been affected by a delay in being called to join.

TCS continues to prepare for more employees to be added to their strength. They have already announced plans for building the worlds biggest corporate training centre in Trivandrum, which is 5 hours drive from Kochi. They are also building a new development centre in Trivandrum at Technopark, which is the oldest and biggest single park in India.

The question on the mind of TCS kochi employees will be “Which projects are affected by the layoffs?”

It is also not clear if the impact is for lower ranked employees or seniors. Reports in the newspapers online versions suggest that many mid senior employees will be targeted. That makes sense from a purely financial perspective, since senior employees enjoy a higher pay and can have a bigger impact on the cost savings in any restructuring exercise.

Additionally , as in the US, companies will learn that lower ranked employees (and lower paid) can perform at close levels to a senior  employee with extensive training.

Other IT employees need not gloat at their peers in TCS, because if the biggest company is setting the trend, other IT companies are bound to follow.

Larger companies like TCS can easily cut costs and improve margins through layoffs, since the employee salaries are a reasonably big component of their overall costs.

The good thing to come out of this is that some of the employees may decide to start companies or startups on their own, particularly if they are experienced. It will also free up a pool of senior employees that Startups can employ. There may be also a slight impact on the overheating of salaries in the market. Companies may find that employees think twice before jumping ship, if they are looking to move to a larger company like TCS, CTS, Infosys or Wipro.

Google translate launches support for malayalam language translation

Google has launched support for malayalam in its ubiquitous translate feature. You can try Google translate malayalam here  – https://translate.google.co.in/ by choosing malayalam from the drop down of the languages.

This means that you can copy paste malayalam into the Google translate tool which is an in browser tool for chrome, firefox, safari etc , and you can then  translate the piece of text provided into a language of choice.

Obviously the most common usage for Malayalam translate would be to convert it into english.

Perhaps it might be useful in Technopark while communicating to clients ? 🙂

The reports coming in from those who tested the translate tool for malayalam was that it was not good. This is not surprising considering malayalam is a fairly complex language and im not sure how many malayalees were available to test it 🙂

If the translate tool for malayalam to english (or vice versa) is bad, then the feature may just lie around till google deadpools it later. The problem is that there isn’t enough business need for a malayalam to english translation. First of all the kerala market is not a hot one that international businesses are going after. Second is that most malayalees understand english too, so the translate option isn’t that much of a need like in German or French where the market is big and english is not understood.

Having said that, Google malayalam translation keyboard is quite often searched for , atleast according to some prompts shown by Google during searches related to these keywords. Perhaps those who are trying to enjoy literature, or want to get their word meanings down pat for any communication, would like to use a service like this.

There are already a plethora of jokes based on the malayalam translations that are spun out by the Google tool. Being malayalees, the first thing they would search for is Google translate malayalam jokes so that they can share it on Facebook or Twitter. It would not be long before a hashtag or facebook page around Google translate jokes takes effect. There are google translate jokes on Mammooty (a famous movie star in Kerala) and on Pinarayi Vijayan (A leader of the communist party in Kerala).

Inspite of the smaller size of the community with regard to Major indian languages, 38 million is still no joke when it comes to a community’s size on a global level. That is already bigger than the population of Canada, more than half of UK and more than 10% of the population of the US. So perhaps with a little more effort, the tool will meet our expectations.

The question would be why is the Google translate tool for malayalam having so many errors in translation and giving the wrong translation for the inputs provided?

The answer is that the tool was largely developed using dictionary words and crowdsourcing from those who know malayalam. So if we malayalees have not provided the right inputs during the crowdsourcing efforts, the tool will obviously come out short when it comes to translating the text.

Some malayalees (and perhaps a handful of foriegners) would be checking up whether this malayalam to english translate tool can be downloaded and installed on their computer so they can use the malayalam virtual keyboard on their system. Right now however, as with other Google translate languages supported, this is a purely online tool within the browser and cannot be downloaded as an installable software.

Lots of people also love to share jokes in malayalam on Whatsapp and facebook. Some malayalees who can’t read malayalam would love to translate these jokes to be able to enjoy it in english. It is still open to debate if the joke will be easy to understand when it is translated from malayalam to english.

While you can’t download the translator, it is still free to use online!

Have fun!

Shashi Tharoor speaks at IMA Conference in Trivandrum (Kerala), refers to Sunanda death

Shashi Tharoor obliquely referred to his wife Sunanda Pushkar’s death while speaking at the IMA Medicine Millennium conference at the Samudra/Udaya Samudra hotel in Trivandrum today (Nov 8). This years IMA conference was held in Kerala in the famous kovalam beach that attracts thousands of tourists every year.

Tharoor referred to his wife’s death while speaking on the topic of medical ethics to the audience of doctors who had gathered for the annual IMA conference in trivandrum. This is one of the first times that Shashi Tharoor has referred to his wife’s death since her passing away amidst much controversy this year.

Shashi tharoor was speaking while inaugurating the main IMA meet, where Shrimathi teacher also spoke at length on the importance of public health systems to be valued in private hospitals also. She told the assembled IMA delegates that it is important that they focus on treatment, they should also focus on prevention.

While he diplomatically lashed out at the way the death was handled, he did not directly refer to the hospital (AIIMS) or the forensic specialist behind the report  at any time.

He used the words ‘ media circus’ while referring to the incident and also had some harsh words for the kind of doctoring of forensic reports that he alleged had gone on in relation to the details of his wifes death. He referred to the forensic specialist who doctored the report as a plagarist and also said that the person continues to remain in the same position despite this unethical event.

He said that his understanding of such ethics came from ‘personal experience’ and also pondered aloud that if it happened to a fairly well known individual, that how it would similar things may happen to the average citizen.

Sunanda Pushkar was found dead in her hotel room in Delhi, which turned into a major controversy, with the then opposition BJP asking for Tharoors head.

Apparent Suicide by Techie (Sreeraj Sashidharan) working in UST Global at Bhavani, Technopark

A techie software employee working at UST Global in Technopark trivandrum (bhavani building) apparently committed suicide by jumping to his death. The cause is unknown and the police are investigating. His name has been revealed as Sreeraj Sashidharan, by an online publication, but if that is not true, then please do drop a message and it will be corrected.

UST Global has now put out a press release with the details of Sreeraj. He was 29 years old and had been with the prominent company for over 3 years. He was a good performer at work.

He jumped/fell to his death from the 6th Floor on Thursday (Oct 16th), in the early morning at 9 a.m.

The Bhavani Building in Technopark is one of the newer and biggest buildings in Technopark Trivandrum. It has a famous open floor which hollows out the building and there are corridors running around this space, which can be viewed from every floor. The techie probably jumped to his death from one of the corridors abounding the space.

Must have been a terrifying experience to the software employees working at the building, which also serves other companies like Allianz Cornhill, in addition to UST Global (Erstwhile US Software)

The technopark campus in Trivandrum kerala is home to over 50 000 employees working in over 250 companies, and UST Global has been one of the biggest employers in the city. The news of the suicide has been quite a shock to the community, as the Technopark campus has generally been considered a laidback and quieter community versus the techparks in the big cities. While it is wise to avoid conjecture at this point, it is likely that the employees at Technopark would likely be going through Facebook and Linkedin to learn more about Sreeraj through his social media profile or professional profile that contains more details of him and photos. Many would find they have common friends on facebook with him and perhaps try to find out what drove him to take this extreme step.

This will be a difficult time for his family, colleagues and friends. A terrible tragedy.

Malayalees comment spam attack New York Times (NYT) facebook pagenews for racist Mangalyaan cartoon caricature

Update – New york times has issued an apology and explanation for the Mangalyaan cartoon which causes the furore.

The NYT apology has been posted on their Facebook page, which bore the brunt of the comment spamming from outraged netizens, mostly malayalees from Kerala.

Their apology posting can be viewed here – https://www.facebook.com/nytimes/posts/10150469260794999?fref=nf

Specifically, the text of the apology is “We apologize to readers who were offended by the choice of images in this cartoon”, and the posting is done by Andrew Rosenthal the Editorial Page Editor. The apology itself is getting quite a bit of traction on Facebook, and some commenters are demanding that the Print edition publish a copy of the apology. This seems unlikely and the matter will be laid to rest in a few days as the outrage peters out.

Malayalees seem to have taken the lead in comment spamming the posts on the the New York Times facebook page – an attack in retaliation for the racist and rude mangalyaan cartoon that the NYT had put up yesterday. Hundreds of comments are flooding the facebook comments section of the NYT FB page, for any new postings that they are putting up. Plenty of the comments are either in english but ‘speak’ malayalam, and some are in the malayalam font. It is likely that non malayalees from other parts of India will soon join up if something is not done. There are 100- 120 million Indians on Facebook.

As a result of the news of the spam attack, many malayalees are joining the action, but are first checking up on what the ‘NYT cow caricature’ or the ‘Mangalyaan nyt cartoon’ is and looking for a link to the cartoon so they can make their own judgement. In short, the mallu online brigade is out in force to let NYT know that they have gone overboard.

The new york times is a venerated newspaper, but it has clearly gone over the line with such a racist commentary on what is arguably a world achievement. What they don’t know is that Malayalees have one of the most widely read news sites in the world ‘ Manoramaonline’ amongst many others – and they love em their news. NYT will now have to get a taste of the activist mallu community and their acerbic tongue. God save the NYT intern who has to find out what the comments are supposed to say. Though its likely the NYT has their fair share of malayalees on board who can helpfully translate the comments for them!

The caricature on NYT depicts a moustached Indian man in a turban and traditional dress with a cow in tow, knocking on the door of a club called the “Elite Space Club” which represents the other developed nations.

While the intention of the aggrieved malayalees seem to be justifiable – to show their anger at a clearly unjustified representation of their countries achievement – the comments section seems to now be spilling over into NSFW territory.

Indians were justifiably proud of the momentous program, and the twitterati were in full force, propelling the twitter hashtag ‘mangalyaan’ to the top of the trending charts. The weight of the same community may back any campaign to ask the NYT to apologise for the cartoon.

If you still have the morbid curiosity to check out the choicest literature dished out on the comments section, check out the NYT times facebook page – the link to their FB page is here – https://www.facebook.com/nytimes

To a lot of the regular readers of the NYT fb page, it would be their first tryst with malayalam  – though its extremely unlikely that they wouldn’t have met an actual malayalee yet – NY is got its fair share of people from kerala. Clearly some of the non malayalee commenters on the facebook posts are confused, with atleast a few of them asking what the hullaboo is all about. Many of them do not know the source of the original article that is causing this reaction.

This is the New york times cartoon caricature which spurred this online reaction by malayalees amongst others –

The cartoon caricature in NYT causing malayalee spam attack

While there has been an online backlash against the racist interpretation in the caricature of an Indian and a cow standing outside and knocking for permission to get into the ‘elite club’ of developed nations, it seems a bit strange that the malayalees seem to have taken the lead in this now common form of online retaliation on Facebook.

Comment spamming is a common tactic to express displeasure on public pages on social media.

The community managers of the NYT facebook page will surely be puzzled about the malayalam spam flooding their pages. Google translator may not help much, and in any case most of the lingo used is heavily colloquial which the software will get stumped in translating.

BreakingNews : Kerala plans to close remaining (all) bars. Shut down announced by Oomen Chandy today

Aug 21, 2014: The Kerala Government has apparently decided to close the remaining bars in the state. This means that by April 2015, all the bars in Kerala will be shut down and licences will not be given/renewed.

This news today was announced by none other than the Chief Minister Mr Oomen Chandy during his conversation with journalists at a press conference today.

Note – This is breaking news so there might be some clarifications issued by the Chief Minister once specifics are detailed.

In news that is surely going to create a storm (in a rum bottle? 😉 , the Congress has made its intention clear that they are working towards total prohibition. However, right now tons of loopholes exist for drinkers to get their fix. Only 5 star hotels can serve liquor to patrons, and that obviously will be out of the reach of the common man. Looks like dry days are ahead for the notoriously alcohol addicted state.

Technically it isn’t a water tight prohibition, because the civil supply corporation can continue to sell liquor through its outlets. This means that the queues of people waiting to buy alcohol is going to get longer at these Bevco outlets.

There are going to be plenty of people going to say that this assumes that people who can afford 5 star hotels are being given preferential treatment, and that allowing 5 star hotel bars to continue serving liquor to customers is a bit elitist – it makes it look like the common man cannot be trusted with his habits.

I wonder how the government expects to service tourists who come to Kerala and want to have a drink , but not at a 5 star hotel. I guess some of the illegal but tolerated systems like at Kovalam beach will continue to flourish. I learned to my surprise from a friend that only one or two hotels in Kovalam have the license to serve liquor at their bars.

There is also a talk that Saturdays are going to be dry days! Imagine that! One can’t but help feel that the rule (if it is confirmed) is that this seems to be a bit draconian in terms of freedom to do what you want.

The news seems to be that none other than Chief Minister Mr Oomen Chandy mentioned during a press conference about this policy. Here is the news article on the Asianet news website where his comments have been published –

http://www.asianetnews.tv/news/article/15867_dry-days

The press conference by Mr Chandy happened today on August 21, 2014

So the question on everybody’s mind is – when does the bars in kerala get shut down according to this new liquor policy? The answer is that it is from April 1st 2015 onwards. Atleast according to what the Chief minister Oomen Chandy says.

The curious thing is to watch what impact this news will have on the short term and the long term. Will people spend this money on something else? Or will they stubbornly spend it at BevCo? Will they Stock up at home and cause a mushrooming of house parties? How will these hotels survive (many of them make all their profits from the bars, while the rooms and facilities are just eyewash for retaining the license). Will the long (now longer) queues at Bevco deter drinkers or will their addiction win over the soul sucking wait for reaching the front of the queue? What about those who work at bars – will the restaurant industry absorb them? Will someone write down the tips and tricks of the bar industry before it is lost to history?

The trend so far has been that even though around half the bars in kerala were shut down the total consumption was distributed amongst the remaining bars, and at the sales at the Bevco outlets or what is called “Civil supplies”, or “Civil” in short – rather ironic considering some of the stuff done after a tipple is hardly “Civil”

The Bar license issue has been festering for some time in Kerala, ever since the government took the step of shutting down bars based on their ratings. There was a major tug of war going on between politicians in the ruling Congress party in Kerala regarding the policy on liquor and bars. The head of the KPCC Mr VM Sudheeran was dead set against allowing bars to open, while other more “practical” elements were in favor of relaxing the rules.

The Indian Union Muslim league had come out against the consumption of alcohol and said they support a ban – which seems to be a given because their official stance will be driven by their religious rules against consuming alcohol.

Meanwhile the Strongman and leader of the SNDP (an organization of the Ezhava caste in Kerala) had come out in support of the bars in Kerala, saying something to the effect that the ongoing bar shutdown is not ‘practical’. While SNDP in principle is against alcohol, considering its patron saint Sree Narayana Guru, many of its members hold key investments in the Abkari businesses, so it is not a surprise that they want a much more pragmatic stance. Wonder how they will react to Chief Minister Oomen Chandy’s comments today in the press conference regarding the upcoming shut down of the remaining bars.

So what are the new rules of pleasure and leisure (and a bit of anti social behavior) for the tipplers of kerala? Maybe like the incessant Diesel fuel hikes that creep up month on month, the drinkers in kerala will slowly adapt to a world without bars

I guess the malayalees who will queue up at the bars this onam, will cherish their last memories of their watering holes.

Saritha Nair of solar scam fame publishes official Facebook page, profile racks up followers and fans fast

Update: Apparently some Videos of the Solar Scam accused Saritha S Nair have been leaked and are circulating on Whatsapp mobile application. Since these videos contain nudity and sexually suggestive/adult material, the video clips have gone viral on Facebook and are being picked up and reported on Video channels. Apparently the mobile clippings show her naked and seem to have been filmed by herself. She has (kaumudi reports) issued a statement that those who have leaked her videos will be subject to legal punishments. That hasn’t stopped thousands of people sharing the leaked video on whatsapp and others from trying to download the video from the web. There are apparently upto 6 mobile video clippings that seem to have been shared.

(From few weeks ago ) Saritha S Nair launched her Official Facebook page today, just a few hours ago. Looks like a real profile, not a fake one  that is typically made in the dozens with anonymous profiles. It is not confirmed that it is an official profile, though i expect the various TV channels from Manorama to Mathrubhumi would start to cover this news sometime. Saritha Nair’s claim to fame (or infamy) is that she was the figurehead of the solar scam that erupted in kerala and threatened to take down the Oomen Chandy government.  She has added some information about herself and photos of herself as Facebook posts.

This is the link to the profile that has popped up on Facebook –

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Saritha-S-Nair/508358825962367

(This page seems to have been taken down after Saritha’s videos have been leaked and shared on Whatsapp)

As soon as Saritha Nair launched her Facebook page, it started to collect thousands of followers. Within the first 18 hours of publishing her facebook page, it got close to 10000 fans.

It is pretty interesting to watch how a page by a popular (well by fame or infamy) get launched and grow so fast in terms of facebook followers and fans. Some companies would kill to get the same traction! And the post engagement is good too – the first Facebook photo post she has put has crossed 1000 likes!

She’s (if it is her) written a short introduction about herself, and also put up a banner with a quote from Buddha about moving on. Perhaps Saritha has decided to use Facebook as a medium to hit back at her detractors who have been hounding her on media. It remains to be seen if her official facebook page will open up another route for people to rave and rant on her and the solar scam.

This is particularly complicated by the fact that Saritha is a lady, and the incident is politically colored. So plenty of the usual nervewrecks and political commentators will be onto her very soon.

All kinds of creative comments and jokes have started rolling into the facebook postings that she has put up so far.

(Breaking news)700 UST Global Layoffs – Technopark Trivandrum based US technology allegedly fires employees

The Deccan Chronicle reports that UST Global, the Technopark Trivandum based MNC major has laid off 700 employees. The article has just been published today (June 4th) Most of the UST Global employee workforce is based at Technopark trivandrum and their Chennai office. Such news items of layoffs regularly come out of technopark, and are mostly unsubstantiated, but this news is getting a bit of traction perhaps due to the fact that its covered in a mainstream newspaper.

Some of the comments on the Deccan Chronicle article seem to be by US Technology employees who seem to confirm the fact that they have been fired. However this still remains an allegation though its unlikely that Deccan Chronicle would carry the story if they hadn’t done some background research.

Apparently the the UST employees who have been fired are either on the bench or those who have had 7-8 years of experience. In some companies it is common to fire employees on the bench if the ratio of the benched employees to the total employee strength becomes uncomfortable. However the layoffs amongst employees who are between 7-8 years seems to be a bit unusual, and indicates cost cutting or streamlining measures.

The article says that the employees are being ‘forced to resign’ – im not sure what that means, and that termination notices are issued to those who try to resist. That sounds like a bit of dramatization by the newspaper.

The news article does quote the country head Alexander Varghese as saying that there have not been massive layoffs, but that depends on what his definition of massive means. 700 layoffs may not be big compared to the size of the company which claims thousands of employees.

Atleast one comment indicates that some of the firings have been from sections dealing with the ageing Mainframe technology. Mainframes are increasing being replaced by leaner nimbler systems depending on the cloud. Development and testing teams in these divisions maybe nervous.

Obviously the employees will be under stress now due to lack of clarity on the matter – and will probably start shooting off resumes to other companies. It would be better if UST issued circulars calming down the employees.

Some comments are saying that it is the employees who got N Grade that are being laid off. N Grade is given to under performing employees. But then how can people on the bench be issued these grades? Also how come employees with 7-8 years experience are  put on the bench? Perhaps Deccan Chronicle has its facts wrong?

There is no project name being specified as being targetted for the layoffs, but let UST clear the air first.

 

Attingal technopark murder suspect Nino Mathew beaten up at Nila?

One of my colleagues is saying the police had brought the attingal technopark double murder suspect Nino Mathews to Nila building at technopark for evidence gathering. (This was today 21st April, Monday) And that Nino mathews got beaten up by techies when he was here (Nila is where his company Dimensions cybertech has its offices. That is also where his lover anu shanti worked).

Im not sure how the techies at Nila could have beaten him up if the cops were around. Maybe it would have been his colleagues at Dimensions itself – i guess if the police brought him for taking evidence, they would obviously be going to the office where Nino was working with Anu shanti. If someone did beat him up, the police would probably press charges against them too. Not sure if beating him up is our job or is the solution. Rather than vigilante justice by beating him to death, it is better left to the law to decide what to do.

Pretty sad and tragic the whole event.

Update – Turns out it is true that Nino mathews had been attacked at Technopark when the police brought him to his office at Nila to take evidence. Asianet news has a video of the attack on him.  The video on youtube clearly shows Nino being chased and attacked by the crowd of techies at technopark, and the police are able to whisk nino away before the crowd can completely get their hands on him. His love anu shanthi has not been brought to technopark by the police for taking evidence yet. Considering the reception that Nino got, its likely the police will be careful when their bring anu shanti to Technopark, if at all.

The video of him being beaten up is posted below

 

 

Shashi tharoor twitter account hacked. Targets Mehr Tarar of the Daily mail

Looks like Shashi Tharoor  twitter account got hacked.

@shashitharoor is the twitter account which got hacked today (jan 15 2014)

Its only breaking news and its not clear what actually happened.

Sunanda Pushkar @sptvrock  and Mehr Tarar also seem to be affected , probably due to the tweets going to their account from his.

He seems to have tweeted that his account is hacked and therefore temporarily deactivated, but its still accessible

Mehr Tarar seems to be the target of many of the tweets – https://www.facebook.com/mehr.tarar – is her Facebook account. Its better i guess if she takes down the facebook account because the media will be using photos from her FB account to circulate with their stories

Mehr Tarar is an assistant editor with the daily times in Pakistan. So the hacker could be from pakistan too.

Mehr Tarar has now tweeted on Twitter that she is not going to respond – initially she put out some confused tweets after recieving the information from Shashi Tharoors tweets. Guess its not too difficult to figure out that his account @shashitharoor had got hacked

Guess those who are not from the intelligensia or regular talk show watchers must be asking “who is mehr tarar?”

After all Shashi Tharoors over 2 million followers will now be checking up on Google search

There is a tweet by a certain Dalia Ezzat – one of the followers of Mehr Tarars accounts who seems to have tweeted that Shashi Tharoors and Sunanda pushkars accounts have been hacked. She refers to “hacking by a 7th grader” – hopefully in jest 🙂

How can both Mr Tharoors and Sunanda’s account get hacked? – unless someone has been trying to break their accounts at the same time, or the hacking of one twitter account led to another – often hackers use the details in one account to get into another. Particularly if there are similar passwords or stored information(like in emails)