The MCD has stated that Delhi government is impeding an allocation of Rs 80 crore to its Education Department. The lethargy of the government is obstructing the implementation of the student welfare projects. Mahinder Nagpal, Chairman of MCD Education Committee, said that he has written a letter to Union Home Minister P Chidambaram and Chief Minister of Delhi Sheila Dikshit, seeking their intervention in release of the fund in the current session itself. According to Nagpal, the MCD's Education Department was to get Rs 80 crore of the total grant in the month of January, but it has not been allocated so far. The money was to be spent on different plan heads like Rs 50 lakh on physical education, Rs 12 crore on mid-day meal, Rs 37.5 crore on welfare of the students and Rs 30 crore on construction of school buildings, he said.
Pitroda points to reform less education in the last 5 years
Advisor to Prime Minister on Public Information Infrastructure and Innovation, Sam Pitroda, has expressed his discontent on the education system and the government's attitude towards higher education reforms. Speaking at the V-Cs' conference Friday, Pitroda said the government must “act now” on education reforms “as there has been no progress in this regard in the last five years”. He said India desperately needed to devise its own model of education as western models did not work here and focus has to be drawn to the changing role of the teacher. Pitroda said he tried to follow up on the status of the many National Knowledge Commission recommendations, but he was continually told that discussions and consultations were on. “Five years have gone by and nothing has happened… there is no need for any discussion, it's time to act,” Pitroda said, adding that such inaction in higher education was “near-criminal”.
Thorat, Ramanathan favourites for ONGC board
Usha Thorat, former RBI Deputy Governor and former Finance Secretary Arun Ramanathan are likely to be appointed by the government to the board of ONGC to pave the way for the share of the state-owned firm by July. Besides Thorat and Ramanathan, Deepak Nayyar, ex-vice chancellor of Delhi University, has also been shortlisted for appointment as independent directors on the board of ONGC, which currently does not meet market regulator SEBI's listing requirement. An official revealed that the three names will be sent to a Search Committee, which will screen the names before they are sent to the Cabinet Committee on Appointments for approval. “The whole process may take at least a month,” he said, adding ONGC will file papers for the follow-on public offer once its meets the SEBI requirement of having an equal number of executive and non-executive or independent directors on its board. The government plans to sell 5 per cent, or 427.77 million equity shares, through the FPO to raise up to Rs 12,000 crore. The FPO was to hit the market in March, but was deferred. “The timing of FPO will depend on how aggressively the Department of Disinvestment (DoD) pushes for it. It may happen in June or July,” the official said. ONGC does not meet SEBI's listing norm of having an equal number of functional and independent directors and the government had previously planned to withdraw both its nominee directors on the board to push the FPO through. But the move would have led to ONGC losing its coveted Navaratna status, which gives the company board autonomy to approve an investment of any size on its projects and powers to invest up to Rs 1,000 crore in a joint venture company.
IT, BPO staff may see 10-12% salary hikes: Mittal
When the IT and BPO industries in general are bracing for a hike in appraisal process currently, Som Mittal, president, Nasscom said the its employees may see 10-12 per cent salary hikes during 2011-12. Mittal further explained that about 18.5 per cent growth is expected in the IT and BPO industry in the present financial year and the 16-18 per cent further is likely in the next fiscal which would facilitate the salary hikes. “A related aspect is decline in attrition rate. Now it is down three per cent to 16 per cent. We expect it to come down further,'' he added. The Nasscom's recruitment projection for 2011-12 is 2.40 lakh. “Almost this is same with the recruitment happened this year. Campus hiring in January 2011 was about 1.20 lakh,” Mr Mittal said. The IT industry continued to be the preferred choice by the youngsters, he claimed.
Q3 net income up 78%: Oracle
Oracle Corp has revealed that its net income rose 78 per cent in the third fiscal, as it was enhanced by a rise in new software license sales and the coming-in of three full months of revenue from newly acquired Sun Microsystems. Net income for the quarter increased to $2.1 billion, or 41 cents per share, from $1.2 billion, or 23 cents per share a year earlier. Excluding certain items, Oracle earned 54 cents per share, more than Wall Street was expecting. Analysts surveyed by FactSet forecast earnings of 50 cents per share. Revenue jumped 37 per cent to $8.8 billion from $6.4 billion, more than the $8.7 billion analysts predicted. The company said revenue increased more than 30 percent in every region worldwide. Oracle, which makes the database software that underpins everyday transactions, from bank withdrawals to airline reservations, said new software license sales, a key figure for measuring Oracle's growth, increased almost 30 per cent to $2.2 billion, above its own forecast for a 10 per cent to 20 per cent improvement.
Higher education- a term
After the discovery of the fact that the department of higher education and the regulator of University Grants Commission are unaware of the meaning of “Higher education” besides the term too not been defined in the UGC Act, 1956 HRD minister Kapil Sibal wants to bring influential changes in higher education with series of legislations in the pipeline. In an unprecedented incident HRD's department of higher education referred to UGC for its definition when the definition of `higher education' was sought under the Right to Information Act. A month later, UGC said in its reply to RTI applicant Jitendra Sharma, “The term higher education has not been defined in the UGC Act, 1956.” However, the Commission reproduced some sections of the UGC Act that talked about its functions but were nowhere close to a definition of “higher education”. The UGC said, “It shall be the general duty of the Commission to take, in consultation with the universities or other bodies concerned, all such steps as it may think fit for the promotion and coordination of university education and for the determination and maintenance of standards of teaching, examination and research in universities.” The RTI applicant also wanted to know if all the colleges affiliated to the state universities come under the definition of the term `higher education'. This question was also referred to the UGC. On its part, UGC instead of giving any firm answer gave the definition of the term `affiliation' and `college' as explained in the UGC Act which any layman will find it difficult to understand. It said, “`Affiliation' together with its grammatical variations, includes, in relation to a college, recognition of such college by, association of such college with, and admission of such college to the privileges of, a university.”
More universities duping Indians: US journal
A leading US journal on higher education reported that Indians are the main target in the Tri-Valley University which is only one of many dubious and unaccredited universities in the US that are duping foreign students, especially Indians. The report was based on an investigation carried out after the TVU scam in January, involving Indian students who were trapped in the US, following the university getting implicated in immigration fraud charges. The journal claimed the University of Northern Virginia, the International Technological University (ITU) and Herguan University were among those that had been following a TVU-like business model. But they are not known to be facing any federal action. These universities are mushrooming out as the investigation proceeds and also makes raises questions about how strictly the federal government is being able to ensure the quality of institutions it allows to admit foreign students.
Pakistan education sector gets $400m from World Bank
Pakistan, which spends less than 1.5 per cent of its gross domestic product (GDP) on schooling and has one of the world's worst education system sees signs of development after the World Bank approved a $400 million loan. The denominations as per the World Bank shows that $300 million would go to projects at the university level and the K-12 is benefitted with $50 million each for provincial reform projects in Punjab and Sindh. World Bank Country Director for Pakistan Rachid Benmessaoud said,” Pakistan's transition to a middle-income country in the global knowledge economy of the 21st century will depend critically on the country's intellectual and human capital”, adding to achieve this objective, Pakistan needs to upscale its entire education system. This loan comes at a time when Pakistan is going through what the independent Pakistan Education Task Force said was an “education emergency” and what many think is the country's most pressing long-term challenge.
PM to meet business tycoons for economy check
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is about to meet top industry stalwarts, including Mukesh Ambani, Ratan Tata and Kumar Mangalam Birla, on March 30 as part of a stock-taking exercise of the economy. While oil prices have crossed the $100-a-barrel mark, food prices have remained stubbornly high for most of the past year knocking up prices of other goods. The meeting will be held at a time when the government's macroeconomic managers are struggling for options to sustain growth and keep prices under check amid corruption scandals that are hitting political and business sentiments. Ashok Ganguly, R P Goenka, Azim Premji, Sunil Mittal, Swati Piramal, Deepak Parekh, and Kiran Mazumdar Shaw are some of the other big names who will be at the Prime Minister's meet next week.
IGIT holds its annual college fest, Tremors 11.0
Tremors, the annual technical college festival of CSI, Indira Gandhi Institute of Technology, Delhi, is being held from March 24 to March 26, 2011. According to an IGIT press release, Tremors 11.0, full of fun and creativity, showcases, the best talent in fields like engineering and management from across the country. The event provides a platform for creative ideas for bureaucrats and latest trends in advanced business strategies, the press release said. Some of the formal events are Parliamentary Debate, Taste the Beans, Emovation and Colloquium.
