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Tuesday, February 24, 2015
Cheaper Education Loan
Planning to apply for a higher education course but worried about funds? There is help at hand. The government is eyeing a proposal to make education loans cheaper through an interest funding scheme – a subsidy system through which the government pays to the banks straight away, making them to charge lower rates from student loan borrowers, especially from a particular income group. Besides, students belonging from low income families will be given preference for availing such loans.
Finance minister Arun Jaitley made an announcement about the scheme in the forthcoming budget. In the present scenario, banks, on an average, charge 12.88% for education loans, in comparison to 12.17% on car loans. As on March 31, 2014, education loans given out by Indian banks stood were of 60,071 crore. Over the last few years, banks have become aware of giving out education loans beyond a certain limit citing high risk of default. The Indian Banks Association (IBA), an industry body of banks, recommended the setting up of a guarantee fund. “Education loan is critical and students must be able to avail loans to pursue higher studies, but to ensure that non-performing assets (bad loans) do not rise, there is a need to create a guarantee fund for education loans below 4 lakhs,” said Soumya Kanti Ghosh, chief economic adviser, State Bank of India, as reported by Hindustan Times.
The issue is also likely to be raised in the review meeting to be held by Jaitley , with public sector bank chiefs on March 5.
AIT Expects Larger Placements in 2015
The first professional college of Welfare Education Society, Army Institute of Technology is expecting to have higher number of placements this year. Last year, 85 per cent of placement registrations took place. According to a report in Times of India, AIT principal BP Patil said, “We had an excellent placement record for 2013-14 where 235 out of 276 students were placed with leading companies.”
The institute will be going to celebrate its foundation day on February 24. Every year, the institute gives award in different categories. This year, the institute has decided to give awards to the best outgoing student Lavpreet singh, lifetime achievement award will be offered to author Achyut Godbole and Vishnu Mujumdar, founder of the institute of applied research, Pune. The chief guest of the event will be army southern command, headquarters, chief signal officer Maj. Gen. Rajeev Sabherwal.The institute was recognized on February 24, 1995 as the first professional college of the army Welfare Education Society. An initiative by the late Gen BC Joshi, former Chief of Army Staff.
“Last year, the highest salary package offered was Rs 12.5 lakh per annum. This year, it is Rs 15 lakh per annum so far. We expect the figure to rise,” said training and placement officer Manoj S Khaladkar.
High air pollution cuts most Indian lives by 3 years
India’s high air pollution, ranked by the World Health Organisation (WHO) among the worst in the world, is adversely impacting the lifespans of its citizens, reducing most Indian lives by over three years, a new study has said.
Over half of India’s population — 660 million people — live in areas where fine particulate matter pollution is above India’s standards for what is considered safe, said the study by economists from the University of Chicago, Harvard and Yale published in Economic & Political Weekly.
If India reverses this trend to meet its air standards, those 660 million people would gain about 3.2 years onto their lives, the study said.
Put another way, compliance with Indian air quality standards would save 2.1 billion life years, it said.
“India’s focus is necessarily on growth. However, for too long, the conventional definition of growth has ignored the health consequences of air pollution,” said Michael Greenstone, an author of the study and director of the Energy Policy Institute at the University of Chicago (EPIC).
“This study demonstrates that air pollution retards growth by causing people to die prematurely. Other studies have also shown that air pollution reduces productivity at work, increases the incidence of sick days, and raises health care expenses that could be devoted to other goods.”
The new figures come after the WHO estimates showed 13 of the 20 most polluted cities in the world were in India.
“The loss of more than two billion life years is a substantial price to pay for air pollution,” said Rohini Pande, also an author and director of Evidence for Policy Design at the Harvard Kennedy School.
“It is in India’s power to change this in cost effective ways that allow hundreds of millions of its citizens to live longer, healthier, and more productive lives. Reforms of the current form of regulation would allow for health improvements that lead to increased growth,” Pande said.
The authors — who also include Nicholas Ryan of Yale, Janhavi Nilekani and Anish Sugathan of Harvard, and Anant Sudarshan, director of EPIC’s India office — offer three policy solutions that would help to cost-effectively decrease India’s pollution.
One initial step would be to increase its monitoring efforts and take advantage of new technology that allows for real-time monitoring, the authors said.
Keywords: WHO, air pollution
From the first human genome, to a “great library of life”
Geneticist Eric S. Lander, one of the principal leaders of the Human Genome Project that mapped the entire human genome in 2003, offered a rare glimpse into the genetic “library of life” being created by a global community of scientists. This veritable catalogue has already begun to help decode the genetic basis of certain cancers, heart disease and schizophrenia.
A packed audience of students, scientists and medical practitioners heard Prof Lander speak on “The Human Genome and Beyond: A 35 year Journey of Genomic Medicine at the fifth edition of the Cell Press-TNQ Distinguished Lectureship Series at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences here on Monday.
Over the last decade, genetic research has been revolutionised and the costs of genome sequencing have dropped drastically. While mapping a single human genome (as part of the Human Genome Project 1990-2003) costs $3 billion, today it costs less than $ 3,000.
This breakthrough opens up enormous opportunities to understand diseases, he said. Today, for instance, over 108 genes can be associated with schizophrenia, and particular genetic mutations can be linked to heart attacks early in life.
And yet, “we have only scratched the surface,” Prof Lander said. “Discoveries require studying huge samples for every major disease. And for that our healthcare systems have to turn into learning systems.”
The Global Alliance for Genomics and Health comprising 246 organisations in 28 countries -- including India -- is one such endeavour to create a critical mass of data.
It is imperative, however that the data remains “shareable”, said Prof Lander, who is the Founding Director of the Broad Institute (linking MIT, Harvard University and hospitals).
“But genetic data must belong to patients, who have the right to share it with their privacy protected.”
India, with the “extraordinary size of its population” is, from the genetic point of view, “the single most interesting population in the world”.
Feb 24 2015 : Mirror (Mumbai)
PROMOTIONAL FEATURE - STUDY IN CANADA
GeeBee Education has organised free seminars on “Study & Settle in Canada“ at Thane (26th February Tel.No: 25388844), Churchgate (27th February Tel: 43222333), Borivali (27th February Tel. No: 28998333), Andheri (28th February Tel. No: 40224480) and Vashi(28th February Tel. No: 27897040). Prior Registration is compulsory. For Free registration, kindly visit: http:www.geebeeworld.com Information will be provided on Education Loan. Students will be given a free information guide on “Studying in Canada“. Individual Group Counselling will be provided to students. Parents are also welcome.Canada offers a high standard of living and is consistently ranked by the United Nations as one of the best country in the world to live and study. Tuition fees for international students are amongst the lowest in Canada as compared to other countries. For all that it offers, Canada has a remarkably low cost of living. Upon graduation, Students are allowed to work full-time in Canada for 1 to 3 years after the course completion. This provides an excellent opportunity to gain international work experience.
“Canada welcomes International students and provides an excellent opportunity for Permanent Residency to qualified students. Besides, Canada is one of the safest countries for Indian students.“ Canadian Study Permit rules have been simplified for Indian students.The Visa processing time has been reduced for certain Institutions that are participants under the Student Partnership Program (SPP).
“Canada welcomes International students and provides an excellent opportunity for Permanent Residency to qualified students. Besides, Canada is one of the safest countries for Indian students.“ Canadian Study Permit rules have been simplified for Indian students.The Visa processing time has been reduced for certain Institutions that are participants under the Student Partnership Program (SPP).
Make Land Deals a Win-Win for All
It is welcome that the BJP has finally reached out to the Opposition to get the Ordinances on insurance and land converted into law. It is, however, unlikely that the BJP will get any support from other political parties, social organisations and activists to dilute the land acquisition law. This law was created by the UPA, and supported by the BJP in Parliament last year.Even the BJP's parent, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), wants no dilution of the law. The current law makes it compulsory to seek the consent of at least 70% of owners before acquiring their land for public-private partnerships; it also requires an assessment of the social impact that such acquisitions might cause. The BJP wants to dilute both.Today , land acquisition appears to be a zero-sum game: the buyers' gain is the sellers' loss. It need not be so. Rewrite the law to ensure that both buyer and seller gain from the transaction. This can only be done by making those who sell land stakeholders in the prosperity created by the projects concerned and enhanced value of the land. There are several ways to go about this. States like Haryana and Uttar Pradesh have successfully experimented with annuities, in addition to upfront payment and return of a fraction of the acquired land, post-development.
Other options could include giving land-sellers direct equity stakes in the businesses that come up on their property . Some projects like schools or hospitals might not yield immediate monetary returns; in that case, the government should lease -rather than purchase outright -land, and pay a steadily increasing rent to landowners as the property appreciates. Instead of trying to ram an Ordinance into law in Parliament, the BJP must consider options that make land transactions a winwin proposition for all.
Other options could include giving land-sellers direct equity stakes in the businesses that come up on their property . Some projects like schools or hospitals might not yield immediate monetary returns; in that case, the government should lease -rather than purchase outright -land, and pay a steadily increasing rent to landowners as the property appreciates. Instead of trying to ram an Ordinance into law in Parliament, the BJP must consider options that make land transactions a winwin proposition for all.
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