Nasscom lines up test for engg students-Education-Services-News By Industry-News-The Economic Times

Nasscom lines up test for engg students-Education-Services-News By Industry-News-The Economic Times

GULVEEN AULAKH TIMES NEWS NETWORK[ THURSDAY, APRIL 26, 2007 03:04:23 AM]

CHANDIGARH: Considering the shortage of professionals across industry verticals, Nasscom will conduct Nasscom Assessment Competence (NAC) tests for professionals that have graduated from engineering colleges but have not been placed. “Nasscom, along with the HRD ministry, has come out with sponsored finishing schools for the IT industry that also employ engineers. This test will not cater to freshers but to professionals who have already graduated from engineering colleges as a second chance to make them employed. Under the name of NAC Tech, the test will be applicable to graduates who have passed out of colleges before the academic year 2006,” says Dr Sandhya Chintala, director-education initiative of Nasscom. ET has also learnt that the HRD ministry will roll out the first programme in 100 colleges, beginning from seven NITs and IIT Roorkee. “By September-October, NAC Tech will be completely ready and the HRD ministry will choose specific colleges where the programmes will be rolled out,” adds Dr Chintala. Making humble beginnings, the test will be administered on 100 students in one batch and those clearing it will make it to the training session. The complete strategy of the programme will be finalised by May-June. For now, ET has learnt that it will be a 8-week programme and will consist of 240 hours of contact classes, 120 hours of open classes, 80 hours of core engineering studies, 80 hours of soft-skill development and 80 hours of specialisation in a field of students’ choice. The criterion for students who want to appear for the test has been chalked out tough only partly. For now, an aggregate is being decided by Nasscom and a joint committee of HRD ministry, which would be a pre-requisite. The fee of the training programme will be close to Rs 5,000 and students will have to bear additional charges for boarding and lodging. Other than this, Nasscom and the HRD ministry are also looking at replicating the NAC test format for the banking, financial services, insurance sector as well as retail. “These sectors are upcoming and there is a lot of talk on inadequate human resource,” informed Dr Chintala.

XIM-B to open new campus in Orissa

XIM-B to open new campus in Orissa

Kalpana Pathak / Mumbai April 23, 2007

One among India's top 10 B-schools, the Xavier's Institute of Management (XIM), Bhubaneshwar will soon be opening another campus in India. The institute has big expansion plans and is scouting for a 100 acre land in Orissa near its existing campus in Bhubaneshwar.

The new campus will be an extension of the Bhubaneshwar campus and XIM will need Rs 50 crore to go ahead with its expansion plans. The institute plans to raise the money through alumni support and other sources.

XIM has applied to the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) for permission to double the student admission capacity for both -- its full-time and part-time business management programme. Currently the institute admits 60 students each to both the programmes and plans to increase the student capacity to 120 in the next year.

The institute also plans to increase the capacity further by 60 students in the next five years. It will celebrate 25 years of its existence in 2012 and wants to complete the expansion plans by then. "Once we have appropriate infrastructure -- hostels, classrooms and faculty in place for new students -- we will look at increasing the student capacity further," says Father E Abraham, director XIM-B.

The institute has recently increased its fee from Rs 3.96 lakh to Rs 4.35 lakh for the two-year business management programme. The increase will come in effect this year. Says an XIM-B professor, "The increase in cost of education along with other expense like infrastructure maintenance, salary revision of faculty members and upgradation of facilities for students has made us revise our fee structure." The new campus will have more emphasis on technology based learning. "We already have video conferencing facility in our present institute. We plan to bring it more in use at the new campus," says Abraham.

XIM-B's idea to have another campus in Orissa comes from the fact that steel and IT companies are setting up base in the state. South Korean steel major Posco and Arcelor Mittal have already announced plans to set up plants in Orissa and IT majors Infosys and Wipro too are bullish on the state. "This industrialisation of the state is a positive signal and will help us gain a stronger ground considering our brand value with the corporates," says Abraham.

Incidentally, placements at the institute this year saw JP Morgan Chase offering the highest domestic salary of Rs 12.75 lakh per annum to the PGDBM batch. The highest international offer made was by Olam International at US $85,000 (Rs 37.4 lakh) per annum. The average salary for the batch rose by 23 per cent this year and stood at Rs 8.77 lakh per annum. The average domestic salary was Rs 8.52 lakh per annum while the median salary was Rs 8.5 lakh per annum. The institute saw maximum representation from he IT industry including companies like IBM, Cognizant, Infosys, TCS, Mindtree, Wipro, et al.

A total of 98 companies across sectors had shown interest in recruiting students and 72 of them were slotted for the final placement process. New companies on campus included HLL, Dell International, Deloitte Consulting, UBS, HSBC Global Resourcing, Cognizant Technology Solutions, Idea Cellular, Hutch, Grow Talent, Centurion Bank of Punjab etc.

Sex education: India can learn from West

NDTV.com

Sex education: India can learn from West

Quote “ Sexual activity is being practised at a younger age, which is why we are seeing an increase in the number of STDs and HIV infections ” - Dr Chander Puri, Director, NIRRH Rate the Story SMS NDTV For latest headlines SMS NEWS to 6388 (in India & UAE), to 63880(in UK) Also Read HC to hear Jessica case on April 27 Bomb threat against Jayalalithaa Orissa turtles face survival threat Tests conducted on seized passports

Akhilesh Patel, Noopur Tiwari, Anjali Doshi Wednesday, March 28, 2007 (London, Paris, Mumbai) The Indian government could do well to borrow a leaf or two from sex education manuals being taught abroad in countries like England and France. Sex education in these countries starts early and doesn't shy away from the hard realities of sex, both its perils and pleasures. The government has not woken up to the need for sex education but many others have. Concerned by the rise in adolescent sex and teenage pregnancy, countries like UK have made sex education compulsory for children between 11 and 14 years. Classes on reproductive health and general sexual health are must, though and sex and relationship classes are optional. French classrooms are even more progressive with three courses - biological, social and pyscho-emotional - on sexuality must for middle school. The courses detail French laws on contraception and sexuality. Teachers are given clear guidelines on how to approach the subject. And apart from the obvious topics they also discuss homosexuality, sexual violence, incest, prostitution, and even sex tourism. Early awareness of sex and early initiation into sex has their perils, which are dogging countries in the West too. But they are trying to cut the damage with a sex education that's contemporary and informal. In India our moral brigade continues to fight it. They say sex education promotes free sex. So how then, say in a city like Mumbai where there is no sex education, 15 per cent of adolescents have unplanned pregnancies? Not just that, 50 per cent of children in India are sexually abused. Half-baked knowledge Studies say most of them don't talk about it because their parents or schools don't ever discuss anything sex-related with them. They, in fact, discourage it. ''Sexual activity is being practised at a younger age, which is why we are seeing an increase in the number of STDs and HIV infections,'' said Dr Chander Puri, Director, NIRRH. At the end we are left with a young India unaware about sex and unsafely so. According to available sex data in India: 17 per cent teenagers have premarital sex 33 per cent college-going students have premarital sex 33 per cent are unaware of 'unsafe' sex 50 per cent don't use condoms 75 per cent Indians learn about sex from friends and porn films Half-baked knowledge has become a curse.

Teachers "purify" students with cow urine�|�Reuters.com

Teachers "purify" students with cow urine�|�Reuters.com

MUMBAI (Reuters) - Teachers sprinkled cow urine on low-caste students to purify them and drive away evil, reports said on Saturday, in a country where millions of people remain oppressed at the bottom of the ancient Hindu caste system.

Upper-caste headteacher Sharad Kaithade ordered the ritual after taking over from a lower-caste predecessor at a school in a remote village in Maharashtra earlier this month, the Times of India reported.

He told an upper-caste colleague to spray cow urine in a cleansing ceremony as the students were taking an examination, wetting their faces and their answer sheets, the newspaper said.

"She said you'll study well after getting purified," student Rajat Washnik was quoted as saying by the CNN-IBN news channel. Students said they felt humiliated.

Hinduism reveres the cow, and its dung is used in the countryside as both a disinfectant and as fuel. In 2001, Hindu nationalists promoted cow's urine as a cure for ailments ranging from liver disease to obesity and even cancer.

The newspaper said the two teachers were arrested after angry parents complained to police. They have been released on bail.

The secular constitution bans caste discrimination, but Dalits -- those at the bottom of the caste system -- are still commonly beaten or killed for using a well or worshipping at a temple reserved for upper castes, especially in rural areas.

Dalits, once known as "untouchables", make up around 160 million of India's billion-plus population.

In February, the New York-based Human Rights Watch group said India is failing to protect its lower-caste citizens, who were condemned to a lifetime of abuse because of their social status.

A LIBRARY OF TOYS REFITTED FOR DISABLED - New York Times

A LIBRARY OF TOYS REFITTED FOR DISABLED - New York Times

Orissa Government to start Medical College in the Capital Hospital

KalingaTimes.com : Orissa Government to improve healthcare infrastructure
Orissa Government to improve healthcare infrastructure

KalingaTimes Correspondent Bhubaneswar: Orissa Government on Saturday decided to set up a medical college at the Capital Hospital here. The decision was taken high level meeting presided over by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik. Talking to presspersons after the meeting, Patnaik said the Capital Hospital had the necessary infrastructure to run a medical college. But more number of doctors and paramedical staff will be recruited before the medical college opens, he added. The meeting was held to discuss about improving the existing healthcare system in the State. The authorities decided to increase the number of seats in the Anatomy, Physiology, Anesthesiology, Microbiology, Skin and other disciplines in the three government medical colleges of the State. It was also decided to open post-graduate diploma courses in Radiology and Anesthesiology. The meeting further decided that measures will be taken to construct residential quarters for doctors and paramedical staff near the existing hospitals in the rural areas of the State. The government will increase the special incentive being paid to the doctors working in the government medicals and health centres in the KBK districts, the meetings decided. The meeting also discussed about the vacancies of doctors in interior parts of the State. Several measures will be adopted to solve this chronic problem.

KalingaTimes.com : A university in KBK remains a far cry

KalingaTimes.com : A university in KBK remains a far cry

A university in KBK remains a far cry

By Digambara Patra Lack of information, timely initiative and lingering old ideas towards the development of Orissa was causing a great loss for the State and its people. Central government and national organisations often have many new proposals and initiatives for various developmental purposes, and generally states having first hand information and timely initiative normally get the maximum benefits out of this. Unfortunately, Orissa government had done nothing at least towards the development of higher education in the backward region of the state by taking advantage of the policies of the Central government. University Grants Commission (UGC) had earlier declared `Colleges with Potential of Excellence' to improve quality education in selected colleges through a screening committee all over the country. In the first phase, only three colleges of Orissa, namely, Ravenshaw College in Cuttack, G M College in Sambalpur and Government College in Bhawanipatna were selected. In the second phase selection this year, only Khallikote College of Berhampur and Fakir Mohan College of Balasore have been selected from Orissa. Fakir Mohan College has been affiliated with the newly established Fakir Mohan University, Balasore and Ravenshaw College has been made a state University recently. Till now among the `Colleges with Potential of Excellence' in Orissa, Government College, Bhawanipatna is the only college in KBK region certified by UGC for quality education. If the state government would have taken timely initiative to make Government College, Bhawanipatna a state University along with Ravenshaw University it would not only have made a state University in KBK region but also could have received more UGC support for it. The State Government could have been able to get UGC support for making Government College, Bhawanipatna a state University by highlighting the poor state of higher education in the KBK region. Since independence the state government has totally ignored KBK region by not establishing any state university, government engineering college or government medical college in this region, whereas in last 15 years as many as six universities have been established/proposed in the remaining parts of the State. Geographically, location of Bhawanipatna in KBK region is also advantageous as it is centrally located to many KBK and Boudh-Kandhamal districts. Establishing a University in the lines of Ravenshaw University at Bhawanipatna could have fulfilled the long standing demand for a state university in this region and also would have given a positive message to the whole KBK region. The author is Visiting Lecturer, Department of Physics, Waseda University, Tokyo.