The race against time

Producing quality work within a stipulated time calls for motivation, swiftness and a practical approach.

The night before the submission date, you find yourself struggling hard to keep awake through the night, trying to put your assignment in shape, hoping frenziedly for an extension and cursing yourself for landing in this mess. Does this sound familiar? If yes, then perhaps, it is time you took stock of your time management skills.

All your keenness and efforts to turn out good work would come to naught if you fail to meet the deadline. The result: loss of marks and a sense of inadequacy. While in college, one gets away with a reprimand or a few marks less; in work situations, much more is at stake.

Get over inertia

Procrastination, the most common deterrent to time management, should be feared like the plague. Once this enters the psyche of an individual, it is difficult to shed it. Starting early is indispensable to the successful completion of one’s work within a given timeframe. Almost always, things go wrong at the last minute, and your ability to manage the glitches gets diminished by a flustered state of mind. You are left with no contingency time to set things right. Pressure mounts up at the end, and there is both physical and mental stress. The sense of guilt over not having utilised your time adds to the misery.

“Building motivation is the way to counter procrastination. It is important to value what you do and be passionate about it in order to work hard at it and avoid delays,” says Mitesh Khatri, leadership trainer and author. So, how does one deal with mental blocks that don’t allow one to get to the heart of the task? “The numero uno principle of time management is to be in the right state of mind. Sweating over a task even when one is not quite feeling up to it leads to more wastage of time. The best way to deal with this is to take a break and engage in some positive energising activities such as listening to motivational songs in order to regain the flow,” explains Khatri.

Practical approach

It is important to estimate exactly how much time it would take to complete a piece of work. “Often students fail to take into account the demands of the task ahead and tend to put things off for another time. Understanding the length of the project and then planning accordingly is necessary. Create a timetable for academic activities and then diligently stick to it,” says Mithun Pillai, Assistant Professor and course co-ordinator, Department of Mass Media, SIES (Nerul) College of Arts, Science and Commerce. Bringing about regularity in one’s work pattern is essential. Sporadic bursts of productivity may not help as much as consistent use of time.

The completion of any assignment or project, especially one that requires some creativity or analytical thinking on the part of the student, happens in stages. Starting with the ideation stage, it goes through a process of information gathering to analysing and ends with bringing the project to a presentable form. Getting stuck at one stage can be disastrous. A student, for instance, may keep waiting for the perfect brainwave and lose out on precious time. Also, digressions can delay the process further. Determining the focus of the task and not wading in unknown waters for too long helps save a lot of time.

Finally, wrap up when it’s time to do so. Even when there is a feeling that the work can be improved, clinging to it can make you miss your deadline. Most experts agree that when it comes to perfection versus punctuality, the latter wins hands down. Punctuality brings reliability and is valued most in any organisation. Like the winner of a marathon, it’s important to gather pace in the final laps. “For finishing well, bring about agility in your methods. Besides, it does good to remember that growth should be the ultimate aim and not perfection,” says Khatri.

College projects and assignments can be seen as opportunities not only for skill development in a particular area but also as grounds for conditioning oneself to racing against time while not compromising on quality. This could help one ready oneself for the demands of the industry.

Dec 29 2014 : Mirror (Mumbai)

2014 CAT RESULTS - Topper from IIT-B to shun cushy job, become teacher

Vikrant Dadawala TWEETS @_MumbaiMirror





Harshveer Jain, 22, who currently works with a realty search portal, says he wants to follow footsteps of his mother who teaches in a college in Indore

Two students from the Indian Institute of Technology-Bombay are among 16 management aspirants who have achieved a 100 percentile score in the Common Admission Test (CAT).One of them, Harshveer Jain, who cracked CAT without attending a coaching class, plans to follow his mother’s footsteps and become a teacher in future.
The 22-year-old graduated from IIT-B with a B Tech in engineering physics this year and currently works with real estate search portal housing.com.
“I want to teach and write — I want to do something for my country. I may pursue a PhD and teach marketing in a college or join a school,” he said, adding that he would love to work in his school in Indore.
Harshveer inherited the love for academics from his mother, who teaches electronics and communication in a college in Indore. Apart from teaching, he is also passionate about books and intends to write a fantasy novel series.
Anuraag Reddy, a fourth-year electrical engineering student at IIT-B, also cracked the test conducted by the Indian Institutes of Management. He said that he wanted to join a finance firm after completing his MBA.
More than 1.65 lakh students across the country appeared for CAT in November. The results were announced on Saturday.
Harshveer said that he found it diffi cult to study while working full time.
“I had only two spare months before I took up my current job. After being hired, I studied only during the weekend. I did not attend any classes, though I did use a package of online tests from a coaching centre,” he said.
The young techie took around 60 mock tests in the months leading up to CAT.
Anuraag studied for only three months and took 10 mock tests. “I did not prepare for maths because I have been good at it since my school days. However, I took English very seriously and spent a lot of time reading articles in the New York Times and the Economist,” he said.
The two candidates had similar advice for CAT aspirants: focus on speed and accuracy.
A student from IIT-Delhi, Aashish Chhiller, is also among the 16 candidates with a 100 percentile score this year. The 21-year-old, who is the fourth year of production and industrial engineering hopes to make a career in the field of data analytics. But he is also interested in photography and graphic design.

Dec 29 2014 : The Economic Times (Delhi)

Make the Land Loser a Stakeholder





Projects must be sustainable for society at large

The Narendra Modi government is planning to change land acquisition laws, amended in 2013, through an Ordinance, preferably before January 1, 2015. At least 13 sectors will be exempt from the strictures governing land acquisition, including mining, railways, roads and even urban metro rail networks, ostensibly in the interest of promoting faster growth. Why not also include real estate developers, mall builders, land speculators and their myriad agents, subagents, brokers and dalals in the ambit of this Ordinance? The main problem with the original, colonial land acquisition rules of 1893 was that the state was supposed to be the ultimate owner of all land.Everybody , including those with pattas -or written land rights -amounted to nothing, if the state invoked its suzerainty over land.This is what led to Singur, Nandigram and Bhatta Parsaul, where farmers resisted the state's occupation of `their' land and the toppling of the regimes of the Left in Bengal and Mayawati in Uttar Prade sh. Industry cribs that it is impossible to get the sanction of 80% of landown ers to dispossess them, while govern ment projects like road building are stuck for a 70% clearance from the owners of land under the 2013 law. Un der the colonial law, once the state decided to acquire land, it would give a one-time compensation to the victim, who would henceforth vacate their farm, vegetables, betel vines, poultry and fish ponds for the public weal -whatever it was supposed to be.
This model can't work in the 21st century . Anybody who has to give up land or livelihood has to be compensated for its growing valuation over time. This can be done through leasing, where the owner lends her land to the government for a steadily-increasing rent, or through an annuity-based system as practised in Haryana and Noida, Uttar Pradesh. The days of forcible acquisition through diktats from the state are long gone: people need a stake, ever-growing, in the land they give up. This Ordinance is misconceived. Incorporate stakeholdership for the land loser instead.

Dec 29 2014 : The Economic Times (Delhi)

The Mahatma Versus Nathuram Godse





Seeking a structural readjustment of history is a hallmark of most social, religious and political movements. In India, this often means reinterpreting figures. The Dalit movement, for example, tries this with its construction of statues and monuments, arguing that upper class and caste history have sought to erase those of marginalised sections. So, now, is also the Hindu Mahasabha (HM), among other sections of the Sangh Parivar. After a BJP MP called Nathuram Godse, Mahatma Gandhi's murderer, a patriot, the HM has raised another controversy by demanding that Godse's statues should be put up in public places. What is the difference between these two examples? And should the HM be allowed to put up the statues of the killer of the father of the nation?
The key difference is violence, and the idea of embedding that violence within the polity while seeking that readjustme nt of history . In principle, thus, given the fact that we are a democracy , there can be no objection to a body , even if it be called a fascist organisation, voicing such a demand. But what we are treading here is the fine line between freedom of speech and expression and hate speech or acts designed to, again, embed violence.Gandhi represented a vision, of minorities being an organic part of India, for which he was killed. And if and when free speech or ostensibly democratic demands veer into eulogising violence indirectly or offer an incitement to strife and violence, which we can call `hate speech', then the notion of `public order' comes into play against it. The fight is as much about preserving democracy , and the rights of even extreme bodies to make demands, as it is about preserving the idea of a secular India, and of politically fighting off challenges to it. A sensitised polity, not bans, is the solution.

Dec 29 2014 : The Times of India (Delhi)

IITian brain drain declines due to emergence of IIMs

Ramya M

Chennai





For decades, IITians have been faulted for leaving the country in search of greener pastures. But now, contrary to public perception, the brain drain from the premier technical institutions to foreign shores is declining.According to faculty members, the number of students from IIT-Madras S going overseas for higher studies and jobs has dropped from around 50% in the t 1980s to around 15% in the last couple of years. Of the Y 800 BTech and dual degree students graduating from IIT-Madras in 2015, only 2 10% are likely to leave the country , said placement advisor Babu Viswanathan. 2 Of the 661 BTech and dual degree candidates who passed out in 2013-14, 100 left for foreign shores, including 88 to the US and two to Canada. In the 2012-13 academic year, only 40 of the 640 graduates went overseas for jobs or higher studies. “The number of students going overseas for higher edu cation is declining. The brain r drain has almost stopped.
This year, around 10% have , signed up to go abroad, but , note that an equal number is staying back to start their o own ventures. It's a positive trend because we can retain t talent,“ said dean, internag tional and alumni relations, IIT-Madras, R Nagarajan. c “There is a bigger drain of students from core branches r to non-core companies during placements,“ he added. He said this was one area that the IITs were seen as lacking when compared to foreign universities. But, with support for entrepreneurship in the institute -ranging from minors courses, an MS in Entrepreneurship, deferred placements, and offers to incubate startups with poten ate startups with poten tial -students are reth inking their plans.
Professor Viswa nathan said the emer gence of institutes such as the Indian Institute of Management within the country contributed to the decrease in num bers. “In recent years, 50% of those who go for higher studies choose the IIMs. They have seen that there is good value in doing an MBA here af ter IIT,“ he said.Faculty members, howev er, added that a little overseas experience was not a bad thing. For international exposure, students find the institute's many MoUs with foreign institutions come in handy .

University no 1

The Indian Institute of Science (IISc) has emerged as India’s new No 1 in the latest rankings for universities from BRICS and other emerging economies. The Times Higher Education (THE) Rankings 2015 has placed Bangalore-based IISc at No 25 in the overall 100, topped by China’s Peking University.

According to the latest rankings, India has four varsities in the top 40 –- IISc, IIT Bombay (37), IIT Roorkee (38) and Chandigarh’s Panjab University (39) -– and seven more in the top 100. “There is some good news for India as it has universities in the top 100, which is a good sign and it also has entirely new entrants arriving in the higher echelons of the table,” said Phil Baty, editor of the Times Higher Education Rankings.
Baty, however, said there are “some major challenges for India’s higher education system and there is clearly a national priority to improve quality across the system.” “These leading universities need special extra levels of funding to stay competitive and pay competitive salaries. They also need improvements to infrastructure and there is a need to invest more in research as well as teaching,” he added.
The other seven universities that complete India’s tally of 11 institutions in the 2015 list — up from 10 last year — are: IITs Kharagpur (43), Madras (44), and Delhi (56). The Jawaharlal Nehru University (71), IIT Kanpur (74), Aligarh Muslim University (78) and IIT Guwahati (98). Some 22 countries classified as emerging economies by FTSE have been analysed for the rankings, including Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa (BRICS).
China has dramatically strengthened its position as the number one nation of the emerging economies, matching its economic dominance with rapidly improving universities. “The big story this year is that China dominate these tables so powerfully and has increased its dominance yet further,” said Baty. “India for example is some distance behind China and this should be a concern for India’s future economic strength and its global competitiveness,” he said. The new annual tables are based on a comprehensive range of 13 separate, rigorous performance indicators used to create the definitive The World University Rankings, covering all aspects of the modern university’s core missions (teaching, research, knowledge transfer and international outlook).
The indicators have been specially recalibrated to better reflect the character and development priorities of universities in emerging economies. The top five after Perking University is completed by China’s Tsinghua University, Turkey’s Middle East Technical University, University of Cape Town and MV Lomonosov Moscow State University, respectively.

- See more at: http://digitallearning.eletsonline.com/2014/12/university-no-1/#sthash.AF2lg5WC.dpuf

Minimum educational qualification for Raj civic polls 

Days ahead of the panchayat poll announcement in Rajasthan, an ordinance issued by Governor Kalyan Singh fixed minimum educational qualifications for contesting polls for panchayat samiti and district councils, drawing much opposition from political parties, local communities and civil society groups. The ordinance effecting an amendment to the Rajasthan Panchayati Raj Act 1994, has made it mandatory for the candidates contesting zila parishad and panchayat samiti polls to be Class X pass and those contesting sarpanch elections to be Class VIII pass. In the scheduled areas the eligibility has been fixed at Class V pass.

Even as the ruling government argues that this will check embezzlement of funds at the hands of illiterate panchayat level representatives, the opposition groups alleged that the move is discriminatory to a large section of the rural population, particularly women among whom the literacy rate is the lowest. In rural Rajasthan, the literacy rate stands at 76.16 percent for males and 45.8 percent for females respectively.

Defending the state government’s move, BJP spokesperson Kailash Nath Bhatt told, “The Centre is spending crores of money on panchayats and this goes directly to the sarpanch. There are thousands of pending cases of fund embezzlement against these elected representatives in the state and the standard excuse is that ‘I am illiterate and put my thumb impression on whatever papers were given to me’.

Earlier, the audits were managed by the state government so the accountability was not with the sarpanch but now with funds to the tune of crores coming in for projects like MNREGA and others, there has to be better accountability. Let us take this decision positively as it will end up encouraging education in rural areas. We are confident this will lead to better literacy rate in the state and as it is we have a 50 percent reservation for women.”

- See more at: http://digitallearning.eletsonline.com/2014/12/minimum-educational-qualification-for-raj-civic-polls/#sthash.aSyS5Uhh.dpuf