Wednesday, May 13, 2015
Great Good Samaritan -"THIS HAPPENS ONLY
IN INDIA"
I was not aware of the existence of this noble and great man,
Kalyanasundaram, who was honored by US Govt. I feel ashamed that India Govt
has conferred 'Bharat Ratna' on Sachin Tendulkar (many more who do not
deserve at all), who seeks and gets exemption of customs duty on a
'Ferrari' which he got free, who reportedly earns crores of rupees(in
hundreds) every year.
Mr.Kalayanasundaram worked as a Librarian for 30 years. Every month in his
30 year experience(service), he donated his entire salary to help the
needy. He worked as a server in a hotel to meet his needs. He donated even
his pension amount of about ten lakh rupees to the needy. He is the first
person in the world to spend the entire earnings for a social cause. In
recognition to his service, the American government honoured him with the
‘Man of the Millennium’ award. He received a sum of Rs 30 crores as part of
this award which he distributed entirely for the needy as usual. Moved by
his passion to help others, Super Star Rajinikanth adopted him as his
father. He still stays as a bachelor and dedicated his entire life for
serving the society. All our Politicians, Film stars, Business magnets,
cricketers Press and we all Indians should be PROUD and also should be
ashamed of ourselves. American Government has honored him but we Indians
even don't know that such a personality exist amongst us. At least have the
courtesy to pass this on and on till the whole world comes to know about
this Great Good Samaritan.
Hat's off Kalayanasundaram.. We Indians are extremely proud of you and
proudly say "THIS HAPPENS ONLY IN INDIA".
I was not aware of the existence of this noble and great man,
Kalyanasundaram, who was honored by US Govt. I feel ashamed that India Govt
has conferred 'Bharat Ratna' on Sachin Tendulkar (many more who do not
deserve at all), who seeks and gets exemption of customs duty on a
'Ferrari' which he got free, who reportedly earns crores of rupees(in
hundreds) every year.
Mr.Kalayanasundaram worked as a Librarian for 30 years. Every month in his
30 year experience(service), he donated his entire salary to help the
needy. He worked as a server in a hotel to meet his needs. He donated even
his pension amount of about ten lakh rupees to the needy. He is the first
person in the world to spend the entire earnings for a social cause. In
recognition to his service, the American government honoured him with the
‘Man of the Millennium’ award. He received a sum of Rs 30 crores as part of
this award which he distributed entirely for the needy as usual. Moved by
his passion to help others, Super Star Rajinikanth adopted him as his
father. He still stays as a bachelor and dedicated his entire life for
serving the society. All our Politicians, Film stars, Business magnets,
cricketers Press and we all Indians should be PROUD and also should be
ashamed of ourselves. American Government has honored him but we Indians
even don't know that such a personality exist amongst us. At least have the
courtesy to pass this on and on till the whole world comes to know about
this Great Good Samaritan.
Hat's off Kalayanasundaram.. We Indians are extremely proud of you and
proudly say "THIS HAPPENS ONLY IN INDIA".
Indian students outnumber China in foreign education
India has left China behind in terms of growth rate in the number of students studying in foreign countries. In 2014, India sent less than half the number of students that China sent abroad for further studies. After 2009, India’s growth for the first time reached a rate of 10 per cent.
According to “Indian Students Mobility Report 2015: Latest trends from India and globally” prepared by New Delhi-based MM Advisory Services, India saw a growth rate of 10 per cent while China had 8 per cent growth rate in students pursuing studies in five major English-speaking countries in 2014. These five countries — the United States, UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand — account for almost 85 per cent of the total outbound strength. China, India and South Korea make up nearly 50 per cent of total international students to these countries.
In 2009, almost 3 lakh students from India went abroad for studies but the number dropped to 2 lakh students in 2013. In 2014, the number of Indian students going abroad for studies crossed 3 lakh but the number of Chinese students was 6.5 lakh.
The report was prepared using data from government departments in various countries — the Institute of International Education in the US, the UK’s Higher Education Statistics Agency and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development to examine trends since 2005.
It may be mentioned that Indian students spend $7 billion or around Rs. 45,000 crore per year on foreign education because of “sub-standard” quality of higher education in the country, according to a study by industry body Assocham and Mumbai-based Tata Institute of Social Sciences.
The study was made public a day after the prestigious Times Higher Education ranking revealed that none of India’s universities could make it to the list of “100 most prestigious global universities”.
The new juvenile law
There was never any doubt that the progressive juvenile law enacted in 2000 was not being implemented properly and that there was a need to revisit its provisions. In many ways, the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Bill, 2015, passed by the Lok Sabha, is a forward-looking and comprehensive enactment that provides for dealing with children in conflict with the law and those requiring care and protection. However, its laudable features have been overshadowed by one provision that states that children in the 16-18 age group will henceforth be tried as adults if they are accused of committing ‘heinous offences’. The government believes that the provision will help address public disquiet over the perception that young offenders are getting away with light punishment after committing crimes such as murder and rape. However, child welfare activists have been saying there is no need to carve out an exception for children in a particular age group solely based on the perceived heinousness of the offence. The division into two groups — one below 16 and another above 16 — goes against the core principle that all children should be treated as such till the age of 18. This age has been fixed based on studies in child behaviour and the U.N. Convention of the Rights of the Child. A parliamentary Standing Committee opposed the change, noting that subjecting juveniles to the adult judicial system would go against the objective of protecting all children from the rigours of adult justice. It noted that the Supreme Court had not agreed with the view that children involved in certain offences should be tried as adults.
In response to criticism, the government has made some changes before getting the Act passed in the Lok Sabha. It has dropped a patently unconstitutional section (Clause 7 in the Bill) that sought to treat as adults, children allegedly committing an offence after the age of 16 but getting arrested only after they are 21. Also, the government has tweaked the wording involved, saying that what the Juvenile Justice Board will hold is a “preliminary assessment” rather than a “preliminary enquiry” into the mental and physical capacity of the child to commit such an offence. It has added by way of explanation that it is not a ‘trial’, obviously to address concerns that the procedure to assess the child’s capacity itself may amount to a regular trial. The prospects of the government making further changes before the Bill goes to the Rajya Sabha appear to be bleak. The question before the legislature, and society at large, is this: do we preserve the scope for rehabilitation among young offenders through a benign juvenile law, or derive satisfaction from long prison terms for them?
Updated: May 13, 2015 00:56 IST
Fraudulent duplication
Acts of fraud in the running of higher education institutions is almost a given; what’s unusual is data being present to prove them. Now, an analysis of names of faculty members submitted for approval to the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) by engineering colleges has shown that around 50,000 ‘duplicate’ teacher names exist on the rolls of more than one college; in an indication of how rampant the practice is, the proportion of engineering colleges in a State that had such ‘duplicate’ teachers ranged from 90 per cent to a hundred per cent. As with much else, India’s official norms for engineering colleges are laudable: undergraduate colleges must have a faculty ratio of 1: 15, and a cadre ratio of 1:2:6 for professors, associate professors and assistant professors respectively. On the ground, as is widely known, the norms are observed only in the breach. So widespread is the ‘sharing’ of teachers to meet the norms that the practice is said to have become organised, with details of agents and teachers known to be ‘for hire’ available in a given city or district. Earlier this year, the Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University in Hyderabad disaffiliated nearly 150 engineering colleges for insufficient staffing. The Punjab Medical Council found 400 ‘ghost’ teachers enrolled in four private medical colleges. College managements for their part complain that even when they try to follow norms, corruption in the approvals process is rampant.
By 2020, India will be the ‘youngest’ country, its freshly graduating youth propelling the biggest labour force in the world. The bulk among the most educated of this workforce of the future will not come from the IITs and the IIMs, but from the thousands of technical institutes that have sprung up. Just 15 per cent of young people enrol for higher education, a figure the government has been trying to push up. Lakhs of students are entering technical education courses, some aspiring to be the first engineers and doctors in their families, at considerable financial cost. But by not ensuring that adequate numbers of teachers are available, let alone monitoring the quality of teaching, India is not doing right by its youth. Only a fifth of all Indian graduates are employable, a range of surveys by corporate hirers over the last three years has shown, and the poor quality of teaching is one of the causes. The facts are hiding in plain sight; a special investigation by The Hindu into this state of affairs was based on data from the AICTE’s own website, analysed by the open data website ‘Factly’. The apex body governing technical education never thought to do a simple search of its own database, it would appear. It remains to be seen whether governments at the Centre and in the States will act on this.
Vedanta - Life Must Go On
NINA SOOD
|
Most people find it very difficult to handle death. I do not just refer to the actual passing away of a loved one, but to possess the ability to discuss death as a subject philosophically , share thoughts, feelings and vocalise questions on various aspects. Often, when I am in a pensive mood, I find the lack of knowledge revolving around death confuses and bewilders me as I have the powerful desire to seek and gain information on a subject of which we know so little.I met a well-meaning friend, who unfortunately voiced thoughtlessly , “Are you over it now?“ She was referring to my husband's death a few months earlier. The words, although meant to be kind, were proba bly unconsci ously substi tuting the question for, “How are you?... You look better.“
However, the question spoken in good faith plunged me into a tunnel of thoughts that I knew I had to deal with firmly in order to crawl out of the darkness and back into the sunshine.
Life demands and presumes that tragedy will eventually be accepted with grace and we shall continue with our lives and duties with a smile, suppressing suffering and personal loss. There is although a good deal of travelling to be accomplished on a rough and rocky path on which one often stumbles and can fall, we have to pick ourselves up and force ourselves to continue.
All of us unfortunately have to suffer at some point in our lives and it is through suffering -no matter how painful -that we gain greater insight into our lives while cultivating the vital emotion of compassion.
However, the question spoken in good faith plunged me into a tunnel of thoughts that I knew I had to deal with firmly in order to crawl out of the darkness and back into the sunshine.
Life demands and presumes that tragedy will eventually be accepted with grace and we shall continue with our lives and duties with a smile, suppressing suffering and personal loss. There is although a good deal of travelling to be accomplished on a rough and rocky path on which one often stumbles and can fall, we have to pick ourselves up and force ourselves to continue.
All of us unfortunately have to suffer at some point in our lives and it is through suffering -no matter how painful -that we gain greater insight into our lives while cultivating the vital emotion of compassion.
Most juveniles in conflict with law from poor families
Himanshi Dhawan
|
New Delhi:
|
With the Juvenile Justice (amendment) Bill expected to be taken up by Rajya Sabha on Wednesday, an independent study across observation homes and special homes in four states has traced the profile of a juvenile delinquent.Preliminary data collated by NGO Butterflies reveals a “juvenile'' caught in the country's legal system is a working child, from a disturbed family background who has been associated with petty crime. The children are overwhelmingly from economically and socially backward sections of society.
The socio-economic pro file is based on an ongoing study of 605 children from homes in Delhi, Odisha, Tamil Nadu and Kerala.
The study found that majority of the parents were labourers or from service oriented occupations like tailoring, construction, carpentry while 63.2% of the children were engaged in some work or the other. “The preliminary data suggests that it is only the children of low economic and social background get caught while those in the middle and high income group are able to settle outside the judicial process,'' Rita Panicker from Butterflies said.
About 16.8% children were deprived of any formal schooling while 50.8% studied up to primary level. Not surprisingly, nearly half the parents did not have formal schooling. In another significant revelation 33.4% of the children came from families where one or both parents had died or had step families, separated families, were abandoned or lived on the street.
Socially too the children were found to be disadvantaged. Out of the 442 children who knew their caste 90% belonged to backward classes underlying the vulnerability experiences by marginalized communities. Scheduled caste accounted for 20.4%, scheduled tribes for 4.6% while OBCs were 40.8% of the children studied.
For the full report, log on to http:www.timesofindia.com
The socio-economic pro file is based on an ongoing study of 605 children from homes in Delhi, Odisha, Tamil Nadu and Kerala.
The study found that majority of the parents were labourers or from service oriented occupations like tailoring, construction, carpentry while 63.2% of the children were engaged in some work or the other. “The preliminary data suggests that it is only the children of low economic and social background get caught while those in the middle and high income group are able to settle outside the judicial process,'' Rita Panicker from Butterflies said.
About 16.8% children were deprived of any formal schooling while 50.8% studied up to primary level. Not surprisingly, nearly half the parents did not have formal schooling. In another significant revelation 33.4% of the children came from families where one or both parents had died or had step families, separated families, were abandoned or lived on the street.
Socially too the children were found to be disadvantaged. Out of the 442 children who knew their caste 90% belonged to backward classes underlying the vulnerability experiences by marginalized communities. Scheduled caste accounted for 20.4%, scheduled tribes for 4.6% while OBCs were 40.8% of the children studied.
For the full report, log on to http:www.timesofindia.com
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