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On July 11th, the Bangalore Chapter of IT-BHU Global Alumni Association met at the residence of Vish Lakshminarayanan (President of IBGAA). It was nice day attended by senior alumni, Director Shri K.P. Singh, and retd. Prof V. V. Challam. Most of the time was spent by the honorable director updating everyone of progress of IIT and also how his administration is taking feedback from Alumni and improving IT-BHU.
There was a very good interactive session between Alumni and the Director. Director promised to improve the environment for alumni.
There was good music and good food and funds were collected for ITBGAA
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In his new role, Sunil will lead Patni’s M&A, marketing and strategic planning functions
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
NEW DELHI: Patni Computer Systems Ltd, a global IT and BPO services provider, today announced the appointment of Sunil Chitale as executive vice president and chief strategy and marketing officer for the company.
(Sunil Chitale)
In his new role, Sunil will lead Patni’s M&A, marketing and strategic planning functions, said a press release.
Sunil began his career with Patni in 1985 and has managed large relationship portfolios, led the manufacturing vertical and led Patni's Enterprise Software business globally. In addition, he also managed the Patni Academy for Competency Enhancement (PACE) and the Global Resources in Technology (GRiT) functions.
Jeya Kumar, chief executive officer, Patni said, “We welcome Sunil into his new role at Patni. Over his successful 25 year stint with Patni, Sunil has led several large global portfolios. We are confident that he will be able to leverage his strong understanding of the company dynamics to drive its strategic vision.”
Sunil Chitale said, “I am proud to be a part of a pioneering company like Patni. I look forward to strengthening Patni’s market position and taking it to its next level of strategic growth.”
Sunil has a Bachelor’s degree from the Institute of Technology - Banaras Hindu University.
©CyberMedia News
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Contact Sunil Chitale at: msunil_chitale@yahoo.co.in
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Patni Computer Systems Ltd.
http://www.patni.com/index.aspx
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Posted on: Thu, 08 Jul 2010 22:50:00 EDT
HAUPPAUGE, N.Y., Jul 08, 2010 (BUSINESS WIRE) –
Amneal Pharmaceuticals is pleased to announce that Dr. Shankar Hariharan has joined the company as Chief Scientific Officer/Executive Vice President of Specialty Pharmaceuticals.
Dr. Hariharan was previously Chief Scientific Officer and Executive Vice President of Par Pharmaceutical Companies, Inc. in Woodcliff Lake, NJ, a producer of both branded and generic drugs, where he directed a staff of over 240 and a budget exceeding $70 million. He created a Brand Product Development/New Drug Application (NDA) Division and obtained Par's first NDA approval. Dr. Hariharan identified products for internal development or in-licensing for the company's branded and generic portfolios. He successfully built internal expertise in Abbreviated New Drug Applications (ANDAs) for generics and redirected the product selection strategy to value-added offerings such as sustained release and modified release drugs.
In the past 18 months Amneal has significantly expanded its R&D capabilities in number of products, variety of dosage forms, range of therapeutic categories, product complexity and diversity. The firm's newest R&D Centre in Ahmadabad, Gujarat, India, a 75,000 square foot facility completed in late 2008, joins its U.S. R&D sites in Brookhaven, NY (R&D "headquarters") and Branchburg, NJ (under expansion). Additional R&D facilities are under consideration.
"Dr. Shankar Hariharan's depth of R&D experience, proven results and strong leadership skills bring tremendous value to Amneal as we extend our global reach in both generic and specialty pharmaceuticals," said Chintu Patel, CEO and Co-Founder of Amneal. "We enthusiastically welcome him to the Amneal family."
Most recently Dr. Hariharan was President, CEO and Co-Founder of DermAct Pharmaceutical, Inc., Melville, NY and Action Medicines of Spain, companies dedicated to developing and commercializing products for dermatology applications. He has also held senior executive and R&D management positions with Forest Laboratories, Inc., Inwood, NY and IDR Laboratory and Clinic, Ltd. in Rockville, MD.
Dr. Hariharan received his Ph.D. from Northeastern University's School of Pharmacy and Masters and Bachelor of Pharmacy degrees from Banaras Hindu University in Varanasi, India. He is a member of the American Chemical Society, American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists, American College of Clinical Pharmacology, American Society for Microbiology and the Indian Pharmaceutical Society.
"I look forward to applying my results-driven experience to support Amneal's R&D expansion into specialty pharma and further enhance our product portfolio," said Dr. Hariharan. "Amneal has an outstanding reputation in the generics industry, and I'm very pleased to facilitate their continued growth worldwide."
Amneal Pharmaceuticals LLC, headquartered in Hauppauge, NY is a U.S.-based firm that develops, manufactures and distributes generic pharmaceuticals regulated and approved by the U.S. FDA. Known as "Generic's New Generation", the company utilizes its newly expanded R&D and manufacturing capabilities to conceive breakthrough developments with lasting impact for a robust product pipeline. Rapid ANDA approvals and diverse product acquisitions are key to Amneal's aggressive growth strategy, as is the company's strong commitment to deep customer relationships and maximum value creation. Amneal delivers high quality products, superior service levels and dynamic value throughout the pharmaceutical industry. For more information, visit www.amneal.com.
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SOURCE: Amneal Pharmaceuticals, LLC
Amneal Pharmaceuticals, LLC
Jim Luce
Executive Vice President, Sales & Marketing
Direct: 949-610-8018
Fax: 949-610-8218
E-mail: jim@amneal.com
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http://www.telegraphindia.com/1100623/jsp/nation/story_12596236.jsp
G.S. MUDUR
New Delhi, June 22: The Rs 300 crore pledged by the group of ministers to clean up the area around the Bhopal gas disaster site is arbitrary and ignores the scale of the contamination, activists and non-government organisations have said.
They, however, are reluctant to say how much money would be needed to clean up the contamination, saying only further studies can establish that.
The group of ministers had yesterday submitted a report to the Prime Minister, recommending a Rs 1,300-crore package of compensation for victims of the gas disaster and Rs 300 crore for the site clean-up, among other initiatives.
Toxic wastes released by the Union Carbide factory in Bhopal from the 1970s up to the night of the gas leak on December 2, 1984, have accumulated up to 3km from the factory, activists campaigning for the rights of Bhopal gas victims have said.
Studies by non-government environmental groups have revealed the presence of trichlorobenzene, hexachlorobenzene, mercury, napthalene and other potentially toxic chemicals on factory grounds, in stockpiles, or at disposal sites, they said.
Several thousand people live in the 3km zone around the factory and are exposed to the contaminants through water and soil. A non-government survey in 2002 had shown contaminants in soil, water and breast milk.
“This contamination has been known for years,” said Satinath Sarangi, a metallurgical engineer from Banaras Hindu University and a member of the Bhopal Group for Information and Action, a non-government agency. “Our environmental regulators have blindly trusted the polluters and our scientific agencies have protected the polluters,” Sarangi said.
The National Environmental Engineering Research Institute, a government centre, had stated in the mid-1990s the contaminants had not spread beyond the plant’s premises and would take 23 years to reach the groundwater.
But internal documents of the Union Carbide in the US suggest that the company was aware of the contamination, said Sarangi, who obtained the papers through a class action suit filed by Bhopal survivors in a New York court.
The company’s own study of landfill areas and effluent treatment pits had revealed organic contamination varying from 10 per cent to 100 per cent. “All samples caused 100 per cent mortality to fish in toxicity assessment studies,” one document said.
Sarangi estimates that thousands of tonnes of contaminated waste would need to be transported for treatment and decontamination. “It’s also been estimated that the clean-up would require pumping water and treating it for 20 years,” he said.
“The Rs 300 crore proposed by the GoM is inadequate.”
An affidavit filed in the New York court by Tota Ram Chouhan, a former Union Carbide plant operator in Bhopal, states that from December 1969 to December 1984, chemicals and by-products had been dumped “in and around the factory”.
The Union Carbide management had dumped hundreds of tonnes of various chemicals in and around the Bhopal factory, according to the affidavit. It lists several chemicals including 500 tonnes of ortho-dichlorobenzene, 300 tonnes of chloroform, 100 tonnes of methylene chloride, 50 tonnes of naphthalene and five tonnes of methyl isocyanate.
The gas leak had killed 8,000 people in the first three days and at least another 15,000 through its long-term effects, rights groups say.
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Contact Satinath Sarangi at: justiceinbhopal@yahoo.co.in
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Satinath Sarangi (M. Tech 1980)
(Satinath Sarangi. Photo courtesy www.tehelka.com))
Satinath Sarangi, a metallurgical engineer by qualification is the voice and face of victims of world's biggest ever-industrial disaster "Bhopal Gas Tragedy". Incidentally Habitat Jam is taking place on the eve of 21st anniversary of this infamous disaster. In December 1984 he along with his friends founded Zahareeli Gas Kand Sangharsh Morcha [Poisonous Gas Episode Struggle Front], an organization of survivors of the Union Carbide disaster in Bhopal. Later on in June 1986 he was instrumental in creating a new outfit called Bhopal Group for Information and Action. To sensitize international community and to make them aware about the severity and gravity of the Bhopal Gas Tragedy in April 1989 he undertook campaign tour to USA, UK, Ireland and The Netherlands. I
n 1992 he was made a member of the organizing committee, Bhopal session of Permanent Peoples Tribunal on Industrial and Environmental Hazards and Human Rights in Bhopal. In 1993 he became National Organizing Secretary, the International Medical Commission on Bhopal. He is the Founder Trustee of the Sambhavna Trust. He holds a M. Tech (Metallurgical Engineering), Institute of Technology, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi. He was awarded medals for "outstanding" undergraduate and post graduate student. Enrolled for PhD in 1980, dropped out in 1984. A prolific writer and impressive orator Mr. Satinath has addressed uncountable public meetings and lectured at many international gathering of distinguished peoples. He has many scientific publications to his credit.
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http://in.news.yahoo.com/241/20100628/1272/top-strings-attached-yet-flying-high_1.html
Mon, Jun 28 01:39 AM
Jaswinder Ahuja gets attached. Whether it is Cadence Design Systems or his family, he has a very strong bond going. "For me, it is always work or family. There are not too many things that can worry me outside of these," he says while locating a corner table at Leela Palace, Bangalore, for a 2-hour chat. He has been at Cadence since 1989. "Cadence is my life's work," Jaswinder says, a little indulgently.
(Jaswinder Ahuja)
His grandparents are from Pakistan. "They were from west Punjab to be precise, and after partition they moved to Delhi. I was born and raised in Delhi. But then at the age of 13, I had to move to Chennai as my father got transferred to the southern city. It was a culture shock," he says. "But we are a closely knit family, and we could absorb the change."
Jaswinder is one of the rare people who got admission into an IIT but did not join. That's because he did not get the subject of choice—electronics—at IIT. He joined BHU and enrolled for his pet subject. "BHU was an enriching experience. I also met my wife there," he says.
"In life, it is not always about qualifications. As managing director, I always prefer a person with high integrity. BHU helped to shape my thoughts in that regard." He then proceeded to the US, as you would have guessed, to pursue his masters. "But I did not stay on there. Being very attached to the family I was very clear that I wanted to come back and take care of the parents."
He joined Gateway Automation, not exactly a household name, and sank his teeth into Robotics and VLSI design. Luckily for him, Cadence acquired Gateway. Overnight he became a Cadence employee and he was a little anxious. "We were not sure how we would be treated. But Cadence introduced us to a great culture which drove innovation."
Jaswinder learnt early in his career that attitude was probably more important than talent or qualifications. "Whatever the organisation wanted me to do, I did. I always said 'yes' to an opportunity."
This approach endeared him to the top brass. Soon he found that he had switched on the elevator while others climbed up the stairs.
By the time he was 32, he became the head of India operations at Cadence. "Some people told me that I will not be a success as I was too young to handle that responsibility. That only helped to strengthen my resolve."
His challenge was to define a globalisation strategy and create an impact. Cadence, which is in the electronic design automation (EDA) industry, needed to drive home a few points and Jaswinder placed his bets on a new concept called EDA 360. The concept was introduced to address the profitability gap existing in the EDA industry.
The profitability gap in the electronics industry is the gap between business goals and design costs, along with semiconductor unit costs and the time to market. EDA 360 is built on the belief that to close the profitability gap, companies must control hardware and software development costs and reduce cost of packaging, manufacturing and testing. This can be done by reducing the time-to-market window and also zeroing in on the right time to market.
The EDA industry, which is a $4.5 billion industry globally, is today at a crucial juncture. EDA companies can no longer provide the tools only for IP integration and silicon realisation like they have been used to all these years. EDA now has to cover for system on chip (SOC) realisation and then move towards system realisation including mechanical and board design.
"The EDA market is not growing as fast as we would like it to be. But today India is a great place for the industry. The country is on its way to becoming a big power in electronics.
We have great design capabilities and enjoy close proximity to the market place," says Jaswinder with conviction.
The Cadence Design Systems MD predicts that power efficient designs would become increasingly critical to semiconductor companies and EDA firms will have to renew their focus to deliver exciting green technologies.
In between Cadence was ravaged when economic recession intervened to have its say. "We had to let go 20% of our work force globally. That was very tough. It was a moment of great pain for all those who had to be severed. It was even tougher for some of us who had to do it. It was a question of protecting them and let the company suffer or let them go and help the company tide over a tough situation."
"It was an age of turbulence, but now sanity has returned," says Jaswinder. "Before recession, people had indulged in excessive financial creativity.
The world paid for financial excesses, and now hopefully companies have learned their lessons."
"Today, Cadence is closely involved with charity work in the country," he says. "We work in association with Child Relief and You (CRY) and also help out orphanages. This has given me great satisfaction."
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Contact Jaswinder Ahuja at: jassi@cadence.com
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http://www.vlsiconference.com/vlsi2009/mess_jaswinder.html
Understanding India’s evolving semiconductor ecosystem
By Jaswinder Ahuja, Corp VP and MD, Cadence India and Chairman, ISA
(A 2009 article)
There is a lot of excitement around the semiconductor industry in India and it is very justified. The industry has come a long way from the early eighties when a few companies set up India Design Centres to offshore non-critical design work to India. Over the past 20 years, we have seen India emerge as a force to reckon with in design and development of chip, package, board, and embedded software.
Today, we have a thriving ecosystem with major Integrated Device Manufacturers (IDM), IP providers, EDA, design services firms, Electronic Manufacturing Services (EMS) and Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEM) establishing an Indian presence.
The industry can now be viewed as three intersecting sub-ecosystems in "Design", "Product Definition", and "Manufacturing". Delving into each of these sub-systems in greater detail is important for a better understanding of where our industry’s future lies.
Design
India’s strength in semiconductor and embedded design is recognised globally. The 2008 ISA-IDC report estimates the total design services market in India in 2007 at US$ 6 billion, which is expected to grow at a CAGR of 21.7% till 2010. The large and scalable pool of engineering talent, strong ties with Silicon Valley, a business environment with favourable IP laws and government incentives for STP and SEZs have worked well.
India has proven experience in verification, cutting-edge digital, analog and mixed signal design. The country’s rapidly developing VLSI and embedded software industry allows companies to efficiently engage in hardware software co-development and verification. An evolved ecosystem, coupled with highly competitive business models offered by design services firms, is helping us own end-to-end design and leverage the local ecosystem to harness time-to-market advantages.
Product definition
Further, with the consumptive base in India growing rapidly both at the mid-income segment as well as at the proverbial base-of-the-pyramid, I believe there are tremendous opportunities for Indian entrepreneurs to leverage proximity to this emerging market and innovate to define and build products to address their needs and aspirations.
Market proximity can help designers understand consumer needs better, and manufacturers can experience tremendous productivity and cost benefits. As an emerging market, India’s needs are unique. With 800 Million people in Rural or semi-urban areas that need to be integrated into the formal economy for India to realize it’s goal of sustained 9+% GDP growth over the next couple of decades, there are tremendous challenges and opportunities. It makes business sense for the industry to collaborate more closely to address the needs of this target market and then extend that to other developing economies around the world. There are tremendous opportunities in verticals such as education, entertainment, communication, healthcare, energy, automobiles and consumer.
With OEMs setting up shop in India, their EMS partners have followed. Recent momentum in India’s EMS and Original Design Manufacturing (ODM) industry suggests these companies are building electronic equipment for OEMs for the Indian market. Clearly, India’s electronics ecosystem is gearing to meet domestic demand.
Manufacturing
With the announcement of the Semiconductor Policy by the Indian government last year we have observed an increased impetus to the semiconductor and related high-tech electronics manufacturing segment. We have also intercepted another macro trend around clean energy and I expect India to emerge as a global leader in harnessing solar energy over the next several years.
While large, industrial-scale fabs in India may require some more time to take off, we should not discount the momentum seen with ATMP plants and solar fabs. ATMP plants make sense as they enable faster time-to-market and allow companies to pass on cost benefits to consumers. India has also witnessed the mushrooming of several companies investing in Solar PV fabs. Solar PV fab activity will help strengthen the ecosystem, infrastructure and manpower that is required for the more resource intensive semiconductor fabs.
I see this as a journey. Global semiconductor hubs like Taiwan and China have taken their own routes to develop their semiconductor ecosystems, and I believe ATMP plants and solar PV fabs could be India’s route to establishing a full semiconductor ‘fab’ locally.
In conclusion
The Indian semiconductor industry has made giant strides in the past decade and I expect that it is a trend that will continue. Technology conferences, especially the VLSI Design Conferences, have played a vital role as catalysts in sharing knowledge and best practices, thereby enabling the progress we have seen over the past two decades.
Going forward I believe we are poised for tremendous new and unprecedented opportunities in building on our core-strengths. We will see the landscape maturing in terms of product development for the Indian market, as well as maturing of the manufacturing space through solar fabs and ATMP plants.
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Jaswinder Ahuja,
Corp VP and MD,
Cadence India and Chairman, ISA
Jaswinder S. Ahuja is a Corporate Vice President and the Managing Director of Cadence Design Systems in India. Jaswinder leads Cadence’s India Operating Region. He is also responsible for defining the globalization strategy for Cadence and developing R&D centers in Russia, Taiwan and China. From 2002 to 2004 Jaswinder was based at Cadence headquarters in San Jose, California and was responsible for establishing and leading the Strategic R&D partnerships and the R&D Central Operations functions for the company.
Jaswinder started his career with Cadence in 1988 as a software engineer and has led the India operations since 1996. Under his leadership the India center has grown from an R&D site of around 120 to a corporate resource center of over 700 employees across R&D, Corporate IT support, Global Customer Care and Field Operations. He has led the India center to be recognized for its operational excellence and as the #1 IT Employer in India among the small companies for four years in a row from 2002 to 2006 based on the DQ-IDC annual best employer surveys.
Jaswinder serves on the board of advisors of FirstRain, Inc. and Zafesoft, Inc., and is the Chairman and a member of the Executive Council of the India Semiconductor Association.
Jaswinder has a B. Tech in Electronics Engineering from IT-BHU, Varanasi and an MS in Computer Engineering from Northeastern University, Boston, USA. He also holds an Executive MBA from Stanford University, USA.
Posted On: 29th July 2008
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Cadence Design Systems
http://www.cadence.com/us/pages/default.aspx
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http://www.massbio.org/events/calendar/850-abbott_day_at_massbio_cambridge_marriott/event_detail
Abbott Day at MassBio (Cambridge Marriott)
Wednesday, June 30 2010
3:00 pm – 6:30 pm
Murali Gopalakrishnan, Head, Global External Research, Abbott
Murali Gopalakrishnan is currently Head of Global External Research in Global Pharmaceutical R&D at Abbott. Murali joined Abbott in 1993 and subsequently held various positions of increasing responsibility leading research programs in neuroscience, pain and urology, and advancing multiple clinical candidates in these disease areas. He has extensively published in scientific journals and was inducted to the Volwiler Research Society in 2002. Since December 2008, Murali has taken the role as Head of the newly formed Global External Research group in Discovery, focused on accessing and developing external collaborations around emerging science, targets, technologies and preclinical compounds.
Murali obtained his undergraduate training in pharmacy from Banaras Hindu University, India and a PhD in pharmacology from the School of Pharmacy, SUNY at Buffalo, New York. He completed his post-doctoral training in molecular biology at the Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, and has an MBA degree from the Lake Forest Graduate School of Management.
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Contact Murali Gopalakrishnan at: gopalakm@hotmail.com
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Abbott Labs
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Institute of Technology, Banaras Hindu University
Varanasi 221005, UP