Anger Gone Awry
Anger manifests itself in scowling, screaming and shoving.Sometimes, anger could lead to extreme forms of violence, even murder. The person who becomes the target of your anger is not solely responsible for stoking its intensity .

The stress of the daily routine keeps building up the heat.Sulking at things not in our hands -be it chaotic traffic, late working hours, imposing boss, nagging spouse and so on -becomes a habit. Oblivious to the smouldering heat in our minds, we hardly make efforts to release the tension. Finally , anger boils over. The confronted person at that moment becomes the target of your anger accumulated over time.

There is overreaction, disproportionate to the provocation at hand. Subsequently , you regret and even repent.

On another plane, there are scenarios when you have to suppress your anger because the adversary is stronger and superior to you. The anger, emanating from perceived oppression, remains pent up as you feel helpless to raise your voice. However, the lid on the suppressed anguish blows off from slightest annoyance caused by someone weaker.

Again, you heap your anger disproportionately on someone whose guilt is not commensurate to the venom you pour.Anger might be a negative emotion but once you learn to channel all that energy for the right things, you can turn anger to your advantage. Anger needs to be released but in the right direction and in balanced doses. Manage your anger. Beware of anger going awry .

PAC Red Flags Serious Gaps in India's Firewall Against Natural Disasters

Nidhi Sharma

New Delhi:





The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has pointed out serious flaws in disaster preparedness in the country and has called for the home ministry and state governments to finalise plans to deal with disasters on a priority basis.The PAC, examining the issue, has taken a grim view of the delay in setting up mandatory institutions for preparing disaster management plans in its final report that would be tabled in the winter session of Parliament, according to sources.
The PAC report points out that the National Plan for Disaster Management, which is already nine years overdue, has still not been finalised and is awaiting approval.
Taking the considerable delay in formation of National Disaster Mitigation Fund seriously, it has asked the home ministry to prepare a Cabinet note at the earliest.
The committee also said the mandatory institutional setup required to monitor states' progress, utilisation of funds, and preparation of disaster management plans has not been put in place.
PAC said that the National Executive Committee (NEC), which is the executive committee of National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), took seven years to finalise the National Plan on Disaster Management, mainly because of inadequate number of meetings. NEC was constituted in September 2006 and was supposed to meet at least once in three months.However, it met only three times in three years in the beginning.
At state level, too, disaster management plans have not been completed, PAC said in its report. Till 2014, only 20 states had submitted their disaster management plans.
The committee wants the home ministry to urge states to finalise their plans and also expedite the finalisation of the national plan. PAC has expressed “shock“ at the functioning of NDMA and the pace of work at the nodal authority for disaster management. For example, NDMA's second advisory committee, which has experts in the field of disaster management, was initiated in June 2010 but could not be completed till 2014, it said.
PAC has directed MHA to finalise the committee and fill all posts. It has also suggested that timelines be fixed for such projects, especially in key institutions like NDMA.
The committee has also asked the government to include heat waves and manmade disasters like stampedes in the list of disasters.
ET VIEW
Fix This Man Made Disaster
There is something downright unholy about disaster relief being crippled not by any shortage of funds but by funds left unutilised.This shows apathy of disastrous proportions. Any rehabilitation package or relief scheme must come with a progress report that includes fund targets and whether they have reached their destinations. Information technology must be used to track the trajectory of these funds, making it possible to reallocate them transparently. To have relief money rot is a scandal that has to be fixed retrospectively as well as before another natural calamity.

Source: Economic Times, 19-09-2015

SATURDAY SPECIAL - Passionate About Tabla & Arts, IITs Now Say We Also Teach Engineering

Prachi Verma

New Delhi:





To learn life skills, students now taking courses in human values, pottery & theatre

What's Odissi got to do with engineering? Or painting, sculpture and music for that matter? Everything, it would appear.India's top engineering schools have come to realise that allowing their students to acquire some of these skills is essential for allround development, especially when it comes to dealing with stress.Take Nikhil Jain, for instance -he had always wanted to try his hand at art and music. Peer pressure and his parents, however, drove him to the Indian Institute of Technology at Varanasi, where he is a dual degree (B Tech and M Tech) student. But he's also en rolled for a course on human values, a subject not typically associated with a professional engineering degree.
Apart from the disciplines mentioned above, pottery , theatre and music appreciation are among the offbeat subjects that are now found in the curriculum of the IITs, the country's top engineering colleges. The objective is to make IIT graduates smarter, with wellrounded, balanced and holistic training. Illustration: ANIRBAN “Now, having attended these courses, I intend to do something that would truly give me satisfaction, like either organic farming or something in alternative education,“ said Jain. “Before joining the course, our batch was very competitive and reeling under peer pressure. Also, the goals earlier were highly materialistic. I was always bothered about my placement in a big corporate and the size of the pay package.“
When Jain and his batchmates step out into the world, they will be armed with more than just knowledge of engineering -they will also be equipped with the life skills needed to tackle real-world problems. Along with physics, mathematics and computer science, among others, most IIT students are now required to get credits in subjects such as pottery , ceramics, photography , meditation, architecture, human values, music appreciation, film critique, theatre, music and dance. These subjects are also intended to take the stress out of the students' lives.
“Learning at the IITs is mechanised and many students have been affected by this. Students in the past have dipped in academics due to pressures, both academic and personal,“ said IITGuwahati Director Gautam Biswas.
According to Biswas, three out of 10 IIT students suffer from pressure, leading to depression.
“These students need to de-stress with non-academic subjects that would also help them to rejuvenate mental strength,“ he said.
Professionals from all streams -engineering, finance, medicine -suffer from such anxiety and picking up a skill like writing, dancing or singing can help them beat this, according to Samir Parikh, consultant psychiatrist and director of the Department of Mental Health & Behavioural Sciences at Fortis Healthcare in the Capital. “If these skills are made part of the education system, especially in the higher education system like in the IITs, it will work as a stress-coping tool,“ Parikh said.
MUCH-NEEDED STEP
Recruiters say it's a much-needed step that will enable more creative and balanced thinking of both engineering and real-world problems.
“As an organisation, we believe in cross-functional, `whole-brained' teams,“ said Rahul Gama, head of human resources at Godrej Consumer Products Ltd.
“When we recruit from engineering and business schools, our hiring strategy is to attract young and talented India, especially people who are also passionate about their interests outside work.“ The IITs are attempting to do just this, by focussing on aspects involving interests outside the workspace. IIT-Bhubaneswar recently started Odissi dance as a B Tech sub ject. IIT-Guwahati introduced unconventional courses like the Assamese Sattriya dance, instrumental music (violin and tabla) and Hindustani vocal music. At IIT-Varanasi, every student is required to pick one humanities subject every semester. Arts courses here include painting, sculpture, music and dance, and are part of the credit requirements, as is a subject like human values. “Courses such as human values develop sensitivity and self-reflection. Such engineers would be better in teamwork with leadership qualities,“ said Rajeev Sangal, director of IIT (BHU) Varanasi.
“I am glad that this institute is offering and trying to integrate more such courses into the curriculum. I will get more exposure in the field that I always wanted to be in,“ said Jain.
ADDING NEW COURSES
Last semester, IIT-Hyderabad started courses like sculpture, painting, poetry, clay modelling, theatre and dance.It is mandatory for every student to pick up at least two of these courses under “creative arts“.
“Every semester, we intend to add new courses to creative arts. The next we will add ceramics, and in future we will also increase the credits for these courses,“ said Deepak John Mathew, head of the department of design at IIT-Hyderabad. “There are often complaints that engineers lack in life skills. These courses will help the students to connect to society and country.“ At IIT-Mandi, first year students can opt for one of three credit courses: art and architecture, music and dance, and drama. “In addition, in their third year, they have an optional course of four credits in which they go out and interact with society . This will help them design more useful products as an engineer,“ said a faculty member at IIT-Mandi. While IITs are roping in experts in various domains for these courses, some have had to delay introducing these subjects for want of fac ulty. IIT-Madras offers such courses to students for credits whenever it gets experts. “Since we do not hire full-time faculty in these specialities, offerings partly depend on availability of guest faculty , their willingness, their ability to adapt to a classroom ambience, teach in English, and so on,“ said IITMadras Director Bhaskar Ramamurthi. “It is well-established that any good programme, be it in science, engineering or medicine, should include a certain number of courses in the liberal artshumanities. This gives a wellrounded education,“ Ramamurthi added. About 50 students enrol at IITMadras each time courses on art history and music appreciation are offered.
NOT ALL IITS ON BOARD
However, not all the IITs are treading this innovative track. IIT-Bombay and IIT-Delhi do not have any such offbeat courses or subjects as of now.
There are enough extracurricular options on campus to take the stress off students, including a range of cultural, educational, athletic and social activities, according to the website of IIT-Bombay . It also has a number of student festivals, the most wellknown and popular of which are Mood Indigo, Techfest and the Performing Arts Festival.
At IIT-Delhi, there have been discussions about bringing in these courses, said a faculty member at academic affairs. A decision, however, may be taken only when the curriculum is revised two years from now.
Even so, there's one other reason for IITs to look beyond conventional subjects: to balance development of both sides of the brain. Music, art, intuitive thought or pre-mature meditativerapturous states are features of the right side of the brain, which can help balance out aspects of engineering streams that are associated with the left side, said Joy Sen of IIT-Kharagpur, who is the principal investigator of Sandhi, a project on the interface between science and heritage, which has been introduced at the institute. “I do believe non-engineering inputs will balance their left-brain strengths with the right. This should enable more creative and balanced thinking of both engineering and real-world problems,“ said Prabir Ku mar Jha, global chief people officer (designate) at Cipla. Subjects such as graphic design, visual communication and design semantics are already taught to students at IIT-Kharagpur.
At the department of architecture, music and dance as rhythms of anthropometry (the systematic collection and correlation of measurements of the human body) are also covered while explaining vernacular forms, styles and patterns.
ET VIEW
Imagineers, Not Just Engineers
India needs engineers. It also needs `imagineers'. For that to happen, a neglected area has to be brought under the spotlight: study of the humanities. While introducing `off beat' subjects -the unfortunate term being used, thereby underlining their unimportance in any holistic knowledge-equipping process -institutions should push students to break out of traditional silos that make for good executioners, but lousy innovators. It was one of the world's most iconic physicists (an adept violinist, too) who said, “Imagination is more important than knowledge.“ Our future engineers and technologists, as well as their teachers, must realise that being playful with their acquired knowledge is the biggest `skill set'.

Source: Economic Times, 19.09.2015

Why Ubuntu?





Users who are running licensed versions of Windows 7 or 8.1 on their PCs get a free upgrade to Windows 10, but those running Windows XP or Vista will have to buy Windows 10. Well, Ubuntu is a free user-friendly Linux based operating system. Yes, absolutely free, including future updates.Secondly , it is extremely light on PC hardware, so you can even install it on computers that are 3-4 years old, and it will run smoothly . Besides, if you buy a brand new PC without an OS, you could consider running Ubuntu on that too. Ubuntu lets you do everything you can do on Windows, and just as easily...
You can edit documents, work on spreadsheets, create presentations and more with LibreOffice ­ a fully functional productivity suite. It comes with the Ubuntu installation and supports Microsoft file formats.
You can play music files on its Rhythmbox player and install software like VLC Player from the Ubuntu Software Center to watch movies.
You can also browse the Ubuntu Software Center for games, photo editors, drawing tools, utilities, themes and more.
And lastly , Ubuntu is easy to install. Read on, we're telling you how...
We understand that moving to a new OS on your computer might make you nervous, so we will be taking you step-by-step through an installation guide that lets you create a dual-boot set-up.This means at startup, you have a choice whether you want to work with your older Windows OS or with the new Ubuntu. In case, you're not comfortable with setting up Ubuntu by yourself, we suggest you take the help of a tech-savvy friend.
BEFORE YOU BEGIN...
Take a backup of all your important files on an external storage device.This is a precautionary measure that should always be done before making any major change to your computer, so it pays to be prepared. Once you have completed taking a back up...
Visit http:www.ubuntu.com downloaddesktop and look for Ubuntu 14.04.3 LTS (Long Term Support).
Click the dropdown list under Choose your flavour and select the 64-bit version. If your PC has less than 4GB RAM, then select the 32-bit version and click Download.
PREPARE THE INSTALLER
A 996MB ISO file will be downloaded to your machine. You will need to use this `image' to create a...
Bootable DVD:
Use your favourite DVD burning software to create a `bootable' version of this ISO file. (Or, refer to help.ubuntu.comcommunity BurningIsoHowto). You will be able to boot your PC from this DVD to start the Ubuntu installation.
Bootable USB pen drive:
If your machine does not have an optical drive, then you can install Ubuntu from a bootable USB pen drive. To do this, you will need a pen drive with at least 2GB of space. Download UNetBootin from unetbootin.net. Use this tool, along with the ISO file you just downloaded, to create a bootable pen drive.
UBUNTU FAQ
Can Ubuntu be installed on older PCs?
Yes, you can install Ubuntu on PCs that have at least 1GB RAM and 5GB of free disk space. If your PC has less than 1GB RAM, you can install Lubuntu (note the L). It is an even lighter version of Ubuntu, which can run on PCs with as little as 128MB RAM.
Can I try Ubuntu before making the switch?
You can take the online tour at ubuntu.com tour or select the Try Ubuntu option after booting your PC from the Ubuntu DVD or USB pen drive (see Install Ubuntu). The second option will load the full operating system from the bootable media. This may run a little slow but will give you an idea of how Ubuntu looks and functions.
Can I run both Windows and the Ubuntu OSes on my PC?
Yes, both can reside on your machine. At the time of installing Ubuntu, you need to choose to install the OS “alongside Windows“ (see Install Ubuntu).
Can I run Windows applications in Ubuntu?
You cannot do this directly in Ubuntu as the OS does not support Windows `.exe' files.While there are ways to do so, they are recommended for advanced users only.

Source: Times of India, 19-09-2015

Is All Violence Generated By Males?

Maneka Gandhi, Union minister for women and child development, stated recently that “All violence is male-generated“. This might, at first instance, seem like a sweeping statement, but perhaps there is more than a grain of truth in what she said. When Susan Sarandon, the acclaimed Hollywood actor was in India as chief guest at the International Film Festival in Goa in 2013, she echoed a similar sentiment.

Speaking of the increasing reports of violence against women ­ not just in India but across the world ­ Sarandon said that one sure way of sensitising men to respect women was for every mother to raise her sons in a way that gender equity and compassion as core values are inculcated in them in their growing years. The above is just one aspect of male-generated violence and Sarandon's solution too is one among many ways of transforming the male propensity for violence to positive ways of bringing about peaceful change.

Children are indeed at their most formative stage of life ­ which is why the minister stressed the importance of gender sensitisation at the school stage, saying, “We have started something which will go into effect in a few months called `gender champions': boys who have been particularly respectful and helpful to girls and deserve to be emulated and rewarded. These prizes will be given to a person in each class annually.“

Violence is of course far more widespread and variegated than that related to assaults on women. Apart from the influence of nurture and environment, the male of the species does indeed seem to have a biological propensity for aggression. Why is this so? Perhaps it all boils down to the fact that the male of the species has an overload of testosterone, the sex hormone that some scientists call the `perfect weapon of mass destruction'. Others call it a `warmone' that triggers aggression, competitiveness and violence.

The play of testosterone is evident in the army, for instance, where `jawans' or young, testosterone-rich youth is recruited to protect the country at the border.Aggression is the traditional way of dealing with the enemy at the gates. The hero soldier who dies protecting his country is hono ured and appreciated for his valour. But he cannot be bro ught back to life. While this is not to undermine the supreme sacrifice of young soldiers, it does raise the question, is there no other way to protect and guard against external aggression other than young men giving up their precious lives in ess on both sides of the border? the process on both sides of the border?
The answer could be `smart wars' fought with robots and spy planes, but what we really need to work towards is to es tablish peace rather than wage wars.

That could be a utopian dream but one worth striving for, and as a wizened woman CEO suggested to the ministry of defence, “Why don't you rename your ministry as `ministry of peace?'“ and shot off a letter to that effect to the defence minister. It does seem as though conflict resolution and peace come naturally to women whereas men are always raring to fight. Again, let's blame it on testosterone, the male sex hormone.`Chemical locha', as Munnabhai would put it. It's not as though the female of the species is devoid of testosterone; it's just that the levels are far lower than those in males. Moreover, every female as a potential mother is programmed to nurture, love and care rather than fight, kill and destroy. And yes, there are exceptions to every generalisation.

NGOs outnumber cops 2:1

Dhananjay Mahapatra

New Delhi





But Only 10% Of The 30 Lakh Organisations Submit Accounts: CBI

For a country ranking low in social indices, the data provided to the Supreme Court on Friday by the CBI on non-government organisations was both startling and heartening -there are two NGOs for every policeman.On a petition filed by advocate M L Sharma alleging misuse of funds by an Anna Hazare-led NGO in Maharashtra, the SC had asked the CBI two years ago to count the number of NGOs and how many were filing annual income and expenditure details with the Registrar of Societies.
At the last count on September 1, the CBI found that there were 30,81,873 NGOs operating in India which would indicate a heartening trend of so many organisations working for the uplift of a large population.
But this heartening finding was accompanied by a startling feature -only 10% of the 3 million NGOs submit accounts of their funding and expenditure to the authorities as mandatorily required under the Societies Registration Act. This means no one knows how more than 27 lakh NGOs spent their funds. Of the total 30.81 lakh NGOs registered under the Societies Registration Act, only 2.9 lakh NGOs filed annual returns with the authorities indicating their fund inflow and expenditure details. Jammu & Kashmir with 147 NGOs and Mizoram with 34 NGOs were fully compliant with the law requiring annual filing of funding and expenditure details. The NGOs outnumber the total police force by almost two to one. Total policemen, both civil and armed, in India number 15.85 lakh.
Sharma's PIL had alleged misuse of funds by Hazare's NGO Hind Swaraj Trust (HST). After the state government provided details of misuse of funds, a bench headed by Justice H L Dattu had on September 2, 2013, asked the CBI to find out details of funding of NGOs across India.
Council for Advancement of People's Action and Rural Technology , which functions under the rural development ministry , had given a grant of Rs 1 lakh to HST for watershed development in three villages in 1999-2001, but more than 90% of the money was spent on honorarium, travelling, printing and stationery , the court was told.
For the full report, log on to http:www.timesofindia.com

No guarantor required for education loan

For the students who are seeking for higher education loan now need not to bring a guarantor for taking loan upto Rs. 7.5 lakh. The Centre is geared up to roll out the much awaited scheme for students that will help them in fulfilling their dreams.

The rate of interest against the amount of loan taken would not be more than 2 per cent of the base rate. The students will be given a window of 20 years for repayment of the loan. They can start the repayment one year from the date of completion of their programme or getting a job.

Till date students are required to start the repayment of the loan six months from the date of getting the job or one year after the completion of the programme, whichever is earlier, with rate of interest varying from bank to bank.

Source: Elets News Network (ENN) Posted on September 17, 2015