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—Meghna Rana A The furniture design industry is a relatively virgin market in India guesstimated to be around $US 10 billion. Most of the business is still in the unorganised sector. However, the increase in purchasing power and changing standards of living has spurred the demand for designer or `lifestyle’ furniture. While carpentry is a craft, furniture design is an applied art. It applies creative concepts that balance innovative design, functional requirements and aesthetic appeal to meet industrial, commercial and domestic requirements. Typical work includes developing and working on briefs from the client, establishing design and performance criteria, developing and testing product designs using sketches or full-size card models and now sophisticated computer aided design (CAD) that allows you to work and view the design in 3D. As a self-employed/ freelancer designer you can work alone or team up with a group of like-minded professionals. The growing domestic and export market for designer furniture also provides great opportunities for entrepreneurs. You can join a manufacturing company as their in-house designer. Experienced designers are often picked up as consultants. Consultants work on the client’s brief and manage the project on behalf of the client. Furniture restoration is another specialised field you could consider. Go in for greening —Ira
Sharma A The wealth of our forests contributes significantly to our economy. A sizeable part of our population is dependent, directly or indirectly, on forests for its livelihood. Firewood, timber, fodder as well as the industrial raw materials that we use in our day-to-day lives are all forest produce. Reason enough, to have specially trained personnel for maintaining and regenerating our forest resources. Apart from the Indian Forest Service, which recruits 30-40 officers (the intake varies from year to year), other sectors where forest experts are employed include the paper and pulp industry, the plantation industry, companies engaged in manufacturing forest products, silviculture, social forestry, wasteland development, etc. There are several ongoing, international forestry and Natural Resource Management (NRM) projects worth Rs 15,000 crore in India, all trying to address issues of forest management, livelihood generation, conservation of bio-diversity, legal and policy analysis and micro-credit for forestry-based products. Your job profile will also require that you use your marketing skills to sell forest produce. The demand for professionals in forest management is tremendous and every state has its own forest management cell to counter the problem of dwindling forest cover. Forest managers in India have to walk the tight rope in trying to tackle problems like illicit felling, poaching, human interference and rampant encroachment. Moreover, unlike other sectors like IT, this sector is largely immune to market volatility, and thus, provides substantial job security and satisfaction. However, a forest management degree does not automatically open doors to the apex body – Directorate of Forests — for which you need to clear the IFS. However, the batch size of IFS has shrunk to 50-60 candidates, of which 30 or so joining this cadre. There are opportunities galore for PG diploma holders from recognised institutes who can easily get a job with many national and international organisations, NGOs, consulting firms and IT companies, natural resource management organisations and financial institutions. Forest management graduates can look forward to salaries ranging between Rs 15,000 to 30,000 p.m. while the pay package at international firms is much higher. International donor organisation like the WB, International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources, WWF, JBIC and agencies engaged in bilateral projects hire consultants and advisors offering plum posts for candidates with talent and grassroots experience. Biotech beckons Q I’m a student of B. Sc-III Agriculture. I want to do M. Sc Agriculture Biotechnology. Please tell me, is this a good option? —Gurprem Singh A
The most revolutionary and widespread application of biotechnology has been in the field of food production. Given the growing human population, the dwindling land mass available for agricultural cultivation and the vagaries of weather, crop disease and so on, plant biotechnologists have used breakthroughs in cellular regeneration to improve and increase the production of wheat, rice and other staples. Today, the per hectare yield of these staples has more than quadrupled and the quality of output is vastly superior. Agri-biotech provides us with a new technology to improve almost any aspect of a crop, including disease resistance, quality, stress tolerance, wood texture. New ornamental plant varieties will be created and existing metabolic pathways re-directed into the manufacture of novel bio-products, such as pharmaceuticals, anti-bodies and biodegradable plastics. Plant biotechnology is, therefore, an essential discipline for the future of agriculture, horticulture, forestry, food science and the vast array of industries that exploit plant products. While application of agri-biotech requires sound knowledge of a wide range of disciplines like law and management, its execution calls for high-level technical competence in molecular and cell biology, tissue culture and biochemistry. Biotechnologists have been able to improve the quality, nutritional content and yield of food products, alter genetic defects in animals and humans, create pesticides that protect crops without harming consumers, deal with wastes in an environment friendly manner and so on. The Government of India has allotted high priority to Biotech development and its exploitation in agriculture and other related disciplines. Lawful choice —Manveer Chadha A
I have some really good news for you so please stop fretting. Providing major relief to law graduates passing out from evening colleges, the Supreme Court has recently upheld the Punjab and Haryana High Court decision allowing them to be enrolled as advocates. Evening law college students had been debarred from being considered for registration as advocates by State Bar Councils as per an earlier rule framed by the Bar Council of India. The BCI had issued the notification for the implementation of the rule in 2000 on grounds that the standard of education in evening law colleges was not as per specification and that they lacked proper faculty and other infrastructure facilities. Overriding the BCI decision, the apex court has said that all enrolments withheld on account of this ruling would no longer be sustained. The order is expected to benefit thousands of law graduates passing out from evening law colleges whose registration had been withheld. Chip in for hardware Q I want to know about the short-term courses in chip designing. Which institutes offer these courses in India? — Sachin Awasthi A
You can check out the following short-term courses: CDAC’s Advanced Computing Training Schools (www.cdacindia.com) (multi-location) Semiconductor Complex Ltd., Chandigarh (Also Delhi & Gurgaon) (www.vedant.net) Silicon Magic Tech (www.siliconmagictech.com), multi-location Pune University, VLSI Design & Research Centre, Deptt of Electronic Sc (www.icitonline.org) PICT School of Information Technology & Mgt, Pune (www.pict-sitm.com) Working knowledge of DOS/WINDOWS/UNIX environment is mandatory for all courses. The writer is a noted career consultant Please send in your query, preferably on a postcard, along with your full name, complete address and academic qualifications to: Editor, Jobs and Careers, The Tribune, Sector 29, Chandigarh-160030, or at
careers@tribunemail.com
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Q I am a student of Class XII and I want to know about furniture designing. Which institutes offer this course and what is the criteria for selection and the scope of this field?
National Institute of Design (NID), Ahmedabad,
(www.nid.edu)
Q I have heard of Forest Management but don’t have a clear idea about its scope and career opportunities, pay scale etc. Please guide.
Q I am currently pursuing law at an evening college in Punjab. My friend says that the BCI rules don’t allow law graduates from evening colleges to practice as advocates. Is this true? Please reply soon as I am very worried about my future. 
