AP Medical College Earns ISO 9001:2015 Certification

AP Medical College Earns ISO 9001:2015 Certification:

AMC in Visakhapatnam, celebrating its centenary year, has achieved ISO 9001:2015 certification for its medical education services. This recognition was presented by HYM International Certifications, a prominent international certification body.

The certification was officially handed over to Dr. G. Butchi Raju, the Principal of AMC, by Sivayya of HYM International on September 3.

Founded in 1902 in Visakhapatnam, AMC initially commenced its program with an inaugural class of 50 students, known as the Licentiate Certificate Standard A program.

ap medical college earns iso 9001:2015 certification
AP Medical College Earns ISO 9001:2015 Certification

Also read: WhatsApp Bans 7.2M Suspicious Indian Accounts in July

IIIT Hyderabad Marks 25th Anniversary and Welcomes New Chairman

IIIT Hyderabad Marks 25th Anniversary and Welcomes New Chairman:

On Friday, IIIT Hyderabad (IIIT-H) announced the appointment of Prof. Ashok Jhunjhunwala as the new chairman, succeeding its founding chairman, Prof. Raj Reddy, as the institute celebrated its 25th anniversary.

IIIT-H director, Prof. P.J. Narayanan, highlighted that India has adopted the ‘IIIT-H model’ with the establishment of 20 Public-Private Partnership (PPP) IIITs. He emphasized that IIIT-Hyderabad has played a pivotal role in shaping various state and national institutions such as T-Hub, Centre of Innovation & Entrepreneurship (CIE), 21st Century Gurukulams, RGUKT, This includes institutions like the National Institute of Smart Governance (NISG) and more.

Prof. Narayanan also outlined the institute’s current areas of focus, which include signal processing and communications, data science and analytics, language technologies, robotics, security, theory and algorithms, smart cities, cognitive science, and computational social sciences, among others.

Upon assuming his role, Prof. Jhunjhunwala shared his vision for the institute, emphasizing the expansion of horizons while maintaining IIIT-H’s reputation as a hub for technological innovation and education.

iiit hyderabad marks 25th anniversary and welcomes new chairman
IIIT Hyderabad Marks 25th Anniversary and Welcomes New Chairman

He stressed the importance of fostering interdisciplinary collaboration and breaking down the boundaries between disciplines to encourage thriving research at the intersections. Prof. Jhunjhunwala expressed a commitment to investing in world-class infrastructure, recruiting top-tier faculty, and regularly updating the curriculum to align with the latest industry trends in the years ahead.

Also read: Enjoy the ‘Killi Killi’ Song Video

Job vacancies in India’s BFSI sector see significant growth in March: Report

Job vacancies in India’s banking, financial services and insurance (BFSI) sector have seen a significant year-on-year (YOY) growth in March, according to a report on Monday.

The report by job platform Naukri showed that the insurance and banking sectors are witnessing a secular bull run in new job creation, significantly contributing to the upward hiring trend in the overall white-collar job market of India.

The new jobs created in the insurance sector recorded an astonishing 108 percent growth in March 2023 compared to March 2022, primarily driven by jobs related to selling insurance products.

The banking sector displayed a 45 percent YoY growth fuelled by the expansion of digital banking services in the rapidly evolving global economy.

The promising aspect of this growth is its geographical spread where vacancies in cities as diverse as Ahmedabad, Vadodara, and Kolkata increased by 145 percent, 72 percent, and 49 percent respectively.

The new job creation spread across both global capability centres of multinational BFSI giants as well as the domestic financial stalwarts focused on selling insurance and banking products to the Indian consumers.

“The BFSI sector’s growth in a cautious job market signals resilience of the Indian economy and the expanding horizons of the white-collar job landscape. Non-metro cities are proving to be the catalysts for change, redefining the employment narrative in India,” Pawan Goyal, Chief Business Officer, Naukri.com, said in a statement.

The IT sector, on the other hand, witnessed consolidation in hiring with a decline of 17 percent in new jobs created compared to March last year.

The hiring intent declined across both large IT giants and unicorns, while hiring for early-to-mid-stage startups remained stable with respect to the same period last year.

Vacancies for high-demand roles such as big data engineers, DevOps, and software development engineers, which were on a growth path until recent times, have declined in March 2023 by 20 percent, 9 percent, and 6 percent, respectively. However, the demand for emerging roles like machine learning saw an uptick, the report showed.

New jobs created in other non-tech sectors such as oil, real estate, FMCG, and hospitality increased by 36 percent, 31 percent, 14 percent, and 7 percent, respectively, compared to last year’s base.

However, specific non-tech sectors such as retail, education, and BPO, exhibited cautious hiring sentiment with a 4 percent, 2 percent, and 2 per cent decline in hiring activity, respectively, according to the report.

Leading job portal Indeed lays off 2,200 employees, CEO ‘heartbroken’

Call it ironic but the leading job portal Indeed which helps thousands land their dream jobs has itself laid off 2,200 employees, or 15 percent of its workforce.

A ‘heartbroken’ Indeed CEO Chris Hyams announced that job cuts come from nearly every team, function, level, and region at Indeed and Indeed Flex.

“We anticipate we will be letting approximately 2,200 people go. This is roughly 15 per cent of our team. The specific decisions on who and where to cut were extremely difficult, but they were made with great care,” he said in a blog post late on Wednesday.

“Leading a company whose mission is to help people get jobs, every single day I think about how important a job is in a person’s life. Losing a job is extraordinarily hard, financially and emotionally,” he added.

The CEO said he will take a 25 per cent cut in base pay. Additionally, more than 75 percent of “my total compensation is directly tied to Indeed revenue growth, and is at risk given current trends,” he said.

The company will share information directly with everyone impacted and everyone outside of the UK, Ireland, the Netherlands, and Japan will receive an email informing them of their status.

If your position has been eliminated, the subject will be “Your Position Has Been Impacted.”

If your position has not been eliminated, the subject will be “Your Position Has Not Been Impacted.”

“In the UK, Ireland, the Netherlands, and Japan, unfortunately, local regulations will mean a longer wait. We will communicate with all of you today to outline the specifics in your region,” said the CEO.

Under the severance agreement, employees will receive 16 weeks of base salary, or two weeks for every year of service, whichever is greater.

“A cash payout equivalent to your RSUs scheduled to vest on May 1. For employees whose initial grant date was August 1, 2022, or later, you will receive a partial payout for RSUs that vest on May 1 with the standard one-year vesting cliff waived,” Hyams informed.

The payout will be calculated at the closing stock price on February 1.

Last quarter, US total job openings were down 3.5 percent year over year, while sponsored job volumes were down 33 percent.

“In the US, we are expecting job openings will likely decrease to pre-pandemic levels of about 7.5 million, or even lower over the next two to three years,” said the company.

Student groups protest at TSPSC office over exam paper leak

Student and youth wings of various opposition parties in Telangana on Tuesday tried to lay siege to the office of the Telangana State Public Service Commission (TSPSC) to protest over the leakage of the question paper.

Tension prevailed at the TSPSC office in the Nampally area here when workers of Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM) barged into the premises by scaling the boundary wall.

The protesters damaged the TSPSC Board. Police had a tough time controlling the protesters.

Carrying BJYM flags and raising slogans, the protesters clashed with the policemen who had erected barricades.

Demanding the suspension of the TSPSC chairman and secretary, activists of the youth wing of Telangana Jana Samithi (TJS) also staged a protest. Police detained the protesters who tried to barge into office premises and shifted them to a police station.

The protesters also demanded a thorough investigation into all exams held by TSPSC in the recent past. They demanded stringent action against those involved in paper leakage.

The BJYM leaders alleged that the government is playing with the lives of the unemployed by failing to check paper leakage.

Student groups also staged protests at Osmania University, demanding action against the TSPSC chairman.

Hyderabad Police on Monday arrested nine persons, including two employees of TSPSC and a police constable for leakage of question paper of the examination conducted for recruitment to the posts of Assistant Engineer in various departments.

The TSPSC conducted the examination on March 5 for 833 vacancies of Assistant Engineer, Municipal Assistant Engineer, Technical Officer, and Junior Technical Officer in various engineering departments. A total of 55,000 candidates had written the exam.

As the two employees TSPSC allegedly copied folders containing the question papers of various exams from computers in the confidential section, the Commission already postponed recruitment examinations to posts of Town Planning Building Overseer scheduled on March 12 and Veterinary Assistant Surgeon scheduled to be held on March 15 and 16.

The Commission is scheduled to meet later in the day to take a decision on canceling the exam held on March 5 and conduct a re-exam.

Four lakh students drop out as UP Board exams begin

0

More than four lakh students have dropped out on the first day of the UP Board examinations for Classes 10 and 12.

The exam began on Thursday. As per reports received at the UP Board headquarters from the 75 districts, as many as 2,18,189 students out of the total registered 31,14,224 skipped the exam in the first shift itself.

Those who remained absent in the first shift included 2,17,702 out of 31,08,584 of high school and 487 out of the total registered 5,640 intermediate students.

In the second shift also, 1,83,865 intermediate students out of the total registered 25,80,544 skipped the exam taking the total to 4,02,054.

Board secretary Divyakant Shukla said that the strict anti-copying measures undertaken on the orders of the state government led to four lakh students skipping the exam on the very first day.

On the first day itself, a total of nine proxy candidates were nabbed, five in Ghazipur and one each in Mathura, Jaunpur, Bulandshahr and Lucknow.

“FIRs are being registered against these nine individuals,” board officials said.

A total of 11 students were also caught cheating in the exam on the first day. Seven boys and three girls of high school and one boy of intermediate were caught, officials added.

In the first shift, FIR was registered against Yogendra Yadav, principal of Shri Suchit Nandan Inter College, Vishanpura of Ghazipur for facilitating use of unfair means in the exam.

The state government had deputed police as well as personnel of the local intelligence unit (LIU) and special task force (STF) of the state police for smooth and fair conduct of the exams.

To ensure copying does not take place, CCTV cameras, with 3 lakh voice recorders have been installed in 1.43 lakh examination rooms of all 8,753 examination centres across the state that include 540 government institutions, and 3,523 private and 4,690 unaided colleges.

Online monitoring of the exam centres is also being done from the control room set up in the District School Inspector’s offices besides a central state-level control room in Lucknow.

A total of 170 jailed prisoners are also registered to appear in the UP Board exams this year. Of them, 79 are registered to write the high school exam while 91 will take intermediate exam.

Philippine unemployment rate rose slightly at 4.3% in Dec 2022

The unemployment rate in the Philippines reached 4.3 percent in December 2022, 0.1 percentage point higher than the performance in November but the second lowest since April 2005, new data revealed on Wednesday.

According to the data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), the number of unemployed Filipinos rose to 2.22 million in December, reports Xinhua news agency.

Boosted by the full resumption of commercial activities, pent-up demand, and holiday spending, top employment contributors in December include wholesale and retail trade, other service activities, and accommodation and food service activities.

Addressing reporters here, PSA head Dennis Mapa said the unemployment rate has declined to the pre-pandemic levels since July 2022 after jumping to 17.6 percent in April 2020 when the government had imposed lockdowns to curb the spread of Covid-19.

As the economy further reopened, the National Economic and Development Authority said the corresponding expansion in the services and industry sectors resulted in an additional 2.7 million employed persons year-on-year, bringing total employment to 49 million Filipinos.

TN to set up high-tech labs in Classes 6 to 8 with support from IT companies

The Tamil Nadu school education department will hire IT companies to set up high-tech labs in Classes 6 to 8.

Presently high-tech labs are set up in government high schools and higher secondary schools. The state school education department will direct the IT companies to procure computer systems for the projects.

Sources in the state school education department told IANS that each high-tech lab would be provided with 10 computer systems, a projector with a mounting kit, web cameras, and LAN connectivities with a hard disk capacity of 1 TB annually. High-tech printers, headphones, and CCTV cameras will also be installed.

The computer firm will provide UPS, and generators will also be kept available for uninterrupted power supply. The operating system will be open software and Linux will be provided. The IT firm will maintain each laboratory for five years and the company will also replace the worn-out equipment.

The company will appoint service engineers in each district to monitor the functioning of the labs and uninterrupted Internet connectivity will be provided to all the systems.

Extensive training will later be provided to five selected teachers from each school for properly handling these high-tech laboratories.

9 in 10 Indians believe hybrid job improves work-life balance

More than 9 in 10 (92 percent) Indian employees believe that a hybrid work environment improves work-life balance and over 7 in 10 (72 percent) say that the hybrid work model is more productive, a report showed on Tuesday.

About 88 percent said hybrid work is increasing employee retention. However, employees need better technological tools to thrive in the hybrid working model, according to a global study by PC and printer major HP.

Most employees are unwilling to go back to the office full-time as they are relishing the hybrid work model, which became a necessity in the last two years due to the pandemic.

“Organisations need to re-evaluate a hybrid workplace culture that offers flexibility and work-life balance while encouraging inclusivity, engagement, and a sense of well-being among employees. Most importantly, monitor employee satisfaction to boost productivity at large,” said Ketan Patel, Managing Director, HP India Market.

Employers too have something to cheer about as Indian employees indicate a higher probability of staying in their current job if given a hybrid work option.

“The hybrid model is seen to amplify employees’ chance to prioritize personal well-being. Most of the respondents prefer working from the office for two-three days a week,” the findings showed.

About 51 percent of respondents said that laptops help them carry out tasks more productively and 43 percent agreed that they have a more enhanced collaborative process through laptops.

According to the report, firms must provide access to better tools while conducting adequate training, to further boost productivity.

“Additionally, promoting a culture of trust within the workplace leads to inclusivity in a hybrid work environment,” it added.

In India, 30 percent of the respondents said that internet connection is one of the major disruptions.

61% Indians wary of revealing salary to co-workers, friends: LinkedIn

Sharing salary information is considered taboo in India, and 61 percent of professionals are more comfortable sharing their payment details with family members rather than with co-workers or friends, a LinkedIn report said on Thursday.

Just one in 10 professionals said they would discuss their salaries with coworkers they trust (13 percent) and peers they trust in other companies (9 percent).

According to LinkedIn’s Workforce Confidence Index, India’s overall workforce confidence has dwindled slightly.

“This is due to a volatile perception towards jobs, finances, and career progress in these times of global uncertainty,” said the report.

Despite a dip in overall confidence, India’s workforce remains optimistic about navigating these challenges as seven in 10 professionals say they are confident about reaching the next level in their field, their work experience, and education, and chances of their income increasing.

“Professionals are still not comfortable having conversations about pay in the workplace,” said Nirajita Banerjee, India Managing Editor, LinkedIn News.

Family and friends remain India’s closest confidantes when it comes to sharing the size of their paychecks.

However, “the current generation of young professionals are more willing to share pay information with their coworkers and industry peers as compared to other generations”, Banerjee noted.

In fact, Gen Z professionals are found most likely to share their pay across their whole network as compared to any other age group.

Around 72 percent of Gen Z and 64 percent of millennials in India say they are comfortable sharing their payment information with family members, while 43 percent of Gen Z and 30 percent of millennials are also willing to confide in their close friends.

“Gen Z is keen to influence change and eager to lead these conversations in the workplace, Banerjee added.

About 45 percent of professionals in India say pay discussions among peers are discouraged at their workplace.

Further, 36 percent of professionals in India also say they feel anxious about sharing their payment information with anyone.