Fulbright-Nehru Fellowships for Indian Citizens 2016-17

Fulbright-Nehru Fellowships for Indian Citizens 2016-17

FULBRIGHT-NEHRU FELLOWSHIPS FOR INDIAN CITIZENS 2016-17

ABOUT: USIEF offers a wide range of exchange opportunities to Indian citizens in three main categories:

• Student Awards to pursue a master's degree or attend a U.S. university as a visiting student researcher,
• Scholars and Teacher Awards for academics, teachers and professionals to teach or conduct research in the U.S., and
• Professional Development Programs for leadership and skill development.

In addition to providing opportunities for personal, academic and professional growth, Fulbright-Nehru and other exchanges promote mutual understanding between the people of the U.S. and India.

Fulbright-Nehru and other fellowships have, over the years, helped bring the people of India and the United States closer through educational exchanges. USIEF has administered over 18,500 grants for Indians and U.S. citizens. USIEF alumni have demonstrated strong leadership in all walks of life, including agriculture, arts, business, education, environment, humanities and social sciences, media, public health, and science and technology.

Once you find a fellowship of interest, please visit the Current Fulbright Fellows page to learn about recent proposals that have been successful. We also encourage you to talk with Fulbright and other alumni about their experiences in the United States. USIEF staff can help you get in touch with people in your field who will be glad to answer questions. Most fellowships have a July 1, 2015 application deadline.

Screening experts and selection committees look for talented individuals whose projects are important to India and the U.S. and who have the ability to be good "cultural ambassadors". The ideal exchange fellow is one who both contributes important work in his/her field and encourages Indo-U.S. networking during and after the fellowship.

Click here for an e-brochure on 2016-2017 Fulbright Fellowships for Indian Citizens

Click here for a brochure on 2016-2017 Fellowships for Indian Citizens (Downloadable PDF Format

Indian Fulbrighters: Ambassadors of Change -- Click here to view a video where alumni share their Fulbright-Nehru experience 
Read tips from current Indian Fulbrighters on the application and selection process
Source: USIEF webpage (as on 02/06/2015).

Vedanta - Wonderful Balance

ISHAN CHAUDHURI





It came to the head of a man that all his stress had its source in worrying about two things: one, whether he would be able to keep the things he possessed, and, two, how to obtain the things he wanted.The man was also a pragmatic man. He knew that things outside his control -the well-being of loved ones, the condition of traffic, the price of things -were not worth fretting over. What he worried about was his ability to maintain his life as he wanted to live it.So, upon being told by friends and family that he should focus on matters spiritual in nature -fixing his thoughts on intangibles or contemplat ing the beauties of a skyline or a novel -he sought to try out this new regime.
After some initial resistance, he took ance, he took the non-material world like a duck takes to water. Everything was going fine until people started noticing that the man's surroundings were going to seed. He became increasingly dependent on others without even noticing it.
The same friends and family members who had advised him to take his mind off material things now counselled him, “It is the physical world that we all live in. You can't neglect it!“ The man, puzzled and feeling sorry for his wellwishers, came up with a solution: he started producing things inspired by the objects of spirit that moved him.These things he produced became his only objects of contemplation. And a wonderful balance was born.

STEP BY STEP - Modi Govt Releases Funds for TISS After 5% Cut

Anubhuti Vishnoi

New Delhi:





The human resource development ministry has finally decided to release funds to the Tata Institute of Social Sciences and seven other deemed universities financially dependent on it after introducing a 5% cut that is meant to progressively reduce government funding to 50%.The eight varsities will also be asked to ensure compliance with 12B rules of the University Grants Commission Act of 2015-16. 12B rules deal with the fitness of a university or college to receive government funding. The UGC has been asked to bring about compliance of these deemed varsities with 12B rules this year and the HRD ministry will review the same after six months to decide further course of action. Officials in the HRD ministry confirmed funds have been released to TISS and other affected deemed varsities and they would reach them this week.T h e g ove r n ment provides about `500 crore to the eight fully funded deemed varsities as of now.
As reported by ET first, TISS has been in the grip of a financia crunch after the HRD ministry and UGC framed a new policy for fund ing deemed universities and chose to withhold funds. TISS had to ge bank loans in March and April and dip into reserves -essentially funds generated through consul tancy work -to pay salaries and keep the institute running.
In a meeting held on May 27, the HRD ministry in consultation with the UGC, decided that while funds would be released to al eight deemed varsities, a 5% cu will be effected. However, govern ment-controlled Lal Bahadur Shastri Rashtriya Sanskri Vi dyap e e t h i n N ew D e l h i Rashtriya Sanskrit Vidyapeeth Tirupati, and Gandhigram Rura Institute, Dindigul, will be ex empted from the 5% cut.

Jun 03 2015 : The Economic Times (Delhi) TISS to Get HRD Fund with 5% Cut   The HRD ministry will release funds to TISS and seven other deemed varsities financially dependent on it after introducing a 5% cut that is meant to progressively reduce HRD funding to 50%, reports Anubhuti Vishnoi.

Coping with the heat

Extreme weather conditions have become such a part of life all across the world over the last decade and more, that ways and means to understand and cope with them have become an essential element of survival strategies. Heatwaves in summer, cold waves in winter and extreme rainfall when it is least expected have almost become the norm. Each of these rounds takes its own toll on lives and livelihoods even as those in other areas are forced to stand as mute spectators. This summer in India, the number of lives lost to heatwave conditions has exceeded 2,000. While shrinking winter-spans are considered by specialists as a sure sign that climate change is a reality we cannot ignore, at the other end of the spectrum, hot summers are no less debilitating. Prediction of these phenomena is itself so difficult, not for lack of effort but because of the theoretical limitations of the models being used in the calculations. Broadly speaking, there is no doubt that summer heat is worsening by the year in parts of India. This fact is reflected in some climate studies. For instance, one on climate in the subcontinent over the period from 1961 to 2010 by scientists of the India Meteorological Department based in Pune and Chennai, found that compared to the first four decades, the number of heat-wave (HW) days per season was higher during 2001-2010 in many parts of north, north-west and central India. An increase was observed in the number of severe-heat-wave (SHW) days per season in some stations, mainly in north-west India. The study also found that the frequency, persistence and area coverage of HW/SHW days were more than average in years succeeding El Nin~o years.

The question remains whether humankind is preparing for eventualities such as this. For those in denial of climate change, there are clear pointers that cannot be ignored. Also, from the point of view of disaster mitigation, the rising number of heatwave related deaths should serve as an urgent signal to develop innovative methods to control summer-time losses. It is somewhat ironical that while the long, hot summer takes such a toll, in this subcontinent it is also a necessary condition for the monsoon to set in and provide adequate rainfall. In a sense, the unendurable heat and the rains that follow are tied together in a delicate balance. While it is important to preserve this balance by focussing on factors to mitigate climate change, it is also necessary to develop methods to cope with the impact of each of these when they go beyond normal.

Keywords: India heatwave, heatwave, extreme weather conditions

the speaking tree - Remember, It Can Always Be Done

Anup Taneja





There are basically two kinds of people, says Paramhansa Yogananda ­ those who are governed by the `never-say-die' spirit, ull of confidence, ready to face all sorts of challenges in life; and those who always see the gloomy side of hings, are given to worrying, and lack he confidence to fight adversity .The parable of the two frogs is llustrative of this. One big and one small frog fell into a pail of milk. The sides of the pail were too slippery and steep for the frogs to climb out. They kept battling and struggling to stay alive. Every time they raised their mouths to inhale a little oxygen, down hey went. They paddled around, rying their best to find their way out.This struggle proved a bit too much or the big frog that soon gave up and drowned.
The small frog, however, said: `Life s too precious and wonderful. I don't want to die. I will keep paddling and fighting for survival irrespective of what happens to my little feet.' So it kept battling for hours, when suddenly it found something solid under its feet. As a result of constant paddling, the milk was churned to butter! Out jumped the little frog! Indeed, the habit of nega tive thinking could shatter your confidence and impair your judgment. Negative thoughts like `I won't be able to climb that steep hill' or `I am not hopeful of making the grade' constantly occupy the mind of a person with a pessimistic approach to life.To such a person, success proves elusive.
The National Science Foundation estimated that, on an average, people have 70,000 to 80,000 thoughts per day, with 80% of those being negative and 95% being repeated. This implies that we aren't really thinking; our mind is being governed by the memory of earlier thoughts. Negative thoughts, over a period of time, become so deeply entrenched in the mind that a specific `groove' is created in the brain that makes you behave in a certain way , often against your wish.
Special effort is required to eradicate negative thoughts and to create brain patterns of positive thoughts. One way of doing this is that we strictly avoid categorising thoughts as `good' or `bad'. Understand that these thoughts come and go voluntarily from the collective consciousness and you do not really own them.
You might not have control over what enters your brain, definitely have the power to but you definitely have the power to remain indifferent to these and watch them like a witness.
Secondly , try to keep your mind constantly occupied in some constructive activity . It is said that an idle man's brain is the Devil's workshop. The time when your mind is vacant is just the time negative thoughts overpower you and wield their influence on you.
Thirdly , through deep meditation, make efforts to get connected with the positive energy , the cosmic current that constantly flows within you. Do introspection on a regular basis and invoking the power of your will, direct your mind to cauterise the cells of negative thinking. Constantly assert in meditation: `By the power of Divine Will, all my negative tendencies will soon be destroyed.' If you are cowed down by adverse situations in life and lose hope like the big frog, you are finished. But if you keep on battling with determination and positive approach, you will be able to surmount all difficulties and emerge victorious in life. Never give up hope. It can always be done.

Domestic violence affects maternal and child health: study

A recent research has established the link between domestic violence and pregnancy complications. The study, conducted in 225 villages across 12 districts of Uttar Pradesh, probed the impacts of emotional, physical and sexual violence on pregnancy in women.

The study was conducted by Delhi-based non-profit Population Council. The findings were published in Journal of Interpersonal Violence, an academic journal which deals with criminology and inter-personal violence.

The results

The study was carried out among 4,223 married women aged between 15 and 49 years and 2,274 husbands. It covered all three major regions of Uttar Pradesh—eastern, western and central.

The study shows that 47 per cent of women experienced violence during their most recent pregnancy. Of this, 34 per cent of women, who had experienced domestic violence, reported complications. On the contrary, 24 per cent women, who did not experience violence during their recent pregnancy, developed complications.

According to the study, women who faced pregnancy complications as a result of violence were less prepared for delivery. Also, they were less likely to go in for an institutional delivery, seek post-natal care within seven days of giving birth or talk about family planning with their husbands.

The study further shows that women subjected to violence did not have the confidence to talk about pregnancy-related issues or discuss delivery plans with their family members.

Consequently, they also failed to talk about health facilities, arrangement of transportation, delivery kit as well as saving money for emergency expenses. All these factors culminated in pregnancy complications. Similarly, the post-natal care of children was affected.