Skills needed for future job market

Karan Gupta lists down five market sectors that will gain prominence in the coming time. It is time students embraced the change

04.03.2019  Times of India 

 
F or India to maintain its stature of being the largest provider of skilled programmers and technologists, we will have to ensure that its populace is skilled accordingly so as to remain competitive in the global arena. What follows are five important skills that will continue to be in high demand in the Indian job market in the years to come.

Emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), augmented reality (AR), big data analytics, machine learning (ML) and virtual reality (VR), are set to change the landscape on ease of doing business. Individuals with skills in these areas will be an asset to both new and established corporations

CODING

Coding or programming in languages such as Javascript or Python has consistently been a skill that is in high demand. Many companies in the past few years have produced both hardware and software that feature augmented reality and machine learning. Individuals who possess the skills required to create, design and refine applications that make the most of these technologies and application programming interfaces, will be able to consistently secure rewarding employment.

MACHINE LEARNING

Machine learning (ML) being a branch of Artificial Intelligence (AI), has proved itself to be one of the most important technological developments as it facilitates algorithms and programes to continually learn and improve their efficiency. Individuals possessing a sound understanding of machine learning will ensure that they become integral components of both emerging and established corporations.

MOBILE DEVELOPMENT

Companies are constantly in need of mobile applications that make their product accessible to the target audience. An exciting direction in which mobile applications are currently headed is integrating technologies such as augmented reality like Pokémon Go. Such applications blend elements from the environment around users making the content appearing on screen more engaging.

SEO/SEM

Digital marketing skill is of utmost importance in order to be able to better the presence and visibility across the internet. This skill has an obvious advantage as greater exposure to users across the internet would result in more customers and thus revenue.

CYBER-SECURITY SPECIALISTS

It is no surprise that cybersecurity and information security are one of the highest paying and most wanted skillsets. Ransomware attacks such as WannaCryalong with hardware vulnerabilities that were exhibited inMeltdownandSpectre have become the new norm in modern society. As the world continues its reliance on outsourcing services such as cloud computing providers, coupled with internal networks that are vulnerable, the need for businesses to staff a skilled security team is of utmost importance.

These emerging skillsets will be evolving at an exponential pace and wrapping one’s head around them to stay ahead of the curve is essential. A young population can only become an asset if sufficient job opportunities are created and the youth is skilled enough to meet the aspirations of the populace.

The government has struck the right cords with ‘Skill India’ and ‘Make in India’ as well as providing the policy framework under ‘Ease of Doing Business’. However, a lot more needs to be done if we are to fully utilise youth potential.

With focus on acquiring the required skillsets, the possibilities that lie before a youthful India are unlimited.

(The author is founder of Indian Institute of Digital Education)

Australia bars entry of visitors with domestic violence convictions

Sydney:04.03.2019

Visitors who have been convicted of violence against women and children will be kicked out or barred from entering Australia, immigration minister David Coleman said on Sunday, as Canberra steps up its crackdown on foreign criminals.

The new laws, which came into force on Thursday, build on existing legislation requiring visitor visas to be cancelled if the holder has been sentenced to 12 months or more in jail. “Australia has no tolerance for domestic violence perpetrators,” Coleman said in a statement, adding that no minimum sentence threshold was required.

“If you’ve been convicted of a violent crime against women or children, you are not welcome in this country.” Canberra has in the past denied visas to American R&B singer Chris Brown and boxing star Floyd Mayweather following their domestic violence convictions.

New Zealand has previously expressed frustration with Canberra’s law on deporting convicts, which has seen Kiwi-born criminals sent back home after serving their jail terms even though some have spent most of their lives in Australia. AFP

Jet Airways grounds two more planes
Mumbai:04.03.2019

Beleaguered carrier Jet Airways has grounded two more of its aircraft due to nonpayment of lease rentals, taking the total number of planes on ground to 23. With the grounding of two more planes, almost 20% of aircraft in the airlines fleet are now out of operations.

“An additional two planes have been grounded due to nonpayment of amounts outstanding to lessors under their respective lease agreements,” Jet said in a filing to the stock exchanges on Saturday.

It also said that it is actively “engaged” with all its aircraft lessors and regularly provides them with updates on the efforts undertaken to improve its liquidity. Jet said it was making all efforts to minimise disruption to its network due to the grounding of the planes and was pro-actively informing and re-accommodating its affected guests.

After announcing the grounding of four of its planes on February 7 for non-payment to lessors, the airline took another two aircraft out of operations due to similar reasons on February 23. AGENCIES

HC denies nod for Sunday Bible school
Kanyakumari:04.03.2019

The Madurai bench of the Madras high court has dismissed a petition by the bishop of Kanyakumari Diocese, CSI, to construct a Sunday Bible school at Kottanallur village in Kanyakumari district. The bishop had challenged an order by the district collector who held that the school would be within a few hundred meters of the Salvation Army church and two temples and refused to grant permission citing law and order problems.

Bishop rev G Devakadashyam moved the court stating that he sent a petition in 2004 and received a response after four years stating that his application was rejected.

The SP denied permission owing to the likelihood that public peace and order in the area will be disturbed. TNN

Summer travel trend: Families like group tours while youngsters prefer going solo

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai:04.03.2019

Summer travel booking trends show that families prefer to travel on group tours to Europe and visit amusement parks like Parc Astérix (Astérix Park- France), Euro Disney and do river cruises while travellers in 18-24 years age category prefer to travel alone or in small groups of friends and prefer adventure.

The well-heeled and seasoned travellers are headed to Morocco, Turkey, Azerbaijan and Cambodia while budget travellers prefer Sri Lanka, Nepal and Bhutan. Easy connections from Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Doha makes travelling easy and less time consuming for tourists from Chennai, shows a summer travel trend study by Cox & Kings. An earlier trend analysis showed there was a 30% increase in international travel for this summer.

Neelu Singh, CEO & director, Ezeego1, said mono destinations, long-haul destinations and cruising are trending this summer. “From exploring 7 destinations in 12 days, the discerning Indian traveller has finally arrived at exploring a mono-destination in depth rather than country hopping every few days. There is a shift in the travel pattern of Indians discovering Europe traditionally. It is a mix of the beaten and off the beaten path,” said Neelu.

“They are obviously going to visit the Eiffel Tower, but they will also go wine tasting at Bordeaux, take a hot air balloon ride over Loire Valley, camp in Corsica or enjoy a seven-course meal in Paris. There is a 20-25 % increase in demand for single country destinations in Europe,” she added.

Increased competition and value-for-money cruise and flight offers by leading cruise liners like Star Cruises, Royal Caribbean, Dream Cruises, Princess Cruises is seeing a hike in the number of cruise visitors. Many cruise liners are offering ‘freestyle cruising’ that suits the Indian market well.

Karan Anand, head, relationships, Cox & Kings said, “Azerbaijan is a new destination that’s getting popular. The Baltic countries such as Latvia, Lithuania, Finland and Poland among others are also popular”.

A BUCKET LIST STAPLE:

Families prefer to travel to Europe as part of group tours and visit the textbook tourist spots

Residents pay more to get less water
Metrowater To Roll Out 90 More 6k-Litre Tankers Today

Komal.Gautham@timesgroup.com

Chennai:04.03.2019

Metrowater’s ‘Dial for water’ mobile app has come a cropper as residents are unable to buy anything less than 9,000 litres of water. Many apartment complexes prefer the 6,000-litre load, which Metrowater is unable to deliver. The agency has promised to roll out 90 more tankers of 6,000-litre capacity on Monday to cater to more places.

As of now, every time a resident makes a booking for a 6,000-litre tanker, the sender gets an automated message that says only 50 bookings are allowed and the resident will have to book a 9,000-litre tanker. As per the Chennai Metrowater Supply and Sewerage Board’s website, the booking can be done only between 6am and 6pm. The options are given as 6,000 litres and 9,000 litre, and the cost is ₹475 and ₹700, respectively.

V S Jayaraman, president of T Nagar Resident Welfare Association, told TOI, “Even when we booked a 6,000-litre tanker at 6am which is the commencement time for bookings, we are told to try again the next day or book 9,000 litres. How can we book higher capacity when our sump’s capacity is only 6,000 litres. How is it that as many as 50 orders get booked within minutes of the opening of the bookings? We smell a rat,” he said.

Some residents are forced to spend more to get less. “Most often we end up buying 9,000 litres by paying ₹700, and collect only 6,000 litres. This is unacceptable. The board must come out with ways and means to meet residents’ specific requirement instead of thrusting large quantities on us,” said B Kannan, another resident.

When contacted, Metrowater officials said the agency has 654 water tankers of which 225 are of 6,000-litre capacity. Each of the 15 zones has about a dozen 6,000-litre tankers, but they are mostly used to supply water to narrow streets and slums. “So we are not able to meet other residents’ demands,” said the official.

There have been reports earlier that Metrowater drivers supplied 6,000 litres of water in 9,000-litre capacity tankers and siphoned off the rest of the water. In 2017, nearly a dozen complaints were registered during summer, resulting in the suspension of a driver. In 2018, Metrowater floated tenders to use GPS to track the tankers but nothing has come of it.

Metrowater supplies 550mld (million litres a day) to the city instead of the stipulated 830mld owing to shortage in the reservoirs.

Ignou staffer among five arrested for paper leak

New Delhi:04.03.2019

A breakthrough has been made by crime branch in the leak of question papers of Indira Gandhi National Open University (Ignou) reported in December 2018. Five people, including an Ignou employee, have been arrested in countrywide raids. The gang had leaked papers of courses like MCA and BCA and sold them to applicants.

The arrested Ignou staffer, Dev Shankar, 31, works at the university’s study centre in Bokaro Steel City. Vivek was arrested from Bengaluru, Ankit from Sambhal in UP, Iqbal from Govindpuri in Delhi and Johnson from Gurgaon. The mobile phones used in transmitting images of the leaked papers have been seized.

Additional commissioner (crime) Ajit Singla said the Ignou registrar had complained to police in December about the leak. He had received emails from two IDs — royalrocky**@gmail.com and hk62632**@gmail.com — in which the senders had claimed that the papers had been leaked. An FIR was registered at Neb Sarai police station, but the case was later handed over to crime branch. TNN

For full report, www.toi.in