CAMPUS
Prospective DUSU candidates jump the gun
Gaurav Choudhury

BARELY a fortnight has passed since the opening of the new academic session in Delhi University, prospective candidates have already started covert campaigning for the polls of the Delhi University Students Union (DUSU).

Conventionally, the DUSU elections are held during the second week of September just before the 15-day autumn break begins. Already bills, posters and banners can be seen plastered all over the campus carrying portrait-sized photographs of prospective candidates.

The contest in DUSU, since the last several years, has been primarily two-cornered between Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) and National Students Union of India (NSUI) – the student wings of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress.

For the candidates, the stakes are high as it marks the beginning of their political careers. Many of country’s leading politicians, including BJP general secretary and former Law Minister Arun Jaitley, have graduated from DUSU.

With more than eighty colleges affiliated to Delhi University, the DUSU polls are an elaborate affair and for the candidates it means exhaustive canvassing spread all across the city.

Unlike Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), which is a standalone university with no colleges affiliated to it, the students of affiliated colleges are entitled to vote during the polls.

Entrance Test

IBM India has announced the National Entrance Test for entry into IBM Advanced Certificate in Integration and Development of Enterprise Applications (IBM-IDEA) course. This is the only structured course on Enterprise Application Development and Integration offered at IBM Advanced Career Education (IBM-ACE).

The entrance test will be held on August 4, 2002 in about 68 centres across the country. Results will be declared on August 12, 2002. The course commences on August 19, 2002. The IBM IDEA course is open to graduates and post-graduates from engineering and science disciplines. According to the company the course would provide all the skills required for present and future enterprise application development.

The course is an intensive programme over nine months, to train graduates and post graduates in the latest and industry relevant next generation application development tools in information technology. The students will be awarded an IBM certificate at the end of the course. The course has been designed in keeping the key skills required for the success in the IT industry today.

The course offers a curriculum that focuses on business integration and e-business application development. The course fee is Rs 51,000 in metros and Rs 49, 500 in non-metros.

Started in 1997, IBM offers career education programmes through 68 centres in major cities across India. The instructors at these centres are trained by IBM and every centre is equipped with latest IBM software and hardware.

Post-graduate course

The Institute of Learning and Management (IILM), has introduced a post-graduate course in insurance and risk management, approved by the Insurance Regulatory Development Authority (IRDA), the insurance sector watchdog in the country.

The course is a one-year full time post-graduate diploma in insurance and risk management (PGDIRM). The curriculum for the programme has been prepared in consultation with industry professionals, academicians and management experts.

Scheduled to begin in early September the course structure spreads over three terms and covers subjects such as: fundamentals of risk and insurance, managerial accounting, strategic management, laws and regulations relating to insurance, IT in insurance, actuarial science, re-insurance, sales and distribution of insurance products and underwriting management.

Apart from IRDA certification, the course has a clear edge over other similar courses offered in the country, as it provides an opportunity for students to obtain a PGDIRM and gives them an opportunity to secure an associateship of the Life Office Management Association (LOMA) through an exam, conducted by IILM. LOMA is an international association of over 1250 insurance companies.

“The programme aims at providing a thorough understanding of risks and their management through insurance. It also imparts general management skills, job opportunities in new insurance companies along with IT exposure to facilitate better insurance service,” Programme Director of Insurance and Risk Management course at the institute Prof Kamal Ghosh Ray said.

“With the liberalisation of the insurance sector, the industry is projected to grow at a rate of 15 to 20 per cent annually”, Prof Ray added.

Commenting on the need and relevance of such a course, Dr Ahindra Chakravarty, Director of IILM said: “With the recent opening up of the insurance sector, business is evolving fast and the demand for insurance professionals is on the rise. I am sure the faculty will do their best to impart quality insurance education to the insurance and risk managers of the future.”

Presently, the Indian insurance sector employs five lakh people. In the next two years, an estimated 25,000 people are likely to be employed and a number of new job opportunities are expected to come up.

Established in 1993, under the aegis of the Ram Krishnan and Sons Charitable Trust, IILM is engaged in management education, research and management development programmes for the Indian industry.

The other courses offered by IILM are: post-graduate programme in management, Masters Degree in Marketing, Masters Degree in International Business, Masters Degree in Finance, Accounting and Management, Bachelor of Science in Business and Management Studies, Bachelor of Science in Business Computing and Bachelor of Software Engineering.

DYFI’s ire

Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI) has expressed concern that under the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) regime, which is being guided and controlled by the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS), there was a severe threat to communalism, national unity and attack on people’s livelihood. Their policies of abject surrender to the imperialist dictates have resulted in rampant unemployed over the years.

The students’ body has given a call of observing August 15 (Independence Day) as “Save India” day. “The DYFI would take it as a challenge to safeguard the unit of the country. It shall highlight the slogan and the need of ‘Save India’, Save Communal Harmony and Change India for the better”, the general secretary of the Central Executive Committee of the Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI), Tapas Sinha, said in a statement.

SPM fellowships

CSIR has announced the prestigious Dr Shyama Prasad Mukherjee (SPM) Fellowships for the year 2002. The fellowships for the year 2002 have been awarded to Mr Rajeev Kumar (chemical sciences), Mrs Debjani Das, Mr Dhiraj Kumar and Mrs Satarupa Basu (Life Sciences), and Mrs Sonali Dasgupta and Mr Anindya Mukherjee (Physical Sciences). These fellowships are also awarded for earth sciences and mathematical sciences for which no candidate was found suitable this year.

The SPM fellowships are conferred every year to the top 25 most outstanding and innovative/creative CSIR-UGC Net awardees, selected through special evaluation by eminent experts. As against the existing Junior Research Fellowships, these substantially enhanced fellowships carry a stipend of Rs 10,000 per month during the first year, which may be enhanced to Rs 15,000 per month from the second year onwards with a contingency grant of Rs 50,000 per annum. The house rent allowance is provided as per rules. These fellowships are initially conferred for two years, which may be continued for a maximum of five years in deserving cases.

DUTA dharna in front of UGC office on Aug 5
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, July 31
The Delhi University Teachers Union today decided to observe a strike and hold a dharna outside the office of the University Grants Commission in the Capital on August 5 to protest against the UGC’s orders “affecting” the employment avenues of university teachers. The UGC in its recent communication had directed freezing all recruitment, putting restriction of 80 per cent on appointment against vacant posts, reducing total staff strength by 10 per cent and abolishing all vacant posts that are older than a year.

The DUTA executive at an emergency meeting today discussed the UGC’s directive, which the teachers’ body described as an act which would “threaten the jobs of hundreds of ad hoc and temporary teachers and the future of higher education itself.” The teachers’ body urged the UGC to withdraw its recent communication.

Book released

Dr Bhupendra Kumar Modi, an entrepreneur, academician and philosopher, has released his fourth book titled ‘India and Hinduism’. The book focuses on the inherent strengths of Hinduism and how it would influence Bharat’s (India’s) growth towards becoming an economic, military and intellectual superpower.

CULTURE

New vistas open up for tribal artists
Megha Manchanda

New Delhi, July 31
Paintings by three tribal women artists, Putli Ganju, Rukmani Devi and Chamni Ganju, were on display at Max Mueller Bhavan here much to the delight of visitors who hardly get a chance to see tribal art first hand. No wonder, the exhibition got such a tremendous response.

It was a mode of encouragement for these women belonging to the remote villages in the country. Their work depicted their Khovar and Sohrai styles of painting. These women, despite many

obstacles in their path, have achieved what they aspired for in their life. They did not go to an art school. Instead, they learnt the art from their mothers and other elders in the family, in keeping with tribal tradition. Putli Ganju, one of the three artists, was born in the remote village of Saheda. Painting was her object of fascination ever since she was a child and she learnt this art from her mother. She paints wild elephants, tigers and hunting scenes.

Chamni Ganju has been painting since her childhood. Being a brilliant colourist, her work reflects animals and birds from her homeland. Rukmani Devi, on the other hand, is a Prajapati artist from a pottery making clan who has continued with the distinctive traditions of Prajapati Khovar painting which she learnt from her mother and mother-in-law.

These three were selected by the Tribal Women Artists Co-operation (TWAC) to visit Australia for a month on the invitation of the Australian Museum to display their talent. Their best works have also been kept in the museums and art centres in Australia. The TWAC has played a significant role in their success. It has brought them to a position where they can exhibit their talent not only to their country but the world at large.