Friday 29 July 2011

IITs' PhD jinx: BTechs command higher pay

Foreign universities that would come scouting for young teachers to the Indian Institutes of Technology were conspicuously missing this recruitment season. But a range of private and deemed Indian universities from across the country did land up offering hardly attractive pay scales defined under the Sixth Pay Commission. 

When they were pitted against the big guns-the consulting and finance offers-the IITs realized that the PhD jinx continues to haunt them. Every tech school recorded a higher average salary figure for their BTechs as compared to their PhD fellows, most of who joined research labs or signed up for teaching positions. 

"It's a trend that continues. The average salary on campus is Rs 7 lakh, but the average salary for PhD candidates is less than that of the BTechs," said an IIT Bombay official. The scenario is same on every campus. The slump in the average salary for PhDs also aggravated as universities from West Asia that came shopping for faculty did not turn up this year. 

In the last two years, Alfaisal University, Saudi Arabia (which offered an annual compensation to the tune of Rs 19 lakh apart from housing and other facilities), Texas A&M University, Indian School of Business, Hyderabad, were among the education providers that visited IITs and paid salaries comparable to industry. This year, most IITs saw a desi crowd as institutes like ICFAI, SRM University, Tamil Nadu; Saroj Education Group, Lovely Professional University, Rajiv Gandhi University of Knowledge, Vigyan University, K L University and Manipal University took a handful of students. 

Every IIT saw a fall in students signing up for teaching posts. At IIT-Kanpur, 45 students joined educational institutes last year; this time around the number stood at 32, said Ramkumar Janakarajan, placement head. Annual compensation remained almost the same as last year. Most of the universities offered between Rs 3 lakh and Rs 6 lakh a year. 

IIT-Kharagpur's placement head S K Srivastava said 67 master's students and 15 PhD candidates took up teaching jobs this year. "The number was higher last year when more educational institutes had visited the campus." But several research firms, Srivastava added, had offered better salaries to PhD students this year. 

IIT-Delhi's placement head Kushal Sen said it probably wasn't correct to compare the salaries of BTechs, MTechs and PhDs as they all took up varied job profiles. 

"The salary that an MTech student gets from a core engineering firm cannot match the package that a consulting firm would offer a BTech." 

Sure, but the placements again drove home the point that the BTechs at IITs managed to grab the best deals. In 2005-06, Rangan Banerjee and Vinayak Muley, in their report on engineering education in India had mentioned this irony that exists only on Indian campuses. 

"The average MTech and PhD salary is lower than the average BTech salary in India. But the ratio of average starting salary of graduates to masters and doctorates for MIT, USA and University of Illinois Urbana Champaign, USA shows that the average masters' salary is 22-26% higher than the bachelors'; the doctorates' salary is 45-58% higher than the bachelors'."

Pakistan wants result-oriented talks with India : Shahid Malik

Pakistan’s High Commissioner to India Shahid Malik said on Friday that result-oriented Foriegn Minister level talks between Pakistan and India should continue.Speaking in a PTV programme, Shahid Malik said that it was agrred upon by the two countries in the talks that terrorism would be condemned strongly and key issues like terrorism would be addressed and Foreign Ministers would review the progress to set future direction for such “Composite Dialogue”.He said that it was in favour af the two countries to share the information regarding terrorism so that it could be eliminated from the region with joint efforts.

He said that Pakistan was cooperating  with India in Bombay attack investigations.“India should also expedite probe into the Samjhota Express 
incident,which had taken place in 2007 but Pakistan has not been up-dated about it so far” he added.  
Talking about the longstanding Kashmir dispute, he said the people of Kashmir would have to be considered a main party for the solution of the issue and Pakistan had a clear stance in this regard. 
“Both the countries have shown a clear commitment to negotiate and to resolve all outstanding issues through negotiations,” Malik said.

Muslim clerics oppose RTE, DTC

A slew of recent governance initiatives, including the Right to Education (RTE) Act and the Direct Tax Code (DTC), have irked the Muslims, who perceive it as an encroachment on the community's fundamental rights. 

The newly-appointed Mohtamim of Deoband's Darul Uloom Mufti Abul Qasim Nomani lambasted theRTE as a violation of the community's fundamental right to dispense a sound religious education to their children. 

"When RTE was in its final stages, HRD ministerKapil Sibal had assured us that minority institutions would be kept out of it. But that hasn't happened. There are hundreds of small religious institutions that function out of mosques and one-room tenements for whom it would be impossible to meet regulations like teacher-student ratio and conveyance for students as specified in the RTE. Hence, these institutions will go out of business, depriving lakhs of our children of religious education," Nomani told TOI. 

Describing this as a second attempt in recent years by government to launch an attack on madarsas, Imam Bukhari of Jama Masjid said, "It's good that the government wants every child to be in school, but where does that leave the child with time to go to madarsas, where he is receiving religious education? I agree with the educationists, who are opposing this move because it's not possible for the child to go to school in the morning, finish his homework during the day, and then go to madarsa in the evening." 

The earlier takeover attempt, he cited, was the government proposal to give aid to madarsas on the basis of the number of students they had on their rolls along with employees' strength. 

A recent meeting of the All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) discussed the implications of both the RTE and the DTC on religious, charitable and educational institutions run by the community. The DTC proposal to bring charitable institutions under its ambit and to levy a 15% income tax on all the accumulated funds of an organization has raised the community's hackles. The AIMPLB feels that the move would be a deterrent to the functioning of not just Muslim institutions, but all minority-run ones. 

AIMPLB member Kamaal Farooqui said: "We have taken a strong exception to this because under this even Wakf would be covered. Charitable institutions may not spend all their income during a financial year, but whenever they do that's done only for charitable purposes. Charging tax will essentially deprive the needy, who benefit from these services. This isn't acceptable, and the Board is speaking out in favour of all minority-run institutions."

President of FDI World Dental Federation visits Manav Rachna University

Dr Roberto Vianna, FDI World Dental Federation’s President visited Manav Rachna International University campus today. Manav Rachna Dental College becomes the first college in India where Dr. Roberto Vianna has visited. Manav Rachna Educational Institution (MREI) is one of the well known and prestigious education providers in India, providing world class education to students from all over the country.
Dr. Roberto Vianna, President FDI was greeted by Dr A.K Kapoor, Principal, Manav Rachna Dental College. Dr Roberto Vianna appreciated Manav Rachna’s efforts in providing International education to students in India and giving them a global platform. He also appreciated the dedication of faculty to assist students in providing them with the best skills and knowledge to meet the global challenges. He said mentioned that Manav Rachna has proved to be a resource of Knowledge providing achievement and competency based curriculum and academic infrastructure.
In his keynote lecture, Dr. Roberto Vianna said, “I would like to emphasize the role of oral health in the well being of a person - the most common disease worldwide is tooth decay. I am overwhelmed to see the initiatives taken by the University for taking dental education to a higher level.”
“The promotion of health, with oral health as an integral component, has been recognized as one of the key factors for a successful and productive society. Health directly correlates with quality of life of both individuals and society, and also with economic and social development of countries as a whole”, he further added.
The FDI World Dental Federation, headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland was established in Paris in 1900 as the Fédération Dentaire Internationale, is the world's leading organization representing the dental profession. The FDI currently has 156 member associations from 137 nations and territories, representing almost a million dentists worldwide. One of the main objectives of FDI is to facilitate the exchange of information among dentists worldwide.
Speaking at the occasion, Dr. O.P Bhalla, Hon'ble Chancellor MRIU said, “Both the private and public sector dental specialties are challenged to meet the needs of an ever-growing Indian population who cannot regularly access oral health care. Our aim is to produce competent dentists, specialists, and super specialists. Manav Rachna International University’s Dental College took the initiative to generate awareness about dental education and its need in Indian society.”
A new analysis of recent research has revealed gum disease may represent a far more serious threat to the health of millions of Indians than previously realized. These studies found that periodontal (gum) infection may contribute to the development of heart disease, the nation's number one cause of death, increase the risk of premature, underweight births, and pose a serious threat to people whose health is already compromised due to diabetes and respiratory diseases.
"It seems clear that gum disease, far from being just an oral health problem, actually represents a significant health risk to millions of people," said Dr Pankaj Dhawan, Dean, Manav Rachna Dental College, expert on oral health related issues.
"Periodontal disease is characterized by inflammation and bacterial infection of the gums surrounding the teeth. The bacteria that are associated with periodontal disease can travel into the bloodstream to other parts of the body, and that puts health at risk," said Dr. Dhawan. "People think of gum disease in terms of their teeth, but they don't think about the fact that gum disease is a serious infection that can release bacteria into the bloodstream. The end result could mean additional health risks for people whose health is already affected by other diseases -- or lead to serious complications like heart disease.
"Many Indians have oral exams each year to check for cavities and tooth decay. This research shows it is equally important to pay attention to gums. Having a periodontal screening and evaluation could help protect the overall health of millions," said Dr. Dhawan. The session witnessed the discussions on the developments of the field wherein the faculty from Manav Rachna Dental College and shared advances, perspectives, new ideas, ways and means to avoid failures and breakthrough concepts in Oral Health.
To help people learn more about this health concern, MRDC is launching a national public education campaign, where questions about oral health and gum disease will be answered by Dr Pankaj Dhawan, and educational materials on the link between gum disease and heart disease, diabetes, respiratory disease and premature, low birth weight births.

Tuesday 26 July 2011

Central and East Zone have the highest number of orphaned / abandoned children in India - SOS Children's Villages of India Study

Central Zone, which comprises the 3 states of Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, houses approximately 6 million orphan children (under 18 years) and this figure will shoot up to 7.6 million by the year 2021 according to a recent study by SOS Children's Villages of India. It is closely followed by the East Zone which has approximately 5.20 million orphans, and is estimated to increase to 6 million by 2021.
In the east zone, Bihar, followed by Orissa, Jharkhand and West Bengal belong to the poorest districts. Together, East and Central Zones constitute the poverty and child vulnerability belt of India.
As far as the other Zones of the country are concerned, South Zone has approximately 3.47 million orphan children and this figure is expected to rise to 3.66 million by the year 2021. North Zone is the second lowest in the total number of orphan children in the country. It has 2.70 million orphan children which is estimated to reach 3.37 million by the year 2021. West Zone has the lowest number of orphan children in the country i.e. 2 million and is expected to rise to 2.36 million by 2021. (Kindly check the annexures for state wise projections from 2001 -2021)
The poverty belt of India contributes significantly to the large number of orphan children in India. Migration of men from villages to urban slums is a continuous process and most of the migration pattern is forced migration for survival or rebuilding lives, thus depriving children of parental care. Rise in the number of children infected by HIV/AIDS is also significantly contributing to orphaning of children.
India has approximately 422 million children. Nationally, 83 percent of children below 18 years live with both their parents, 11 percent live with their mother but not their father, 2 percent live with their father but not their mother, and the remaining 4 percent live with neither parent. This estimation was done in the study titled India-National Child Vulnerability Situation Analysis Report by SOS to assess the situation of orphan and vulnerable children in the country to make strategic decisions in terms of establishing new programmes and projects in various locations of the country.
"Governmental and non governmental agencies working on child rights must jointly work towards addressing the needs of these children by providing them with nutrition, education and protection," says Mr Rakesh Jinsi, Secretary General, SOS Children's Villages of India. "Corporates too need to come forward and actively support child sponsorship programmes of NGOs that reach out to the children in need," he further adds.
The study found that five percent of children under age 18 experienced death of one or both parents. 3 percent of children have experienced the death of their father, 2 percent have experienced death of their mother, and 0.3% children have experienced the death of both parents. The proportion of children who have experienced death of both parents increases with age and is 10% for children aged 15- 17 years.
The child population below 18 years constitute more than 41% of the total population for the year 2001. The share of child population is on declining trend in line with the national population control strategies and by the year 2021 the child population is estimated to be 37.1%. Approximately 20 million below the age of 18 do not receive adequate parental care and support as they do not have either of their parents. This is estimated to rise to 24.35 million by the year 2021.
Present in India since 1964, there are nearly 32 SOS Children's Villages reaching out to 6000 abandoned and orphaned children across the country. The village is providing them with a 'family based care', nutritional and educational services. Some of these villages were set up in disaster hit areas to support displaced children.
SOS is also implementing the Family Strengthening Program (FSP) that reaches out to children outside the SOS Children's villages in 32 locations across India. The beneficiaries are typically children of single mothers/ widows, single parents, children living with other family members or below poverty line families. The strategy is to ensure continuation of education & health provisions for children while enabling the family to become self reliant in a 3-5 year period via livelihood/ income generating capacity development. This is preventive program for children who are at a risk of losing parental care/normal family life. FSP reaches 15000 children & the goal is to expand to 100,000 over the next 3 years.
Notes to Editor
About SOS Children's Villages of India:
SOS is the brainchild of Dr. Hermann Gmeiner, an Austrian, who pioneered the concept of bringing up orphans not just in a regular orphanage, but providing them the security and quality care of a proper home, the love and care of a "Mother" and a framework of sibling relationships providing them emotional security for a lifetime. Typically, an SOS Village consists of a gated community of 15-20 homes with a "Mother " in each home nurturing a group of 8-10 children, who live together as brothers and sisters.
With the support of many donors and co workers, the organization has grown to help thousands of children in 132 countries. While funding requirements through the years have been met by foreign funders, the "India Shining" story seems to be working negatively for NGO's. Most foreign funding agencies and donors are diverting funds to more deserving underprivileged countries like Africa.

XIMB to set up University in Orissa

India's premier business Scholl Xavier Institute of Management, Bhubaneswar likely to set up a University in Orissa. This was stated by Orissa Chief secretary Bijay Kumar Pattnaik at Bhubaneswar on Tuesday. He said the state government likely to present a legislation on this regard in Assembly during winter session. He said government examining the proposal of XIMB. Soon Government will take final decision on this regard.

Xavier Institute of Management-Bhubaneswar (XIMB) proposed university is coming up on 35 acres of land at Jatani in Khurda district. Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation of Orissa (Idco) is in the process of building a compound wall which will be completed soon. Then, XIMB likely to start construction work on this campus in August. XIMB will invest Rs 10-12 crore in the current financial year on the second campus.
While the university will function from XIMB's existing campus in the city, the rural management course will be shifted to the new campus. Besides the flagship Post Graduate Diploma in Management (PGDM), the new campus will offer courses like healthcare management, education management, human resource management and a doctoral programme in management for working executives.

It should be noted that Xavier Institute of Management, Bhubaneswar established in 1987.  The Institute owes its origin to a Social Contract between the Government of Orissa and the Orissa Jesuit Society. The Institute is led by a Governing Board consisting of representatives from the Orissa Jesuit Society, Government of India, and Government of Orissa and eminent invited industrialists and educationists.

XIMB to set up University in Orissa

India's premier business Scholl Xavier Institute of Management, Bhubaneswar likely to set up a University in Orissa. This was stated by Orissa Chief secretary Bijay Kumar Pattnaik at Bhubaneswar on Tuesday. He said the state government likely to present a legislation on this regard in Assembly during winter session. He said government examining the proposal of XIMB. Soon Government will take final decision on this regard.

Xavier Institute of Management-Bhubaneswar (XIMB) proposed university is coming up on 35 acres of land at Jatani in Khurda district. Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation of Orissa (Idco) is in the process of building a compound wall which will be completed soon. Then, XIMB likely to start construction work on this campus in August. XIMB will invest Rs 10-12 crore in the current financial year on the second campus.
While the university will function from XIMB's existing campus in the city, the rural management course will be shifted to the new campus. Besides the flagship Post Graduate Diploma in Management (PGDM), the new campus will offer courses like healthcare management, education management, human resource management and a doctoral programme in management for working executives.

It should be noted that Xavier Institute of Management, Bhubaneswar established in 1987.  The Institute owes its origin to a Social Contract between the Government of Orissa and the Orissa Jesuit Society. The Institute is led by a Governing Board consisting of representatives from the Orissa Jesuit Society, Government of India, and Government of Orissa and eminent invited industrialists and educationists.

IIMA & IIMC to organize Conference on Management Education: The Road Ahead

The Conference on Management Education: The Road Ahead will be held  from  July  22  to  23,  2011  at  the  IIMA  Campus.  The  Conference  is  being  jointly organized  by  Indian  Institute  of  Management,  Ahmedabad  (IIMA)  and  Indian  Institute  of Management, Calcutta (IIMC). More than 50 participants are expected to attend. Prof  Samir  K  Barua,  Director,  IIMA  and  Prof.  Shekhar  Chaudhuri,  Director,  IIMC  would inaugurate the conference at 9.00 am on July 22, 2011.

Background

India  has  the  largest  number  of  management  schools  in  the  world.  The  number  of management  graduates  passing  out  of  these  schools  is  also  perhaps  the  largest  in  the world.  In  view of  the  significant changes in the environment in  which organizations would function  in  the  future,  it  is  imperative  to  examine  the  manner  in  which  management education is being imparted in India. The conference proposes to bring together leaders in management  education  for  a  two-day conclave  to  discuss  various  facets  of  management education so as  to make  the  education  imparted more  relevant to the  needs  of emerging economies.  The  conference  is  expected  to  be  followed  by  several  short  conferences  on specific themes that would emerge from the discussions on which in-depth deliberations are required.  The  attempt  would  be  to  distil  recommendations  for  change  based  on  the collective  wisdom  of  participants in  the conference  to make  management  education  more effective in serving the needs of the society in the years to come.

The Conference Team

The conference is being organized  by the pioneering  management schools  in the country, IIMA and IIMC. The discussions would be led by faculty teams from the two institutes as well as faculty from US business schools.

Themes for Discussion

While the format  for discussions would be  open ended, whereby the  issues that  would  be discussed would  essentially be  decided  by  the  participants, it is  proposed  to structure  the discussions  along  the  following  themes  on  which  some  empirical  findings  would  be presented:
  
•  What are the emerging needs of the practicing world? What changes would they like to see in the curriculum and the philosophy underlying management education in the country? The discussions would be based on a presentation to be made on the basis of a study that would be carried out before the conference.

•  What  are  the  changes  in  curriculum  and  processes  that  are  being  done  in management  schools in India?  What  has  been  the experience  of the  management schools with respect to the changes they have experimented with? The discussions would be based  on presentation to be made on  the basis of a study that would be carried out before the conference.

•  What  are  the  changes  in  curriculum,  processes  and  philosophy  underlying management education in some of the leading business schools? How relevant are those innovations and changes to the needs in the Indian context? The discussions would be based on the path-breaking study that has been done by three professors from the Harvard Business School. The study is documented in the book Rethinking the MBA.

Expected Output from the Conference

The  discussions  in  the  conference  would  be  brought  out  in  the  proceedings  of  the conference. The sessions would also be video-recorded. The idea would be to disseminate the  outputs  widely  so  as to start a  national  debate on what  needs  to  be done to revamp management  education  so that it becomes more relevant  and responsive to the emerging needs of the nation.

HS revamp to stay relevant

Higher Secondary is struggling to stay relevant in the face of an exodus of city schools to the central boards, forcing the authorities to fast-track a syllabus revamp that made little progress under the erstwhile Left Front regime.
“There is a perception that the HS course does not adequately prepare a student for all-India entrance examinations. We are probing every aspect of the course to identify the deficiencies and come up with the necessary changes,” the new president of the West Bengal Council of Higher Secondary Education, Muktinath Chatterjee, told Metro.
The gulf between Higher Secondary and the central boards is nowhere more apparent than in the math syllabus. The central boards have introduced a chapter on mathematical reasoning that is not part of Higher Secondary yet, giving their students the edge in competitive exams where math questions specifically test reasoning skills.
Also, both CBSE and ISC lay stress on the calculus component in math, which teachers say prepares students better for the IIT-JEE and other national engineering entrance exams.
In statistics, Higher Secondary students are not taught Bayes’ theorem, which the central boards have introduced.
Several of Calcutta’s private schools have already switched from the state to the central boards — the list includes St. Xavier’s Collegiate School, Loreto House and Modern High — and no new English-medium institution has applied for Higher Secondary affiliation over the past five years. The common gripe is “outdated syllabus and lopsided examination and assessment system”.
Schools that remain under the state board are not getting students for Class XI from outside the Madhyamik circle.
“More than 20 per cent of our Class XI students used to be from other boards. But hardly any student who has not studied in a Madhyamik school now applies for a Higher Secondary seat. In fact, many from the Madhyamik system are seeking admission to ICSE schools after Class VIII,” a teacher at South Point said.
South Point runs a parallel CBSE section till Class VII and intends moving away from the Higher Secondary system in phases, sources said.
Higher Secondary isn’t in sync with the Madhyamik course either. The existing syllabus also does not prepare students for the undergraduate courses of Calcutta University, according to teachers.
Chatterjee said some critical deficiencies had been identified for the board to work on. “Students who clear Higher Secondary and opt to study English honours find themselves unprepared for various aspects of the course. Our syllabus, for instance, does not have a chapter on the history of England. Such lack of continuity is not seen in the syllabi followed by the central boards.”
The HS math and science syllabi were to be remodelled by 2010 in accordance with a set of guidelines drawn up by the Union human resource development ministry for all state boards. The idea was to establish uniform syllabi in the two subjects across states so that students got a level playing field in national competitive examinations.
Several state boards have met the deadline, but not Bengal. The previous government had announced months before its exit that the Higher Secondary board would complete the transition in 2013.
“We will try to expedite the process of revising the science and math syllabi and implement the central directive as early as possible,” promised board president Chatterjee in keeping with the new work ethic adopted by the Mamata Banerjee government.

ISLRTC to start functioning from September 1

The Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) in collaboration with the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, Goverment Of India, will establish the country’s first Indian Sign Language Research & Training Centre (ISLRTC) at the university campus to promote the use of Indian Sign Language (ISL) in India.

The centre will start functioning with training programmes making use of the existing facilities and availing national and international experts in the field with effect from September 1, 2011.

The broad objectives of the centre are to carry out research in ISL and create linguistic record/analysis of the language, promote research on bilingual approach in education of deaf children, train persons in sign linguistics and other related areas at various levels.

35 academic posts have been created for the centre. The centre will be established with 100 per cent funding from the Ministry.

The centre aims to design, promote and offer programmes in ISL, interpreting and bilingual education, at various levels through various modes including the distance mode.

It will develop and offer courses aimed at training teachers to teach ISL. It will work towards developing and creating resources for use in teaching of ISL to children, parents, teachers and the general public. 

The objective will also be to facilitate educational use of ISL in special schools as the first language or medium of instruction and in mainstream schools as a second language or as interpreter mediated language of classroom communication.

It will also provide guidance in innovative education methodology for institutions providing education to the deaf. The centre will collaborate with other institutions and organisations of the deaf to promote and propagate ISL and also with Universities and other educational institutions in India and abroad in sign language research, deaf studies, and related areas.

To produce and promote visual material in ISL story telling of both Indian and global literature and deafness related issues, the centre will create and promote literature in and about ISL to facilitate print and visual media in promoting the use of ISL.

IGNOU has been offering programmes in sign language including a BA in applied sign language sponsored by UK-India Education Research Initiative (UKIERI) for the last three years. This is the first of its kind in the country. 

In India, most sign language tutors have no formal qualification, and most teachers in schools for the deaf do not have any sign language qualification. 

In this context, the Staff Training and Research Institute in Distance Education (STRIDE) at IGNOU and the University of Central Lancashire (UCLAN), the United Kingdom, worked together to systematically develop new approaches to distance education in the sign language medium. 

Canada, India CEPA to be in place by 2013

Canada is confident that the proposed Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) with India would be worked out by 2013.
The bilateral trade between both the countries is set to touch $15 billion by 2015 from $ 4.5 billion in 2010. “Prime Ministers from both the countries are committed to conclude CEPA negotiations by 2013,” said Stewart Beck, the Canadian High Commissioner to India, during a Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) meet here on Tuesday. According to him, negotiations between both the countries are on schedule regarding CEPA.Regarding investment opportunities in West Bengal, he said, “Canada is looking forward to investments in education, agriculture and mining sector in the state. Today, I had a meeting with St Xaviers College and Calcutta University officials today.” While St Xaviers has a student exchange programme with York University, Calcutta University has tie-ups with Manitoba University.

“Currently, about 250 Canadian companies have investments in India, which we want to increase by 750 soon. Majority of those firms would be from small and medium enterprises,” added Beck. The SMEs would operate through partners in India, so that they can connect with the local markets faster.In education sector, Canada has issued 3,000 visas in 2008 while it has increased to 12,500 this year.
Meanwhile, a marketing delegation from the country is expected to visit West Bengal next year. He said that in a slated meeting with the state finance minister Amit Mitra, he will also invite a state government delegation to Canada to open up business relations between West Bengal and Canadian companies.

Maharashtra engg admissions: DTE revises round 1 seat allotment after goof-up

The provisional seat allotment list for round 1 of the centralised admisison process (CAP) forengineering courses in the state had to be revised late on Monday night, following a goofup. 

The mistake resulted from erroneous information about a course in the online option form. The directorate of technical education (DTE) posted the list on its website at 5 pm on Monday to start the process for students to confirm their admissions at the allotted colleges. 

However, within hours, the DTE put up a notice on the website stating that the list had been cancelled and a revised, corrected list was being released. This was after authorities at the DTE office in Mumbairealised that several students were allotted seats to a printing technology course that is no more offered by the concerned engineering college, nor is it a part of the All India Council for Technical Education's list of approved courses for this year. Students are required to submit online option forms listing out their choice of colleges and courses in preferential order. 

The DTE allots seats based on these option forms. This year, the number of engineering colleges in the state has gone up to nearly 325 and their collective student intake is over 1.25 lakh. A DTE official told TOI on Tuesday, "The option form had erroneously listed printing technology as one of the courses offered by the Pune-based Pune Vidyarthi Griha College of engineering. Students ended up choosing this particular course as one of their options and were even allotted seats for the same."

The official said, "We had to take another look at the entire allotment list on Monday night to make the correction. A revised list has now been posted on the website and students should refer to this updated list before reaching the allotted college for confirming their admission." The corrected list was posted around Monday midnight, he added. 

According to the admission schedule released by the DTE, the process for confirmation of seat allotment by the students will be conducted from July 26 to 28. A college-wise, coursewise vacancy position for round 2 seat allotment will be declared after this process is over.

Madhuri all praise for BMC's 'virtual education' project

Expressing optimism that evolving technology would benefit students from all strata of society, Bollywood actress Madhuri Dixit today showered praises on the ambitious 'virtual education system' launched by BMC for the civic-run schools.

The virtual classroom is the brainchild of Shiv Sena Executive President Uddhav Thackeray. The civic body had earlier this year introduced the technique in some of its schools.

"Technology is evolving everywhere. Even film industry has evolved in terms of technology. Though India is not lagging behind but there are a few people from some strata of society (who are) intelligent but they don't have the access and the opportunity," the actress said.

"But today with Uddhav Thackeray providing this unique technique at BMC schools lot of students will benefit from it," she added.
 

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) today launched virtual education system in 80 of its schools. Under this, BMC schools are connected with each other through a satellite. A teacher will address students in all these schools from a studio and hold interactive sessions with them.

Talking about the education system in India and US, the Denver-based actress said, "The education system in USA is expensive. As far as public schools are concerned education is free but private schools are expensive. Even education in colleges and high schools is costlier in USA."

The dhak dhak girl whose love for dance is well known said she would like to open a dance school. "I love acting. Besides acting my interest lies in dancing. I would like to open a dance school. I feel importance must be given to art schools. There are not many in India. Art schools must be given equal footage as science ones. I would suggest Uddhav Thackeray to open art schools," Madhuri said.

Microsoft and Anna University signed a MoU to launch the I-Spark program

Microsoft and Anna University signed a MoU today to launch the I-Spark program in the institution. The university is the first one in Tamil Nadu to join the unique I-Spark program which is aimed at driving innovation and entrepreneurship among students. 

The program is an attempt to bridge the gap between industry needs and student readiness by accelerating adoption of technology which strengthens IT competencies among students and creates better employment opportunities. So far, 50,000 students in 25 colleges across 5 states have benefited from the program. The event at Anna University today was attended by Dr. P Mannar Jawahar, Vice-Chancellor of Anna University; and S.Somasegar, Senior VP, Developer Division of Microsoft Corporation.

The I-Spark program comprises an 'Innovation Platform' - that acts as a 'hub for collaboration' amongst colleges, universities, government/quasi-government bodies, industry bodies and partners. It is a unique inclusive platform that is created to facilitate growth of the local software economy in the country.
Speaking on the occasion, Dr. P Mannar Jawahar, Vice-Chancellor of Anna University, said "In a highly competitive environment it is important for students to think out of the box and leverage technology optimally to develop path breaking solutions. We are focused on creating opportunities for students that encourage them to learn, experiment and innovate. Microsoft's I-Spark program is one such platform that will enable our students to achieve the highest levels of excellence." 

Delighted at being present at his alma mater, S.Somasegar, Senior VP, Developer Division of Microsoft Corporation said, "It is exciting to see education institutes across India drive innovation amongst students. Today's students are tomorrow's leaders. I clearly see synergies between institutes like Anna University and Microsoft, where innovation is regarded as the most powerful driving force for everything we do. These are exciting times for India and the I-Spark program can play a pivotal role in enhancing the skills of students, in empowering them to use the latest software and developer tools and transform their ideas into reality." Somasegar also mentioned that starting this year, Microsoft Corporation will be hiring students directly from India's premium colleges to work at its campus in Redmond, and Anna University would be one of the first universities where Microsoft would look to hire for its R&D facilities.
Microsoft supports aspiring entrepreneurs at every crucial stage of their lifecycles, through:
DreamSpark, a program which provides developer tools to students free of charge. Over 4 million students have already gained access to the latest Microsoft tools in India through this.

WebsiteSpark, a program that gives web designers and developers a jump-start by providing the tools and resources needed to build great websites, free of cost.

BizSpark, a program designed to accelerate the success of IT entrepreneurs through software support. So far, over 1300 Indian startups have been provided professional software at no charge.

BizSpark One, an invite only program, aimed at accelerating the growth of select high potential startups through a one-to-one relationship with Microsoft and a global community of advisors, investors, and peers.

BizSpark Startup Challenge 2011, a unique contest for start-ups in the field of product software to showcase their innovative business plans, receive feedback, and mentorship from top investors and Microsoft. The two winners were recently rewarded with a grant of USD 40,000 each.

20 Years Later, India's Transformation Is Incomplete: World View

Exactly 20 years ago this week, Manmohan Singh, now in his second term as prime minister of India, made, as the greenhorn finance minister of a newly elected Congress government, the most important and far-reaching budget speech in the modern history of his country. In response to an unprecedented balance of payments crisis -- which left India with about two weeks of foreign-exchange reserves -- Singh, with the support of Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao, announced a host of reforms in his inaugural budget speech on July 24, 1991. His two-hour oration left no one in doubt that he intended to turn a crisis into an opportunity.
By dismantling government control over the economy, opening up Indian markets to foreign investment, cutting trade tariffs, devaluing the rupee, Singh broke down, in one go, the walls between the sluggish, protected economy of socialist India and the rest of the world. "I do not minimize the difficulties that lie ahead on the long and arduous journey on which we have embarked," Singh said at the conclusion of his speech. "But as Victor Hugo once said, 'No power on Earth can stop an idea whose time has come.' I suggest to this august House that the emergence of India as a major economic power in the world happens to be one such idea."
Today, Singh's words, which then seemed an implausible dream, are a reality. In absolute terms, India is now the 10th -largest economy in the world; and when figures are adjusted for purchasing power parity, it is the fourth-largest. Since the second half of the 1990s, the economy has consistently posted a growth rate of 7.5 percent or more -- about twice the rate of the years between Independence in 1947 and liberalization in 1991 -- and is now a hotspot on the map of global business. Per-capita income has almost quadrupled compared with 1991. Long starved of access to consumer goods, Indians of all classes have taken advantage of a consumer revolution of colossal dimensions. Economic liberalization has greatly affected Indian attitudes toward money, business, development and politics, and opened doors for the ambitions of millions of young people. A laggard in the world for much of the 20th century, India now confidently inhabits the 21st.
Yet there was less excitement this week about the 20th anniversary of liberalization than there might have been. This points, on the one hand, to the success of something that has now been so thoroughly absorbed that it seems to have always been around, and on the other, to a negative mood in the country and an ambivalence among large sections of the population about liberalization's consequences, whether real or imagined. One reason is that, inevitably, the gulf between the rich and the poor has widened enormously in the last two decades, as those able to take advantage of the opportunities afforded by the new India have raced ahead of those left behind. India's middle-class is growing rapidly, and numbers about 400 million, but it is disconnected from the rural poor and often uncomprehending of its needs and problems. The poor themselves have good reason to be skeptical of a mood that would extol India as a rising economic superpower. While most realize that sometimes inequality must rise for poverty to fall, they say to themselves: not these levels of inequality.
Worst of all, the government -- including, ironically, the UPA coalition in power at the center for the last seven years with Singh at the helm -- largely hasn't kept up its side of the bargain. It failed to adequately fulfill its responsibilities in the fields of infrastructure, health, and education (especially primary education), leaving many citizens weaker and often resentful in the post-liberalization world. India ranked an abysmal 119 among 169 countries in the United Nations Development Program's 2010 Human Development Index. The government also has neglected its responsibilities as a regulator, leading to the mushrooming of crony capitalism. Indian politics retains a backward approach to economics, choosing to offer freebies, subsidies, and special privileges to groups of voters rather than make a case for the advantages of liberalization.
Reforms themselves have suffered because they have been implemented in a piecemeal, stuttering way, without a comprehensive, intellectually coherent "second phase" to follow the advances made by the first. It would appear that, two decades after he first shook the earth beneath Indian feet, Singh doesn't have the energy or the political backing to take his project forward. The most prominent pieces of legislation of the current UPA government have beenmassive government programs to achieve what it calls "inclusive growth," such as the NREGA plan for employment generation.
Reports and essays in the Indian media took stock of both sides of the liberalization story. In "How the Indian Economy Changed, 1991-2011," the Economic Times presented a set of tables documenting economic statistics over the period. Among the interesting leaps documented in this piece was the extent of India's telecom revolution (telephone subscribers, in the mobile-phone era, are up to 862 million from 0.5 million) and the flow of Foreign Direct Investment into the country (up to $30.3 billion from $0.13 billion). In a piece in the Indian Express called "Reforms of 1991 a one-fourth revolution," the columnist Shankkar Aiyar wrote:
On this day in 1991, the government lit a bonfire of historic vanities with the Big Bang theory of liberalisation that promised to liberate India from episodic crisis and Indians from perennial poverty. The government dismantled licence raj [the elaborate bureaucratic process for regulating business], opened up trade, unshackled the financial sector and vowed to get government out of the business of business. On their own, the political class would have gladly put off salvation until the next coming but the severity of the crisis -- India was begging NRIs [non-resident Indians] not to withdraw their monies and countries to extend credit -- obliged the political class to act. It is a travesty of fate and a reflection on India that the principal navigators—A.N. Verma, S. Venkitramanan and, of course, P V Narasimha Rao -- have never been accorded their due.
Cause for celebrating the anniversary? Yes and no. Yes because there has been no drastic reversal as in the 1960s, and no because the micro-analysis is not as cheerful. Availability of choice is not matched by availability of incomes to afford consumption. Growth has been asymmetric across sectors and geographies. Services sector growing at 9-plus percent, accounts for more than half the GDP and for 25 percent of the workforce. Rural India, which hosts 75 percent of the population, is growing the slowest. Growth is uneven across geographies too. Of the 30 small and big states, just the four southern states account for 22 percent of GDP and 28 percent of the employment. The most populous states hosting a majority of the poor are the worst off, gawkers in a multiplex economy.
And although the Indian economy as a whole grew at an average of nearly 7 percent between 1991 and 2011, agriculture grew at barely 2.8 percent. Juxtapose the growth with share of national income to appreciate the consequences. Agriculture, which accounted for 29 percent of the economy, now accounts for 15 percent of the economy, while India’s rural populace has shot up from 640 million to 810 million. This means, in 1991 nearly 640 million people or 80 percent of the population lived on 30 percent of the national income and in 2011 nearly 75 percent of the populace or 810 million people live on 15 percent of the national income. Economists may quibble about what percentage of rural populace is dependent on agriculture, but there is no doubt that 75 percent of the populace hasn’t found a place on the gravy train. This makes the 1991 reforms a 25 percent revolution.
Those words were echoed by the popular columnist Swaminathan S. Aiyar in the Economic Times:
The unfinished agenda is huge. Crony capitalism rather than free competition prevails in many sectors, especially real estate, natural resources and government contracts, making politicians millionaires on an unprecedented scale. Government services — subsidised food, employment programmes, education, health — are dogged by massive absenteeism, corruption and leakages. The police-judicial system is corrupt and moribund, and simply does not combat crime or redress public grievances. Criminals have entered politics in unprecedented numbers.
Much economic reform is still needed. India ranks only 134th of 183 countries in ease of doing business, according to the Doing Business series of the World Bank/IFC. But even more urgent are reforms to improve governance. After all, economic reform has sufficed to create miracle growth. Governance, alas, still needs a miracle.
And in Outlook magazine, Kalyani Chawla reprised the crucial role played by Rao in July 1991, and compared the Manmohan Singh of 1991 to the Mahmohan Singh of today:
Manmohan, who has been called the father of India’s economic reforms, could not launch second-generation reforms as prime minister during UPA-1. Vested interests, trade unions and the Left parties combined with votebank politics and populism to scuttle or slow down the pace of reforms. At the state level, regional parties in power delayed reforms. [...] Above all, Manmohan was not able to market these reforms to the masses, as they had failed to generate employment corresponding to the high growth. The opposition parties dubbed the reforms as pro-rich and anti-poor. During UPA-2, the government is drifting and is bogged down by corruption, especially the 2G and CWG scams.
Despite Rao’s contribution to India’s liberalisation drive, the Congress seems reluctant to commend his efforts. On the contrary, it seems as if the party would like to black out the Rao period from its history. For instance, while celebrating its 125th foundation day last December, the party enumerated the achievements of every Congress prime minister—except Rao.
And in London's Financial Times, the economist Vivek Dehejia took issue with the use of the word "neoliberal" to describe India's current economic order, arguing that many of its problems had their roots in too little reform, not too much:
Unfortunately, the case for liberal economic reform has never been properly made in India. Reform, when it happens, comes under the weight of a crisis, as in 1991, or in stealth, as it did subsequently. This “original sin” of 1991 has contaminated all subsequent discussion of economic policy and the roots of our current difficulties.
[...]The bottom line is this: our problem at present is not too much reform, but not enough. And by that I mean not merely the quantum of existing reforms, whether in trade, tax, or foreign investment, or even much-needed “second generation” reforms, such as of labour laws. Rather, I refer to vitally needed regulatory reform which keeps big business at arms’ length from politicians and bureaucrats, and, at the same time, a rationalization of that selfsame regulatory regime to eliminate the incentive for corruption in the first place. In addition, as pointed out by commentators in this and other newspapers, we need a thorough overhaul of electoral finance in India to cut off at the knees the incentive for politicians to accumulate war chests of black money with which to fight elections. As economists are aware, there is both a supply and demand side to corruption, and both must be tackled if it is to be reined in. That would take us a long way toward a truly liberal economic order, a far cry from the unfinished avatar of today, which is being castigated by earnest but misguided critics who see the symptoms but have failed to diagnose the disease.
Dehejia's piece can be usefully read alongside one by Niranjan Rajadhyaksha, managing editor of the Indian business newspaper Mint, who wrote a few months ago in an essay titled "India, Twenty Years Later," in the Wall Street Journal:
[T]he so-called 1991 Big Bang, and the reform process since then, left a lot undone. In the past few years especially, the Congress Party-led government of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, the finance minister who helped introduce many of the most dramatic reforms from 1991-93, has lost its nerve for liberalization. Several important second-generation reforms, like the introduction of a unified goods and services tax that will finally stop distorting the tax incentives of producers, have not progressed since the Congress came to power in 2004.
More importantly, Mr. Singh has done nothing to liberalize India's labor laws, the key impediment to job creation. A plethora of labor legislation enacted since India's independence in 1947 makes it very difficult for firms to hire and fire people as they wish. Laws to protect existing workers have kept new workers out of jobs. Because of these laws, manufacturing firms have preferred to substitute otherwise cheap labor with capital. So even when India's companies grow, they aren't taking its workforce along.
Meanwhile, the government still struggles to provide basic public services. India is terrible at making sure its citizens have the opportunity to go to schools or hospitals, or even have drinking water. In some cases, it can't even promise law and order. These problems add an edge to the old complaint that the Indian state does too much in the economy and too little in governance. So reordering priorities should involve further economic reforms on the one hand and governance reforms on the other.
The major problem now is that these earlier reform failures are creating political conditions where it may be harder to push forward with more liberalization. India's biggest political-economy puzzle, and also one of its most serious challenges, is that earlier reforms have not created an effective political constituency for further reform. Voters consistently reward candidates promising greater welfare benefits or government intervention in the economy.
Why reformers don't win votes is clearest in the labor market. Even if the potential reform constituency now has phones and consumer goods, it doesn't have steady employment. [...] 93% of working-age Indians, estimated now at 500 million, continue to work informally—outside of the organized sector and without proper labor contracts.
This lack of modern employment opportunities, coupled with poor public services, has denied millions the upward mobility that was seen in most other Asian countries. Unemployed or underemployed Indians, still living an abject life without much dignity, look at the hype surrounding the Big Bang and wonder what was in it for them.
This disconnect between rising aspirations and the inability to meet those hopes quickly enough gives rise to a fault line in Indian politics. Politicians happily exploit it: Rather than summoning the will to push through reforms that would address the roots of the problem, it's easier to pitch illiberal spending and subsidies as an easy "fix."
Although there are many gaps and contradictions in India's liberalization story, there remains little doubt that the decisions of June 24, 1991 have had a greater influence on the lives of its people (including the few hundred million born since) than any other political event in recent history. Perhaps by the time the 30th anniversary of liberalization comes around a second phase of reforms will have evened out some of the imbalances created by the first -- and hopefully this time it won't take a crisis to force action.

Cox & Kings set to take Holidaybreak reins

Tour operator Cox & Kings is in talks to acquire British specialist travel company Holidaybreak. A deal could result in the biggest cross-border transaction by an Indian travel company.
London Stock Exchange-listed Holidaybreak confirmed the talks in a note to shareholders on Tuesday. The company, which provides residential outdoor education and adventure trips for school children in the UK and other major European markets, is valued at £225.24 million, based on Monday’s closing price.
Holidaybreak told shareholders the discussions may or may not lead to a cash offer of 432.1 pence per ordinary share, which is at a premium of 18% to the stock’s Monday close.
At this price, Holidaybreak would be valued at over £265 million, or Rs1,900-2,000 crore, though reports in a section of British media earlier had pegged the deal value at £300-450 million.
“We view the offer price of 432.1p as broadly adequate... the main prize for any bidder is the education division,” a Reuters report quoted analyst Sahill Shan of Brewin Dolphin as saying.
Industry experts see the deal closing in a week, unless Holidaybreak gets a competitive bid.
“Another travel company, TUI Travel, was initially rumoured to be a potential bidder. Its management has, however, ruled out making an approach. With no potential suitor in sight, it is very likely that the deal will get through in C&K’s favour,” said the head of travel research at a leading consultancy firm.
Analysts feel the acquisition will stand Cox & Kings in good stead in the international travel market, given the growth in outbound traffic.

Interactive devices seek a handhold

Every night before going to sleep, Sai Chandradeep, a class IX student at Delhi Public School, Hyderabad, spends an hour studying with the help of a small interactive, touchscreen device.
The device has every chapter of every course he needs. But more than that, the device uses audio, video and graphics that explain concepts students find difficult to understand through simple textual reading.
Chandradeep is among the first users of the Edutor Advantage e40, a hand-held learning device for children studying the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) syllabus in classes III through X.
“I have been using the Edutor product for a year,” says Chandradeep. “I used to get around 70% (marks), but now I have been able to score 82%.”
His mother, Sudha Rani, a teacher at IMS Test Prep, a chain of management entrance test training centres, says Chandradeep has benefited from the device. “More than anything else, he is able to understand and answer not 100%, but about 80% of the questions,” she says.
Edutor Advantage is among a handful of devices attempting to make education hand-held. Sized 14.9cm by 8.2cm, it runs on a chip with a year’s syllabus in the audiovisual format. It also has mind-development games such as chess and sudoku, but is otherwise distraction-free: there is no Internet connectivity, nor can it play any CD or chip other than the ones designed for it.
Each device costs Rs.5,845, while a chip with a year’s syllabus is priced atRs.1,635.
It’s early days yet for Edutor Advantage, but analysts say India’s education sector is becoming increasingly driven by technology, particularly audiovisual content. This is the latest among a number of innovations that have hit the market to enhance students’ learning experience.
Interactive whiteboards, for instance, entered the market some years ago. Powered off, each functions like an ordinary board, but when plugged into a computer, which in turn uses a projector to throw the display on the board, it becomes a touchscreen interface that enhances the teaching experience.
“Every child has a laptop or a computer these days. The audiovisual method of teaching is becoming more popular and text books are becoming passé. Parents are also graduating to the idea to help the child learn,” says Nitish Poddar, associate director of transaction services for consultancy KPMG in India. “I think the next big revolution that will happen in education is in technology—maybe not in one or two years, but definitely over the next 5-10 years,” he adds.
Edutor Advantage is the brainchild of a group of four engineers-turned-entrepreneurs who are now engaged with the CBSE system, which has 11,902 affiliated schools and 12 million students, to plug the device. It has sold about 1,000 units in a year since it was launched.
A CBSE official, who did not want to be named, said there was no substitute for classroom education, but technology can enhance the process of learning.
“Independent technology cannot replace classroom, but yes, it enables the learning process,” said the official, declining to comment on individual technology products in the education space. The official added that there is a need to guard against commercialization of the CBSE brand name in the name of promoting technology.
India has the largest education market in the world, with approximately 540 million in the 0-24 age bracket, according to the report Private Equity Pulse on Education, released in June by Venture Intelligence, a provider of information on private equity (PE) and venture capital (VC) investments in India. A KPMG report said the education market is estimated to be worth $60 billion (Rs.2.66 trillion) a year.
Around 55% of 1,000 PE and VC firms said they found education an attractive sector and plan to invest around Rs.4,500 crore over the next three years, a study by the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (Assocham) showed.
Recently, the iProf, an interactive education tablet that claims to increase retention by 25%, attracted Rs.11 crore investment each from Norwest Venture Partners and IDG Ventures India.
To be sure, not everyone is convinced about the utility of such gizmos.
“These devices may be useful to the child. It may help about 50%,” says Soumini Reddy, an educationist and member of Satsang Foundation, a spiritual organization that has founded schools for rural children as well as for alternative education in Andhra Pradesh. “Personally, I don’t think it makes much of a difference. Ultimately the teacher is needed to clear the children’s doubts, and the methods of teaching are important.”
When they came together, the question Edutor Technologies India Pvt. Ltdfounders asked themselves was: “how do we make the best possible content available to students so that the learning process becomes very efficient and very effective?” says Ram Gollamudi, chief executive.
Three of the founders—Gollamudi, Ramesh Karra (vice-president, sales and marketing) and Prasanna Boni (chief operating officer)—graduated from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Bombay, while Sravan Narasipuram (vice-president, engineering) studied at Andhra University in Visakhapatnam.
Once the device was ready, the team approached CBSE schools around the city, spoke about it to students and teachers, and also tied up with local bookstores.
“We’ve not done any outright marketing as such; it may happen in due course,” says Gollamudi. “We also engage with a lot of leaders in the industry, to have them buy into the idea that this is fundamentally good for the whole student body and they, in turn, percolate the message.”
Manufacturing and promoting Edutor Advantage has cost the team $2 million, sourced mainly from their own savings and from friends and family members.
The team is looking to raise $2-3 million in the next three years from venture capitalists and other institutional investors, to scale up operations and spread to six-eight cities.
PE investment in the education sector was $140 million across at least 20 deals in the year ended March, compared with $180 million across some 10 deals in 2009-10, according to the Venture Intelligence report.
A poll presented in the report, conducted among 35 fund managers of PE and VC firms, shows education technology is the fourth most attractive sector for investment out of 12 education-related sectors, behind vocational education, test preparation and tutorials.
“If you ask a PE or a venture capitalist guy, he is interested in investing in education,” says Poddar of KPMG. “The only problem they have is in terms of an exit route, because the market is so regulated. So they are looking to invest in a company linked to education but not regulated, and these companies are the best option.”
Milestone Religare Investment Advisors Pvt. Ltd is exploring investment opportunities in the space, said managing partner Srinivas Baratam. “In the end, for us to make an investment, the price point of the offering has to make sense as technology, at least for the time being, would be used to supplement the main offerings and not as a substitute,” he said. “Thus, we believe this segment would be price sensitive and affordability would be a distinct advantage.”
SETU Software Systems Pvt. Ltd, started in 2008 by two faculty members of IIT-Hyderabad, is testing myDrona, a hand-held education device targeting students of all syllabi, from nursery to postgraduation, in smaller cities and towns. Currently only in Andhra Pradesh, the company is expecting to expand across the country in the near future.
“Once we expand into other states, the challenges we are expecting to face are to find good partnerships for distribution channels in the go-to markets for the state,” says Sri Harsha, business development head of SETU.
“We have made the best-quality learning material on the Web available to students, using our own search and retrieval technologies,” Harsha says. “So far, we have about 70-80 terabytes worth of content.”
The device costs Rs.3,499-4,499, depending on the class. Like Edutor, this firm has sold around 1,000 pieces, mostly through word-of-mouth publicity. SETU is self-financed and is not looking for funding right now.
Karra of Edutor says their focus is to make the device more accessible. For this, the company may tie up with state governments and offer chips with the syllabi of state boards to make Edutor useful for more students.
“I ideally want this kind of product to be available to as many students in as many places as possible,” says Gollamudi.