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Who’s Kumudlal Kunjilal Ganguly? Any guesses? It’s the famous Ashok Kumar of the Indian film industry who was more reverently referred to as “Dadamuni”. His career in Bollywood though kick started accidentally but it was sheer talent, passion and commitment for the work which ensured a six decade long career for yet another son of India who was upbeat about social issues.

Ashok Kumar wooed the heartthrob Devika Rani in his first movie in 1936 but only his second movie with her the same year established him as a pro in the industry. The movie was “Acchut Kanya” dealing with the then controversial topic of caste system and laid a platform for one of the most applauded social drama which was plaguing our society in the pre-independence era. The movie was just marked a beginning to Ashok Kumar’s commitment to social movies.

The tough part about acting in those years was that the actor had to sing his own songs as well but that was never a worry for Ashok Kumar who did it beautifully in the movies opposite Leela Chitnis in the early 1940s. These movies were the first few of those with Ashok as the bigger star.

He put on producer’s boots soon and several films were delivered for Bombay Talkies by him. The range of roles he played were vast and each more challenging than the previous one. The bouquet of roles included criminal, police officer, grandparent, dirty old man etc and the variety was always there. His hobbies included painting as well besides acting and singing. His memories would always be remembered as the heart of Indian cinema.

Keep employees happy will be the mantra for IT and IteS firms in 2008 although they will try to minimise the adverse impact of rupee appreciation with measures like lesser salary hikes and more working hours.

While the salary hikes and additional perks woul need to be tightened to cushion the pressure on profit margins  due to rupee appreciation, the IT and IteS  companies would find it difficult to retain employees due to emerging job opportunities in other sunrise sectors, experts believe.

This year will see the area of focus in the job market getting wider beyond the IT and IteS. It will move on to sectors like retail, infrastructure, energy, manufacturing , and SEZ’s. The higher attrition due to job openings in these sectors are liketly to  act as an additional burden for IT sector, which is already fighting the adverse impact of a weaker dollar. The rupee appreciated by close to 14 percent against the US dollarduring 2007 and is estimated to have cost heavily on the profit margins of  IT companies, for whom a majority of earnings and revenue’ come from the overseas markets.

As per initial reports and market indicators, the appreciation of rupee could put pressure on compensation packages in 2008. A number of companies are already mulling over measures like extending their work-week to six days or extending their daily workine hours by 1-2 hours, besides curtailin, the additional perks like transport food facilities.

During such tough times, making employees feel on the top could be the least companies could do. Chances are that many companies will go for six days a week schedule and also  reduce their bench strength to meet the revenue threat arising out of  the strengthening rupee.

Organisatians that are able to  win over the trust and confidence of their employees during such tough times would emerge as winners, in retaining the right talent. Experts believe that companies need to project themselves as ‘employer of choice’ if they wish to emerge unscathed after implementing measures like additional working hours and lesser pay hikes.

Tapping into the intellectual quatient of the employees would help attract them towards this process, create a buzz, attracting them to the process. Further, correct and effective talent management and employee engagement processes would help curtail the outward talent movement.

 Killing monotony in work through inter-departmental movements, encouraging entrepreneurship, regular skill enhancement trainings and employee satisfaction survey has helped us gain employee confidence.

Acquiring the right talent will be the key area of focus in 2008 and the challenge will be to improve success rate of getting candidates who are organisation-fit.  

Oil, measured, by the basic crude price, has touched $100 a barrel in international markets this week, bringing home a harsh truth to those who have missed hope with criticism, imagining that somehow the problem would go away. India has so far refused to bite the bullet. There have been unstated reasons, such as political pressures from the Left and issues such as the sensitive Gujarat assembly elections. The polls have come and gone, and crude has touched the dreaded three-figure mark.

Oil marketing companies, still under government diktat after nearly two decades of wrangling over the dismantling of the administrative pricing mechanism, are reeling under ‘under recoveries’ that could be as high as Rs 250 crore a day because they are forced to charge less from petroleum product consumers. The government bails them out with ‘IOU’ bonds that only add to its own fiscal burden. Just what is going on?

It is becoming clear that the foot-dragging has to end. A wildly subsidized oil regime on the pretext of inflation control- and growth management is just not on. Inflation measured by wholesale prices is now under 3.5 per cent and the government has reined in to a good extent speculative money supply going into real estate and fanning money supply that spurs price rise. Now is the time to pass on the hidden inflation concealed in the garb of ‘under recoveries’ and oil bonds. Industry might crib, as this would -mean that interest rates won’t get cheaper. But there is increasing realism in industry as well.

The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) has already said that the country has to raise retail prices of fuel. Economic growth may suffer a little bit if inflation goes up, driven by fuel costs. However, that is a desirable thing.

Growth must result from robust demand, better technology and higher operational efficiency in the economy; not from artificial props such as subsidized fuel and artificially suppressed interest rates. It is time to increase oil prices - at least in well-planned doses.