NSDC push to innovative solutions for skill challenge 

National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) has announced the launch of the NSDC Innovations for Skills Challenge 2014 (NISC).  Organised at the national level, it is a competition that is aimed at providing innovative skilling enterprises across the country an opportunity to receive funding to the tune of Rs 3 crore.

NISC 2014 will identify and invest in 10 to 15 robust enterprises, which will positively impact and create a multiplier effect in the space of skill development in India.

In addition to the funding, NISC 2014 also provides finalists various non-monetary rewards such as connect to industry experts and business leaders, access to discounted working spaces, a six-month mentorship and national visibility.

Recognising the importance of skill development, NSDC has developed this challenge to encourage organisations with innovative solutions that can provide scale, reduce cost and train & equip the workforce of India at par with industry standards. The first level applications are open till September 24, 2014, after which a list of selected proposals will be released.

- See more at: http://digitallearning.eletsonline.com/2014/09/nsdc-push-to-innovative-solutions-for-skill-challenge/#sthash.lEk5Kf77.dpuf

Modi asks Students to Dream and Do Something in Life 

The Indian Prime Minister was more than enthusiastic to interact with the students on the occasion of Teacher’s Day, who asked him questions from all walks of life. Narendra Modi went on to explain to them the importance of ideation and living life to the fullest with hard work. Excited about the idea of interacting with the Prime Minister on the occasion of Teacher’s Day, students flooded Narendra Modi with questions on a variety of subjects.

The most basic came from a student who asked, “How did you feel when you left Gandhinagar to come to Delhi?” Modi replied by saying that he has not had the time to see Delhi. But thanks to his experience as a Chief Minister, the role of PM has not been too difficult. “The issues might have changed, the horizon expanded, and responsibilities increased and we have to work harder now, but it has not been very tough. But yes, now we have to be very careful about the words we use, because it can harm the country. Let’s see if there is much change in the future.”

In an effort to absorb from the experiences of Modi, a student sought to know what the biggest contributor to his life has been – experience or teachers. The PM said that although we are taught that experience is the biggest teacher, if one does not get the right teaching and values, experiences or situations can even destruct you. “It depends on how you are trained to absorb it,” he said.

The high points of the interaction came when a child clearly asked Modi how one could become the Prime Minister of a country. The Prime Minister said that sensitivity to serve your nation and its people teamed with hard work and passion can enable any son of this soil to reach the country’s highest chair, and there will be no stopping that person. On a lighter note, he also remarked that he would remain on the post till 2024 and that the student should start preparing for elections thereafter.

Modi also told students that most people are unhappy because they dream of ‘becoming’ something and not of ‘doing’ something. Encouraging students to dream and do something in life, he said, “In the course, when you achieve something, it is a great satisfaction.”

One quality of that the PM attributed his success to is the fact that he is a taskmaster; the fact that he believes in performance, work, and discipline, not just for others, but for himself before anybody else. The PM said that views and thought process of the new generation lifted his spirits and said in reply to a child that everybody in life is searching for the answer to who he is and the day we discover ourselves, it is one of the greatest things.

And moving towards a larger world view for delivering results, Modi gave an example from his Japan visit where he greatly admired the optimum use of technology. “While teaching is negligible, focus is on learning,” he said.

The Prime Minister also expressed concern about hygiene conditions in school, the environment, educating the girl child and other vital issues in the field of education that can change the course of our country’s future.

- See more at: http://digitallearning.eletsonline.com/2014/09/modi-asks-students-to-dream-and-do-something-in-life/#sthash.HixwA3Ru.dpuf

Sep 09 2014 : Mirror (Bangalore)

`God particle' could destroy the universe: Hawking

LONDON PTI





The elusive 'God particle' discovered by scientists in 2012 has the potential to destroy the universe, famed British physicist Stephen Hawking has warned.According to Hawking, 72, at very high energy levels the Higgs boson, which gives shape and size to everything that exists, could become unstable. This, he said, could cause a “catastrophic vacuum decay“ that would lead space and time to collapse, 'Express.co.uk' reported.
“The Higgs potential has the worrisome feature that it might become megastable at energies above 100bn giga-electron-volts (GeV),“ Hawking wrote in the preface to a new book called Starmus. “This could mean that the universe could undergo catastrophic vacuum decay, with a bubble of the true vacuum expanding at the speed of light.
“This could happen at any time and we wouldn't see it coming,“ said Hawking.
The Higgs boson, also known as the God particle, was discovered in 2012 by scientists at CERN who operate the world's largest particle physics laboratory.
Hawking said the likelihood of such a disaster is unlikely to happen in the near future, however, the danger of the Higgs becoming destabilised at high energy is too great to be ignored.

Sep 09 2014 : The Times of India (Delhi)

5,000 govt scientists to teach in schools, colleges

New Delhi: TIMES NEWS NETWORK





The government has decided to make it mandatory for over 5,000 scientists, working in different central agencies including the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), to undertake 12 hours of lecture classes in an academic year in public-funded schools and colleges across the country .Announcing the decision, Union science and technology minister Jitendra Singh said it would be “mandatory“ for the scientists to formally take classes in schools and colleges which would be identified for this purpose in coordination with the ministry of human resources development. The minister said this kind of engagement would be “free of any honorarium“.
He said the government was devising a methodology depending upon the scientists' area of interest, area of excellence and specialisation.
The minister also announced a special promotion scheme-KIRAN (Knowledge, Involvement, Research, Advancement through Nurturing) for women scientists “to bring about, as far as possible, gender parity in the field of science and technology“.
“There are a number of women scientists who have inevitable break in the continuous career...we are trying to evolve a mechanism (to see) that we don't lose out to them and they don't lose out to us,“ Singh said while listing initiatives of his ministry.
Giving a detailed account of the achievements and initiatives taken in the first 100 days of Narendra Modi government, Singh said the ministries under his charge had been able to scale-up scientific research to address several key socio-economic issues. This has been achieved by collaborating with other ministries while making a concerted effort to build scientific temper among the youth.
Highlighting specific achievements, he said that the department of science and technology got approval of Expenditure Finance Committee for India's participation in Thirty Meter Telescope project involving astronomy research institutes in India, US, Canada, Japan and China.

Economic & Political Weekly: Table of Contents

Vol - XLIX No. 36, September 06, 2014 

• Editorials

Now that "development" has delivered the votes, the BJP is back to hard-line Hindutva.

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• 0 Comments

Taking on ISIS

Vol - XLIX No. 36, September 06, 2014 

• Editorials

There is just no easy and clear way to defeat the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria.

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• 0 Comments

Editorials Their Time - Teachers' Day Shouldn't students and teachers have the freedom to decide how to celebrate Teachers' Day? Read more	Commentary TRAI Report on Media Ownership The Press’s Curious Response Sukumar Muralidharan The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India recently released its report on media ownership to a studied indifference from the print media which otherwise debates this issue vigorously. Why have the newspapers avoided a serious and vigorous... Read more
Commentary Telangana Survey and the Question of Privacy Anant Maringanti The statewide Intensive Household Survey conducted in Telangana is similar to many such surveys carried out in undivided Andhra Pradesh. The data collected and used by state and non-state parties have political implications. One is of "data... Read more	Commentary Hanoi (1965-68), Gaza (2014) Continuity and Divergence over Half a Century Sumanta Banerjee The parallels between Hanoi (1965-68) and Gaza (2014) are chilling. Yet, while the Vietnamese liberation fi ghters, through similar trials and tribulations, could emerge victorious after two decades of fi ghting (1950-70), why are the Palestinian... Read more
Commentary WTO Upside Down Trade Facilitation vs Agriculture D Ravikanth The Indian decision to block adoption of a decision on trade facilitation at the World Trade Organisation has been portrayed as "short-sighted". If truth be told, long-pending proposals for reforming the Agreement on Agriculture were... Read more	Commentary U R Ananthamurthy: Writer, Iconoclast, Public Intellectual M S Prabhakara U R Ananthamurthy (1932-2014) was the quintessential public intellectual, combative on matters of public interest and unafraid to run counter to popular opinion and prejudices. He won the admiration of many and the hatred of regressive forces and... Read more
Book Reviews Hunting Engels Terrell Carver The Frock-Coated Communist: The Revolutionary Life of Friedrich Engels by Tristram Hunt (London: Allen Lane), 2009; pp xvi + 443, £ 14.99. Read more	Book Reviews Writing the Self Charu Gupta Hindi Dalit Literature and the Politics of Representation by Sarah Beth Hunt (New Delhi: Routledge), 2014; pp 264, Rs 695. Read more
Perspectives The Ever-Mutating Enemy Threat of Tuberculosis Prasad Alex Tuberculosis is spreading with renewed vigour globally as are its more virulent strains like multi-drug-resistant TB and extensively drug-resistant TB. Even as the bacteria mutates and there is urgent need to deal with the many inadequacies of... Read more	Special Articles Migration and Precariousness Anibel Ferus Comelo This study seeks to contribute to a better understanding of precarious employment, highlighting its association with migration through the prism of the private security industry in Goa. In light of rising social anxiety about poor,... Read more
Special Articles Jagmohan: The Master Planner and the 'Rebuilding' of Delhi Sushmita Pati Although Jagmohan is most infamously associated with the Emergency, there is much more to his figure when his role is seen in specific intersections of Indian political and economic history. This paper spans his lifetime of work, from his... Read more	Special Articles The Conservation Question Inspired by the Kāṇi Tribes of Southern Western Ghats P Madhu, Harsha Oommen, Shynu V C In this paper the idea of conservation is revisited through capturing the erstwhile pre-capitalist lifeworld of the Kāṇis of Shenduruney and Agastiya Malai regions of the southern Western Ghats within Kerala. The essence of conservation is traced... Read more
Notes Legalising Defamation of Delinquent Borrowers Disregarding the Constitution and the Law Shamba Dey In their attempt to ensure speedy recovery of loans, banks in India have begun publishing photographs and details of defaulting borrowers. It has proven to be an effective method of putting social pressure on defaulting borrowers. However, it is... Read more	Discussion Caste among Schoolchildren Disha Nawani Despite the potential of the paper, "Critical Thinking on Caste among Schoolchildren in Maharashtra: Case Study of Two Schools in Chiplun" (EPW, 31 May 2014), it is reduced to a reporting of some of the views and attitudes of children... Read more
Economic Notes Trends in Corporate Profitability J Dennis Rajakumar This article examines trends in corporate profi tability based on data contained in the Reserve Bank of India's studies. It observes that the profi t margin and real return on capital employed came down between 2009-10 and 2012-13. Though... Read more	Postscript Breathless Kabaddi Sharda Ugra The success of the Pro Kabaddi League has been an eye-opener for the “other side” of television executives and audiences long disdainful of this Indian sport.  Read more
Postscript Invisible Invincibility Vithal Rajan As Madras enters the 375th year of its founding, we still do not know why the sepoys of the Madras Native Regiment gave so much to the founding of the Empire and were yet quick to rebel.  Read more	Postscript From LoO to LoP to LoO M S Prabhakara The possible abbreviations for the Leader of Opposition offer an interesting diversion into the origin of words and their usage.  Read more
Glimpses from the Past / Web Exclusives Jawaharlal Nehru and the Capitalist Class, 1936 Bipan Chandra Bipan Chandra's contribution to the understanding of modern India and communalism has engaged generations of scholars. We, at EPW, present this special article that he wrote in the August 1975 issue, on Jawaharlal Nehru and his... Read more	Web Exclusives The “New” Planning Commission Mihir Shah The body that is to replace the Planning Commission must build on the strengths of the existing one even as it addresses

Sep 08 2014 : The Times of India (Mumbai)

Mera joota hai Japani

Sagarika Ghose





Love in Tokyo and Seiko watches once dominated the desi imagination

`Mera joota hai Japani, Yeh patloon Inglistani, Sar pe lal topi Russi, Phir bhi dil hai Hindustani...' Who doesn't love this 1955 ditty from the film Shree 420? The Chaplinesque vagabond Raj Kapoor skipping along the dusty roads of Real India, lip synching to the rollicking innocence of Mukesh's gentle voice, Shankar Jaikishen's music and Shailendra's lyrics, the song became an anthem. It captured India's post-Independence heart and immortalised Kapoor as a tragi-comic symbol of our wide-eyed infant republic.Back then in the Nehruvian 1950s, Japan, Britain and Russia were aspirational role models for a young nation-in-the-making. Memories of the British Empire had still not faded and Communist Russia was Nehru's most favoured role model. But it was Japan which not only captured the national imagination but from the 1950s to the 1980s, also the Indian wallet.
We were Japanese-crazy in those days: a Made in Japan toy or a Seiko watch or a Sony television were seen as markers of social `arrival'. Ah Japan, we sighed admiringly, starstruck by Japanese engineering skills, disciplined society and glorified status as an Asian superpower. Tokyo was the Asian paradise. Bollywood, always a mirror to the times, kicked up its heels to the beat of `Gudiya Japan ki' and `Love in Tokyo', as army wives held Ikebana classes and homemakers gushed over glossy photos of Bonsai in prized new wall calendars.
Then, with the magic of the Middle Kingdom, the Chinese took over. The Deng revolution liberated the Chinese economy, putting China on the fast track to superpower status, as a slumbering giant leapt to its feet. The label `Made in China' replaced `Made in Japan'. But while we admired the Japanese, we feared the Chinese because of a combination of history and geography, and the 1962 Sino-Indian war scarred our memories.
If Japan was the film Love in Tokyo, then China was Haqeeqat, that poignant portrayal of India's military defeat. The trust deficit over the border and Arunachal Pradesh made China our most feared Leviathan next door.
With a more distant Japan, a country we viewed through the prism of Sony and Nissan, we didn't feel the same sense of foreboding even though World War II had drawn the Japanese army into Indian territory . An imperialist Japan did not terrify us the way an expansionist China did. No wonder we happily invited Japanese companies to set up car factories for us, build our roads and bridges, and marvelled every time we crossed a Japanese-made flyover.
Maruti Suzuki came to exemplify Indo-Japanese friendship. That happy little car, gaily painted green or maroon, packed with the extended families of upwardly mobile Bharat, symbolised our more confident dreams. Chinese companies were national security threats; Japanese businesses were partners. A love-lorn Kumar Gaurav wooed Vijeta Pandit in Love Story with the words `Mujhe to yeh gudiya Japani lagti hai'.
Which is why the sight of the Indian prime minister attending a tea ceremony in Kyoto or beating the drums in Tokyo is rather apt. Narendra Modi likes Shinzo Abe and the Japanese because there are many similarities between him and today's Japan: highly nationalist, regimented and controlled. He probably is admiring of the Chinese too, but may just be a little more wary of wielding his chopsticks when he meets Xi Jinping later this month. The Chinese are always inscrutable, the Japanese even in their great success a little more reassuringly Asian.
Modi was just five years old when Shree 420 hit the screens and the film may not have reached sleepy Vadnagar. Yet Modi's visit evokes that older era when Indians aspired to Japani joota and when Japani gudiya was a prized item in pre-liberalisation desi showcases.

Sep 08 2014 : Mirror (Pune)

Child marriage an evil worse than rape, says Delhi court

NEW DELHI PTI





Child brides have a diminished chance of completing education, at higher risk of being physically abused

The complainants in a dowry harassment case were charged with violating the law by a magistrate's court in New Delhi for getting their daughter married when she was only 14.Metropolitan magistrate Shivani Chauhan ordered a case be registered against the girl's parents, calling child marriage “an evil worse than rape“ while holding that giving and taking dowry is punishable under the law.
The court directed the police to register a case under appropriate provisions of the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act and under the Dowry Prohibition Act against the parents of the 14-year-old girl as well as her in-laws, against whom a domestic violence case was already registered.
“Child marriage is an evil worst than rape and should be completely eradicated from the society. This would not be possible if the stakeholders like the State fail to take appropriate action against the offenders. The court is not expected to sit as a mute spectator and let the evil perpetrate,“ the magistrate said while directing the DCP (South) to file a status report by October 19.
The court pulled up the girl's parents, saying that they too had committed a “serious offence“. “There are serious outcomes of child marriage. It is the worst form of domestic violence by the respondents (husband and his family) and her parents,“ the court said. The magistrate observed that “child brides have a diminished chance of completing their education and are at a higher risk of being physically abused, contracting HIV and other diseases, and dying while pregnant or giving birth. Luckily, this girl is healthy. But this does not in any way diminish the seriousness of the offence which her own parents, relatives and the husband are alleged to have committed upon her person,“ the court added.
According to the domestic violence complaint filed by the parents, their minor daughter was married on May 5, 2011 and an amount of Rs 3.5 lakh was given to her in-laws at the time of the wedding. They alleged that her husband and in-laws had demanded a car and Rs 50,000 in cash, and beat her up as she couldn't meet the demands.
The girl's in-laws, however, contended that her parents had shown the girl to be a major at the time of the wedding.
The court, while relying on her school leaving certificate, turned down the husband's contention and held that the girl was a minor when she was married.
“There is a school leaving certificate of the child on record and it shows that her date of birth is August 30,1997. The victim was around 14-15 years of age at the time of her marriage with Respondent 1(the husband),“ it said.
Besides registration of an FIR, the court also directed the husband to pay Rs 4,000 as monthly interim maintenance to his estranged wife. The court, in the meantime, allowed both parties to settle the matter amicably as they expressed their desire to bury the hatchet.
“At this stage, both parties jointly pray that there is a possibility of amicable settlement between them and that the matter may be sent to the mediation cell. In the interest of the child, and with a view of providing proper maintenance to the child without the rigmarole of the trial, the matter is referred to mediation centre,“ the court said.