Location: Mumbai
Primary Contact: Artee Aggrawal, Director
Second Contact: Deb Burman, Trustee
Author: Canada India Education Council (CIEC)
SKSS International Public School
Universal Business School
Location: Mumbai
Primary Contact: Tarun Anand, Director
Second Contact: Gurdip Anand, Chairman
CIEC Opens Associate Membership for Indian & Canadian Academic Institutions
Academic relations between Canada and India are at an all time high and yet education linkages remain well below potential. CIEC was founded by bringing together 15 academic & non-academic organizations in Canada and has since gradually evolved into a valuable bridge between Canada & India. It is now positioned as the “go to” organization for Canada-India academic relations. CIEC is one of only a few organizations offering critical ‘on the ground’ presence in both countries and helps Institutions position themselves advantageously in an increasingly competitive environment. CIEC combines corporate governance with the benefits of a public-private partnership balanced with an entrepreneurial methodology to remain independent and yet be financially sustainable.
CIEC has invested countless hours and resources in paving the way for academics, organizations, governments and other stakeholders to work with each other and has helped lay the foundation for smooth academic relationships and exchanges. We are proud of our accomplishments in this short span but also realize that we have only just begun to scratch the surface. Besides planning delegations, organizing missions (recruiting & otherwise), training seminars, facilitating academic exchanges and hosting our flagship annual ‘Synergy’ Conference for several years, there remains much more to do and many more opportunities to be seized.
As CIEC opens its Membership to Institutions across India and Canada, we invite Colleges, Universities and interested Corporations to join us as we enhance ties and create opportunities for academic institutions and learners from both countries. Members will have an opportunity to network with each other and showcase themselves and their institutions in this vibrant and burgeoning education corridor.
CIEC Membership will also serve as a unique way to profile your Institutions programs, commitments and initiatives in this vibrant ‘corridor’ and with thought provoking discussions led by experts from both countries featured in our monthly newsletter and live news portal ‘Disha‘ which is read by over 19,000 academics and thought leaders from both countries. Members can highlight recent developments, new programs, dialogue on emerging opportunities, stimulate thought and discuss new initiatives and ideas. CIEC’s highly penetrative and potent network reaches academic champions from both countries, high level government representatives and policy makers, besides Colleges & Universities.
CIEC is a bi-national, non-partisan, independent, event-driven, membership-based organization established to operate exclusively in the ‘Canada India education corridor’, enhance ties and create opportunities for academic institutions and learners from both countries.
To become an Associate Member and be counted as a leader and make yourself known in this dynamic and growing sector, click here to register and active your 1-year FREE listing online. We look forward to working with you.
Kind regards,
Hon. Pierre S Pettigrew, PC Prof Roseann O’Reilly Runte, President & Vice Chancellor,
Chair-CIEC Carleton University
Academic Advisor-CIEC
- Connect with CEO Husain F. Neemuchwala on LinkedIn
- ‘Like’ CIEC on Facebook
- Join our LinkedIn group ‘Network of Canada-India Education Leaders & Stakeholders‘
- Visit ‘Disha,’ a ‘clearing house’ of information & updates pertaining to the Canada-India education corridor distributed to our database of 19 000 key education stakeholders, and subscribe to receive monthly editions.
SFU launches new MBA Program
Simon Fraser University’s Beedie School of Business is very pleased to announce that it has launched an MBA program at the SFU Surrey campus. Designed to meet the needs of a growing number of managers, entrepreneurs, and business leaders seeking to enhance their business skill set without skipping a beat in their professional careers, the part-time MBA at Surrey features the same curriculum as SFU’s full-time MBA offered in Vancouver, and is taught by leading faculty from the Beedie School of Business.
Beedie’s part-time MBA at Surrey combines theory and application to provide students with the confidence and ability to make decisions and manage more effectively. It’s all about engagement – from a classroom experience that engages and challenges students to make informed and creative decisions – to the projects and events that have the students engaging with the business and non-profit community on a regular basis.
Students learn the most current and innovative management knowledge and skills – techniques that can be applied in the workplace immediately, but that will remain relevant throughout their career. The program’s comprehensive curriculum explores relevant topics such as sustainability, entrepreneurship and international business.
Beginning in January 2014, Beedie’s part-time MBA at Surrey is offered continuously over 24 months. Classes will be held on Tuesday and Thursday evenings, in conjunction with a handful of full-day intensive sessions per year. The program will be hosted at SFU’s award-winning Surrey campus, designed by acclaimed architect Bing Thom and located adjacent to the Surrey Central SkyTrain station.
“The implementation of the Beedie School of Business’ part-time MBA program provides the City of Surrey’s growing business community a new opportunity for growth and progression, as well as reflects Simon Fraser University’s dedication to our City,” said Dianne Watts, Mayor of the City of Surrey.
“The astonishing amount of new businesses that have started up in the City of Surrey over the past six years, over 13,000, is a testament to the spirit of ingenuity and hard work that resides here, making the establishment of the part-time MBA program a perfect fit.”
For the most current information on the Beedie School of Business part-time MBA at Surrey, please visit http://beedie.sfu.ca/mbasurrey.
SFU’s Beedie School is home to Canada’s first Executive MBA program,
established in 1968, and has a longstanding history of creating customized
programs to the meet the needs of individual students. These include the
EMBA in Aboriginal Business and Leadership and the Management of Technology
MBA programs. The school has offered its Bachelor of Business Administration
(BBA) program at the SFU Surrey campus since 2002.
Other programs at our Segal Graduate School in downtown Vancouver include:
MBA in Management of Technology, Executive MBA, MBA (full-time), Graduate
Diploma in Business Administration (online); MSc Finance.
Synergy 2013 just around the corner
Canada India Education Council (CIEC) is pleased to announce that this year’s 7th Annual ‘Synergy 2013’ event is just around the corner and will at once feature major stakeholders such as AUCC, DFAIT, Ontario Maharashtra Goa (OMG), Shastri Institute (SICI) and academic experts from India accompanied by 5 Canadian MP’s and key thought leaders from both countries. We are particularly delighted that the recently founded IC-IMPACT which was announced by PM Stephen Harper in Nov 2012 will also be present and discuss opportunities for others to get involved in. Another interesting session will be conducted by representatives of the National Association of Career Colleges (NACC) who will discuss impending legislation and how it could transform ‘Internationalization’ efforts for private institutions. Synergy 2013 will also feature a round table discussion on the intersection of immigration & education in the Canada-India corridor and feature closing remarks by Hon. Bal Gosal, Minister of State (Sport) and a reception by the co-chairs of the Canada-India Parliamentary Association.
On Oct 3 & 4, join academic experts from both countries as they discuss recent developments and hear illustrious speakers stimulate thought and showcase opportunities in this dynamic and burgeoning education corridor. The seating capacity is only 120 and registration is once again on a first come basis. CIEC has negotiated a special rate for delegates staying at the hotel, which will also provide complimentary airport transfers. To take advantage of the discounted hotel rate, reserve your room by clicking here. For delegates arriving from India, CIEC is pleased to provide 1 night FREE stay at the Hilton Garden Inn in Toronto.
- Exchange ideas via a focused networking event to further the interests of those already involved in or contemplating involvement in this dynamic education
- Explore opportunities in this burgeoning sector and build an awareness & collaborative approach in sharing each other’s experiences and pitfalls to avoid. An opportunity to highlight your programs to peers and receive effective marketing tips, network with stakeholders active in both markets and benefit from existing connections.
For those who can’t make it, CIEC’s media team will be tweeting and updating you in real time via Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn.
You may find a detailed Agenda here.
To Register, click here.
CIEC is a membership founded, bi-national, independent, event-driven organization established to operate exclusively in the ‘Canada India education corridor’, enhance ties and create opportunities for academic institutions and learners from both countries.
We look forward to seeing you at Synergy 2013.
Regards,
Husain F. Neemuchwala Prof Roseann O’Reilly Runte, President & Vice Chancellor,
CEO – CIEC Carleton University
Academic Advisor – CIEC
Overseas students rarely challenge landlords
Source: The Age
Many other students ‘pushed around in tenancies’.
When Yu Mao moved out of a rental property in Oakleigh she thought recouping her bond would be simple enough. But she was shocked to discover her signature on a claim form relinquishing most of the bond.
Ms Mao, who was an international student when she moved in, insisted she never signed the form. So she took it to police for analysis.
‘‘I had been trying so hard to prove I didn’t sign it,’’ she said.
The police analysis found her signature had been forged but was unable to determine who had written it.
Ms Mao has since become a permanent resident but said international students rarely spoke out about unfair treatment in their housing arrangements. ‘‘I don’t think they know there is a way to complain.’’
And the Council of International Students Australia says exploitation of foreign students in the rental market is rife.
The council’s public relations officer, Mohamed Ehsan Ebrahim, urged universities to ‘‘reach out’’ to students and help protect them from unfair situations. ‘‘A significant number of students have been exploited in the private rental market,’’ he said.
Withholding bonds was among the main problems.
Ms Mao said international students often left their tenancies without demanding their bond because they wanted to get home for their holidays. ‘‘Everyone is trying to leave the country as quickly as possible,’’ she said.
Ms Mao said the real estate agency she had dealt with agreed to return her bond after the police investigated.
Tenants Union of Victoria policy worker Mike Williams said international students rarely challenged their landlords.
‘‘Many international students are just pushed around in their tenancies,’’ he said. ‘‘Often they just don’t stand up for their rights.’’
He urged students to seek advice on their tenancies if they felt they had been mistreated. But few international students sought help from the union.
Hadi, who left Germany to do a PhD in Melbourne, never imagined he’d end up on the street when he moved into a house in Frankston.
But hoped speaking out about his sudden eviction would highlight the exploitation of international students in the rental market.
Hadi said in September he signed a contract that said he would mow the lawn and clean and maintain the house instead of paying rent.
Hadi, who did not want his surname published, said the landlord later demanded $150 a week. He said he agreed to pay $60 a week, but negotiations broke down.
Early this year, Hadi was walking outside his Dandenong workplace and found all his possessions dumped there.
He said a colleague handed him an eviction notice that had also been dropped off.
‘‘I went down to the garage and saw the other colleagues were laughing at me,’’ he said.
Hadi spent the night on a Swanston Street bench before crashing at a backpackers’ hostel in St Kilda for three weeks.
He recently challenged his eviction in the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal and won $1408 in compensation when the rooming house owner failed to appear.
The owner declined to comment.
IIMs might lower GMAT bar for foreign students
Source: Business Standard
Plan to attract more students from abroad to improve diversity on campus which is a major requirement for a better global ranking
To improve their global quotient and attract more foreign students, the Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) are planning to lower the graduate management admission test (GMAT)’s cut-off score for the flagship two-year management programme (PGP) and the one-year full-time MBA.
IIM directors said the GMAT cut-off used by IIMs, at over 700, was too high for candidates to even qualify for interviews.
“As the institute builds its global reputation, it will have to take steps to internationalise the students admitted to its academic programmes,” said Samir Barua, former director, IIM-Ahmedabad. “This may require the institute to lower its cut-off in GMAT for admission, particularly for the PGP. Since potential applicants with such high GMAT scores easily get admission to the best schools in the world, practically no candidates apply to the PGP of the institute.”
IIM-A uses a cut-off of 760 or so, which Barua said was high. The GMAT scores of the selected candidates of the past batches have been 695 to 728. GMAT is administered by the Graduate Management Admission Council, a US-based organisation.
IIMs said lowering the cut-off significantly enhance chances of getting more foreign students. “Citizenship diversity is a major component for world ranking of management education institutes. Currently, we are marked almost zero for it,” said an IIM-A faculty member on condition of anonymity. “By bringing down the GMAT cut-off, we could attract more foreign students and enhance citizenship diversity. Out of a batch of 400-odd students, a good 20-25 foreign students would make such a difference and also increase our chances of getting ranked higher as a global B-school.”
IIM-A is the only management school in India ranked among the top-100 schools globally by The Economist. The institute is also the only management school in India that has all the three post-graduate programmes ranking high globally. Its two-year post-graduate programme in management is ranked seventh and the post-graduate programme for executives (PGPX) is ranked 11th among comparable programmes globally by the Financial Times.
Devi Singh, director of IIM-Lucknow, too, said the GMAT cut-offs at IIMs were too high. “Every IIM is thinking of bringing down the cut-off for GMAT scores. In addition to this, IIMs need to create an eco-system to attract more foreign students at our campuses. More foreign students increase chances of higher ranking among global B-schools.”
There is no cut-off score for GMAT at the Indian School of Business (ISB), Hyderabad, which introduced the one-year management programmes in India.
International Collaboration Proves Beneficial to College Students
Source: US News
Many students choose to pursue higher education in foreign countries, whether for a semester or the entirely of their college careers. A new study from Duke University found that students’ ability to interact with those from other nations has a positive effect on not only their global perception but also certain applicable skills that could benefit them after graduation.
Duke University researchers examined a 2005 survey of 5,675 alumni from four elite private research universities who graduated in 1985, 1995 and 2000. Participants were asked about their experience interacting with classmates. The respondents, who were all American, were also questioned about their participation in academic and extracurricular activities while enrolled as well as the impact their experiences at college have had on their lives in a number of different categories of “skill development.”
International Friendships in College Promote Personal Growth
The data showed that in the 1985 class, only 67% reported interacting with foreign classmates. The numbers increased over the years – 75% of the class of 1995 and 79% of graduates from 2000 indicated they spent time with peers from overseas. Among those who spent time with international students, the research revealed higher levels of nine different skills. This included the ability to relate to people of different backgrounds, improved independent learning surrounding new skills and education, developing creative ideas and solutions, using computers, and understanding the role of science and technology in society. Being able to acquire an in-depth knowledge of a specific subject, speak or read a foreign language, gaining quantifiable abilities, and integrating ideas and information were also more prominent in these groups than among those who did not spend much time with foreign classmates.
Number of International Students Continues to Grow
Connecting with peers from other countries will likely only become easier and more accessible, as the number of foreign students coming to the U.S. to pursue bachelor’s degrees and master’s degrees has been increasing in recent years. The most recent data from the Institute for International Education shows that the number of foreign enrollees in domestic colleges and universities jumped 5% from the 2009-2010 school year to the 2010-2011 academic period. The majority of international students are coming from China, as the 23% growth of Chinese students seeking degrees in this time frame outpaced that of any other nation, and most of these students (45%) were enrolling in undergraduate programs. This detail may be especially beneficial to those hoping to enter international affairs careers, as China is one of the major economic players in the world, giving students a leg up on relations between these countries.
Top students shunning Japan
Source: Japan Times
HIKONE, SHIGA PREF. – A student seeking to study at a graduate school in the United States must take two sets of test — the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) and the Graduate Record Examination (GRE).
The GRE consists of three sections: analytical writing, verbal (assessing comprehension, critical reasoning and vocabulary usage in English) and quantitative (assessing basic-level math knowledge and reasoning skills).
The GRE is required of both American and foreign students, and those from outside the U.S. will need to achieve high scores in the analytical writing and quantitative sections because they cannot expect to do equally as well as Americans in the English-language verbal section.
Students from India, where English is almost a mother tongue, naturally do well in TOEFL and score high grades in the English verbal section of the GRE, compared with Americans. Those from countries like China and South Korea study so hard that they, too, get high marks in both TOEFL and the GRE.
Many Japanese university students do quite poorly in both TOEFL and the GRE, perhaps because the English language is taught in Japan primarily to pass university entrance examinations — a way that is not beneficial when it comes to taking TOEFL. The average TOEFL scores of students from 30 Asian countries show that Japan ranked 27th, with only Laos, Tajikistan and Cambodia trailing behind.
Lately the Japanese government appears to have sensed a crisis over the decline in the number of both foreign students coming to this country and Japanese students going abroad for study. In 2008, the government announced a plan to increase the number of students from overseas to 300,000 by 2020 (accounting for 10 percent of the estimated 3 million students in Japanese higher education institutions). In reality, however, the number rose from 124,000 in the academic year 2008 to only 138,000 in the academic year 2011, showing how difficult it will be to achieve the 300,000.
A breakdown of foreign students in Japan shows that 60.5 percent are studying humanities and social sciences at undergraduate and postgraduate levels. Students from Asian countries account for 93.5 percent of the total (Chinese and South Koreans together represent 79.5 percent), Europe 2.7 percent and North America 1.3 percent, showing that an overwhelming majority of them come from China and other parts of Asia. Those studying at graduate schools account for a mere 28.8 percent. The remaining 70-plus percent of students from abroad are enrolled at undergraduate schools, junior colleges, vocational schools and language schools.
According to the 2011 report on foreign students in Japan compiled by the Japan Student Services Organization, 90.5 percent of the students are studying at their own expense, while 6.8 percent have their expenses financed by the Japanese government and 2.7 percent are financed by the governments of their native countries. These statistics indicate the following:
(1) A majority of foreign students studying in Japan come from wealthy families in Asia who can afford the entrance examination fees, tuitions and living expenses. They may not necessarily be students with top-class qualifications.
(2) A majority of the foreign students are pursuing undergraduate and vocational curricula in Japan because they have failed to advance onto higher education in their own countries and instead chose to study at Japanese universities or vocational schools.
A number of Japanese universities accept foreign students with virtually no examinations. During the 2012 academic year, 45.8 percent of private four-year universities were unable to enroll enough students to fill their quota for a fixed number of students, leading them to rely on students from Asia to avoid bankruptcy.
(3) The reason why more than 60 percent of the students from abroad are taking humanities and social sciences at the undergraduate and postgraduate levels is that the national and other public and private universities in Japan have opened their doors wider to foreign students following the government’s decision to expand the enrollment capacity for their graduate curricula. As this policy has made it impossible for those institutions to fill the expanded capacities with Japanese students alone, they decided to rely on foreign students to fill the fixed number of students.
In China and South Korea, the master’s and doctoral degrees are considered overwhelmingly more valuable than in Japan. It makes perfect sense, therefore, that parents in those countries, whose children could not study in nations like the United States, Britain, Canada and Australia, spend huge sums of money for the second-best choice of having them study at Japanese graduate schools.
(4) The small number of foreign students in Japan whose expenses are covered by the governments of their own countries suggests that a majority of those who have passed the highly competitive examinations for the stipend have chosen to study at graduate schools in North America and Europe. Only a small number of students — such as those aspiring to become specialists in Japan-related studies — have chosen to pursue postgraduate curricula in Japan.
(5) Most of the North American and European students, who account for a mere 4 percent of foreign students in Japan, are enrolled at graduate schools with an eye on becoming Japanologists. But even the number of such students has been on the decline, presumably reflecting the decline of Japan’s economic power and international status.
It is a pity that the large majority of students from Asian countries seeking to study abroad prefer graduate schools in North America and Europe as their primary choice. It’s no exaggeration to say that those who see Japan as their primary choice are mostly students who majored in Japanese at universities in their own countries. Since they are proficient in Japanese, they study economics and social sciences at graduate schools in Japan to acquire the master’s and doctoral degrees, which will provide them with a good chance of landing jobs at Japanese corporations.
Some people have argued for some time that the reason why only a relatively small number of foreign students come to Japan is its unique system of starting the academic year in April. They advise changing the beginning of the school year to September in line with the practices of most countries in the Northern Hemisphere.
I have argued that while a change in the academic year and making English the standard language at graduate schools may increase the sheer number of students from overseas, such changes would provide little or no possibility of boosting the enrollment numbers of “outstanding” students from abroad who seek to study in Japan.
Universities may follow a “good” or “bad globalization” path. What we see at present is “bad globalization.” A prerequisite for promoting “good globalization” is elevating the levels of education and research at Japanese universities.
IGNOU organizes its first-ever pre-admission counselling
Source: DigitalLearning
The Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) is holding its first-ever pre-admission counselling for various academic programmes to guide admission-seekers.
“The session is being held at IGNOU campus from 10:30am to 5pm on weekdays till July 31, which is the last date of admission,” the university statement said.
IGNOU is the world’s largest open university system. It has a pan-India as well as international reach. The varsity has flexible entry qualifications and a wide range of academic programmes at affordable costs. It offers nearly 490 certificate, diploma, degree and doctoral programmes.
Maha Approves One Year Jail Term for Fake Educational Institution Owners
Source: DigitalLearning
In last few years, India has seen rapid growth of unauthorised and illegal educational institutions. Restricting this malpractice, Maharashtra state cabinet has approved a draft ordinance.
According to the provisions of the proposed ordinance, the owners, management and proprietors of such institutions will face a maximum prison term of one year and could be fined anything between Rs one lakh and Rs five lakh. Issuing bogus advertisements will also attract, under the provisions of the proposed law, a fine ranging from Rs 50,000 to Rs one lakh. It has been proposed that educational institutions in the field of higher and technical education, agriculture, dairy development, medical education, veterinary science and all courses will be covered under the new law.
The All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) had brought to the notice of the state government that there were 80 bogus educational institutions in the state.
Why Student Travel Is More Important Than Ever Before
Source: The Huffington Post via Study & Go Abroad
Virgin Atlantic offers Rs 5 lakh scholarship for Indian students
Source: Digital Learning
Richard Branson, the flamboyant entrepreneur and founder of Virgin Atlantic, has announced a scholarship of Rs 5 lakh for young Indian students flying to the UK and the US for studies.
The students have to submit an idea on how to use their education to solve a problem of the world along with the proof of admission to a university in the UK or the USA and a Virgin Atlantic booking.
The entries are open only for Indian students. The student whose vision appeals most to Branson will win the scholarship.
The British airline is also offering packages including excess baggage allowance and free of cost change in travel date to students flying to the US and the UK.
Nearly 100,000 Indian students go to the US for study every year. Furthermore, over 26,000 Indian students go to the UK to study each year.
Nearly half of our millionaires are immigrants, new Canadians
Source: CTV News
A new survey finds close to half of the country’s millionaires are either immigrants or first-generation Canadians who made the bulk of their money after their arrival to the country.
By comparison, only 20 per cent of respondents attributed at least part of their wealth to an inheritance.
The BMO Harris Private Banking survey found that 48 per cent of Canadians with liquid assets of $1 million or more were either immigrants (24 per cent), or first-generation Canadians (24 per cent), meaning they had at least one parent born outside the country. In British Columbia, a full 68 per cent of the millionaires said they were new Canadians.
One of those newcomer-turned-millionaires is Vikram Vij, who opened up an Indian restaurant in Vancouver five years after immigrating to Canada.
“When I came to this country I realized this was a young country,” Vij told CTV News. “I realized if I worked hard, with honesty and with integrity, this country was going to give me the chance. And that’s what I wanted to achieve in my life in India.”
Vij said when he leased space to open his first restaurant, the landlord complained of the smell of curry in the building.
“I was really slow and I was having a hard time to pay the bills, so just to please him I told my mom and dad to make the curries at home and bring it down.”
Today, Vij runs two restaurants in British Columbia, manages a line of pre-packaged gourmet curries and has published two cookbooks.
“At the end of the day, my journey is not done,” he said. “I’m going to remain focused until the day I die.”
The survey also finds that more than two-thirds of Canada’s millionaires, like Vij, are self-made — meaning they built up their nest egg on their own.
“They are not inheriting the wealth. These are people who created the wealth who made their own wealth,” said Alan Desnoyers of BMO.
The study also revealed that women make up one-third of Canada’s affluent, up from 21 per cent three years ago. It also found that 40 per cent of women generated their own wealth.
Interestingly though, only one-third of the high net-worth women said they managed their own investments, compared to 59 per cent of men.
And education appeared to be a big indicator of wealth: eight in 10 of the Canadian millionaires said they had at least a university degree, including 46 per cent who had a graduate or professional degree.
Just 10 per cent had a technical, trade or apprenticeship degree, and just 9 per cent held only a high school diploma or less.
The online survey was conducted by Pollara between March 28 and April 11, 2013 and involved 305 Canadians with $1 million in assets.
Varsities vie to augment student employability
Source: Zee News
Some universities in Maharashtra are proactively trying to reorganize the higher education system in order to increase the employability of students. Educationists feel that this is the need of the hour as the “traditional courses do not equip students with requisite skills to become employable.”
The academia is either busy actively seeking industry inputs or joining hands with foreign collaborators to design new and relevant courses. Baba Saheb Ambedkar Marathwada University (BAMU), for instance, is reorganizing its degree curriculum. SNDT Women’s University (SNDTWU) is adding new courses to its repertoire. It has also signed MoUs with leading foreign universities for creating new career channels for their students. Making students employable seems to be the latest mantra.
Experts believe that universities are seeking to create more number of adequately skilled workers only after various reputed organizations like NASSCOM pressed the panic button regarding the utter “un-employability” of Indian students. NASSCOM said that of the 400,000 odd engineering graduates who pass out every year, only 20% meet the requirement of the Indian industry. Rest have to go through rigorous training before industries can use them.
Dr Vijay Pandharipande, Vice Chancellor (VC), BAMU says, “From this academic year, we will have vocational courses instead of traditional courses.” With inputs from the Marathwada Chamber of Commerce, BAMU has planned six degree courses in the field of:
- Banking, Finance and Insurance
- Travel and Tourism
- Industry Automation
- Information and Communication Technology
- Automobile Industry
Pharma Industry
BAMU has designed a five-year integrated course after Class 12 leading to a Master’s degree. The system is flexible. This means students get a Diploma if they drop out after two years, a Degree if they take a break after 3 years. They will get a PG Diploma after four years, and if they complete the five year course, they get a Master’s Degree. Students from any stream can enrol for the Banking, Finance and Insurance or the Travel and Tourism courses. However, for the rest, it is mandatory to have Science and Mathematics at the plus-two level.
The six new age courses will have only 12 students per batch. BAMU is reorganizing the course structure. In the initial years students will have to go through all the basic courses. In the advance years, the component of the vocational specialization will increase progressively. A student will spend three months in a designated industry for hands-on knowledge and earn credits depending on the work done. A typical week will have theory lessons on four days. Student can work for the remaining two days. “It is earn-while-you-learn model,” says Pandharipande. “We are endeavouring to create an enabling environment.”
Moreover, students may learn at their own pace and have a choice of earning more credits. They may even drop out to take up a job and may rejoin the course anytime. At that time they will be evaluated on the basis of a report they submit regarding their work experience. They will also have to face a viva, do a literature survey, a case study and a case analysis to be eligible for the course. The student`s industry supervisor and a university professor will do the evaluation. “The UGC definition of a credit is 15 hours of learning. But in the new system that ‘learning’ has to happen. Only then a student will earn credits.”
Funding is a huge issue, says Pandharipande. BAMU plans to utilise services of its existing faculty and industry experts to cut costs. “The industry has promised to give our students internship and half scholarships and has promised to provide gap funding till the courses stabilize,” he says.
SNDTWU has signed MoUs with many reputed foreign brands like Rutgers State University, USA, University of British Columbia, Canada, and Malaysian Open University, among others, for student exposure and exchange, credit sharing, faculty exchange, student internship and collaborative research. Rutgers University has shown interest in SNDT’s “India Studies” program, which is going to be a combination of classroom teaching and online studies.
SNDTWU has also started a new course called “Leadership for Local Self Government” for women representatives of the local self governments. This is a distance learning course. Women councillors from Kalyan-Dombivili Municipal Corporation have already enrolled for this course. “We want to empower women,” says Dr Vasudha Kamat, VC, SNDTWU. “We will teach these women information technology – how to surf and download government circulars, how to get quotations, fill tenders, etc. We are creating informed women leaders.”
Shrinking aid may deal a blow to India’s education goals: Report
Source: Times of India
BANGALORE: The economic downturn has affected millions of children across the globe as aid to education declined. India, which already has the highest number of out-of-school children after Ethiopia and Pakistan, may be further affected.
The Education For All (EFA) Global Monitoring Report (GMR) released on Monday, a copy of which is with TOI, says reduction in aid to basic education by the United States moved it from the largest bilateral donor to the second place. The Netherlands, another major donor pushing EFA, decided to phase out its education programmes. While France cut aid to education, Japan reduced aid by 30% and Canada by 21% last year.
The EU, too, reduced its aid by one-third between 2010 and 2011. The EU’s reduced spending impacted 74 countries, including those with low education records such as India, Bangladesh, Malawi, Papua Guinea and South Africa.
After Ethiopia and Pakistan, India has the highest number of out-of-school children at close to 17 million. India figures among top 10 recipients of aid for basic education. More than 57 million children continued to be denied the right to primary education, said the GMR 2013.
While aid to education increased steadily after 2002, the trend is reversing. In one year, total aid to education declined by 7% and fallen for the first time since 2002. “This is putting at risk the chances of meeting the 2015 goals because aid to secondary education too fell by 11%,” the report said.
Many states struggle to implement RTE
Six major bilateral donors – Canada, France, Japan, The Netherlands, Norway and the US – reduced their aid. Though government spending on education is crucial, in the absence of accountability in the spending of government funds, aid is critical to make changes on ground.
“At a time when we’re implementing the Right to Education (RTE) the aid cut will spell doom for us because funds is the biggest hurdle for India. Many states are struggling to implement the RTE due to lack of funds. About Rs 1,76,000 crore was the estimated amount for RTE way back in 1999 itself. The GNP is only 3.8% for education which makes aid very critical to have every child in school,” said V P Niranjanaradhya, Centre for Child and Law, National Law School of India University , Bangalore.
Not only has aid to basic education declined, but the funds allocated are not necessarily going to countries in dire need. According to the report , of the $5.8 billion in aid to basic education in 2011, only $1.9 billion was allocated to low-income countries faced with the biggest problems in achieving universal primary education.
In addition, while the World Bank increased its aid to basic education overall, its allocations to low-income countries declined by almost one quarter. South and West Asia (including India) has the biggest share of 31 million out-of-school young adolescents . As an educationist put it: “It’s sad that countries which are spending so much on defence have neglected one of their modest commitments – to get every child in school by 2015.” “India spends Rs 3,25,000 crore every year on education which is inadequate . The government has a constitutional responsibility to provide education. But quality education is expensive and, therefore, aid is crucial . Though infrastructure and teacher ratio is again the primary responsibility of the government, improving learning levels or Continuous Comprehensive Evaluation and the pedagogy process is where NGOs are involved. So the aid may affect this aspect,” said Dileep Ranjekar, CEO, Azim Premji Foundation.
AICTE to set up regional office in Kerala
Source: Digital Learning
The All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) will set up a regional campus in the provincial capital Thiruvananthapuram to meet the growing needs of technical institutions in Kerala.
Technical institutions are required to get AICTE approval every year, and thus a centre had to be set up for them. The new office would be a one stop guidance centre for over 300 technical institutions in the state.
The state boasts of 321 technical institutions that include 150 engineering colleges, 80 MBA institutes and institutions offering polytechnic, hotel management and pharmacy education.
Delhi Gets Technical University for Women
Source: Digital Learning
Women students who want to pursue higher education in the field of technology and research now have the first University in the country dedicated to them with the inauguration of the Indira Gandhi Delhi Technical University for Women (IGDTU), created after the upgradation of what was previously the Indira Gandhi Institute of Technology.
Chief Minister of Delhi Smt Sheila Dikshit today inaugurated the Indira Gandhi Delhi Technical University for Women (IGDTU), giving the capital its first Technical University for women that is offering new M Tech programmes to women candidates.
The Chief Minister inaugurated the University in the presence of Minister for Higher Education & Training and Technical Education, Dr A K Walia, Vice Chancellor, IGDTU for Women, Prof Nupur Prakash and Parliamentary Secretary to the CM, Shri Parlad Singh Sawhney.
The University has opened its gates to women students who have BTech, MSc or MCA degrees and are looking to pursue research in the field of technology and innovation.
The erstwhile Indira Gandhi Institute of Technology (IGIT) was established in 1998 by Directorate of Training and Technical Education, Govt of NCT of Delhi as the first engineering college for women only and was functioning as a constituent college to Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University.
“Women’s participation in technical education plays an important role in the economic growth and development of the country. Indira Gandhi Delhi Technical University (IGDTU) for Women has been set up to impart quality education to women so that well qualified female engineers become part of the workforce to meet growing demands of the industry,”said Smt Sheila Dikshit.
The University is commencing M Tech programmes from August, 2013 with the degrees being offered in multiple disciplines like Information Security Management, VLSI Design, Mobile and Pervasive Computing, and Robotics and Automation. In fact, the sale of the admission brochure has already started from June 1.
“Women constitute a major part of the nation’s workforce and their contribution is vital to the progress of the nation. I am happy to note that Indira Gandhi Institute of Technology has been upgraded to Indira Gandhi Technical University for Women and has made rich contribution towards providing higher technical education to the women of the country,” said Dr A K Walia.
The University is expected to play a significant role in providing knowledge workers to the Indian industries and help correct the traditionally low representation of women in the field of Science and Technology.
“It is a historical moment as IGDTUW embarks on its journey to become the first Technical University for Women in the country. Over the past 15 years, the institute has emerged as the most sought engineering college among girls of Delhi and NCR and has become a brand name,” said Vice chancellor Prof Nupur Prakash.
The University is offering industry relevant courses in cutting edge technology areas through its M.Tech programs with an intake of 30 students for each course. The program has a strong E-learning component offering a wide range of electives delivered by experts and eminent academicians from IIT’s, IISc Bangalore and prestigious foreign Universities.
Indian Summer in Vancouver: July 4-13
Source: Connect – Canada in India
The Indian Summer Festival in Vancouver kicks off with a culinary tour of India with local chef, Vikram Vij, on July 4. Other highlights of the ten-day festival include: conversations with Indian cinema icon and humanitarian Shabana Azmi and Indo-Canadian filmmaker Deepa Mehta, a health and well-being weekend focussing on yoga, meditation and talks on nutrition, and Indian music ranging from Bhangra to Sufi.
MOU facilitates faculty and student exchanges
Source: Connect – Canada in India
India’s GITAM University recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Canada’s University of Windsor to enable short and long-term faculty and student exchanges (including a dual degree program for under-graduate students), collaborative research, teaching and engagement, and offer research based innovative academic programs.
Indian innovators receive global attention
Source: Connect – Canada in India
Three Indian innovators were among the 20 finalists who got a chance to participate in the C2-MTL conference in Montreal, Canada. This conference, which explored the relation between commerce and creativity, provided the participants with a platform to explain their innovations to top industry leaders from around the world and a chance to meet leaders like Richard Branson and Steve Brown. Read more about these enterprising young innovators.
Celebrating World Environment Day with special workshop for children in Delhi
Source: Connect – Canada in India
Over a 100 children between the ages of eight and 12 years participated in a special workshop on June 4 at the High Commission of Canada in Delhi, to mark World Environment Day. The workshop, held in collaboration with the ECO Roots non-governmental organisation (NGO), encouraged children to preserve and care for the environment with a focus on protecting Delhi’s state bird – the house sparrow, which is slowly diminishing in numbers. The young participants were excited with many fun activities including building nests using waste material and mud houses for birds, making clay pots, watching a film on the conservation of the Arctic and an interactive session with Jim Nickel, Acting High Commissioner for Canada to India. The winners of the “Save the Sparrow” slogan contest on the Canada in India Facebook page were also felicitated at the workshop. See pictures from the workshop.
King’s College London Opens first International Summer School in Delhi
Source: Digital Learning
King’s College London has opened its first international Summer School in Delhi, following the successful launch of the university’s India 2013 programme in Mumbai earlier this year.
Classes are being held at Miranda House College, University of Delhi. Courses will cover nternational relations, international political economy and e-business. King’s is working with local partner Think Education to deliver the programme of courses.
The Delhi Summer School builds on King’s extensive connections in India’s capital – the university has strong academic ties with Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) and a thriving alumni branch of nearly 250 professionals working in law, medicine, management, social sciences and education. King’s India Institute – one of the leading international centres for global engagement with contemporary India – now has an academic based in Delhi whose research focuses on the international politics of South Asia and Indian defence and security policy.
Scholarships will be available on each course of the Delhi Summer School for the best and brightest students to study at King’s College London Summer School in July and August. In addition to this, King’s will offer a scholarship for a member of staff from the host college to visit London and interact with King’s staff working on summer programmes.
Tayyeb Shah, Director of International Strategy at King’s College London, said: ‘This is a great day for King’s as we celebrate the opening of our first Summer School in Delhi.Like the popular original London programme, students can expect innovative, interactive teaching methods, faculty who are motivated by their enthusiasm for their subjects, teaching informed by cutting edge research and an opportunity to reflect on how to prepare for their future. A Summer School is a fantastic way to enrich your portfolio of skills and to get a head start in today’s globalised and fast-moving world. We are grateful to Miranda House College for hosting our courses and for the hard work that they have put in to make this happen.We have been delighted with the success of our tailor-made India programmes this year and the positive reaction from all our students. We hope to build on this success as we look to increase the range and scope of King’s activities and partnerships in India.”
CBSE declares Class XII results, girls outdo boys again
Source: Digital Learning
New Delhi: The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) announced the Class XII results on Monday, with more than 82 per cent students passing the examinations.
This is an increase of about two per cent as compared to the last year.
Girls once again outshined the boys with 87.98 per cent clearing the exam as compared to 77.78 per cent boys.
Meanwhile, the southern Chennai region beat others in the whopping overall pass percentage of 91.83.
A total of 9,44,721 students registered for the Class XII examination this year, which was also an increase of 15.81 per cent over 2012.
The Class XII results have assumed particular significance this year, as it will be given weightage for entry into the premier education institutes like IITs.
Rs. 1 lakh each for 200 Meritorious Class XII Students
Source: Digital Learning
The HRD Ministry has announced a cash award of Rs. one lakh each to about 200 meritorious students who have passed class XIIth this year in the Government schools affiliated to CBSE. The move was approved by the HRD Minister, Dr. M.M. Pallam Raju on Tuesday evening. The students who have studied from classes 9th to 12th and have passed the class 12th exam this year in the Government schools affiliated to CBSE and run by the State Government will be eligible.
The announcement said out of 200 rewards, 50 each will be for the students from Science, Commerce, Humanity and Vocational streams. Expressing satisfaction over the CBSE class 12th result announced yesterday, the Minister said the pass percentage this year is 82.10% which is highest in the last five years. The names of awardees will be announced in one month’s time.
Make Internship Compulsory for all Engineering Students says AICTE
Source: Digital Learning
The All-India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) has made internships compulsory for all engineering students to enhance their employability levels. Students in the fifth, sixth and seventh semesters will have to do an internship ranging from three to 24 months.
According to a statement issued by the AICTE Chairman SS Mantha the initiative was part of the National Employability Enhancement Mission (NEEM), whose core idea is ”not to create jobs, but to improve employability”.
AICTE has also signed a memorandum of understanding with state-owned BSNL to train third and fourth year engineering students in communication and related fields. The training will be done at BSNL’s 43 world-class training centres across the country.The AICTE will pay for the training to the colleges, which will direct the funds to BSNL.
Similar collaborations are being worked out in other disciplines of engineering with micro, small and medium enterprises.
To promote innovation among students, another initiative is being offered to reward and challenge students under the ‘Student Innovation Promotion Scheme’. Four regional-level workshops will be conducted, and 10,000 to 15,000 students will be invited to one of them, to work on projects on the spot. MSMEs will be asked to evaluate the project and selected students will be pushed to the next level of design or technology.
‘Bilateral trade with Canada may touch $15 billion by 2015’
Source: Press Trust of India via Indian Economic Business News
India’s bilateral trade with Canada is expected to grow to USD 15 billion by 2015 from the present USD 5.8 billion, Canadian Consul General Richard Bale said recently. “Currently the bi-lateral trade stands at 5.8 billion dollars and is expected to grow to USD 15 billion by 2015. Currently there are 700 Canadian companies in India,” Bale said at a conference on Renewable Energy. During the India visit of Canadian Prime Minister last November, both the Prime Ministers set an ambitious target to conclude a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) by the end of the year that would boost the Indian and Canadian economics by USD 6 billion and result in a significant increase in bilateral trade, Bale said. We believe that by combining Canadian technology and expertise with Indian talent, Canadian and Indian manufacturers can develop and deliver advanced and competitive products and services for India, Canada and third country markets, he said. The government of Canada has committed USD 13.8 million over five years to establish Canada-India Research Centre of Excellence. The Centre will fund greater collaboration between Indian and Canadian researchers and is expected to be operational by year-end, Bale added. Canadian investments in science and technology currently amount to USD 12 billion per year and have created one of the strongest science and technology bases in the world, he said.
Harper Government continues to deepen Canada-India Partnership
Source: Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade via Indian Economic Business News
On May 17th, The Honourable Ed Fast, Minister of International Trade and Minister for the Asia-Pacific Gateway, and the Honourable Bal Gosal, Minister of State (Sport), met with members of the Indo-Canadian business community in Brampton, Ontario, to highlight the benefits for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) of an ambitious Canada-India comprehensive economic partnership agreement (CEPA). The event’s hosts were the Indo- Canada Chamber of Commerce and the Brampton Board of Trade. “With SMEs accounting for more than 99 percent of companies in Canada, our government understands the crucial role that these businesses play in generating jobs, growth and prosperity in every region of our country,” said Minister Fast. “That’s why we continue to work hard to open new markets for our exporters in the largest, most dynamic and fastest-growing economies in the world, including India.” Further fuelling Canada’s growing trade with India are our strong people- to-people ties,” said Minister Gosal. “Nearly one million Canadians of Indian descent enrich our communities in cities and towns across Canada, and our government is committed to utilizing these strong links to build a partnership that will lead to new opportunities and new sources of prosperity in both countries.”
Canada lures Indian Entrepreneurs with New ‘Startup Visa’
Source: Silicon India via Indian Economic Business News
The Canadian government has launched attractive schemes and provisions, to lure potential Indian entrepreneurs who are struggling to get their green cards or trying to extend their H- 1B visas in the United States, as per a report by Business Insider. Mr. Jason Kenney, Canada’s Minister of Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism, has been aggressively campaigning to promote their governments move on offering startup entrepreneurs a new visa. The new “startup visa” was launched by the government in April. It will grant immediate permanent residency and a subsequent path to citizenship to those qualifying entrepreneurs, who can start a business in Canada and have attracted investments for their start-up ventures, and raise enough capital funds and angel investors.
In a first for India, Gujarat plans 5-yr export policy
Source: Economic Times via Indian Economic Business News
Gujarat, which accounts for about a quarter of India’s total exports, is mulling a five-year export policy to focus on value-added exports in sectors such as textiles, agriculture and dairy. The move by the top exporting state in the country comes on the back of sagging efforts by the centre to boost dwindling exports. The first state in the country to have an export policy, Gujarat plans to increase the share of exports from the state from 25% to 30% in five years. As a precursor to the policy, the Federation of Indian Exports Organization undertook a study for Gujarat on the state’s export competitiveness and identified sectors with export potential. “We are working on improving exports from the state and will take steps to increase the share to 35% of total India’s exports by 2020,” said a state government official. The government may announce incentives ranging from exemption from value-added tax (VAT) in some sectors to focus market scheme and focus product scheme to offset high freight cost and other externalities to select international markets and promote products with high-export intensity. Given that over 90% of Gujarat cotton goes to other states for value addition, emphasis would be laid on readymade garments. The state already has potential in the textile sector, as nearly 23% of the state gross domestic product comes from textile and related industries.
Goods and services tax to be in place by 2014: Prime Minister
Source: Times of India via Indian Economic Business News
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said recently that the much-awaited goods and services tax (GST) will become a reality by 2014 regardless of who forms the government after the next Lok Sabha elections, even as he counseled the foreign investors to come to terms with problems that India poses as an investment destination. Mr. Singh was responding to Hiromasa Yonekura, Chairman of Japan India Business Leadership Form, who told the PM that differences in tax regimes of each state and the complicated tax structure were big obstacles for investments in India. While saying that it was India’s objective to move towards a goods and services tax, the PM said: “But India is a federation and in federation there are difficulties of getting all the states to agree and surrender their tax power in favour of the GST. But I am confident that we will overcome that hurdle.” He also suggested that the opposition to GST was for political reasons which will melt once the 2014 elections are out of the way. However, Singh tempered his pitch for Japanese investments by advising potential business partners to adjust to Indian reality. He sympathized with the demand of Japanese and other foreign bankers that they be allowed to open more branches in metropolitan centres.
Fanshawe downtown campus may contribute $80 million to core’s economy
Source: Academica
Fanshawe College’s downtown campus, set to open its doors this fall, may eventually contribute $80 million annually to the core’s economy. That is the estimate Fanshawe president Howard Rundle offered yesterday when he and other college officials updated the public on the downtown campus project. The City of London is contributing up to $20 million to help Fanshawe purchase and renovate buildings in a defined district downtown. The Ontario government added about $6 million, an amount matched by Fanshawe itself. The college is pushing a fundraising campaign to close the gap in the project’s budget. The School for Applied and Performance Arts will open in September with an expected 400 students. The school hopes to eventually purchase one or 2 more buildings, with an eye toward total enrolment of 1,000 students downtown.
International, Aboriginal student enrolments rise at uRegina
Source: Academica
Compared to the winter 2012 semester, the University of Regina has seen an increase of 183 new first-year international undergraduate students, which represents a 22% increase. Currently, uRegina has more than 1,000 registered international undergraduate students. The university has also seen a rise in the number of international students pursuing master’s and doctoral degrees. There are 440 international graduate students at uRegina, an increase of 15% over the January 2012 term. Self-declared Aboriginal undergraduate student enrolments at uRegina have also increased by 15%. They now represent 11% of the undergraduate student body.
Pakistani TV smashes taboos with its answer to ‘Glee’
Source: NDTV
Lahore: Gay romance, Islamic extremism and a soundtrack of classic love songs make for Pakistan’s taboo-breaking answer to the hugely successful US television series ‘Glee’.
Like its smash hit forerunner, ‘Taan’ follows the lives and loves of a group of young people who regularly burst into song. But this time they attend a music academy in Lahore, instead of an American high school.
Taan — which is a musical note in Urdu — tackles subjects considered off limits in Pakistan’s deeply conservative Muslim society, with plotlines including love affairs between two men and between a Taliban extremist and a beautiful Christian girl.
The plan is for the 26-episode series to air in September or October, and while producer Nabeel Sarwar insisted the programme was not a “political pulpit”, he is determined to take on the tough issues.
“Nobody wants to have controversy for the sake of controversy, nobody wants to have an assignment to violence, nobody wants to push a button that would result in a disaster for anyone,” he told AFP.
“But the truth has to come out somewhere. Where are we going to put a line in the sand and say, ‘Look, this is what we are’?”
Taking a public stand to defend liberal values like this is rare in Pakistan, where forces of religious conservatism have risen steadily in recent years.
Risque scenes in foreign films are routinely cut by the authorities and the team behind Taan are acutely aware that they must tread carefully with their challenging material.
In one scene the two gay lovers dance and sing in a small room but never embrace — their relationship is suggested rather than overtly shown. The moment is interrupted when a radical Islamist character bursts in.
Director Samar Raza said representing the lives of gay characters was difficult in a country where homosexuality is still illegal.
“Let’s say in a certain scene, there are two boys talking to each other, they are not allowed to show their physical attachment to each other,” he said.
“So I bring a third character who says: ‘God designed Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve’.”
It is not only the sensibilities of the censors the producers must navigate.
While 70 percent of Pakistan’s population is under 35, a huge and potentially lucrative audience for advertisers, it is the head of the household who decides what families watch on TV, explains Sarwar.
“The head of the household during the day is the matriarch and the head of the household at night is the patriarch — they control access to TV,” he told AFP.
“You have to find programming that allows the matriarch and the patriarch to join in and participate, but there has to be room for the younger audience.”
In a bid to appeal to older viewers the makers of Taan have licensed around 100 classic Pakistani songs, some by legendary artists such as Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, and have reworked them to suit modern tastes, as Glee does.
“We try to find music that resonates with the older generation which control the access to the TV but we contemporise that music so that the younger audience does not feel left out,” Sarwar said.
The show hopes that by taking on difficult issues in a light-hearted way it will both reflect the changing nature of Pakistani society and attract a young audience currently hooked on imported Turkish soap operas.
Local dramas struggle to compete with the likes of “Manahil and Khalil” and “Ishq-e-Mamnu” (Forbidden Love) — Turkish serials starring Westernised characters with fair skin and dubbed into Urdu.
Turkish soaps are widely watched across the Muslim world, but the popularity of “Ishq-e-Mamnu” has prompted a lively debate about the “Turkish invasion” of the small screen in Pakistan, with local production companies complaining that they do not have the resources to rival them.
Yasmin Huq, one of the stars of Taan, told AFP a homegrown show could speak more clearly to Pakistanis than foreign imports.
“Today’s generation is watching Turkish and Indian dramas,” she said. “But no one can make a musical story like Pakistanis. Even if you watch the Turkish and Indian dramas, you will see that nobody can talk about Pakistan like Pakistanis.”
India committed to taking ‘hard’ decisions on economy, says Manmohan
Source: The Hindu Business Line
TOKYO: India is committed to taking “hard and difficult” decisions in the long-term interest of the economy, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said today, while assuring Japanese industry that the long-awaited Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime facing hurdles from states will be in place in an “appropriate type” by 2014.
On a mission to woo Japanese investors, Singh told leading business honchos at the Keidanren, the premier chamber of commerce and industry, that the current bilateral trade of $18 billion does no justice to the enormous potential that exists between the two countries.
The Prime Minister faced some searching questions from the Japanese industry which sought improvement in tax regimes, further easing of priority sector lending rules to expand financial services and allowing opening of foreign bank branches in metropolitan cities.
“Our people have tasted the benefits of rapid growth and they will not settle for less. I want to assure you that our Government is committed to taking hard and difficult decisions in the long-term interest of our economy,” he said.
A top official of Mitsubishi Corporation said Japanese investors faced difficulties with different tax regimes in each Indian State, leading to complications and wanted to know the timeline by when GST regime will be implemented.
“India is a federation and there are difficulties to bring States to agree to surrender tax power but I am confident we will overcome the hurdle. We will work and we have been working to persuade more and more States to fall in line but it does require amendment of the Constitution and needs much more energetic efforts than an ordinary piece of legislation,” Singh said.
The GST has been facing opposition from several non-Congress states which have accused the Centre of trying to encroach on powers of the States and that such a move would hit their finances.
“So, I cannot say we can deliver tomorrow but if you ask me by 2014 once elections are out of the way, whichever Government is there will be a general agreement of appropriate type in place to help propel India’s growth story,” he said.
The Prime Minister said as a result of a number of steps to revive the Indian economy, Government expects the growth rate in the current fiscal (2013-14) to be much better than in the previous year, hopefully around six per cent or so.
“We will do even better in 2014-15,” he said.
The Chairman of Keidanren, Hiromasa Yonekura, said Japanese investors are very keen to promote private-public partnership but were facing hurdles because of the complicated tax regimes in India, drawing an assurance from Singh that his Government was determined to overcome these hurdles to enable the country return to the growth path of eight per cent.
On easing norms for Priority Sector Lending (PSL), the economist Prime Minister said it was a “tough technical question which was the preserve of the Finance Ministry and the RBI” and then went on to add in a lighter vein, “the higher we go, the less you know about lower levels”.
Singh said while it will be easier for foreign banks to adjust to PSL norms, his Government would evolve transitional methods to provide a hospitable climate for the Japanese industry and ensure its larger presence in the country.
Describing Japan as a “major player” in the modernisation of Indian industry in the period after economic reforms, he noted that the Maruti-Suzuki partnership has become a household name in India.
Singh, who arrived here yesterday on a three-day visit, said lack of quality infrastructure was the single biggest obstacle to achieving high levels of competitiveness in India.
He said Government has targeted an investment of around one trillion USD in infrastructure over the 12th Plan period, with half of it coming from the private sector and public-private partnership.
“I hope Japanese business will pick up a large share of the investment opportunities that India offers,” he said.
Contraceptive use rises in rural areas of Gujarat
Source: Times of India
AHMEDABAD: Premila Bhabor of Panchmuva village in Panchamahal is a mother of five. After giving birth to a daughter and a son, she wanted another son. “What if the first one does not survive,” was her concern. But that did not happen and she conceived three girls after that. The family lives in extreme poverty. Premila and her husband did not use contraceptives though a health worker had explained how they worked.
This is one story among the hundreds in rural Gujarat where the knowledge of contraception has reached but the message hasn’t yet been conveyed.
May 28 is observed as the International Day for Action on Women’s Health and the theme set by Women’s Global Network for Reproductive Rights (WGNRR) for this year is ‘Access to Contraceptives is a HumanRight’. In rural Gujarat, while the infant mortality rate and the maternal mortality rate have improved over the years, the use of contraception – both temporary and permanent – is still limited.
However, the awareness of contraceptives is on the rise with an increase in its users, from 65% to 67%. “Non-reversible methods of contraception are preferred to reversible methods with female sterilization being the most prevalent form at 41.5%,” says Smita Bajpai, project coordinator, Chetna.
As for the vast number of those who reject contraceptives, Bajpai says: “The primary reason for refusing is the desire for having a male child and the nagging fear that one child might not survive.” To tackle this, a project was launched in 2006 which saw several state NGOs and the department of health and family welfare collaborate to bring about a change in the health statusof women in these areas. This project mobilized couples by counseling them on permanent and temporary methods of contraception provided by the public health system. Individual as well as joint counseling was done to provide complete information about various methods and the couples then chose the method of their choice.
Reports from 17 districts of Gujarat indicated that a total of 1,833 women accepted the temporary method of spacing children – intra uterine contraceptive device or IUCD. A total of 2,955 women accepted permanent sterilization. Interestingly, the state policy provides more compensation to men, but the report indicates only 129 men accepted this method during 2008-13. Men still find it difficult to accept this method as they confuse it with the concept of masculinity, the findings say.
“Women are overburdened with work. There is no one to look after the children at home and health facilities are far off, making it difficult to seek help,” Bajpai says. “Most families in these areas migrate for livelihoods. To track them and to ensure that they receive services at the places they migrate to is a major challenge in these areas.”
Soybean Crop in India Seen at Record as Rally Spurs Planting
Source: Bloomberg
Soybean farmers in India, Asia’s biggest shipper of the animal feed extracted from the oilseed, may boost planting this year as prices head for a fifth straight year of gains, potentially lifting output to a record.
Area under the oilseed may climb 5 percent to 7 percent from 10.7 million hectares (26.4 million acres) in 2012, Rajesh Agrawal, a spokesman for the Soybean Processors Association of India, said by phone from Indore. The harvest was an all-time high 12.6 million metric tons last year, he said.
Soybean futures in India have rallied every year since 2009, almost doubling in the period, as demand for the animal feedincreased from buyers in Iran, Japan and Southeast Asia. A bigger harvest may boost shipments and accelerate a decline in Chicago soybean-meal futures, which have fallen 20 percent since climbing to an all-time high in September. It may also cut cooking-oil imports by the world’s second-largest buyer.
“Area may increase in Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh,” said Agrawal, referring to the country’s biggest growing states. “Planting should be encouraging this year because farmers have got good returns in soybeans compared with cotton.”
Soybeans have climbed 19 percent in Mumbai this year, more than the 6.1 percent gain for cotton. The area under cotton may drop this year after the weakest monsoon rains in three years deepened a water shortage in the main growing regions, showed a Bloomberg survey published April 8. Sowing begins with the onset of the monsoon in June and the crops are harvested from October.
Normal Rains
The monsoon, which brings more than 70 percent of India’s rain, was 8 percent below average last year, according to the India Meteorological Department. That’s reduced water available to irrigate crops in Maharashtra, Gujarat and Karnataka states.
Drought in some parts of Maharashtra, the second-biggest grower of soybeans and sugar cane, may not hurt planting and yields this year, Agrawal said. Madhya Pradesh accounts for almost 60 percent of India’s soybean harvest.
“Soybean needs three to four inches of rain for planting to take place and subsequently doesn’t require as much water as probably sugar cane,” he said. “If rains are normal, then we need not worry about soybean output.”
Rains will be normal this year at 98 percent of a 50-year average of 89 centimeters (35 inches) in the four months through September, the weather bureau said on April 26.
Soybean meal exports from India fell 11 percent to 3.4 million tons in 2012-2013 as farmers held back their produce in the early part of the harvesting season, the Solvent Extractors’ Association of India said. Shipments may cross 4 million tons in the year ending Sept. 30, Agrawal said.
Cutting Imports
The meal for delivery in July gained 0.9 percent to $432.10 per 2,000 pounds on the ChicagoBoard of Trade at 3:35 p.m. Mumbai time. Futures reached an all-time high of $541.80 Sept. 4. Soybean futures rose 0.7 percent to $14.8675 a bushel in Chicago today, while they advanced 0.3 percent to 3,811 rupees ($68) per 100 kilograms in Mumbai.
“A good soybean harvest will also reduce imports of vegetable oil in the country,” Agrawal said. “Output of other edible oils such as peanut and rapeseed will need to grow as well to have a bigger impact on imports.”
Cooking oil imports by the South Asian nation, the biggest consumer after China, jumped 12 percent to 5.3 million tons in the six months through April, according to the extractors’ association. India buys palm oil from Indonesia and Malaysia, and soybean oil from Brazil andArgentina.
“We are importing a huge amount of edible oil,” said Vijay Data, president of the extractors’ association. “There is good demand in the market and prices are very good, so farmers will definitely plant more.”
After lingerie mannequin ban, Mumbai politicians want ban on lingerie ads too
Source: NDTV
Mumbai: Are mannequins, which display lingerie, as harmless as they look? Or are they silently promoting the surge of sex crimes?
If politicians in Mumbai are to be believed, it is the latter. And such is the potential “danger” posed by lingerie mannequins, the general body of 227 corporators of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) unanimously decided it was best to ban the ladies in plastic.
“Lingerie mannequins promote rapes. Skimpily clad mannequins can pollute young minds. After the Delhi rape case, I felt something had to be done,” explained Ritu Tawade, the BJP corporator who mooted the proposal.
Though the municipal commissioner is still to approve the proposal which was passed on May 16, when asked if lingerie advertisements on TV, in newspapers and on billboards should also be banned, Tawade agreed.
Dumbfounded Mumbaikars however, thought the initiative was ridiculous.
“Sex crimes are committed by people who have a twisted mentality and basically if they want to be, if you like, sexually aroused, all they have to do is switch on the net. It’s all over the net. What are they talking about? It is really absurd. That is why I think ‘Big Moron Corporation’ is a good title for BMC,” Ad Guru Alyque Padamsee said.
Block blasphemous material on social media: Pak court
Source: Times of India
ISLAMABAD: A Pakistani court on Tuesday directed authorities to take immediate steps to block “blasphemous material” on social media websites and sought a detailed response within 20 days.
A division bench of the Peshawar high court headed by Chief Justice Dost Muhammad issued the order in response to a petition filed by a lawyer named Arif Khan.
The judges said authorities should takeimmediate measures to block blasphemous and disputed material on social media websites.
The Chief Justice observed that anti-Islam material on social media websites incite religious sentiments and “cause chaos in society”.
They also issued notices to officials of the interior ministry, Pakistan Telecommunication Authority and other departments, seeking detailed replies on the issue within 20 days.
It could not immediately be ascertained which websites the judgeswanted the authorities to act against.
YouTube, the popular video sharing website, has been banned in Pakistan since last year over the hosting of clips of an anti-Islam movie.
Four Indian warships on overseas deployment
Source: Times of India
NEW DELHI: India has dispatched four warships, including a frontline destroyer and a stealth frigate, on a long overseas deployment through the strategic Malacca Strait to Malaysia,Vietnam and Philippines.
The four warships from the country’s Eastern Fleet — stealth frigate INS Satpura, guided-missile destroyer INS Ranvijay, missile corvette INS Kirch and fleet tanker INS Shakti – will make port calls at Klang in Malaysia, Da Nang in Vietnam and Manila in Philippines before returning to India towards end-June. Eastern Fleet commander Rear Admiral P Ajit Kumar is leading the flotilla.
“Constructive engagement is our principle weapon during peacetime. The idea is to enhance security and stability in the entire Indian Ocean Region (IOR) by engaging with regional and extra-regional maritime powers,” said a senior officer.
India, of course, is also building strong maritime security bridges with countries like Japan and Vietnam in a bid to counter China’s “string of pearls” maritime construct in the IOR.
Incidentally, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who is currently inTokyo, said on Tuesday that India shares with Japan a strong strategic interest in expanding cooperation on maritime security and promoting regional stability.
India views Japan as a “natural and indispensable partner” in the quest for stability and peace in Asia. Ensuring sea lanes remain open and free is vital for the region’s prosperity, given its dependence on oil imports from the Middle East, he added.
India feels its central location in the Indian Ocean, astride major commercial routes and energy lifelines like the Malacca Strait, makes it a major stakeholder in the region’s security and stability.
Just last week, while laying the foundation stone of the Indian National Defence University, the PM had held that India was “situated at the strategic crossroads of Asia and astride one of the busiest sea lanes of the world”.
While exuding confidence about India’s growing military might, Singh said, “We have also deepened political, economic and strategic relationships in the Asia Pacific, Indian Ocean and West Asian regions.”
“We have also sought to assume our responsibility for stability in the IOR. We are well positioned, therefore, to become a net provider of security in our immediate region and beyond,” he added.
Heatwave continues, over 500 dead since April
Source: Times of India
NEW DELHI: Heat wave conditions, which have seen over 500 people losing their lives since April due to heatstroke, continued across India on Tuesday, an official said.
According to the department of disaster management, 524 people have died of sunstroke since April 1 across the country. However, unofficial sources have put the toll at over 600 during last four days itself.
After a cloudy and windy on Monday, it was back to being scorching hot in the capital on Tuesday as the maximum temperature settled three notches above average at 43 degrees celsius. The Met office has forecast similar weather Wednesday.
“The heat wave will continue tomorrow (Wednesday) the skies will be sunny,” an official of the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said.
The maximum and minimum temperatures are likely to hover around 43 and 28 degrees respectively. Tuesday’s minimum temperature was 29 degrees celsius, two notches above average for this time of the season.
Monday’s maximum temperature in Delhi was 42.6 degrees celsius, two notches above average, while the minimum settled at 30.2 degrees celsius, three notches above average.
Heat wave conditions continued to prevail in the desert state of Rajasthan with the mercury Tuesday hovering between 40 to 45 degrees celsius.
Churu at 45.2 degrees celsius was the hottest in the state and Sri Ganganagar was also close at 44.4 degrees celsius.
State capital Jaipur was scorching at 41.9 degrees and the minimum temperature was at 32.4 degrees celsius, almost five degrees above normal. Bikaner was also hot at 41.9 degrees celsius.
The heat wave continued to roast Uttar Pradesh Tuesday with the mercury soaring to 45 degrees celsius in some parts of the state
Most people stayed indoors as humidity and long hours of power outages and cuts added to people’s woes.
Etawah remained the hottest place in Uttar Pradesh at 46.2 degrees celsius, four degrees above the normal temperature for this time of the season. Banda recorded 45.2 degrees celsius, Hamirpur 45.2 degrees, Agra 43.3 degrees, and Allahabad 45.5 degrees, making these the hottest cities in the state.
The temperature in Lucknow hovered around 44 degrees celsius, a meteorological department official told IANS.
There was no likelihood of any respite from the heat nor any chances of rain in Uttar Pradesh, the official added.
Rainfall in parts of Andhra Pradesh provided much-needed relief to people from the intense heat that has kept the southern plateau sizzling for weeks and claimed over 500 lives across the country.
Several parts of Srikakulam district in north coastal Andhra Pradesh and some parts of East Godavari, West Godavari, Guntur and other districts of south coastal Andhra received rains on Tuesday.
The sky remained cloudy in most parts of Telangana and Rayalaseema regions, officials said. Rains or thundershowers are likely in a few places in the state during the next 24 hours.
India Antiterror Agency Probes Maoist Ambush That Killed 24
Source: The Wall Street Journal
NEW DELHI—India’s federal antiterror agency will probe a weekend attack blamed on Maoist insurgents in Chhattisgarh state that left two dozen people dead, including local leaders of the ruling Congress party, government officials said Monday.
The government, which earlier had said 28 people were killed in Saturday’s ambush in the state’s Jagdalpur region, revised the toll to 24 on Monday. Some bodies were counted twice initially, one of the officials from the federal home ministry said.
The official said the National Investigation Agency will investigate the attack. The government also will send 2,000 more paramilitary personnel to reinforce the state’s fight against the rebels, he said.
Thousands have been killed in the Maoist insurgency that began in the late 1960s as a peasant uprising.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has described the movement as India’s biggest internal security challenge. On Sunday, Mr. Singh indicated the government could intensify its fight against the rebels who are skilled in jungle warfare and equipped with modern weapons.
“We will pursue the perpetrators of this crime with urgency and I can assure the nation that the government is committed to bringing them to justice,” he said in Raipur, the capital of Chhattisgarh. “Those who commit such dastardly crimes are working against the interests of peace and development in the area.”
Chhattisgarh is rich with minerals such as iron ore and bauxite. It is also one of the most-affected by the country’s Maoist insurgency.
The rebels say they are fighting for the rights of tribes and the rural poor who they say have been left out of India’s economic development and have been exploited by companies looking for minerals. According to authorities, the insurgency has crippled economic activity in India’s central and eastern regions including Chhattisgarh, worsening unemployment and poverty.
Saturday’s ambush, in which the suspected insurgents set off a land mine and fired at a convoy of cars carrying Congress workers from a party rally, was one of the most deadly targeting politicians. Among those killed were Chhattisgarh Congress chief Nand Kumar Patel and Mahendra Karma, a party leader who founded the government-backed militia, known as Salwa Judum, to fight Maoist rebels.
Senior Congress party leader and former federal minister Vidya Charan Shukla was among 32 injured. Mr. Shukla, 84 years old, was airlifted to New Delhi Sunday and is undergoing treatment at a hospital near the national capital.
“He is critical, but stable,” said Naresh Trehan, chairman of Medanta Hospital, where Mr. Shukla is being treated.
The rebels are inspired by Chinese revolutionary leader Mao Zedong. They are also called Naxalites because the movement began in Naxalbari, a town in West Bengal state. The insurgency spread in the 1980s to Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Bihar and Madhya Pradesh. Chhattisgarh was later carved out of Madhya Pradesh.
Home ministry data on Maoist attacks and arrests show the insurgency is extending into states such as Karnataka, Punjab, and deeper into Uttar Pradesh.In Karnataka, a southern Indian state, a police officer was killed by Maoists in 2011. Senior insurgent leaders were arrested in Punjab and Delhi, both in the north, between 2009 and 2012.
R.K. Vij, the top police official in charge of Chhattisgarh’s anti-Maoist operations, said the state police had launched a special drive against rebels last month. But, given the vast territory and forests the police need to cover, more forces are required, he said.
According to the home ministry official, the federal government has deployed 81,000 paramilitary personnel to fight Maoists. Nearly 40% of this is in Chhattisgarh, he said.
Delhi’s government schools the best in country
Source: Times of India
NEW DELHI: Despite limited facilities, students of Delhi government schools have performed best in the category across the country. Delhi saw 88.62% students passing the Boards this year followed by Panchkula with 85.32% and Chennai with 64.68%.
The pass percentage of the govern-ment school students has gone up by 0.93 % this year. The best results have come from Rajkriya Pratibha Vikas Vidyalays (RPVV) with 99.05% stu-dents clearing the exam. The figure outshines the result of Delhi’s Kendriya Vidyalas (97.56%) and public schools (91.83%). The result has further placed four RPVVs—Dwarka (18th), Rohini(79th), Gandhi Nagar (80th) and Surajmal Vihar (91th)—among the top 100 schools of the NCR region.
RPVV Dwarka student Ankit Saini is an overall topper in commerce stream with 97.4% marks. In science, Lalit Lakra of SV Coed Paschim Vihar has topped with 96.2 % marks. Among arts students, Momina Sheikh of GGSSS No-2 in Shakti Nagar and Diksha of SKV SP Road Nangloiare joint toppers with 95.2% marks. In vocational stream. Taruna of SKV Shadi Khampur has topped with 92.8%.
“I would like to congratulate students, parents, teachers and education department over the best-ever results of Delhi gov-ernment schools in 12th Class CBSE Examination,” said chief minister Sheila Dikshit.
JNVs better than KVs
Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas continue to lead in pass percentage in the Class XII exams, followed by Kendriya Vidyalayas. Both recorded increase in pass percentages. While JNV improved its pass percentage from 95.96% in 2012 to 96.14 in 2013, KVs recorded 94.81% up by 0.68% from that of last year. In all, 65,400 KV students took the exams, while 25,807 from JNV sat for the exams. The humanities topper, Pratyush Kumar Singh, is from a KV in Arunachal Pradesh.
Government appoints five experts to Air India’s board
Source: ZeeNews
New Delhi: The Central Government has appointed five experts from different fields as part-time Directors on the Air India Board, including IIM-Ahmedabad professor Ravindra H Dholakia, to suggest cost-cutting measures for the national carrier.
Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh appointed them to utilise their specialised skills to help Air India achieve the targets set by the government through its Turnaround and Financial Restructuring Plans.
Besides Dholakia, other non-official part-time Directors are Gurucharan Das, Dr. Prem Vrat, Air Marshal (Retd.) K.K. Nohwar, PVSM VM, and Renuka Ramnath.
These persons not only have expertise in their specific fields, but also have served in various reputed organisations at highest levels.
Gurucharan Das is a Graduate with Hon. from Harvard University in Philosophy and has worked as CEO of Procter & Gamble India, besides holding high posts in other organisation. Dr. Prem Vrat is M.Tech. and Ph.D. and is presently working as Vice Chancellor and Professor of eminence, ITM University Gurgaon.
Air Marshal (Retired), K.K. Nohwar, PVSM VM, is a military aviator with more than 40 years of experience in the field of aviation. Dr. Dholakia is Ph.D. in Economics and M.A. with distinction, Gold Medallist in Economics and Eco-Metrics.
He is Professor in Economics and Public System of IIM, Ahmedabad. Renuka Ramnath holds a Bachelor Degree of Engineering and MBA with AMP from Harvard Business School.
She is a founder, Managing Director and CEO of Multiples Alternate Asset Management which manages 400 million dollars of Indian and international capital.
College of the Rockies earns top spot for International Students in Canada
Source: College of the Rockies
On Thursday, April 18, College of the Rockies celebrated being chosen as the Number One destination for International Students in Canada and Number Two in the world, based on overall ratings by students. The survey, the Student Barometer, is the largest of its kind and conducted annually by the International Graduate Insight Group (i-graduate).
Students from 193 educational institutions from 15 countries were asked to rate their schools covering four categories: arrival experience, support, living, and learning. This included 25 from Canada and, among them, College of the Rockies earned top honours.
Mr. Sudhir Vyas, Secretary (West) visited Toronto
Source: Indian Economic Business News
Secretary (West) Shri Sudhir Vyas accompanied by Ms. K. Nadini, Dir(AMS) and Dr. Piyush Singh, Under Secretary (AMS), visited Canada during 29-30 April, 2013 for Foreign Office Consultations. The delegation visited Toronto on April 30. A luncheon roundtable was organised by C D Howe Institute and a dinner reception by Canada-India Business Council (C-IBC) and IIT Alumni Association of Canada (IITAC). Secretary addressed the participants at the Institute, comprising mainly of academics, think tanks and universities, on the topic ‘Canada-India Relations: The Untapped Potential’. The reception audience consisted of business representatives and professionals active in India-Canada economic corridor. Speaking at these two events Secretary pinpointed three pillars for Canada and India to build on viz Energy, Food Security and Trade & Economic Co-operation. Secretary had separate meetings with University of Toronto and NASSCOM Canada chapter members.
Alberta oil patch risks losing Indian investment over Ottawa’s mixed messages
Source: Economic Times via Indian Economic Business News
Canada’s mixed messages on foreign investment from state-owned enterprises threaten to spook India’s major energy giants, the country’s top diplomat in Ottawa said recently. Ottawa is contemplating tweaks to the Investment Canada Act that would broaden the definition of state ownership and potentially subject minority purchases of natural gas and oil sands assets to the opaque net-benefit test, according to an analysis by lawyers at Osler Hoskin & Harcourt LLP. The federal government introduced new rules last year after the $15.1-billion purchase by China’s CNOOC Ltd. of Nexen Inc. and the $6-billion acquisition of Progress Energy Resources Corp. by Malaysia’s Petronas. The changes barred state-run companies from majority ownership of oil sands assets or companies. “This would be a departure from what was clarified in Ottawa in December … and will certainly add considerable uncertainty for potential investments,” Nirmal V erma, India’ s High Commissioner to Canada, told an investment conference in Calgary hosted by the Canada-India Business Council.
3 Petroleum Minister announces launch of Direct Benefit Transfer for LPG scheme in 20 districts
Source: Press Information Bureau via Indian Economic Business News
The Government of India is launching Direct Benefit Transfer for LPG (DBTL) scheme in 20 high Aadhaar coverage districts from 1.6.13. The scheme aims to curb leakages and prevent black-marketing and provide subsidy to consumers in their bank accounts. For the benefit of LPG consumers, OMCs have provided the facility on their web-sites to check whether the Aadhaar number has been attached to LPG consumer number/bank account. For the benefit of LPG consumers, who cannot complete formalities by 1.6.13, a grace period of three months is being given to complete the formalities. After this period, all consumers who have not completed the formality will get LPG cylinders at market price, without any subsidy, till they complete the same.
World Bank sees India growing at 6.1% this fiscal
Source: Hindu Business Line via Indian Economic Business News
The World Bank sees India regaining economic momentum and recording 6.1 per cent GDP growth in the current fiscal. Growth is expected to increase further to 6.7 per cent in 2014-15, the World Bank said in its latest India Development Update, a bi-annual report on the Indian economy. The 6.1 per cent growth forecast for 2013-14 is much higher than the five per cent growth estimated for 2012-13. The World Bank’s optimism stems from positive data points in the recent months in the areas of manufacturing, inflation and better export numbers, said Denis Medvedev, Senior Country Economist, World Bank, India. Despite the current downturn, long-term prospects remain bright for India, said Martin Rama, World Bank’s Chief Economist for the South Asia Region.