ATS chief, 2 other top police officers killed

Three top Mumbai police officers, including two from the Anti-Terrorism Squad, were killed in Wednesday night's terror attack on the financial capital, top police sources confirmed.

ATS chief Hemant Karkare -- who was investigating the Malegaon blast case, Additional Commissioner Ashok Kamte and noted encounter specialist Vijay Salaskar and were killed in an incident outside Mumbai's Cama hospital, ATS sub-inspector Sudhir Dalvi, who was part of the operation led by the deceased, told rediff.com over phone.

"Our chief Karkare, my senior officer Salaskar and Adnl Commissioner of police Kamte died while engaging terrorists outside the Cama hospital. All of a sudden terrorists threw grenades at Karkare leading to chaos.

"We are unable to confirm whether they were fell to terrorist fire or were killed by a grenade attack,

Is this Indian Mujahideen's revenge on the ATS?

Even as the police force and the Intelligence Bureau verify the Deccan Mujahideen's claims of orchestrating the Mumbai terror attacks, they are not ruling out the involvement of the Indian Mujahideen , an offshoot of the Students Islamic Movement of India.

The IB points out that the e-mail sent by the Indian Mujahideen in September had made revealed their animosity towards Mumbai and the Anti Terrorist Squad.

Following the terror attacks in Bangalore, Ahmedabad and New Delhi, there was a major crackdown on IM cadres across India and the Mumbai ATS was responsible for most such arrests.

'Terrorists may have come by boat'

The IM, in an email sent out in September, had warned the ATS against harassing Muslims in Mumbai and said that it was closely watching every move made by the squad.

In the email, the IM stated, "You ( the ATS) should know that your acts are not at all unnoticed; we are keeping an eye on you and just waiting for the right time to execute bloodshed. We are aware of your recent raids at Ansarnagar, Mograpada in Andheri and the harassment and trouble you created for the Muslims."

Latest: Over 100 hostages still trapped in Taj

"You threatened to murder them and you even misbehaved with the Muslim women and children," the email alleged.
"If your arrogance has reached this degree and if you think that you can scare us by your stunts, then let the IM warn the people of Mumbai that the ATS will be responsible for the deadly attacks on Mumbaikars in the future."

The Intelligence Bureau believes that the IM wanted to play it safe and hence has adopted a pseudo name of Deccan Mujahideen for this particular operation.

ATS chief, 2 other top police officers killed

Through this operation, the IM is trying to prove its mettle and sending out a message to the intelligence agencies that there is little that can be done to stop them.

Is there a better way to be handed a pink slip

It’s never a good thing to be let go from a job. But, believe it or not, some ways are better than others.
I know what you’re probably thinking: What a ridiculous question. There is no gentle way to hand out a pink slip. There is no way to be told that “your services are no longer needed” but “here is the number to our local unemployment office” and/or “an explanation of why we won’t be offering severance packages this round” that doesn’t sting. Want to do it better? Don’t do it at all.

But, it is hard to argue that there aren’t better and worse ways to break bad news. Countless layoff horror stories abound- from IMs to being informed by security that you are just a “visitor” now and disabled network connections-suggesting that even the so-called smartest companies could use a little tutorial in how to break bad news with respect and tact.

1. Don’t spread layoffs over multiple rounds: Rounds of layoffs is a “horrible idea”, says Calcanis, because it creates massive fear and uncertainty inside of your organization.
2. Lay people off in a group, not individually: Calcanis found that telling people one-by-one was not more humane.
3. Don’t sugarcoat the rationale: Be 100 percent honest and upfront about why you chose to keep some people and not others.
4. Cutting jobs is better than cutting salaries: Rather than angering everyone in the organization by hurting all of their bottom lines, cut a few salaries altogether and leave the people you want to keep as happy as possible.
5. Give severance even if you don’t have to, and freelancer work, where you can: Be as generous as you can be, said Calcanis, and don’t forget these people when you start hiring again.
6. Lay people off at the end of the day: No need to keep people around until the end of the day or week. When they’re done, let them leave.
7. Get over it and get back to work: The reality is, everyone else needs to get back to work.

How about you? If you’ve ever been laid off, how do you think it could have been handled better?

Always factor in the pre payment charges before transferring your home loan to alternate banks

After Diwali one can see the dip in Home loan rates as most of the commercial banks plan to cut down on home loan interest rates. Punjab National Bank (PNB) and Union Bank of India (UBI) have already slashed rates up to 50 basis points. UBI has cut rates by 50 basis points for loans up to Rs 30 lakh . But this reduction in rates may not hold good for all the types of loans. However the private loan providers like HDFC and ICICI prefer to wait and then make their move.
These rate cuts are due to a shift in the policy of RBI and the Government. After two years of credit tightening and the recent liquidity situation, there is a complete U turn in the credit policy of the government. In Home loans where one has opted for floating rate of interest , one gets the benefit of reduced rates even if the rate he has borrowed is different and vice versa.
But in last few years if there are cuts in Home loan rates they are usually given first to new borrowers and then to the existing customers. Banks pass on the reduced rates to the existing users after some time. With the fall in property prices and discounts by various property developers the customer is going to be the King again
In case of Personal loans, Car Loans the trend is still on the opposite way as the liquidity crunch and higher defaults in above segments prevent Banks to lower rates. Personal loans disbursals in the entire country are on the way down. A large number of private Banks have either stop sourcing Personal loans or have downsized there business. Car Loans is also going through the same phase.
From the government side,the efforts are now on to make sure Credit is available to the general public.The finance ministry sources said the government is in constant touch with commercial banks to ensure an easy liquidity for priority sector loans. "The government and the central bank have taken a series of measures to infuse liquidity into the system and there is no reason that the banks should be wary of providing credit to genuine borrowers even after that," an official said.
So, keep a close watch, and choose your best deal!!

How to be a happy employee

Let's look at what might make an employee unhappy.

* Unfair rewards and recognition
* Office politics
* Un-cooperative team
* Unreasonable boss
* Insufficient compensation
* Constant threat to job security
* Lack of responsibility in the current job
* No clear career path
* Seating location
* Lack of basic facilities at workplace

And the list goes on and on. Some of these things may not really propel an employee to quit, but it might lead to negative energy which leads to low productivity. When an employee is under-productive he or she will be the first target when companies look for opportunities to give pink slips.

Being happy is always in your hands. A happy employee is more productive and gives more than an unhappy employee. So let's look at some ways to up the happiness factor.

1. Plan your week on Sunday night
Look at your work calendar and plan your week on Sunday night or Monday morning. This would include important meetings, deliverables, a brief summary of things that are pending from last week and any tasks to be achieved during the week. Though this might look like a time management tip, at the end of the week, on Friday night when you re-visit what you have achieved over the last five days, the satisfaction is immense.

2. Undertake activities that you are passionate about even though it might not be in your job profile
Start an initiative that you would love to do irrespective of whether it is required for you to do or not.

* Send a daily newsletter to your team on the topics that most of them will be interested.
* Do a presentation on the topic that you are passionate about.
* Organise a small sports event for your team.
* Call everyone in your team for a team coffee, breakfast or lunch break
* Appreciate colleagues in your team or in a cross-functional team who did a great job
* Write a poem on your team's achievements
* Arrange a potluck lunch

3. Do not indulge in the blame game
If something goes wrong do not blame others blindly. If you commit a mistake, do not hesitate to accept it. As Gauthama Buddha said, there are three things we can't hide for long: the sun, earth and the truth. Accepting your mistake gracefully will only make you look like a true professional and also give you the satisfaction of not cheating.

4. Communicate more often in person
Utilise all the opportunities where you can speak to an individual in person rather than e-mail or phone. But be aware of the other person's time and availability. Listening to a positive answer from a person will give you more happiness than if it is done over the phone or via e-mail.

5. Know what is happening at your workplace
Will this make a person happy? Truly, yes! Imagine a cricket team that doesn't know how many runs to score to win a match? More than losing the game, the player will never be interested or motivated to play well.

Attend all meetings that are addressed by the CEO to your immediate manager to know what is going to happen around you. It could be the company's growth plan or your department's next big project. Jack Welch mentions in his book Winning "every employee, not just the senior people, should know how a company is doing."

You will also get an extra edge if you are in a position to answer queries raised by your peers or juniors. This is not just for the good reasons, but bad reasons as well. You do not want to be the last employee to know if your company is laying off employees (in the worst case, if you are the one who is on that list).

6. Participate in organisation-level activities
This could be as simple as spending one weekend for a corporate social responsibility activity or attending a recruitment drive to help your HR team or arranging a technical/sports event at the organisational level. Most of these events will be successful as people do come on their own to contribute.

7. Have a hobby that keeps you busy and happy
Many people say their hobby is watching TV or listening to music or reading the newspaper. These aren't hobbies, they are just ways of passing the time. Some hobbies are evergreen and will keep you evergreen as well: dancing, painting, writing short stories, poems, blogs and sharing your experiences.

8. Take up a sport
While choosing a sport make sure that there is physical activity. There is the danger of becoming addicted to sports where there is less physical activity (like computer games, chess, cards etc). Physical activity keeps a person healthy and happy. If you pick up one sport well, you can represent your organisation in corporate sports event too.

9. Keep yourself away from office politics
Politics, as a practice, whatever its profession, has always been the systematic organization of hatreds. -- Henry Brooks Adams

Politics is everywhere and the office is no exception. Playing politics might be beneficial but only for the short term. So the best thing to do is play fair.

10. Wish and smile
More often than not, there are fair chances that the other person will smile back. This could be your security guard at the gate, your receptionist, your office boy, your CEO or your manager -- never forget to wish them and smile.

11. Volunteer for some activity

"The value of a man resides in what he gives and not in what he is capable of receiving." � Albert Einstein

Do at least one activity without expecting anything in return. There is no set frequency for this. This could be once in a day or once in a week or thrice in a week. It could be as simple as making tea at the office for your colleague, helping a colleague who is working in another department by using your skills, dropping your colleague at his door step in your car, going to your manager or colleague to ask if there is any help you can extend, contributing to technical or knowledge management communities in your organisation etc.

Employees, not hackers, cause most corporate data loss

Majority of corporate data loss comes from risky employee actions and systemic failures at the corporate level when it comes to implementing comprehensive IT security policies. Now, a new study from Compuware reports new information that supports Trend Micro's conclusions from back in July. The unsung heroes in the IT department, it turns out, may be doing a better job stopping outside hackers than they get credit for.

According to a new study (PDF, info required) from Compuware, IT departments should take a bow—only 1 percent of corporate data losses this past year were due to hackers. Unfortunately, the good news mostly ends there. Negligent employees are far and away the largest cause of data breaches, but IT managers also listed outsourcing and malicious employees (possibly ex-employees as well, one assumes) as two significant reasons why data breaches often occur.

Compuware reports that of the 1,112 IT practitioners it surveyed, 79 percent reported that their organization had experienced at least one data breach. That's an extraordinarily high number, but there are several intervening variables that may have inflated it.

* Compuware does not completely define the term "data breach." It provides an indication of what it means by describing a data breach as "the loss or theft of information about individuals such as consumer data, customer information, employee records, and so forth." That definition is more than adequate for a general discussion or description, but fails to address certain meaningful nuances.
* Compuware does not filter its results by magnitude; a breach that affected two million people is treated equally to one that impacted just two.
* Compuware does not filter by severity; this is where the subtle nuances of definition I mentioned earlier come into play. We know that a data breach involves the loss or theft of consumer data or employee records, for example, but no information on what, precisely, was stolen or exposed. If I'm a customer of JC Penney, and someone steals the list of customers who bought there over the past 24 months, I'm unhappy. If that list contained my home phone number and address, I'm concerned. If, on the other hand, that list contained my phone number, address, Social Security number, and credit card information, I'm downright worried, and may wish to take immediate action.

I raise these variables because the "gotcha!" of this particular story—79 percent of companies reporting data breaches—has, in my view, been somewhat distorted in the reporting. Compuware's figures may be perfectly accurate, but I'd be careful when drawing any conclusions from them—not every data breach is of TJ Maxx proportions.

In general, Compuware's study seems well-grounded and covers a number of interesting topics. Asked where their efforts are typically focused post-breach, a large group—41 percent of those surveyed—indicated that they participate in investigating, categorizing, and verifying the particulars of the incident. 18 percent of respondents indicate they were involved in remediation activities, 16 percent were tasked with training and educating staff or personnel, 11 percent conducted a root-cause analysis, and 10 percent established an incident response team.

I'm not sure what to make of that last, since incident response teams are emergency groups trained to respond when an emergency occurs. The fact that so many respondents were involved in specifically establishing one implies that 10 percent of the organizations surveyed didn't have them to begin with. Note the relatively low number of IT employees who were asked to spend time training fellow workers, as this will be important later.

Next up, we've got what I personally consider to be the most interesting information in the report, for all that it's largely gone unreported by the press. Having ascertained the roles IT personnel are most likely to play in the event of a data breach, Compuware asked them how confident they are in their own organization's ability to respond to such an event.

The majority of IT workers surveyed are clearly less-than confident in their employer's ability to monitor and detect information theft, even though they themselves almost certainly play a role in such efforts; 56 percent of respondents labeled themselves either "Somewhat confident" or "Not confident." As for the "Unsure" category, it's hard to imagine that the security professionals who opted for this category are secretly "Very Confident" or "Confident." As for why the breaches themselves occur, there's one category that stands out in particular:

Asked to name the leading causes of data breaches, IT staff couldn't run for the negligence category fast enough. Combine this with the fact that most workers don't trust their company to monitor the occurrence of data theft and the fact that relatively few IT staffers are tasked with employee training post-breach, the entire corporate security model begins to sway suspiciously.

The majority of IT professionals surveyed don't believe their employers can adequately monitor company resources for data breaches or prevent these breaches from occurring. Who's causing the breaches? Negligent employees. Given these two facts, one would expect to see the number of IT staff involved in employee training to skyrocket post-breach, as the company attempts to plug the hole, but again, evidence suggests this isn't happening; the majority of IT staffers are involved in fixing the technical aspects of the problem, with relatively few addressing the root cause of the issue.

This obviously makes some sense, given that the IT department wasn't hired to teach Security 101, but it may also indicate that company management hasn't grasped the true root of the problem. It's easy to bring in a consultant for some remedial security training, but without the explicit involvement of the IT department, such training will inevitably focus more on general bad practices and less on the specific situations that may have exposed customer data in this particular case. There's nothing in Compuware's report, meanwhile, that suggests this loop is changing, or that IT workers today feel more confident in their company's ability to deal with a data breach than employees did five years ago.

The report ultimately suggests that the vast majority of companies have security models that are semifunctional at best. Accountability is a hit-or-miss affair, confidence in the system as a whole is minimal, and the flaws that contribute to data breaches aren't confined to any single level of an organization. Not the most optimistic Friday read, I'll admit, but the results aren't all that surprising, either.

Live-in: Some fear misuse, Some welcome it

Maharashtra government's nod to the 'live-in' proposal, where in it considered giving the status of a 'wife' to a woman, if she is involved in such a relationship for a 'reasonable period', has received mixed reactions, raising fears of misuse.

Nishita John, a professional working in a consultancy firm feels that the government need not bring in legislation to regulate live-in relationships.

"If the relationship between the two individuals is consensual, then both should also consider how they will manage if the relationship should fail. It is not for the state to decide anything," she said.

Maharashtra government had approved the proposal on October 8, based on recommendations of the Justice Mallimath Committee which said if a man and a woman are living together as husband and wife for a 'reasonably long period', the man shall be deemed to have married the woman according to customary rights of either party.

The committee had also mooted that the definition of the word 'wife' under Section 125 of the CrPc, be amended to include a woman, living with the man like his wife for a 'reasonably long period'.

However, the definition of 'reasonably long period' is missing from the recommendation, which has left many worried on account of its worthiness and ramifications as it may be grossly misused.

"The period for which the couple live together should be clearly defined to ensure that it cannot be misused," Vivek Jaiswal, a software professional, said.

Indian cities have been seeing a growing number of live-in relationships, a concept once frowned upon as being too 'Western', and popular culture like films have also begun to accept the reality of its existence.

However, experts feel that the debate over the amendment was a larger one that extended beyond live-in relationships, which are more an urban phenomenon.

"The amendment would be more useful to women living in rural areas. In many areas polygamy still exists with no legal rights for the second wife under law," lawyer and women's right activist Veena Gowda said.

This new definition of a wife under the CrPC would provide some financial protection to women who are in relationships that are deemed as marriage by the society they live-in but have no legal standing, she said.