Majority of kids in metros suffer from backache: Assocham

New Delhi: Majority of school going children between the age group of 5 and 12 carry excessive load in their school bags, causing a higher risk of back pain and stress in them, said an Assocham survey.

"Nearly 82 per cent of children carry as much as over 35 per cent of their weight on their backs. Heavy school bags are causing children high levels of back problems which often worsen with age," the survey said.
    
The survey was conducted in 10 major cities, including Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai, Bangalore, Mumbai and Hyderabad on more than 2,000 pupils and their parents, during March and April.
    
It was observed that around 1,500 kids below the age of 12 could not sit properly without the support of slouch and suffered from orthopaedic problems.
    
"Excessive and uneven loads have been linked to an increased risk of back trouble and deformation of the spine. Stresses from these excess weights may cause harm and may adversely affect the growth of the musculo-skeletal system," said Assocham Health Committee Chairman Dr B K Rao.
    
The aim of this survey was to know the effects of schoolbag carriage on students.
    
Majority of the parents complain that on an average, there are seven to eight periods in a day and each subject involves a minimum of three bookstextbook, workbook and notebook.
    
Also they have to carry other items like skates, taekwondo, swim-bag, cricket kit on every alternate day.
    
Dr Rao, who is also the Chairman, Board of Management, Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, said parents should ensure that children stick to their time table. 

Vazhikatti brings cheer to students in Tiruppur

Tiruppur: For over a decade, Dinamalar in association with SRM group of institutions has been conducting this student’s guidance programme, "Vazhikatti", facilitating students to choose appropriate career courses.

"Vazhikatti" that got underway on April, 20 at Tiruppur is being held at Vidhya Karthick Thirumana Mandapam, close to Government Hospital which will be opened for public until April 22.   

Apart from enlightening parents on various issues concerning education, "Vazhikatti" has been assisting scores of students to choose a promising course for brighter career.

Several elite educationist and career counselors across state got under one roof to provide their expertise to young aspiring students and parents who had eagerly flocked to listen to their valuable advice on prospective higher education and career counseling.

Speaking at the programme, Nandakumar, IRS, told students that along with sound education, management skills are needed to succeed in Civil Services Exam. 

He told some students have a wrong notion that by studying certain particular subjects it is possible to get through the Civil Services.  Possessing widespread knowledge beyond education is important to get through such a competitive exam. Some perceive that Civil Services comprises of IAS, IPS and IFS, however it consist of 27 other positions like Railway Traffic, Defense Accounts, Indian Postal Service, Indian Defense Accounts Service, Indian Statistical Service, Indian Telecommunication Service and many more.
   
Encouraging students to study Biotechnology, Nazir elaborated the students on the scope of biotechnology in India and across the globe. Replying to students' queries he said, it is possible earn Rs 25,000/ at the start and Informatics Technology would be an excellent division to select in Biotechnology that has lot of scope for overseas opportunities.

Dr. M. Ponnavaiko, Vice- Chancellor of SRM University, exposited students that hard work and self-confidence would certainly bring success for any student. Language cannot stand as a barrier for ones success. Today's, students need not resolve to suicides just for the reason of not getting good marks or grades. 

Nearly 69 stalls of various institutions are showcasing the programmes of their institution under one-roof, facilitating students from providing admission forms to assisting in admission process.  

Central Board of Secondary Education to introduce vocational course on Fitness and Gym Operation

NEW DELHI: Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) is going to introduce a vocational course on 'Fitness and Gym Operation' from the 2012-13 session. The course is designed to develop and hone skills required for a career in the field of sports. 

A pilot run of the course will be carried out in 50 select schools from Class XI onwards this year. The course will have five units in theory carrying 60 marks, while the practical component will have three units carrying 40 marks. 

In the Class XI course, the students will get to learn about various aspects of health, fitness, wellness phenomenon, physiology of exercise and training, diet and nutrition, and so on. 

BITS Pilani Dubai campus introduces PhD programme

DUBAI: BITS Pilani's only international campus here has announced to start PhD programmes in engineering, management and allied interdisciplinary after getting approval from emirate's Knowledge and Human Development Authority (KHDA).

The Birla Institute of Technology and Science here has said that the Doctoral programme will be offered from this semester.

Topics of research can be chosen from any of the disciplines in which the Institute offers the first and higher degree programmes, the university said in a statement.

Topics can also be chosen from interdisciplinary research areas, for example, nanotechnology and nano-science, nano-robotics, micro-electro mechanical systems, mechatronics etc.

US ready to help India in education sector

WASHINGTON: The United States is ready to help India in the education sector in a variety of ways, a top Obama administration official has said. 

"I've met repeatedly with my counterpart, the education minister from India. He's a remarkable man. We think we have challenges ... I've said repeatedly, whatever we can do to be helpful we want to do that," education secretary Arne Duncan said at a White House news conference yesterday. 

Duncan was responding to questions on the visit of four Indian states education ministers to visit the community colleges in the country. 

"Whatever we can do to partner with the leaders from India, we want to do that. It's a very, very ambitious goal, and we want to see them achieve that," he said. 

"I really believe a rising tide lifts all boats, and the more we have an educated workforce here in America, the more we have an educated workforce in India, the more we have that next generation of both employees and consumers, that's great for the world," Duncan said. 

"So we want to partner together. We have, I think, still the best system of higher education in the world. We have amazing, amazing community colleges," he said. 

"I was at there over the past two days in Wisconsin and Iowa. And whatever best practices we can share, whatever we can do to help India as they go on this very ambitious growth pattern, growth trajectory, we want to do that," said the Education Secretary. 

Tamil Nadu to Introduce Education Channel

CHENNAI: Aiming to utilise the state-run cable TV service provider for education purposes also, Tamil Nadu government on Wednesday proposed introducing a separate Education Channel in its Arasu Cable Television Network.

This would bring quality education to the students at their homes after school hours. It would help all the students get the best tutorials, seminars, lectures and other related programmes which otherwise would not have been accessible to them," School Education Minister N R Sivapathy said.

This was part of the Information and Communication technology initiatives of his department for the year 2012-13, he told the state Assembly.

Further, a SMS-based application to monitor teacher attendance has been developed and this will be integrated with the Education Management Information System (EMIS) which will have the entire database of schools, teachers, students and officials by end of 2012-13, he said.

The (SMS) application will be activated when schools reopen on June 1, 2012. The attendance of teaching and non-teaching staff will be communicated by the Headmasters to the central server which will in turn transmit the information to all higher officials of the department," he said.

Another technological initiative, the government also proposed was a Smart Card system for school students.

From June 1, 2012 all children in government and aided schools will be provided with the Smart Card which will consist of details pertaining to the child which will be stored in a central server.

This complete data of children will be very useful for providing all the facilities to the children. This card is also integrated with EMIS," Sivapathi said.

Among others, he proposed filling of over 20,000 teaching and non-teaching vacancies.

CBSE gives you an Option to Choose the Date for Online AIEEE 2012 Exam

It is brought to the notice of the candidates appearing in on-line examination of B.E./B.Tech for AIEEE 2012 that on-line examination will be conducted in 22 already specified cities all over the country during 07th May, 2012, Monday to 26th May, 2012, Saturday

The dates of on-line examination are 07th May, 12th May, 19th May, and 26th May, 2012

They are advised to exercise option of selection date for the above-mentioned dates for the on-line examination of B.E./B.Tech on the board’s website www.aieee.nic.in

They are further informed that on-line examination will be conducted only in one shift i.e. from 10.00 a.m. to 01.00 p.m.

This facility is available on first-come first-served basis

The registration for the on-line test will remain open from 17th January, 2011 to 31st January, 2012

The rest of the details are available on the website www.aieee.nic.in

Andhra Inter First Year Results 2012 on April 20

Hyderabad: The wait is finally over for students across Andhra Pradesh who have been anxiously looking forward to their Inter First Year Results 2012. The Board of Intermediate Education of Andhra Pradesh (BIEAP) has today announced the results of the Intermediate First Year Examination 2012.

The results are available, on the following websites:

www.ExamResults.net

www.AndhraEducation.net

http://Results.AndhraEducation.net

www.HyderabadEducation.net

Students can also access their results on SMS, through the following:

GENERAL - SMS - APGEN1<space>REGISTRATION NUMBER to 56263
VOCATIONAL - SMS - APVOC1<space>REGISTRATION NUMBER to 56263

Additionally, students can register themselves on www.ExamResults.net to receive their results on E-Mail!

Students can also avail the Interactive Voice Response System(IVRS) to obtain their results. Use the following numbers to get your results:

Airtel Users Dial 523456 @ Rs.6/pulse
Idea Users Dial 5234580 @ Rs.6.99/pulse
Docomo Users Dial 52345020 @ Rs.5/pulse

The Andhra Second Year Results 2012 are expected to be announced on April 24, 2012.

Special status to Institute of Chemical Technology, Mumbai

Mumbai:  Institute of Chemical Technology, Mumbai, has been granted special status, Higher Education minister Rajesh Tope, on Friday, announced. Now ICT, Mumbai got status in line with engineering institutes like the Indian Institute of Technology. 

All India Council for Technical Education provides the status, which enables ICT for special grants from the Ministry of Human Resource Department and also grants from the state government. This will enable the institute to improve its infrastructure and other facilities which are available to high-end institutes, Tope said.

A 2011 annual survey on the research standards of engineering and technology institutes conducted by the Georgia Institute of Technology, USA, ranked the ICT as number one in India and number four in the world.

Gujarat plans to hire more teachers

Gandhinagar: RTE Act requires that a school with less than 60 students have at least two teachers, with another teacher for every additional 30 students. Even for large schools, with over 200 students, the pupil-teacher ratio must never exceed 40.

The norms mean that India needs to hire 6 lakh teachers. Gujarat needs to hire over 20,000 teachers to meet the RTE Act norms.  The state hired 10,000 teachers last year and plans to hire the rest soon, Gujarat principal secretary, education, Hasmukh Adhia said. 

Only 40% of schools in India meet the pupil-teacher ratios required by the RTE Act. And that number masks the massive differences between states. Teacher absenteeism – because of non-teaching tasks is required to perform, because of responsibilities at multiple schools, the challenge won’t end with meeting the pupil-teacher ratio norms.

MP- Action to taken against principals who don’t consider online scholarship

Gwalior: Collector P. Narhari has given clear warning that strict action will be taken against the principal who don’t accept online scholarships. 

He also added that all the application of girl scholarships should get accepted by 15th of august.

Collector focuses on ‘School Chale Hum Campaign’ and he said that all village panchayat representative and other village officia.

ls will be a part of this campaign. According to the campaign in 1st standard 35690 students, in 6th standard 22979 and in 9th  standard 19299 students are expected to get admission.

He also said that in Gwalior city 40 schools will be opened soon as locations of these schools are already booked and required funds are also given to the respective departments, if departments don’t complete their work on time then government will do recovery from them. 

TN to set up 20 educational institutions this year

Chennai: With the objective of reaching out students of small towns as well as reduce the drop-out rate, TN Chief Minister proposed establishing nearly 20 educational institutions in the state this year including engineering colleges.

Making a statement in the Tamil Nadu Assembly, Jayalalithaa announced setting up an engineering college each in the districts of Thanjavur and Dharmapuri.
  
Besides, she announced seven polytechnic colleges and 11 constituent Arts and Science colleges in different parts of the state, holding that the efforts will pave way for students of smaller towns to have access to quality higher education, thus enabling them better career prospects. 

Sibal's intervention sought on reservation in University

Chandigarh: Parkash Singh Badal, Punjab CM asked Union HRD Minister Kapil Sibal to immediately issue directions to the UGC and the deemed Thapar University at Patiala to maintain territorial quota of 50 per cent in Punjab.

The Chief Minister, in a letter to Sibal, sought his intervention to redress "this genuine grievance" of the state to ensure that no step-motherly treatment was meted out to Punjab students by the Thapar University or UGC.
    
Badal told Sibal that the Deemed Thapar University in Patiala had recently taken a decision in their meeting of Board of Governors (BOGs) on February 24, 2012, citing UGC guidelines, to de-reserve 50 per cent of the seats for the undergraduate courses which were being filled earlier out of  the quota meant for students belonging to Punjab.
    
He mentioned that the Thapar Institute, which had come up as an Institute of Excellence, was solely on account of contributions made by the state and thereafter giving them grant-in-aid and the other financial assistance under various government schemes.
    
The Deemed Thapar University is not in the present shape of its own but definitely due to the active financial and in support of the state government.
    
Badal said that with this decision of the BOGs, the interests of the students of Punjab have been "sacrificed  /compromised" which in no way was acceptable to the state.
   
The Chief Minister also pointed out that the other deemed universities like NIT, Jalandhar, and Sant Longowal Institute of Engineering and Technology, Longowal, are having 50 per cent seats reserved as state quota under the umbrella of UGC only.
  
In the city of Chandigarh, the Punjab Engineering College, also a deemed university, was also having 50 per cent territorial quota for students of Chandigarh city alone, said Badal adding the decision of the BOGs is without any intimation, consent or approval of Punjab. 

IITs smart tech to be on display soon

New Delhi: Research designs and prototypes of various technological innovations, ranging from everyday household items to sophisticated gadgetry, designed by students at the Indian Institute of Technology would soon be on public display.

The lay public including a mix of curious schoolchildren students as well as industry representatives keen on checking the commercial viability of these products, are expected to attend the 8th edition of Open House scheduled on April 21 at the IIT Delhi campus here.

"We would be displaying a lot of projects that are innovative and commercially viable by our faculty and our students for the benefit of the society. A large number of school children and industry representatives will also be visiting the fair," said Prof A K Ghosh, Chairman of the Open House Committee.

A few of these ideas such as the electrically enhanced needle-free transdermal delivery of drugs have already been picked up by various industries for further research and development.

The device, a programed chip, looks like a watch whose dial can be opened and filled with medicine. Adjusting the settings will allow specified quantity of the drug to permeate the body through small amounts of electricity.

"After the prescribed quantity of the medicine has been absorbed by the body the device automatically switches off and can be programmed to switch on later. We are testing it on insulin, Diclofenac (painkillers). This device is very safe and dose can be controlled and can be reduced. This device is going to be more effective than taking pills or injections," said Prof Sneh Anand, Centre of Biomedical Engineering, who and her team of students have invented the device.  

More such devices which might bring about a revolution in the medical world like Light Weight Composite Hinge Joint for polio patients which can be produced in a mass scale and are more affordable for the masses belonging to a low socio- economic background would also be on display.

After the 'Smart Cane' innovation for the visually impaired the IITians have come up with 'Roshni' a cell-phone based indoor navigation system for the visually impaired that can be used in homes or in public places like museums or parks to enable the free movement of such people.

"The Fabric Feel Tester is a new kind of device to evaluate the quality of the fabric on the industrial level. In India we previously used to use the Kawabata Evaluation System (KES) which is very expensive and highly technical device to be used widely by the industry. Our technology is affordable and can be used by all textile industries," says Apurba Das, Associate Professor, Department of Textile Technology and the technical expert behind the invention.

The KES system is priced at a hefty Rs 1.5 crore in the market where as the new Fabric Feel Tester would be available at Rs. 1.5 lakhs only.

"An Ahmedabad based company is manufacturing our technology and 15 days back they have already received 15 to 20 orders to manufacture our technology," says Apurba.

He further adds that this technology will help Indian textile companies to do business with companies all over the world by just emailing the quality of their fabric to the client and get feedback within minutes.

Bamboo based structures like cycle rickshaw, cycle trolley and other equipments have been designed for the rural masses to avail cheap and environment friendly transportation.

In light of the recent earthquakes around the world, a group of students have rolled out the latest tech "base isolation" that aims to prevent devastation due to earthquakes.

More such innovative ideas which are on display are the world's first hydrogen-powered three wheelers called "HyAlfa" which was also launched at Pragati Maidan's Auto Expo-2012. Mahindra and Mahindra based on the recommendation of IIT had developed the three wheeler.

Alternative energy have also found its way in projects like the Green Urban Transit system and Direct Hydrocarbon Solid Oxide Fuel Cells which are based keeping in mind the costly fuel.

Projects like Responsive Camouflage Textiles, Indian Digital Heritage Preservation, Interactive Virtual Display as well as Active Sonar Classifier are also on display.

Portal launched to track nation's skill development programmes

New Delhi: To bring more efficiency in execution of implementation of government's skill development scheme, a web portal was launched here which will help in online registration of candidates, tracking the training programme and providing online certificates.
 
The portal, developed by HP, intends to expedite the skill development initiative as the government has targeted to train 50 crore skilled hands in the country in the next 10 years to address the shortage of workforce in the country.
 
"With the launch of the website, the trainees can be monitored right from the start, his progress and placement while employers can also view the profile of the candidates," said director general of employment and training Sharda Prasad after Labour Minister Mallikarjun Kharge launched the website.
 
He said the manual process of recording candidate information provided them with very limited visibility in respect of monitoring the training and assessment schedules and number of candidates certified for employment.
 
With large number of information spread across different cities and organisation, there was a need for a single platform such as this website to centralise the data, he said.
 
The national skill policy of the government has been articulated at the behest of Prime Ministers National Council on Skills Development.
 
The directorate general of employment and training works with the state governments and vocational training provider to provide professional training to unskilled and semi skilled workforce in the country. The  trained candidates are then assesses by empanelled assessing bodies and certified ready for employment.
 
Prasad said they have already trained 1.3 million people in the last one year as against the target of one million and scale up the number considerably as the government as made a provision of Rs 700 crore this fiscal. 

IITs mulling over admission process

Mumbai: The IIT, after a proposal to partially consider class XII scores for admission was shot down by the faculty members, has decided upon a fresh list of workable suggestions to select students for the elite institutions.

Based on T.Ramasami report discussions were held at various IIT campuses that led to a decision which looks at having a single pan-India entrance exam for admission to engineering colleges. The result, more importantly raised innumerable questions on the fairness of the system that would normalize the Class XII scores of all the boards in India.

Devang Khakkar, IIT Bombay director said that there is a large support for some reforms. He added that the ball is in their court now and that they will come up with a proposal on how to select students.

The new suggestions will be placed before the respective IIT senates and each senate will discuss the proposal before all the IITs meet and ratify them by the mid of May.

Most of faculty members are of the view that the assessment of class XII and their teaching and learning facilities vary across school boards and could not be statistically normalized The IIT faculty federation has also submitted a list of its concerns to HRD minister Kapil Sibal.

It is still unclear if the new admission method would start from 2013 or may be delayed by another year.

Maharashra to close down aided schools which inflated rolls

Mumbai: The Maharashtra government decided to crack the whip against some aided schools which were found to have inflated the number of enrolled students to get government grants in a recent state-wide inspection.
     
The state cabinet decided to initiate criminal proceedings against school managements where fifty percent or more enrolment was found to be bogus.
     
A drive to verify actual enrolment in aided schools was undertaken recently when it came to light that several schools in Nanded district had inflated the number of students to get more grants.
     
Such schools would be shut down, highly placed sources said. "The teachers' services would be terminated and the students will be accommodated elsewhere." 
     
The officials who had conducted previous surveys and given false reports would face departmental inquiry.
     
Sources said that Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan also asked the officials to submit a plan to install biometric system in schools.
     
The cabinet also decided that state government will provide nine per cent of the central government funds or Rs 9 crore (whichever is less) for 14 textile parks that would come up in the state. 

August-2012 batch of B.Tech. in Marine Engineering announced

Mehsana: Ganpat University has announced the commencement of 4 Year Bachelor of Technology (B.Tech) residential program in Marine Engineering. This will be a pioneer institute for Marine Engineering course in the state of Gujarat approved by the Directorate General of Shipping, Government of India. It was a long felt need that an institution to offer a Degree leading to a career at sea as an officer in the Merchant Navy,  be established in this state with longest coast line of 1600 kms in Gujarat. 

This led to the signing of MoU with Gujarat Maritime Board (Government of Gujarat). Hence the department of Marine Engineering is set up in the existing U V Patel College of Engineering which is a constituent college of Ganpat University. The Institute of Marine Engineers(Inida-Gujarat Chapter) has expressed their whole hearted support for this program.

A Marine Engineer is in-charge of operation and maintenance of all machinery on board merchant ships. Today's ships are technologically highly advanced and the engineer needs to understand various disciplines including mechanical, electrical, electronics, structural and naval architectural concepts. The Shipping has come a long way and is developing continuously to meet the challenges of harmonizing security and environmental aspects with safe and efficient operation at sea. 

About Merchant Navy
The Merchant Navy is a non-combatant commercial fleet, which deals with transporting cargo and occasionally, passengers, by sea. Its fleet is therefore composed of passenger vessels, cargo liners, tankers, bulk and container carriers, as well as other special types of vessels. A career in this field is full of challenges and long voyages to distant places. Above all this, the attractive pay and fast promotional opportunities make the career lucrative and exciting in spite of all the hard work and long absence from family and home.  

On board a merchant ship major tasks performed are in three basic areas - the Deck, the Engine and the Saloon Department. There are thus, many career options that are available for any youngster who has dreams to join the merchant navy. The deck officers include the Captain, Chief Officer, Second Officer, Third officer and other junior officers/Cadets. The engine department consists of the Chief Engineer, Second Engineer, Third Engineer, Fourth Engineer, Electrical Officer and junior engineers. The saloon department manages the kitchen, laundry and other services. 

Job Prospects 
Merchant Navy is the backbone of international trade, carrying about 90% of the cargo by volume across the globe. Without the merchant navy, much of the import-export business would grind to a halt. Therefore trained personnel are required for various departments of the ship and this widens the scope for employment in this field. Jobs are available with shipping companies in India and other countries. 

Role of Marine Engineers
Marine Engineers have the complete responsibility of the ship's technical management. The head of this department is the Chief Engineer who ensures safe and economic running of all engines, boilers, electrical, refrigerating and sanitary equipment, deck machinery and steam connections aboard the ship. He supervises the work of the engine-room crew and is assisted in his duties by the Second, Third,  Fourth and Fifth Engineers and other junior personnel. Second Engineer looks after the day to day work in the engine room. Third engineer is in charge of the main engine, its spare parts, all purifiers, boilers,  compressors etc. Fourth engineer is in charge of the numerous generators onboard ship as well as other auxiliaries like pump, pipe line etc.   

Promotions 
Ministry of Surface Transport, Government of India, conducts competency exams through the Directorate General of Shipping (DGS). These 'Certificates of Competency' awarded by the DGS, are needed for promotion to the higher positions. A candidate joining as Engine cadet/ Fifth Engineer officer/ Junior Engineer after finishing Bachelors in Marine Engineering is eligible to appear for class IV examination on  completion of 6 months of sea time for promotion to the fourth Engineer or in some cases as Third Engineer. After completing further 18 months of sea time, the candidate can appear for class II examination for promotion to Third Engineer or Second Engineer. Again on completion of 18 months sailing time candidate can appear for Class I examination for promotion to Chief Engineer officer. More details in this regard can be seen on the website of DG Shipping - www.dgshipping.com. Thus five years  after the B.Tech. degree, a Marine Engineer can get promoted as chief engineer of a merchant ships. 

Remuneration 
The starting salary for a trainee marine engineer varies between Rs 35,000 to Rs 50,000 a month. A class IV certified Marine Engineer receives Rs. 1.25 to 1.75 Lac per working month.Foreign companies pay higher. The salary rises as per promotions and Chief Engineer gets in the range of US $ 7000 to US $12000. A person gets a variety of benefits such as free food, accommodation, paid leave and two-way free passage. In other words, one can save most of one's income on board. The perquisites include bonus, holiday travel and other annual benefits.

GANPAT UNIVERSITY
Ganpat Vidyanagar,
Mehsana-Gozaria Highway
Mehsana - 384012, GUJARAT, INDIA
Phone :+91-2762-286080
EMail: info@ganpatuniversity.ac.in      

Questions of 12 marks were wrong in HSC

Ahmedabad: Experts committee has submitted its report before the Gujarat HC regarding a complaint of incorrect questions worth 12 marks being set in maths paper of HSC (science stream) exam held on March 12. Petitioner claimed in PIL that questions worth 12 marks were incorrect. Moreover, the paper setter had not followed the guidelines. Hence questions worth 44 marks had become lengthy

•  Expert committee submit report to Guj. HC

Bench of acting chief justice Bhaskar Bhattacharya and justice JB Pardiwala gave a copy of the report to the lawyers of petitioner Dhiru Patel, a private maths teacher as well as Gujarat Secondary and Higher Secondary Education Board. The court asked both parties to submit their opinion on the report and posponed hearing on April 26. HC bench had constituted an experts committee comprising former head of department of mathematics, Gujarat University, Dr AM Vaidya; and two other experts, Dr MH Vasavada and Dr JC Sharma. 

Arun Oza, counsel for GSHSEB had also filed an affidavit on the issue stating that apart from owners of tuition classes, no one -neither students nor the parents - had complained about the questions being incorrect. Owners of tuition classes have no right to raise such issues. The papers have been checked and work of data entry is on. Such objections may hamper the process of preparation of results. The matter came to light when Dhiru Patel filed a PIL in the HC alleging that maths question paper set for the board exam was full of mistakes.      

Vartusa organizes campus in ITM university

Gwalior. ITM students are getting new gift day by day as one more company Vartusa consulting pvt. Ltd. Organizes campus placement in ITM University. Placement was headed by company’s senior manager M. Vimalkant, manager of staffing and campus hiring Tinu Kwatra and technology consultant Ramesh Chandra Kishore.

ITM’s students had a great start to this year as one more company of Hyderabad joined university for campus placement. Placement was divided in four parts first written test, second pre-placement talk, third discussion and fourth and the final one profile and functional interview. Students have to go through these four funnels in order to get the job in the company. 

In the end it was 11 students who gave their best shot and got selected. For this achievement ITM’s director Daulat Singh, registrar Omveer Singh, dean of tape sale department Deepak Kant Benerjee and Rohi Benerjee congratulated the selected students.      

Strike continues in Jiwaji university

Gwalior.Jiwaji University’s employees continue their strike on the 8th day as their demands are yet to be satisfied. Strike has affected the working of JU as from past 8 days not even single employee has got back to work.

A long strike of JU’s employees continues on the 8th day as their issues and demands are yet to be resolved and full fill by the government. On the other hand employees has come up with one more demand that they will only go off strike only if they get everything done in writing. 

Association’s president Dr. A.B. Mirza said that Government has promised that on last Monday they will agree to their demands and will give everything in writing, but till now no such thing has been done.      

IIIT Delhi Admissions 2012: Important Dates

  Important dates (tentative)

Online application form released	25th May, 2012 (Friday)
Last date for online application	10th June, 2012 (Sunday)
Date of Exam	17th June, 2012 (Sunday)
Result of Exam / Merit List	29th June, 2012 (Friday)
1st counseling	6th July, 2012 (Friday)
2nd counseling (if seats available)	9th July, 2012 (Saturday)
Orientation and registration	23th July, 2012 (Monday)

Instruction on counseling will be made available after the declaration of results.

Rs 400 cr for scheme exempting students from paying tution fee

Chennai: Tamil Nadu government's first generation engineering students scheme now being expanded to Sri Lankan Tamil refugees also.

The government said it had allocated over Rs 400 crore for 2012-13 academic year, for this expansion.

The policy note of the Higher Education Department tabled in the Assembly by Minster P Palaniappan said a sum of Rs 304.27 crore had been allocated for the scheme in 2011-12 and Rs 298.90 crore of the amount spent.

"The scheme has been extended to eligible wards of Sri Lankan refugees living in camps in Tamil Nadu. For the financial year 2012-13 a sum of Rs 477.97 crore has been allotted,"  he said adding 1,56,987 students have benefited so far.

Making the announcements for his department for the year 2012-13, Palaniappan proposed a Study Abroad Programme for faculty and students which would facilitate students and professors from the state and abroad visit either countries as part of the academic exercise.

Further, he announced that the government would set up soft-skill training centres which would also counsel students from problems, including depression.

Diploma courses for land surveying in Tamil Nadu soon

Chennai: In a bid to have more skilled persons in the state for surveying, TN govt would soon run academic programmes for land surveying.

According to the proposals for 2012-13, the government would soon start classes for two-year diploma programmes in surveying in two institutions across the state.

The Commonwealth Science and Technology Academy for Research (C-STAR) of Anna University in Chennai and the Survey Training Institute in Orathanadu near Thanjavur would offer this course.

The government has allocated Rs four crore for the programme in Chennai and Thanjavur.

The two year academic programme would also be made preferable qualification for vacancies of land surveyors and draughtsman, it said.

Magadh University figures among top 20 varsities in India

Patna: The Magadh University in Bodh Gaya has figured in the list of top 20 universities of the country.

This information has been revealed by a private market research agency, Vice Chancellor of the University Arun Kumar said.

The Indian Council of Marketing Research (ICMR), in its latest survey of the higher educational institutions across the country, has placed Magadh University in the 17h slot among the list of 20, Kumar told.

"This has become possible because of sincere efforts made to streamlining the academic calender, improvement of infrastructure and upgradation of colleges," he said.

Additions in new courses and the research and development works undertaken recently by the university scholars and the teachers added new dimension to the higher studies, he said.

"All the credit goes to the university teachers and staff," the VC said adding the university has introduced semester system for the first time in Bihar.

"We have also introduced e-governance that has further ensured administrative transparency," he said.

Khirsara in Gujarat emerges prominent Harappan site

Ahmedabad: After three years of extensive excavation by the Archaeological Survey of India(ASI), Khirsara has emerged as the prominent Harappan site in western Kutch, showing how advanced the trade from this part of Gujarat used to be around 4,600 years ago.

"Khirsara has emerged as one of the most prominent mature Harappan settlements in Western Kutch. Earlier, Dholavira and Junikuren had emerged as prominent Harappan sites in Kutch," ASI's Superintendent Archaeologist, Vadodara, Dr Jitendra Nath said.

"The evidences found over last 3 years of excavation there show how advance trade used to be from this part of Gujarat around 4,600 years ago," he said.

Khirsara lies about 85 km Northwest of Bhuj on the Bhuj-Narayan Sarover State Highway. The site is locally known as 'Gadhwali Wadi' and is located on the south-eastern outskirts of the present village overlooking river Khari.

"The prime reason for Harappans to settle at Khirsara was perhaps the availability and easy accessibility to raw materials and minerals in the vicinity," Nath said.

"Khirsara produced a variety of objects for export such as various types of beads of semiprecious stones, steatite and gold, shell bangles, inlays etc," he said.

Discovery of a large number of drill bits and shells debitage indicates that these items were meant for export, the officer said.

During excavation, we have discovered a unique warehouse, a factory site, a citadel, seals, antiquities from the Indus Valley settlement at Khirsara, which is fortified and measures roughly about 310 x 230 metres, Nath said.

The super structure of warehouse seems to have been made of perishable items like wood or wattle and daub. The space in between the parallel walls might have served as a duct for circulation of fresh air to protect the stored material, he said.

The Harappan civilisation is sometimes called the Mature Harappan culture to distinguish it from earlier and later cultures existed in the same area of the Harappan Civilisation.

Khirsara's close proximity with river Khari might certainly have supported the maritime trading activities of its inhabitants, Nath said.

The citadel, a fortress overlooking a city or perhaps protecting a town, shows fortification and re-fortification which scholars reason that elite clan might have lived there. The rooms found there show finer structure, he said.

The factory site discovered during excavation had several products showing that it was utilised for manufacturing activity.

The presence of big furnaces, tandoor, storage jars, small water tanks and discovery of a hoard of gold beads, semi-precious and steatite beads, copper implements, seals, weights, shell objects and debitage indicate that this area (factory site) was once utilised for manufacturing activity, he said.

"Amongst prominent antiquities we have found 25-26 pieces of disk type gold beads from the factory site there. The gold beads are of disk type, globular and tubular," Nath said.

A variety of seals which include square, rectangular and bar types made of steatite, soap stone and sand stone have been discovered at Khirsara.

The bar type seals bear Harappan character only whereas the two rectangular seals represent figurines of unicorn and bison on the obverse, Nath said.

The analysis of botanical remains done by the Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeobotany, Lucknow reveals that the carbon dates for samples collected from the site fall in the range of 2600-2200 BC approximately, which is roughly 4,600 years old, Nath said.

Khirsara was first reported by the Department of Archaeology, Gujarat government in 1969-70. The site was revisited by a team of Excavation Branch of ASI Vadodara in July 2009 for a survey during which they observed a variety of Harappa artifacts and carried out further digging.

Calcutta University develops GE drought resistant rice variety: ICAR

Ahmedabad: University of Calcutta has developed the nation's first genetically engineered(GE) drought resistant rice variety, a top Indian Council of Agriculture Research (ICAR) official said here.
    
"Genetically engineered drought tolerant rice variety has been developed by Calcutta University. The varsity this month has published a paper on drought resistant rice," Deputy Director General (Crop Sciences) of ICAR Prof Swapan Kumar Datta told on the sidelines of a conference here.

"The production capacity of this variety will remain the same as in other crops, but it can survive without water," he said.
    
"It will take -say- another two or three years to conduct the field trials of this variety," Datta said adding some state governments were not ready to give permission for its field trials.
     
According to ICAR, India can now develop variety of drought tolerant wheat, rice and maize. Drought tolerant maize variety is available with a company and its field trials are being conducted outside India, Datta said.
     
The states like Rajasthan and Gujarat need more drought resistant varieties, he said adding "In future we would like to have those kind of materials (crops) which are drought tolerant, nitrogen sufficient and efficient in water use, so that it could increase the yield,".
     
China has already field-tested indigenously developed transgenic wheat variety which is drought tolerant, he informed.

Meanwhile, ICAR, has begun exploring the possibility of developing a high oil yielding and thorn free variety of Safflower, a prominent Indian crop giving edible oil.

"We are screening and getting a material for Safflower which could be thorn-free and at the same time has higher oil content, since farmers, mostly women, do not like to harvest its seed because it is difficult," Datta said.

Currently the oil yield from Safflower is less than one tonne per hectare and our target is to increase it upto four tonnes a hectare, he said.

The production of this oil bearing crop has come down drastically over the years in India. The Centre has offered incentives to farmers by giving subsidy to grow this crop.

Datta also said that extended field trials of herbicide tolerant BT cotton variety are being conducted in the country.

Indian parliamentary delegation to Oxford

New Delhi: A 10-member multi-party delegation under the aegis of Indo-British Forum of Parliamentarians (IBFP) has left for Oxford to cover a diverse range of subjects from strategic planning to economic issues relating to education and health.
    
Apart from Deepender Singh Hooda, who heads the IBFP, other members of Parliament in the delegation are Harsimrat Badal, Supriya Sule, Sachin Pilot, Jayant Chaudhary, Piyush Goyal, Chandan Mitra, Asaduddin Owaisi, L Rajagopal and Priya Dutt.
    
The IBFP is an initiative undertaken by Indian Parliamentarians with the support of FICCI. The formation of IBFP has provided momentum and developed mechanisms to strengthen Indo-British dialogue and cooperation.
    
The broad membership cutting across party lines indicates that there is a great degree of support for deepening the linkages between the world's oldest and largest democracies, a Forum press release said.
    
Though this is the first programme at Oxford, similar programmes have taken place in Yale and Princeton in the past.
    
The contents of the Oxford Chevening programme will be based on themes such as good governance and quality of democracy, strategy for leading changes (importance of decision making), making a parliamentary impact, global challenges in the 21st century, conflict resolution in international disputes, rising power and BRICS.
    
This program can be considered important in the backdrop of the recent meeting of the BRICS leaders in India, as today, the world is eying these countries as future economic and business hotspots.
    
This programme, scheduled from April 14 to 22 at Oxford, will prove to be of tremendous value to Indian as well as the British Parliamentarians, the Forum said.

CET to be postponed to 3rd week of May

Bangalore: Common Entrance Test for selection of students for admission into professional courses in Karnataka scheduled for the first week of May will be
postponed to the third week, Director Pre-University V Rashmi Mahesh said.
    
Speaking to reporters here, Rashmi Mahesh said the question paper leak and strike by PU teachers for higher pay package has delayed the schedule by 15 days.
     
As a result the CET will now be conducted probably on May 21,22 and 23 instead of May 3,4 and 5, she said.
     
Rashmi Mahesh said that in wake of the delay, Pre University second year answer sheet valuation will go on till April 29 and likely to extend upto May 4.

Since PU teachers are also entrusted work of CET, the postponement is inevitable. Only 20 per cent of 32 lakh answer sheets have been valuated till now.  Hence, the time table was reworked and fresh dates have been sent to the government for approval.