B.Tech in Humanities gets overwhelming response: Delhi University

New Delhi: Delhi University said its much-talked about B Tech in Humanities course opened to "overwhelming" response from students, forcing it to extend the dates for submission of forms and admission.
 
The course, to be conducted by the university's Cluster Innovation Centre (CIC), will offer flexibility to students in chosing their subjects and will be taught under the 'meta college' concept.
 
The admission process started on July 25 and according to the University the response was "overwhelming" in the first week.
 
Given the loads of queries and interest shown by students, the University has decided to increase the ambit of the course to students currently enrolled in any programme of the University.
 
The last date for submission of forms is now August 17, the entrance test date has been rescheduled to August 26 from August 5.
 
Following a written test and an interview, students will be admitted to this four-year course which has 40 seats on offer.
 
The course is spread over eight semesters, and classes for the first and the last semester will be held at CIC.
 
In the intervening semesters, students can opt for courses in various colleges and can pursue a maximum of two semesters in one college. They will also be required to prepare innovation projects every semester. 

Final decision on cartoons in textbooks likely tomorrow

New Delhi: NCERT held "exhaustive" deliberations with the textbook development committee on political science on the issue of removal of certain cartoons and objectionable content from CBSE textbooks, a final decision on which is expected tomorrow.
 
The meeting comes amid indications that the controversial cartoons on B R Ambedkar and the one relating to  nti-Hindi agitation in Tamil Nadu could be removed.
 
"There were exhaustive deliberations and a final decision is expected tomorrow after the last round of discussion," a source said, adding, views of the national monitoring committee was also taken into account.
 
A statement issued after a meeting of the committee on July 14, an apex group of experts which approves  textbooks, to discuss the Thorat panel recommendations had said changes if any would be done keeping in mind the public debate on some cartoons.
 
The apex national monitoring committee had expressed its dissatisfaction over the panel recommendations on deletion of certain number of cartoons on the grounds that there were many inadequacies in the report and the grounds given for removal of the cartoons were not very satisfactory.
 
The Thorat panel was set up following the row over the Ambedkar cartoon in the CBSE class XI political science textbook.
 
The panel has sought removal of about 21 cartoons and recommended some changes in words and phrases with negative implications. 

Nalanda to start session from 2014

New Delhi: The proposed Nalanda University will embark on its fresh journey from 2014 and will offer courses in History and Ecological Studies in the beginning.

Chancellor Amartya Sen said that they are going to start with School of Historical Studies and School of Environment and Ecological Studies from 2014.

"Then we are going to start with School of Economics and Management and School of Information Technology," Sen said at a function here.

Stressing of increased Public Private Partnership for building the university, Sen lauded the efforts of the Centre as well as the Bihar Government for giving shape to the university, located in the town of Rajgir and  contains within it a memory of the ancient Nalnda University.

Sen said that they were trying to build the University within its resources.

During his conversation with Indian Express Editor-in-Chief Shekhar Gupta, organised by the University, he said that the University is getting support from very large number of Asian Countries and it is already in partnership with several universities across the world.

Nalanda University was established in November 2010. The University came into being by a special Act of the Indian Parliament a testimony to the important status that Nalanda University occupies in the Indian intellectual landscape.

Member, University's mentor group, Sugata Bose said the university has approved 26 faculty position, 13 each for school of historical studies and 13 for school of Environment and Ecological studies and the faculty will be appointed by July, 2013.

The classes will started by July, 2014, he said. 

Shetye, Srinivasan conferred national science awards

New Delhi: Senior scientists Satish Shetye and J Srinivasan were conferred national awards for their contribution to ocean and atomospheric sciences respectively.

The awards were given away by Minister of State for Earth Sciences Ashwani Kumar at a function to mark the ninth Foundation Day of the Ministry of Earth Sciences.

Shetye, the Director of the Goa-based National Institute of Oceanography, was conferred with the national award in Ocean Science and Technology for his outstanding contributions to the field.

Srinivasan, the principal investigator for the Indo-French satellite Megha-Tropiques, was honoured with the national award in Atmospheric Science and Technology for his outstanding contributions to the field.

Certificate of Merit in Ocean Science & Technology were given to Manish Tiwari, V. Ranga Rao, Basanta Kumar Jena and Venkat Seshu Redden.  

Certificates of Merit in Atmospheric Science and Technology were given to Ashish Kumar Mitra, S D Pawar, Kripan Ghosh and Ashok Kumar Das.

Addressing the gathering, Kumar said Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has assured that there would be no dearth of funds for the ministries of Science and Technology and Earth Sciences.

Kumar said institutional endeavours lined up for implementation during the XII Plan include areas of earthquake research, monitoring of glaciers, role of Himalayan ecosystem, understanding monsoon's variability and improving skills in short-term, medium-range extended-range and seasonal scale prediction of rainfall. 

IIT Bombay gives nod to new format of common entrance

New Delhi: IIT Bombay gave its nod to the common entrance for admission to the undergraduate programme from 2013 under a format which will admit students having top 20 percentile of their respective boards.

The senate approved the IIT council's resolution regarding admission to the IITs based only on rank achieved in advance test subject to condition that selected candidates are in the top 20 percentile of successful list of their boards.

IIT council, at its crucial meeting here on June 27, had adopted a resolution in this regard as part of a compromise formula, bringing an end to a deadlock between the government and the IITs which had been opposing giving weightages to board results.

"IIT Bombay senate has accepted the resolution," said president of All India IIT Faculty Federation K Narasimhan.

However, he said that instead of allowing 1.50 lakh candidates to sit in the advance test, they have sought to restrict the figure to about 50,000 students.

As National Institute of Technology (NITs) have decided to adopt the original formula under the common test albeit with some minor tweaking, IIT Bombay senate felt there was no need to keep the figure at 1.50 lakh, he said.

IIT Kanpur is also expected to meet later this week to examine the IIT council resolution amid indications that it is in favour of adopting the council resolution.

The resolution is to be vetted by other IITs too before the Joint Admission Board gives its final seal of approval to the format. 

DU cut offs remain less than 100 pc

New Delhi:  A year after they sparked much hue and cry, Delhi University colleges this year spared students the horror of a 100 per cent cut off percentage, though Hindu college put a ceiling of 99.25 to its cut-off range.
 
The University announced its first cut off list amid apprehension among students who are hoping to get  admissions in the prestigious University.
 
Sri Ram College of Commerce (SRCC), one of the most coveted institutions at the varsity, that had sparked much debate last year by putting its first cut off ceiling at 100 per cent, chose to keep its cut off for B Com (hons) in a bracket of 96.5 to 98.5 per cent.
 
Though there was no 100 per cent shocker this time, the required percentages remained at a high level, in some cases even crossing last year's cut offs.
 
Hindu College, whose first cut off percentage last year in B Com (hons) was 95.5 to 99, raised it this time by 0.25 per cent to a range of 96.25 to 99.25 per cent.
 
Hans Raj college announced a first cut off of 96.25 to 98.25 per cent for in B Com (hons) as against last year's 96 to 97 per cent.
 
In the coveted BA Economics (hons) course, SRCC put its cut off at 96.5 to 98.5 per cent, while Hindu declared a cut off of 95.75 to 99.25 per cent, again raising the bar as against last year's 95.9 to 96.5 per cent.
 
It is noteworthy that last year the cut offs were announced in a situation when the University was experimenting with the doing away of pre admission forms. This year, the varsity re-introduced the forms, giving the colleges a better idea of how many students were looking for which courses.
 
Last year, the 100 per cent cut off had sparked a major outcry, prompting even the HRD Minister Kapil Sibal to intervene and ask the Vice Chancellor to look into the issue.
 
This year before the admission season began, Sibal again assured students seeking admission in Delhi university that there would be "no problem" of the kind they faced last year when the cut-off touched 100 per cent. 
 
B Com (hons) remained the most popular course on offer as did Economics (hons), with the highest cut  offs being found in these subjects.
 
Among other colleges, Lady Sri Ram kept its cut offs in both Economics and Commerce at last year's mark of 97 per cent.
 
While Gargi college decalrted a B Com hons cut off of 94.5 to 97.5, Ranjas put it at 96 to 98 per cent as against last year's 95 to 98 per cent this time.
 
While cut off in the popular English hons course was up to 92 per cent, 93 per cent and 98.5 per cent in Daulat Ram, Gargi and Hans Raj colleges respectively, a number of colleges were offering English hons at a much lower percentage.
 
In Science courses, Computer Science, Maths and Physics remained the most popular courses. 

IGNOU launches three courses on Gandhi

New Delhi: The Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) has launched three new modular programmes on Mahatma Gandhi and Peace Studies.

Admissions to the courses MA in Gandhi and Peace Studies (MAGPS), PG Diploma in Gandhi and Peace Studies (PGDGPS) and PG Certificate in Gandhi and Peace Studies (PGCGPS) will commence from next month, a IGNOU release said.

According to the University, the MAGPS programme, which can be completed between two and five years, provides in-depth knowledge in Gandhian thoughts, peace studies and conflict resolution. A graduate in any discipline is eligible to join the programme for July 2012 session.

The PGDGPS programme, which can be completed between one to three years, imparts knowledge particularly on the ideas of Gandhi on social, economic, political, sustainable and environmental issues.

"It develops peace methods from the inter-disciplinary perspectives to train the participants in peace making and conflict resolution in real life situations. The diploma holders can then join media, NGOs or opt for teaching and research," the release said.

The PGCGPS programme is of minimum six months and maximum two years duration which shall comprehend Gandhi's vision of peace and non-violent activism. "It shall widen the horizon of student to understand the Gandhi's concept of world order for global peace and security," the University said.

The last date to apply for all these programmes is July 30 without late fee, and August 14 with late fee of Rs 200.

Chhattisgarh to educate children of extremism affected areas

New Delhi: Buoyed by the achievements of over 150 children of left-wing extremism affected areas in securing admissions in reputed engineering colleges, the Chhattisgarh Government has constructed a residential hostel here to educate them.
 
The state-of-the-art residential complex, constructed in about 2,000 sq meter in Dwarka locality here, with a capacity of accommodating at least 100 students will be inaugurated in July 3.
 
"We want to educate more and more children from LWE affected areas. They will be provided better coaching classes and accommodation free of cost. The aim is to ensure better education and skill development of these children so that they can bring positive changes and development back in the state," Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh told from Raipur.
 
He said a pilot project has brought a significant result in Chhattisgarh.
 
"There were about 150 students from LWE areas of the state who got through various national engineering colleges through 'Prayas', a special initiative of the state government," the CM said.
     
Chhattisgarh had in 2010 launched a programme 'Prayas' to provide education to students from the LWE districts of the state and other tribal or backward areas.
     
About 300 such students were provided accommodation in tribal hostels, especially constructed for the purpose, in the state capital Raipur and given coaching for regular courses and competitive examinations. 
 
As a result, around 150 of them were selected in All India Engineering Entrance Examination (AIEEE) and  two in Indian Institute of Technology. Besides them, some of the students were selected for admission in some other institutes. 
 
Recently, the Chief Minister has given an i-pad each to all the students.
 
The residential block in the national capital is constructed at the cost of about Rs 15 crore.
 
"It is a unique project. These students will be provided education and coaching free of cost. Deputy Speaker of Lok Sabha Kariya Munda is likely to inaugurate the tribals hostel," said N Baijendra Kumar, Principal Secretary to the CM.
 
According to officials, all students who stay in the hostels will be provided all sorts of career guidance and help.
 
They said the programme was aimed at involving these underprivileged children into the mainstream of the society.
 
"There are many children who aspire to become some professionals in their life. But due to their poor economic conditions and lack of awareness they were unable to pursue their dreams. With hostels like this, a child can get best education and realise his dreams," an official said. 

New website makes getting in touch with IITians easier

New Delhi: Want to befriend an IITian? Thanks to a website people can now make friends with graduates from the prestigious Indian Institutes of Technology.

Dateiitians.com is the brainchild of three graduates from IIT Kharagpur Layak Singh, Kinshuk Bairagi and Nikhil Kaushik.

While Singh is the chief of operations and business management, the other two are co-founders of the portal that now boasts of 7,000 users, 35 per cent of whom are girls.

The website, which was launched in February, aims at bringing quintessential geeks to one platform and introduce them with others and share information.

"Techies are regarded to be the people who are always busy with their ideas and work, those who have little or not time to interact with people and are considered boring because of their obsessive hobby or narrow interests. We wanted to connect these geeks and let them have some fun," Singh said.

The idea to launch a website struck the trio when they were having a chat at IIT-Kharagpur that IITs do not have much girls.

"We were of the opinion that the boy to girl ratio is not good and students do not mingle easily. So to establish a connection between the IIT students, we planned to start with the online website. We, in fact, did a market survey and find out it to be a worthy initiative, thus started the making of a dedicated dating website for IITians," he said.

After an incredible response, the website is all set to go global in August.

"This is the alpha version (testing/starting phase) of the website, we are soon going to take it to the global level with its new version releasing in August, which will have many more new things and that's a surprise,"  Singh said.

When the site was started, it was only open to techies and engineering professionals from IITs and IIMs but later it was open to others as they got many requests.

The website has a tie-up with about 100 Indian and foreign varsities.

Explaining the difference between the dedicated dating website for geeks and other social networking websites, Layak says, "This is different from other social websites, say such as Facebook, as there exist many fake profiles as well. Only real techies are allowed to register after a tough screening process." 

Centre to convene special meeting of IIT Council next week

New Delhi: The government has called a special meeting of the IIT Council next week to address the concerns of students after IIT Delhi and Kanpur rejected the proposed single entrance test.
 
Sources in HRD Ministry said the special meeting has been convened on June 27 after the developments yesterday in IIT Delhi, where the Senate adopted a resolution rejecting the proposed test and deciding to conduct its own entrance exam.
 
IIT Kanpur had earlier this month also rejected the proposed exam on the grounds that it was "academically and methodically unsound".
 
"The special meeting will discuss the fallout of the move of the two IITs, address the issue of uncertainty faced by the students and the way ahead to end the logjam," sources said.
 
There are indications that IIT Bombay and IIT Kharagpur may follow the stand of their Delhi and Kanpur counterparts.
 
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 a new format of common entrance test which will also take plus two board results into consideration.
 
The IITs oppose the new format contending that 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. 

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. 

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.

SC seeks DGHS response on manipulation of PG medical seats

New Delhi: The Supreme Court sought the response of Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) on a girl student's complaint of large-scale manipulation, hacking and tampering of ongoing online counselling for admission to the all-India seats for post graduate medical courses.
 
A bench of justices H L Gokhale and Ranjana Prakash Desai initially asked the DGHS to file a counter-affidavit on the issue, but later allowed counsel Rekha Pandey to "seek instructions" from the directorate on it.
 
Pandey, told the bench that since the matter was "too technical," she would like to seek instructions from the DGHS on the contents of the allegations in the petition. 
 
Petitioner Pankila Mittal through counsel Naushad Ahmad Khan has alleged that besides her, a large number of top rankers who had opted for MD/MS courses, were shocked to find that due to the hacking and manipulation, they have been alloted seats in diploma courses, which is far inferior choices for their ranks.
 
The duration course of MD/MS course is three years, whereas, the diploma is of two years duration. There are about 5,500 PG seats for the present academic year of 2012-13, under all India quota from states.
 
Pankila, who had secured 692 marks at the national competitive exams said she had appeared for the online counselling held on January 8 conducted by nodal agency AIIMS and had opted for as many as 24 choices in the unreserved category.
 
In the first round of counselling, she was alloted a seat in Seth G S Medical College, Mumbai and on May 16, she completed all formalities of admission on the basis of her rank. 
 
The petitioner claimed she had specifically sought MD courses with preferential choice of MD in obstetrics and gynaecology or dermatology and venereal or leprosy.
 
But to her shock, she was alloted "Diploma in Venerealogy & Dermatology" which she had never wanted, the petition said.
 
It said though the official date for publication of results was June 12, many of them had come to know about it on June 11 itself, unofficially via social networking sites through uploaded PDF files.
 
"Since the result was availed by social networking sites unofficially, irresistibly we can reach the conclusion that the software prepared by the NIC is not foolproof / tamper-free, software prone  to hacking /tampering / manipulation / addition / alteration / deletion / modification.
 
"Many meritorious students who were allotted with provisional allotment letters in institutions at the first round in MD speciality courses, when opted their choice for upgrade in the round 2 and 3 were allotted to diploma courses which are staring at the ex-facie records" it said.
 
The petition cited the instances of Sudhansu Shekhar Das, Uttam Kumar Lenka and Vinya Kumar Muttagi, who were allotted courses they never opted for.
 
Pankila urged the apex court to ensure that she was not deprived of her originally alloted seat and also wanted the court "to pass any such further order/s as this hon'ble court may deem fit and proper". 

Common test: HRD Ministry to write to joint admission IIT boards

New Delhi: Unfazed by the resistance from the IIT faculty as well as the alumni, government would soon write to the joint admission board of the IITs to prepare the modalities for conducting the proposed common entrance test for admission to engineering programmes under the new format.

Sources said HRD Ministry would be asking the joint admission boards to finalise modalities of the advance exam, one of the component of the two-tier test which would be implemented from 2013 onwards.

The development comes as Council of Boards of School Education is also expected to meet later this month to discuss issues related to coordination among different boards on matters such as holding the  plus-two board examinations on time and time-bound declaration of results.

The new system of entrance test would take the board results into consideration for preparing the merit list.

IIT Faculty and the alumni have been opposing the move tooth and nail, demanding that the new system should not be implemented before 2014.

They contend that the proposed common entrance test would undermine the autonomy enjoyed by the IITs and dilute the IIT brand.

Indications are that IIT Delhi senate, which is expected to meet on June 21, would also follow on the lines of IIT Kanpur. The latter has decided to hold its own entrance test following its rejection of the new system.

The faculty federation has already met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh voicing their opposition to the test, stating that they have been assured by him that autonomy of IITs will be maintained.

The faculty federation insists that implementing the new system from 2013 will put a lot of pressure on students already in midst of preparing for the IIT-JEE next year.

The federation, which is of the view that the new format will increase stress of students instead of decreasing it, has said that students aspiring to join institutes other than the IITs need not sit for two test main and advance as proposed.

It said that only the main be used for all institutes except the IITs to select students. It said the advance test should be required only for the IITs.

"The IITs advance test should be subjective type, just for the candidates aspiring to join the IITs. This advance test will be held on a day different from the main test and will be administered to only shortlisted candidates from the main test (50,000-70,000) by IITs only," the federation said in a statement yesterday after meeting PMO officials.

Meanwhile, sources within the federation claimed that the HRD ministry is considering one of their demands of not taking the plus-two board results into consideration while preparing the merit list.

The government is, however, likely to accept the demand only for the academic year 2013.

The sources said that the federation is in talks with several IITs in this regard and is hopeful of a positive response from the Ministry.

They also claimed that Sibal is in touch with IIT directors to end the impasse. 

IIT-JEE allotment late by 3 days

New Delhi: After three days of delay, the first IIT admissions list allotting seats was finally released, on June 17.

Even then, students had a tough time logging on to the JEE website on Sunday morning—some of them just couldnt access the course allotment details. Some, after a days toil, were finally able to access them late Sunday evening, reports said.

The process of admission into the IITs was taking longer than the usual as technical glitches forced the authorities to postpone the admission process. The first course allotment round was earlier scheduled to begin on June 14, but students started getting anxious as it was postponed.

IIT entrance test row: Kapil Sibal refuses to budge from 2013 date

NEW DELHI: With IIT-Delhi Senate scheduled to meet on Thursday to discuss its response to the common entrance test human resource development minister Kapil Sibal reiterated that the exam for the Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT) would be implemented from next year. 

In an interview, Sibal referred to the IIT system and said, "The excellence of the system is the quality of the system. I also give great credit to the faculty. It's the quality of the students...because best students come to the IITs and the best students will still come. So there is not dilution of the quality. But there are certain ills in the present system that needs to be addressed. The IITs should have come out with solutions in these 40 years. They can't claim whatever they are doing, there is nothing better than that." 

Sibal's insistence, however, seems to be contrary to the assurance offered by the Prime MinisterManmohan Singh at a meeting with IIT faculty recently that differences will be sorted out through a dialogue and the autonomy of the tech schools will not be eroded. 

IIT-Kanpur had recently decided to conduct its own entrance test, terming as "academically and methodically unsound" the May 28 decision of the IIT Council to hold the common entrance test. This makes the meeting of the IIT-Delhi Senate significant. If IIT-Delhi chooses to back Kanpur faculty members, the ministry will have to seriously reconsider at least some aspects of the current formula. 

Sources said that among some of the suggestions that had been discussed included holding the IIT main and advanced test on separate days and the way in which class XII board marks will be factored in. 

A section of the IIT faculty and the alumni have been opposing the move tooth and nail, demanding that the new system should not be implemented before 2014. They contend implementing the new system from next academic session will put a lot of pressure on students, who are already in midst of preparing for next year's IIT-JEE. 

The government is likely to ask the joint admission board of the IITs soon to prepare the modalities for  conducting the advanced test under the proposed common entrance test. Sources also said that the Senates of IIT-Bombay, IIT-Madras and IIT-Kharagpur held internal meetings about the proposed exam and possible alternatives in the two-tier test. 

When asked if he was reconsidering his decision to hold the test from 2013 onwards, Sibal said, "This is not my decision (on holding the single entrance test). This is a decision of the IIT council which is a statutory authority under the IIT Act. The IITs have by and large accepted this decision.'' 

Sibal said the only opposition was coming from IIT-Kanpur Senate but noted that he was ready to reach out to all to resolve the differences. "I will reach out to all of them. I will talk to them. For the first time in the history of this country, I had personal interaction with faculty of all the IIT," he said. 

As per the new format for admission to IITs and institutes such as NITs and IIITs, students will sit for a main test and an advance test. Performance of the plus-two board results will also be taken into consideration. So far, IIT-Guwahati and IIT-Madras have expressed their full support to the new test. 

Stating that the single test was proposed to address certain "ills in the implementation of the present system, Sibal said he would welcome the IIT council to come over with a better solution. 

Observing that that declining standard of school system has led to a plethora of coaching institutes, Sibal said of the 476 students admitted to IIT-Bombay, 300 have come from coaching institutes. He also felt that the common entrance test will do away with capitation fee. 

DU admissions: 1,000 seats for physically challenged unclaimed

New Delhi: As students rushed to submit forms for admission in Delhi University, the last day also saw a good number of physically challenged students turning out to register, taking the total number of aspirants in the reserved category to 501.
 
The total number of differently-abled students who registered for admissions during the 12-day window provided by the University was well above last year's 431.
 
As many as 52 registrations were done on the last day, and the varsity officials appeared satisfied by the response.
 
"Given the fact that we were taking around 40 admissions every day over the last few days, today was quite busy and the spurt in numbers was good," said Deputy Dean of Students Welfare Bipin Tiwari, at the end of the day.
 
The University reserves 3 per cent of its 54,000 seats 1,620 for physically handicapped students, but a major chunk of these seats go vacant each year and is later filled up by other categories.
 
Even after 501 admissions, over 1,000 seats are still unclaimed in the category, despite the University's efforts to make the admission process smoother for them.
 
This year, among the 500 students, 199 were visually impaired, 29 hearing impaired, and 247 with loco motor disability.
 
This year as many as 10 to 15 per cent of the candidates in this category have also opted for the Science stream.
 
The University in general saw a huge last day rush to submit application forms, and long queues could be seen at the submission centre even at the closing time.
 
"The centres were not closed until all students present had submitted their forms, and the time of submission was consequently extended beyond 1.00 PM," said an official.
 
Most students preferred the conventional way of submitting forms at the University, rather than the post offices which did not witness much rush. 

1.46 lakh applicants for 54,000 DU seats

New Delhi: Delhi University saw hectic activity on the last day of submission of admission forms as students rushed to make their bids, leaving a record total of over 1,46,000 applicants vying for 54,000 seats.

With 1,03,500 forms submitted over the counter, and 43,300 applications coming online, the University ended up surpassing all previous numbers, Dean Students Welfare J M Khurana said.

While the window for sale and submission of forms had opened up on June 4, the eleventh hour rush was very much visible.

Over 30,000 forms were submitted on the last day itself over the counter, while the last day online submissions were over 10,000.

With long queues of last minute applicants turning up at the counters, the submissions centres at the university campus had to remain open well beyond the 1.00 PM closing time.

"The last day usually sees a rush. We did not close down the centres till all the students present had submitted their forms," said an official.

However, the students were found to prefer the conventional way of submission at the varsity centres. While less than expected submissions were made online since the process began, the 12 post offices that were taking in applications also did not witness a similar rush.

The low turnout through the online process is also being attributed to the fact that the payment gateway did not function for the first few days.

The University also concluded the registration of the SC/ST students with as many as 23,650 turning up for registering for the reserved category.  

The reserved category of physically handicapped also saw 501 students registering themselves for admissions to the 1620 reserved seats.

With the forms being submitted, the focus now shifts to the much talked about cut off percentage rates, which have been giving a nervous time to students.

The first cut off list will be displayed by the 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  University officials have sought to assure students that there were plenty of seats and colleges in the varsity.

"We always tell students that they should not be obsessed by a few colleges. They should rather go for the subjects of their choice and the college that is locationally convenient for them. All colleges of the University have same syllabi and the teachers too are of comparable calibre," said an official.

India best place for women entrepreneurs to start biz: Study

New Delhi: India has emerged as the best place for women entrepreneurs to start business with high level of optimism on various factors that are important to judge business growth, says a study by PC maker Dell.
 
"According to the study commissioned by Dell, we have found the ideal country for a woman starting a business in 2012 could well be India," Dell Chairman (Global Emerging Markets) and President (Asia Pacific) Amit Midha said.
 
In Dell Women's Global Entrepreneurship Study conducted across 450 women entrepreneur across India, the US and the UK by research firm Penn Schoen Berland found that Indian women entrepreneur are confident on their business growth compared to counterparts in the US and the UK.
     
The study found Women Entrepreneur in India expect 90 per cent growth in their business over period of five years compared to 24 per cent and 50 per cent growth in business expected by entrepreneur in the UK and the US respectively. 
     
In terms of technology usage to promote their business, 74 per cent Indian women entrepreneur said that their technology need is getting more complex compared to 45 per cent in the US and 51 per cent in the UK.
     
Around 90 per cent of women entrepreneurs in India said they are using technology to support day-to-day operations. However, this trend was low in women entrepreneur in the US and the UK at 80 per cent and 70 per cent respectively.
     
The study found that getting fund for business has been biggest challenge for business across geographies.
     
"Women across geographies struggle to get fund for their business. The difference between funding issue between them and male entrepreneur is that they have issues even in approaching for fund," Dell's Chief Marketing Officer Karen Quintos said.
     
Women entrepreneurs in India needs an average of USD 9,376 in start-up capital for business, compared to USD  8,060 required in the UK and USD 19,985 in the US, the study said.
     
Women entrepreneurs in India and the US find banks or credit unions as most difficult source for obtaining funds.

Pvt ayurvedic colleges allege corruption in CCIM

New Delhi: A group of private ayurvedic colleges from Punjab today alleged corruption in Central Council of Indian Medicine and demanded a CBI probe into it. 
 
Announcing their plans to stage a day-long dharna at Jantar Mantar, convener of Forum Against Malpractice and Corruption, Raj Kumar, alleged the Council has set highly impractical norms for granting annual approval to ayurvedic colleges, thus giving rise to corruption.
 
He said the Forum, led by Jalandhar-based Dayanand Ayurvedic College, had written to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi and Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad, highlighting "rampant bribery and corruption" in the sector and urged the government to order a CBI probe.
 
"There are 250 ayurvedic colleges in India which are regulated by CCIM. The norms set for approvals by the Council are so rigid that no honest management can fulfil them. Last year, the council had rejected approvals for induction of students to the five-year BAMS course," Kumar claimed.