Devina Sengupta
@DevinaSengupta
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HR/Workplace/EdTech reporter @Livemint . Past @EconomicTimes. Storyteller via print/podcast/video & 🧵📧[email protected]
Mumbai,India
Joined November 2012
You graduated from IIT but got offered Rs 6 lakh CTC? Didn’t everyone expect you to get crore plus? Who will pay for your loan?. A story I have wanted to write for years-About IITians tweaking resume, taking coding classes, changing fields but barely getting placed. @livemint
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A professor at @iitbombay & docs in @TataMemorial developed a #cancer therapy over 7 yrs. Large pharma firms scoffed. Today, 98 patients have received the drug,50% show +response. Global scientists are shocked. How did they manage ? What’s their story? I find out @livemint
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I am 38 yrs old.Will I become redundant after 10 yrs?Will my experience not count?. Today, thousands above 50+ who have their best working years ahead, are made obsolete. ⚠️India Inc, wake up. You have an ageist attitude! . I wanted to write this story for a while @livemint
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A senior exec in NY waited for a junior to join a call who was late because his dog needed a walk. A Japanese firm is worried why juniors are plain absconding from morning meetings. An Indian bank is unsure if telling younger lot to dress formally is crossing the line…(1)
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Career Update- I have joined @livemint as Deputy Editor & will track HR, Workplaces, Recruitments, EdTech sector. India Inc is going through the biggest transition post Covid & every biz deal, new skill set demand, changes in balance sheets will impact its employees first.
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Meet Allrounder.His job is to coax fresh grads to get fake experience in their resume for Rs 2 lakh. He works in Ameerpet-the nerve centre for India Inc’s moonlighters & IT coaching centre. It thrives on the lakhs of jobless degree holders. I report from Ameerpet @livemint
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Ali in rickshaw waits outside empty railway station.Hostel owner Mittal bought ceiling fans which break to prevent. Prof RJ may sell new home, cause loans. Anshu bhaiya came in 2010 to become a Dr, he can’t go back. My story @livemint about People of Kota without students.
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Just struck me . Today I complete 10 years with @EconomicTimes ! A decade of reporting across beats ! What a journey it has been !.
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On new year @Uber driver Abdul cleaned the vomit of a passenger, last Durga puja Rani wasn’t paid her salon fees, a passenger abused Farhan because she refused to walk 200m to the cab & Firoz was barred from delivering food because a resident said he left lift door open…🧵
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A story of two sets of IITs. The older established ones may get more recruiters but also have larger batches to place. The new #IITs are scampering for recruiters. Some have dialled placement agencies. @TauseefShahidi thanks for all the help.
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Career Update -. Today at 7.20 am,a mail in my inbox informed me that my story has been published in @EconomicTimes . This email is a lifelong marker because from tomorrow, the official ID that I had for 11 years won’t exist as I move on from reporting for The Economic Times.
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🚨⚠️The @TCS hiring breach wasn’t a one off case . It happened over years. @varunstweets & I join the dots. Equations bet RMG teams & certain recruitment firms run deep. How favours were made, how processes were bypassed. investigative piece @livemint . 👇🏼screen grab not PDF
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@memorable_90s The last scene of the series when the two teachers -Suchitra Pillai & Vinay Pathak recall the antics of the particular batch is how many of us want to be remembered by teachers :).
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For many of us who visited banks until few years ago,the clerks were to be revered. Their nod could hasten a deposit or make me run bet counters. A post vanishing rapidly as digitisation gallops. @shayanghosh123 & I write in @livemint today👇🏼.
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@artijourno If this is on LinkedIn, imagine what happens in their townhalls,meetings, mails etc Bouncers outside boardrooms?.
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At @livemint we are putting People stories on the forefront. 1)🚨Today’s lede is about a 20% slash in FY24 hiring by IT services which means more unemployment. 2) ⚠️Our long form is on a place called Ameerpet & why it is the barometer of the gap between a degree & a job.
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Orders messed up,cutlery missing, fumbling waiters,absent managers & chefs. India’s 5 ⭐️ hotels & top restaurants are facing worst manpower crisis. Customers are unhappy & the hefty bills ain’t worth it. No takers for hospitality. My story @livemint .
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It is a crash site. Rescue ops are on. Stop these close ups and video shoots.
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Glad to be that “aggressive Indian journalist from @EconomicTimes “. What’s the point if we stop pushing for news just when we have got the whiff of a story.
So an aggressive Indian journalist from @EconomicTimes pushed the case for reinventing performance management at Adobe?.Following is an excerpt from an article by Donna Morris, Ex- CHRO and the chief architect of performance management transformation at Adobe. Have a look.
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#Starbucks in SantaCruz didn't have card machines working .Offered coffee & food on credit .Customers mob nos noted . City running on trust.
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My story on -Sorry, you are too old to be to be hired- was published in @livemint on Friday. The story so far got 900+ comments & 7k + likes on @LinkedIn . About 100 comments on @Twitter . Specially touched to see many share tips on how to upskill, bridge the age hurdle.
I am 38 yrs old.Will I become redundant after 10 yrs?Will my experience not count?. Today, thousands above 50+ who have their best working years ahead, are made obsolete. ⚠️India Inc, wake up. You have an ageist attitude! . I wanted to write this story for a while @livemint
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We are in this together !! Mr Birla of Aditya Birla Group & Mr Sunil Mittal of Bharti Airtel @airtelindia @VodaIdea_NEWS #etawards @ETAwards @EconomicTimes
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What a time to be in journalism! And what a time to be in business of journalism!!.
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Corporates pls note -if questions are not allowed by media it is called a seminar and not a press conference .
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A prof who came from a village where schools had no classrooms. 2 docs who were tired of seeing thousands of patients line up for one bed. They fought for grants, their PhD students worked in 150sft labs that were part of cabins. ⚠️Why don’t we lay a bet on our own scientists?
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Hat tip to all newspaper editors and desk heads who are now redesigning page layouts to manage #Budget2023 & #AdaniFPO !.
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I spoke to many in their 50s-70s. They have the experience, worked across sectors, ready to learn latest tech changes. Their resumes are doing the rounds, no one selects them. Some get called for interviews & then told -“You are too old to be hired”.
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⚠️Once unpopular but now growing opinion - Quality of India’s top B school is dipping. Forget the crore plus salary-that’s not the median. Why is India Inc saying the expensive talent from B-schools ain’t worth it? . My pendrive in @livemint today .
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Reporters no matter what age we are living in, don’t ever stop jotting down notes on paper. Each one of you will have a day when recorder malfunctions, Otter goes kaput & memory can’t be relied upon for a long story with lots of quotes. It’s my turn today. #ReporterDiary.
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Told Sangeeta didi, my name comes in newspaper. A believer in data, she asked me for proof . Showed her ET & she found out my byline . Didi barely completed school but remembers English alphabet. Next thing I see , she is trying to read my spectrum story . So deeply touched .
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⚠️⚠️ The @HDFC_Bank video of toxic boss is not a one off case. There is systematic failure of redressal committees & ignorance of harassment cases. @shayanghosh123 & I report @livemint on how India Inc needs to buckle up quick. #HDFCBank #harassment . 🔗
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@_PulkitSomani @livemint Thank you Pulkit. And yes, if we are writing about the crores and bumper placements, time we write about those who won the IIT battle but didn’t get the crown.
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A story can be told in many ways. My attempt in telling the #kotacoaching story through photographs👇🏼showing students lined up for uniforms,posters that are taken seriously by millions of us. How I wish, we gave them and ourselves options. #Kota @livemint
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BR Shetty: The staggering rise and incredible fall of a billionaire. Wonderful read by @Indulekha_A @EconomicTimes
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1) Autowallah gets Rs500-3k to take parents to select coaching/hostel & admitted. 2) Show fee receipt of Rs1.2-1.5lakh n leave Allen/Resonance to get admission in @unacademy for Rs 5k. PhysicsWallah gives discounts too. 3)Food stalls to beggars ask about your JEE/NEET prep.
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At a sandwich shop in Bombay, the radio playing Rafi’s “kya hua tera wada”…. Sandwich maker singing loudly, customers humming along as well. No one rushing…Some took their parcels and waited for the song to finish. Times when few minutes become a moment 🤍.
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Once your coffee/aspirin routine is done, do read @sreeradhabasuET & my story in @EconomicTimes on what happens when a candidate gets a job & bosses realise after months that this was not the person they had interviewed!!😲. India Inc’s latest trouble -Impersonations 🚨.
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Sheeba Verghese after 8 rounds of chemo was given weeks to live. She tried India’s home grown NexCAR 19. 🚨CAR T-cell ain’t a miracle drug. But given to those suffering from certain cancer where other options failed. Sheba’s cancer is arrested & next scan is in April. @livemint
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I write in @livemint how @zomato @Swiggy @Flipkart @urbancompany_UC @Uber_India & others are pushing back against shameful behaviour of customers-verbal & physical abuse, disrespect of space & property. 🚨⚠️The #gig workers won’t take it lying down….
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@livemint Am not a pharma reporter so this was a complex & sensitive subject . @purwarrahul2 - His story is similar to the movie 12th Fail! The global scientist community is close knit one I discovered. @VikasReports @Goutam20 hat tip . Am keeping all notes of this story for posterity !
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3) In today’s @livemint long story , I write about this powerful , confident lot of youngsters who are defying all protocols, have exasperated their bosses & are unfortunately struggling just as much to fit in but at the same time stand out.
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🚨70% of working women want to quit/quitting cause India Inc not offering flexible work! . An exclusive @LinkedIn study says Back to Work spells misery for many women. I write in today’s @livemint . #diversity.#backtowork.#wfh.
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A podcast🎙️,a column ✍🏽 & a news story 📰 on Women, Workplace & Wages in @livemint today. 1) ✍🏽She doesn’t have children,husband to rush to doesn’t mean she can’t multi task or is available for long hours.I write on biases SINGLE WOMEN face in India Inc.
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Devina is difficult to pronounce so you say “Devi” for their ease of business with all the gravitas possible . And then you see how see how many see you ! 👇🏼. 🙄
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Back to the 🎙️after a year! Story telling should never be one medium specific. Everyone wants to listen, read or watch People stories! . @MsRiyaMukherjee @sruthijith @nkanekal @sreeraman @livemint .#podcast
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@akm1410 Ashish, when I wrote in April that 5k to be laid off over next 2 qtrs, so many didn’t buy. HR reporters get jittery when firms send out hiring numbers. It’s like vanishing peanuts from airlines. You know the dip is coming. That 5k number was met within one quarter.
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Today @livemint has a special edition which makes you think how India may look 100 yrs after Independence . Shifting demographics, climate , sector transitions are colossal challenges. The think tanks & opinion makers write in details. A must read edition through the day.
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🚨Govt asks top 500 firms to train 10mn youth over 5 yrs.This means each firm will train 20k /5 yrs = 4K/year! Where is the capacity for this “voluntary” program⁉️And what happens to apprenticeship schemes? CXOs don’t want interns! I write @livemint .
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The surge in sale of antacids in tablet, liquid and gel form comes on the back of Durga Puja food stall hopping. Time the pharma sector gives the Bengali community its due credit in Q3 results. #DurgaPujo.
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Thank you everyone for all the strength, prayers & checking up on my parents & me. We are doing much better now and deepest gratitude to our doctor. Health Dept in Kolkata called regularly & really appreciate all the effort. Hoping the worst is behind us. #COVIDー19.
Week ago my parents with severe comorbidities tested Covid+ve.Their stats are fine. Thank you everyone for all the strength&wishes. I rushed to Cal, would meet them twice a day for 15 mins in a PPE suit at the gate. Despite all precautions, today I have tested +ve for Covid.
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🚨🎂🎉🍾🥳And we turn ONE!! @EconomicTimes podcast 🎙 The Morning Brief is one year old already ! .Cheers to everyone in our team! . @arijitbarman76 @mohantee @anjalivenu @rachitaprasadET @Indulekha_A @ratnabhushanET @AnirbanET @Bhavya_ET @Nehal_ET @diarekhiET @sreeraman
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Uber driver Shahid told me he saves Rs 100 a day in the post office for his 7 month old daughter's education. He hopes she becomes a doctor .#DaugtersofIndia #womeneducation.
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What draws VCs to the Indian startup story? Story telling via numbers of the best kind. Plain Facts @livemint @Howindialives
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🚨Customer is God -plastered in shops, banks. Ironically , there are very few takers to serve the ‘Gods’. I write in @livemint on why no one wants to work in #CustomerService ? The feeling of servitude , entitlement of customers or poor brand image? .
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🚨🚨After 4 years of engineering,you get a job with @Wipro @Infosys @TCS . Rs3.6 lakh starting. You wait to join but it’s more than 6 months & no news from firms. What will you do? . ⚠️Well, many graduates have started hunting for another job! . My story in @livemint today👇🏼.
#MintPremium | Tech graduates with employment offers from large companies, including Wipro, Infosys, & TCS, are scouting for other jobs as onboarding delays stretch beyond six months. (@DevinaSengupta reports) .
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Random stranger waving at me at airport ! Closer look it turns out @EconomicTimes very own fund raise expert @saikatdasET !! Just imagine @NishanthV_ET @romitguhaET @theburugula_ET @sanam_ET
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So what if Bombay doesn’t have much of land , have you seen her pretty skies ? . #Mumbaimornings
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🔥🚨🚨 Kumar Mangalam Birla writes to Govt that he is willing to give up his stake in Vi @VodaIdea_NEWS . Asks forAGR clarity ,floor pricing ease in spectrum pay. First time promoter has said he is willing to give up his stake . #Vodafone . Stories to follow @EconomicTimes.
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Met Rani today. She sells trinkets in train, works 14+ hrs ,goes home & cooks for her family, came from AP few yrs ago, brothers are studying, she couldn’t study cause lack of funds. Rani is 10 years old. #daughtersofIndia #childlabour #girlchild.
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A glorious morning in amchi Mumbai. City is opening up . Here is to hope! #Bombay #Mumbai #MumbaiRains #LockdownEnd
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I will be working in the same profession, about which I shall post later. Going off the grid for sometime and will be back with a whole new gamut of stories very soon. Thank you, for all the love.
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🆕🚨#BreakingNew TCS appoints new RMG; sacks 15 executives & blacklists 8+ staffing firms. Audits vendors & asks for 2 yr #hiring data incl price points!. @varunstweets & I report for @livemint how @TCS housecleaning & overhauling its #staffing hiring !.
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⚠️🚨Women exiting India Inc even as firms go #hybridwork!. WHY?. 1)Firms don’t have cutoff time despite #hybrid work . 2) No childcare/creche options anymore . 3) Schools pushing mothers to focus like they did during #Online classes. I write @livemint .
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Ameerpet mirrors the nervousness ,as recession looms in IT sector. Unlike a #Kota which is betting on optimism & younger candidates; #Ameerpet makes money on unemployment. I went there after 12 years & stakes on unemployment have turned higher! . @sruthijith @Goutam20.
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A curious case of one India’s largest employers- PSBs seeing employee country 🔻but Pvt banks have upped manpower by 1 lakh+ 🚨Why are Govt banks not hiring ? @shayanghosh123 & I report @livemint .
In FY24, PSBs have seen a net reduction of 9,965 employees while private banks added 100,918 employees. Between FY19 and FY24, PSU banks' headcount has shrunk by over 60,000, while pvt banks have added 370,140 employees. With @DevinaSengupta @livemint .
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And there you have India Inc’s best ! Uaday Kotak, Mukesh Ambani , N Chandra , Sunil Mittal @ETAwards #etawards @EconomicTimes
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Places like Ameerpet make you realise the money made out of unemployment. ⚠️Engineering colleges teach nothing what the IT firms need @nasscom Most forced to join coaching class to “Upskill” themselves. ⚠️Each 10/10 sft is a coaching centre. Hundreds packed in a tin.
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(2) Generation wars are not new but what does Gen Z want? India Inc is struggling so bad to understand them. Professors are helping firms but what a conundrum! Work life balance without doing time? ⚠️Does Gen Z know what they stand for? Is their confidence just a mask?.
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Never have I thanked the "adda culture" of Kolkata more than in 2020, when I realise so many of the senior folks including mine are not slipping into loneliness because there is always someone checking or chatting with them for hours everyday irrespective of age.
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Also keeping an eye on the recruitment sector. Let's also talk about those ace headhunters/recruiters of India. Will try telling stories across platforms. No firm is too large/small/old/new for an HR story. DM open. Mail me at devina.sengupta@livemint.com.
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You know you have tilted to the grey side when a favourite childhood boyband is in the city & you pray there is no traffic jam enroute for meetings! . That you are less than 1 km away to the band you mailed postcards to has no impact !. #BackstreetBoysIndia.
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Completed teaching a sem at Wilson College . 30 classes and every single one of them had questions, doubts & debates- just how a journalism class should be ! . Wishing this lovely bunch all the very best ! . @tej_khatry @AlexanderSharm7 @AnoushkaPathare @AleeshaSam @Roneyreji
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Take your time to read @livemint #Budget edition & don’t miss the note about Madhav Kohli who along with the team used AI to produce the stellar graphics. One had to take into account biases while prompting. #BudgetWithMint @sruthijith @nkanekal . Note -The coffee is real.
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VR Sharma MD of @JSPLCorporate .@vrsharma27 tells me how they are producing #medicaloxygen. Green corridors are getting created to ensure #oxygen reaches faster. #OxygenExpress . Govt had asked steel makers @SteelMinIndia to produce medical oxygen to meet the #OxygenEmergency.
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Every story of a reporter goes through sharp edits, graphics are made which carry the story forward. Jayachandran is the maveric behind this stellar graphic and the story was edited by @damrita (she brings out the best in us, reporters)
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When kids are pushed towards coding classes , mobile screens , some on a sunny afternoon in Goa make the right choice .
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I went to Kota in July. Parts of it was shutters down. An entire economy has come to halt. So much anger because everyone erred depending only on students to survive. Loan defaults, rental contracts changed, teachers who bought fancy cars in 2022 can’t pay for medical bills.
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A plea-. 1)I can't read any mail about any firm if the first word is 'Hiiiii'. The mail goes to the bin. 2) To every 'haanji' am gonna say a 'theekache' & assume you & your client have understood the rest. 3)I am ALWAYS working on stories. I would be out of a job otherwise.
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Who doesn’t want to read an employee story :) I am very happy to join @sruthijith and his team of ace reporters. Let’s talk more than just hike %. Note-very few are getting those crazy salaries. From legacy firms to crypto world-let’s make the stories People First!.
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🚨🚨Crouch.Balance.Rinse.Sanitise.-Women told to avoid infections. The 3rd gender is sent to washrooms for specially abled . India Inc-keep salaries,corner offices, glass ceilings,DEI memo to yourself. Give us WASHROOMs first! . My Views today @livemint . #GenderEquaility
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Telecom coverage in @EconomicTimes today . From operators’ boardroom to power corridor decisions-no calls are dropped here . @romitguhaET @kalyanparbatET @gulveenaulakhET @ASMankotiaET @DanishKh4n & I report today . @ETTelecom
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