EDUCATION

CAMPUS
An apparel show to preserve Indian art and heritage 
Gaurav Choudhury

Models walk down the ramp at Lady Irwin College.

Established in 1987, the Department of Textiles and Clothing at Lady Irwin College, has tried to help conserve Indian art and heritage through a contemporary portrayal of its basic nuances. Believing in preserving the traditional designs of India, “An Apparel Show” was organized on Wednesday. The core theme of the show was to promote the art and heritage of the coastal region in a contemporary context. The show highlighted the textures and colours in fabric construction techniques. A total of six themes—traditional-wear, sports-wear, kidswear, executive-wear, flora and fauna, and evening-wear were on display.

Upward trade ties

Department of Business Economics, University of Delhi, organised its seventh Country Seminar on the topic “Indo-Australian Business and Economic Relations” at South Campus on 19th February, 2002. Inaugurating the Seminar, the Australian High Commissioner to India, Ms Penny Wensley, said that “ new and traditional areas of cooperation between India and Australia are flourishing, building on our common democratic ideals, Commonwealth membership and our close, but competitive, cricketing links. But we need to keep searching for, and taking advantage of the synergies between us, where we can complement each other to our joint benefits.” She said that though India had been acknowledged as a large and diverse economy, its impressive economic growth and trade and investment liberalisation in recent years, has attracted global attention. She highlighted the fact that the recent structural reforms have helped India to become one of the world’s fastest growing economies. Even with recent downward forecasts of India’s GDP growth for 2001-2002, India’s growth is still impressive by international standard, she said. However, she reminded the gathering that maintaining the high GDP growth, experienced in recent years, will depend largely on sustaining the reform process and extending it to new areas of the economy.

She said that Australia has been described as a “miracle economy” for defying first, the Asian economic downturn and more recently, the global downturn after September 11. She added that the growth of Australia’s world class ICT infrastructure and its high level of technological adaptability across its industrial sectors, provides an excellent environment for multinational businesses. She said that 12 per cent of total overseas investment in Australia goes to the ICT sector and this figure is growing. She added that about 800,000 Australians speak at least one Asian language which has led to the establishment of strong bilateral relations with its neighbours, resulting in 40 per cent of its exports going to North and South East Asian region. She said that Australia has an open and direct approach to foreign investment. There are no restrictions on capital flows, profit remittances and foreign firms seeking credit or loan facilities, she said.

Touching upon Australia-India trade and investment, she said, the two way trade in 2000-01 was valued at AUS $ 2.8 billion, which are the best since the reform process in India began. Despite a few obstacles in the last few years, it is more than 300 per cent increase in trade over the last decade. With a trend growth of 12.6 per cent, it is one of the fastest growing trade relationships that Australia has experienced.

As the trade equation is heavily balanced in favour of Australia, (Australia’s exports to India were AUS $ 2.1 billion in 200-01-up from 1.6 billion the year before - and imports from India were AUS $ 754 million) she said Australia was encouraging its exporters to look at India as a potential market. She said “our trade relationship is a strategic one. By this I mean that many of Australia’s major exports to India are raw materials for the Indian industry, many of which are re-exported to third countries. She pointed out the importance of service sector in Indo-Australian relationship by mentioning that about 25 Indian software firms have established joint ventures or branch offices in Australia over the last five years. She said that the flow of Indian tourist to Australia has increased by 18.4 per cent between 1995-99. In a colourful addition, she said that since 1998, more than 40 films had been shot in Australia.

DOEACC courses

Inspite of the slow down in the IT industry, all the four levels of the DOEACC courses—O, A, B, and C are currently in much demand, says the Chairman of the Governing Council for DOEACC Society, Prof K.K. Aggarwal. “The society has registered a growth of 42 per cent in the last year. The number of candidates appearing for the January 2002 examination, was 79,000 as compared to 51,783 last year”, Prof Aggarwal said.

Department of Electronics Accreditation of Computer Courses (DOEACC) was formed to develop quality manpower by utilising the expertise available with the non-formal computer training institutes, he added.

The A, B, and C level courses of the scheme is mutually recognised by the Central Academy of Information Technology, under the Ministry of International Trade and Industry, Government of Japan.

“The DOEACC scheme is the only national certification body for IT education and training in the non-formal sector. It offers certificates and diplomas which are recognised by the Government as equivalent to formal sector courses for employment purposes under the Central and State Government and all Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs)”, he said.

The four levels of courses- ‘O’-Foundation level; ‘A’-Advanced Diploma level; ‘B’-Graduate (equivalent to MCA degree); ‘C’-Post Graduate, Graduate on Computer Concept—are offered as a part of the DOEACC scheme.

The DOEACC has also introduced the “Courses on Computer Concept (CCC)”, of 80 hours duration.

Informatics ties up

The Singapore based IT education and training major, Informatics, has tied up with the Centre for Information Science and Technology (CIST), University of Mysore. University of Mysore, formed way back in 1916, is the 6th oldest university in India.

The courses offered through this university are Post Graduate Diploma in Information Technology (PGDIT), Higher Diploma in Information Technology (HDIT) and Diploma in Office Management (DOM).

The PGDIT course offered by the Mysore University is at par with the PGDIT and equivalent diplomas offered by IIT’s and other renowned universities and institutions. While the course covers most aspects of IT, it is not restricted to computer applications.

The main highlights of this course are it’s practical orientation and dual certification from Mysore University and Informatics, Singapore. The students joining this course have the additional advantage that this course is mapped for Oracle and Java certification and offers lateral entry to the 2nd semester of MCA courses (selected universities). Students having diplomas like GNIIT and ACCP can also gain direct entry in the 2nd semester.

The Mysore University has been highly rated by the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC), an autonomous body of the University Grants Commission (UGC).

Informatics has a pool of institutional resources to ensure the academic and quality excellence of all our products and services.

It contributes to the intellectual development through the wide range of training courses. At the end of the course, the students will be offered placement assistance through a well-connected placement cell.

Mr Pradep K Tripathi, Managing Director and CEO, Edutech Informatics said, “Edutech Informatics has a vision of providing quality IT education and training to every Indian. This tie-up is a step toward achieving that vision.” To achieve this objective, Informatics is offering it’s prestigious courses through its network of 250 centers in India.

Informatics has tie-ups with several other universities like the Cambridge University-UK, Utkal University, and credit transfer to 44 renowned universities all over the world.

DELHI DIGEST
Students speak their mind on terrorism
Our Correspondent

New Delhi, February 20
Schoolchildren of the Capital expressed their strong views on the most-talked about topics today, not just in our Parliament but in houses across continents — terrorism and secularism. They expressed their conviction on the need to bring in secularism and the need to eradicate terrorism at the Inter-School Extempore Speech Competition 2002 held in Delhi Police Public School. Students from various schools of Delhi spoke with conviction about the ills bred by terrorism and communalism at the contest organised by the Delhi Police as a part of the ongoing Delhi Police Week. The competition was organised for Hindi as well as English speaking students.

The Police Commissioner of Delhi, Mr Ajai Raj Sharma, told students that through organising such functions, one could have a glimpse of the other side of the city’s police. The first prize in the English category went to Nikhil, who spoke on terrorism and the means to tackle it. The second prize went to Ria Kapoor of Holy Child Auxilium. She spoke on the need for maintaining the secular character of the country. Yathuraj Sharma of Mata Jai Kaur School won the third prize. In the Hindi category, the first prize went to Vaibhav Tandon of Kendriya Vidyalaya, Andrews Ganj. Nidhi Bisht of Delhi Police Public School and Tanushree of Delhi Public School bagged the second and the third prizes, respectively. Chairperson of the Police Foundation for Education Neerja Sharma gave away the prizes to the winners of the contest as well as of the Road Safety Painting Competition held earlier.

Legal advice given

A free legal consultancy camp was organised on the premises of Patiala House Courts yesterday by the Adhivakta Parishad, Delhi, a unit of the Patiala House Courts. The Additional Solicitor General, Mr K. K. Sud, and senior advocate, Mr B. D. Batra, inaugurated the programme.

A home turns into a rest house
Rana A Siddiqui

Jamia Millia Islamia’s Mridula Sarabhai Working Women’s Hostel was once considered to be a second home for the working women coming to Delhi from far-off places not only from India like Jammu and Kashmir, Bihar, and UP but also abroad from Syria, Russia and West Asia.

Known for its secure ambience, good food, sprawling lawns, pollution-free lush green environment, tradition, culture and of course, the affordable charges. Obviously, the hostel was particularly popular with the working women from the low-income group.

However, in the last few years, the typical hostel look, with chirping girls, music, dance party and variety of cultural programmes has been replaced by a grim ambience. The composition of the hostel has undergone a slow but steady transformation in the last few years. For now, instead of girls coming from different parts of the country being given accommodation, the university has used it to accommodate teachers coming to JMI for orientation courses, funded by the UGC. Resultantly, on the lucky few are able to get accommodation here.

Insiders say that this is a well thought out strategy of the university administration to check the frequent dissent emanating from the residents regarding mess and senseless freedom curbing laws.

“Most of our problem have remained unheard, despite repeated requests. The hostel administration do not want ‘problematic,’ inmates”, says Shaila Khanam (name changed), an old inmate.

Sadly, the hostel that once throbbed with excitement has been virtually transformed into a ‘sarai.’ Is anyone listening?