In an effort to promote girl child education Union Woman and Child Development (WCD) minister Maneka Gandhi has sought for educational loans at concessional rates.

The WCD ministry, together with the HRD and health ministries, runs the NDA’s flagship ‘Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao’ scheme which aims at ending female foeticide and promoting the education of girls.

Citing that girls are often denied the privilege of higher education or specialised courses only because parents do not wish to take a loan for their daughter’s education, Maneka had written to HRD minister Smriti Irani.

She added that while other incentives are being looked at, the option of providing education loan at concessional rates should also be explored.

RBI governor Raghuram Rajan has come up with his master plan to bridge the caste gap in the country by stating that enabling Dalits to start businesses will be a more effective step in bringing about social equality than any other affirmative action.

This opinion of Rajan is backed by the logic that money empowers than many other forms of affirmative action.

Rajan further added that rather than prohibiting the use of money and wealth, let us think about increasing society’s tolerance for its use, he said, addressing the convocation ceremony of Shiv Nadar University in Greater Noida.

Rajan also cautioned against the growing inequalities in the country. He emphasised on the role of education and health care to restore faith in markets in these circumstances.

Taking a difference stance on tolerance in the society the RBI Governor said that money is a great equaliser and took took on the criticism of money by US political scientist Michael Sandel in his book What Money Can’t Buy: the Moral Limits of the Market.

Rajan pointed out that the income inequality is on the rise, with some having colossal incomes and others worrying about the next meal.

In his address, “Money and Education”, the RBI governor attributed the growing inequalities partly to skills and capabilities that have become much more important in well-paid jobs. As such those born in good circumstances have a much better chance at acquiring these.

As a solution, he said, we have to work to provide effective access to schooling and health care for all, a non-discriminating job market with many jobs, equal opportunities for further advancement regardless of gender, race or background. All this will increase the perceived legitimacy of wealth and society’s willingness to broaden the areas where it is spent.

Thoughtful philanthropy can further help enhance society’s acceptance of great wealth, he said.

These observations of the RBI governor are noteworthy because it comes admist the International Monetary Fund’s warning to India and China, the two fastest growing large economies, about rising inequalities.

He also said India needs to have a more “contingent student loan system” which needs to differentiate between those who can repay their loans and those who cannot. Such a system would prevent an US-like education loan crisis in India, he added.

Rajan also pointed that unscrupulous schools do not prey on uninformed students, leaving them with high debt and useless degrees.

As on January 2016, the unpaid student debt could be as high as $1.2 according to reports.

Pearl Academy and the Fashion Design Council of India (FDCI) have collaborated to offer one of the best fashion education in the country. The announcement of the collaboration was made on Sunday,May 8.

The announcement was made at the finale of Pearl Academy’s annual graduating event, Portfolio 2016, in presence of ace designers Manish Malhotra, David Abraham, Rohit Gandhi, Rahul Mishra.

This collaboration between Pearl Academy, which is one of the leading design institutes with a legacy of over two decades and centres in Delhi, Mumbai and Jaipur, and FDCI which is the apex body of fashion design is backed by the motivation nurture and develop the designers of tomorrow.

For the first time in the fashion industry, Pearl Academy’s graduating students will get the opportunity to exhibit their final collections at the Amazon India Fashion Week.

This collaboration between the two apex bodies have a twofold effect.

• Pearl Academy’s faculty will get master classes from FDCI thereby exposing them to the latest trends and techniques in the industry.
• Regular FDCI events will be hosted at Pearl Academy campuses. This will result in designer members, trend forecasters and fashion editors to teach and mentor students.

This unique and mutually benefiting initiative has been taken by the fashion industry to shape future designers, said the statement.

Expressing optimism out of this collaboration, FDCI president Sunil Sethi said that this was a momentous juncture in which the FDCI has engaged so deeply with an institution in order to bring out the best and innovative leaders in design education.

Sharad Mehra, CEO Pearl Academy added that the nature of this association was historic and that he was confident that it will change the face of fashion education.

A regulatory structure would soon be set up by the government to elevate the current status of 10 public and 10 private educational institutions to world-class teaching and research institutions. This was said by Union Human Resource Development (HRD) Minister Smriti Irani in the Lok Sabha on Monday, May 2. during the Question Hour.

BJP member Uday Pratap Singh had asked whether the government has identified or proposed to identify central universities or institutions that are likely to make their mark globally in the field of education and research. The government is yet to allocate funds for the proposal, but will provide adequate support to assist 10 public institutions, Irani said.

The Minister said the government has not yet allocated any funds for the proposal but will provide adequate support to assist 10 public institutions

In what can be termed as a welcome move by the Human Resource Development (HRD) ministry, wherein all central universities have been directed to put up large boards on the campus informing students about anti-discrimination officers.

The boards will carry all relevant information about the officers as well as the internal complaints committee thereby enabling the students where to lodge complaints in the new academic session.

This move is significant especially when significant number of higher education institutes have faced agitation the latest being NIT-Srinagar. The decision regarding this was taken at a meeting of all the vice- chancellors chaired by HRD minister Smriti Irani in February this year. A compliance report have been asked to be sent to the ministry by all the 40 central universities in the country.

All universities have been asked to provide information to students about the prevention of sexual harassment committee.

At the conference of vice-chancellors’ it was decided to put in place a transparent proactive mechanism for grievance redressal of the university community, including students, staff and faculty. It was also decided to appoint an anti- discrimination officer.

Earlier in March, the UGC had also asked all universities and colleges to have a special page on their website wherein students can register complaints of caste discrimination.

In the last two years, seven out of 19 Indian Institutes of Management (IIM) has increased the tuition fees out of which IIM Lucknow has hiked its fees almost by 30 percent.

As per data shared by HRD Minister Smriti Irani in the Lok Sabha, IIM Ahmedabad and Shillong have increased their fees by five percent and IIM Lucknow by 29.6 percent. Other IIMs like Kozhikode also made a fee escalation to 23.1 percent followed by Trichy (20), Ranchi (19) and Calcutta (17.3) respectively.

The minister has indicated that this hike in the fee rates will not affect the poor and the needy students adversely as the institutes have provisions such as full waiver of the tuition fee and maintenance allowance.