by admin | May 25, 2021 | Corporate, Corporate Governance, Economy, Finance, News, Politics
New Delhi : The Delhi Assembly on Tuesday passed the Rs 53,000 crore “green” Budget for 2018-19, with the maximum share for education and health in allocations and a focus on fighting pollution, including commissioning of 1,000 electric buses and subsidies for switching to non-polluting fuel.
Of the total budgetary allocations, up from Rs 48,000 crore in 2017-18, as much as Rs 13,997 crore (26 per cent of the Budget) has been allocated to the education sector and Rs 6,729 (12.7 per cent) to the health sector.
The government also gave Rs 6,903 crore to the local bodies, which is 13 per cent of the total Budget and is 9.88 per cent higher over the 2017-18 allocations.
The 26 anti-pollution programmes, spanning four departments — Environment, Transport, Power, and Public Works — include a real-time, round-the-year study in partnership with the University of Washington to understand sources of pollution.
Others include replacing all street lights on PWD roads with energy efficient LED lights, an extensive tree plantation drive, and new city forests in Jaunapur, Ayanagar, Dera Mandi and Bela Farm among others.
The programmes also have a slew of incentives for switching to non-polluting fuel, including 50 per cent concession in registration charges for private cars with factory-fitted CNG kits.
Restaurants will be given a subsidy of Rs 5,000 per ‘tandoor’ or earthen oven to replace coal-based ones with electricity or gas-based variants.
A subsidy of up to Rs 1 lakh will be given to industries in approved industrial areas, to switch to piped natural gas from existing polluting fuels.
Establishments would get a subsidy of up to Rs 30,000 to switch from diesel generator sets to electricity generator sets.
The government will also launch an incentivised pilot agriculture-cum-solar farm scheme, under which solar panels will be installed on raised structures on agricultural farms without affecting the normal farming activities.
Another pilot project aims to install solar panels over 16 km length of cycle tracks.
The Rs 13,997 crore allocated for the education sector was up from Rs 3,525 crore in the previous budget and Finance Minister Sisodia said that education has been getting about 25 per cent of the total Budget for the third consecutive year.
A sum of Rs 175 crore was allotted for installing 1.2 lakh closed-circuit televisions in all government schools, which would enable parents to view online their children’s activities in the classroom.
The Rs 6,729 crore for health, up from Rs 2,627 crore in the previous budget, has Rs 403 crore allocated for Mohalla Clinics and Polyclinics and Rs 15 crore for setting up mobile van clinics.
Others important allocations include Rs 100 crore for free Wi-Fi, a project launched on a pilot basis in 2016 but which failed to take off.
Also, Rs 1,500 crore has been allocated for infrastructure development of unauthorised colonies across the city and Rs 10 crore has been earmarked for starting self-defence classes for girl students of government schools.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Entrepreneurship, Social Entrepreneur, Success Stories
By Maeeshat.in,
Mumbai: On 3rd March 2018, Er. Izhar Khan is awarded with Educationist of the year Award from Al Falah foundation for his Educational services towards the Community.
Er. Izhar Khan is an Engineering Graduate from University of Mumbai, India and Postgraduate from world renowned Institution University of Glasgow, UK. He is Chairman of NTI Academy and he believes that education is the best way to help and empower people.
During the program Khan said, India is hub to one of the highest youngest population in the world where more than 60% of the population is below age of 35 years. Each year over 60 million plus students graduate and more than 70 percent of them are left unemployed because of lack of requisite skills. This problem can be solved with skill based education where students when they graduate carry at least one skill to make their livelihood.
Especially if we look at school education currently, there are over 1.3 million schools operating in India where over 228 million students are enrolled for traditional education. If one could notice, there are huge dropout rates in high school, with as much as 56.8 per cent of the students discontinuing from regular schools before even reaching Class 10 exam. India needs to seriously think about this problem and find solution for the same.
He has delivered lectures across India in Mumbai, Pune, Hyderabad, Delhi, Aligarh, Lucknow and many other cities of India in Top Ranking institutions such as Osmania University, Jamia Millia Islamia, Aligarh Muslim University, Integral University and many others. He also wishes to form a unique platform for entrepreneurs and policy makers where they can come share their insights and ideas for the benefit of India and Indian Muslims.
by admin | May 25, 2021 | News
For representational purpose only (file photo)
Patna : Nearly 1,000 students were expelled for cheating during the Class 12 examinations in Bihar, officials said on Saturday.
Anand Kishore, the Chairman of the Bihar School Examination Board (BSEB), told the media here that more the students were expelled “for adopting unfair means” during the examinations that concluded on Friday.
The examinations had started on February 6.
The chairman said that 25 fake examiners were also caught and FIRs were lodged against guardians for helping their wards to cheat in the examinations.
He claimed the examinations this time were held in a fair manner this time and mass cheating in Bihar was a thing of the past. “It is not possible now.”
Nearly 112,07,986 students appeared for the Class 12 exams at 1,384 centres across the state.
Mass cheating has been reported in Bihar for years.
Last year, the Class 12 Arts topper turned out to be a 42-year-old man, who had faked his age to take the test. He was arrested on charges of fraud.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Entrepreneurship, Markets, Startup Basics, Technology
Yash Dhake, a mechanical engineering student and Samruddhi Dhake, a computer engineering student from Chinchwad College of Engineering in Nigadi, Pune with their model at the annual “SOLIDWORKS WORLD 2018” conference.
By Nishant Arora,
Los Angeles : For Yash Dhake, a mechanical engineering student, and Samruddhi Dhake, a computer engineering student, the dream finally came true when they came on stage here to receive accolades for their innovations in front of over 5,000 innovators and global industry stalwarts.
Hailing from Chinchwad College of Engineering in Nigadi, Pune, the brother-sister duo showcased their project titled “Smart Product for Waste Management and Reuse” at the annual “SOLIDWORKS WORLD 2018” conference here last week.
They emerged winners after competing with over 850 teams from 196 colleges across 21 states in the design challenge “Aakruti 2017”, organised by the “3DEXPERIENCE” major Dassault Systemes India in November last year.
For Marie Planchard, Director of Education and Early Engagement, SOLIDWORKS at Dassault Systèmes, this is just the beginning and India, which took the lead in producing talent in computer science globally, now has the daunting task of preparing a workforce for industrial design and engineering.
“Engineering is a little bit more challenging than computer science. The thought of the design process in engineering begins at a very young age. Exposing kids to science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM)-based learning so that they get inspired to learn more has to be planned at an early stage,” Planchard told IANS.
In order to achieve this, she said, India needs to shun the traditional educational system that was developed some 200 years ago.
“In order to teach STEM, India needs to flip the current learning models. You are not just teaching maths or science or engineering any more in the classroom. Now is the time to prepare the young demographic towards addressing real-life situations,” Planchard emphasised.
Currently, there are eight SOLIDWORKS incubators in the country — situated at IIT-Bombay, IIT-Madras and IIT-Kanpur, among others, helping nearly 10-15 start-ups each — in fields spanning from eradicating social problems to find solutions for high-end technology.
The waste management plan by Yash and Samruddhi provides a treatment of dry waste and generates electricity, slag, hot water as well as distilled water.
The treatment of wet wastes also generates biogas and manure which could provide great impetus to the agro-based economy.
“We are now looking for the government’s support to commercialise our project that deals with collection and segregation of municipal solid waste and its treatment at a local level,” Yash told IANS.
The waste management plan deals with collection and segregation of municipal solid waste, its treatment at a local level and generates tangible and sellable products that have good market demand.
“It gives us immense pleasure to provide an opportunity for domestic talent to showcase their innovation. The project is extremely relevant and when commercialised, can provide a new dimension to municipal bodies across the country,” said P.M. Ravikumar, Senior Director, Dassault Systèmes- SOLIDWORKS, India.
There are 30 SOLIDWORKS Authorised Training Centres (SATC) in India that are teaching the current workforce how to design and make New-Age products.
“Customers today are demanding a skilled workforce that thinks beyond just a plain design or product. For this, we have to fight the challenge at three levels: Teach the kids, reskill the current workforce and train the trainers — and students are helping us achieve that in the first place,” Planchard noted.
According to Dr S.S. Lakade, Dean R&D, Pimpri Chinchwad College of Engineering, they are designing projects that are scalable, address local challenges and provides economic and regional development.
“We thank SOLIDWORKS for their product offerings and the students have used advanced add-ins like Piping and Tubing, Simulation, Flow Simulation, Photo view 360 and ‘SOLIDWORKS Visualize’ for creating amazing photo-realistic renderings,” he explained.
The team used Solid Oxide Fuel Cell (SOFC) technology to generate electricity from synthetic gas by gasification of dry waste.
“India has a golden opportunity in its young demographic. It should invest early in creating an engineering workforce that will make the country proud once again. I hope it doesn’t take India another 20 years to do so,” said Planchard, who is responsible for global development of content and social outreach for SOLIDWORKS products across all levels of learning.
(Nishant Arora can be contacted at nishant.a@ians.in)
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | News
By Abu Zafar,
Srirangapatna (Karnataka) : Surrounded by a cluster of coconut trees and at a stone’s throw from the tomb of 18th century ruler Tipu Sultan in this town near Mysuru, Darul Umoor at first glance looks like a farmhouse. But inside, it is a unique coming together of science and spirit, imparting scientific knowledge and nurturing multiple skills and abilities while promoting Islamic knowledge for a holistic view of life.
Turning madrassa graduates into change agents of society, Darul Umoor — The Tipu Sultan Advanced Study and Research Centre — is known as one of the first institutions to train madrassa graduates in modern subjects like management, history, biology, physics, chemistry, banking, personality development and leadership skills, along with knowledge of computers and English language. It offers an intensive one-year course with the help of a number of experts and retired professors in their fields.
Every year thousands of students graduate from a large number of madrassas across India, but critics say they only have religious knowledge, imbibe fundamentalism and don’t have a grip on modern subjects. Darul Umoor is trying to fill this knowledge and perception gap.
Abdul Rahman Kamaruddin, general secretary of Darul Umoor, says the one-year programme is aimed at creating a well-informed, scientifically-oriented professional cadre to serve the community and the nation.
“Our dream is to train ulema (Muslim scholars having specialist knowledge of Islamic sacred law and theology) to take up both scientific and administrative positions and also act as community leaders specialised in not only religious subjects but in other subjects as well,” Kamaruddin, who worked as an adviser to Unesco and the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO), told IANS.
“They will also act as community leaders to guide and support the educational and economic development of the neighbourhood and strive at giving the right perspective of Islam and opportunities available in the country,” he added.
According to Kamaruddin, Tipu Sultan believed that all his staff should have good training in worldly affairs as well as religion, and Darul Umoor is a reflection of that thinking.
Without any public donation, the institution is run through the good offices of Bangalore-based philanthropist Ziaulla Sheriff. Students don’t have to pay anything for tuition or the mess because everything is free and they also get a scholarship of Rs 1,000 per month.
Mohammad Hazique Nadvi, academic director of Darul Umoor, argues that its graduates are seen as leaders and guides in the community and some of them even play that role.
He says that, in the beginning, some clerics doubted the style of Darul Umoor’s functioning because they were concerned that whatever they taught their students in seven to eight years would be washed away by this new institution.
“But due to the continuous guidance of a number of notable clerics, the institution has earned a good reputation across all schools of thoughts in the community.”
Every year, about 30 students are selected through a written test and interview. These students come from the top madrassas of the country and also a few from Nepal. Their daily journey starts with the dawn prayer followed by a warm-up exercise. Then, as part of their routine, they teach moral science and Urdu to children in a nearby government school.
After breakfast, the first academic session starts with newspaper analysis and study of contemporary issues, followed by a lecture series on comparative religion, history, science and the English language. The afternoon session, of two hours, is for computers and information technology.
After sunset, students practise computer lessons, visit the campus library, prepare for seminars and finish their assignments.
Thursday is kept for field work, which includes a tour of slums, hospitals and sometimes centres of other religions.
The institution also provided space to M Power, an IT company in Bangalore, for professional training to newcomers in the IT sector. The company used the campus and facilities of Darul Umoor and trained about 100 IT professionals in five batches. One batch has to be trained for three months. They have separate classrooms and training, but each IT graduate has to befriend one madrassa student, which helps in further enhancing their knowledge about society, language, culture and religion.
Darul Umoor also focuses on training its students to be good public speakers. Kamaruddin says that there are over 300,000 mosques in India where about 70 to 80 million Muslims go for Friday prayer as “united captive audience” to listen to the sermon.
Kamaruddin says that so far more than 370 scholars have been trained by Darul Umoor and are spread all over the country and abroad, and are making significant contributions both in their work and in social services.
“They are working in various capacities like professors, teachers, IT professionals, journalists and so on, in addition to becoming eminent religious scholars and teachers of Islam,” Hazique adds.
Mohammad Athar is one of those who graduated from Darul Umoor in 2006 and is now teaching in MES Indian School in Doha, the capital of Qatar.
“Darul Umoor equipped me with broader thinking and imagination and also gave me a lot of confidence,” said Athar, who graduated from the prestigious Darul Uloom Deoband.
“Apart from learning subjects like computer, accountancy, management, history, banking and website designing, it was a platform for me where I learned how to talk to people and how to address people in a big gathering confidently,” he added.
Kamaruddin says that to achieve the aim of Darul Umoor, more such institutions should be started all over the country.
Hazique is hopeful that sooner or later, more madrassas will adopt the path of Darul Umoor. About 10 madrassas in the country are already doing so.
According to Kamaruddin, their goal is to establish an international university — Tipu Sultan University — to impart knowledge as an integrated presentation of scientific and spiritual learning.
“It is yet to take off fully. However, the nucleus of the Tipu Sultan University has been planned at Srirangapatna,” Kamaruddin said.
(The weekly feature series is part of a positive-journalism project of IANS and the Frank Islam Foundation. Abu Zafar can be contacted at abuzafar@journalist.com)
—IANS
