Lateral entry to BE, B.Tech: Online application made possible

Karaikudi: With just few more days left to submit applications for lateral entry into Engineering colleges for BE, B.Tech courses, Alagappa University has come out with option to submit application through online.

Speaking regarding this, Mala, Secretary, Alagappa Engineering College told, counselling for lateral entry would begin in the second week of July. Applications are being sold through 33 centres. Last date for receiving filled application is June 25.

As there are only few more days left over for submission, Alagappa University has made arrangements to apply online, taking into consideration of students well-being. 

Along with the filled application, attach Bank Draft for Rs 300/-. However, SC/ST candidates need not pay any fee, but will have to enclose their copy of their community certificate. 

Since there is a delay in issuing of polytechnic mark list, applicants can take a printout from the internet and get it attested from their principal and submit the same for lateral entry admission.

So far, nearly 10,000 applications have come-in for lateral entry admission, she told.

DU announces cut-off lists for non-collegiate courses

New Delhi: Delhi University announced the cut-off marks for admission to the non-collegiate women's education board, showing a rise in percentages required for admission.

Under the non-collegiate women's education board, students do not need to attend regular classes.

For B Com (hons) course, Hansraj College put its cut-off at 78 per cent as against 75 per cent last year for general categories while Lakshmibai College declared a cut off of 75 per cent as against last year's 72 per  cent.

While Kalindi College and Jesus and Mary College are offering B Com (hons) to general category students at 70 per cent, Maharaja Agrasen is offering the course at 68 per cent.

13 DU colleges accept non-collegiate women candidates who pursue BCom course that is completed through weekend classes in a matter of 50 teaching days.

Delhi University will declare its first cut-off list for admissions to colleges on June 26 followed by similar lists on June 29, July 3, July 6 and July 10. Further lists and conversions of OBC seats, if required, will be notified later, the University said.

The 100 per cent cut-off percentage announced last year by SRCC had set off a major debate in the country but the University officials have sought to assure students that there were plenty of seats and colleges in the varsity. 

200 youngsters from Nizamuddin slums complete skill training

New Delhi: Two hundred young men and women from the bylanes of Hazrat Nizamuddin Basti completed a  government-aided skill training programme aimed at enhancing their capabilities to make a living.
 
Vocational training in a variety of trades like computer skills, handicrafts like Mughal ceramic tile making and block printing, travel and tourism, building technologies like masonry and technical trades like plumbing, refrigeration and book binding, were provided to 240 people since the inception of the programme last year.
 
40 per cent of those trained have already secured employment or provided assistance to form self-help groups to create and market craft products.
 
Another 35 of them are now pursuing higher trainings, according to the Aga Khan Foundation that initiated the project. The Aga Khan Foundation is actively involved in the redevelopment of the Nizamuddin Basti area.
 
The programme was flagged off by Minister for Housing and Poverty Alleviation Kumari Selja last year with the signing of an MoU between the Aga Khan Foundation and HUDCO.
 
Since then, the participants were provided vocational training in the programme that intertwined in it elements of cultural and heritage preservation. 
 
The Aga Khan Foundations said it would monitor the progress of all 240 participants for a year during which time additional assistance, where required, will be provided.
 
"Our partnership with HUDCO has been very critical in benefiting a significant number of people, especially youth and women, who despite living in the heart of the capital city have been unable to access urban services," said Ratish Nanda, Project, Director, Aga Khan Trust for Culture.
 
The MoU signed last year ensured a co-funding of Rs 20 lakh from the government-owned company and the job-linked training programme would guarantee appropriate jobs to those involved.
 
As part of the project, the women and youth were also trained in the fields of education, health, sanitation, waste management, cultural revival, open space development, conservation and vocational training in order to improve the quality of life of the local community. 

HC directs Himachal University to vacate all boys hostels

Shimla: The Himachal Pradesh High Court ordered Himachal University to get its all boy's hostels vacated.
           
The order came a day after the court directed the police to carry out searches in the hostels and file report.
           
In the report, submitted before the court, the police said illegal arms were found in the search and against the sanctioned capacity of 810, around 2,000 students were staying there.
           
A division bench comprising Chief Justice Kurian Joseph and Justice Dharam Chand Chaudhary passed the order.
          
On the basis of the report the Court observed that hostels need a "complete cleaning process" and issued the above directions to the University.
          
The court further directed the Registrar, HPU to invite written application from the students, who actually intend to occupy the hostels for completing their examination and on-going study and said the students were free to submit
their application.
           
Earlier, the University, after eruption of a violence had asked the students to vacate the hostels.
          
The HC passed the orders on a writ petition filed by one Lallan Rai against the order of the HPU to close all the boys hostel for indefinite period. The petitioner had mentioned that since final examination in the University are going on and in such situation the orders to close all the boys hostels by the University has created problems for the students.
          
Meanwhile, a spokesman of the University said the orders of the HC have been complied with and all hostels have been cleared. 

Delhi Govt. to appoint 17,000 teachers

New Delhi: Delhi government will soon appoint over 17,000 teachers in its schools in the city to fill up the vacant posts.
 
Officials said 13,960 teachers will be appointed on contractual basis and they will get a consolidated salary of Rs 14,000 per month.
 
They said 3,536 teachers will be appointed permanently.
 
The decision was taken at a meeting Education Minister Arvinder Singh Lovely had with senior officials of the department.
 
The government has also decided to appoint 100 new Urdu teachers for the Urdu medium school. Government currently runs 20 Urdu medium schools and a new one will be set up in Seelampur. 

SC issues notice to 6 states on all-India medical seats controversy

New Delhi: The Supreme Court asked six states to reply to the allegations that they were usurping the PG medical seats for the all-India quota by not disclosing the vacant seats in their medical colleges.

A vacation bench of justices H L Gokhale and Ranjana Prakash Desai issued notices to Delhi, Maharashtra,  Rajasthan, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana on a petition by a girl medico Esha Karwase.

Senior counsel Indu Malhotra appearing for the petitioner submitted that if the states failed to disclose the  vacancy situation, it would "affect the interests of hundreds of medical students" across the country.

All PG seats in medicine in all states except, Jammu and Kashmir and Andhra Pradesh are divided into two  categories - all India quota seats and the state quota seats.

While the all-India quota seats are unreserved and are alloted only on the basis of merit in the all-India entrance examination for MD/MS/PG Diplomat and MDS courses conducted by the AIIMS, the state quota seats are alloted on the basis of the common entrance exam at the local level in which only domiciled students can appear.

The all-India quota seats are filled by three rounds of counselling which are conducted by the Directorate General of Health Services, New Delhi, while the 2nd round of counselling is conducted only after the first round of counselling for all the states is over, the petitioner said.

Similarly, the 3rd round of counselling ought to be conducted only after the 2nd round of counselling in the state is over, the petition added.

This is done to ensure that the entire all-India quota is filled up. It so happens that all students appearing for the all-India quota also invariably appear in the state entrance examinations of their respective domicile and thus they vacate their all India quota seat if they get a better seat in the state Quota, the petitioner explained.

However, the petitioner alleged that this year too, like earlier years some states, with a malafide intention, did not complete their 2nd round of counselling so that the vacant all India quota seats get added to the state quota by default. Under the rules if the All India quota is not filled it would revert to the respective state.

"This illegal, unconstitutional and arbitrary act of the states has resulted in the meritorious candidates like the petitioner to suffer and has dissipated the objective of resorting to the online counselling process whereby it was intended that the said process would ensure better utilisation of the All India quota" and minimise the wastage of the seats, the petition stated.

Hence the petitioner urged the apex court to direct the states to disclose the vacant seats and the CGHS to conduct the fourth round of extended counselling to fill up the seats.

Puducherry Govt. keen about promoting French education

Puducherry: Puducherry Lt Governor Iqbal Singh said the Puducherry Administration was committed to promoting French education.  

Inaugurating a two day conference on 'Engaging Canada and engaging India: French Canadian context' organised by Pondicherry University in collaboration with Shastri Indo Canadian Institute and Government of Quebec` at the university, Singh said there were several schools run by Puducherry government offering education in French medium the union territory.
  
He said Canada was a home to over a million people of Indian origin.
 
Assistant Deputy Minister for Higher Education in Quebec Christiane Piche said the recent changes across the world have seen several dynamic development in an unprecedented speed.
 
Consul and Director of Quebec Office in Mumbai Benoit Jean Bernard said that Pondicherry University could become an integral unit of the Francophone network as already more than 650 universities  spread over 65 countries have become members of the network.
  
A number of delegates from Quebec and also from various institutions in India are participating in the deliberations which would concentrate on collaborative initiatives to promote joint educational and research activities. 

India announces scholarships for NRI students in Saudi

Dubai: India has announced a scholarship programme of as many as 100 grants for students of Indian origin in Saudi Arabia who are willing to pursue under graduate courses in several disciplines in their home country.
 
The Indian Consulate in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, has announced the details of a scholarship scheme offering 100 scholarships to assists children of Persons of Indian Origin (PIOs) and Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) in pursuing under graduate courses in several disciplines ranging from science, economics, law, architecture, humanities, media studies, management, hospitality, and Agriculture/ animal husbandry.
 
The scheme "Scholarship Programme for Diaspora Children" (SPDC) was launched by the Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs in 2006-07.
 
The eligibility of candidates applying for the scholarship would be judged on the basis of their performance in an qualifying examination (equivalent to plus 2 stage in India).
 
The programme is open only to PIOs /NRIs from the specified 40 countries, including Saudi Arabia, having a larger concentration of Indian Diaspora.
 
The amount of scholarship admissible would be 75 per cent of the total Institutional Economic Cost (IEC) or USD 4,000 per annum, whichever is less. IEC includes Tuition fee, Hostel fee and other institutional charges.
 
According to a Consulate statement, NRI candidates would be eligible for the grant of the scholarship only if their total family income per month does not exceed an amount equivalent to USD 2,250.
 
"Children of NRIs should have pursued at least three years of education, inclusive of 11th and 12th or equivalent (not beyond), in a foreign country during the last six years, and should have passed the qualifying examination abroad.
 
The last date for receipt of duly filled-in application forms in the prescribed format by Ed.CIL is 18th June," it said. 

HC advocates aid washerman's son with education fee

Madurai: The Madurai Bench of Madras High court lent a helping hand to a poor washerman by mobilising Rs 60,000 from advocates for his son's education after his plea for loan was rejected by a bank on technical ground.

Justice K Venkataraman, who took pity on the petitioner, C Muthiah of Pannaipuram from Theni district, made a request to the six advocates in the court hall if they could meet the educational expenses (Rs 59,705) of the boy doing Diploma in Electronics and Communication Engineering.

When the petition challenging rejection of the education loan came up before him, the Judge observed that a Division Bench of the court had given some judgements which were binding on the banks and they could not be compelled if the loans had been rejected on technical ground.

The petitioner submitted initially that Tamil Nadu Mercantile Bank, Pannaipuram, refused to give even the education loan application.

He approached the court in 2011 and the court directed the bank to give him the application and consider it and dispose it of in two weeks. But the bank rejected the application on the ground that his s on got only  70 out of 200 in mathematics and he got the seat under Management quota.
  
The bank also cited that the petitioner's wife was a member of a Self-Help Group which was in the Non-Performing Asset status with an outstanding loan of Rs 37,118, and rejected the loan.
  
Unable to grant any relief on the petition, the Judge, who had himself offered to undertake the  education expenses of a student similarly placed earlier, made the request to the advocates.

Responding to the Judge's request, Pala Ramaswamy, Isaac Mohanlal, Ajmal Khan, Prabhurajadurai Maheswaran, Lajapathiroy and Anandhapadmanbhan together contributed Rs 60,000. 

IIT-Delhi too decides to hold own entrance

New Delhi: Rejecting HRD Minister Kapil Sibal's single entrance test proposal, IIT-Delhi today decided to conduct its own entrance exam from next year, following in the footsteps of IIT-Kanpur.

The decision was taken at a crucial meeting of the institute's senate here.

"We will not accept the proposed single entrance test and will conduct our own exam," said a senate member, adding the proposed test "impinges" on the autonomy of IIT-Delhi.

"The proposed test is academically unsound and procedurally untenable," the member said.

He said the other IITs have been asked to reject the new system and join hands with IIT-Delhi and IIT-Kanpur.

Indications are that the senate is in favour of retaining the existing format of the IIT-JEE test even as it has decided to set up a committee to examine the issue.

The decision of the senate comes a day after Sibal reiterated that there was no going back from holding the single entrance test from next year.

IIT-Kanpur had early this month rejected the proposed test terming it "academically and methodically unsound".

The government had on May 28 announced the new test from 2013, under which aspiring candidates for IITs and other central institutes like NITs and IIITs will have to sit under new a format of common entrance test which will also take plus two board results into consideration.

A resolution passed at the end of the meeting said the senate has decided that the 2012 entrance test will on the lines of JEE 2012.

"The senate has decided to conduct its own entrance examination in coordination with other IITs, if possible. For 2014 and beyond, the senate will set up a committee which will review and propose changes to the senate," it said.

The resolution stated that for the 2013 exam, a co mittee will be appointed by IIT-Delhi senate "which will coordinate the conduct of the above examination jointly with the other IITs to the extend possible".

For 2014 and beyond, the chairman senate shall constitute a committee to review the IIT-JEE examination, the resolution said.

Hailing the move, IIT-Delhi alumni association said it fully supports the resolution and reiterated that "should the need arise, the alumni will be taking the matter (of the government's decision to hold the proposed exam) to court".

The faculty federation has already met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh voicing its opposition to the test. It has stated that Singh gave an assurance that autonomy of the IITs will be maintained.

The IITs opposing the new format contend the proposed test will increase stress of students instead of decreasing it. They feel students aspiring to join institutes other than the IITs need not sit for two test main and advance as proposed.

They have also insisted that board examination results should not be taken into consideration while preparing the merit list. 

Rajasthan University's Law College offers crash course to assist aspirants

JAIPUR: Rajasthan University's Law College in association with the National Students Union of India (NSUI) and Pragya Coaching Institute will start a crash course for aspirants ahead of the entrance test scheduled to take place in first week of July.

The course will begin Saturday onwards on the college campus. For this, the college has roped in its faculty along with that of the private coaching institute.

The initiative is set to help hundreds of students to appear in the test. The 10-day long course is aiming to  cover the entire syllabus prescribed for the test.

The college is not taking any fee for offering the course. Around 108 students have already enrolled for the classes, for which the college has provided two classrooms.

"Many students aspiring to pursue law from the university are not prepared to sit in the entrance exam. This crash course will help them face the test confidently," said Sumit Bhagsara, state president, NSUI.

Against 1,100 seats, the university is expecting nearly 4,000 aspirants to take the exam. While 70% weightage has been given to entrance test scores, the remaining is based on the candidate's academic scores.

The exam tests an applicant's basic understanding on law and general aptitude.

Following suit, other departments conducting entrance tests are also planning to provide academic assistance to aspirants. Rajiv Gupta, head of department, sociology said, "Students are most welcome in our department to seek any clarification on the entrance test."

Cutoffs likely to rise across colleges

NEW DELHI: The cutoffs for admission to undergraduate courses in DU colleges are expected to rise across all subjects. Many colleges had their admission committee meeting on Friday and the trends show that there will be stiff rise in cutoffs.

Following the trend of St Stephen's College which declared its cutoffs on Wednesday, where the cutoff witnessed a rise of up to 7% this year, other colleges are also likely to see a similar effect. The admission committee of different colleges like the Gargi, Kamla Nehru, College of Vocational Studies (CVS) and Hindu, among others met to decide the cutoffs.

According to sources, cutoffs in Kamla Nehru, CVS and Hindu will witness a rise across all courses, while inGargi and Sri Venkateswara College majority of the courses will have higher cutoffs from that of last year. And barring Venkateswara, there will be no drop in cutoffs in any of these colleges.

According to sources in Venkateswara, the minimum hike in cutoff will be 1%, while there might be some good news in courses like BA programme and BSc life sciences which may witness a reasonable drop. At Gargi College the range of increase may be anything between 1% to 5%, while at KNC the range of hike will be between 0.50 to 3%.

"Taking into account the better results of Class XII boards and using the experience of the past year, we at KNC will have a reasonable hike in the cutoff," said the media coordinator, Geetesh Nirban.

At CVS the cutoffs are likely to go up by 2% to 3% across courses, while at Hindu the hike may be 0.5% to 1%. "There is not much margin, yet we will have to increase the cutoff," said an admission committee member of Hindu.

CATE results out, over 6,000 names figure on merit list

NEW DELHI: Cutoffs for BA (honours) English are likely to soar in the first list thanks to the better scores of candidates sitting for Combined Aptitude Test for English (CATE). Delhi University declared the results for CATE on Friday with over 6,000 students making it to the merit list. The consolidated CATE score of top nine students is more than 90% this time as compared to only one last year.

According to DU officials, number of aspirants with more than 90% in Class XII has also increased by almost double this year. Twenty-one colleges participating in CATE will now declare individual cutoffs based on the consolidated score achieved by successful candidates. This means candidates can claim admission in any of these colleges if their consolidated score is either same or more than the cutoff declared by the college. The consolidated score which is arrived at by adding 70% of marks in CATE and 30% of Class XII marks.

"The cutoffs in the first list are expected to be slightly higher as we also have to be cautious. But candidates should not lose hope and watch out for second list as it will be more realistic," said Sanam Khanna, associate professor, Kamala Nehru College. She mentioned that though the overall result was not much different from last year, the number of students scoring above 90% in Class XII was around 300 this time. It was around 180 in 2011.
CATE results declared on Friday showed that eight of the nine candidates scoring a consolidated score of above 90% were girls.

CATE also proved to be a saviour for students who have not scored very high marks. For instance, five candidates rank 244 in CATE this year at a consolidated score of 76.95%. However, their Class XII scores are varied. Three of them scored 95.5% in class XII, one got 81.5% and the last one scored 74.5% in the board exams.

Court seeks Delhi varsity view on OBC quota in minority colleges

New Delhi: The Delhi High Court Friday sought a response from the Delhi University (DU) on a plea filed by a group of colleges seeking exemption from reserving seats for students from Other Backward Classes (OBCs), as they were minority-run institutions.

A division bench of Justice Veena Birbal and Justice Manmohan Singh asked counsel appearing for DU to file a response by June 25, the next date of hearing.

Four colleges run by Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (DSGMC), constituted under the Delhi Sikh Gurdwaras Act, had approached the court challenging a single judge's order directing them to continue with the admission process in accordance with the DU guidelines which lay down reservation for the Schedule Castes (SC)/Scheduled Tribes (ST) and OBC students.

The colleges - Guru Tegh Bahadur Khalsa College, Guru Gobind Singh College, Mata Sundari College and the Guru Nanak Dev Khalsa College - declared minority institutes last year, contended that the reservation  policy was not applicable to their institutions in view of a Supreme Court verdict on OBC reservations.

The apex court had held that minority educational institutions (MEI), whether they were aided by the government or unaided, were exempted from reserving seats for OBCs, the colleges said in their petition.

Appearing for the colleges, senior advocate K.T.S Tulsi submitted that the reservation policy was not only contrary to the Indian Constitution but also went against the Central Educational Institutions (Reservation in Admissions) Act, 2006.

Noting that the admission procedure for the academic year 2012-2013 has started from June 4, the four colleges sought necessary directions to permit them to continue with the admission process for this academic year as was being done in the past.

"The appellant (colleges) herein filed an application for necessary directions, thereby permitting the appellant to continue with the admission/recruitment process for the academic year 2012-2013, as was being done by the appellant in the past years in the interest of the academic career of thousands of students who would apply for admission, so that there should be no ambiguity with respect to their status of admission," said the petition.

"All along for the past 20-30 years, the Delhi University has permitted the DSGMC to give preferential treatment to the religious and linguistic minorities in the appellant colleges. There is no reason as to why the Delhi University all of a sudden now wishes to treat the appellant colleges as non-MEIs," the petition stated.

Charotar University to set up hospital

Anand: Charotar University of Science and Technology(CHARUSAT) is planning to organize 'Dr M.C. Patel Platinum Jubilee Celebrations'. The University has formed a committeee for felicitation of provost Dr.M.C.Patel that may be organized in November.

Chanchalben Kantidev Patel, a Native of Palana in Charotar and presently residing in Bilimora and her Family have donated Rs. 1.20 Crore to Shri Charotar Moti Sattavis Patidar Kelavani Mandal for CHARUSAT Hospital being established at CHARUSAT Campus, Changa. The benevolent donation is  given through Prafulbhai Jethabhai Patel in fond memory of Chanchalben’s husband Late Shri Kantidev Jethabhai Patel and her parents Late Shri Lallubhai Bhikhabhai Patel and Late Shri Dahiben Lallubhai Patel. 

The development at CHARUSAT Campus started in the year 2000 and today in a very short span of about 12 years it is a university offering 35 UG, PG, M Phil and Ph D programs in Engineering, Pharmacy, Computer Applications, Management, Applied Sciences, Nursing and Physiotherapy. In all, around 4500 students are taking education at CHARUSAT Campus and it has a capital outlay  of Rs. 80 crores. This has all been possible through perennial support from more than 800 donors of all spheres of the society.

The university is characterised by state of the art infrastructural facilities, innovative teaching methodologies, and learned teachers. The University Campus is sprawling over 100 acres of land. It is wi-fi  enabled, greenest campus of the state. It is privileged to have 300 core faculty trained in Stanford, IITs, IIMs, leading universities, and Industry. It is also to be proud of the fact that the passing out students are absorbed in prestigious National and Multi-national Corporates.

Study with field activity in SNDT University course

Mumbai: Shrimati Nathibai Damodar Thackersey (SNDT) Women's University has announced a unique master of arts (MA) course in non-formal education and development for students, who are looking for innovative areas of studies that add value to their lives, at its Pune campus.

The two-year course, which will involve extensive field activity and blend theatre, poetry, music, puppetry and film with academic activities, promises a slew of opportunities in areas as varied as non-government organisations (NGOs), corporate sector, industries, government campaigns, media, research and teaching organizations.

SNDT Women’s University is the first Women’s university in India as well as in South-East Asia. The University was founded by Maharshi Dr. Dhondo Keshav Karve in 1916 for a noble cause of Women’s Education. The first five women graduated in 1921 from this University. The University Headquarters is in Churchgate Campus, Mumbai and the other two campuses of this University are at Juhu, Mumbai and Karve Road, Pune.

The goals of the SNDT Women's University are:
• Provide access to higher education for women through formal and non- formal streams including adult and continuing education.
• Provide a wide range of professional and vocational courses for women to meet the socio-economic demands.
• Develop scholarship and research in emerging areas of study, particularly with focus on women's perspectives.
• Inculcate among women positive self- concept, awareness of women's issues and rights with a rational outlook towards society.
• Enhance purposeful education with 'human values' and social responsibility by participating in outreach programmes.
• Achieve excellence in the academic disciplines, research and extension activities through emphasis on 'quality in every activity'.

New 2600 classes sanctioned in Gujarat

Permission for grant-in-aid schools for RTE: Hasmukh Adhiya

N4E Correspondent

Gandhinagar: For implementation of Right To Education(RTE) act in Gujarat, 2600 new classes permission has been given to grant-in-aid schools. This announcement was made by principal secretary for education Hasmukh Adhiya.

He said that we have taken two major decision, in which 600 grant-aid-schools will have 8th standard. In second decision, new 2000 classes have been sanctioned in 9th and 10th standard. First decision has been taken as government of Gujarat has decided to close classes of 8th standard in secondary schools and merge it in primary schools.

The trend has been seen that most of grant-in-aid schools are having educational facilities upto 7th standard. So government has decided to extend the facility till 8th standard. In 9th and 10th standard demand has been increased. So we have decided to increase 2000 classes in grant-in-aid schools. DUe to this poor students will have benefit to study in grant-in-aid schools.

HC upholds GO on merger of sparse student strength schools

Bangalore: Karnataka High Court dismissed a public interest litigation by noted Kannada litterateurs and Jnanpith award winners seeking quashing of a state government gazette notification on merger of schools with less than five and 10 students with bigger schools.
 
The government's decision to merge schools would help mobilising extra infrastructure and imbibing quality education in a holistic way, a division bench comprising Chief Justice Vikramjit Sen and Justice B V Nagarathna observed.
 
Petioners G S Shivarudrappa, Girish Karnad, Chandrashekar Kambar and U R Ananthmurthy had sought a directive to the government to reopen all those government Kannada primary, secondary schools closed or merged after the right to education was declared as a fundamental right.
 
The petitioners had also sought implementation of the Right of Children for Free and Compulsory Education Act 2009 and framing of rules under it.
 
They claim that 3,073 Kannada primary schools and 101 government secondary schools were going to be closed or merged for want of students.
 
The state government submitted that the decision to merge those schools with less than five and 10 students with bigger schools nearby would favour students and was aimed at developing competitiveness.
 
It said 131 primary schools had zero strength, 551 had less than five students and 2,480 schools enrolled less than 10 students. Among higher primary schools, there were no students in 74 schools and there are less than 10 students in 380 schools. 

Chavan defers decision on income limit for fee waiver

Mumbai: Under pressure from Congress, Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan deferred his Cabinet's decision on changing the income limit for higher education fee waivers.
     
The Maharashtra unit of Congress had demanded scrapping of the Cabinet's decision to fix upper income limit of Rs 2 lakh per annum for scholarships and fee concessions to backward class students.
     
A delegation headed by state unit president Manikrao Thakre met Chavan last night and the issue was discussed in the pre-Cabinet meeting of the Congress ministers this morning, sources said.
     
Congress ministers wanted that the Government Resolution (GR) of 2006, which did not have income limit for SC and ST students and a limit of Rs 4.5 lakh for nomadic tribe students, Special Backward Classes and OBCs, be retained.
     
Ministers Nitin Raut and Narayan Rane told the Chief Minister that considering the possible political implications, the Cabinet's decision should be reviewed, sources added.
     
After Chavan said that the decision on the issue would be deferred, there was no further discussion, sources said.
     
As per the 2006 GR, SC and ST students with an annual family income above Rs two lakh were given 100 per cent exam fee reimbursement while students with lesser family income could avail scholarships as per the central government scheme.
     
Last week, the Cabinet decided to discontinue with the 100 per cent fee waiver. The upper income limit for tuition and exam fee reimbursement for nomadic tribes, Special Backward Class and OBCs was reduced from Rs 4.5 lakh to Rs 2 lakh. Higher and Technical Education Department (a portfolio held by NCP) had put up this proposal. 
 
Meanwhile, activists of RPI (Athavale) group shouted slogans against the government outside the sixth floor chamber of the Chief Minister at Mantralaya here, protesting the scrapping of 'freeships' in education for backward class students and the delay in handing over Indu Mill land for a memorial of B R Ambedkar.
     
In another development, a proposal of the Urban Development Department to grant financial powers to Mayors and appoint them as ex-officio chairman of the standing committee was put on the back-burner in today's Cabinet meeting, with Narayan Rane (Congress) and Jayant Patil (NCP) questioning the need for the step.
     
Both Ministers said detailed and comprehensive study was required for making such a drastic amendment.

Second language status to Hindi, Gurmukhi, Santhali, Odia

Kolkata: The West Bengal government decided to accord second language status to Hindi, Gurmukhi, Santhali and Odia in areas where over 10 per cent of the population spoke them, in official work .
       
The decision was taken at a meeting of the state cabinet presided over by the Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, state secretariat sources said.
 
The state government has already accorded second language status to Urdu in areas where over 10 per cent of population as per 2001 and 2010 census spoke the language. 

Six new AIIMS will give fillip to medical research: Azad

Jaipur: Admitting that inadequate number of doctors has affected medical research in the country, Union Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad today expressed hope that the sector would get a fillip with the coming up of six new AIIMS from next year.
 
"Six new AIIMS in the country will start functioning by April next year in different states, including Jodhpur in Rajasthan. This will ease pressure on AIIMS Delhi and research work will get momentum," he said at a press conference here.
 
Highlighting achievements of the UPA government, Azad said that the government has taken new initiatives and launched several flagship schemes and programmes in different fields, including the health sector.
 
"The number of doctors and nursing staff is inadequate in the country but the government amended rules two years back to change the scenario and improve situation in medical education. Forty-six new medical colleges came up in the country...seats in MBBS and PG courses were increased considerably," he said.
 
UPA's flagship schemes like National Rural Health Mission, Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme have benefited people in the country at large, he said.
 
"We are concerned about the diseases like cancer, diabetes and heart attack which will be high in next 18 years. We started a pilot project in 100 districts of the country for screening these diseases," he said.
 
"The UPA government took several initiatives in different sectors including social security and impact of these will come before people after 8-10 years," Azad said.

Jet woos students seeking admission abroad with freebies

Mumbai: In a move to woo students aspiring for admissions in Western educational institutes, private carrier Jet Airways announced a special baggage scheme, which allows an additional baggage of 23 kgs besides numerous other benefits.
 
Students flying out of India to select destinations across UK and Europe on the airline network and its code share partners can avail this scheme, a Jet Airways release said.
 
The offer includes an attractive EduJetter kit bundled with benefits such as excess baggage allowances between 30-69 kgs, depending on the destination they fly to, it added.
 
Besides, the scheme also offers 1,000 bonus Jet Privilege miles and up to Rs 2,500 worth of international talk time and data plans free from Matrix Communications as also a discount of 20 percent percent on Samsonite travel gear, it said.
 
With this offer, students may enjoy special foreign exchange rates with ICICI travel card an offer from ICICI Lombard's Overseas Student Travel Insurance priced at a third of the cost of similar insurance plans overseas, the company said.
 
"This initiative is a way of encouraging every young student from India travelling abroad, with assured benefits, tailored to suit their specific needs," Jet Airways, Chief Commercial Officer, Sudheer Ragahvan said.
 
The offer can be availed on presentation of student visa and Jet Airways ticket, the release said. 

Too late to give grace marks under sports quota: HC

Mumbai: Refusing to grant relief to over 800 students seeking 25 grace marks in their SSC exams under sports quota, the Bombay High Court today said it was too late to accept their plea and it would affect other students also.
 
A division bench of Chief Justice Mohit Shah and Justice N M Jamdar was hearing a petition filed by Maharashtra Karate Association challenging the decision taken by the state government to not give 25 grace marks to the 853 SSC students who participated in the State Karate Championship tournament last November.
 
The government had refused to give additional marks as the petitioner association was not registered with the National Karate Association.
 
"You (petitioner) were informed in March 2011 that there were certain shortcomings due to non-registration with the national association. The tournament was held in November last. Why the delay in approaching court," Chief Justice Shah asked.
 
The bench further observed that giving away 25 marks to 853 students at this stage would affect the other students. "It is difficult. Not possible to grant you any relief now. You (petitioner) should have made efforts to get the association registered," the court said.
 
The court was also informed by the state government that it would be scrapping the policy of granting additional marks under sports quota from next year.
 
"There have been instances of the policy being misused by schools who seek the grace marks just for participation in a sports tournament. From next year, only five marks will be given to those students who win in a sports tournament," the government pleader said.
 
While dismissing the petition, the court said the students were free to approach the Director of Sports department. The court has directed the sports department to decide on the students' representation expeditiously. 

Odisha signs MoUs with 9 agencies to impart skill training

Bhubaneswar: In a bid to create skilled manpower, Odisha government signed MoUs with nine different agencies and organisations having expertise in training youths in different skill development.
     
"We target to impart vocational training to 1.7 lakh young boys and girls this year in order to make them self sufficient", Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik said attending the MoU signing ceremony here.
      
Stating Odisha needed to train at least one million youths during the 12th Plan period, Patnaik asked the trainers to target the youths in Maoist-hit districts. The objective of imparting training to tribal youths was to discourage them from joining Maoist outfits.
     
The training would be imparted in textiles/apparel, manufacturing, construction, driving, hospitality, health and as paramedics, security guards, IT/ITES, retail/sales, banking and insurance sectors, said Usha Padhee, director State Employment Mission.
     
Giving details about the objective of the Mission, Padhee said the programme aimed at enabling youths to  become employed through market linked vocational training and enterprise based training.

Being argumentative is good for teens: Study

London: Does your child have a tendency to argue? Don't worry, it's good for them, as a new study has found that those who regularly fight verbally with their parents cope better with peer pressure and are less likely to turn to drug abuse or alcohol.

They are also more skilled negotiators and can "learn to be taken more seriously" after some verbal jousting with their elders, researchers from the University of Virginia have found.

The researchers concluded that parents should consider actively starting rows with their teenagers just to hone their youngsters' skills even if it does result in an ear-bashing in the short term, the Daily Mail reported.

In the study, the scientists observed and made audio and video recordings of 150 13-year-olds arguing with their mothers.

They then quizzed the teenagers three years later about their lives and experiences with drugs and alcohol.

Teenagers who displayed confidence and used reason to back up their statements in the arguments were more likely to have refused both, the researchers found.

Lead researcher Joseph Allen, a psychology professor, said the connection between resisting peer pressure and a teenager's ability to argue was "surprising".

He added: "It turns out that what goes on in the family is actually a training ground for teens in terms of how to negotiate with other people."

Joanna Chango, a clinical psychology graduate working on the study, said that although it seemed "counterintuitive" to tell parents to let their teens argue with them, it was worth considering.

The study, published in the Child Development journal, did say that parents should have "good reasons presented in a moderate way" during the row so they can set a good example, instead of slamming doors like the teenager might, the researchers added. 

IIT-M and Harvard Varsity complete crucial study

Chennai: A joint faculty team from IIT Madras and Harvard University has completed a landmark study on the impact of transparency on infrastructure outcomes.

This study is a systematic analysis of the evidence from developing countries on the impact of various interventions such as reform, competition, privatization, regulation in infrastructure sector on outcomes such as access, cost, efficiency, price, and quality. By using transparency as a common factor that unites the interventions across different levels, this study has been able to synthesize a large body of evidence in infrastructure.

Thillai Rajan, Associate Professor, Department of Management Studies, IIT Madras was the principal investigator for this project. Other members of the team included Prof. Sudhir Chella Rajan (IIT Madras) and Profs. Akash Deep and José A Gómez-Ibáñez (Harvard University).

Key findings

In a majority of the instances, not much significant found in overall outcomes. However the number of positive  outcomes was higher than negative outcomes. The surprising thing is that the largest number of evidences did not  show any impact on access, cost, and quality. Status quo was maintained even after reform implementation. 

It is generally felt that prices increase following reform related interventions. Our analysis indicated that more than 62% of the findings showed no significant impact on price and only 19% of the observations indicated an increase in price as a result of the intervention. It is also interesting to note that the same fraction of cases (19%) showed a decrease in price. Thus the common perception that reforms tend to increase prices may not be really true.

Reforms and changes in transparency can be introduced at three levels macro, sector, and project level. In terms of effectiveness (i.e., those that had a positive impact on outcome), it was seen that micro level interventions had the highest fraction of observations (58%) indicating a positive impact on outcome, whereas this proportion for macro and sector level was 34% and 31% respectively.

Finally, most surprisingly, analysis of the impact on different customer segments indicated that the proportion of positive outcomes for rural, poor, and illiterate segment (33%) was higher as compared to urban, rich, and literate customer segments (20%). Taking into account the type of outcomes, our analysis indicated that access and quality improved for rural, poor, and illiterate customer segment as a result of the interventions. 

Main implications

Importance of governance indicators and institutions: Interventions that focus only on sector level issues are not sufficient. Interventions that strengthen governance, institutions, and reduce overall corruption are equally important to achieve the desired outcomes from infrastructure projects.

Need to continue the next stage of interventions: In a majority of the developing countries, the primary objective of sector reforms has been to attract private sector capital in infrastructure. For years, public sector capital constraints led to rationing of supply in the infrastructure sectors. Private sector investment was expected to bring in additional investment to expand capacity and network. While the initial expectations of investment have been met in most instances, it is important to implement the next stage of interventions to achieve the desired improvements in outcomes.

Explicit focus on transparency: Since improving the level of transparency is not the main objective of these interventions, transparency levels did not improve much. By specifically focusing on the transparency component while implementing these interventions, it would be possible to increase the levels of transparency in a more explicit way.

Assessment on the effectiveness of these interventions should also include criteria on how they have improved transparency levels.

Recognizing the trade-offs on different outcomes: Identification of the appropriateness of different interventions for different outcomes and sectors is also important. For example, community participation is seen as quite effective in improving project outcomes. However, it can be implemented only in limited instances.

Customizing the interventions to suit the local context: Since the outcomes of these interventions vary differently across areas, it is suggested that the interventions should be tailored to suit the context of developing countries. For example, while a complex regulatory structure with well laid procedures might suit the developed countries that have strong institutions; a simpler structure might be more appropriate for developing countries.

More information

For more details about the project and the report, please mail to : thillair@iitm.ac.in or call 94449 26442.