IIM-A board forms search panel to select new director

Ahmedabad: The Indian Insitute of Management, Ahmedabad has constituted a five-member search and selection committee headed by Board Chairman AM Naik to find a successor to the present director Samir Barua whose term will expire in September this year, sources in the institute said.
 
The notification for five-member search and selection committee comprising Hasit Joshipura of GSK Pharma, Sanjay Lalbhai-CMD Arvind Group, Rama Bijapurkar, Ashank Desai of Mastek besides Naik, was circulated through e-mail among the faculty and members of IIM-A board of governors, confirmed a IIM-A faculty.
 
The former Chairman of IIM-A board Vijaypat Singhania had formed a four-member search committee comprising IIM-A alumni to find replacement for Samir Barua, whose four-year term expires in September this year, official sources said.
 
However, the new chair of IIM-A board after understanding the nitty-gritty of the selection process decided to reconstitute the committee.
 
Chairman A M Naik, alongwith four others will now be suggesting two or three names for the post of Director IIM-A to Union Ministry of HRD which will take a final decision in the matter, they said. 

Diploma merit list to be declared on June 27

AHMEDABAD: The mock round for admission to the diploma engineering courses will begin from June 27. The merit list for the same will be declared on the same day.

Officials said that the during the mock round the students will get to know where they stand and also the possibility where they would be getting admissions.

Earlier the merit list was to be declared on June 22, but the same was postpone to June 27 after the authorities realized that several students had applied online but were yet to submit their form to the admission committee. The number according to officials was 4000 odd students and hence it was decided to extend the last date for submitting the documents and forms to the admission committee for two days from June 22.

Officials further said that the merit list will be declared in June 27 and there after student will be able to give his or her preferences. Over 1.4 lakh students have applied for admission to diploma engineering courses after the standard X exams. Monday was the last day for accepting admission forms of polytechnic colleges.

Figures of the admission committee for professional diploma courses (ACPDC) show that 1.02 lakh students have registered for the various courses. Last year, 87 polytechnic colleges had 48,783 seats. This year, more colleges have been granted permission taking the number to 96 colleges with 55,183 seats.

No fee hike for commerce colleges

Ahmedabad: Keeping in view the Gujarat Legislative Assembly elections scheduled for the later part of the year, the Gujarat uni-versity has decided not to increase the fees in the first semester for the first year Bachelor of commerce.

The 15 self finance colleges have demanded a increase in the fees. The university pro vice chancellor Mukul shah said "we have decided that there is not going to be any increase in the fees for the first year Bachelor of commerce. We will form a committee to decide on the fee structure only after the Diwali vacation. The commit-tee will look into the account and compare the same with the number of students before deciding the fee."

The 14 self-financed commerce colleges affiliated to Gujarat University, had earlier demanded an increase in the fees.

The present fee structure for the self financed colleges was Rs 7000. Officials said the fee after the revision is likely to be around Rs 10,000.

A senior officer said that "Since this being an election year, neither the Congress nor the BJP want a increase in the fee structure and hence the PVC might have decided to decide on the issue after Diwali vacation."

Ahmedabad: Admissions for medical courses to begin from May 24

AHMEDABAD: The admission committee for professional courses has announced that it will begin the admission process on the medical, dental and paramedical seats from May 24.

A committee member said that the admission forms will be available from May 24 to June 7.

"The duly-filled forms along with marksheet and other documents should be returned to the admission center at B J Medical College between May 29 and June 14," said an official adding that only those candidates, who have appeared for the Gujcet exam will be eligible to apply.

This year around 23,000 B-group students have cleared HSC exams. The official said there are 7,900 medical and paramedical seats in the state for medicine, dental, BSc nursing, physiotherapy, ayurvedic homeopathic and other courses. Last year, over 700 of these remained vacant.

Next Vibrant Gujarat summit to focus on education

AHMEDABAD: If multinational corporations and large private sector companies were the focus of the last four Vibrant Gujarat summits, the 2013 edition will see a large number of universities from within and outside the country participating for the first time. Nearly 3,000 to 5,000 square meters of space has been earmarked in the summit this year for university stalls.

This is for the first time that the Gujarat government has invited educational institutes to Vibrant Gujarat event mainly to help them forge partnerships with local educational institutions in the state. "This is necessary as skill development has become an absolute necessity in the wake of a large number of industries setting up their base in the state. 

Gujarat has one of the most complex matrix of industries in the country. The students from the state should now acquire new skills to work in these emerging sectors," says a senior officer of the industrial extension bureau (iNDEXTb) of Gujarat. The officials also added that special seminars on career opportunities, facilities for on the spot university partnership will be the main highlight of the event. In the next two months, officials from the bureau will travel to Europe, UK, US, China, Singapore, some African countries and even Middle East to invite various agencies to the 2013 edition.

"The tour plans are being finalized. Our teams will approach government agencies in these countries to help us reach out to potential investors in various sectors," says this iNDEXTb official.

Fee hike in more schools in Ahmedabad

Ahmedabad: Recently Gujarat High Court has issued show cause notices to four schools for fee hike, yet many reputed schools of Ahmedabad are set to implement 7% to 12% hike in their fee structure. Parents are angry with this move.

Delhi Public School, The Calorx School, Anand Niketan in Satellite and Riverside School have hiked their tuition fee across all classes while Ahmedabad International School has done so in only a few sections. Parents will have to pay more this year.

Gujarat high court has recently issued notices to the government departments concerned and to four schools of the city. All have been asked to file replies within a month. The schools issued notices are Zydus School, DPS, Anand Nikentan and Vedanta which have also been made a party in the case. The PIL filed by Prakash Kapadia of the trust, Jageja Gujarat, has alleged that private schools in the city are charging exorbitant amounts as fee under various heads from students. The fees charged include security fee, development fee, lunch fee etc.       

Evaluation scheme of Project Exam changed in GTU

Ahmedabad: Evaluation scheme of Project Exam has been changed for 8th semester of B.E. in Gujarat Technology University. The examination for the project will consist of a presentation of the work, explanation of the work through power-point slides and viva-voce.  

For Projects (IDP/UDP) individual student has to score 40% marks in the project examination. The students have to submit the Final Project report (Soft and hard copy) before University Viva Examination in the 8 th semester to the concerned department. 

A brief Report /Presentation is to be submitted to concerned authority before commencement of University Examinations. For feasibility the teams have to show case a model /prototype during final exam in suitable  branches.

500 apply online for PhD entrance test

AHMEDABAD: Nearly 500 candidates have registered themselves online for the PhD entrance test to be organized on April 29. Monday was the last day for filling up the applications forms online for the test.

Officials said that the candidates have registered themselves for doctoral research in engineering, pharmacy, MBA and MCA subjects.

There are nine branches in engineering in which students can pursue their PhD thesis. The GTU has also identified branches in pharmacy and management where students can pursue research.

Last year, exam forms of 200 students were withheld as they had attendance less than what is mandated by the GTU. Later, the GTU had offered the students an option to submit a study paper and make up for attendance shortage.

GTU officials said that this year, the students will be offered no grace and will have to attend the mandated classes.

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.      

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.

India need to create 15 million jobs per annum

Ahmedabad: India need to create 15 million jobs per annum in view of over 5 million youth that the country going to have in next few years. India would have to build institutes of 21st centuries since existing institutional framework is not capable of building future nation. said Pitroda on the sidelines of 13th convocation of EDI in Ahmedabad.  

Advisor to the Prime Minister on Public Information Infrastructure and Innovation Sam Pitroda is keen for the government to come up with policy for entrepreneurs. He suggested Entrepreneurship Development Institute of India (EDI) to come up with the draft soon. 

Pitroda stated that draft for National Innovation Policy should be ready in next four months. Commenting on Pitroda's suggestion, EDI governing body member and former union minister of power YK Alagh said, "Drafting national policy document for entrepreneurs is a mammoth task for the EDI. We will try our level best in this direction."

Meanwhile, EDI will open five more international centres in African countries of Senegal, Gabon, Rwanda, Namibia and Zambia. In 2005, the Ministry of External Affairs roped in EDI to set up Entrepreneurship Development Centres in Combodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam. Also, EDI will soon take up assignments to set up food processing units in African nations.

EDI director Dinesh Avasthi said, "Today, the institute trains close to 500 professionals from 75 countries every year. We conduct 12 international programmes annually and research extensively to introduce new programmes every year to suit the market needs. 

Soon, we will launch two more international programmes," EDI is claiming to have helped 1,25,000 artisans through development projects for handloom and handicraft clusters. 

2,500 doctors at six medical colleges on strike in Gujarat

Ahmedabad: Around 2,500 doctors, who are faculty members at the six medical colleges in Gujarat and serve in hospitals attached to them, have gone on an indefinite strike. Demanding pay-scale parity with the teachers of other non-government medical colleges as per the University Grants Commission (UGC) guidelines, a demand pending for three years, the doctors went on strike on Thursday. 

"We have been demanding pay-scale parity with teachers in non-government medical colleges, as in pharmacy, law, science, polytechnic colleges...as per UGC guidelines, and a time-bound promotion schedule," said Gujarat Medical Teachers' Association (GMTA) secretary, Dr J C Makwana. 

There had been no assurance from the state for the last three years despite repeated representations and several rounds of talks, he said. "We are also demanding that government remove cap of Rs 75,500 on the pay-scale as the retirement age has been increased from 58 to 62 years," Makwana said.

The strike is on in district medical colleges of Ahmedabad, Vadodara, Rajkot, Jamnagar, Surat and Bhavnagar. These doctors teach junior doctors as well as attend to patients. 

Around 400 doctors of Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation's four hospitals, including a dental college, today went on a token strike in support of agitating doctors. The BJ Medical College and Hospital here is one of the biggest in the state and caters to over 1,500 patients daily. 

New IITs yet to get govt approval, students in a spot

AHMEDABAD: Hundreds of students entered the new Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), set up in 2008 expecting a bright future for themselves. 

But their dreams have hit a roadblock, even as the first batch of BTech students is set to graduate in May. The new institutes are yet to be approved as IITs by the Parliament. As a result, the students graduating this year will not get an IIT degree for the time being. 

All IITs are governed by the Institutes of Technology Act, 1961. The Act declares them as 'institutions of national importance' and specifies their framework for governance, powers and duties. The Gandhinagar campus was among the six IITs set up in 2008. Another two were added the next year. 

While the Lok Sabha passed the bill for incorporating the new IITs under the act, it is yet to be cleared by Rajya Sabha. Because of the uncertainty, the IITs are unable to fix a date for their first convocation. Traditionally, IITs host their annual convocations in August. 

"We are hoping the Parliament moves quickly," said a director of one of the new IITs. "It takes time to plan a convocation that meets IIT standards." 

The first batch of 30 MTech students of IIT Hyderabad graduated in 2011. The students are waiting for their degree certificates. 

Uday Desai, director IIT Hyderabad, said, "We have given the students provisional degree certificates for the time being. With the Lok Savha having cleared the bill, half the job is done. We hope that the Rajya Sabha clears the bill this time." A total of 160 students will be graduating from the IIT Hyderabad this year. 

Some 600 under-graduate and post-graduate students will be passing out from the new IITs this year. IIT-Gandhinagar has 88 undergraduate students. 

Gujarat to set up IITRM

Ahmedabad: Anticipating an increase in the demand for engineers in infrastructure development, the Gujarat government has proposed to set up an Institute of  Infrastructure, Technology, Research and Management (IITRM) in the rapidly industrialising state.
    
"To cater to need of specific demand of trained manpower in infrastructure and to provide a platform for research based institute in the field of engineering, it is considered necessary to have a dedicated autonomous institute with powers of a University," said Gujarat's Minister for Education Ramanlal Vora, referring to setting up of IITRM.
    
"This will lead to the development of centre of excellence in the area of infrastructure engineering and will boost technical education in the state," he said.
    
"Foreseeing a demand for engineers in the infra space over the next few years the government has decided to set up a varsity on the lines of Pandit Deendayal Petroleum University (PDPU)," Gujarat's Principal Secretary Education Department Hasmukh Adhia said.
    
"The capital support to this proposed varsity shall be given by the government. It would charge normal fee from the students to meet its recurring expenditures from the fee structure, and gain financial autonomy," Adhia said.
    
A bill to pave way for the establishment of university called-IITRM- was tabled during the budget session of the state assembly recently.
    
The bill, if enacted and brought into operation, will involve an estimated expenditure of Rs 18 crore in FY 2011-12 and a sum of Rs 67 crore in FY 2012-13, of which Rs 47 crore will be capital expenditure. 

"The institute thrusts shall be on research. It is expected to accommodate around 2,000 students in campus, once fully operational," Adhia said.

Out of these, 50 per cent students will be under graduates and remaining from PG Doctoral and sponsored  courses in the area of engineering and management.

In the backdrop of rapid industrialisation here, the demand for engineers in Gujarat is touted to be higher as compared to the other states.

The state engineering colleges presently offer courses across 32 segments such as aviation, textile processing, automobile, amongst other at nominal fee of Rs 3,000 to 4,000 per annum.
 
In the recently tabled budget, the Gujarat government increased its planned expenditure by 33 per cent to Rs 50,599 crore in FY:2012-13 against plan size of Rs 38,000 crore in the last fiscal. 

Infosys to expand India footprint with focus on tier-II cities

Ahmedabad: Software giant Infosys is looking to expand footprint in India with focus on Tier-II cities, a top company official said on Wednesday.

"We are looking for land in various parts of the country and looking to expand our capacity with a focus on Tier-II cities," Infosys CEO and co-founder S D Shibulal told reporters here on the sidelines of an award function.

"This year we added nearly 45,000 to 47,000 people. For the next year we have already given campus offers to 23,000 candidates," he said.

"The net additions by us this year are around 25,000," Shibulal said, referring to attrition.

The company recently sealed a deal with Madhya Pradesh government for setting up a development centre in Indore. It is awaiting response from West Bengal government for setting up a centre in Kolkata. The company is present in 10 cities.

"We are awaiting response from the Kolkata (West Bengal) government. We are positive on the offer made to them," an Infosys executive said, replying to a media query.

The company, which has been planning a centre in Gujarat as well, said that at present only the issues related to availability of land at fair price are being considered.

"We are focused on tier-II cities more, since some of the Tier-I cities are facing challenges of infrastructure," he said.

Placement process gets underway at IIM-Ahmedabad

Ahmedabad: The final placement process on Monday got underway at the premier B-school Indian Institute of Managament-Ahmedabad (IIM-A) with global strategy consulting firms and i-Banks recruiting candidates on day one.
The global firms have offered roles to the candidates in their India offices as well as in international locations such as London and New York, an official statement said.

Around 410 students are seeking placement from IIM-A this year, including 372 from its flagship Post Graduate Programme (PGP) in Management, in the first cluster.

The Boston Consulting Group (BCG) made the maximum number of offers this year. The consulting firms have been a major recruiter at IIM-A over the years.

"BCG recruited 17 PGP students from IIM-Ahmedabad this year. It continues to be one of our core campuses for recruitment," Partner and Director BCG Ravi Srivastava said.

The recruiters on day one included BCG, McKinsey & Co, Bain & Co, AT Kearney, Credit Suisse, HSBC, Oliver Wyman and Accenture.

The duration of the final placement process has been cut short this year by IIM-A, with shorter gaps within two cohorts.

The placements for second cluster will be held on 17th February.

IIM-A has adopted Indian Placement Reporting Standards (IPRS) and it will be releasing a detailed report on the placements for 2010-12 batch three months after the convocation.

ICECD to take entrepreneurship to Namibia

Ahmedabad: City-based International Centre for Entrepreneurship and Career Development (ICECD) said it has tied up with the Namibian Government to start a business training programme for the youth in the south African country.

"We have tied up with the Namibian Youth Ministry to start up an entrepreneurship programme for the youth there. The project is going to start very soon," ICECD Director Hina Shah said.

The project is slated to start in next two months.

"Our target is to impart training to around 8,000 youth in Namibia over a period of three years," ICECD Senior Executive Chandramauli Pathak said.

"We have a micro-credit programme running in India, which helps youth and urban poor to become entrepreneurs. It is supported by the Commonwealth Youth initiative, which is part of the UK-based Commonwealth Secretariat," he said.

Under this programme ICECD provides training to youth, offers doorstep credit, collection and delivery, based on their entrepreneurial behaviour.  

"The same micro-credit model shall be replicated in Namibia too," Pathak said.

"The Ministry of Youth in Namibia and Commonwealth Youth Programme have set up a fund for this programme. We shall provide training to the youths and shall be engaged in micro-credit management for it," the senior executive said.

"Under the programme, youth shall be trained, given micro-credit assistance between USD 150-250 and in certain special cases up to USD 500," Pathak said.

The Commonwealth Youth Programme was established by the Commonwealth heads in 1973.

ICEDC, which completed 25 years of its foundation, organised a walkathon event titled 'A Walk to Self-reliance'.

Teaching fraternity should be more tech-savvy: Modi

Ahmedabad: Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi said the teaching fraternity should be more tech-savvy to bring qualitative changes in education.

"A teacher's role would be crucial in bringing qualitative changes in the education sector through the usage of technology," Modi, inaugurating the annual conference of Gujarat Rajya Acharya Sangh in Ambaji town of North Gujarat, said.

"Considering the scale and scope of Gujarat's development, the use of technology in imparting education would increase in the coming times. The teachers would need to be conversant with the latest technology and new methods of education," Modi added.

"The state has planned to celebrate 150th birth anniversary of Swami Vivekananda as a youth year. 21st century is the era of knowledge. And in this era, education and the empowerment of our youths are the best ways for India to establish its supremacy over the world," he said.

Talking about steps taken by the state government for the encouragement of innovations in the field of education, chief minister said, it has set up an incubation centre, i-Create, under the headship of Infosys founder Naranyan Murthy with a view to give shape to the innovative ideas, research and experiments of the youths.

The state government has also formed 'Gujarat Educational Innovation Commission' to push innovative experiments and research.

Gujarat is the only state, which has received a full-fledged 36 MHz satellite communication transponder. This will enable the state government to provide long-distance education to even the remotest parts of the state, he said.

With a view to training teachers, Gujarat government has set up Teachers' University, the chief minister added.