The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

Three-day conference on education
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, March 20
Hundreds of professionals from the Indian and foreign universities, displaying academic wares and options, will be available to answer questions on varied issues relating to quality, expenses and careers, during the three-day “Education India 2002” conference to be held here from March 23.

According to the organisers, the conference at Pragati Maidan here will focus on India’s role in the global education market. It is being organised jointly by two private companies, India-based Tafcon Group and Britain-based Winchester Group.

Addressing a press conference, spokespersons Dina MacDonald and Manohar Lal Wadhwa claimed that the event would be a chance for the students and the parents to find out the choices out there and for education providers across the world to find out the nature of the demand for the education that exists in India.

As many as 200 institutions, including 50 universities from some 28 countries, are expected to take part in the conference. The event will be declared open by India’s former Education Minister Karan Singh and hear experts from universities, planning, informatics, industry, banking and other areas.

Banking specialists, for instance, will talk about education loans and communication experts will describe advances in zero-distance learning, the organisers said.

The keynote address on India’s Role in the Global Education Market will be delivered by the Planning Commission Member for Education, Mr K Venkata Subramaniam. “Students run from pillar to post trying to find out what studies to pursue and often settle for the first opening,” Ms MacDonald said. “This will be a chance to look around and see what is out there.”

A large number of students in India who get left out of the courses they would like to pursue. “We want to let them know that there are other options,” Alok Mehta, a senior Tafcon consultant, said.

Asked if any estimate had been made as to the extent of Indian demand for education, Ms MacDonald said some studies had been made, but the conference was expected to throw up more data and answers.

CAMPUS
Teleconference to link 78,000 Ignou awardees
Gaurav Choudhury

Over 78,000 Ignou students shall be awarded degrees/diplomas and certificates at the 13th convocation of the Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) on March 21, 2002, in the Capital. The convocation will be attended simultaneously through tele-conferencing by at 21 regional centres of the university. Nationwide live telecast will be available on ‘Gyan Darshan’ channel.

Around 9,300 students shall be attending the convocation in person at the headquarters and 21 regional centres of the university. Thirty-one students shall be awarded gold medals at the convocation.

Minister of Human Resource Development, Dr Murli Manohar Joshi, will be the chief guest and deliver the convocation address.

Medals, degrees/diplomas will be awarded to candidates who have cleared the term-end examinations held in December, 2000 and June 2001. Candidates, who have conveyed their willingness for attending the convocation in person at Delhi or at the regional centres, have been informed individually.

Green Business Strategies

The Sahara India Pariwar, the International Institute for Industrial Environmental Economics (IIIEE) of Lund University, Sweden, and the Network for Preventive Environmental Management (NetPEM), Nagpur, have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for joint initiatives in `Business Strategies through Preventive Environmental Management’ at Amby Valley Sahara Lake city (AVSLC), Mulshi Taluka, near Lonavla. The MoU covers both the Lake City as well as the Sahara products division.

Bhasin lecture

Union Minister Arun Jaitley, releasing the book on ‘Minorities and Human Rights,’ written by Justice Ranganath Misra, former Chief Justice of India, at the Hindu College in the Capital.

The Madhu Bhasin Memorial Forum held its ninth consecutive annual lecture on “21st century—The Century of Women” at the Hindu College on Tuesday. The lecture delivered by Arun Jaitley, Union Minister of Law, Justice and Company Affairs, highlighted the prevailing and the archaic laws in the country on issues concerning equality of women. He also suggested some solutions towards making these laws more beneficial for the women, besides highlighting some steps taken by the government towards achieving these objectives.

The other highlight of the day saw Mr Arun Jaitley releasing the book on `Minorities and Human Rights,’ written by Justice Ranganath Misra, former Chief Justice of India.

The release of the book on “Minorities and Human Rights” (written by Justice Ranganath Misra, Former Chief Justice of India), by Mr Jaitley, was well received by the audience.

NDIM convocation

The New Delhi Institute of Management (NDIM) held its 4th Annual Convocation for the PGDBM batch 1999-2001 on the 13th of March, 2002, at the India International Centre, New Delhi.

About 122 students received their diploma/degrees from Ms Maneka Gandhi, Minister of State of Statistics and Programme implementation, the chief guest for the convocation.

Delivering the convocation address, Mr Ramesh Bais, Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting, said that the knowledge imparted to the students and their latent talent will surely help them to excel in life. He also added that success in life depends on personality, which has to be polished and developed from time to time.

On this occasion, chief guest Maneka Gandhi, said that she was very happy with the institute’s performance in the last six years and added that it has emerged as a leading management institute in North India through innovative teaching methodology and industrial interface. On this occasion, 25 students were awarded gold medals; 30 silver and 35 bronze medals were also conferred. Geeta Basoya was declared the best all-rounder girl student and K.C.R. Anand was declared the best all-rounder boys student. Shama Arora was awarded the best Business Woman of the Year Award.

Knowledge management

SoftEdge Solutions, which provides consultancy services in Enterprise Knowledge Asset Management, facilitated an MoU between IIT Delhi and Hummingbird on the 14th of March, 2002. According to the MoU, Hummingbird technologies would be used to implement a knowledge management framework in the Department of Management Studies, IIT. SoftEdge Solutions would be the primary consulting and implementation partner.

Prof Chatterjee from IIT Kanpur pointed out, “The underlying principle of managing intellectual capital is that tangible assets are substantially less valuable than intangible assets. Among these are “hard” intangibles like copyrights and patents databases, software and manuals, and “soft” assets such as skits capabilities, expertise, etc. These are knowledge assets that in this knowledge economy determine success or failure of any organization.”

E-Commerce Lab

To further explore Internet and e-commerce related technologies, research and business opportunities, IIT-Mumbai and Compaq India have announced the launch of the Compaq-e-Commerce Expertise Lab at IIT - Powai. The laboratory will also be used jointly by IIT-Mumbai and Compaq India to research and develop cutting edge applications in the Alpha Unex environment for the e-Commerce industry. In addition, select compaq India business partners and customers will also have access to world class testing and benchmarking facilities at this laboratory.

The IT infrastructure for the lab has been completely provided by Compaq. This includes compaq AlphaServer GS 160, Compaq ProLiant Servers, Compaq Storage Works SAN, Enterprise Backup solution and desktop computers. The lab will be housed at the IIT - Mumbai campus in Powai. “Compaq India’s leading position as a supplier of Internet infrastructure and solutions for the e-Commerce industry, and their innovative approach to technology makes them the perfect ally for us to establish this facility”, said Dr Phatak, Head, Kanwal Rekhi School of Information Technology (KRSIT), IIT Mumbai. “We intend leveraging Compaq’s technology expertise and the applied R and D focus of our graduate school, to research, innovate and deliver new technologies and solutions to the e-Commerce industry”, he added.

Governing body

The new governing body of Motilal Nehru College has been constituted. An eminent social worker and freedom fighter of Delhi, Mr Shiv Charan Gupta was unanimously elected chairman in the first meeting. He nominated Syed Hamid Ali, an eminent photo journalist as treasurer. He said that there is a need to have an efficient and committed team for an all round development of the college.

Mr Ali is also the chairman of finance committee. Prof Dinesh Singh, Mrs Kusum Chaudhary, Mr Krishan Mohan and Prof Anil Bhatti have been associated as members of other important committees such as, finance building, and provident fund committee of the college, which were also constituted. Dr Ramesh Sharma (Divik Ramesh) principal and member secretary, governing body, placed before the members the requirements for an auditorium and staff quarters in the college.

Essay contest

To commemorate its 75th corporate anniversary year, Marriott International in association with the National Council of Hotel Management is organising an essay competition that commenced on March 14, with the final date for receiving entries on March 29, 2002. Marriott International will award cash prizes to the two best entries. The first prize is a cash award of Rs 12,000 and the consolation prize carries a cash award of Rs 8,000. Besides, the writer of the best essay will get an all expenses paid trip to Mumbai.

A cultural extravaganza at Jamia Millia

A participant greeting the audience.

If you are looking for an evening of enjoyable and relaxed cultural extravaganza in the national Capital, the cultural functions held at Jamia Millia Islamia should be your obvious destination. The line-up of events during its recently held ‘Enigma’, was an overwhelming success. It attracted huge participation from all over the country. Though the function was mainly traditional in nature, it had some spectacularly colourful event.

The students of the GP Girls Hostel of Jamia Millia Islamia celebrated their annual function on March 19. The function was not a showy extravaganza. It was a simple affair. The decoration was done with rangoli, candles and diyas left over from last Diwali, kites, cartoon and flowers. Colourful dupattas were used for decorating the make-shift stage, the entrance, the walls, trees and the pillars.

The Vice-Chancellor of Jamia Millia Islamia, Syed Shahid Mahdi, was a relaxed member of the audience till its very end at 10 pm. The various programmes had an aura of Indian tradition and culture. For example, the theme for its ‘chitrahaar-cum-parody’ presentation was ‘old is gold’, in which various songs from good old movies were presented. ‘Pyar Kiya To Darna Kya’ from Muhgal-e-Azam, ‘Mere Piya Gaye Rangoon’, ‘Parda Hai Parada’ from Hum Kisi Se Kam Nahin and ‘Ye Kya Jagah Hai Doston’ from Umrao Jaan, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan’s ‘Aafreen Aafreen’ were some of the popular numbers. There were indeed some naughty acts that the seniors took in their stride. As during the qawwali `Parada Hai Parada’, a girl dressed in typical Rishi Kapoor style (as shown in the film) gave lip movement to ‘…Kisi Haseen Ki Taraf Ye Gulab Phenkunga’ and threw a red rose towards the Vice-Chancellor’s

wife. It was a perfect throw. The rose fell right on her lap. She reciprocated fondly—picked it up and kissed it— much to the amusement of her hubby and the entertainer! !

The number `Mitva’ from the film Lagaan was enacted by a group of eight students.

Then there were traditional solo dances from the North–East states of Assam (Bihu), Mizoram and Nagaland. The Vice-Chancellor was particularly moved by the fashion show of traditional Indian attires—-Mizoram and Manipur in their colourful best, ghaghra, lehenga choli, saaris, lachas and a lot more. Spellbound by the perfect presentation and beauty-enhancing ethnic wears, he even forgot to clap..

“The fashion show was wonderful. I liked it best,” said an overwhelmed Vice-Chancellor at the conclusion of the function.

He described the girl students as “guiding forces of future” because of their “compassionate” nature and “humanistic approach towards life.”

Even in the midst of their examinations, students were able to find time to celebrate the day and make it a “memorable event” for the 40-odd distinguished guests from the university. Spread over 3 hours, the function was followed by a prize distribution and a sumptuous dinner.

Rana A. Siddiqui