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IIT Kharagpur to Open Medical School in Partnership with US University

Wed, 19 Aug 2009 06:03:33 -0500

India’s oldest IIT is all set to open an in campus Medical School in collaboration with California University, San Diego and would offer Bachelor, Masters, Doctoral and Post-Doctoral degrees along side its Engineering degrees. As per Damodar Acharya, the director of the Indian Institute of Technology (Kharagpur), the project is likely to kick off with the opening of a 350-bed hospital in 2011.

A memorandum to this effect was signed between the IIT and California University (CU) on 18^th August’09 whereby CU would provide technical expertise and other resources for the medical school and the hospital. CU would further assist the IIT in formulating the curriculum for post and undergraduate courses to meet the accreditation requirements in both India and US. The collaboration will also include faculty, students and resident exchange programs.

Emphasizing the need for technology inclusion in medical study, the institute’s director Damodar Acharya said, “Most students give up biology while opting for Engineering and drop mathematics while opting to become doctors. But there can’t be progress in medical science without technology. Our aim is to bridge the gap.”

Initial estimates for the project suggest an expenditure of more than 200 crores and as per Acharya, a public- private participation model is being envisaged and various players from private healthcare industry are being sounded for the project.

No Headway in Tripartite ’Gorkhaland’ Meet but Solace for Gurung

Wed, 12 Aug 2009 22:33:20 -0500

As was expected, the tripartite talks on ‘Gorkhaland’ issue in New Delhi on 11^th Aug’09 could not produce any tangible results. However Bimal Gurung and Co scored a moral and notional win over their archrival Subash Ghisingh by forging a consensus on abandoning the bill on sixth schedule and scrapping the existing Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council (DGHC), created in 1988 after an agreement with GNLF supremo Subash Ghisingh.

It was learnt that the Gorkha Janamukti Morcha (GJM) could accept the three-tier Panchayat system as applicable in rest of Bengal (till ‘Gorkhaland’ is created). However scrapping of DGHC Act of 1988 would conversely nullify whatever gains the ‘Gorkhaland Movement’ achieved from the militant movement of mid-eighties when some 1200 lives were lost.

Now Gurung can tell his comrades that he has been able to scrap the damaging agreement done by Subash and hence on can go forward for nothing less than ‘Gorkhaland.’ The West Bengal and the Central government on the other hand have shrewdly trapped Gurung into signing such an arrangement when everything is back to the pre1988 level and even a form or other of three-tier panchayat system of Bengal would also be applicable to Darjeeling Hills.

While the tripartite meeting was on in New Delhi, the ‘Adivasi Vikash Parishad’ of Dooars and ‘Amra Bangali’- a communal outfit- called a bandh in dooars area which brought life to complete standstill from Siliguri to Alipurduar. Adivasi Vikash Parishad is opposed to inclusion of dooars, which has only 30% Gorkha population, into any future ‘Gorkhaland’ arrangement whereas ‘Amra Bangali’ is opposed to any form of cessation from Bengal.

Meanwhile about 8000 DGHC contract workers jobs have become uncertain due to the decision to scrap the DGHC. They get a consolidated salary ranging from Rs.2000/- to Rs.5000/- per month. The GJM backed workers union ( Janamukti Asthahi Karmachari Sangathan ) is demanding integration of these contract labors into the state government at par with state government employees. GJM secretary Roshan Giri said that it is up to the state government to work out an alternative arrangement (for contract workers) once DGHC is dissolved.

SBI Announces Cheapest Home Loans to Improve Market Share

Fri, 07 Aug 2009 23:11:56 -0500

The State Bank of India- a public sector and the largest of all Indian banks- announced a home loan (Hi-Five Loan) at 8% of Rs. 5 lakhs for a period of 5 years. It also announced home loans up to Rs.50 lakhs with interest rates of 8% for the first years and 8.5% for the next two years, making the offers the cheapest in the market now.

The Bank also announced that no processing fees would be charged for a period up to 7^th November’09 as a promotional offer to facilitate the buyers in the forthcoming festive season.

The Hi-Five loan can be stretched up to five more years in which case the customers have two options. Either they can opt for a floating rate of 2.75% below State Bank Advance Rate (SBAR) or a fixed rate of 1.25% of SBAR for rest of the period. Borrowers of loans above Rs.5 lakhs shall also have the above options for the entire period of 25 years.

The home loan market has been dominated by HDFC so long. The present offer shows the Public Sector Bank’s eagerness to work out a higher niche in the highly competitive home loan market.

The present rate of interest charged by HDFC is 8.75% for loans up to 15 lakhs, 9% for loans between 15 and 30 lakhs and 9.5% for loans above 30lakhs for periods of 20years.

Apparently irked by cheaper rates offered by SBI, the chairman of HDFC, Deepak Parekh, decried the attempt of ‘teaser type loans’ offered by SBI stating that such artificially offered cheaper rates at initial years makes the loan unserviceable later when the rates normalize resulting in US sub-prime like crisis. “These are the lessons (US sub-prime crisis) one should learn”, he added.

However in the present offer of SBI, the rate of interest would be lower than that offered by HDFC for the entire period of loan. In fact this aggressive marketing by SBI is likely to force other market players to lower their interest rates.

India: Private Airlines Proposed Strike Grounded Before Take Off

Sun, 02 Aug 2009 23:02:59 -0500

Federation of Indian Airlines (FIA), an association of four big and six smaller airlines, announced today (2^nd Aug’09) withdrawal of ‘protest suspension of flights on 18^th August’. Bowing under pressure from smaller airlines, which operates low cost carriers, the planned protest strike has to be withdrawn within a couple of days of announcement. FIA officials quoted public inconvenience and governments willingness to enter into dialogue as the reason for withdrawal of the proposed strike.

However, the real reason for withdrawal was non-cooperation from low cost carriers led by SpiceJet, which made a profit of Rs.26 crores in the first quarter of this year turning around from a loss of Rs.340 crores on a sales of Rs.1814 crores for the previous year. Earlier Paramount Airlines expressed its unwillingness to join the strike. Another small airline, MDLR that is not a member of FIA has also distanced itself from the strike. It is here worthwhile to note that low-cost carriers have a market share of 55% of total aviation business. Therefore any protest agenda may not be successful without involvement of these smaller low-cost carriers.

The protesting airlines made a blunder by selling tickets for the proposed strike of 18^th August betraying thereby their own very cause. The publicly owned Air India , although a member of FIA, made its intentions clear not to join the strike. Taking advantage of this fluid situation, the government threatened action ultimately resulting in the withdrawal of the proposed strike.

Indian Student Protests Racial Attacks in Australia

Sun, 31 May 2009 03:32:38 -0500

Outraged over the spate of racial attacks in Australia, hundreds of Indian students on Sunday took out a massive rally here demanding justice for the victims of recent assaults, including 25-year-old Shravan Kumar who is battling for life in a local hospital.

The 'peace rally' organised by bodies like Federation of Indian Students in Australia (FISA) and National Union of Students kicked off from outside the Royal Melbourne Hospital, where Kumar is in a critical condition in the intensive care unit after being stabbed by a screwdriver by a group of teens on Sunday last.

From the hospital, the marchers proceeded to the Victorian Parliament in Spring Street, where they shouted slogans like 'Bharat Mata Ki Jai'. "We want justice for the victims of racist violence," demanded the students, who also displayed placards carrying messages like 'Save our Students' and 'Stop Racist Violence'.

Railway Protection Force Registered 204 cases

Thu, 28 May 2009 22:37:38 -0500

During a check conducted by the Railway Protection Force (RPF) in trains running between Alappuzha, Kottayam and Ernakulam stations, as part of the safety week observance, 204 cases were registered for various offences and Rs.75,500 was collected as fine.

The cases registered and the fine collected were as follows: as many as 45 cases of unauthorised vending on railway premises (Rs.9,100); 28 unauthorised parking (Rs.13,050) cases; 56 footboard travel (Rs. 23,500); three for pulling the chain without valid reasons (Rs.1,800); 23 for using seats reserved for handicapped persons (Rs.6,300); 11 for causing nuisance to fellow passengers by playing cards inside the train (Rs.5,200); three for selling reserved tickets in black (Rs.7,000); 10 for causing disturbance on railway premises in a drunken condition (Rs.8,750); 10 for smoking on railway premises (Rs.1,000) and 15 for entering the platform without tickets (Rs.4,800).

Left Front Poll Debacle in Bengal: An Objective Analysis

Sat, 23 May 2009 07:11:29 -0500

This year’s parliamentary election results has been extremely surprising for the Left Front (LF), which has been decimated to 3/7^th of their strength of last parliamentary elections in 2004, when the LF won as much as 35 seats compared to 15 in this election. Just three years ago in May’06 the LF won the assembly elections by a thumping margin scoring 235 seats out of 294 seats. Statistics says the LF has lost as much as 191 assembly segments of the 294 and has lost more than 5% in vote share down from about 48% in last parliamentary elections to about 43% in this election.

The picture appears to be gloomy for the LF in the coming assembly elections and it (LF) appears to be on the verge of losing power unless some Herculean effort is made to woo back the vast majority of minority Muslims, the poor and marginal farmers and to a lesser extent the Adivasis. In retrospect, the poor and marginal farmers, the hard working masses, the downtrodden Adivasis, the minority Muslims were the backbone of the LF in Bengal. Even the educated middle class, in recent times had been backing the LF.

For the LF the rot is total in the urban belt in and around Calcutta as well as large chunk of rural areas losing all the seats from the districts of Calcutta, Howrah, East Midnapore, North and South 24-Parganas, Nadia, Murshidabad and Malda districts. The question is, ‘What went wrong then in this short span so much so that the LF appears to be losing power in next assembly elections slated for May’2011.’

An objective analysis shows the following mistakes on the part of the LF in general and the CPI(M) in particular resulting in a poll debacle of the magnitude stated above. In my analysis the importance of each factor is downward from point 1, i.e point 1 is the most important factor and so on

1. The Nandigram and Singur episode distanced a section of farmers as this section felt that their land may be forcibly acquired by the government. This factor alienated a section of farmers from the LF.

2. Sachhar committee report exposed the claim of LF that they are the champions for the minority empowerment. It showed the minorities in Bengal in a poor state of affairs even after 30 years rule of the Left. The opposition very well publicized this report resulting in loss of minority voters for the LF.

3. Harassing and expelling from CPI(M) an eminent personality like the Speaker of the house Sri Somnath Chatterjee alienated the Bengali educated middle class.

4. Poorer development in the Adivasi belt of Purulia, Bankura etc. alienated a section of Adivasis.

5. Attempting to destabilize the government over Nuclear issue did not go well with the masses which had seen resurgence of economy under the leadership of Dr.Manmohan Singh of the Indian National Congress. The general feeling was that the left should have only walked out of the house in protest instead of supporting no-confidence motion against the government.

The slogan of forming a third front with regional parties (under Left leadership) too was not acceptable to the masses as the countrymen had the experience that such combinations have failed repeatedly in the past starting from the Janata Party government of 1977 to the governments of Charan Singh V.P.Singh, Chandrasekhar, Devegowda etc.

Villages, Cities, Metros all Look Eagerly to Election Results

Fri, 15 May 2009 23:05:47 -0500

Today is the day that determines who will win or lose in the Parliamentary election. From the morning itself, the media is set to bring the latest updates of vote results. The counting of votes that would reveal who has the upper hand in political Kerala started at 8 a.m.

Let us see who will be the final winners of this heat.

Indian Engineering Students Help Redesign the Rickshaw

Fri, 15 May 2009 10:26:26 -0500

The public sector Kerala Automobiles Limited (KAL) has received unexpected assistance from a team of engineering students to redesign one of its three-wheeler models.

The remodelling was taken up by Sonu S. Babu, Rahul Harish, U.R. Rachin, I. Irfan Ahmed and A. Anshad, all final-year B.Tech. (Mechanical) students of the Mar Baselios College of Engineering and Technology, Nalanchira, as part of their project work done at the KAL plant here.

The project involved the redesign of the chassis of the V_II 400 autorickshaw to achieve weight reduction and better convenience for passengers while getting on and off the vehicle.

The company has decided to accept the prototype developed by the students. The redesigned chassis is eight kg less than that of the original vehicle. The platform of the rear section has been lowered by 13 cm, making it easier for passengers, especially women, children and senior citizens, to get on and off the vehicle.

The Indian Parliamentary Election Scenario 2009

Fri, 08 May 2009 21:38:44 -0500

This time, not withstanding a scorching summer in decades, the heat generated by parliamentary poll proceedings has been much less than the previous occasions. The severe blow delivered by the Supreme Court banning pre-poll surveys and exit polls (after election schedules are declared) has taken away much sheen from the election battle, depriving the electronic and print media their share of gossip columns, hypothetical analysis and group discussions to throw open the number game of anticipated seats in the lower house of the parliament.

Apart from this, the most important other factor that has contributed to low interest in the public mind is the political fragmentation from the conglomerate the UPA and the NDA. Whereas BJD, led by Navin Pattanayak of orissa was the first to come out of NDA alliance, the RJD and LJP of Bihar led by Lalloo Prasad Yadav and Ram Bilas Paswan respectively has come out of UPA for all practical purposes.

On the basis of state-wise existing strength, it appears that the BJP and the INC are more or less evenly poised to get around 125 seats each in the 15^th Lok Sabha and the third front led by the Left Parties and constituting BJD and Telegu Desham as major constituent may also get about 125 seats. The majority of about 125 seats from UP and Bihar and Jharkhand are likely to be shared by Mayavati(BSP), Samajwadi Party(SP) of Mulayam and Laloo-Paswan combination depriving both INC and BJP any significant scores in these states as a whole.

The resultant house is likely to witness a high level of fractured mandate leaving a hot bed of post poll politics for forming a viable majority combination to form the Government. It will be a tough time for the President to facilitate the formation of the government and much would depend on her wits and judgment of the volatile situation.

However all these are after all general view of common man on the street. There may be surprise elements and all calculations and predictions may go awry.