The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

EDUCATION

CAMPUS
Exams round the corner, guides sell like pancakes
Gaurav Choudhury

Examination fever is just discernible in the campus with students getting down to make up for the lost time. With annual examinations less than three months away, libraries are seen packed with students, busy writing down notes.

This is the scene every time and this year is no different. As one university teacher pointed out “the last quarter rush among students is directly linked with the education system that we have in our country. The system has been so developed that it may fail to separate the boys from the men in the final analysis. Another drawback of the system is the fact students, running out of time, look for shortcuts to success. Otherwise, how would one explain the brisk business made by guidebooks and other such booklets . It amounts to improper development of our human resource as the education system discourages original ideas. Students, seem more interested in reading guidebooks instead of the original text. This is a dangerous phenomenon and needs to be curbed”.

Thus, there are the Dukkis for law students, and Champion Guides available for all other subjects. The practice among students to prepare through guides books rather than original texts is more prevalent among humanities stream students rather than science stream students.

There is a rather interesting story behind the christening of law guidebooks as `Dukkis’. An enterprising young law graduate started the business of selling guidebooks containing short and precise answers to specific questions more than three decades ago.

The business was an instant hit and these books, priced at Rs two, were bought as hot cakes by students who were till then submerged in reams and reams of legal treatises. For the price, these books came to be popularly known as `Dukkis’. Even today it is referred to by the same name, even though they are priced at more than Rs 30.

Another indicator of the onset of examinations is the rush at the photostat outlets in the campus, with harried students using the shortcut of getting notes photocopied instead of going through the rigmarole of writing them down.

IT CONVERGENCE

The Delhi School of Professional Studies and Research in collaboration with GGS Indraprastha University of Delhi and DOEACC of the Ministry of Information Technology organised the 3rd two-day international conference on “Technology Convergenc–The Human Perspective” from January 8, 2002 Dr Karan Singh, Member of Parliament (Rajya Sabha) inaugurated the function and Professor K. K. Aggarwal, Vice Chancellor of GGS, Indraprastha University delivered the presidential address.

Underlining the positive and negative aspects of technological breakthroughs, Dr Karan Singh emphasised that mankind can survive and grow with stability, provided they are able to maximise the positive aspects and keep the negative impacts under check. To achieve this, he said that information needs to be converted into knowledge and knowledge converted into wisdom.

Prof K. K. Aggarwal sounded a note of caution to the educationists that one of the consequences of technology convergence is going to be the fierce competition from overseas locations. The country’s government, planners, administrators and educationists should be prepared for such a scenario in the future, he added.

AMITY ROUNDTABLE

Mr Kiran Kramnik, President of National Association of Software and Service Companies (Nasscom), speaking at an interactive roundtable conference on “Global Recession: Challenges and Opportunities For the Indian IT Sector,”organised by the the Amity Institute of Information Technology.

The Amity Institute of Information Technology, an institution of Ritnand Balved Education Foundation (RBEF), organised an interactive roundtable conference at which industry leaders outlined the opportunities and threats that the global economic recession has thrown up for India.

Some of the prominent participants were Mr R. R. Shah, Secretary in the Ministry of Information Technology, Mr Saurabh Srivastava, President Venture Capital Association of India, Mr Vivek Singhal, President, Electronics and Computer Software Export Promotion Council, Mr Pradeep Gupta, Managing Director of Cyber Media ( India) Limited and President of National Association of Software and Service Companies (Nasscom), Mr Kiran Kramnik.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr Kramnik said : “The Indian IT market has impacted but growth opportunities for the Indian software are still abound. The world IT services market, which was valued at US $ 390 billion in 2000, is estimated to grow at nine per cent per annum through 2005.”

Citing a report from Forrester Research, Mr Kramnik said that off-shoring to India will increase to 28 per cent of IT spent in 2003 from 12 per cent in 2001.

Regarding opportunities available in research and development (R&D), he said that the sector could grow to US $ 4.8 billion in 2005, building on the strong technical skills of Indians, especially in embedded software in mobile phones and automobiles.

Mr R. R. Shah said the global recession or the catastrophic event of September 11 in the United States has not dampened the prospects of IT in India. “We need to set up rules to ensure that fly-by-night operators do not come to India and for this, the government and the Software Technology Park of India (STPI) are in the process of framing the necessary regulations. We are attempting to provide a basic desiderata for companies to enter the IT-enabled services sector,” he said.

Mr Vivek Singhal said that the Indian IT sector is fast “emerging out of the blue” and is expected to gauge a growth rate of 30 per cent and the current downslide was likely to get reversed soon. “We have to explore other markets besides the United States. The best option is to explore the US $ 440 billion market in Japan. Besides, countries such as Taiwan and Korea could be ideal partners for India,” he said.

IMM CONVOCATION

Former Prime Minister I. K. Gujral would give away PG Diplomas in Business Management and Marketing Management to the Institute of Marketing and Management’s 33rd batch students at their Annual Convocation to be held on January 19.

Former Ambassador to the USA, Dr S. Abid Hussain and Chairman and Managing Director of Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC), Mr Subir Raha are also expected to address the students.

Sixty students will receive their PG diplomas after successful completion of their course. Trophies will be awarded to Ms Shaili Budhiraja and Mr Ashish Kathuria for standing first, Ms Swati Sharma and Mr Manish K Singh for standing second, and Mr Nitin Kakkar and Mr Raj Verma for standing third in Groups I and II respectively.

ANIMATION ACADEMY

Arena Multimedia, a division of the IT training and education major Aptech Limited, launched the Arena Animation Academy (AAA) a special training center for providing animation training for digital entertainment here.

The Academy offers students a practical oriented curriculum delving upon the very latest 2D and 3D animation techniques, a statement said.

AIMA QUIZ

National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) has won the regional round of the National Management Quiz (NMQ) of the All India Management Association (AIMA) held here in the Capital. The other four teams that have qualified for the final are ICRA, Maruti Udyog Limited (MUL), National Institute of Information Technology (NIIT) and another team from NTPC.

The qualifying teams from the regional rounds will compete at the grand finale to be held on January 18 at Kolkata.

VAASTU COURSE

In order to meet the growing demands of Vaastu trained professionals, Dr D. K. Narang, a Delhi-based Vaastu and Feng Shui expert, has set up a Vaastu Science Research Foundation (VSRF). The Foundation conducts specially designed free workshops on Vaastu and as an additional service, carries out site layouts, architectural designs, and interior designing for its clients.

Recently, the Foundation started a short duration certificate courses in Vaastu Science and Elementary Feng Shui for amateurs. The courses are of 12 hours, spread over a duration of four days and are attended mostly by housewives. Vaastu Science Research Foundation runs two batches a month and charges a nominal fee of Rs 600 per participant.

In addition, those who aspire to take up Vaastu as a profession, can attend the course on Advanced Vaastu for a six months duration.

The course includes providing practical exposure to the students through auditing three types of site – residential, commercial and industrial. The students are supposed to summarise all the negative and positive features of the site and thereby suggest corrective and precautionary measures for enhancement. Among other things, the course includes Vedic origin of Vaastu, involving understanding the objectives of science.