Jamia Millia Islamia’s Centre for North East Studies has received Rs 14 crore grant from the University Grant Commission for the construction of a permanent building, staff funding, appointments and recurring expenses.
Established in 2009, the centre aims to become a hub of multidisciplinary activities focus on issues that is of concern to the states in the north-east India.
The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has planned to conduct an orientation programme for teachers on Financial Market Management (FMM) course.
The central board has joined hands with the National Stock Exchange (NSE) to organize a free training workshop on NLT software on September 19, 2012. Teachers of schools that are offering FMM or are planning to offer it from the next academic session can participate in this workshop. The workshop will be conducted at the NSE office in New Delhi.
CBSE has asked the principals of the affiliated schools to assign two teachers with Commerce or IT background to attend the programme. Schools have to confirm their participation by September 5.
FMM is among the six vocational courses offered by CBSE in Commerce stream curriculum from Classes XIth and XIIth.
Amid slogans demanding the prime minister’s resignation over coal block allocations, the Lok Sabha on Thursday passed a bill to set up more AIIMS-like institutes in states.
The All India Institute of Medical Sciences (Amendment) Bill, 2012, replaces an ordinance which allowed the six AIIMS-like institutes to become operational from September 15.
The bill also gives the central government authority to establish more AIIMS-like institutes.
The six institutes were approved for Patna in Bihar, Raipur in Chhattisgarh, Bhopal in Madhya Pradesh, Bhubaneswar in Odisha, Jodhpur in Rajasthan and Rishikesh in Uttarakhand.
The Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA), which has been stalling parliament over the coal block allocations issue for then past one week, said it was also in favour of passing the bill.
“It is an important bill to set up AIIMS-like institutes. We are also in favour of passing the bill,” NDA convener Sharad Yadav said.
The bill will now be sent to the Rajya Sabha for approval.
The All India Institute of Medical Sciences Act, 1956, was legislated for establishment of AIIMS in New Delhi.
Then, six AIIMS-like institutions were finalised after the Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Yojana, a central health scheme, was announced in 2003.
The six institutes were to be set up under the Societies Registration Act, 1860, broadly similar to the existing AIIMS.
However, without passing the bill, the institutes set up under the Societies Registration Act, 1860, would not have the authority to impart medical education and grant degrees or diplomas in medical education.
In order to make them operational for medical education, the bill was needed and was passed on Thursday.
Source: IANS
“When a VEC is offered by an institution of the government or a local authority, question of service tax does not arise,” the Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) said in a circular.
The CBEC has issued the circular in view of the doubts expressed in respect of levy of service tax on certain vocational education courses offered by the government or local authority themselves or by an entity independently established by the government under the law, as a society.
Presently, 12 per cent tax is levied on all services except 14 in the negative list and some exemptions.
Advocates serving entities with turnover of up to Rs 10 lakh, libraries and entities providing public conveniences are among the 14 services and exempt services which don’t attract 12 per cent tax under the guidance note on implementation of the negative list of service tax which came into effect from July 1.
As per the negative list, services like metered taxis, auto rickshaws, betting, gambling, lottery, entry to amusement parks, transport of goods or passengers and electricity transmission or distribution by discoms have been kept in the negative list.
The services sector account for about 60 per cent of the country’s Gross Domestic Product ( GDP).
The government aims to garner Rs 1.24 lakh crore from the Service Tax during 2012-13.
Source: PTI
“When a VEC is offered by an institution of the government or a local authority, question of service tax does not arise,” the Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) said in a circular.
The CBEC has issued the circular in view of the doubts expressed in respect of levy of service tax on certain vocational education courses offered by the government or local authority themselves or by an entity independently established by the government under the law, as a society.
Presently, 12 per cent tax is levied on all services except 14 in the negative list and some exemptions.
Advocates serving entities with turnover of up to Rs 10 lakh, libraries and entities providing public conveniences are among the 14 services and exempt services which don’t attract 12 per cent tax under the guidance note on implementation of the negative list of service tax which came into effect from July 1.
As per the negative list, services like metered taxis, auto rickshaws, betting, gambling, lottery, entry to amusement parks, transport of goods or passengers and electricity transmission or distribution by discoms have been kept in the negative list.
The services sector account for about 60 per cent of the country’s Gross Domestic Product ( GDP).
The government aims to garner Rs 1.24 lakh crore from the Service Tax during 2012-13.
IT major Wipro on Wednesday said it has partnered with the University of Massachusetts, Boston to jointly launch a 12-month fellowship programme in the US to train 120 school teachers over three years.
“The one-year Wipro Fellowship programme is aimed at developing competencies of teachers and making them catalysts of change in their schools, districts and among educators,” Wipro chief sustainability officer Anurag Behar told PTI.
He, however, did not comment on the investment being made by Wipro.
The programme will be entirely funded by Wipro and will see 40 experienced science teachers in the Boston and New York areas (from those engaged with kindergarten to grade 12) being selected every year after a rigorous selection process.
The nomination process for the fellowship will commence in January, 2013 and the selection is due to be completed by March, 2013. The course is scheduled to begin on September 1, 2013.
“Selected teachers will undergo 250 hours of intense capability development training by a team led by Arthur Eisenkraft, Professor of Science Education and Director of the Centre of Science and Math in Context (COSMIC) at the University of Massachusetts Boston,” he said.
Each teacher will continue to teach in their respective schools, and during the duration of the fellowship, they will also engage with local communities and other interested teachers to catalyse broader improvement.
“The programme deeply integrates three dimensions to help enable this: leadership, reflective practice and adult learning,” he said.
The University will partner with a university in the New York City area and multiple school districts in the Boston and New York to administer this programme.
Wipro is already working with schools in India for over a decade. Its “Applying Thought in Schools” initiative is aimed to help being in societal change and development by improving the quality of education.
Source: PTI
The resignation of educationist and college alumnus Sukanta Chaudhuri from the mentor group of Presidency University over showering of benefits, while depriving other varsities, has support of educationists.
“We must pay attention to equitable distribution of resources to all,” founder director School of Womens’ Studies (Jadavpur University), professor Jashodhara Bagchi said here on Wednesday.
“It is not acceptable to us who are associated with higher education,” she said in support of Chaudhuri.
She was speaking at a panel discussion on ‘Emerging Perspectives in Indian Higher Education’ here organised by the J D Birla Institute.
Another educationist Prof Nirmala Banerjee said centers of excellence should not be restricted to a few.
Source: PTI
The Haryana government has created 433 new posts of teachers in upper primary schools in the state under the Right to Education Act and Sarv Shiksha Abhiyaan for year 2012-13.
An official spokesman said out of the total, 12 posts have been created in Ambala, 17 in Bhiwani, 15 Faridabad, 32 each in Fatehabad and Sirsa, 11 each in Gurgaon and Rewari, 23 in Hisar, four each in Jhajjar and Rohtak and 25 in Jind.
Besides this, 30 posts each in Kaithal and Palwal, 29 in Karnal, 24 each in Kurukshetra and Panipat, 13 each in Mahendergarh and Sonipat, 26 in Mewat, 18 in Panchkula and 40 in Yamunanagar have also been created.
Source: PTI
A military academy set up here by a former commando trainer, who left his plum posting after being inspired by actor Nana Patekar’s 1991 film ‘Prahar’, has been working towards not only making soldiers out of children but also bringing them up as sensitive citizens.
Colonel Sunil Deshpande had served as a Commanding Officer of 2 Maratha Light Infantry Battalion and his last posting was at Commando Training Centre in Belgaum where Patekar underwent full-fledged training before actually performing on screen.
Drawing inspiration from the message in ‘Prahar’ that “the society must have a soldier’s mindset with a philanthropic attitude which will automatically make a nation strong,” Deshpande left his job and and set up the military training school for children in 2002.
The academy was founded with the motto of “Spreading soldierly conduct and heroic qualities like discipline, courage, patriotism, vigilance and service to mankind”.
Col Deshpande was awarded the Vishisht Seva Medal (VSM) for 1965 and 1971 wars. He sought pre-mature retirement in 1993 and established the ‘Prahar Jagriti Sanstha’ a year later before formally launching the school in 2002.
“The same year Prahar was taken over by CP and Berar Education Society. It has a residential school, jungle training and guidance camp for students interested in joining armed forces, besides outbound training workshops, firing range, regular horse riding facility and a 12-hour non-residential school from fifth standard onwards,” Deshpande told PTI.
It has also established an outdoor training facility on an area of 2.66 acres at Umrer near here where obstacle crossing and confidence building camps are carried out. Also, regular camps are organised here for about 150 children, he said.
“Every year, the academy sends children to various military establishments to gain first-hand experience of a disciplined life. It has so far visited various military establishments like the NDA, Army Sports Institute (Pune), CME Infantry School (Mhow) among others,” Deshpande added.
Early this month, a group of 30 students visited Army units in Jammu and Kashmir on ‘Sadbhawana’ Mission.
Source: PTI
Common Management Admission Test (CMAT) to accept registrations for the test till September 2. The CMAT is a compulsory test for students who wish to take admissions in MBA and MCA colleges approved by the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) from the academic year 2013-14.
The CMAT will be conducted on October 1. Students can download their hall ticket number by September 15 and results will be declared on September 17.
CMAT will be held across four cities: Ahmedabad, Vadodara, Surat, and Rajkot. The CMAT will be of three hours, consist of 100 questions of total 400 marks. The paper will have the provision of negative marking.
After CMAT, students will not have to appear for the local GCET conducted by the Gujarat Technological University.
Only Gujarat state agrees to join the two-part Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) that the ministry of HRD had declared for engineering admissions. The first part would be JEE-Main, and the second one would be JEE-Advanced and the tentative dates for these tests would be April 7 and June 2, 2013.
IITs, NITs, IIITs that comes directly under the central government would be part of JEE .However, it is unlikely to see participation from too many states to the common test. Maharashtra might take part in the 2014 test.
IIT-Delhi will conduct next year’s JEE though it was IIT-Kharagpur’s turn to conduct the same. IIT-K felt the necessity for IIT-Delhi to conduct the test as the nature of the test has changed and it would be convenient for IIT-Delhi to co-ordinate and implement the changes as it is centrally located.
Government has set up 18-member JEE Apex Board (JAB) comprising directors form some of the IITs, NITs, chairperson, CBSE, state representatives and others. JAB would coordinate with Council of Boards of Secondary Education and also act as the final authority on matters of policies, rules, regulations for the JEE.
