NEW YORK, June 22, 2007 (PRIME NEWSWIRE) -- This week's Wall Street Journal Weekend Edition centerpiece will focus on how rapid economic expansion is beginning to chip away at India's historical Hindu caste system that reserves well-paying jobs for upper castes and menial jobs for the bottom caste.
Advancement in India had previously been shaped by its caste system, which reached into every part of Indian society, often dictating everything from what one does and where one worships to whom one marries. Now, foreign and domestically based companies are looking beyond traditional sources of employees and as a result, some of the lowest caste members -- known as Dalits -- are rising into India's middle class. Many companies are taking steps to ensure that they hire a diverse mix, in some cases providing tuition in social skills programs akin to finishing school.
"International companies are bringing formalized, merit-based hiring processes to India," writes Paul Beckett, the Journal's New Delhi bureau chief in this week's Weekend Edition. "Still, success stories are rare. Many Dalits, especially in rural areas, don't have a shot at a decent education -- a must for fastest-growing areas of India's economy like software development, medicine and engineering. Some technology executives acknowledge that while merit is the ultimate consideration, personal behavior and social skills play a big role."
Additional stories appearing in this week's Weekend Edition of the Wall Street Journal include the following:
Money & Investing:
* Zero-Percent Credit Cards: The Journal looks at an increasingly
popular credit-card arbitrage: Apply for a slew of cards that offer
zero-percent transfers, and then park those funds in high-yield
online savings accounts, which often pay 5% or more. Just before
the cards' introductory period expires (typically a year later) pay
off the loans and pocket the interest.
* Exchange-Traded Funds: Exchange-traded funds are hot, but not all
of them are "funds." Rather, some of them are structured as
"notes" --particularly new ones in the hot commodities area-- and
therefore fall under a different regulatory regime. Their
different legal structures don't provide investors the same
protections that an ETF does, and in some products, the tax
implications aren't crystal clear.
Pursuits:
* Winning a Marathon-The Easy Way: With amateurs entering marathons, triathlons and other endurance events in droves, many now game the system in pursuit of trophies and bragging rights. Some drive hundreds of miles to find weaker competition in out-of-the-way places. Others research rivals via the Internet or they scope out the field just before the starting gun and then make a mad dash-- to look for a race with less-seasoned opponents. Fueling the trend are Web sites posting increasingly detailed results and race organizers offering more opportunities to win. * Haggling Over High-End Fashion: Haggling over high-end fashion is alive and well on the Internet, where search engines like Google and comparison shopping sites that list discount codes make it easier than ever to work the system. Fueled by the growing number of apparel retailers trying to attract customers with discounts, shoppers increasingly are trying to play one online store against another. While the strategy often doesn't work with the online units of big brick-and-mortar retailers such as Neiman Marcus, many Internet-only retailers and small boutiques that sell online are willing to match a lower-price offered by a competitor. * TV Minisodes: A new online channel is offering old TV shows shaved down to a few minutes each. The Minisodes Network, launched this past week on MySpace, offers episodes from 15 TV series, mainly kitschy titles from the 1970s and '80s, including "Charlie's Angels" and "Silver Spoons."
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Editor's Note: WSJ reporters are available to discuss these topics.