An Indian green energy entrepreneur is among the six ‘Champions of Earth’ announced by the United Nations that include heads of state of Maldives and Guyana as well Chinese actress Zhou Xun. The Champions of the Earth is an international environment award given out every year by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) for commitment and vision towards environmental leadership.

Vinod Khosla, co-founder of Sun Microsystems and green energy entrepreneur, was named as one of “Champions of the Earth” for his efforts to encourage people to live a more environmentally-friendly lifestyle.  Entrepreneur Vinod Khosla has made it a personal mission to realize a low-carbon path by establishing investments in clean and renewable energy start-ups.

A venture capitalist, Khosla is dubbed as Silicon Valley’s ‘Mr Green’. In September 2009, his firm, Khosla Ventures, raised USD 1.1 billion in a “green fund” that would be used to spur development of renewable energy and other clean technologies. Khosla has initiated several start-ups to try to reduce the world’s dependence on petroleum as he is of the opinion that burgeoning revolution in oil alternatives will be far bigger than the internet revolution.

Other winners included Afghanistan’s Director General of the National Environmental Protection Agency Prince Mostapha Zaher and Japanese earth scientist and pioneer of research into how the oceans cycle carbon, Dr Taro Takahashi.

While the six winners represent some of the key pillars upon which society can build Green Growth and a development path, I appeal all the members of ZaaBiz to contribute to green growth by taking small initiatives.

It does turn up as surprise to see Indian employees are the most passionate about their jobs. The world business fraternity for long has been debating about the growing prowess of India and China and its impact on the western world. But among India and China, this seems to have gone the India way. In a recent global survey by HR solutions provider Kenexa, India ranks at a numero uno position when it comes to being passionate about their job while the Japanese employees find themselves at the bottom of the table.

In this global survey the average is 56%, with Indian employees at 72% followed by Brazil at63% and Canada at 60%. USA and Germany are just above the average at 59% followed by Russia and Saudi Arabia at 58%.

The prime reason stated for the top spot is that Indian feel passionate about their job when they feel their skills and abilities are put to good use. They also find that India Inc offers them a good work/life balance which enables to enjoy their work better. Indian employees are confident about the future of their companies and are self-motivated to given their 100% as they feel that their companies growth is directly proportional to their growth.

The US financial crisis may have expedited a shift in global economic power. According to a report by global consultancy firm Economy PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), India could become the world’s third largest economy by purchasing power parity, overtaking Japan in 2012. This would be almost 20 years ahead of Goldman Sachs’ projection of 2032 in its BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India, China) report.

India is also expected to grow faster than China after 2020. China, which was projected to become the world’s largest economy by 2041, now looks set to achieve the distinction sometime around 2020, the PwC report said.

While the exact date is open to doubt, it seems highly likely that, by 2030, China will clearly be the largest economy in the world on purchasing power parity.

The midnight of August 15, 1947 is memorable for every Indian within the country or an NRI, as it is the time, when India gained independence.

Flowers and Flags are sold at Colaba Market

I had the pleasure of experiencing India’s Independence Day celebrations last year while being in Mumbai. It was a very memorable event, very peaceful, colourful, joyful and it was the whole family that celebrated in the streets, on the many markets and in bars, cafes and restaurants. Nearly everyone I met was carrying a flag or wearing flowers as a sign of celebration.

Since 1947, it is celebrated with pomp and gaiety, across the length and breadth of India. Cultural programs and flag-hoisting ceremonies are the principal affair of the day. People indulge themselves in remembering the heroes of the freedom struggle and pay homage to them.

In all the schools and colleges across India, no academic work is done on Independence Day, but all the students and staff members would be present to celebrate the day. A sort of social gathering is arranged in the educational institutions, wherein cultural programs are organised. A majority of prominent business houses in India have the same routine as the educational institutions, while the rest spend their time on watching Independence day special LIVE from Red Fort.

Contradicting to the traditional Independence Day celebration, Generation Y in India is busy celebrating the same on the networking platform with their pals and business connects. It is a true day of India’s freedom and independence.

Our team here at ZaaBiz wish all our Indian members a “Happy Independence Day”.

Michael Brecht

Networking is the buzzword across all industries and regions as  the marketers have found a new channel to market their products and services and improvise upon them based on the feedback from their customers. Indians are not only active networking community but they are also aware of the opportunities like business growth and new business contacts that business networking brings forth.

ZaaBiz has various active business groups with focus on regional networking. But Business Bunch: Chennai is one of the most active and fast growing business groups. The group has crossed 200 active members. The response to the group has been phenomenal and i would take this opportunity to thank and congratualte all the members of the group.

The world’s least expensive car “Tata Nano” was conceptualized and manufactured in India. Many such innovative manufacturing business processes have been engineered in India, but the companies are never being awarded for their excellent contribution to the field of manufacturing. Foster & Sullivan & The Economic Times are about to present the Indian Manufacturing Excellence Awards (IMEA), which will award companies who are far-sighted and have innovative business models.

The Awards are a step towards encouraging Indian manufacturers to move towards global standards in manufacturing processes. The IMEA process will provide credible and unbiased evaluation of supply chain efficiencies of companies. The Award programme will identify and applaud efforts of companies towards achieving world-class manufacturing status, apart from recognising excellence in manufacturing practices. IMEA will also map an organisation’s strategic planning and its ability to implement compared with other companies in the same sector.

The Awards seeks to give recognition to the Indian manufacturing industry which contributes 16% to GDP and generates huge employment opportunities. The award is sure to boost the Indian Manufacturing Industry. We at ZaaBiz appreciate the efforts of Economic Times for recognizing the excellent work of Indian Manufacturing Industry.

The asterisk on airline fare advertisements that could translate into many thousands payable over and above the low-sounding basic fares is set to go. Director General of civil aviation has given all airlines, may it be a domestic or an international player, 30 days to correct their pricing reflecting in their websites, systems and travel agent database so that passengers get a single all-inclusive figure of the total amount payable.

The new directive will also ensure a watch on the service providers so that the fare levels are fairly charged and that no avoid cartels in the industry. Once the time period for correction expires, the service providers will be asked for a compliance report.

This step has been taken by the government so that the air travellers are not misguided with regards to pricing. The pricing will not include base price and all the applicable taxes levied by the government.

The new directive is a boon for all the travellers across the country. For more such articles and discussions on travel visit ZaaBiz.

Having turned a 100 days old in his Office Obama has started the latest mantra ‘Say no to Bangalore and yes to Buffalo,’. Meeting one of his major election promises, Obama yesterday announced end to years of tax incentives to those US companies which create jobs overseas in places like Bangalore. Instead, the incentives would now go to those creating jobs inside the US, in places like the Buffalo city — bordering Canada in upstate New York. If this step is concreted Indian IT and ITes companies will suffer severe losses.

Mr.Barrack Obama

However in anticipation to this problem, Indian IT giant Wipro has already made his move by acquiring some companies in Europe. There is more opportunity in Europe than America. In fact this is a good opportunity for Indian companies to expand into newer markets increasing market size and creating new markets for them.

Mr. Azim Premji

Also, other attempts by Obama to keep the money only within America might actually harm the economy more than allowing it to grow. If it tries to keep it circulating the money in only America, it is likely their export markets in countries of Europe and Australia might be affected. I feel it is a bad idea to do so.

Obama’s strategy of giving tax benefits to its American companies might have a reverse impact on his expectations. If tax benefit is less than the savings that American companies make from outsourcing to India, then it is a loss for the company. Obama must keep these factors in mind before he freezes on his decision.

The lottery system seems to be the order of the day. As you are aware that we are celebrating our first birthday with a contest. The contest is based on the luck draw system or the lottery system. In order to participate in the contest you need to invite three friends to join ZaaBiz, join a group and write an article in the group and post a classified. This is all that you need to do to qualify in the contest.

Nano seems to follow similar footsteps that of ours. Due to the limited production and stupendous response, Tata is also going the lottery system way. The bookings for the car does not necessasarily mean you will get the delivery it all depends on luck.

The couple differences that we share is that registering with ZaaBiz is free and Nano is not. You need to pay a huge sum for registering Nano. Nano does not offer a cash incentive while in our case you have a chance to win Rs4999. So hurry up and participate in the contest as this is a fantastic opportunity for you to win.

First of all, let me thank to all our new members who have participated in the contest and are now on the verge of being part of the luck draw pool. For people who haven’t participated here is how it goes. First of all ask three of your friends to connect with you on ZaaBiz. Use the invite function if you not invited any friends or use reminder function if you they have not yet completed the registration in spite of your invitation. Once you have got three friends on ZaaBiz the next step is to join any ONE group out of 250 groups that we have. Choose the group which relates to your profession, region or interest. Post a forum entry in your group. The last step is to post an entry in our classified section. You can post classifieds in any of the categories like jobs, real estate etc. You can have multiple entries in different sections if you like. Please note that the entry in classified section is free.

So hurry up, it is the last week  to take part in the competition and win Rs 4999 for which you need to invite three friends to join ZaaBiz, post an entry in one group of your choice and post a classified.