Tuesday, April 27, 2021

The University of Dundee is offering South Asia Scholarships worth 5000 GBP/year for undergraduate (UG) and postgraduate (PG) students commencing September 2021 and January 2022. The scholarship is to support students from South Asia during these challenging times, which includes students from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. To know more about the eligibility criteria and inclusions, visit https://www.dundee.ac.uk/scholarships/.

This scholarship announced by the university is for the bachelor degree programme students and for postgraduate degree programme students across a number of subjects such as Anatomy / Forensic Anthropology / Forensic and Medical Art, Architecture and Urban Planning, Art and Design, Biological/Biomedical Sciences, Biomedical Engineering / Medical Imaging, Business (Accountancy / Economics / Finance / International Business), Civil Engineering / Structural Engineering, Computing / Applied Computing / Data Science / Data Engineering, Education, Electronic Engineering, Energy Petroleum and Mineral Law and Policy, English, Geography / Environmental Science, History, Law, Liberal Arts, Mathematics, Mechanical Engineering / Industrial Engineering, Nursing and Health Sciences, Philosophy, Physics, Politics and International Relations, Psychology, Social Work.

There is no separate application form for this scholarship and the student’s eligibility will be assessed as part of the programme application. The university will notify the candidates in writing if they have received a scholarship.

The eligibility criteria for the undergraduate programme is that the student must be studying a full-time undergraduate programme excluding programmes in the School of Medicine or the School of Dentistry, should be domiciled in South Asia and have international fee status.

For postgraduate programme scholarship, the student must be studying a full time, 180 credit PG programme over the course of 1 year. If you are studying a 2-year full-time programme, you may be eligible for the awards in both years. The applicant must be domiciled in South Asia and have an international fee status.

Source: Indian Express, 25/04/21

Women are key to financial inclusion

The government’s focus on women and their inclusion in the financial sector can have a transformative impact in boosting household economic resilience. For a long time, financial service providers have focused on high net-worth individuals, salaried individuals and business owners to increase their profitability.

This is attributed mainly to two factors. One, a lot is known about these segments because they leave large financial footprints and rich data. This enables financial service providers to make accurate decisions, create targeted products and manage Know Your Customer (KYC) risks. Two, the cost of customer acquisition, maintenance and service costs in retail banking business is high.

However, digitisation is enabling inclusion of customer segments, which have been historically excluded from the financial service provider gamut. Effective implementation of Aadhaar-based eKYC collection and authentication lowered barriers of entry to the formal financial system. It has allowed the Jan Dhan-Aadhaar-Mobile (JAM) trinity to lay the foundation to bring 230 million unserved and underserved women into the formal financial services ecosystem. Women Jan Dhan customers constitute a cumulative ₹61,000-plus crores of deposits in these accounts.

We worked with a leading public sector bank to look at ways of increasing savings adoption by Jan Dhan customers, and found that when engaged effectively, they are an important and economically valuable consumer segment for banks for the following set of reasons.

First, women are decision-makers for spending and savings in most low-income households. They are thus more committed and disciplined savers than men. In our pilot project, we found 32% of women who were committed to saving versus 25% of men. These women grew their balances by 36% during the project period of five months (versus 24% by men). This showed that when given the opportunity, women save and by doing so build financial resilience.

Two, women value relationships over deals, special offers and rates. As their interaction with the bank improves, women can be encouraged to avail overdraft loans and micro-insurance, which enable them to invest in their families and create revenue opportunities for financial services. Thus, the bank will see better cross-sell and larger lifetime value in serving women customers.Three, the Government of India sent ₹500 as direct benefit transfer (DBT), each month between April to June 2020, directly to women Jan Dhan accounts as Covid-19 relief. This has led to the activation of dormant women accounts and a spate of new accounts being opened by women. Families now want women to have and use their accounts, since they want to receive government benefits being sent to women. We saw a 15% increase in the number of women’s accounts since March 2020, compared to a 4% increase of men’s accounts in the same period.

Despite digital technologies and government initiatives, hurdles to serve women Jan Dhan customers have not been eliminated. A challenge in engaging women is the lack of gender-disaggregated data.Financial service providers need to deploy strategies that focus on the Jan Dhan women segment by using sex-disaggregated data. For instance, target and communicate with women and design products and processes to be women-centric. At a policy-level, collecting and analysing gender-disaggregated data is vital for the creation of products and services for low-income women.

Women’s engagement with financial institutions and their ability to access participation in work and credit from such institutions can increase their social capital. Thus, empowering 230 million women Jan Dhan customers financially leads to the potential upliftment of 920 million lives, at an average family of four. It is economically viable for banks to target women, while contributing to such social good. The second wave of the pandemic has intensified the need for economic support. Our research shows that the government’s continued focus on women and their inclusion in the financial sector can have a transformative impact in boosting household economic resilience, expanding women’s access to credit and work opportunities, aiding empowerment and equity.

Sriraman Jagannathan is executive vice president, Asia, and Bhargavi Ramadugu is specialist, advisory services, Women’s World Banking

Source: Hindustant Times, 24/04/21

Friday, April 23, 2021

Quote of the Day April 23, 2021

“The most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched, they must be felt with the heart.”
Helen Keller

“विश्व की सबसे सुन्दरतम वस्तुओं को देखा या छुआ भी नहीं जा सकता है, उन्हें केवल दिल से महसूस किया जा सकता है।”
हेलन केलर

Little Guru: World’s First Gamified Sanskrit Learning Application

The Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) tied up with the Gamapp Sportswizz Tech Private Limited to launch “LITTLE GURU” application. It is a specialized mobile application for learning Sanskrit.

About “Little Guru”

Little Guru is a gamified application.
It teaches Sanskrit in an interactive platform. This makes learning easier.
The app was launched during the celebrations of the 71^st Foundation Day of ICCR.
It is world’s first Gamified Sanskrit learning application.
It will help people to learn Sanskrit in an easy manner based on competition, games, peer to peer interactions, etc.

Significance of the Application

The application is of great help to the Indian Diaspora wishing to stay connected with their roots.
It will also help number of students and faculties associated with Sanskrit Universities located all over the world.

ICCR role in India-China relations

The ICCR has provided scholarships to more than three hundred Chinese students. The aim of these scholarships is to promote cultural, intellectual, and academic exchanges between India and China.
There are several Chinese kids learning Indian culture in the country. During the 71^st foundation celebrations of ICCR, Chinese kids of age 6-7 years who are learning Indian dance forms in India performed Indian dances. Their dance performances were based on the theme “Azadi ka Amrit”.

Azadi ka Amrut

The idea of Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav was launched by PM Modi in March 2021. It is a series of events organized by the Government of India to commemorate the 75^th anniversary of independence. It was launched 75 weeks ahead of the 75^th anniversary. It was launched on March 12, 2021 to commemorate 91 years of Dandi March.

World Book and Copyright Day: April 23

Every year the World Book and Copyrights Day is celebrated on April 23 by UNESCO. UNESCO is United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation. This year, to celebrate the World Book and Copyright Day, UNESCO has created “Bookface Challenge”.

About World Book and Copyrights Day

The first World Book and Copyrights Day was celebrated in 1995. The UNESCO Prize for Children’s and Young People’s Literature in the Service of Tolerance is awarded on this day. Also, the day will increase the understanding of copyright laws and other measures that protect intellectual properties.

Why on April 23?

The UNESCO decided to celebrate the World Book and Copyrights Day on April 23 as it is the death anniversary of William Shakespeare, Miguel de Cervantes and Inca Garcilasco de la Vega.

World Book Day in different regions

In Catalonia (Spain), the World Book Day is celebrated as St George’s Day since 1436. On this day, people exchange gifts between loved ones. Catalonia is an autonomous community in Spain.
In Spain, the World Book Day is being celebrated since 1926 on October 7. This is because Miguel de Cervantes was born on October 7.
In Sweden, the World Book Day is called the Varldsbokdagen. It is celebrated on April 13.
In UK and Ireland, they organise an event called the “World Book Night” to celebrate the World Book Day.
The World Book Day is celebrated as a street festival in the US.

World Book Capital

Every year UNESCO and other international organisations select World Book Capital for a one-year capital. This year Tbilisi of Georgia has been selected as the World Book Capital.

Tips to choose the right remote internship

The pandemic led to the “work from home” and “learn from home” transitions. While remote learning quickly became the new normal, what was to be done about internships — a critical milestone for students and a litmus test for experience and employability? In order to ensure that students were able to garner some understanding of what work experience meant, institutions began to embrace remote internships. Though this has its limitations, it offers benefits such as flexible working hours and minimal expenses. And, while everything cannot be recreated virtually, real-time work experience is indeed possible to achieve online.

With remote internships currently being the only viable option for students, choosing the right one is crucial. So, what should one look for? Here’s a handy five-step list.

1. Ask yourself: what am I looking for?

Don’t choose an internship only because it is mandated. The primary objective is to acquire real-world experience in a domain of your interest. Therefore, be clear about your areas of interest and strengths, and the skills you want to develop. Once you identify these, search for relevant opportunities. Be open to options outside your comfort zone, but don’t apply to every open position. Seek guidance and advice from trusted people.

2. Do your homework

Search for companies that are the best in your domain of interest and that you would want to work for. Understand the roles they offer and the skill sets they look for. Search using terms such as “remote”, “virtual” or “online”. Don’t restrict yourself to local or national companies; apply to international ones too. Check out various platforms, websites, and apps.

3. Brand yourself

In today’s online world, building a digital brand for yourself is critical to stand out. Your digital personal brand includes the Google search results for your name and all your social media accounts, in addition to your CV. So, curate your social media thoughtfully to reflect a blend of your personal and professional personalities. Engage actively in discussion forums and try blogging platforms to give more visibility to your thoughts and ideas. Request recommendations from former teachers or professors. More importantly, when you are active on social media, you are more likely to come across opportunities that you wouldn’t have found with a one-hit search on Google.

4. Network like there’s no tomorrow

Social media is now an accepted platform to network, and offers a pool of employment opportunities. The trick is to network beyond your immediate circle of family and friends. Reach out to connections from school or college and seek advice, introductions, and recommendations. Your faculty may have industry connections, colleagues with intern needs, or alumni connections with projects on hand.

5. Check the (work) culture

Interning with a big company and a start-up have their pros and cons. To intern at a start-up is considered as one of the best learning experiences that a student can get. While big company names are a nice addition to your resume, working in start-ups allows you to shoulder larger responsibilities, multi-task, and dabble in multitude of tasks. If possible, try interning at both. This will allow you to compare the experiences and understand where you will fit better.

Saraswathy Ramamoorthy

The writer is co-founder of Learning Matters and a psychologist.

Source: The Hindu, 17/04/21

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