Australia will review its controversial citizenship test introduced three months ago after 20% (2311out of 10,636) of the aspiring citizens were found to be flunking the exam. The test has been slammed as 'racist' by critics who say the test should be about increasing awareness of citizens' responsibilities and of the Australian way of life. Only residents who have lived in Australia for four years can apply for citizenship. Those who fail to meet the 60% pass mark can take the test as often as they want until they get it right.

[January 08]

In a recent survey 64% of Americans said they spend more time with their significant other. Meanwhile, 84% said they were more dependent on their computer than they were three years ago. When confronted with a dead computer, 19% admitted to wanting to hurl it out the nearest window, 9% felt stranded and alone, 11% used language normally reserved for special occasions, 7% did so loudly, 3% did so tearfully and 3% additionally vented their wrath on inanimate objects. A healthy 32% said that they basically shrugged. On an average, Americans spend 12 hours a month wrestling computer problems.

[January 08]

There has been a steady climb in the number of Indians desirous of going to UK under the 'students' category. While 23,700 applicants sent in their requests for visas under the student category in 2004, the number swelled to 25,900 in 2005 and further 33,606 in 2006. Applications received by the British High Commission in these three years were the highest under the 'students' category. Applications were sent in to the offices of the British High Commission in the four metros in Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai. While there were 14,366 visa applicants from the Mumbai office those from the Delhi office numbered 6,688. From Chennai, 11,224 sent in their applications while there were 1,328 applicants from Kolkata. All applications are assessed at the British High Commission in New Delhi or the Deputy High Commission in Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata.

[January 08]

Students in India can stop worrying as the Princeton-based Educational Testing Service, the agency that administers the Graduate Record Exam [GRE] has cancelled its plan to launch a revised exam this September. The plan to drop the revised exam comes after fours years of work and a $12 million spend on research. The revamped GRE was to have a changed verbal reasoning section compromising two 40-minute sections rather than one 30-minute section. More importantly, greater emphasis was to be laid on higher cognitive skills, as against the current emphasis on vocabulary. The quantitative reasoning section was supposed to increase from one 45-minute section to two 40-minute sections, with fewer geometry questions and more on interpreting tables and graphs. The analytical writing measure, which has a 45-minute essay and a 30-minute essay, was to have two 30-minute essays.
The main reason for canceling the launch is on issues of access for test takers. It was feared that the 3,200 internet-based testing centres that ETS currently uses to deliver the TOEFL would be grossly inadequate for GRE takers.

[January 08]

Britain unveiled new visa rule proposals that include making families pay a hefty cash bond of up to 1,000 pounds to ensure that their foreign visitors leave on time, a move that will affect thousands of immigrants from countries like India. Proposals for the new rules considered the biggest shake-up of the immigration system in Britain's history also include reducing the standard six-month tourist visa to three months. As part of the UK government's biometrics visas program over one million fingerprints have now been collected from overseas foreign nationals applying to come to the UK.

[January 08]

Following several complaints from disabled rights groups, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation [DGCA] issued a draft civil aviation requirement [CAR] on the subject. Among other things it asked airlines to mandatorily provide free assistance to such passengers. The rule was to go into effect from January 1. While most airlines currently provide free wheelchairs, stretchers, and ambulifts, they have strongly opposed making the free service compulsory. The Federation of Indian Airlines - a joint body of Air India, Jet Airways, Kingfisher, Deccan, Go Air, Indi Go, Paramount and Spice Jet- says that the industry must be free to recover any extra cost that's incurred in the process of providing assistance to handicapped passengers.

[January 08]

Thousands of students come to Delhi colonies like Mukherjee Nagar, Outram Lines, Model Town from all over the country with dreams of becoming IAS and IPS officers. In Delhi, there are as many as a hundred coaching centres to choose from. No other city offers such choice. In places like Mukherjee Nagar, one can find students involved in animated discussions about various topics related to the exams. They share notes and study material with students from other coaching centres. The places around the coaching centres have all the things that civil service aspirants need-and at very affordable rates. Those who don't succeed in clearing this exam find alternative careers in the city. Aspirants also take admission in universities so that they can find a place to stay and get a degree on the side-while preparing for exams.

[January 08]

Youngsters looking for a bright career now have a new option, and in return, the stodgy Parliament Secretariat will get a new bright look. Henceforth, the syllabus and examination for those trying to enter the Secretariat will be at par with that of the Administrative Service [IAS]. The first examination under the revised system will be conducted in the first half of 2008.
Recruitment advertisements have already been placed for posts of executive and research officers in the Secretariat with the pay scales matching those of an IAS recruit. This will provide another opportunity to those who write the All India Service exams. Under the new scheme, fresh recruits would be sent to the Lal Bahadur Shastri Academy at Mussoorie for a three-month foundation course, followed by nine months of intensive in-house training in the Secretariat. Training institutes have been identified and arrangements made to prepare suitable skill enhancement modules for the existing staff, including courses on financial management and accounting.

[January 08]

The Punjab government is in a fix as the Union Public Service Commission [UPSC] has neither accepted nor rejected its plea to make recruitment for the Punjab Civil Service [PCS] on its behalf. Punjab is short of 100 PCS officers. It has does not have an adequate number of junior PCS officers to man posts meant for this cadre in the field. No recruitment for PCS officers has been made for eight years or so. Several young men in the state have become ineligible due to age factor waiting for recruitment in this cadre. Neighbouring states like Haryana, Himachal etc are making recruitment to the provincial cadre almost every year. In the absence of recruitment to PCS cadre, Punjabi youth are facing problem. Their dream to join this service remains unfulfilled.

[January 08]

The spiraling rupee and challenging jobs with attractive pay packages in India, and on the flip side, higher inflation and increasing cost of living in foreign countries are driving many expat Indians back home. Until now, it was predominantly the IT sector that drew Indians from abroad. Now it is the retail, infrastructure, pharma, financial services, engineering, hospitality, and real estate. While experienced hands in IT, pharma, R&D and engineering research come from the US, senior executives in infrastructure and retail are being sourced from the Middle East. Many senior and middle management people of Indian origin are returning from the Far East as well, especially Malaysia and Singapore for greener pastures in India. Many mid-and large -sized foreign companies that are setting up offices in the country are looking for Indians with international experience for their top jobs. Indian companies are now willing to pay 70-80% of foreign salaries for the key people. The new wave of Knowledge Process Outsourcing has led to the emergence of many KPO firms in the country. This has opened up numerous opportunities for Indians who have global experience.

[January 08]

India's booming economy has led to a supersonic increase in the number of high net-worth individuals [HNIs], in turn, leading to a spurt in demand for wealth managers. According to the Global Wealth Model, the number of Indians with more than $100,000 in liquid assets has been growing at 17.7% annually over the 2001-2005 period. Independent advisors can choose their clients and build their brand equity in niche areas. Wealth managers need to understand the market psyche in order to invest in the right segment. While dealing with NRIs, the advisor should have regulatory knowledge and be well-versed with RBI policies and compliances.

[January 08]

They may be called 'Non Returning Indians' by the skeptics but one thing that the non resident Indians (NRIs) of Punjab are surely bringing back to their state is their pounds and dollars to keep the real estate market revved up. The NRIs prefer prime commercial or residential properties over agricultural land for the simple reason that both fetch instant buyers and yield hefty profits. Some banks with operations in India and outside are offering innovative products to NRIs. To start with, NRI with the help of his friends and others establishes an Indian company that could do business in the real estate sector. Now the bank in India gives loans to the company to buy land in India. On the other hand, the NRI keeps a fixed deposit with wealth management division or private banking arm of the same bank's overseas operation.

[January 08]

The attrition rate in the hospitality industry is 30%. Branded hotels in the top 10 hotel markets [cities] will need about 94,000 employees in the next five years, more than twice the existing requirement. The hospitality industry is growing like never before. While new rooms are being added, the industry is facing a severe human resource crunch. Around 53,000 hotel rooms are in various stages of development and are expected to enter into the market in a phased manner by 2011. Besides satisfaction surveys, SAP is being implemented by some groups to managing talent innovatively. Another issue faced by the industry is the rampant poaching by airlines and the retail sector. In India, only about 20% of new hotel management graduates are deemed employable . The rest are absorbed by unbranded hotels, airline and the BPO sector. Hotels are trying everything to attract the right talent and more importantly to retain it. Lemon Tree hotels offers Employment Stock Ownership Plan [ESOP] for executives and senior level employees. ESOP is a retention tool and also helps in getting the right talent on board. Besides retention tools, hospitality majors are also getting into education to meet the increasing manpower demand.

[January 08]

India is set to challenge China in manufacturing. India is on the threshold of an exciting opportunity in the manufacturing outsourcing space. In the next 3-5 years, manufacturing could become the primary activity to be off shored to India, even surpassing India's IT and BPO activities. Sky is the limit for Indian IT. With aviation majors like Boeing and Lockheed Martin looking at setting up captive R&D centres in India, smaller aircraft and business jet manufacturers are likely to follow suit. A NASSCOM study estimates that engineering services outsourcing could touch $40 million by 2020. India's food and beverages [F&B] sector which is growing at % is expected to touch US$11725 billion mark by the year-end. India has the fastest growing health care and IT market in Asia with an expected growth rate of 22% followed closely by China and Vietnam. The insatiable Indian craving for gems and jewellery and increasing disposable incomes will see demand sky rocketing to $20 billion by 2010 and $30 billion in 2015. The jewellery market estimated to be $135 billion in FY 2006-07 is also expected to employ 300,000 additional workers every year according to Assocham. Moreover, India's rural markets are growing at a double the rate of urban markets. The total number of rural households is expected to rise to 153 million in 2009-10 giving a tremendous push to the rural opportunity. The rural revolution is driven by rising purchasing power, changing consumption patterns, increasing access to information and communication technology and increased government initiatives to boost the rural economy. Estimated at around $35 million the luxury market in India could easily leapfrog to $30 billion by 2015. Apart from industrialists, the big spenders identified in the survey include professionals, self-employed and top professionals working for leading corporation. An interesting fact highlighted by the survey was the potential of India to be a source of luxury goods for consumers across the world.

[January 08]

Data released by the National Sample Survey Organisation clearly shows that the economic boom has benefited India's manufacturing sector in a big way. Manufacturing units run by single families got a major fillip with a 3% increase in share among the unorganised manufacturing enterprises in the last decade. A comparison of the five states that have maximum number of manufacturing units in the unorganised sector shows that UP has lost its top slot to West Bengal. Orissa has lost the most during the last decade due to economic growth in other states, getting thrown out of the top-five ranking. The survey also indicates that enforcing labour laws in this sector would be tough with about 70% workers not being registered or on any type of contract. However, most of the family-owned units are for self-employment - operated by family members Only in the slightly bigger firms about 35% employees were on contract.

[January 08]

The IT and BPO industry in India has been shouting itself horse about the inappropriate curriculum and pedagogy adopted in most engineering and management schools in the country and invested heavily in designing its own training to help their new recruits 'unlearn' outdate skills and absorb industry relevant skills after the join the firm. And the financial services and retail sector have followed suit. The time has come for a new breed of business education in our country aimed at building a new generation of business and technology analysts who can walk into organizations within the industry they have been trained for and start contributing from the first day they join the company. The 'finishing school' concept is not a new idea - it has been talked about as a post- engineering degree input by academicians. All the new industries that are desperate for good talent in India - from Retail and Investment Banking to Retail and Logistics firms, besides all the knowledge industry sectors are ripe for a partnering program if the IIMs, NITIE and a few of the competent private B-schools are willing to make the investment in building long term partnerships. A lot is already being done in these venerable institutions but their future move could well redefine the objectives and outcomes of management education in the country.

[January 08]

After the IITs and IIMs it is the turn of local call centers and BPOs to oppose the reservation bandwagon. A large number of BPOs and IT service officials are not exactly comfortable with the Sena's call for 80% reservations for locals in Maharashtra. Mumbai has over 30,000 people employed in IT and ITES sector. According to Nasscom, currently, only about 25% of technical graduates and 10-15% of general college graduates are suitable for employment in the offshore IT and BPO industries respectively. In recent times, India's outsourcing sector has been facing stiff competition from the European countries but the BPOs say that they are confident so long as they hold a competitive advantage in terms of India's English speaking competencies. In terms of the demand-supply numbers, Mumbai is a much more balanced city as compared to other BPO hubs like Bangalore, and the difference is stark. While the demand in Bangalore is 40,000-50,000 people per month, places like Mumbai or Pune only require about 30,000 people in the BPO space. The voice- based industry that provides service to national and international clients is also one of the largest employers in the country with the highest attrition rates imaginable. The BPO industry at present employs close to 5.45 lakh professionals directly accounting for 28% of the IT-BPO talent worldwide. However, it would need a 2.3 million workforce by 2010 to maintain its current market share.

[January 08]

Rising salary levels remain the biggest concern for the IT-enabled Services [ITeS] and BPO industry, followed by the rising rupee and skilled manpower shortage. The findings are based on a survey covering over 200 ITeS and BPO companies in the country including captives, third party vendors and Indian subsidiaries of multinationals. In the survey, majority of companies cited rising wages as the major concern affecting or likely to affect future growth of the industry. It was followed by the rising rupee, a shortage of skilled manpower. Labour attrition was ranked fifth. About 51% of respondents felt that the attrition rate will continue to be over 20%.

[January 08]

Hewlett Packard India is betting on educational initiatives and tie-ups as a way to retain talent in the company. The IT major is looking for tie-ups for short and long term courses in technical and business areas for its employees with institutions like the IIMs, XLRI, Symbiosis and TA PAI Management Institute. Apart from the various short term programmes, the company's Application Services Division has signed a MoU with BITS Pilani for a two-year MS program in software engineering. Some 54 employees have applied for the programme. HP India has also started a dual degree program in ITES with the State University of New York at Buffalo and Amrita University in India. This program is for employees of technical contact centres and BPO units.

[January 08]

Enterprises have been under huge pressure to retain talent. This merciless poaching war for talent has been forcing Indian tech firms to explore new ways to retain and attract people. They are offering fancy and important sounding designations to employees -- designations often much at variance with their nature of work. Titles are played up in almost 50% of all lateral tech hiring in the country. Corporates are even revising their HR policies to incorporate the trend.

[January 08]

The Rashtriya Sanskrit Sansthan has proposed Sanskrit as a compulsory third language till class X in Hindi-speaking states and in Kendriya Vidyalayas. But in non-Hindi speaking states, Sanskrit will carry up to 25% marks as part of a paper either in the mother tongue or in Hindi. In Gujarat, Sanskrit is a compulsory language till class VIII in all government schools. The three-language model adopted by Gujarat has been a success. The HRD ministry has agreed to set up a new central university for Sanskrit on the lines of Wardha Hindi University.

[January 08]

In May 2007, California's population almost touched 38 million. That's the number of cases pending in courts across the India. The country has only 12,000 judges -- 2,000 short of the sanctioned strength of 14,000. As a result, over 2.5 crore cases are pending in the lower courts, 37 lakh in HCs and 46,000 in the SC. One judge is needed for 500 cases to clear the backlog -- that would mean 77,664 judges. At best however, the judges strength can be pushed up a few thousand more. More courts and more budget allocation are needed for the judiciary. According to the CJI, every state should have a judicial academy and the one to come up in Maharashtra should be good since the state had 'one of the best legal education and a very high judicial caliber.' Judges need to be trained in court management as vacancies notwithstanding, many magistrates and lower court judges were found lacking in even basic judicial knowledge especially on criminal procedures.

[January 08]

The Capital is all set to have a law school on the lines of the National Law School in Bangalore. The National Law School will be located in an integrated complex at Dwarka where the National Institute of Mediation & Conciliation and the Delhi Judicial Academy will also be based. Legal education in India has witnessed significant development in the past two decades primarily owing to the national law schools that have been established in some of the state capitals. The first national law school in Bangalore was set up in 1986.National law schools with university status have been set up in Hyderabad, Kolkata, Bhopal, Jodhpur, Raipur, Lucknow, Patiala and Patna.

[January 08]]

In collaboration with the Menon Institute of Legal Advocacy [MILAT] and South Asian Forum of Clinical Law Teachers, Indira Gandhi National Open University [IGNOU] are planning to launch law courses in the coming year. The university is contemplating starting a Post Graduate Certificate Program in Cyber Laws and Patent Laws, Diploma in legal Literacy, PG Diploma in Criminal Justice, Agricultural Law, B.A [Law], Masters Program in Criminal Justice and Agriculture Law, Cyber Law & Cyber Security, and Joint Masters Program in Intellectual Property with Queensland University of Technology, Australia in 2008.

[January 08]

The demand for fresh as well as experienced candidates is mounting fast and according to conservative estimates, the corporate world requires over 1-1.25 lakh managers every year but the leading B-schools produce merely 25% of the requirement. The trend of Rs 1-crore pay packages at the coveted Indian Institutes of Management [IIMs] that started almost two years back seems to further continue at the premier B-schools, where the placement season kicked off in January. And as India Inc demands more MBAs with work experience, the lateral placements process is expected to find maximum takers this year. The share of experienced candidates has already crossed 50% at most IIMs. With mega M&A activity happening in India, the PE firms now top the preference chart across campuses. Also companies from retail and real estate sector are expected to lap up graduates in huge numbers. While the numbers of candidates required by the corporate sector is expected to go up considerably, 2008 might not see very significant increase in student intake at IIMs. Apart from increased fees, the IIMs might witness a slew of new programmes and increased focus on executive education across campuses.

[January 08]

The Indian Institutes of Management are set to affect a massive fees hike from the next academic session. IIM-Ahmedabad students will face one of the steepest hikes. The B-school will raise its fees to a whopping Rs 3 lakh for the 2008-2010 batch, compared to Rs 2 lakh presently. IIMA incurs an expenditure of over Rs 3.5 lakh on each post graduate student. Of this, most expenses are recovered from fees while a substantial portion also comes from the recruiters visiting the campus. This year the B-school increased the placement fees for companies visiting the campus.

[January 08]

With the arrival of more women, older students and more liberal attitudes, IIM campuses are witnessing something that few talk about openly - live- in relationship in hostels. Unlike campus housing in the West, when it comes to the opposite sex, Indian colleges and schools impose hostel curfews and all sorts of restrictions. The IIMs are an exception, having decided to treat students as adults. At most IIM hostels, students get a room to themselves. So live-in arrangements typically mean one partner heading back to his or her room in the morning to get ready for class. About 50-70% of the dating couples live together on campus, but do not talk about it. At IIM Bangalore, women are assigned 'women-only' floors though it is impossible to demarcate where the boys' section ends and the girls' begins.

[January 08]

A recent study shows that even if one-tenth of US patients travel abroad for treatment, savings of $1.4 billion could be realized after taking into account the cost of travel. The report pointed out that many hospitals in low-cost countries like India are already getting into accreditation. Medical tourism will lead to an overall improvement in healthcare services. Today, there are hospitals working at 110% capacity and the ones who are suffering are the insurance companies. India, considered one of the leading medical tourism providers, attracted 5 lakh foreign medical tourists in 2006. Revenues totaled $350 million and the annual growth rate for such services was 30%. Although Thailand got less than a third of medical tourists than India, its revenues were far higher at $1billion. At present, the obstacle to insurers providing cover for treatment in India is a lack of network with service providers.

[January 08]

In a judgment that holds promise for government employees suffering from disability, the Delhi High Court has held that they are entitled to the benefits of reservation in promotion. We need to ensure that the physically disabled grow in stature and for this reason, reservation is provided in employment. Limiting reservation only at the induction level and not at the promotion level would be totally unjust.

[January 08]

India is now home to the world's largest blind population. Of the 37 million people across the globe who are blind, over 15 million are from India. 75% of these are cases of avoidable blindness, thanks to the country's acute shortage of optometrists and dearth of donated eyes for the treatment of corneal blindness. While India needs 40,000 optometrists, it has only 8,000. On the other hand, while India needs 2.5 lakh donated eyes every year, the country's 109 eye-banks [five in Delhi] manage to collect just 25,000, 30% of which cannot be used. For India, it is vital that ophthalmologists focus on surgery and optometrists take charge of primary eye care, infractive errors like presbyopia and contact lenses. India has only 20 optometry schools which produce just 1,000 optometrists annually as against the 17 million people being added to the population during the same period. There is a shortage of faculty as well. Of the 15 million blind people in India, three million, 26% of whom are children suffer due corneal disorders. More than 3.20 lakh children in India suffer from avoidable blindness. Rural India accounts for 80% of the country's blind population.

[January 08]

Unable to cope up with their high-scoring classmates, many SC/ST students -- especially from the top-rung colleges like Sri Ram College of Commerce, Hindu and Miranda House-drop out, often resorting to substance abuse and unsafe sex to overcome the stress. Although SC/ST students take admission in popular courses like economics or B Com [H] or English in top rung colleges at comparatively low percentages, they fail to compete with the rest of the class, who got admission securing above 90%. This has been revealed in a recent study conducted by Delhi University's Department of Adult & Continuing Education through informal discussions and interactions with a group of around 300 SC/ST students from various colleges of the university.

[January 08]

Financing costly professional courses is set to become cheaper for students from modest middle class homes. A Rs 4,000-crore plan is in the works to enable the government to take over the interest burden on education loans during the 'moratorium period' -- the time when students are pursuing academics and have not yet begun earning. The government will take over the interest burden for the moratorium period-estimated at around Rs 650 crore a year, assuming that 5 lakh students from families earning Rs 2.5 lakh a year or less avail of the loans. At present, interest for this period is added to the principal; payment begins once student starts working. The government intends to implement the scheme from the next academic session in 2008.

[January 08]

To prepare students for stiff competitive exams like IIT-JEE and pre-medical, the council, that conducts the ICSE and ISC examinations has revised its syllabi for classes IX to XII. The new curricula will be implemented from the coming academic year in the 1,500 schools across the country, which follow the ICSE pattern, including a few in Delhi and NCR. The Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations said the new syllabi have been designed to equip students with a comprehensive and conceptual understanding of subjects. For Classes XI and XII, major changes have been made in science subjects. Business Mathematics will be discontinued after March 2010 exams for ISC [Classes XI and XII]. The syllabi for the ISC March 2010 exam has been designed to enable students to compete in examinations in India and abroad besides making it student-friendly.

[January 08]

Principals of schools affiliated to the ICSE board will be imparted management training to help them manage the institutes better in the wake of rapidly changing teaching methods and increasing number of students on their rolls. The authorities of the Council for Indian School Certificate Examinations [ICSE] have decided to train principals of schools affiliated to it at reputed institutions like the IIMs and XLRI for the purpose. Short-term courses for the principals would begin in April 2008. ICSE will also tie up with technical institutes to start regular courses for teachers as teaching a particular subject has become very specialised. Teaching history or mathematics in the traditional old style will bore the students. Research in all fields of study is making the subjects more interesting. Short courses will help teachers to keep abreast with the late developments.

[January 08]

Despite the apex court's recent decision allowing interviews for admissions to nursery, Delhi parents stay confused. Further, many schools are exercising their autonomy in laying down the parameters for admissions to nurseries across the Capital. Meanwhile, harassed parents have to deal with the confusion and battle the admission business. Many complain that they have to prepare their kids for the ordeal in different schools in diverse manners and this gets extremely confusing for both the child as well as the parents. Earlier in the month, the Supreme Court had stayed the Delhi government's regulation requiring prior approval from the Directorate of Education [DoE], NCT for admissions to nursery classes by private schools in the Capital.

[January 08]

The Central Board of Secondary Education has said that the name of the child cannot be changed till the child leaves school - regardless of the court's approval. According to the new rule, this clause has been deleted and no school can permit a change/ correction, addition or deletion in name/ surname once it's recorded at the time of admission.
Application for correction of spelling errors, factual typographical errors in name/ surname will be considered only within 10 years of the declaration of results of the academic year that is studying/was studying at the time of applying.


[January 08]

It is not just about academic performance now, schools will look after their students' health too. The M