May 28 2014 : The Economic Times (Delhi)

NEIGHBOURING NATION'S TASTE FOR KENYAN TEA HITS INDIAN EXPORTS India, Pak may need a Chai Pe Charcha

SUTANUKA GHOSAL

KOLKATA





Price is the key factor for Pakistan not buying first flush teas from India

Even as the bonhomie between Narendra Modi and Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif continues, Indian tea faces stiff competition from Kenya in Pakistan. The neighbouring nation is buying more tea from Kenya in the current season and going by this trend it will be difficult for India to achieve 50 million kg of tea exports to Pakistan by 2015.Price is the key factor for Pakistan for not buying first flush teas from India.
This year, Kenyan production has been on the higher side and the African nation has offloaded tea in the Pakistan market at a much cheaper price. AN Singh, chairman, Indian Tea Association, said that Kenya has sold teas to Pakistan at a price of $2 per kg. “In some cases, Kenya has offloaded tea at the sub $2 level. On the contrary, our tea is at a higher price. There is a price differential and Pakistan cannot afford to buy tea at a higher price.“
Pakistan generally buys south Indian teas, which are comparatively cheaper than the Assam and Dooars teas. “The first flush teas from South India were fetching ` . 160 ­ `. 165 per kg two months back. So Pakistan preferred Kenyan tea as prices were lower compared to Indian tea. Now prices of South Indian tea have dropped to ` . 130 ­ `. 135 per kg. Pakistan buyers are slowly picking up some teas from India now,“ said Gopal Poddar, director of tea broking firm Limtex Group.
But as things stand today, Pakistan is unlikely to buy teas from Assam and Dooars, which are priced higher. “From July, second flush teas will come to the market. If the production is good then prices will fall in the Indian market. Let us see whether Pakistan buys teas from India at that level or not,“ said Singh.
Tea industry veterans feel that in 201415, Indian tea exports to Pakistan will not be more than 15-16 million kg. “If trade relations improve between India and Pakistan following the talks between Modi and Sharif, then chances are there that tea exports from India may increase. Otherwise at best India's exports to Pakistan will be around 30 million kg by 2015,“ Singh added. India's total exports in FY 2014 has been around 218.12 million kg.
Exports to Bangladesh, the other neighbouring nation of India, is also set to take a hit as the nation has increased import duty on tea from 5% to 15%. In FY14, India's exports had increased to 10.61 million kg from 2.98 million kg in FY13.
Even Iran is not showing much interest in Indian orthodox teas this year. The ITA chairman said: “Last year Iran was hungry for Indian first flush teas. But this year that trend is missing. However, still enquiries are coming from the Iranian market. We are hoping that exports of orthodox teas to Iran will improve from July onwards.“

May 28 2014 : The Economic Times (Delhi)

MGNREGA may be Linked to Development

NEW DELHI OUR BUREAU





The rural job guarantee scheme, MGNREGA, is likely to undergo changes with the new rural development minister, Gopinathrao Munde, planning to link it to development of villages.“I like this scheme. This scheme is best for villages. Basically, people get employment,” said Munde, who took charge of the ministry on Tuesday.
He, however, said there are “problems”
in its implementation. “Proper management is a problem; proper disbursement of money is a problem. I think the MGNREGA (Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee) money should go to the development of villages and people should get employment.“The senior BJP leader also said that his priority would be proper implementation of the recently enacted Land Acquisition law and Narendra Modi's key electoral plank -that every household will be provided sanitation and drinking wa ter. MGNREGA is widely seen as a plank on which the UPA government returned to power in 2009.
The scheme entitles millions of rural workers enrolled under it to 100 days of wage employment in a financial year to a rural household.
Implementation of the scheme, which has an annual allocation of over .
`30,000 crore, has been hit due to delays and issues with release of funds.
There are also issues related to authenticity of beneficiaries enrolled under it

May 28 2014 : The Economic Times (Delhi)

6% of GDP to be Spent on Education: Irani

NEW DELHI OUR BUREAU





Taking charge as minister for human resource development, Smriti Irani, the youngest member of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's cabinet, promised to increase public spending on education and review all legislations related to higher education reform that had lapsed with the dissolution of the 15th Lok Sabha.In keeping with the tone set by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Irani stressed that consensus would be the by-word in policy formulation.
“On behalf of the ministry, we have undertaken a study of all the pending Bills in Parliament... all pros and cons of those legislation, and I will only say this instead of mak ing any specific statements right now, we are having ministerial meetings within our department to see what are the initiatives we need to undertake,“ Irani told reporters on Tuesday.
The minister said she was honoured to serve as HRD minister, a post once held by senior party leader Murli Manohar Joshi. “For me, it is not a position of authority but a position of service,“ Irani said. In an effort to assuage concerns over the BJP's approach to the education sector,and conscious of controversial decisions made by the previous NDA government on issues such as curriculum revision, Irani said, “Every decisionthat we reach upon is a decision which comes across through consensus, every per son, every thought process, every stakeholder shall be consulted.“In line with BJP'spoll promise, Irani said the government would increase spending on education to 6% of GDP, a promise that successive governments have failed to keep.

May 28 2014 : The Times of India (Delhi)

DU keeps sports, ECA quota at 5%

Manash Pratim Gohain

New Delhi: TNN





Varsity Issues 2014-15 Guidelines For Two-Step Admissions, Sets Up Grievance Committee

Delhi University has issued guidelines for admission of students to the four-year undergraduate programme in sports category. Five percent seats are reserved in all colleges for those seeking admission in the combined category of sports and extracurricular activities (ECA) on supernumerary basis.According to the guidelines, these are two-step admissions--in the super cate gory and trial category .
Those who have participated in international sporting events fall in the super category and are eligible for direct admission. The rest need to take fitness tests to be followed by sports trials. There will be three tests--strength, endurance and speed.
Aspirants must apply in individual colleges. Colleges are being asked to notify their requirement of players of different sports in their prospectus.
“Admission will be based on sports trials which will have a maximum of 50 marks and sports certificates, also having a maximum of 50 marks. A minimum of 18 marks must be scored by the candidate in sports trials,“ joint dean of students' welfare Malay Neerav said.
Each college will have a sports admission committee in which the principal will be the chairperson and the teacher in charge of physical education the convener. The committee will also have a physical education teacher as member, one expert nominated by the college from the confidential list given by the DU sports council, one facul ty member nominated by the sport council, one regular bona fide sports student representative, one DU sports council representative and one vice-chancellor's nominee as observer.
Before the sports trials, candidates, other than those from the super category , need to qualify in a fitness trial. A candidate needs to qualify in two of them, except those from the field of archery , shooting and chess who need to qualify in one test. “A student needs to get the fitness certificate only once from any of the colleges,“ Neerav said. Only those who have achieved distinction in sports during the last three years in a competition recognized by Association of Indian Universities and Indian Olympic Association are eligible for the quota.
Lists of the finally selected candidates containing trial marks, certificate marks and other details as well as the course allotted are to be submitted along with a copy of qualifying Class XII marks to DU sport council at the earliest so that these may be displayed at the university website for seven days in order to ensure that grievances, if any , are taken cognizance of. A grievance committee for sports admission has also been constituted by the VC with the secretary, DU sports council, as its convener.

Economic Development and Cultural Change 

Vol. 62, No 3, 2014

TABLE OF CONTENTS

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1. 

   Caste Dominance and Economic Performance in Rural India(pp. 423-457)  

   Vegard Iversen / Adriaan Kalwij / Arjan Verschoor / Amaresh Dubey

   DOI: 10.1086/675388

   Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/675388
2. 

   The Impact of Malaria Control on Infant Mortality in Kenya(pp. 459-487)  

   Vikram Pathania

   DOI: 10.1086/675382

   Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/675382
3. 

   Do the More Educated Know More about Health? Evidence from Schooling and HIV Knowledge in Zimbabwe(pp. 489-517)  

   Jorge M. Agüero / Prashant Bharadwaj

   DOI: 10.1086/675398

   Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/675398
4. 

   Long-Term Health Effects of Malaria Exposure around Birth: Evidence from Colonial Taiwan(pp. 519-536)  

   Simon Chang / Belton Fleisher / Seonghoon Kim / Shi-yung Liu

   DOI: 10.1086/675434

   Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/675434
5. 

   Magnet Classes and Educational Performance: Evidence from China(pp. 537-566)  

   Mingming Ma / Xinzheng Shi

   DOI: 10.1086/675387

   Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/675387
6. 

   Quantifying Some of the Impacts of Economics Blogs(pp. 567-597)  

   David McKenzie / Berk Özler

   DOI: 10.1086/675383

   Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/675383

May 26 2014 : The Times of India (Delhi)

Ideas that change life





Bhimavarappu Mouli Aravind lost his eyesight at a young age but he found a way to pursue legal studies at National University of Juridical Sciences (NUJS), Kolkata

My father is a compounder and mother, a homemaker. My younger brother is in class XII.
After an accident in class III, I slowly lost my eyesight but this has not stopped me from living my dream. I attended a schoo in my hometown Nellore in Andhra Pradesh. I had difficulty reading the blackboard and it was especially tough in the maths class. As my vision slowly worsened, I would sit on the first bench and jot down notes. I could not even see the diagrams in the textbooks properly. It majorly affected my life. In exams, the paper used to be printed in small font.After my class X, I went to Hyderabad -Sai Junior College for the Visually Challenged -for my intermediate course, that is class XI. It took me some time to adjust to campus life. When I was in class XII, my life changed as I met IDIA (Increasing Diversity by Increasing Access to Legal Education) representatives who coach Common Law Admission Test aspirants free. IDIA, a pan-India organisation, conducted an entrance test in which I topped. I always thought lawyers are good for nothing. They simply sit under a tree and charge Rs 300-500 per case. But my opinion changed when Shamnad Basheer of IDIA talked to me about the significance of law and a lawyer's role in moulding society. I decid ed to pursue law at NUJS.
It was a very different life for me; I am from a society where we are not allowed to talk to girls. But I saw people speaking to each other freely and in English. I took sometime but I soon made friends who helped in my academics.
I had an opportunity to represent the university at the national level for a conference in Delhi. IDIA paid for my expenses and finally, my dream of visiting Delhi came true and I also enjoyed the conference.
I wish to become an IAS officer and help my community and other visuallychallenged people.

May 26 2014 : The Times of India (Delhi)

Q & A `UNPLUG' LEARNING





JORGE CAUZ, president, Encyclopaedia Britannica Inc, transformed the 246-year-old company from a publisher primarily of printed reference works into a developer of digital education products. Cauz talks to Malini Sen

You have taken Britannica beyond its traditional base in reference into broader educational markets, such as curriculum, e-learning and language instruction. Could you share your journey with us?
The story of our journey can be explained in two different ways.
One is what is relevant for the Encyclopaedia Britannica brand -a brand that was created in 1768. Back then the mission of the company was to bring expert knowledge to as many people as possible. Obviously, back then, it took the shape of our print set. To bring expert knowledge to as many people as possible, one would have to be independent of the print medium, and be fully digital so that we can expand.The other part of the journey is our digital technologies that have allowed us to create new channels where Britannica can provide more meaningful prod ucts and add value. We are active participants in the learning process, and are going beyond the general reference and trying to educate students in more basic skills -English language, mathematical or science. So, we have created a different product line within the Britannica name.
Why did you feel the need to move from printed reference material to digital educational resources?
Print has limited space and to keep in tune with the times we needed to move beyond simply reference material. We needed to enter the educational resources market offering solutions at every level.
Technology has revolutionised every part of our lives, we needed to harness the potential of technology and move into e-resources globally where there are no limits, no boundaries.
The move from printed encyclopaedia to digital education resources has to do with the fact that educational resources are compliant with the Britannica brand where the main vision and mission of the company is to help our users and readers to improve the understanding of the universe in which we live.
We are becoming more of an everyday provider of informa tion and learning resources in classrooms. Before, we used to have only editors at Britannica.
Today, we have learning specialists, teachers, curriculum specialists and instructional designers that are building with us and helping us build new learning solutions for the market, where adaptability, interactivity and personalised learning are important.
How has the role of the teacher changed with the advent of technology?
The role of the teacher is more to coach than instruct.
Teachers and students can both modify and transform the e-content to suit their needs. The learning material is not that rigid any longer.
The role of the teacher has changed significantly and will continue to change over the coming years. In the past, the teacher was the person responsible for delivering instructions.
In the future, we will have more sophisticated digital teaching solutions, in addition.
Could you elaborate on the strategy for India and the role Britannica is playing?
Our strategy for India is quite robust. India was one of my first assignments at Britannica. We are keen to provide learning solutions. India is an important market and a place where we can actually create content.
Since 2009, Britannica Learning has been designing and developing curricular learning solutions in India, consisting of textbooks, interactive student and teacher resources, and providing teacher training to achieve desired learning outcomes and promote higher order thinking skills in the preK-10 segment for English, maths, science, social studies, general knowledge and IT.
Britannica Digital Learning is leveraging its extensive, mediarich global digital repositories, which are level and topic referenced, to enable enquiry-based and exploratory learning within the classroom and at home. The interactive content and games bring fun to learning. We also ensure that the resources are contextualised to be relevant to the Indian market.
How do you propose to `unplug' the library and take it to the classroom and homes?
The library has already been unplugged. A library is everywhere and is becoming a portable entity that is readily accessible to each one of us.
Before, knowledge was limited, but today it is readily available to us through a simple click of a mouse or a touch of a screen.
We have to distinguish between knowledge and other information. The library has not been unplugged by anyone; it now coexists in the classroom today in the digital devices students bring in the classroom as well as those that are available at home. I think the library now is omnipresent. One of the things we are noticing today is that the traditional library building is transforming itself into many other things, such as a community centre, and technology centre, into a place where knowledge sharing takes place. The new form of library is becoming an important part of knowledge and learning environment as these are the places where professionals are concentrated and there is guidance with important tips as to where a person needs to go to find reliable and trustworthy information.
What is your vision for the company in the next five years?
My vision for the company in the next five years is to continue to grow beyond 15% a year and our digital solutions in the K-12 market. We need to improve and continue creating new learning solutions. The main focus of our company today is to be a premier player in the K-12 learning space and for that we have been creating new digital solutions and a full line of curriculum products. And the other part is the traditional goal of Britannica -that of satisfying the knowledge needs of the intellectually curious person that we call the casual learner. We are proactively asking users and experts to participate with us in the creation of new content. So, the focus is twofold -the casual learner market as well as the K12 learning space.