SHEMBLOG

Delhi University’s Department of Geology is on the verge of organising an International Field Workshop on the theme of ‘Gold Metallogeny in India’. This 11-day workshop would be held in collaboration with NGRI — National Geophysical Research Institute, Hyderabad from 3^rd December to 13^th December, 2008 and will be ably supported by the Society of Economic Geologists, USA and Department of Science & Technology and Hutti Gold Mines Company Limited.

The workshop is a part of the ‘Deposit Modeling Program conceived on the lines of the International Union of Geological Sciences (IUGS) and the Earth Science Division of UNESCO. The basic purpose of this initiative is to extend the knowledge and expertise in mineral deposit modelling for use in the assessment and development of resources along with their exploration. This program would also enable the exchange of expertise between geoscientists of various countries. Previously, the IUGS-UNESCO sponsored program was held at the Delhi University in December 2001 with an endeavour to train Indian geoscientists in mineral deposit types.

It is called the ‘The Baap of all College Festivals’ and the title is done justice by the fact that over 60,000 students from 500 colleges would be in attendance for witnessing and participating in over 120 events that would span over four days and four nights on the sprawling campus of IIT Bombay. This glut of competitions/workshops/performances define Mood Indigo 2008 or MI’08 — the annual cultural festival of IIT-Bombay. This college fest has a national patronage and students from across the nation are expected to participate in it, like every year.

This time the fest is supposed to be a bit special as the institute celebrates its golden jubilee year of foundation. Mood-I would last from 20^th December to 23^rd December, 2008. The fest has huge participation as it gives the students a platform to display their talents in front of thousands of patrons. The most famous genres include Music & Dramatics, Dance and Literary & Fine Arts.

Chandrayan-1 has been launched as a part of India’s first lunar orbital voyage. The Indian Space Research Organisation, ISRO wants India to stamp its authority in the world of Space by hoisting the national flag on the Moon. With this, India would become the fourth nation after the US, Russia and Japan to have their national flags planted on the Moon. The Moon is a part of the global community and there are no restrictions on such actions. The Indian mission to the Moon would also look for Helium-3 — looked upon as the fuel for the future. The ISRO has its sight set on Mars after the success of the mission to Moon.

New Delhi is about get an Ayurverda-based Centre of Excellence focused on research, drug-safety, standardization and quality control of medicines. This has been a result of the Central Government’s approval of the creation of All India Institute of Ayurveda, AIIA. The new Institute would offer post-graduate/doctoral courses in various disciplines. The AIIA would become operational around March, 2012. It has been proposed that the institute would treat 250 to 300 patients on a daily basis. The Union Health Minister, Anbumani Ramadoss, further said that six new All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) would be set up across different states in the next three years.

Most of the Delhi-based nursery schools have announced the onset of the new admission session. This time there is a slight difference in the admission schedule of pre-primary schools. The nursery admissions have begun in some schools only and would be followed by the other schools, unlike the usual practice of numerous preschools announcing their admissions simultaneously. This will help the parents to avoid rushing to each school, be more relaxed and take a more informed decision regarding the admission of their child. This makes a lot of sense, keeping in view the ever-increasing realisation of the need for good schooling before entering primary education.

A portal has been launched by three students of the Indian Institute of Management —IIM. The portal would mainly deal with careers related to business consultancy. The just-launched website, www.learn2consult.com, provides all the necessary information for those seeking jobs in consultancy. This innovative portal has been created by the joint efforts of Alok Rustagi — IIM, Kozhikode, Rajat Kashyap — IIM, Lucknow and Karan Ahuja, IIM Lucknow. The portal has linkage to various industry experts. It even has a query-based ‘Ask the expert’ Section. The founding members feel that this portal was vital as consulting was looked down upon in preference for finance-oriented jobs by post-graduate students.

The Indian Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh, sent a message from Tokyo and Indians around the world felt proud when the nation’s maiden mission to moon, the launch of Chandrayan I was accomplished. This is considered as India’s first foray into a mission solely centred around the Moon. The Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle, PSLV-C11 helped to successfully launch the Chandrayan 1 satellite. India can now boast of technology good enough to enter the sphere of outer space exploration and the people working at ISRO should feel proud of their efforts.

It is believed that the launch of Chandrayan 1 would lay the foundation for better cooperation between USA and India. America too has contributed to this successful launch as the Raytheon Technology being used in Chandrayan 1 is being supported by NASA.

It has been reported that the destructive Indian opener Virender Sehewag wants to set up a sports academy along with a school at the Silani Kesho village in his native state of Haryana. This proposal has also found supporters from the Haryana state government. Sehewag would be receiving the land under the title of Shri Krishna Drishti Educational Society, which he also heads.

The proposed project would span over 23 acres. The planned sports academy would induct up to 400 cricketing aspirants, 250 soccer hopefuls along with a hostel facility for nearly 400 students. The inhabitants of the village of Silani Kesho and surrounding areas would enjoy a reservation of 5% which would include full tuition fee waiver.

Australia is on the verge of opening five Examination Centres in India. These centres would serve the purpose of recruiting for overseas doctors as Australia is fighting an acute shortage of medical professionals. In the present scenario, the hopeful candidates appear for the concerned examination in testing centres in far-away places like Singapore, Hong Kong, Dubai or London.

The proposed five centres would come up in major metros like New Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Chennai. This makes a lot of sense as India is biggest contributor of trained overseas doctors migrating to Australia. Indians from India, U.K. and South Africa form a large percentage of annual overseas recruitments Down Under.

Kota in Rajasthan has been the states’ busiest industrial hub and famous across the country for its numerous coaching institutes and the large number of IIT/Medical aspirants that descend here every year. Kota’s coaching classes have been famous for decades now and the region is well-known for producing a large number of toppers and pass-outs in the entrance examinations. Now, the Rajasthan government wants Kota — the Education City of India, to be chosen for setting up the next branch of Indian Institute of Technology or IIT.

However, the Human Resource Development ministry isn’t in favour of the state government’s proposal. The HRD ministry’s viewpoint isn’t misplaced. The presence of the large number of IIT aspirants and money-minting coaching institutes could lead to the creation of a coaching lobby.

The Indian tourism industry is faced with an annual scarcity of 200,000 trained professionals. The current system offers only 12,000 trained people. Taking this problem into consideration, the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, CCEA has approved the proposal for broadening the scope for better infrastructure and more trained manpower resources. As a result, new educational institutes will be created in the key areas of tourism and hospitality.

Even the existing polytechnics and universities would be upgrading to offer hospitality/tourism-related courses. This would translate into the strengthening of the currently-operational establishments like the IHMs and Food Craft Institutes. Some of these institutes would be turned into centres of excellence for the above-mentioned courses.

Hyderabad is on the verge of getting an international civil aviation university. Concordia University of Canada would be setting up the aviation-themed University. In all probability, the University would start offering its various courses in 2009. The campus would be set-up around 2010 in India’s first aerospace-oriented special economic zone in Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh.

It has been proposed that it will be called the International Civil Aviation University (ICAU). The project would seek investment in the range of $40 to 50 million. The University’s initial programmes would include B.Sc. Mechanical Engineering, M.Sc. Aeronautical Engineering, B.Sc. Aviation Management, M.Sc. Air Transport Management and Aviation MBA. The University would span across Hyderabad, Montreal and Toulouse.

The Ahmedabad-based CERC or Consumer Education and Research Centre has called upon the government to follow the guidelines set by the UNEP — United Nations Environment Programme and begin formally educating the children about the sustainable consumption of natural resources and their conservation.

UNEP has already pioneered this cause and even mentioned the different developmental and environmental factors involved. CERC would be working together with a German agency called GTZ for developing easy-to-understand booklets and animation films for sending across this message to the students.

Bharathiar University has just signed a Memorandum of Understanding — MoU with AssessPeople. The Vice-Chancellor of Bharathiar University and the Chief Executive Officer of AssessPeople — a workforce assessment service company, signed the Memorandum which would help the students to prepare for professional placements.

The University students would be tested/analyzed/evaluated by AssessPeople in areas like formal communication skills, analytical aptitude, technical skills and other industrial skills. Students would undergo orientation by top-management professionals and professional experts. The Company will also organise research and workshops. The varsity would benefit from attracting more potential employers and higher salaries for the students

NComputing, located in California, is a provider of low-priced computing solutions. The company has been selected to provide computer access to nearly 1.8 million students across Andhra Pradesh. This educational initiative would benefit students of nearly 5,000 schools. Andhra Pradesh would be contracting NComputing to provide nearly free IT education by creating low-cost computer labs in these schools. The AP government would benefit as these labs would use nearly 90% lesser electricity when compared to traditional computer labs.

These labs would also allow nearly seven users to share and work on one PC, simultaneously. The system would use Microsoft Windows Server operating system and Microsoft Office Suite. This is an excellent example of ground-breaking and resourceful outsourcing model. This model is being referred to as Build, Operate and Transfer or BOT — the provider installs, staffs and manages the lab.