Srihari Bhat

Srihari Bhat a Std X student of S.P. Mandali English medium secondary school Pune will be part of a six-member team selected to represent India at the Junior Inter national Science Olympiad to be held in South Korea in December this year.Of the 35 students who made it to the final level, six students from different parts of the country made it to the squad.The final selection was completed after a 20-day programme that was held at IIT Powai, in which Srihari topped the round of ‘Science Practicals’.The Junior International Olympiad is for students under the age of 15 and will see participants from 60 countries.Srihari had actually planned for the maths and astronomy Olympiads but got selected for the science Olympiad. His parents are engineers both mother and father.

Brazilian Math Olympiad

Over 18 million Brazilian students have registered in the country's 9th Mathematics Olympiad, who account for 10 percent of Brazil's total population.Students from 40,000 public schools have been enrolled, covering 72 percent of all public schools and 98.7 percent of all cities in the Brazil.Gold medal winner of the previous contest scored the highest in the latest admission test of the federal university of Minas Gerais state in southeastern Brazil.3,000 students in 2007 received scholarships worth 100 reais (60 U.S. dollars) per month

Satellite for world’s youth

India dedicated a satellite for the youth of the world to be launched next year.This is a brainchild of former president Dr APJ Abdul Kalam.It would have a remote sensing satellite in orbit.The satellite on board will have various instruments which have been developed by the students of India, Russia and universities of other countries. These graduates and post-graduates will share and study different datas on earth imaging, atmospheric applications, solar emissions and other observations of the galaxy. The spacecraft would weigh around 100 kilograms and is being built at the ISRO Satellite Development Centre

Unauthorised educational institutions

Union Human Resource Development(HRD) Ministry asked the University Grants Commission (UGC) ,All-India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) and the Distance Education Council(DEC) to take immediate action against unrecognised and un authorised higher educational institutions.UGC had a list of 21 fake universities across eight States.Uttar Pradesh topped the list with eight such institutions; followed closely by Delhi which has seven.The remaining seven are in Bihar ,Karna taka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu.The AICTE list of unapproved institutions runs much longer. At the last count, AICTE found 169 institutions conducting courses in the field of technical education without obtaining its approval

AIEEE-2008

online counselling of over one lakh aspirants who appeared in the All India Engineer ing Entrance Examination (AIEEE) will start on July 4.Fifty per cent of NIT seats are reserved for students of the state in which the institute is located. The remaining seats were till now reserved for students from other states and Union Territories. Following the new order, these 50 per cent seats will be given to students belonging to other states based on their AIEEE rank.Following the HRD ministry’s directives, 10,813 seats in various NITs, IIITs and affiliated colleges and institutions, which were reserved for other states, have been converted into open seats.Of these, 7,792 seats belong to general category, 138 for physically handicapped, 1,137 for SCs, 23 for SCs (physically handicapped), 584 for STs, 11 for ST (physically handicapped), 1109 for OBCs and 19 for OBCs (physically handicapped).

IIT ROPAR

Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) to come up in Ropar will start functioning from this academic year and 120 students have been admitted to the first batch.With its permanent campus not ready yet, classes for the first year will, however, commence from its transit campus at IIT-Delhi from July 28.The institute will shift to the Government Polytechnic Institute campus in Ropar from the next session and will continue functioning from there till its own campus comes up in Ropar on a vacant government land spread over 500 acres.New admissions to the Ropar Polytechnic have been stopped from this year and the remaining batch of 150 students will be given option to shift to any other polytechnic of their choice in the state from the next session.The Punjab IIT, which will be among the six new IITs coming up in the country, will have 27 per cent OBC reservation, offering electronics, computer science and mechanical engineering branches.

MP, AP to get new architecture schools

Two new Schools of Planning and Architecture would come up in Bhopal and Vijayawada from 2012-13.The total cost for setting up the two schools would be Rs 348.50 crore, including non-recurring expenditure of Rs 265.60 crore.The institutes would inte -grate graduate, post-graduate, doctoral and post-doctoral education in architecture and town planning and foster research in these areas.The SPAs will create a cadre of high calibre faculty members,who will be devoted to teaching,research andconsultancy in all disciplines that deal with planning and architecture.They will also be socially responsible institutions providing research feedback to the government for physical development of human settlements.

Prof Du Sautoy

Prof Du Sautoy was born in 1965 and grew up in Henley-on-Thames, in Oxfordshire. He studied maths at Oxford University, where his outstanding ability was acknowledged when the young student was admitted to the institution’s exclusive All Souls College. He is now a Professor of Mathematics at Wadham College.He has popularised the subject through his television programme, Mind Games. The show first screened on BBC 4 in 2004.According to Prof du Sauto indicator of beauty is more than skin deep. Symmetry indicates that an individual has a good genetic heritage and is therefore a 'good' mate'.Du Sautoy strips the human desire for symmetry down to the most basic need to sustain life.

Debate on science education

Former president A.P.J. Abdul Kalam and renowned space scientist Krishnaswamy Kasturirangan will debate the state of science education in India with hundreds of school teachers over a significant drop in the number of students pursuing science and mathematics in higher studies. The human resource development ministry in collaboration with the SRF Foundation, a non-profit organisation is organizing a national conference on science and mathematics education in secondary schools.
Kalam will in augurate the three-day conference beginning June 30. Kasturirangan, who currently is the director of the Indian Institute of Advanced Studies, will deliver the keynote address.The conference is being organised in response to the government’s growing concern that there is a significant drop in the number of students pursuing science and mathematics in higher studies.The participants will deliberate and suggest ways and means to improve the facilities and quality of teaching in schools that will motivate the students to take up science and mathematics for higher studies.

Shillong set to get NIT

Centre has agreed to set up a National Institute of Technology (NIT) in Shillong provided land is allotted by the government for the purpose.The Meghalaya capital already has a medical college and an Indian Institute of Management.A meeting was held in Delhi between the ministry of human resource development and the secretaries and commissioners of different states and Union Territories to discuss the seat allotment at NITs in the country in 2008.according to the policy of reservation of seats in technical institutions for states lacking in such facilities, the Centre had agreed to allot mores seats to affected states.

OBC vacancies: backlog to be cleared

The Union government has decided to fill a backlog of more than 28,000 vacancies reserved for other backward class (OBC) candidates in the backlog vacancy scheme that was originally meant for the scheduled castes/scheduled tribes (SC/ST) only.The instructions would be issued very soon to pave the way for conducting a special recruitment drive for filling up the backlog of 28,670 reserved vacancies Other OBCs.After the Indira Sawney Judgment, the 81st amendment had enabled the government to lift the ceiling of 50 per cent to fill the backlog vacancies reserved for SCs/STs.

Aieee-08

States without a National Institute of Technology (NIT) or “highly deficient” in technical institutions will be allotted more seats in NITs from this academic session. This was decided by the Union Human Resource Development (HRD) Ministry after a meeting with Technical Education Secretaries of such States.This concession has been made in view of the apprehensions expressed by such States about the new admission policy introduced by the Ministry vis-À-vis filling of seats in the non-domicile quota of NITs. As per the fresh directive, this quota — 50 % of seats in each of the 20 NITs — will be filled from the all-India merit list of the All-India Engineering Entrance Examination (AIEEE) and not its State/Union Territory specific rank list.The chief ministers of 13 states and Union territories had written to HRD minister Arjun Singh and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, calling the policy, unveiled on June 9, discriminatory against educationally backward states.

Revised civil services list

Union Public Service Commission (UPSC)released a revised list of candidates for appointment to Indian Administrative Service (IAS), Indian Foreign Service (IFS), Indian Police Service (IPS) and Central Services (CS), Group ‘A’ and ‘B’.the list of candidates was drawn up in compliance of the judgment of the Madras High Court but, in view of the Supreme Court decision, which has granted ad-interim stay on earlier judgements a revised list has been released.The HC ordered that if a quota candidate figured in the general list, he must be considered as a general examinee even if he availed of his reserved status for getting a better service.This meant a kind of "double quota benefit" for such candidates.In this list, UPSC has recommended 638 candidates for appointment in the government, down from the 734 candidates provisionally recommended on May 16. Half of the candidates in this waiting list are fresh names from the general category, giving them hope that they may have a chance if some successful candidates do not take up the civil service offer.

Delhi University's first cut-off list out

The first admission cut-off list for Delhi University colleges is out. The cut-off marks have moved up by almost one per cent for most popular courses.The Delhi University is also implementing quota for the Other Backward Classes (OBCs) from this year.The cut-off marks have moved up by almost one per cent for most popular courses.The Delhi University is also implementing quota for the Other Backward Classes (OBCs) from this year.Cut-off marks for for B Com(H) have fallen by .25 per cent in SRCC (94.5 per cent), Hindu (94 per cent) and Hans Raj College (94 per cent), this has definitely led some sigh of relief for the students fishing for top colleges in Commerce.The only college, which has raised its cut-off drastically is Lady Shri Ram (LSR) College for Women, the BB. Com (H) cutoff has risen by 1.5 per cent to 95.5 from last year’s 94 per cent.BA (H) Economics has also witnessed an increase, only SRCC, Hans Raj and IP College for Women have not increased their cut-offs for Economics (H).science courses have taken a backseat, the cut-offs has come down from one to three per cent in many colleges.The University has issued a separate cut-off list for the OBC category.The ‘OBC cut-off’ has given a relaxation of 1 to 3 per cent to OBC students as compared to the general category students.The prominent cut-off is for B.Com (Hons) course, which has received the maximum number of applications this year. The cut-off for commerce for OBC candidates stands at 89-91% at Gargi and Ramjas College.For OBC students the cut-off for History (Hons) and Political Science (Hons) at Miranda House is 76.5-81% and 80.5-85.5% respectively. For B.Sc. (Mathematics) at Miranda House, OBC candidates will require 83% marks. Further, OBC students who wish to pursue B.Sc Computer Science (Hons) at Indra prastha College should have at least 85-90% marks.However, low English scores in the CBSE Class XII this year has caused a marginal change of 0.5-1% for Arts and Commerce courses.Admissions as per the first cut off list will take place between June 27 and June 30. The second cut-off list will be announced on July 1.

India 3rd most popular for sourcing talent

India is the third most popular country for sourcing foreign talent after China and the US, a survey by global recruiting firm Manpower Inc.The Borderless Workforce Survey conducted in 27 countries also showed India received the highest remittances ($27 billion) from nationals working abroad.It is closely followed by China ($25.7 billion), Mexico ($25 billion) and the Philippines ($17 billion).Of the 26 countries surveyed other than India, all countries with the exception of Costa Rica and Peru believe that India provides competitive threat to their own country's ability to compete economically.So far as Indian employers are concerned, they consider China, the US and the UK as the biggest competitive threats.

IIT IN SYRIA ?

Syria has requested India to set up an Indian Institute of Technology in its capital Damascus to help upgrade its technical manpower, becoming the second country after Singapore to seek an IIT on its soil.Singapore had requested an IIT in 2006, and repeated its plea the following year. Earlier this year, the Joint Entrance Examination for admissions to the IITs was held at a Dubai centre, in addition to venues in India, for the first time. Dubai is the only foreign JEE centre, and was set up to meet an increasing demand from West Asian students.Under the proposal, Syria will provide land and will subsidise the institute, sources said. The remaining funding and teachers and their requirements are to be provided by India, under the proposal. The UPA government has announced eight new IITs to be set up during the Eleventh Five Year Plan (2007-12). At least six of these — in Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Punjab, Orissa and Gujarat — are set to start offering courses from this year, while the Centre is trying to launch a seventh, IIT Himachal Pradesh, before the academic session starts.Locations for most of the new IITs are yet to be finalised, and the existing institutes face a severe faculty crunch. To compound their worries, the existing IITs have been given the responsibility of the new institutes.

ALL WOMAN- IIT

The Human Resource Development (HRD) ministry has proposed to set up India’s first all-woman IIT in Amravati, Maharashtra. HRD has routed the proposal through the planning commission to the prime minister’s office.Other proposals put forth by the HRD ministry and the University Grants Commission include a global research institute on traditional Indian wisdom in science, technology and community management.The suggestion to start India's first all-women IIT at Amravati near Nagpur in Vidarbha had in fact been mooted by Saint Gadgebaba University vice-chancellor Kamal Singh.

AIEEE -08

The Union Human Resource Development (HRD) Ministry has called a meeting of Technical Education Secretaries of States and Union Territories (UTs) on June 26 to address their concerns regarding a recent directive aimed at streamlining admissions to the ‘outside State quota seats’ in the National Institutes of Technology (NITs). Recently, the Ministry had instructed the Central Counselling Board for the All-India Engineering Entrance Examination 2008 to fill the ‘outside State quota seats’ in the NITs on the basis of the all-India merit list of AIEEE instead of its State/UT specific ranks. This directive was issued in view of several instances of students with higher ranks being left out while those with lower marks were getting into the NITs through the ‘outside State quota’ route because of State/UT specific ranks.However, several States and UTs have expressed reservations about the new HRD directive, fearing that their students might not get as much representation in the NITs as they did in the past. Though the HRD Ministry’s contention is that the fall-out of the new system will be known only after the first round of counselling on July 13, the meeting has been called to address the apprehensions of such States and UTs in advance.FROM-HINDU

IIT Kharagpur

History of the Indian Institutes of Technology begin with the report of a committee of industrialists, scientists, educationists and administrators, set up after the World War II, under the chairmanship of N.R. Sarkar.The committee included the Sir S.S. Bhatnagar,Sir J.C. Ghosh and Dharam Vira, ICS.In its report, submitted in 1946 The Committee suggested setting up of not less than four institutes for advanced learning .The first institute was set up near Kolkata. The West Bengal government donated 1200 acres of land at Hijli, Kharagpur.Unlike the other four IITs, Kharagpur has been set up indigenously with a small assistance from UNESCO.The Institute was born in May, 1950. It was then called the Eastern Higher Technical Institute and started functioning from Esplanade, Kolkata. The present name, Indian Institute of Technology,was adopted shortly before its inauguration on August 18,1951 at Kharag pur.The first session started with a batch of 224 students and 42 teachers.During the last three decades there has been massive development all over.Several new departments and centres have come up and the students number 3500. It was the first Indian Institute of Technology to start a School of Management and it was named after a distinguished alumni Vinod Gupta.Recently, the institute has established a new computer centre, which is perhaps the biggest in the country. The IIT also took lead in establishing campuses at two other locations — Salt Lake in Kolkata and Bhubaneshwar, to conduct diploma programmes in IT.The Alumni Association of Kharag -pur has been the very active. The Association conducts social and other programmes at regular intervals at several locations. The Bay Area Chapter seems to be the most active. Kgpites, as they are known, settled in the USA and Canada have set up the Indian Institute of Technology Foundation for enhancing the capability of IIT Kharagpur. It is a non-profit organisation and raises money to fund various academic and non-academic projects of the Institute.

Interest Subsidy on Education Loans

The Government of India has decided to extend interest subsidy to those students who take education loans from banks for pursuing professional courses like engineering, management and medicine.The scheme is likely to be launched by the Ministry of Human Resources Department(HRD) to benefit students from the academic year 2008-09.Earlier students who used to take loans from banks were given a moratorium period in the sense that they did not have to pay the interest on the loan amount till they completed their studies.Now under a proposed scheme, the entire interest amount on the loan taken would be subsidised by the Ministry of HRD.Only those students will get this benefit who will raise loans for pursuing professional courses from the banks approved by the Indian Banks Association. The scheme will also be applicable to all private recognised institutions across the country.Public sector bank Canara Bank, which is the nodal bank to the ministry of HRD, will disburse the interest subsidy to the banks which will provide educational loans to the students.The scheme will have much impact because premier institutions have already raised fee for professional courses and now most of the students will be able to take the benefits of the scheme.The government has earmarked Rs 4000 crore for interest subsidy scheme for the plan period. After the fee hike, a number of students have given their representations through Members of Parliament,as they were unable to pay the fee from their resources.The government proposed to provide some avenues to mitigate their financial problems and, moreover, to ensure that nobody is denied professional education because he or she is poor. Till now, the maximum loan offered for studies in India was Rs 10 lakh and there is paper work required for the initial Rs 4 lakh. After that, there needs to be a guarantor for a loan up to Rs 7.5 lakh and above this, some collateral is required.Banks, over the years, have been gearing up to meet the demands of aspiring IIM and IIT students because the repayment ability is there. Banks are now looking at providing students with bigger loan by raising the limits. For this, they have already approached the Indian Banks Association.

Dylan song in syllabus

Jadavpore University had incorporated classic songs of Pulitzer prize winner folk singer Bob Dylan as a subject in English literature studies.Three of the representa tive Dylan songs –With God on our Side, Mr. Tambourine Man and Like a Rolling Stone are taught in first year of English Honours Class.Pulitzer Award authorities gave a special citation for Dylan,s profound impact on popular music and American culture.Studying Dylan songs is mandatory in undergraduate level , it is kept as an optional paper of -Poetics and Politics of Rock –at the post graduates level.JU is the lone university in india teaches Dylan,s songs in literature department. Others teach them in music or in other courses.

Roshni -2008

Career Launcher Education Foundation in partnership with Roshni Academy has recently launched Roshni -2008 ,a pilot programme of two weeks duration .30 under privileged girl students were selected for first batch from fourschools.Students will be given intensive training in soft skills computer literacy, health,nutrition, English, speaking, leadership, public speaking ,team work and guidance about career options.These students were shortlisted on the basis of an aptitude test followed by a personal interview with girl and her parents.The financial status of the families was also taken into consideration.

Legal outsourcing

Legal process outsourcing is being the next big thing in Indian business. It marks India's climb up the chain of outsourcing jobs — from low-end, back-office service functions in call centers to high-value, skilled legal work.In the past three years, the legal outsourcing industry here has grown at about 60 percent annually.According to a report by research firm ValueNotes, the industry will employ about 24,000 people and earn revenue of $640 million by 2010.Indian workers who once helped with legal transcription now offer services that include research, litigation support, document discovery and review, drafting of contracts and patent writing. The industry offers an attractive career path for many of the 300,000 Indians who enroll in law schools every year. India and the United States share a common-law legal system rooted in Britain's, and both conduct proceedings in English.The explosion of opportunity here was triggered by what are known as "e-discovery laws," a set of U.S. regulations established in 2006 to govern the storage and management of electronic data for federal court actions.

Get two degrees simultaneously

Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) has tied up with 160 colleges and universities across the country to help students enhance their qualifications while they enroll for undergraduate or postgraduate degree courses in these institute.Thus students will have the option of pursuing two degree courses simultaneously instead of spending an additional two or three years to acquire an added qualification.So, if a student enrolls for a BCom degree course in a IGNOU partnerhe or she can simult aneously study BA (Economics) through IGNOU-college. Each institution would have to use its faculty to conduct "contact classes" for enrolled students for an additional two to four hours a day.Besides, on weekends, classes would be conducted for six to eight hours.

Increse in number of science PhDs

Between 1983 and 2003, India’s science PhDs went up from 3,886 to 6,318, while it went up from 2,430 to 3,780 in the UK. South Korea, which began with 281 PhDs, surged to 3225, while Taiwan began with 8 and closed at 202.This was revealed by a recent study by an expert group of scientists set up under the Union science & technology ministry to look into India’s science status.the US has four times the number of PhDs in India, both in 1983 and 2003, despite having a population of about 280 million compared to India's 1 billion. And the largest science and aerospace company in the US, General Electric generates a turnover of over $100 billion.

ADAPT

Students appeared for Architecture and Design Aptitude Test (ADAPT) on Saturday.A good score in the ADAPT along with a reasonably better ranking in the IIT-Joint Entrance Examination (IIT-JEE 2008) will help these candidates join the five-year Bachelors programme in Architecture and Regional Planning at the IITs in Kharagpur and Roorkee or the unique Bachelors in Design degree course offered at the IIT Guwahati campus.The focus of the B.Design course at Guwahati is on the study, invention and creative use of technologies to create effective, usable and enjoyable experiences with technology through interdisciplinary research in engineering, design, behavioural and social sciences.

mathematical modelling

A new study has shown that maths and medicine could help cure patients suffering from CML or chronic myelogenous leukaemia with an optimally-timed cancer vaccine, where the timing is determined based on their own immune response.Researchers have described their success in creating a mathematical model which predicts that anti-leukaemia immune response in CML patients using the drug imatinib can actually be stimulated in a way to provide a cure for the disease.In their study,the researchers took into account the patient's natural immune response in conjunction with effects of imatinib, a drug that has been successful in putting CML patients into remission.They wanted to see if they can develop a mathematical model, or set of rules, that increases chances for long-term remission in individual patients.

world's population

The world's population will reach 7 billion in 2012, according to a new U.S government projection.There are 6.7 billion people in the world today. The US ranks third, with 304 million, behind China and India, according to projections released by the Census Bureau. The world's population surpassed 6 billion in 1999, meaning it will take only 13 years to add a billion people. By comparison, the number of people did not reach 1 billion until 1800.That is slowing the growth rate, though it is still high in many countries. The global population is growing by about 1.2 per cent per year. The Census Bureau projects the growth rate will decline to 0.5 per cent by 2050.By then, India will have surpassed China as the most populous country.

Solve complex math by vedic way

Pradeep Kumar had authored more than 75 books on the subject of vedic mathematics. Kumar, a mechanical engineer and an alumnus from the Indian Institute of Management (IIM)-Bangalore, heads the institute, Magical Methods in Delhi, which works with several schools in the Gulf and Southeast Asian countries to promote Vedic math.He has 57 centres and more than 100 trained Vedic math teachers on his rolls.Vedic math, as contained in the Atharva Veda, the last of the four Vedas, is on a revival path after several thousand years. Schools in various Asian nations, Europe and America are falling back on ancient Indian scriptures to crack complex number games that make up present-day mathematics.He says,concept is simple. Break down complex numbers into their components of 10s or 100s and calculate mentally. For example, when 38 is added to 46 in conventional math, we carry over one and add it to the top-most digit in the column representing 10 (in the Indian decimal system). The result is 84.But in Vedic math, we break down the number into its decimal components. First, we add 30 and 40, the sum of which is 70. And then add 8 and 6, which is 14. The zero stays and one adds strength to the cardinal number in the bigger decimal column. Hence, 7 becomes 8. The end result is 84.The mathematician has designed several puzzles and intelligent mind games for first-timers in Vedic classrooms.The games like the Tower of Hanoi, Magic Square, Frogs and Toad and Double Game are based on reasoning and logic. 'They improve concentration and reasoning abilities as they initiate rookies into the subject. It does not burden the mind and benefits children psychologically,' says Kumar.Vedic math, interpreted in the modern context in 1965 by seer Bharati Krisna Thirthaji Maharaja in his book 'Vedic Mathematics', has 16 'sutras' (formulas) and 13 sub-sutras (smaller theorems) to solve the entire gamut of mathematical problems mentally in less than one-tenth of the time taken to solve them through conventional methods.

India establishes visiting chair at Chinese university

'Shenzhen University will host a visiting Indian professor in the capacity of a Chair in humanities and social sciences for a 14-week semester every academic year over each of the next four years beginning autumn 2008.A Memorandum of Understanding was signed by Nirupama Rao, India's ambassador to China, and Zhang Bigong, president of the university.The Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) will implement the MoU on the Indian side and will be responsible for selecting the professor in consultation with Shenzhen University.

Matriculation at 70

Malkit Kaur,an elderly woman from Ludhiana has cleared the Punjab Secondary Board examination for standard X at the age to 70 along with her granddaughter.Malkit Kaur wanted to complete her matriculation always,she realized her long cherished dream after her granddaughter Mandip Kaur encouraged her.Both of them appeared in the matriculation exam this year and now with her efforts she got 55 per cent marks.Both the grandma and the granddaughter are now eager to pursue studies together in future.

AIEEE COUNCELLING

The June 9 circular of the Ministry of Human Resource Development (HRD) on the filling up of National Institute of Technology (NIT) seats through All India Engineering Entrance Examination (AIEEE)scrap States kota.Earlier the procedure for filling up of NIT seats was that 50 per cent of the total seats of an NIT were meant for domicile candidates of the State concerned, while the remaining 50 per cent seats were allocated to different States/Union Territories. But in its June 9 circular, the Department of Higher Education and Technical Education Bureau of HRD has made a major shift in the process for filling up of the 50 per cent seats meant for non-domicile candidates of the States.The HRM Minister has decided that from 2008-09 onwards, admission in the NITs against non-domicile seats would be on all India merit basis.Some States feel that since the NIT seats are filled from amongst the candidates qualifying AIEEE conducted by the Central Board of Secondary Examination (CBSE),students from CBSE course definitely have an edge over those from the States Board of Secondary Education.Critics says, new system will benefit the advanced States.Presently, there are 20 NITs, one each in Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Orissa, Punjab, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Tripura, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal.New system would make admission easier into the 50 percent non-domicile seats in 20 NITs with students of educationally advanced states that have been dominating the national ranking in the AIEEE and deprive the educationally backward states.

DU Applicants

As per data collated by the university from the 1.35 lakh applications that came in for admissions this year, more than 64,000 of the candidates are from the city. More than 10,000 forms were submitted by OBC candidates for the approximately 5,000 seats available in colleges in the university. Of the 10,000 forms, almost 6,000 are from city students.CBSE.Almost 79,000 of the candidates are from the CBSE board, another 4,000 are from the ISC. The other boards which also send students to DU include UP - with 2900 students,Haryana with 1500 students and Bihar with 1200 students .Number of applications this year from the NIOS - open school - is significantly down from last year. While in 2007 the number was a healthy 1550, this year, its only 1400.
After introducing pin codes in the optical mark reader forms this year,it is possible to tracked the number of applications coming from Delhi, which does not include NCR.In 2007, the admission ratio of outstation to Delhi candidates in popular courses at Lady Sri Ram College was 70:30.In 2007, only 110 students from Delhi made it to SRCC against 203 outstation ones.

DU ADMISSIONS -08

B.Com programme emerged as the most sought after course among candidates in delhi university admissions. And Ramjas College seems to be the hot favourite for students applying for the same.Out of the 93,368 applications received this year, a whopping 28,339 have sought admission in the B.Com programme course offered by Ramjas.while at Kirori Mal College and Dyal Singh College the number of applications received for the course is 27,859 and 26,320 respectively.At Lady Shri Ram College for Women, 19 students who have scored in the 95-100 per cent bracket (as their best four subjects) have applied for English (Hons), while 654 applications have come from those with scores between 90 and 95 per cent.At Hindu College, 22 candidates in the 95-100 per cent category have applied for that course, while in the 90-95 per cent bracket 765 applications have been received. Overall, the college has received the highest number of applications for this course among all others -- 23,881. Close to 2,500 applicants to this college have scored above 90 per cent. Hindu has only 47 seats for B.Com (Honours).Hindu has been emerged as the popular choice for other sought after courses as well.For English (Honours),it has received 23881 applica -tions. Kirori Mal College missed the top by a margin of 1,225 forms. For Economics (Honours), about 16,652 students have applied at Hindu College.For Economics (Hons), 117 students have applied in the 95-100 per cent category at SRCC, while 2,078 forms are from those who have scored between 90 and 95 per cent.At Hans Raj, 21 students who have applied for English (Hons) have obtained between 95 and 100 per cent. In the category of 90-95 per cent, 710 applications have been received.In the category of 95-100 per cent, 18 applications have come for English (Hons) at Sri Venkateswara College. As many as 586 students who have got between 90-95 per cent have applied for the same course.The figures are quite high in the 90-95 per cent category at Gargi College as well as Miranda House.The indications are there - ethe cut-offs for the English (Honours) course to go high.The cut-offs for popular courses such as B.Com (H), B.A (H) Economics, B.A(H) English and B.Com (Programme) are set to rise from last year.At least in the better known,main-campus colleges.For the BCom (Honours), Economic (Honours) and BCom Programme, students can at the expect a cut-off higher by 0.25%-0.50%.it was a close battle between Hindu and Ramjas, with the former getting a few more forms. In English though, Hindu College got the maximum applications, with 23,881 students opting for the college, followed by KMC and Ramjas.Out of BCom (Hons), BCom (Pass), BA Economics (Hons) and BA English (Hons) (with the exception of BCom (Pass) which it doesn’t offer), Hindu has the uppermost hand in the university.The first list will be out on June 26.

Lifetime achievement awards

The government will confer the ‘One Time Award for Life Time Achievement’ on film luminaries Dilip Kumar, Tapan Sinha, Lata Mangeshkar and Saroja Devi as part of the commemoration of the 60th anniversary of India’s independence.Due to Tapan Sinha’s failing health, the award would be given to him at his residence on Friday by West Bengal Governor Gopal Krishna Gandhi in the presence of Minister for Information and Broadcasting Priyaranjan Dasmunsi.He would receive the award for film direction.The national awards function will be held at Delhi’s Vigyan Bhavan in August.The award comprised of a cheque of Rs.1,000,000 ($25,000) a shawl and a citation.Sinha has won 19 national film awards in various categories along with laurels in international film festivals like those in Berlin, Venice ,London, Moscow,San Francisco and Locarno.Starting his film career in with 'Ankush', Sinha developed deep interest into films dealing with subjects of social relevance . storyteller par excellence, Tapan Sinha's films are well-crafted in terms of structure and technique, exhibiting his virtuosity and capability to handle a range of subjects with equal simplicity and sensitivity.some of which earned him wide acclaim in the country and abroad.Some of his cinematic excellence includes Ankush(1954)Uphaar(1955), “Safed Haathi” (1977), “Ek Doctor Ki Maut (1991), Kabuliwala (1957), Haatey Bazaare (1967), Louhapat(1957), Sagina Mahato” (1970) and “Shatabdir Kanya” (2001).

AIEEE COUNSELLING

State governments in the northeast have urged HRD Ministry to relax norms for the students of the region for admission into the National Institutes of Technology (NITs) across the country.Union human resource development ministry, in a letter to all the states June 9, directed that 50 percent of the seats of these NITs would be filled through the state quotas, while the remaining 50 percent would be from the successful candidates of the All India Engineering Entrance Examination (AIEEE).Presently, there are 20 NITs, one each in Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Orissa, Punjab, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Tripura, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal.Under the previous guidelines, 50 percent of the states in each NIT were to be filled by domicile candidates of the state in which the NIT was located and the remaining 50 percent were to be allocated to other states and union territories.In 2003, the union government decided to take over 17 Regional Engineering Colleges (RECs) and upgraded them as NITs.Three more engineering colleges - the Bihar College of Engineering, Patna, the Government Engineering College, Raipur, and the Tripura Engineering College, Agartala, were upgraded to NITs in 2004, 2005 and 2006, respectively.The central government has also decided to set up the country’s 21st NIT in Manipur capital Imphal by converting the Manipur Institute of Technology into NIT,

IIT COUNCELLING

Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT) are struggling to get candidates belonging to Other Backward Classes (OBC).Seven existing IITs will admit 9% OBC candidates and six new institutes will implement the full 27% OBC reservation from this year. This is the first year when the IITs are implementing the OBC reservation.The engineering institutes shortlisted 13.1% OBC students from the general category this year. In three years, all IITs will roll out the full 27% quota for OBC candidates.This year, there are 654 seats across the 13 IITs that have been reserved for OBC candidates. Each of the existing seven IITs is rolling out 9% OBC reservation this year; moreover, the six new IITs have set aside 33 seats (27% of 120 seats) for OBC candidates as they are implementing the entire reservation from this year.The IITs determine the non-creamy layer students on the basis of the parameters followed by the Centre. The annual income ceiling for non-creamy candidates according to the Centre is Rs 2.5 lakh.

DU Admission -2008

There are over 90,000 aspirants trying for about 42,000 degree seats in Delhi University this year.The Univarsity had already announced a reservation quota for OBC category students sometime back to the tune of 9% for the current academic year. It also increased the number of seats by 18% to implement the quota.The university this year sold about 1.5 lakh application forms during the 15-day admission process. The next stage in the process will now include scanning of these admission forms and announcement of cut-off lists for various colleges.The first cut-off list of various DU colleges will be announced on June 26, though St Stephen’s College has already declared its list.

Stephen's cut-offs

The collegee cut-off list has hiked the marks almost uniformly across all the courses by 1-2%.cut-off for the Commerce stream for Economics (Hons) is 96% this year, down from 97% last year, for science students, there is a 0.5% drop, with the cut-off at 94.5%. For the humanities stream though, the cut-off remains at last year's 94%. The college has hiked marks for other courses, including Maths (Hons). While the cut-off for science students is 93%, a hike of one per cent, for commerce students, it's been kept at 93% too, a hike of two per cent over last year. Other courses to see an increase are the BA programme, Physics and, surprisingly enough, Sanskrit which has seen jump of 2% from last year, at 63%. For humanities students, there's a huge jump in History (Hons) as well —the cut-off has gone up by a whopping 4% over last year to 88.there's a differential of almost 10% in the cut-off for the English (Hons) programme between the commerce stream (98%) and those from humanities (88%).

AMU convocation

THE ALIGARH Muslim University held its 58th annual convocation on June 18. Its chief guest was the former President of India, APJ Abdul Kalam. Wipro Technologies Limited chairman, Azim Premji was also invited to grace the occasion. Both of them were conferred with an honorary degree of Doctor of Science.AMU chancellor, former Chief Justice of India, AM Ahmadi, presided over the function. On the occasion, 55 gold and 135 silver medals were awarded to outstanding students in their respective streams.More than 4,500 degrees were awarded,out of which 190 were PhD degrees and 1,406 post-graduate and 296 graduate degrees.This year, a number of new courses, including MD in psychiatry; MDS, MTech and post-graduate diploma in nanotechnology were introduced. Dr Kalam stressed the need for developing infrastructure in the rural areas through provisions of urban amenities in rural areas. It can be achieved with three connectivities: physical, electronic and knowledge leading to economic connectivity.Premji, in his acceptance speech, urged the students to learn to lose and also to enjoy winning. Even in defeat, one must not lose the lesson. For him, excellence is not an act but a habit and one must also remember that a problem also carries its solution.

Oxford confers honourary doctorate to Montek Singh

Deputy chairman of India's Planning Commission, Montek Singh Ahluwalia, was on Wednesday conferred an honorary doctorate by Britain's premier Oxford University. Ahluwalia, 64, was conferred the honorary degree of Doctor of Civil Law at the at the Sheldonian Theatre in Oxford. He was among six experts who were honoured at the Encaenia, the ceremony at which the university awards honorary degrees to distin- guished men and women.Considered as one of the architects of India's economic reforms along with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Finance Minister P Chidambaram, Ahluwalia gained MA and MPhil degrees as a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford.

Cracking IIT-JEE

A Right to Information (RTI) query filed by an IIT Kharagpur professor has revealed that deserving students have not been able to make it to IIT. professor Arvind Kejriwal who himself is from IIT Kharagpur filed an RTI wanting to know how these minimum cut-offs were calculated and the marks of all the two-lakh fifty-thousand plus students who appeared in the 2006 examination.The computer engineering professor then computed this data using the IIT's own formula and found that the cut off's for the three subjects come to seven, four and six. Two other independent statisticians verified this as well.However, the cut-off's that the IIT's used were strangely, much higher at 37, 48 and 55. And it is somewhere between this gap of the IIT and the professors calculation, that the 994 deserving students lost out on their chance to get in the premier institute of technology.

INDIAN KPO INDUSTRY

The Indian Knowledge Process Outsourcing (KPO) industry is expected to be worth $10 billion by 2012, according to a report released by the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (Assocham).The industry is set to grow at the rate of 25-27 per cent, provided a strong chain of qualified professionals is built, opening up the field for biotechnology and nanotechnology experts, according to the report on a Future Course of KPO Industry.Currently the size of the KPO sector is estimated at $4 billion and it has grown at around 15 per cent in the last few years dominated by professionals belonging to fields such as management, medical and engineering.As per Assocham estimates, a vast pool of highly educated professionals in engineering, medicine, management accountancy and law would be required to serve the industry, which is estimated to employ over 100,000 people by 2012 as against the current number of about 40,000.The KPO sector has the potential to attract professionals as the sector provides higher revenues than the Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) industry. The salaries are also 12-15 per cent higher and even the entry-level earnings are more.Presently, the domestic KPO industry is facing stiff competition from countries like the Philippines, Russia, China, Poland and Hungary as these have qualified KPO professionals, low-cost, domain expertise, location advantage, sales and marketing capabilities and data compliance.

IIT-JEE Counselling

Counselling begen for admission in IITS on today.. Day 1 was only for counselling OBC and ST candidates.While counselling ends on June 21 for all candidates, choices will be processed for course allocation and announced on June 30 on IIT websites.In all, the IITs have shortlisted 1,134 OBC candidates, of them, many were counselled at the Mumbai and Chennai campus . Despite the fact that the six new IITs have full 27% OBC reservation and they also offer popular streams such as computer science, electronics and mechanical engineering, students were not keen on joining the new IITS.Each of the existing seven IITs is rolling out 9% OBC reservation this year; each of the six new IITs have set aside 18 seats for OBC candidates as they are implementing the entire 27% reservation.Earlier in the day, students were informed about the various streams available at the IITs as also the kind of placements that took place in the last few years.

New engneering colleges Iin Andhra

Andhra Pradesh is likely to see 80 new engineering colleges this year .According to information, around 80 institutes have sought approval from the Andhra Pradesh State Council of Higher Education (APSCHE).All these would imply an addition of about 35,000 seats across all streams. This would also take the total number of engineering colleges in the state to about 410 while the number of seats would increase to about 155,000, the highest in the country.This year saw the highest number of students, at 270,000, appearing for the Engineering, Agricultural and Medicine Common Entrance Test (Eamcet) of which about 250,000 qualified.It is a two-tier fee structure with convenor filling up 80 per cent seats (Rs 27,500 per year) and the respective managements fill the remaining at Rs 83,000 per year.

St Stephen’s increases Christian quota

Form this year, 50 percent is the cap on reservation for Christians in Delhi University’s prestigious St Stephen’s College.The college is a minority institution, which under the law is allowed to administer its own affairs. Though a final decision on reservations will be announced next week.Of all seats open for adminission, 40 percent will be open to the general category, 10 percent will be reserved for non-Christian Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes and physically handicapped, while students from the sports category will get a 5 percent quota over and above the sanctioned seats.The four groups have been categorized as Category A for Christians, B for general merit, C for SC/ST and physically handicapped and D for the sports category.The college will create new seats for students coming through the sports quota. But the admission procedure remains unchanged - 75 percent weightage to Class 12 marks, 15 percent to Class 10 marks and 10 percent to the interview.Till 2006, Christians enjoyed a 30 percent quota, while general category students were eligible for half the number of seats. The remaining 20 percent was reserved for SC/ST students.Article 30 of the Constitution allows minority educational institutions the freedom to administer themselves, even if they receive funding from the government.Minority education institutions are not bound to reserve seats for Scheduled Caste, Scheduled Tribe (SC/ST) or Other Backward Classes.St Stephen’s College is a minority institution affiliated to Delhi University that receives funding from the University Grants Commission, which decides on financing of India’s government universities

AIEEE counselling

The counselling of successful candidates of the All India Engineering Entrance Examination (AIEEE) scheduled to start Saturday has been postponed to June 24. The counselling was to start at 18 centres across the country. The off-campus counselling will now start June 23 while the on-campus, which was scheduled June 30, will start July 4, said a statement from Central Counselling Board, the apex decision making body for AIEEE counselling..In a major relief to the students, it has been decided to waive off the requirement of physical presence of student at a college after seat allotments.Now once an institute is allotted to him, a student would not need to rush to the institute for reporting as it can be done through his nearest designated counselling centre.The Human Resource Development Ministry(MHRD) has decided abolish the quota system for different states in 50 per cent seats of National Institutes of Technology (NITs) and engineering colleges across the country - admissions in which are done through All India Engineering Entrance Examination (AIEEE).The AIEEE is conducted by CBSE under the supervision of the ministry. Over 95,000 candidates were called for counselling to fill 17,000 seats in 40 colleges across the country. Earlier, 50 per cent in an NIT were filled by the eligible candidates who have passed plus two exams from that the state where that particular NIT is situated.

Revised income ceiling for OBC creamy layer

National Commission for Backward Classes is expected to give its recommendations to the government by June 30 on the revised income ceiling for their eligibility for OBC reservation.Acting on a government directive, the NCBC has obtained suggestions from commissions from 20 states on the income ceiling of the creamy layer and is in the process of getting similar views from other eight states.Most of the state commissions have recommended revision of the income limit for creamy layer classifi --cation from Rs 2.5 lakh to Rs 4 lakh to Rs 6 lakh.The creamy layer among the Other Backward Classes (OBCs) on the basis of annual income was defined in 1993 with the ceiling fixed at Rs one lakh. It was later revised to Rs 2.5 lakh in 2004.The creamy layer cannot claim benefits, including reservation in jobs and professional courses, that are available to the OBCs.

Scientists mix faith and reason

A survey of 1,100 scientists across 130 universities and research institutes across the country threw up interesting results as 29 per cent believed in the philosophy of 'karma', 26 per cent accepted the principle of life after death and seven per cent researchers gave credence to existence of ghosts.A survey, by the Institute for the Study of Secularism in Society and Culture of Trinity College, Hartford, Connecticut and Hyderabad-based Centre for Inquiry, found that religion and faith had deep roots in the minds of Indian scientists.As many as 64 per cent scientists said they would refuse to design biological weapons because of their moral and religious beliefs, while 54 per cent said they will not work on nuclear weapons for the same reasons.

NTSE EXAMINATION

NCERT awards 1000 Scholarships to talented students of Class X each year under the National Talent Search Scheme. 150 scholarships are reserved for Scheduled Castes and 75 for Scheduled Tribes. The scheme provides financial assistance in the form of monthly scholarship.Candidates who are awarded the scholarship receive financial assistance upto Ph. D level in Social Sciences, Basic Sciences and Commerce. Candidates pursuing professional courses like Engineering, Medicine, Management and Law receive financial assistance upto Master degree. Only regular students of class X in recognized schools from States/UTs are ELIGIBLE to appear in the first stage examination in the States in which the schools are located. No domicile restriction is imposed.States/ UTs may charge fees for examination/ form for the first stage exams. However, NCERT does not charge fees for the second stage examination.The written examination will be in two parts, both at the State/UT level and at the NCERT level. Part I will be the Mental Ability Test (MAT); Part-II will be the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT). SAT will contain items from Sciences, Social Sciences and Mathematics of Class IX and X. At the second stage there will also be an interview.. The amount of scholarship has been enhanced to Rs. 500/- per month for all the students studying in Class IX onwards (irrespective of the class/ course) except for Ph.D, wherein it is paid as per UGC norms. The older system of book grant has been removed. The criterion of parental income for deciding payment of scholarship has been discontinued.The scholarship will be provided to the students studying in Classes IX to XII and up to Ph.D. Level to those students who will pursue their courses in Basic and Social Sciences including Coerce.Scholarship will be given up to Masters degree level that pursue professional courses like Engineering Medicine LawManagement etc.Notification for National Talent Search Examination (NTSE-2008) has been issued by NCERT, New Delhi. Last date for submission of application form for stage-I (State Level) is 31st August 2007 and Stage-I examination will be conducted on Sunday, 18th November 2007. Stage-II (National Level) will be conducted on Sunday, May 11, 2008.

Shri Ram Gupta and Menelaus' theorem

Shri Ram Gupta ,Kendriya Vidyalaya in Jhansi has won accolades for extending two complex theorems of geometry.Teacher's works on Menelaus' theorem and cyclic polygons theorem have led to their extension to bring about approximate generali
-zations.Submitted to the American Mathematical Society on July 24 last year, the work was acknowledged by it as "extension" of Menelaus' and cyclic quadrilateral theorems.Gupta was interested in the study of Menelaus' theorem (named after the Greek mathematician) from the beginning and he was intrigued by the fact that the nature of all rectilinear figures was approximately the same. This led him to develop his postulate. Rectilinear figures refer to triangles and other geometric shapes containing any number of sides. His work, which can be used by architects in planning projects, is also the first ever copyright in geometry. he had made a presentation of his second theorem at NCERT.

Convocation of Gurukul Kangri University

The 108th convocation of Gurukul Kangri University Haridwar was held on 7th june 2008.Gurukul Kangri University Haridwar founded by Swami Shradhananda.Convocation address was delivered by Leader of opposition in Lok Sabha Mr.L.K. Advani.In all 978 students has passed out this year and 113 amongst these were Doctorates.10 Gold Medals were awarded to outstanding performers in various fields.Mr.Advani was also given Vidya Martandeya title by University.Dr.Jagdish Vidyalankar awarded a Prashsti Patra towards popularizing the Vedic Literature

Radhakant Nayak

Rajya Sabha Member from Orissa and former bureaucrat Secretary to Government of India Radhakant Nayak has been conferred a prestigious honorary degree of Doctor of Humane Letters honoris causa by the famous New England College (NEC) New Hampshire of United States of America for his significant contribution towards uplift of the Dalits and Tribes.Orissa-born Nayak was commended for founding National Institute for Social Work and Social Sciences (NISSWAS) and Centre for Development Education and Communication (CEDEC) 37 years ago to help secure for the Dalits and Tribes their rights guaranteed by the Constitution of India and bringing about an enduring change in their lives.While Nayak was conferred the Honorary Doctorate the President of the College and the Chairman of the Board praised him for his remarkable career of a selfless dedication and commitment for social justice and human rights.

US still leads the world in science and technology – RAND study

According to a new study by the non-profit RAND Corporation,USA outspends the world in research and development and employs most of the world’s Nobel Prize winners. Furthermore, three-fourths of the world’s Top 40 Universities are in the United States.Research and development spending in the US is actually growing faster than Europe and Japan according to the study and while China is investing heavily in R&D, it does not account for a large share of innovation and scientific output.To maintain this scientific edge, the study recommends that highly skilled foreign scientists and workers be allowed to visit and stay in the United States.In addition foreigners who have graduated with scientific degrees from US universities should be allowed to stay in the country indefinitely.The study found that roughly 70 percent of foreign scientists and engineers who received Ph.D.s from U.S. universities remained in the country after receiving their degree,but that situation could change as salaries and research opportunities improve overseas.According to the study, the United States accounts for 40 percent of all scientific R&D spending in the world employs 70 percent of world's Nobel Prize winners and houses 75 percent of the world's top 40 universities.The report has underlined that the recent reduction in skilled immigrant visas (H1-B) has the potential to reduce the inflow of foreign science and engineering workers; and curtailing the supply of these scientists ,engineers can lead US firms to outsource more research and development works to foreign countries and locate new facilities overseas.

Perfect Score in 10th

The number of students scoring a full 100 in subjects has come down to 5,071 this year from 7,631 in 2007 in the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) Class 10 examinations.There is a substantial decline in the number of candidates who have bagged the ‘perfect score’ in Mathematics.As against 5,251 students last year, this year just 2,647 students have scored 100 out of 100 in Mathematics.Similarly, in Social Science, only 598 students have scored a full 100 as against 1,233 last year.there are several subjects in which more students have scored the ‘perfect 100′ than the previous year. Science and Technology, Sanskrit and introductory IT are some of the papers in which more students have scored full marks.The new question pattern to judge students’ knowledge base could be the reason.

Perfect score in 12TH

The number of students securing a ‘perfect score’ - or 100 out of 100 marks in subjects - has come down by over 50 percent in this year’s Central Board Of Secondary Education (CBSE) class 12 exams, and the board says the reason is ‘HOTS’. High order thinking skills was the new basis of the question papers in the class 12 examination question papers of the boardIN 2008. HOTS is an analytical problem solving process, geared to assess the students’ absorption of knowledge and its application.Only 753 class 12 students have scored 100 marks in any subjects as compared to 1,506 last year. A total of 549,344 students appeared in the examination.Unlike last year, no one has scored 100 out of 100 in languages. Last year, six students - one in English and five in Sanskrit - had scored 100 out of 100.last year 1,146 students had perfect score in mathematics, but this year just 344 have achieved this success. Of the total 344 candidates who scored 100 out of 10 marks in mathematics.mathematics, this year 99 have scored 100 percent in paintings, 42 in biology,50 in chemistry,29 in computer science and 32 in accountancy.In physics last year 26 candidates had scored cent percent marks but this time only four have managed to get that figure.

Goldman Sachs Global Leaders

The Goldman Sachs Foundation and the Institute of International Education (IIE) announced that a group of 29 second-year students from the leading Indian colleges have been named as 2008 Goldman Sachs Global Leaders.Since 2001, the Goldman Sachs Global Leaders Program (GSGLP), developed by The Goldman Sachs Foundation and IIE, has been a pioneer in identifying and developing some of the world’s most promising future leaders.Participating colleges and universities in India include: the Indian Institute of Technology (Kanpur), Lady Shri Ram College (New Delhi), Loyola College (Chennai), Mt. Carmel College (Bangalore), St. Stephen’s College (New Delhi), The National Law School of India University (Bangalore), Nizam College (Hyderabad), Presidency College (Kolkata), St. Xavier’s College (Mumbai), Birla Institute of Technology and Science (Pilani), and Fergusson College (Pune).Over the past eight years, 900 students from over 20 countries have been honoured as Goldman Sachs Global Leaders.They have built an extensive network with each other and, with modest seed funding from the program’s Social Entrepreneurship Fund, have joined forces to launch innovative social ventures, including a school in rural India, a technology education program in China, an art therapy program for AIDS-affected children in Namibia, and a micro-enterprise initiative for women entrepreneurs in Macedonia.
Each Global Leader receives a 3,000 dollars grant for educational expenses, as well as continued support for their academic and professional advancement through an international alumni network.75 of this year’s 150 Global Leaders, including 15 from Indian universities, will be selected to participate in the annual Goldman Sachs Global Leadership Institute in July in New York City.

AWARD FOR WOMEN STDENTS

Google India announced awards for women studying computer science and related subjects to encourage women in comptuting and technology.Based on the candidates’ academic background and demonstrated leadership, 16 women were chosen for the award from a pool of undergraduate, graduate and doctoral students. Each was awarded a cash prize of Rs.75,000.Students of various Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT) dominated the panel of winners with 11 out of the 16 coming from the IITs in Mumbai, Delhi, Roorkee, Chennai or Kanpur.The others were from the Indian Institute of Science at Bangalore, Indian Statistical Institute in Kolkata, Veermata Jijabai Technological Institute at Mumbai and Anna University in Chennai.The aim of this award, the first of its kind given by Google India, part of search engine giant Google Inc, was to inspire women to become active participants and leaders in creating technology.

NEW CENRAL UNIVERSITIES

Government will formulating an act for setting up the 14 Central Universities of world class standards. all the universities will be setup once the act for setting up these universities will introduced. universities would be located in Pune, Kolkata, Coimbatore, Mysore, Visakhapatnam, Gandhinagar, Jaipur, Patna, Bhopal, Kochi, Amritsar, Bhubaneswar, Greater Noida and Guwahati.The locations have been decided keeping in mind the connectivity and the infrastructure which such universities would need. The state governments would be requested to identify adequate land in or near the selected cities. UGC will help to establish 370 Colleges in districts where access and participation rates are lower than the national average. Most of these districts also have a concentration of SCs, STs, and minorities.As many as 373 districts in India were having Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) lower than the national average which has been identified by the UGC.

Pan IIT 2008

The annual IIT alumni global conference ‘Pan IIT 2008’ will be held in Chennai this year at the IIT-Madras campus between December 19 and 21. The conference, the fifth edition, will bring together IIT alumni now in different spheres.Chairperson of ‘Pan IIT 2008’ says the theme for this edition would be ‘Inspire, innovate and transform. Six themes would be dealt with, namely, research and technology, entrepreneurship, rural transformation,infrastructure,innovation and education.The various interactive sessions to be held as part of the event will be centred around these themes. For further details, visit www.paniit2008.org.

John Forbes Nash

John Forbes Nash junior was born 80 years ago, on 13 June 1928, in the small town of Bluefield, West Virginia. His father worked as an electrical engineer and his mother was trained as a teacher. Nash attended high school, but took little part in normal schoolboy life. In 1945, he went to the technical college in Pittsburgh now known as Carnegie Mellon University. There he initially studied chemistry, but switched to mathematics and won a scholarship in 1948 to attend an elite east coast university Within two years after joining Princeton University mathematics department,Nash completed his dissertation (PDF) on game theory, in which he presented concept of a non-cooperative game and the optimal strategy subsequently named after him, the Nash equilibrium.One popular example of such a game is the "Battle of the Sexes". A man and a woman at different points in a city want to spend the evening together. Their mobile phones are out of order, so they can only set off with the guidance of common sense, hoping of course to find each other at the venue. They can choose either a football match, which the man prefers, or a concert, the woman's preference.while at Princeton the young mathematician also developed the Nash bargaining solution and invented the Nash embedding theorem.In 1957 he married Alicia Larde, a student from an upper middle-class family originating in El Salvador. In 1951 he began teaching at MIT in Boston, where among other things he solved Hilbert's 19th problem.Nash began to show signs of schizophrenia in 1958.After three decades, Nash succeeded in shaking off his illness. At the same time, the increasing popularity of game theory was drawing the attention of specialists to his writings.in 1994, together with John Harsanyi and Reinhard Selten, John Nash won the Nobel prize for economics.

SOL (School of Open Learning )

The School of Open Learning [a part of the Campus of Open Learning] formerly known as The School of Correspondence Courses and Continuing Education, established under the University of Delhi in 1962, is a pioneer Institution in the field of Distance Education in India.a degree from SOL is no less than a degree received after studying in any of the DU colleges. In fact, SOL shares the platform with the conventional admission process at DU in various ways. Both have the same set of admission rules, the same examining body and the same syllabus.SOL provides five undergraduate programmes, namely BA Programme, BA(H) English, BA(H) Political Science, BCom(H) and BCom.Last year 65,000 students took admission in SOL.

Roger Schank and Effective Teaching

Roger Schank, one of the world's leading researchers in artificial intelligence, learning theory and cognitive science, discussed his ideas on learning in a series of lectures.The current methods of teaching are ineffective because of several problems, one of which is the mindset of teachers as authority figures whom students need to impress, rather than as mentors who work closely with students to help them learn."Education is not about pleasing the teacher," Schank said.Another problem with the current education system is that lectures are not effective ways of teaching. Students should be asking the questions. Curriculum is often irrelevant to actual situations a person will face in his or her life.Instead of traditional methods, Schank recommends complete emersion into the learning environment. He referred to the analogy of cave men who did not sit in lectures or go to classrooms, but learned as they went along. They learned by telling stories,learning procedures and copying the actions of others, among other techniques.Schank has established the Virtual International Science and Technology Academy, which is founded upon these ideas.He suggests getting rid of the classroom setting and allowing students to experience real situations-putting them in situations where they are forced to find a solution, and where success is it own reward, rather than grades and scores.

Outsourcing

According to research firm Gartner, top six Indian offshore service providers, including Satyam, Wipro, Infosys, Tata Consultancy Services, Cognizant and HCL Technologies, accounted for 2.4 percent of the total worldwide IT services market last year as compared to 1.9 percent of the total worldwide IT services market in 2006.India's top outsourcers have delivered high quality at low cost, and put in place top quality human resources practices that enable them to hire and manage a large number of staff.India's outsourcing business, which includes IT services and business process outsourcing, is likely to see its revenue growth rate fall to about 25 percent this year from an estimated 29 percent in the Indian fiscal year ended March 31.India's top outsourcing companies are expanding their operations in other countries to reduce their dependence on the U.S. market. These companies' share of the total Western European IT services market, for example, moved up from 1.5 percent in 2006 to 1.9 percent last year, after their Western European revenue grew by 51 percent, according to Gartner.

West Bengal Joint Entrance Examination 2008

West Bengal Joint Entrance Examination results were declared on Thursday.The JEB issued merit list of 51,522 candidates (including SC, ST and physically challenged) for around 21,000 engineering seats and a total of 2,294 candidates for around 1,200 medical seats.In engineering, 16,351 girls sat for the exam, of whom 12,525 made it to the merit list. The performance in medical was even more striking. Of the 1,800 who made it to the merit list, 745 are girls — 615 from the general and 130 from the reserved category.Counseling for engineering candidates will be held from 26 June at Science City auditorium and for medical candidates it will be held in the second week of July.Shovan Dutta, who had passed Higher Secondary from Howrah Zilla School, topped the engineering merit list and Kamirul Islam, from Burdwan CMS High School, led the honours list in the medical entrance test.The West Bengal JEE Board this year declared the results just 18 days after conducting the test, which could not be held on the original date because of a question paper leak

IIMC to be made global media varsity

THE INDIAN Institute of Mass Communication (IIMC) would be upgraded as an International Media University.Planning Commission has already approved the proposal and the information and broadcasting ministry is working to make this Institute into a world class media education, training and research University, by an Act of Parliament. This will fulfill the growing demand of the media industry to provide more trained and qualified professionals.IIMC offers the post graduate diploma course in Hindi journalism, post graduate course in journalism in English, post graduate diploma in advertising and public relations, post graduate diploma course in Radio and TV journalism and diploma course in development journalism.this institute was established in 1965 by the then information and broadcasting minister, Indira Gandhi. a recent industry report stating that in the last four years, the Indian media and entertainment industry has recorded a cumulative growth of 19 percent on an overall basis.The report also predicts the industry is estimated to grow at compound annual growth rate of 18 percent in the next five years .

HARSHIT GARG

Harshit garg of St. Gabriel Senior Secondary School Roorkee secured first rank in Uttranchal state with 96 percent marks in class 12th CBSE board.He also secured second rank in state in class 10th two years ago. His father P.K garg is a scientist in N.I.H Rookee and mother nidhi garg is a house wife.He want to be a sucessfull doctor.He alllready cleared PMT examination.he is also topper of Uttranchal Pre Medical Test.

one university in every district in A.P

Andhra Pradesh would soon have at least one university in every district.The cabinet has approved the proposal to set up new universities in the district headquarters, among the districts that do not have even one university. The places to be set up universities are Karimnagar, Mahbubnagar, Srikakulam, Machhilipatnam, Potti Sriramulu Nellore and Kurnool.The state government has also decided to set up 19 new degree colleges, eight junior colleges and eight polytechnics in the state. An education complex would also come up in Hyderabad to provide training to college teachers.The state government set up a university each in three regions in 2006 at Nizamabad, Rajahmundry and Kadapa. In October 2006, it also announced the setting up of another university at Nalgonda of the Telangana region.

Chandragupt Institute of Management (CIM)

Chandragupt Institute of Management (CIM)in Bihar being developed on the pattern of Indian Institute of Management (IIM)-Ahmedabad.The institute, being developed with monetary support from the government is due to start its session from July.The first batch would have 60 students for the PG management course. It is mandatory to have 50% of the students from Bihar. Institute directoris is Mr. Mukunda Das, who has been selected on advice from IIM-Ahmedabad.Vice-President Mohammad Hamid Ansari Wednesday inaugurated the Chandragupta Institute of Management Patna. Admission to it will be through the Common Admission Test (CAT).A group of alumni and faculty of IIM-A, who hail from Bihar, have helped the state government establish the CIMP. The state government had already earmarked 20 acres of land to build the institute.

Govt for ‘zero tolerance’ for ragging

New academic session all set to begin, the human resource development ministry (MHRD)instruct all institutions to become zero tolerance campuses in respect of ragging.MHRD has asked all regulatory bodies like the University Grants Commission (UGC), All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), Medical Council of India (MCI), Dental Council of India (DCI) and Nursing Council of India (NCI) to prepare specific and strict regulations to enforce anti-ragging measures in institutions under them.RK Raghavan Committee appointed by the supreme court, took stock of the situation and reviewed the progress made by different regulatory bodies and other stakeholders who have been directed by the apex court to implement the recommendations of the committee on anti-ragging measures.The committee also asked statutory regulatory bodies to direct educational institutions to incorporate in admission notices appropriate messages regarding ‘zero tolerance’ towards ragging.

India Gets Rs.12 Bn British Aid For Education, Health

The United Kingdom’s Department for International Development (DFID) will provide a Rs. 1,200-crore (£150 million) aid for the second phase of the government’s universal elementary education scheme, Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan.The support will be used to ensure that all children aged 6-14 years are enrolled and they regularly attend primary school. More girls and children from the marginalised social groups will be encouraged to attend school, and efforts made to improve the quality of primary education.The DFID’s support for the first phase of the flagship programme has helped millions of children get into school, raising enrolment to 96 per cent.
The funding is part of the DFID’s new seven-year country plan, which lays down the road map for how the organisation will work with the government to fight poverty, boost child literacy, reduce child under-nutrition and tackle gender discrimination and social exclusion.The DFID would begin a new State development programme in Bihar. It was working in partnership with the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank to begin its engagement with a governance reform programme in the State. Over the next five years, the U.K. would invest £100 million in urban services and health such as medical care for pregnant women in Bihar.During his visit to India earlier this year, Premier Gordon Brown had said that Britain will spend 825 million pounds in next three years, of which 500 million pounds will be on health and education in the country.

IMA

The Institute of Mathematics and Applications was established by Govt. of Orissa on 27th May 1999.The construction of its new building would be completes soon Courses are 1.BSc (Hons) in Mathematics and Computing [The Programme is aimed at those who wish to pursue a career in cutting-edge research in mathematical science and related fields, also provides enough scope for a career in information technology in the industry,2.MSc (Computational Finance) [The Programme is to provide students with the practical skills and theoretical understanding and evaluations of the tools and models used by the ever changing and ncreasingly complex financial service sectors].address--Institute of Mathematics and Applications (IMA),2nd Floor, Surya Kiran Building, Po - saheed nagar Bhubaneswar ,Orissa ,Phone-No: 0674-2542164 (O) ,Fax: 0674 - 2540604 Email: swadhyn@yahoo.com ,Website: www.iomaorissa.org

IIM-A India’s 1st to get Equis

Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad (IIM-A)announced the acquisition of the prestigious European Quality Improvement System (Equis) accreditation. IIM-A is the first and only B-school in India to obtain the accreditation.Equis is a leading international system of quality assessment, improvement and accreditation of higher education management and business administration institutions. There are 113 Equis-recognised schools in the world, in 33 countries.IIM-A has been granted the three-year accreditation with two other B-schools Antai College of Economics Management, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, PR China and Bentley College, US.This is first accreditation in India and new schools joining the Equis community from China and the US. We embrace the diversity new schools bring to the network and believe this is what makes Equis the most sophisticated and benchmarking tool for management education.The IIM-A campus is celebrating as the accreditation brings global recognition with it.

OBC creamy layer income cap

The income ceiling for availing benefits under the OBC quota may soon be raised to Rs 4 -6 lakh per year. This means a child whose parents earn Rs 50,000 a month can benefit from the quota from next year.At present a person whose family income is more than Rs 2.5 lakh is excluded from the quota benefits.In the Mandal Commission case of 1992, the Supreme Court had allowed OBC quotas with creamy layer exclusion. Initially, the income limit for OBC status was Rs 1 lakh. This was raised to Rs 2.5 lakh in 2004.

English Replaces Telugu As Teaching Medium In Andhra Schools

Andhra Pradesh government has decided that English will replace Telugu as the medium of instruction in 6,500 government-run schools in the state from the new academic year beginning this month.At the same time the state syllabus will be replaced with the Central Board of School Education (CBSE) syllabus so that children in these schools are able to compete with their counterparts from other states.The authorities have also made arrangements to train the teachers who are currently teaching Telugu medium syllabus. They would undergo training in English at reputed universities and institutes in the country.The government's move to introduce English as medium of instruction has been welcomed by the teaching community and students.

Two railway clerks clear IAS

Two railway employees, both graduates of the Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU), both cleared the Indian Administrative Services (IAS) exam this year.While Keshvendra Kumar, a railway booking clerk in West Bengal, secured 45th rank in the IAS examination, 2008, Kumar Ravikant Singh, also a railway clerk in West Bengal, managed the 77th rank in the prestigious examination.For Keshvendra, becoming an IAS officer was always a cherished dream .He is currently pursuing 2nd year of MA (Hindi) from IGNOU.Another IGNOU graduate and also a railway clerk, Kumar Ravikant Singh is currently pursuing his 2nd year in MA (History).Both Keshvendra and Ravikant were born in 1985 and hail from Bihar. They came to West Bengal after completion of their 10th standard studies and then completed their schooling from Bhola Nand School in Barrackpore.

International Olympiad in Informatics (IOI)

The International Olympiad in Informatics (IOI) is an annual informatics competition for secondary school students.The first IOI was held in 1989 in Pravetz Bulgaria.The 20th International Olympiad in Informatics will be held in Egypt, August 2008, at Mubarak city for education located in the new district 6 october of Cairo metropolitan.The primary goal of the IOI is to stimulate interest in informatics (computing science) and information technology. Another important goal is to bring together exceptionally talented students from various countries and to have them share scientific and cultural experiences.Students compete on an individual basis, with up to four students competing from each participating country (with around 81 countries in 2004). The students compete individually and try to maximize their score by solving a set of informatics problems during two competition days. The problems are algorithmic programming problems to be solved on a personal computer. Cultural and recreational events are organized on the remaining days of the competition.

International Olympiad in Astronomy and Astrophysics (IOAA)-2008

International Olympiad in Astronomy and Astrophysics (IOAA)-2008, to be held at Bandung, Indonesia, from August 19 to 28.A team of five students will represent India and around 35 countries are expected to participate in the Olympiad. The programme is financially supported by the Department of Science and Technology, Government of India. The students are given training in Astrophysics by a set of professors from IITB, HBCSE, TIFR, etc, and are given a series of tests during the camp. Bases on their performance in the tests, a team of 5 students (12th standard adn below) are selected to represent India in the IOAA.The Indian Astronomy Olympiad Programme is designed to encourage students with good foundation in physics and mathematics and an interest in astronomy, to pursue further studies in this field. For this purpose, the IAOP holds nationwide olympiad tests and selects about 50 students to undergo further training.

International Chemistry Olympiad (ICHO)

International Chemistry Olympiad (ICHO)will be held at Hungary from July 12 onwards.Short-listed from over 28,000 students across the country,four students all set to represent India in the 40th edition of this prestigious olympiad.Every year, nearly 65 countries take part in ICHO, a ten-day competition conducted to promote interest in chemistry among students and provide a platform for the best minds to exhibit their latent talent. The Indian Association of Chemistry Teachers conducts a nation-wide examination every November to select students for Indian National Chemistry Olympiad.ICHO winners will be given gold medals and certificates and special honorary mentions will be announced for students for solving problems effectively.Based on the performance in the national olympiad, this year, 42 students were selected to attend an intensive ICHO training camp at Homi Bhabha Centre for Science Education (HBCSE), Mumbai.ICHO pattern, aspects pertaining to effective problem solving, steps involved in analysis of a given chemical sample, including quality and quantity composition.

International Physics Olympiad (IPHO)

Five Indian students will participate in the week-long 39th International Physics Olympiad (IPHO) to be held at Hanoi, Vietnam from July 20.India will be sending five students who were selected after a rigorous training in both theory and practical. Garvit Juniwal (Jaipur), Kunal Yogen Shah (Mumbai), Nishant Totla (Aurangabad), Saurabh Goyal (Kota) and Shitikant (Bihar) will represent India at the Olympiad.Out of 36,000 students across the nation who participated in the first level Indian National Physics Olympiad (INPHO) examination, 318 were selected for the second level exam out of which 36 students were selected for an intensive training, orientation and selection camp at the Homi Bhabha Centre for science education.In Physics Olympiad usually China is ahead of all countries followed by Iran .which has been participating since 1998 had always won medals, including few gold and recognition.The students will be accompanied by two leaders, Vishwajeet Kulkarni of Parvati Chowgule College ,Goa, Pramer Singh, Jagdam College, J P University, Chapra and one Scientific Observer Charudatt Kadolkar of IIT, Guwahati.IPHO is a unique event designed to discover, encourage and challenge exceptionally gifted young students from across the world.

International Biology Olympiad (IBO)

The 19th International Biology Olympiad (IBO) will be held in India this year and will be hosted by the Homi Bhabha Centre for Science Education (HCBSE).Around 55 countries will be participating in the week long IBO whcih will be held from July 13.
The theory paper for four and a half hours and five hour experimental programme for the Olympiad will be set up by the National Academic Committee and the whole process takes nine months because both the questions for the theory papers and experiments have to be original.ld from July 13.New high standard labs are being made for the IBO in the HBCSE premises taking reproducibility into account following all international convention and national and international laws.Four practical labs are in plant science (botany), animal science (zoology), biochemistry and ethology (animal behaviour).In the past, India has also played host to the International Mathematics Olympiad in 1996, International Chemistry Olympiad in 2001 and International Astronomy Olympiad in 2006.

Angela Saini

A reporter of Indian-origin working with the BBC, has won a prestigious European journalism award, for her documentary exposing the bogus universities in Britain.Angela Saini, 27, whose parents hail from India, was awarded the 'Prix Circom', for her investigative work into the "Irish International University", which attracts students from several countries including India.The investigative report was given Prix Circom's best Magazine Programme award, which was presented at a ceremony in the Slovenian city of Maribor.Born in the UK, Saini has a Masters in Engineering Science from Oxford University, and briefly worked as a journalist in New Delhi in 2003.Saini has been a reporter at BBC London for nearly two years and was previously trained at ITN News.Saini also writes on innovative research and technologies and their impact on society and politics.

Edward Lorenz

Edward Lorenz the father of chaos theory who showed how small actions could lead to major changes in what became known as the "butterfly effect" diedofcancer.butterfly effect has become a metaphor for the existence of seemingly insignificant moments that alter history and shape destinies. Typically unrecognized at first, they create threads of cause and effect that appear obvious in retrospect, changing the course of a human life or rippling through the global economy.Lorenz, a meteorologist, figured out in the 1960s that small differences in a dynamic system such as the atmosphere could set off enormous changes.Born in 1917 in West Hartford Connecticut, Lorenz earned degrees in mathematics from Dartmouth College in 1938, from Harvard University in 1940, and degrees in meteorology from MIT in 1943 and 1948.. As a low-profile assistant professor in MIT's department of meteorology in 1961, Lorenz created an early computer program to simulate weather. While serving as a weather forecaster for the U.S. Army Air Corps in World War Two, he decided to study meteorology.In 1991, Lorenz won the Kyoto Prize for basic sciences in the field of earth and planetary sciences.

HOPE

The 54th National Film Awards ceremony, the nation’s most prestigious awards, was held on June 10, 2008, in New Delhi.The Telugu movie Hope received the award for Best Feature Film on social issues.the film discusses the social menace of young students committing suicides failing to meet the expectations of their parents. Couple of thousands of CBSE students commit suicide every year in India. The subject touched my heart,Satish, the director of the movie told.

IIT plans mental test of candidates

IIT-K authorities are planning to hold detailed mental examination of candidates, in addition to the routine physical tests, from this year. The examination will be conducted after the counselling session.Students would be given appropriate counselling as well as medicines if needed and their parents would be kept informed. No candidate will be denied admission on these grounds, however.The counselling session for the 527 candidates selected for the Kanpur Zone through the IIT-JEE examination is to begin on June 17. Once the candidates are finalised, physical and mental examinations will follow. In the past two months, two students have committed suicide at IIT-Kanpur, while the number is up to six since November 2005.

Gilbert Hunt

Gilbert Hunt,a world-class mathematician has died at age 92 at his Princeton home. He was recognized worldwide for his work in the fields of probability theory and analysis.his foundational work on Markov processes, a random system in which knowledge of the past gives no more information about the future than does knowledge of the present.Hunt made contributions to mathematics that allow for forecasts in any complex system, from weather to quantum mechanics. The "Hunt Process," a key mathematical model used in probability theory, bears his name.Hunt was a member of the Princeton University Department of Mathematics faculty from 1959-62, then taught at Cornell University for three years before returning to Princeton in 1965. He chaired the university's mathematics department from 1966-68, retiring from teaching in 1986.He was born in Washington, D.C. on March 4,1916, to Gilbert Hunt, a renowned engineer and bridge-builder, and May Jane Winfield Hunt a homemaker. He was an only child.Hunt suffered from macular degeneration and starting losing his sight in the 1960s at the height of his mathematical powers.He attended the Masschusetts Institute of Technology for two years, but left to play tennis, a sport at which he had excelled since he was a child.Recently, he visited John Conway, Princeton's John von Neumann Professor of Applied and Computational Mathematics, in Fine Hall. He had read one of Conway's books by listening to a recording for the blind.

Education For All (EFA)

As per Education For All (EFA) Global Monitoring Report 2006, there are 771 million illiterates in the 15+ age group in the world, of which 34.6% are in India. As per Census 2001, there are 260 million illiterates in the country in the 15+ age group of which 168 million, or about 64% are women.The Universalisation of Elementary Education and eradication of adult illiteracy form the two-pronged strategy for improving the literacy rate of the country. Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) is a comprehensive programme for universalising quality elementary education by 2010.The National Literacy Mission (NLM) is entrusted with the target of achieving a sustainable threshold level of 75% literacy by 2007. The thrust areas of NLM are improving female literacy in low female literacy areas, organizing projects for residual illiteracy in districts which have substantial number of illiterates, setting up of continuing education centres for providing opportunities for life long learning to the neo-literates and imparting vocational training to neo-literates through Jan Shikshan Sansthans.Special programmes of residual illiteracy have been taken up in low female literacy districts of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Orissa and Jharkhand. In addition, the launching of a special literacy drive for eradication of residual illiteracy in 150 districts, which have the lowest literacy rates, has been approved.

Three new varsities proposed in TN

Tmilnadu Gonernment moved a bill for setting up of three new universities in Tamil nadu. it had been proposed to set up a university for educational research, PSG university and Thiyagarajar University at Chennai, Coimbatore and Madurai respectively.The PSG university at Coimbatore will be formed by bringing together PSG College and the other colleges attached to it. Likewise Thiyagarajar Engineering College and Thiyagarajar College will be combined to form the Thiyagarajar University.Following the need for a separate university to encourage research and post graduation studies in the field of education, Lady Wellington Women’s College will be fused with Education Development Institution functioning at Saidapet to form the Tamilnadu Education University.

Yojana now online

Yojana,a popular magazine of economic and planned development being published by Publications Division, Ministry of Information & Broadcasting will now be available on net. All the 13 Indian languages editions of the magazine can be accessed through a click on the website www.yojana.gov.in.Synopsis of all the current issues of Yojana group of journals will be available on the aforesaid website with an archive of six months.Yojana is also working on digitization of its entire archives spanning to 51 years of glorious publication.Site will also have links not only to all language editions of Yojana but also to its sister publication Employment News/Rozgar Samachar and parent organization, Publications Division as also the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting, Government of India.The magazine has a circulation of 1.30 lakh copies and its publication had started from January 26, 1957 at the initiation of the then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru.

National Bal Shree honour

Fifty children within the age group of 9-16 years has been choosen for the National Bal Shree honour for the year 2007. These awardees, who were selected through three-tire selection process conducted at district, state and national level, will be honoured by President Prathibha Patil on Tuesday. Bal Shree scheme seeks to identify creative children within the age group of 9 to 16 years in four identified areas of creativity. These are Creative performance, Creative Art, Creative Scientific innovations and Creative Writing.some of the Bal Shree awardees had excelled in their life. Two of them are working with NASA also. The scheme was put in effect in 1995 and since then 207 children have been honoured irrespective of their socio-economic status. 214 children has been selected at national level, and the final list of which is prepared by choosing fifty children out of it. However, all nationalists are given scholarship.

NEW MEMBER OF UPSC

I M G Khan former Secretary (Posts) of Department of Posts, took the Oath of Office and Secrecy as Member of Union Public Service Commission (UPSC).The Oath was administered by Shri Subir Dutta, Chairman, UPSC.An officer of the Indian Postal Service belonging to the 1970 batch, I M G Khan held several important positions in his career, which includes, Member (Operations & Marketing) and Member (Development) in the Department of Posts, Additional Secretary in the Department of Personnel and Training and Additional Secretary and Controller or Examinations in the UPSC.He also served as Member Secretary, Civil Services Examination Reforms Committee headed by Professor Y K Alagh in UPSC. Shri Khan was also a Member of UPSC delegation that visited Australia and Singapore to study their Public Service Commissions.

NEW AWARDS

Haryana Government announced two new awards -- Haryana Sahitya Ratan Puraskar and Haryana Gaurav -- have been instituted to promote the rich culture and literature of the state.Haryana Sahitya Ratan Puraskar carried a cash reward of Rs two lakh, the Haryana Gaurav Pursakar would carry a reward of Rs 51,000. The award money of Babu Balmukand Award has been too increased from Rs 15,000 to Rs 50,000. Similarly, the award money of Poet Lakhmi Chand Award has been increased from Rs 50,000 to Rs one lakh and Poet Surdas Award has also been increased from Rs one lakh to Rs 1.50 lakh.

Name Changed

Orissa cabinet approved the proposal to change the name of the state from "Orissa" to "Odisha".It also endorsed the proposal to change the name of the language of the state from "Oriya" to "Odia".The name of the state and -anguage are mentioned in the Schedule I in Devnagiri as Udisa and Udia respectively and "Orissa" and "Oriya" respectively in English.The Centre agreed to the suggestion, but advised the Orissa government to complete certain formalities needed to carry out amendment in the Constitution.

ONLY GIRLS IIT

Education minister Arjun Singh has indicated his consent for a girls-only IIT named after Indira Gandhi.None of the seven existing Indian Institutes of Technology or the eight new ones in the pipeline is named after any personality. Nor is any restricted to women students.The Meghalaya Assembly recently passed a resolution against the decision to name the latest Indian Institute of Management (IIM) — in Shillong — after Rajiv Gandhi. No other IIM is named after anyone.SOURCE-telegraph

Alladi Ramakrishnan

Alladi Ramakrishnan, who made fundamental contributions to several fields of study since 1947 and founded the Institute of Mathematical Sciences (MATSCIENCE), died in Gainesville, Florida, on Saturday night.Dr. Ramakrishnan was the Director of MATSCIENCE in Chennai for 22 years, during which he built up an ethos of innovative thinking and an ambience that was ever responsive to new ideas.Prof. Alladi Ramakrishnan is the son of that eminent lawyer, Sir Alladi Krishnaswami Iyer, who together with B. R. Ambedkar, T. T. Krishnamachari, K. M. Munshi, N. Madhava Row and Benegal Narasingha Rao drafted the Indian Constitution.Dr. Ramakrishnan graduated in Physics from Madras University in 1943. He took his Ph.D. from the University of Manchester in 1951 and later taught theoretical physics at the University of Madras until 1962 and became a Fellow of the Indian Academy of Sciences.He has authored or co-authored over 150 influential scientific papers in leading journals on topics ranging over Stochastic Processes, Elementary Particle Physics, Matrix Algebra, and the Special Theory of Relativity.On January 3, 1962 mathematical Institute was inaugurated by Prof. S. Chandrasekhar, F.R.S. Distinguished Service Professor of the Enrico Fermi Institute of Nuclear Studies, University of Chicago, in the main English lecture hall of Presidency College. The first lecture was by Chandrasekhar himself: he had agreed to be an Honorary Professor of Astrophysics at the Madras institute. He addressed its first students in the Physics lecture room where his illustrious uncle, Sir C. V. Raman, Ramakrishnan and C. Subramaniam had all spent many hours as undergraduates. It was Raman who had persuaded Ramakrishnan, the physics graduate who had become a lawyer, to return to physics and mathematics.Dr. Ramakrishnan passionately believed that science and art could go hand-in-hand. He was one who could appreciate the mathematical structures in Carnatic music as much as he could revel in the purity of the mathematical form.

HIGHER EDUCATION EXPENSION

The University Grants Commission, UGC, has come up with an action plan to increase the enrolment of students in higher education from the existing 10 to 15 percent by 2012. The plan envisages increasing the gross enrolment ratio, GER, the percentage of youth in the age group of 18 to 23 in higher education during the 11th Five year plan.the proposed 30 new universities and 370 colleges will soon be set up in states and the districts where the GER is lower than the All India average.The UGC has earmarked 870 crore rupees for expanding the infrastructure in the existing over 20 Central universities for implementing 27 per cent OBC quota, which has been given the go-ahead by the Supreme Court.

HSC result-2008

Around 77.33 per cent of the candidates who appeared for this year's class 12th examination (Higher Secondary Certificate) conducted by the Maharashtra board have passed state-wide.In Mumbai division, 80.24 per cent of the candidates have passed where Priyanka Jain topped the list with 96.50 per cent marks.Sheetal Jajoo and Samir Mandge topped with 94.83 per cent in Aurangabad division whereas in Nashik, Pratik Patil topped at 96.17 per cent.Kalyani Joshi of Mahatma Gandhi Vidyalaya, Ahmadpur, Latur scored 99 per cent marks in Class XII exams to stand first in the state. Except English (95) and Physics (99), she scored full marks in all the other subjects. Kalyani's score is 594 out of 600. This year the overall pass percentage has increased by 13 per cent taking the overall result to 77.35 per cent compared to last year's 64.25 per cent.This year, the pass percentage for science stream has gone up by 10 per cent compared to last year (93.18 per cent). Arts stream, with 20 per cent rise, has registered 85.48 per cent pass. However, for Commerce stream, the pass percentage has increased by a just two per cent.The pass percentage in English, which was a cause for concern, has also gone up to 92 per cent compared to the last year's 69 per cent.Monika Dhok of Brijlal Biyani Science College in Amravati topped the overall list from Vidarbha region in the science stream with 97.50% (585/600 marks). She was closely followed by Pooja Sharma from the same college with 97.33% (584/600) marks. Madhura Mulmuley of Shivaji Science College secured same marks as that of Pooja to top the Nagpur division. Priyanka Jain topped the Mumbai division with 96.50% marks.