MONTH THAT WAS

Wipro among world’s most ethical firms

Bangalore : IT bellwether Wipro Ltd has been recognised for the second year as one of the world’s most ethical firms by leading business ethics think-tank Ethisphere Institute, the company said.

“The recognition is for our commitment to ethical leadership, compliance practices and corporate citizenship,” the global software major said in a statement.

As a leading US-based international organisation dedicated to creation, advancement and sharing of best practices in business ethics, governance and anti-corruption and sustainability, the institute selects global firms that embrace ethical business practice and demonstrate industry leadership, forcing peers to follow them.

“Integrity and ethics have always been a core part of how we think and act. Our endeavour is to keep raising the bar with our stakeholders, including employees, customers, suppliers and investors,” Wipro chief sustainability officer Anurag Behar said in the statement.

According to Ethisphere executive director Alex Brigham, more companies had applied this year than in the past for the recognition, affirming that ethical activity was an important part of their business models. Companies from 100 countries across 36 industry verticals applied for the recognition this year.

Egyptian student wins trip to India

Cairo: Ahmed Aba Ya Zeed, a university student, has won a trip to India, thanks to a poster competition organised here. Prizes have been distributed to the winners and participants of the poster competition themed "Did you sense the spirit of Gandhi in Tahrir Square?" organised jointly by the Embassy of India in Cairo and the Artistic Creativity Centre.

‘Disabled’ boy wins science talent award

Mumbai : A boy who was hounded out of a Panvel school for being “dim-witted” has won a gold medal in the prestigious Dr Homi Bhabha Bal Vaigyanik Science Talent Search Competition.

 In fact, his parents pulled him out of the school because he was “mentally and physically tortured”, not only by his classmates but “also by his teachers”. Some other Panvel schools too rejected him as “disabled”, said his mother.

All that was wrong with the boy, Jatin Patil, was that he is autistic. Now a Std. IX student of Vashi’s Fr Agnel Multipurpose school, Jatin won the award for his project on Organic Pesticides and their effect on Aphid insects.

The Homi Bhabha Bal Vaigyanik competition is conducted to assess the aptitude for science among high school children. “It is a three-tier examination and clearing the three levels is no mean task,” said a proud Fr S Almeida, long-time principal of the school, who now heads the Fr Agnel Technical Education Complex.

In fact, Jatin’s story has several parallels with the Aamir Khan film, Taare Zamin Par, which is on autism, a disorder of neural development characterized by impaired social interaction and communication, and by restricted and repetitive behavior.

In the initial written round, Jatin stood first in the Thane Division and sailed into the second practical examination round where only 7.5% of the candidates make the grade. In the third and final Project and Interview round, he chose Organic Pesticides and their effect on Aphid insects.

According to his mother Archana, he chose this because he noticed aphids spoiling their rose and shoe flower plants. He made a concoction of ginger, garlic and chilies as a bio-pesticide, which gave him 70 % results.

He began work on this project in December and visited farms from Karjat to Badlapur. After an interview by a panel of eminent scientists, Jatin was awarded the prestigious gold medal.

The Homi Bhabha Bal Vaigyanik gold medal is just one of Jatin’s impressive list of academic achievements. He stood sixth in the Maharashtra State Scholarship Exams, ninth in the National Talent Search scholarship exam and was ranked 93 in the International Maths Olympiad.A voracious reader, Jatin is tutored by his mother, a pathologist, and regularly tops his class. Asked what he wants to become, the boy unhesitatingly says, `scientist’.

L&T approaches govt to surrender SEZ, 16 cos seek more time

Reflecting lack of enthusiasm for special economic zones, 16 developers including Cognizant Technology Solutions and Parsvnath SEZ have sought more time from the government for implementing their projects.

Besides, four developers, including L&T Chennai Projects and Welspun Anjar, have approached the Commerce Ministry to surrender their IT and textile zones respectively.

"These proposals will be taken up by the Board of Approval (BoA) headed by Commerce Secretary S R Rao on March 15," an official said.

L&T Chennai Projects Pvt Ltd, has requested for de-notification of the SEZ on the grounds of global recession in IT/ITES sector, general slowdown in macroeconomic scenario and introduction of minimum alternate tax and dividend distribution tax, the official said.

The other developers, which have sought more time to implement their projects, include Gujarat Industrial Development Corporation, Cochin Port Trust and Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority.

Bundle of clothes derail train

Mumbai : In a bizarre case, a CST-bound local train was derailed near Wadala station by a bundle of clothes. So says the Central Railway.

The first coach went off the rails, leading to an hour-long delay on the Vashi-CST section of the Harbour Line. No one was hurt though in the mishap that happened at 4.23 P.M.  According to a CR spokesperson, a woman hawker threw two bundles of clothes out of the train as it approached the station. One of the bundles bounced off the wall and landed under the wheels, derailing the train.

The woman, identified as Lalita Tuljaram Bhore (42), has been arrested under the Railways Act 150 (Maliciously wrecking or attempting to wreck a train) and 151 (Damage to or destruction of certain railway properties.) Lalita ran away after she realised what had happened but came back after a while to collect the bundle. The GRP officers who had been alerted were on the scene when the woman returned.

“She returned to the spot and confessed that the bundle was hers,” said senior police inspector Jitendra Rathod. “The woman was asking for the bundle and said that it was her only source of income,” he added.

US Court fines Swiss Bank for tax evasion

Washington : A New York court has ordered private Swiss bank, Wegelin & Co, to pay $58 million on charges of hiding $1.5 billion in secret accounts and the income generated in those accounts from the US government.

This is for the first time that a foreign bank in the US has been indicted for facilitating tax evasion by US taxpayers and the first guilty plea and sentencing of such a bank.         

With the April 2012 forfeiture of more than $ 16.2 million from the US correspondent bank account of Wegelin & Co – a Swiss private bank and the oldest in the country- the US has recovered $ 74 million.

In January, Wegelin had pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to defraud Internal Revenue Service, filing false federal income tax returns and evading federal income taxes before US District Judge Jed S Rakoff.      

 “Wegelin has now paid a steep price for aiding and abetting tax fraud that should be heeded by other banks, bankers, and advisers who engage in the same conduct,” US Attorney Preet Bharara said.