New Delhi: Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport has been named the world's second best airport in the 25-40 million passengers category by the Airport Council International. The best airport in this category is the Seoul Incheon in South Korea.
The airport also has been adjudged as the fourth best in the world among 199 airports across all categories.
A nine-member team, comprising representatives from airport operator Delhi International Airport Limited (DIAL), Central Industrial Security Force, Airport Operations Control and Air India received the 'ACI ASQ Award' at an award ceremony organised by the Airport Council International (ACI) in Istanbul, Turkey on Thursday.
"This recognition is testimony to the efforts of all our employees and partners who have consistently met the expectations of the industry," DIAL CEO I Prabhakar Rao said.
IGI airport scored 4.83 out of 5 on the Airport Service Quality (ASQ) scale.
IGI has managed to retain its position of second best airport in the 25-40 million passengers per annum category for 2012 year.
The airport had an ASQ score of 3.02 in 20
07 and ranked last among the 101 participating airports of the world.
The airport has an annual capacity of over 60 million passengers, but in 2012, around 34.2 million passengers passed through it.
IGI handled around 550,000 tonnes of cargo and over 300,000 aircraft movements during the same period.
Since its inception in 2006, the ASQ Awards have become the world's leading airport passenger satisfaction benchmark with over 275 airports participating in it.
The ASQ Awards recognise and reward the best airports in the world based on ACI's ASQ passenger satisfaction survey done on uniform format worldwide and represent an opportunity to celebrate the commitment of airports worldwide to continually improve passenger experience.
Wrinkled and skinny at first, the translucent, jellyfish-shaped balloons that Google released this week from a frozen field in the heart of New Zealand's South Island hardened into shiny pumpkins as they rose into the blue winter skies above Lake Tekapo, passing the first big test of a lofty goal to get the entire planet online.
It was the culmination of 18 months' work on what Google calls Project Loon, in recognition of how whacky the idea may sound. Developed in the secretive X lab that came up with a driverless car and web-surfing eyeglasses, the flimsy helium-filled inflatables beam the Internet down to earth as they sail past on the wind.
Still in their experimental stage, the balloons were the first of thousands that Google's leaders eventually hope to launch 20 kilometers (12 miles) into the stratosphere in order to bridge the gaping digital divide between the world's 4.8 billion unwired people and their 2.2 billion plugged-in counterparts.
If successful, the technology might allow countries to leapfrog the expense of laying fiber cable, dramatically increasing Internet usage in places such as Africa and Southeast Asia.
"It's a huge moonshot. A really big goal to go after," said project leader Mike Cassidy. "The power of the Internet is probably one of the most transformative technologies of our time."
The first person to get Google Balloon Internet access this week was Charles Nimmo, a farmer and entrepreneur in the small town of Leeston. He found the experience a little bemusing after he was one of 50 locals who signed up to be a tester for a project that was so secret, no one would explain to them what was happening. Technicians came to the volunteers' homes and attached to the outside walls bright red receivers the size of basketballs and resembling giant Google map pins.
Nimmo got the Internet for about 15 minutes before the balloon transmitting it sailed on past. His first stop on the Web was to check out the weather because he wanted to find out if it was an optimal time for "crutching" his sheep, a term he explained to the technicians refers to removing the wool around sheep's rear ends.
Nimmo is among the many rural folk, even in developed countries, that can't get broadband access. After ditching his dial-up four years ago in favor of satellite Internet service, he's found himself stuck with bills that sometimes exceed $1,000 in a single month.
"It's been weird," Nimmo said of the Google Balloon Internet experience. "But it's been exciting to be part of something new."
While the concept is new, people have used balloons for communication, transportation and entertainment for centuries. In recent years, the military and aeronautical researchers have used tethered balloons to beam Internet signals back to bases on earth.
Google's balloons fly free and out of eyesight, scavenging power from card table-sized solar panels that dangle below and gather enough charge in four hours to power them for a day as the balloons sail around the globe on the prevailing winds. Far below, ground stations with Internet capabilities about 100 kilometers (60 miles) apart bounce signals up to the balloons.
The signals would hop forward, from one balloon to the next, along a backbone of up to five balloons.
Each balloon would provide Internet service for an area twice the size of New York City, about 1,250 square kilometers (780 square miles), and terrain is not a challenge. They could stream Internet into Afghanistan's steep and winding Khyber Pass or Yaounde, the capital of Cameroon, a country where the World Bank estimates four out of every 100 people are online.
There are plenty of catches, including a requirement that anyone using Google Balloon Internet would need a receiver plugged into their computer in order to receive the signal. Google is not talking costs at this point, although they're striving to make both the balloons and receivers as inexpensive as possible, dramatically less than laying cables.
The signals travel in the unlicensed spectrum, which means Google doesn't have to go through the onerous regulatory processes required for Internet providers using wireless communications networks or satellites. In New Zealand, the company worked with the Civil Aviation Authority on the trial. Google chose the country in part because of its remoteness. Cassidy said in the next phase of the trial they hope to get up to 300 balloons forming a ring on the 40th parallel south from New Zealand through Australia, Chile, Uruguay, Paraguay and Argentina.
Christchurch was a symbolic launch site because some residents were cut off from online information for weeks following a 2011 earthquake that killed 185 people. Google believes balloon access could help places suffering natural disasters get quickly back online. Tania Gilchrist, a resident who signed up for the Google trial, feels lucky she lost her power for only about 10 hours on the day of the quake.
"After the initial upheaval, the Internet really came into play," she said. "It was how people coordinated relief efforts and let people know how to get in touch with agencies. It was really, really effective and it wasn't necessarily driven by the authorities."
At Google's mission control in Christchurch this week, a team of jet lagged engineers working at eight large laptops used wind data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to maneuver the balloons over snowy peaks, identifying the wind layer with the desired speed and direction and then adjusting balloons' altitudes so they floated in that layer.
"It's a very fundamentally democratic thing that what links everyone together is the sky and the winds," said Richard DeVaul, an MIT-trained scientist who founded Project Loon and helped develop Google Glass, hidden camera-equipped eyeglasses with a tiny computer display that responds to voice commands.
DeVaul initially thought their biggest challenge would be establishing the radio links from earth to sky, but in the end, one of the most complex parts was hand building strong, light, durable balloons that could handle temperature and pressure swings in the stratosphere.
Google engineers studied balloon science from NASA, the Defense Department and the Jet Propulsion Lab to design their own airships made of plastic films similar to grocery bags. Hundreds have been built so far.
He said they wouldn't interfere with aircraft because they fly well below satellites and twice as high as airplanes, and they downplayed concerns about surveillance, emphasizing that they would not carry cameras or any other extraneous equipment.
The balloons would be guided to collection points and replaced periodically. In cases when they failed, a parachute would deploy.
While there had been rumors, until now Google had refused to confirm the project. But there have been hints: In April, Google's executive chairman tweeted "For every person online, there are two who are not. By the end of the decade, everyone on Earth will be connected," prompting a flurry of speculative reports.
And international aid groups have been pushing for more connectivity for more than a decade.
In pilot projects, African farmers solved disease outbreaks after searching the Web, while in Bangladesh "online schools" bring teachers from Dhaka to children in remote classrooms through large screens and video conferencing.
Many experts said the project has the potential to fast-forward developing nations into the digital age, possibly impacting far more people than the Google X lab's first two projects: The glasses and a fleet of self-driving cars that have already logged hundreds of thousands of accident-free miles.
"Whole segments of the population would reap enormous benefits, from social inclusion to educational and economic opportunities," said DePauw University media studies professor Kevin Howley.
Temple University communications professor Patrick Murphy warned of mixed consequences, pointing to China and Brazil where Internet service increased democratic principles, prompting social movements and uprisings, but also a surge in consumerism that has resulted in environmental and health problems.
"The nutritional and medical information, farming techniques, democratic principles those are the wonderful parts of it," he said. "But you also have everyone wanting to drive a car, eat a steak, drink a Coke."
As the world's largest advertising network, Google itself stands to expand its own empire by bringing Internet to the masses: More users means more potential Google searchers, which in turn give the company more chances to display their lucrative ads.
Richard Bennett, a fellow with the nonprofit Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, was skeptical, noting that cell phones are being used far more in developing countries.
"I'm really glad that Google is doing this kind of speculative research," he said. "But it remains to be seen how practical any of these things are."
Ken Murdoch, a chief information officer for the nonprofit Save the Children, said the service would be "a tremendous key enabler" during natural disasters and humanitarian crises, when infrastructure can be nonexistent or paralyzed.
"The potential of a system that can restore connectivity within hours of a crisis hitting is tremendously exciting," agreed Imogen Wall at the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, although she warned that the service must be robust. "If the service fails in a crisis, then lives are lost."
In Christchurch this week, the balloons were invisible in the sky except for an occasional glint, but people could see them if they happened to be in the remote countryside where they were launched or through binoculars, if they knew where to look.
Before heading to New Zealand, Google spent a few months secretly launching between two and five flights a week in California's central valley, prompting what Google's scientists said were a handful of unusual reports on local media.
"We were chasing balloons around from trucks on the ground," said DeVaul, "and people were calling in reports about UFOs."
BANGALORE: NR Narayana Murthy has made his first significant move upon returning to Infosys by effecting an unexpected round of wage increases for the company's 1.5 lakh employees. By doing so, analysts said, the Infosys chairman is trying to kill several birds with one stone, displaying tactical finesse that has earned him a reputation as one of India's canniest entrepreneurs.
On Thursday, less than a fortnight after Murthy came back to helm the company, Infosys announced an average increment of 8% for India employees, effective from July 1. For employees outside India, the company said the increments will be 3%, albeit with some riders. The biggest push was reserved for its global sales force which will get a raise of 8% effective May.
Wipro, which announced increments in July last year, also sent a note about an hour after the news from Infosys. It said it is giving an average increment of 6-8% for offshore employees and 2-3% for onsite employees, effective from June 2013. For high-performers, the raise will be in double digits. A Wipro spokeswoman said the emailed note was in response to media queries.
"There have been serious issues with employee motivation levels at Infosys. Wipro rolling out wage hikes on the same day shows that it wants to ensure the company doesn't lose employees to Infosys," said Pradeep Mukerji, president and managing partner at outsourcing advisory firm Avasant. Infosys's populist move — a certain vote-winner among staff — could raise morale, enhance Murthy's stock of goodwill and send out a message to all stakeholders and rivals that the Infosys co-founder is back and means business. "By announcing wage hikes, Infosys wants to calm down anxiety among its employees and stabilize things within the organization. It is a smart move; however, we do not expect more bold moves from Murthy," said Manish Bahl, country manager at Forrester Research. "He will be focused on getting things aligned, talking to clients and creating expertise on the product innovation side."
Murthy, 66, retired from Infosys in 2011 but returned on June 1 this year after halting performances for two years by a company that had earned a reputation as the industry's leader for both growth and profitability. Infosys has guided for revenue growth of 6-10% for fiscal 2014, compared with the 12-14% prognostication by industry lobby Nasscom.
He will have by his side as executive assistant son Rohan, 30, an alumnus of Harvard and Cornell Universities, as well as the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Soon after the news of the pay raise, Murthy spoke at a packed 'town hall', where he told employees that his son's role would be circumscribed, addressing criticism from several observers.
Several observers had said the Infosys chairman made a mistake by appointing son Rohan as his top aide. Rohan would not be involved in the day-to-day affairs of the company, Murthy observed, and repeated that his son does not aspire to be the CEO of the company.
Along with the wage increase, Murthy also sent out a message that he expects top-notch performance. He warned those failing to live up to expectations that their future at Infosys is not guaranteed. The company froze pay raises last year when they were due and only announced a wage increase in October. Most employees were expecting that a salary increase, if at all it came, would happen only around October. Infosys qualified the 3% average increment for employees outside India saying it is for those who have not been covered by salary increases in February 2013. The extra expenditure is seen affecting margins to the extent of 200 basis points.
Infosys, with revenues of $7.4 billion (Rs 43,000 crore), has been losing market share to rivals such as Tata Consultancy Services and Cognizant Technology Solutions, and its employee turnover has reached a high of 16.3%. "Murthy felt he needed to address the morale of employees, more so in sales, where they have been losing people, and was willing to sacrifice margins for it," said an analyst at a foreign brokerage.
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HAZARIBAG: Launching a campaign to preserve rainwater by taking up watershed projects, the chief executive officer of the Jharkhand State Watershed Mission, Ranchi B Nijalangappa, emphasized on constructing check dams.
The campaign was launched here for the farmers of Barhi, Chauparan and Padma under the Hazaribag west (forest) division where nine micro watershed projects will be taken. A sum of Rs 6.2 crore has been provided for the same. Each of these projects will have the capacity to irrigate about 500 to 600 acres of land during the year.
He advised the 40 villagers who were selected by the forest department to take up the watershed projects and utilize them effectively.
The watershed mission has taken up 117 watershed projects, of which 47 were given to the forest department.which will help villagers living in the forests. Besides the purpose for providing water to cattle and wild animals will also be benefited from these projects . He also informed that for saving the watersheds and getting regular source of water they will have to make sustained effort for next five years for which the mission and government will provide all help and financial assistance.
AMRITSAR: Punjab Government will organise the 4th edition of World Cup Kabaddi (men and women) in November with 25 countries set to vie for a record prize money.
Information and Public Relation Minister Bikram Singh Majithia said that strict NADA anti-doping guidelines would be implemented in the tournament and Punjab would seek more participation of countries from Europe, Africa, America and Australia to give Kabaddi a world class status.
Majithia said that 11 world class stadiums have already been completed at the cost of Rs 96 crore and nine more stadia would be built by December.
He said eight of these stadia have been made floodlit and sports stadium at Ghudda and village Badal would have synthetic track costing Rs 5 crore each.
Majithia said that SAD-BJP Government was laying special emphasis on sports infrastructure and during 2007-12, Rs 200 crore were spent on this.
To percolate sports culture at villages, the government distributed 5000 rural gyms and 9000 sports kits to village youth at the cost of Rs 22 crore and Rs 9.81 crore prize money distributed to players excelling in international events.
He said to make sports attractive for Punjabi youth, three per cent quota was introduced in the government jobs and 10 eminent sports personalities were given category A jobs.
Majithia said a record provision of Rs 91 crore has been made in the current budget and Rs 13 crore has been set aside for developing playgrounds in 1233 villages.
He said that the government has already finalized the plan to establish Shaheed Baba Deep Singh Center of Excellence in Sports at Mohali with four regional campuses at Bathinda, Jalandhar, Ludhiana and Amritsar at the cost of Rs 100 crore, in which 2000 budding sportspersons would be selected for training.
AHMEDABAD: Around 200 HIV positive couples in Ahmedabad have kicked the dreaded infection in the womb with medical intervention. These families have children who don't carry the burden of their parents' disease.
Savita, a nurse and her builder Rajesh have not allowed HIV infection to derail their lives. The two met in the waiting room of their doctor after being infected, liked each other and got married.
The balance tipped in their favor when they gave birth to a daughter who tested HIV negative. "We are elated. A healthy child has made me forget all the wrongs that happened to me," Savita said.
For thousands struggling with HIV, hope is being delivered through the 'Gujarat Mother to Child HIV Prevention' programme run by a group of doctors in Ahmedabad. Of the 200 babies of HIV-positive couples they have delivered, 198 are negative and healthy.
Gynecologist Dr Riddhi Shukla says that with HIV gaining acceptability, some partners have chosen to stay with their spouses despite the infection. Artificial insemination methods like intra uterine insemination where the sperm is laboratory washed is used. IVF can also be done but is still not very popular.
"The sperm itself does not carry the virus but is present in the seminal fluid. Once it is washed, it becomes safe. Moreover, the mother is put on Anti Retroviral Therapy from the fourth month till the child is delivered. If the CD 4 count, which is an indicator for high infection, is low ART is started before conception as well," Shukla said.
Infectious diseases consultant Dr Atul Patel and paediatrician Dr Rakesh Sharma are also part of the programme. "Once the child is born, he or she is given ART syrup for one-and-half months," Sharma said. "A few years ago, couples would come to us stealthily but now we see parents and in-laws tagging along. The stigma is diminishing," Sharma added.
Jakarta: Young Indian shuttler B Sai Praneeth stunned former world and Olympic champion Taufik Hidayat of Indonesia to storm into the pre-quarterfinals of the Indonesian Super Series Premier here today.
The 20-year-old Indian, who made it to the main draw through the qualifiers, came back from one game down as he won the remaining two in stunning fashion to shock the former world number one and 2004 Athens Olympics gold medallist 15-21 21-12 21-17 in a 52-minute gruelling first round contest.
The world number 55 Indian, now runs into world number one and 2012 London Olympics silver medallist Lee Chong Wei of Malaysia, in the pre-quarterfinals tomorrow.
Three other Indians -- Ajay Jayaram, RMV Gurusaidutt and Sourabh Verma -- also reached the prequarterfinals but it turned out to be a bad day in office for world number 10 Parupalli Kashyap as he crashed out of the men's singles competition.
The 26-year-old Kashyap was not in his elements and was completely outclassed by former world number six Sho Sasaki of Japan 7-21 8-21 in his campaign opener, which lasted just over half an hour. However, world number 28 Jayaram, Gurusaidutt and Varma notched up victories later in the day to keep India afloat in the men's singles event.
While Jayaram struggled past world number 71 Riyanto Subagja of Indonesia 22-20 8-21 21-12 in a 49-minute hard-fought battle, Gurusaidutt, ranked 25th, got the better off another local player Andre Kurniawan Tedjono 22-20 21-16.
Jayaram will take on fourth seed Sony Dwi Kuncoro, who had won the silver medal at the 2007 World Championship in Kuala Lumpur. Gurusaidutt will meet the winner of the match between seventh seed Dane Jan O Jorgensen and Japan's Kazumasa Sakai.
Varma prevailed over Hans-Kristian Vittinghus of Denmark 19-21 21-14 21-15 in a one-hour-five-minute first round contest. He takes on third seed Chinese Pengyu Du in the pre-quarterfinals.
07 and ranked last among the 101 participating airports of the world.
