I would like to give some details about the Onam celebration conducted by Mr.Jabir's Kerala Wing.
They used to tell every one that, they are always with the poor Keralites in Oman. Last year they have diverted fund worth Ro.2500/- for recreation , from the fund called 'Jeevakarunniyam Fund'. The above mentioned Fund is supposed to be used for the humanitarian activities, which will benefit the poor people. They are expected to reinstate that fund from the revenue of this year. This year they have a balance of Ro.3100 . Out of this fund 40 % to be allocated for 'Jeevakarunniya Fund', that amounts to Ro.1240/-. In short Ro.3740 (2500+1240) to be allocated for 'Jeevakarunniya Fund' todate, I.e. they have to find Ro.640 more to comply the regulation they themselves formulated!
Onam celebration cannot be cancelled! So, they decided to violate the regulation again and utilise the money with them. They brought K.N.Paniker from Kerala. Only a sleek crowd was there at I.S.M. hall, to listen his speech about the teachings of Sree Narayana Guru,on 01/09/04! On 02/09/04 art activities were there. The main function was on 03/09/04. The Lunch was arranged at Al Sawadi Beach Resort( 4 star Hotel). They spend Ro.800/- for around 300 persons for a LUNCH. They arranged transport facilities for members and guests from I.S.M. to Sawadi Beach Resort, which is situated at Km 45 away. Most of the Management committee members , Members and guests ruled the BAR till evening. It was a good day for the Bar section of the Hotel.
Caption 1 reads:
Her Majesty Queen Rania Al-Abdullah of Jordan officially inaugurated the first of forty nine schools in Jordan to be equipped with the IBM Kidsmart Early Learning Centres. The inauguration ceremony took place alongside the official launch of Jordan’s new curriculum for Kindergarten schools.
The Kidsmart initiative is to see the donation by IBM of over 100 of these centres to Jordan’s Ministry of Education in 2004 and is the first such initiative to take place in the Arab countries.
Caption 2 reads:
Her Majesty Queen Rania Al-Abdullah of Jordan (left) with Samer Shaar, general manager of IBM Middle East at the inauguration of the first of forty nine schools in Jordan to be equipped with the IBM Kidsmart Early Learning Centres. T
Kidsmart Kicks off in Jordan
Jordan's Queen Rania Al-Abdullah Inaugurates First Kidsmart school as IBM initiative equips schools and teachers for early years e-learning as part of national e-learning push
Amman, September 2nd 2004
Her Majesty Queen Rania Al-Abdullah of Jordan has officially inaugurated the first of forty nine schools in Jordan to be equipped with Kidsmart Early Learning Centres, PC based learning tools that will encourage collaborative learning using software early years learning tools in Jordanian schools. The inauguration ceremony took place alongside the official launch of Jordan's new curriculum for Kindergarten schools.The Kidsmart initiative is to see the donation by IBM of over 100 of these centres to Jordan's Ministry of Education in 2004 and is the first such initiative to take place in the Arab countries. IBM will continue to work with the Ministry on their future plan for over 200 schools.
"As Jordan launches its national early years curriculum, we are delighted to be working with IBM on bringing the Kidsmart initiative in Jordan. We are focused today on a programme of development that will migrate all of Jordan's national learning resources to e-learning and connected learning platforms and this initiative is a key component in our early years planning," said Jordanian Minister of Education, Dr. Khaled Toukan. "Kidsmart is an important contribution to our work, particularly in less advantaged communities in Jordan."
The Kidsmart initiative includes the donation of specially equipped early learning terminals designed by IBM in collaboration with children's equipment manufacturer Little Tikes. The units are designed to allow two or more children to work together, sharing learning experiences driven by educational software developed by Riverdeep. The software, which has been translated into Arabic, covers basic skills in maths, science and creative writing and thinking. The initiative has so far seen the installation of the first 49 Kidmsart centres in Jordanian schools, as well as training provided to over 200 Jordanian early years teachers. The teacher training and implementation of the Kidsmart units is being overseen by the Ministry of Education team.
"Kidsmart is an exciting initiative for IBM in Jordan that links to Jordan's ERFKE (Education Reform for the Knowledge Economy) strategic framework and we have been delighted to be able to work with the Ministry of Education team on implementing the scheme. This first move forms part of an ongoing commitment by IBM to work with the Ministry on implementing key elements of the Jordanian national e-learning initiative," said general manager, IBM Middle East, Egypt and Pakistan, Dr. Samer Shaar. "We're proud to be part of such a progressive and far-sighted programme."
The Kidsmart programme also includes ongoing development and training opportunities for early learning practitioners in Jordan, including access to the global Kidsmart website which has been developed in partnership with the US Centre for Children and Technology. The site, www.kidsmartearlylearning.org provides ongoing resources and support for teachers and parents using ICT with young children and is multi-lingual.
IBM developed KidSmart in 1999 to extend its partnership programmes in the education sector to cover the critical pre-school years. The programme was designed specifically to address the digital divide in access to Information Technology. KidSmart units are donated to public schools serving disadvantaged communities so that children who would otherwise not have access to IT are able to benefit from enriched teaching and learning. IBM runs the KidSmart programme in more than 50 countries around the world and will have donated 20,000 units by the end of 2005, benefiting over 4 million children (this represents an investment of $56m USD). IBM delivers the KidSmart programme through partnerships, usually with the Ministry of Education or a leading early education professional body.
A report representing an independent evaluation of IBM's KidSmart Early Learning Programme in six European countries is to be published this month. Carried out by a team of university researchers over a two year period to the end of 2003, the report highlights very positive findings which clearly demonstrate the strong impact of this programme on curriculum development and effective teaching and learning with information and communications technology (ICT) in the pre-school sector. In addition, it establishes the value of high quality professional training in the use of ICT and presents evidence of improved teacher confidence, as well as strong gains in children's enjoyment of learning.
Photo Caption Program 2:
Jordanian Students using KidSmart programme from IBM and the Ministry of Education.
Jordanian Students using KidSmart Programme
Tanmia launches the first-ever "Certified Professional Human Resource and
Compensation" programThe program is designed to equip UAE Nationals with the skills needed to
take up jobs in HR management and developmentSeptember 03, 2004
DUBAI - The National Human Resources Development and Employment Authority (Tanmia) has launched the region's first "Certified Professional Human Resource and Compensation (CPHRC)" program that aims to provide world-class training to UAE National job seekers to take up employment in the field of Human Resource Management and Development.
The program is open to holders of Higher Colleges of Technology (HCT) certificates and to graduates with Bachelor's degree level. The first batch, comprising 20 UAE National students, is due to begin the program today, September 4, 2004.
Launched in association with LinkConsult, the program delivers comprehensive professional training in HR management through a series of courses put together by the World Federation of Personnel Management Associations (WFPMA), the global apex HR organization that has developed the Body of Knowledge on which the CPHRC certification is based, in conjunction with a number of member national and international associations.
"The Certified Professional Human Resource and Compensation program comes as an answer to the growing demand for National HR professionals in the workforce," said Ayesh Al Barguthi, Director, Employment and Skills Development Centre, Tanmia. "The aim of the CPHRC certification is to provide the business sector with young professionals equipped with advanced knowledge and skills
in order to develop and leverage human expertise and to improve both personal and organizational performance. Tanmia is positive that this new program will give an extra edge to UAE Nationals pursuing a career in HR management."The CPHRC program consists of four distinct courses, each comprising 40 contact hours, supported by periods of on-the-job training between the courses. The full program encompasses 160 hours, complemented by a total of nine weeks of on-the-job training.
The four main courses will lead to four distinct certificates: HR Generalist Certificate, Certificate in Compensation Management, Certificate in HR Administration and the Advanced HR Generalist Certificate. In addition to the HR Body of Knowledge, modules specific to the UAE have been added to address such issues as the UAE Labour Law and Pension Plan.
Successful completion of the four courses and the passing of each course examination achieve certification as a "Certified Professional in Human Resources and Compensation" (CPHRC) issued by the US Institute of Human Resource Management Education, along with an HR Diploma delivered by LinkConsult.
The Body of Knowledge, on which the CPHRC certification is based, has been developed by WFPMA in conjunction with the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) of the United States and the Chartered Institute for Personnel and Development (CIPD) of the UK. The material for the Compensation course is based on the work conducted by WorldatWork, formerly US American Compensation
Association.The CPHRC program will make the participants competent to work in the various functional areas of human resource management and development. The program has been developed in such a way as to ensure that the acquired knowledge,
together with practical experience, help accelerate the career growth of the incumbents. (keralamonitor.com)WORLD OIL PRICES AND THE INDIAN ECONOMY
Paranjoy Guha Thakurta*
When international prices of crude oil touched a record high of US $ 49 a barrel on August 20 as violence in Iraq flared up, it sent shock waves through the world. Oil-importing countries like India received the news with considerable trepidation as soaring energy costs were bound to fuel inflationary pressures. So long as the country imports close to three-fourth of its requirements of crude oil, the Indian economy is bound to be vulnerable to oil price shocks. Sure enough, the same day world oil prices rose to unprecedented levels, it was learnt that the point-to-point inflation rate as measured by the official wholesale price index for the week ended August 7 touched nearly 8 per cent, the highest in three and a half years.
On two occasions in June and July, oil refining and marketing companies in the country had increased the prices of petroleum products. On June 15, petrol prices went up by Rs 2 per litre and diesel prices by Re one per litre while the price of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) or cooking gas rose by Rs 20 per cylinder. Thereafter, on July 31, petrol prices again rose by an average of Rs 1.10 per litre and diesel prices went up by Rs 1.42 per litre.
The August 18 decision of the Ministry of Finance to cut customs duties as well as excise duties on petrol, diesel, kerosene and LPG, checked a further hike in the prices that consumers would have had to pay for petroleum products. International prices of crude oil are currently hovering in the region of $ 45 a barrel. If these prices do not come down in the coming weeks, another round of hikes in the prices of petroleum products would become inevitable.
World oil prices had shot up before the US invasion on Iraq began in March 2003. Prices started slackening thereafter, but only for a brief period. There was subsequently no let-up in the increase in the global prices of crude oil. Low stocks of fuel in the US, political tension in Venezuela - the third largest producer of crude oil in the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) - as well as the Madrid bomb blasts had sent international oil prices skyrocketing to levels that were higher than those that prevailed before the outbreak of the war against Iraq. Unrest in oil-exporting Nigeria and a financial scandal involving the Russian oil major, Yukos, worsened the situation.
At a time when international supply of and demand for crude oil were finely balanced, the rise in demand during the summer months and, more importantly, the continuing conflict in Iraq, resulted in crude oil prices touching new heights.
What compounded matters for the new Government was that the earlier Government deliberately did not allow public sector oil companies to increase the prices of petrol and diesel because of the April-May general elections. Thus, so-called autonomous refining and marketing companies were arm-twisted by the Government of the day not to increase petroleum product prices although world prices were rising steadily
The Reserve Bank of India has estimated that every one US dollar rise in the international price per barrel of crude oil adds $ 600 million (around Rs 2,800 crore) to the country's oil import bill. Since the mid-1990s, the quantum of crude oil produced in India has either fallen or stagnated.
The country's dependence on imported crude oil and petroleum products jumped from barely 30 per cent of total demand in 1991 to over 70 per cent at present, since domestic output has failed to keep pace with demand. When the first Gulf war broke out in January 1991, India was cushioned from the full impact of the surge in world oil prices simply because the country imported less than one-third of its requirements of crude oil and petroleum products. Production from Bombay High had just about peaked at that juncture and the rise in the domestic demand for petroleum products was not outstripping the growth in indigenous output of crude oil. Over the next twelve years or so, the situation slowly reversed and India started becoming increasingly dependent on imported crude oil.
It has been evident for some time now that the improvement of the oil infrastructure in Iraq would take much longer than what had been initially anticipated by the US. Shri M. S. Ramachandran, Chairman and Managing Director, Indian Oil Corporation - the country's largest oil refining and marketing company - had pointed out as early as April 24, 2003 at a meeting organized by the Confederation of Indian Industry that Basra light crude oil may not start flowing in large quantities from Iraq in a hurry. (Basra light happens to be the darling of Indian refiners.) He had added that there had been reports of poor reservoir management, corrosion, deterioration of water injection facilities and damage to storage and pumping equipment in that war-ravaged country.
The global oil scenario remains uncertain and volatile. Iraq's future relationship with OPEC is still not clear. OPEC was incidentally born in Baghdad in 1960. In the run-up to the war, India had imported oil at relatively high prices to build stocks. Though Iraq had accounted for barely 5 per cent of our total oil imports in recent years, the Middle East in general and the Persian Gulf in particular remains an important area from which India imports oil even if purchases are contracted out of Russia or far-away Venezuela. Industry experts estimate that close to two-thirds of India's total oil imports come from the Middle East, simply because of geographical proximity.
At the root of the problem of high international oil prices is a simple fact. The US currently guzzles as much as one-fourth of the world's total consumption of various petroleum products while possessing less than 5 per cent of the earth's proven reserves of fossil fuels - America also accounts for an equal proportion of the world's population. High fuel consumption in the US is met largely out of imports since that country conserves its own oil reserves. The impact of this policy is felt on the rest of the world, including oil-importing countries such as India.
*Director, School of Convergence, International Management Institute, New Delhi