Power cuts short-circuit India’s Silicon Valley

Frequent power blackouts are taking a toll on the confidence of India’s Silicon Valley. Bangalore, which fetched Rs 68,500-crore foreign exchange for the country last year, is reeling under frequent unscheduled power cuts sometimes lasting 3-4 hours. This has not only infuriated small-scale enterprises but also the 1,800-company strong IT/ITes sector in the IT city. According to estimates by the Federation of Karnataka Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FKCCI), the power cuts are resulting the IT hub’s industrial belt losing around Rs 400 crore a day.

Bangalore requires 33 million units (mu) per day but it is currently receiving only around 30 mu. The demand may increase by another 2 mu per day during the summer months. So the worst is probably yet to come.

Talking to FE, Infosys HR head and board member TV Mohandas Pai said, “Karnataka’s power policy is a sad story and a complete failure.

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Sonia’s Lok Sabha campaign to start in Karnataka

Congress president Sonia Gandhi will launch the party’s Lok Sabha election campaign from Davangere in BJP ruled Karnataka next Monday, March 23, a day after the Congress releases its manifesto in New Delhi on March 22.

This was confirmed by Karnataka PCC president R.V. Deshpande. Congress strategists have chosen Karnataka for her first rally to give a befitting reply to the Third Front, which chose Dobbespet near Tumkur for its inaugural rally on March 12. The Congress is convinced that the new front will be a nonstarter.

The new front has strong supporters in neighbouring states — Andhra (TDP, TRS), Tamil Nadu (AIADMK) and Kerala (Left, besides the JD-S in Karnataka.

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After Orissa, its Karnataka

Two pastors and six others were injured in simultaneous attacks carried out on 14 churches and prayer halls by suspected Bajrang Dal activists in Mangalore, Udupi and Chikmagalur districts on Sunday.

Eyewitnesses told the police that some motorcycle-borne miscreants barged into prayer halls and ransacked them.

A statue of Jesus Christ was damaged in a prayer hall next to Milagres' Convent in Mangalore City. While some of these churches belonged to the Pentecostal Mission, the rest were of Roman Catholics. The pastors were injured at Sirur in Udupi and Jayapura in Chikmagalur.

The attackers apparently were protesting against an alleged conversion drive by missionaries in the region.

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“Smart Talk”

Talking they say, is a smart thing to do. Especially when it comes to taboo subjects, because it opens doors and eases the hesitance between people. To transform words into action, one needs to talk even more. The BBC World Service Trust, the charitable arm of BBC which specializes in development communications, has launched a four phase campaign to push men to talk more and more about a taboo subject.

To be run over a period of two and a half years, the media mix for the project consists of TV, radio and cinema, supported by billboards and print. The first phase of the campaign, called Jo Bola Wohi Sikander (JBWS), is under way and the BBC World Service Trust is strategically making attempts to generate interest, compel the target group to take action, and thereby create awareness about the taboo subject. The JBWH contest will run between November 30 and December 20, 2007, and will be seen in the states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Maharashtra, and Tamil Nadu.

In a clever move, the BBC World Service Trust has rolled out the campaign in the form of a riddle. The riddle is thrown as a bait at the target group (primarily SEC C, D and E men in the reproductive age band), who are pushed to enter a contest, answer a simple question and take away prizes.
The TVC has been dubbed in five Indian languages, including Hindi, depending upon the state in which the contest runs. Audiences will be given a local number to call up and leave their answers on – the lucky winners will receive a mobile phone with free talk time.