Tehelka - The People's Paper
SCAM PROBE
FODDER, FODDER, NO ORDER
NO BIHAR POLITICIAN HAS BEEN CONVICTED IN THE 11-YEAR-OLD FODDER SCAM; THEIR CO-ACCUSED ARE FACING THE HEAT, REPORTS ANAND ST DAS
EVERYONE THOUGHT the delayed trials of the Rs 1,000-crore fodder scam cases would be a clear case of denial of justice. But after 11-long-years, the prosecution has sprung surprises in the last month. The CBI special courts in Jharkhand have sentenced 76 accused including two close relations of the RJD chief Laloo Prasad Yadav to rigorous imprisonment (RI), ranging from three to six years.
Laloo’s nephews — Nagendra Rai and Birendra Yadav — were among the 42 fake suppliers to the Animal Husbandry Department (AHD) of the then undivided Bihar who were sentenced to three years’ RI and a fine of Rs 75,000 each by the special judge Uma Shankar Prasad Sinha. Sons of Laloo’s elder brother Mahavir Rai, according to the prosecution, had cheated the AHD by producing fake supply bills of veterinary medicines, fodder and medical equipment. They had withdrawn Rs 7.98 lakh from the Chaibasa treasury (currently in Jharkhand) on the basis of those bills in 1995.
In Chaibasa, the headquarters of West Singhbhoom district, the then deputy commissioner Amit Khare, currently principal secretary to the Governor, registered the first fodder scam case in 1996.
Soon after the three judgments were pronounced in May, there were frenzied scenes at the court premises in Ranchi. After the judgment on May 30, Shailendra Kashyap, an accused and former treasury official, who got a three-year term was seen weeping and touching the feet of his lawyer. Mahendra Prasad, another accused who was acquitted, was also seen doing the same. The reason behind such emotional outbursts was the social stigma attached to them for long, and even their family members treated them with contempt.
Of the total 59 cases, 55 are being tried in the CBI special courts in Jharkhand. Four are under trial in Bihar. Due to the death of a prime accused and on technical grounds, two cases are on the verge of closure in Jharkhand. Of the 53 remaining, judgments have been pronounced in 19 and the rest, according to the CBI SP RC Chaudhary, “are at the advanced stage of trial”. The total number of accused in these cases is over 700 and there are 10,000 prosecution witnesses. Twenty accused have turned approvers while 50 died during the trial.
The largest quantum of punishment was given to one Pramod Kumar Jaiswal, who was sentenced to a total of 185 years. Jaiswal, a Ranchi-based supplier, was accused in 33 cases and, so far, convicted in 19. His appeal is pending in the High Court. However, no politician, charge-sheeted for conspiracy and misuse of official position, was convicted so far though the suppliers and state officials are at the receiving end. In fact, the CBI has been allegedly softpedalling the investigation and prosecution of cases, categorised as ‘larger conspiracy cases’, registered against them.
Prominent politicians who are in the dock are RJD supremo Laloo Prasad Yadav, who was Bihar chief minister during much of the scam period, former Chief Minister and one-time Congress leader Jagannath Mishra, sitting RJD MP from Khagaria RK Rana, former legislators Jagdish Sharma and Dhruv Bhagat (who were the heads of Bihar Assembly’s Public Accounts Committee) and former Bihar AHD Minister Vidya Sagar Nishad. It was alleged that during Mishra’s stint as CM, the scam started. Politicians who were charged but died during the trial include former Congress MP Rajo Singh, former minister CP Verma and former AHD Minister Bholaram Toophani.
Laloo’s name figured in the accused lists of five ‘larger conspiracy cases’ — RC 20/96 (Rs 37 crore), RC 38/96 (Rs 31.34 crore), RC 47/96 (Rs 182 crore; the largest amount fraudulently withdrawn from Doranda treasury, Ranchi), RC 64/96 (Rs 5 crore) and RC 68/96 (Rs 37.62 crore). The CBI has examined only 140 of the 1,100 prosecution witnesses in the case RC 47/96. Similarly, in the case RC 20/96, only 250 of the 500 prosecution witnesses have been examined.
“We are moving in the right direction, and all the allegations of soft-pedalling the cases are baseless,” said Chaudhary. However sources said that the CBI courts, on several occasions, have expressed dissatisfaction over the manner in which the investigative agency is handling the cases.
The CBI has a point to make. The delay in getting government sanction to prosecute them, the sleuths say, is the biggest hurdle in their path. “We worked very hard for years to secure the sanctions. For example, we got the sanction in Rajo Singh’s case only in September 2006. Further, it’s also been a tough job in getting the witnesses depose against the politicians. Many are abroad and it needs a lot of persuasion to bring them here and depose in the courts,” said a senior CBI official on conditions of anonymity.
According to CBI sources, cases against the politicians got diluted when a number of witnesses were lured away by the RJD regime. VS Dubey, former finance commissioner during the scam period, had deposed as a witness before the CBI and provided valuable evidence that confirm Laloo’s role in the scam. He became Jharkhand’s first chief secretary when the new state was carved out in 2000. After his retirement, Bihar government appointed him as the vice-chancellor of the Nalanda Open University. “Dubey had wholeheartedly cooperated with us and revealed how Laloo, as chief minister, sat on the scam files, discarding his request to lodge FIRs against the AHD and treasury officers. He had also provided us with important inputs that pointed at Laloo’s efforts to scuttle the investigations. But years later, when he came to the CBI courts, he didn’t say as much as he revealed earlier,” said another CBI official.
Shiv Balak Chowdhary, another important CBI witness, who was director (AHD) during the scam period, had also handed over important AHD files to the CBI that contain incriminating evidence against Laloo and Mishra. Soon after his retirement, Chowdhary was appointed as a member of the Bihar Public Service Commission (BPSC). Close on the heels of his deposition in the CBI courts, three vigilance cases were registered against him for the alleged irregularities in the BPSC and he was taken into custody. The CBI officials believe that it was a punished by the RJD regime for his depositions. “Now we are in a dilemma: how to get him depose in the other pending cases,” said an official.
The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of Bihar Assembly was instrumental in hushing up the scam. According to the CBI, Laloo used the Constitutional sanctity of the PAC to scuttle the efforts to investigate the scam. Whenever senior bureaucrats brought the issue to the CM’s notice, the PAC put a roadblock saying no investigation could start against the officials until the PAC’s internal investigations were over. “As per our findings, Laloo willingly and deliberately succumbed to the PAC’s designs as the body was helping him shield the accused,” said a sleuth.
ACCORDING TO a recorded deposition before the CBI, in a meeting held at the secretariat on June 7, 1993, Laloo (the then CM) asked the then deputy commissioner of Chaibasa, Sajal Chakraborty (an accused who is currently serving in the Jharkhand cadre), why Rs 50 lakh was withdrawn from the Chaibasa treasury on a single day. The next day, the PAC shot off a letter to the CM saying it was looking into the case, and no action should be taken against the official until the probe was over. “Soon after the PAC letter, the CM ordered closing of the file. The PAC, neck-deep in the scam, was used as a fig leaf by the CM to dissuade some honest bureaucrats who were keen to probe the matter. There is enough evidence to prove that a considerable part of the funds were parked at some places, according to the CM’s direction,” revealed a senior CBI official.
Two persons who had been very close to Laloo during the heyday of the fodder scam were Shyam Bihari Sinha, the alleged mastermind of the scam who was then joint director (AHD), and the Khagaria MP RK Rana. Sinha, who was given an extension of service after retirement, died a few years ago. The CBI has statements of several witnesses, describing how Laloo received pecuniary benefits through Rana and Sinha. In 1997, Deepak Chandak, one of the biggest suppliers of fodder, had deposed before a Patna magistrate that he had paid Rs 50 crore to Sinha, which was meant for Laloo.
While Laloo, who had to quit the CM’s post following the CBI inquiry, is basking in the international limelight as a management guru, Mishra is currently a JD (U) leader who is close to the ruling regime. His son Nitish Mishra is the minister for sugar industries. If the sleuths are to be believed, the politicians will have to pay a huge price for their alleged role in the scam. But when? That’s the million-dollar question.
Jun 30 , 2007
Saturday, June 23, 2007
How to file an application Print E-mail
1. Make the application:
All you need is one plain sheet of paper. You can type or hand-write your application with all the questions you want to ask, Address it to the PIO and sign underneath [yeah, that is all]. You can ask multiple question in same application. Please look at some sample applications
Few things to note:
Mention that you are exercising your right under RTI 2005
Frame the questions to best of your understanding as "precise" answers depend on precise questions.
2. Attach personal check for 24 Cents [equivalent to Rs. 10] and mention in your application that you have attached it. Checks should be made in favor of " Embassy of India, Washington DC".
3. Attach your passport first page copy(this is proof that you're an Indian Citizen)
4. In the application give your return address where they can respond (including email)
5. Send the application and the check attached to:
The Public Information Officer,
2107 Massachusetts Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20008
USA - 20008
Contact: Mr. George Kutty - georgek@indiagov.orgThis e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
Please contact Anti-Corruption Team if you have any questions:
ACT - rti-team(at)aidindia.org
Arun Gopalan – garun1279(at)gmail.com
Vishal Kudchadkar – vishalk(at)gmail.com
1. Make the application:
All you need is one plain sheet of paper. You can type or hand-write your application with all the questions you want to ask, Address it to the PIO and sign underneath [yeah, that is all]. You can ask multiple question in same application. Please look at some sample applications
Few things to note:
Mention that you are exercising your right under RTI 2005
Frame the questions to best of your understanding as "precise" answers depend on precise questions.
2. Attach personal check for 24 Cents [equivalent to Rs. 10] and mention in your application that you have attached it. Checks should be made in favor of " Embassy of India, Washington DC".
3. Attach your passport first page copy(this is proof that you're an Indian Citizen)
4. In the application give your return address where they can respond (including email)
5. Send the application and the check attached to:
The Public Information Officer,
2107 Massachusetts Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20008
USA - 20008
Contact: Mr. George Kutty - georgek@indiagov.orgThis e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
Please contact Anti-Corruption Team if you have any questions:
ACT - rti-team(at)aidindia.org
Arun Gopalan – garun1279(at)gmail.com
Vishal Kudchadkar – vishalk(at)gmail.com
Friday, June 22, 2007
How We Ranked The T-Schools
Bhaswati Chakravorty Saturday, May 21, 2005
(The methodology of the Dataquest-IDC-Nasscom "Best Tech School Survey")
Background
The first ever Dataquest-IDC-Nasscom survey scorecard on the best T-Schools in the country was compiled by Dataquest on the basis of a methodology and calculations vetted by research firm IDC. The IDC team was led by Parijat Chakraborty, and assisted by Arpit Singh and Nikhil Pant.
Research Objective
The aim of this survey was to determine the top Technology Schools (BE, B-Tech, or similar level graduate technical course) in the country and rank them on a list of parameters important for both students and recruiters.
Research Methodology
The Dataquest-IDC-Nasscom survey was done in two phases
Phase1- Desk Research
In this phase, an exhaustive desk research was done, jointly, by the Dataquest and the IDC team so as to identify the list of 150 Tech Schools, and 40 leading IT companies who were to be invited to be a part of this survey. We screened colleges established post 2002 and the ones which were not offering a BE, B-Tech, or similar level graduate technical courses.
Phase 2
The Tech Schools and the IT companies short-listed in phase 1 were approached by the IDC team. For the Tech Schools, face-to-face interviews were done with the college representative (preferably the placement coordinator). HR heads of leading IT companies were contacted over e-mail to include the recruiter perception in the survey. The data was compiled on the basis of two-year objective data (academic years 2003-04 and 2004-05) provided by the institutes and perception scores of the recruiters.
The Ranking: The final sample size of the survey was 118 institutes. The research team from IDC carried out the validation exercise. Field visits were also conducted to check the veracity of the information.
The objective scores were obtained by evaluating the T Schools against the following parameters:
• Placements
• Infrastructure
• Intellectual Capital
• Industry Interface
The weights were distributed as: Placements (40%), Infrastructure (15%), Intellectual Capital (15%) and Industry Interface (5%). The total weightage assigned to objective data was 75%.
These parameters were further categorized into sub parameters. This was done in the following manner:
Placements (40%)
(In the last two years)
1. Percentage of students placed
2. Percentage of students placed abroad
3. Percentage of students going for higher studies
4. Number of companies visiting the campus
5. Max salary offered per annum
6. Minimum salary offered per annum
7. Average salary per annum
Infrastructure(15%)
1. Computers / Students ratio
2. Percentage of computers connected to the internet
3. Hostel facility
4. Internet access in the hostel
Intellectual Capital (15%)
1. Faculty/Students ratio
2. Percentage of permanent faculty
3. Percentage of permanent faculty with industry experience
4. Number of years of teaching experience of faculty
5. Number of assignments in 2003-04 and 2004-05
6. Average number of seminar attended in 2003-04 and 2004-05
7. Average number of research papers published by the faculty in 2003-04 and 2004-05
Industry Interface (5%)
1. Average number of seminars conducted by the institute in 2003-04 and 2004-05
2. Average number of research papers by the institute in 2003-04 and 2004-05
3. International affiliation or linkages
Perception Score: The perception survey of recruiters was conducted through another questionnaire. Recruiters were asked to rate importance of various aspects while deciding which Tech School to visit for campus recruitments on a 5-point scale. Recruiters were also welcome to add any parameter of their choice. They were given a list of institutes, which they had to rate on a 10-point scale. The overall weightage given to the recruiter's response was 25%. Infosys, Cadence Design System, Satyam, Sapient and IBM Global Services were some of the companies that participated in the recruiter's part of the survey.
The composite score, which is the total of the objective data score and the recruiter's perception score, was used to arrive at the final ranking.
IIT Delhi refused to participate in the survey.
Bhaswati Chakravorty Saturday, May 21, 2005
(The methodology of the Dataquest-IDC-Nasscom "Best Tech School Survey")
Background
The first ever Dataquest-IDC-Nasscom survey scorecard on the best T-Schools in the country was compiled by Dataquest on the basis of a methodology and calculations vetted by research firm IDC. The IDC team was led by Parijat Chakraborty, and assisted by Arpit Singh and Nikhil Pant.
Research Objective
The aim of this survey was to determine the top Technology Schools (BE, B-Tech, or similar level graduate technical course) in the country and rank them on a list of parameters important for both students and recruiters.
Research Methodology
The Dataquest-IDC-Nasscom survey was done in two phases
Phase1- Desk Research
In this phase, an exhaustive desk research was done, jointly, by the Dataquest and the IDC team so as to identify the list of 150 Tech Schools, and 40 leading IT companies who were to be invited to be a part of this survey. We screened colleges established post 2002 and the ones which were not offering a BE, B-Tech, or similar level graduate technical courses.
Phase 2
The Tech Schools and the IT companies short-listed in phase 1 were approached by the IDC team. For the Tech Schools, face-to-face interviews were done with the college representative (preferably the placement coordinator). HR heads of leading IT companies were contacted over e-mail to include the recruiter perception in the survey. The data was compiled on the basis of two-year objective data (academic years 2003-04 and 2004-05) provided by the institutes and perception scores of the recruiters.
The Ranking: The final sample size of the survey was 118 institutes. The research team from IDC carried out the validation exercise. Field visits were also conducted to check the veracity of the information.
The objective scores were obtained by evaluating the T Schools against the following parameters:
• Placements
• Infrastructure
• Intellectual Capital
• Industry Interface
The weights were distributed as: Placements (40%), Infrastructure (15%), Intellectual Capital (15%) and Industry Interface (5%). The total weightage assigned to objective data was 75%.
These parameters were further categorized into sub parameters. This was done in the following manner:
Placements (40%)
(In the last two years)
1. Percentage of students placed
2. Percentage of students placed abroad
3. Percentage of students going for higher studies
4. Number of companies visiting the campus
5. Max salary offered per annum
6. Minimum salary offered per annum
7. Average salary per annum
Infrastructure(15%)
1. Computers / Students ratio
2. Percentage of computers connected to the internet
3. Hostel facility
4. Internet access in the hostel
Intellectual Capital (15%)
1. Faculty/Students ratio
2. Percentage of permanent faculty
3. Percentage of permanent faculty with industry experience
4. Number of years of teaching experience of faculty
5. Number of assignments in 2003-04 and 2004-05
6. Average number of seminar attended in 2003-04 and 2004-05
7. Average number of research papers published by the faculty in 2003-04 and 2004-05
Industry Interface (5%)
1. Average number of seminars conducted by the institute in 2003-04 and 2004-05
2. Average number of research papers by the institute in 2003-04 and 2004-05
3. International affiliation or linkages
Perception Score: The perception survey of recruiters was conducted through another questionnaire. Recruiters were asked to rate importance of various aspects while deciding which Tech School to visit for campus recruitments on a 5-point scale. Recruiters were also welcome to add any parameter of their choice. They were given a list of institutes, which they had to rate on a 10-point scale. The overall weightage given to the recruiter's response was 25%. Infosys, Cadence Design System, Satyam, Sapient and IBM Global Services were some of the companies that participated in the recruiter's part of the survey.
The composite score, which is the total of the objective data score and the recruiter's perception score, was used to arrive at the final ranking.
IIT Delhi refused to participate in the survey.
Wednesday, June 20, 2007
Dataquest : Top Stories : Dataquest-IDC-NASSCOM Survey: India's Best T-Schools
Dataquest : Top Stories : Dataquest-IDC-NASSCOM Survey: India's Best T-Schools
Dataquest-IDC-NASSCOM Survey: India's Best T-Schools
Yes, the IITs top the Tech schools. But surprise: missing from the Top 10 are BITS Pilani, IIT Roorkee and DCE, edged out by the NITs and the Thapar and Netaji Subhas Institutes
Bhaswati Chakravorty
Saturday, May 21, 2005
There are T-Schools and there are T-Schools. But which is the fairest? What sets the best apart from the good? Who's the laggard? Here's your opportunity to find out. The second T-School survey conducted by Dataquest-IDC-Nasscom throws up some interesting results. Sit straight and fasten your seat belts as we zip you through some of the key highlights of the study.
No surprises. IIT Kanpur, IIT Bombay, IIT Madras and IIT Kharagpur, in that order, establish themselves comfortably in the top four and live up to our expectations. However, one look at our list of top 10 may surprise the reader. Here's why. The Institute of Technology at BHU (The Banaras Hindu University)-dislodges some of the better-known technology institutes to occupy the #5 slot, while institutes like Thapar Institute of Engineering & Technology and Netaji Subhas Institute of Technology (formerly DIT) strongly establish themselves in the top 10 listing.
The Top 20
Overall Rank
College
Composite Score
1 IIT Kanpur 77.5
2 IIT Bombay 75.6
3 IIT Madras 73.8
4 IIT Kharagpur 73.1
5 IT Benaras Hindu University 72
6 IIT Guwahati 71.6
7 NIT Warangal 70
8 NIT Trichy 67.6
9 Thapar Institute of Engineering & Technology, Patiala 66.7
10 Netaji Subhas Institute of Technology (DIT), New Delhi 64.5
11 Nit Suratkal 64.2
12 Motilal Nehru National Institute of Technology, Allahabad 62.1
13 Punjab Engineering College 60.3
14 IIIT Hyderabad 60.2
15 Birla Institute of Technology & Science, Pilani 59.9
16 IIT Roorkee 59.2
17 NIT Rourkela 58.5
18 NIT Kurukshetra 57.5
19 IIIT Allahabad 57.1
20 Delhi College of Engineering, New Delhi 57.1
It's imperative for us at this point to inform our readers that IIT Delhi refused to participate in the survey-there are some whispers about why the institute might have opted out of the survey, but we prefer to stay out of that debate for the time being. The inclusion of IIT Delhi could have made the final rankings look very different.
Some of the strong contenders for the top 10 spots were, however, relegated to the next 10 in the list. Key among them are some of the regional engineering colleges-now renamed National Institute of Technology-and the Birla Institute of Technology, Pilani (at #15). Unfortunately, Delhi College of Engineering, once considered a jewel in the crown, just about manages to find a place in the top 20.
The Making of the Best
What separates the best from the Tier II and Tier III technology schools? The Dataquest-IDC-Nasscom survey has considered four parameters-placement, infrastructure, intellectual capital and industry interface-for evaluation, and arriving at the final rankings. And, of course, there's the perception, where the recruiter's feedback on the institute is taken into consideration.
The Top 5 On Parameters
Placement
Rank College Score
1 IIT Chennai 31.2
2 IIT Kanpur 31
3 NIT Suratkal 27.1
4 NIT Warangal 26.4
5 Netaji Subhas Institute of Technology (DIT) 25.9
Intellectual Capital
Rank
College
Score
1 IT Bhu 11.8
2 IIT Guwahati 9.3
3 Thapar Institute of Engineering & Technology 8.3
4 IIT Bombay 8.2
5 IIT Kharagpur 8.2
Infrastructure
Rank College Score
1 IIT Kanpur 14.8
2 IIT Bombay 14.8
3 IIT Kharagpur 14.8
4 IIT Guwahati 14.8
5 Krishna Institute of Engineering And Technology 14.8
Industry Interface
Rank
College
Score
1 IIT Kharagpur 3.2
2 IIT Bombay 3.1
3 NIT Trichy 2.4
4 Jadavpur University 1.8
5 IT Bhu 1.6
On the placement scorecard, IIT Madras snatches the first position from IIT Kanpur, our topper in the study, and beats IIT Bombay as well (at #8). If you are still trying to grapple with the final rankings, here's a little more to add to that feeling of disbelief. Not just NIT Suratkal and NIT Warangal, but even the low profile Netaji Subhas Institute of Technology (NSIT), from Delhi, managed to beat IIT Bombay on the placement scorecard. If IIT Bombay has managed to find itself at the #2 spot in the overall ranking, it is thanks to a phenomenal recruiter's perception. IIT Bombay, along with IIT Kanpur, scores a full 25 in this category. NSIT comes in at the #5 spot on the placement scorecard. This Delhi-based institute has been getting some big names from the IT industry to its campus the last couple of academic years. IT major Infosys, in fact, lapped up around 108 students last year. The highest compensation offered in the academic year 2004-05 was Rs 8.5 lakh per annum. The placement score: 25.9 as opposed to the highest score of 31.2 in favor of IIT Madras.
IIT Kanpur (left) and IIT Bombay (right): At the top of the recruiters' perception scorecard
BITS Pilani (left) and Delhi College of Engineering (right): Took a tumbling and landed at #15 and #20, respectively
Infrastructure Matters
Today, infrastructure has emerged as an undeniable component of any benchmark. The survey clearly reveals that being a top technology institute does not mean that you have the right to ignore the infrastructure facilities in the institute. Take for example IIT Madras. This South-based IIT ranks at #3 in the survey, but performs rather poorly on infrastructure, to come at #28. Even BITS Pilani seems to have taken a leaf out of IIT Madras and follows close at #30. Here it becomes a bit of a necessity to say that despite scoring well on the recruiter's perception scorecard, coming just after the top four IITs, BITS Pilani failed to make it to the top 10 in the overall ranking. Obviously, the institute has been resting on past laurels.
The Knowledge Thrust
There is a strong caste system in the Indian technology education domain and the survey helps us identify the Brahmins, or those T-Schools that are trying to create knowledge. In other words, we are talking about intellectual capital. Today, world-class education implies a combination of infrastructure, faculty, brand equity and intellectual capital. Research, with its impact on industry and the society at large, counts for a lot of the worldwide rankings. And this is something that even Tier I B-Schools in the country are aiming for. Intellectual capital creates global educational institutions. However, our survey results indicate that there is a disparity in the overall rankings and the rankings based on intellectual capital. The top five T-Schools on the intellectual capital scorecard are IT BHU, IIT Guwahati, IIT Bombay, Thapar Institute of Engineering & Technology and IIT Kharagpur. A quick search down the list would find IIT Kanpur struggling to stay at #36. In case you are staring at that number in disbelief, let me assure you that this is not a printing error. The #1 T-School's performance in this front is quite a horror story. Are our premier engineering and technology institutes forgetting the worth of research and intellectual capital?
The Perception Factor
Rank
College
Score
1 IIT Kanpur 25
2 IIT Bombay 25
3 IIT Chennai 24.5
4 IIT Kharagpur 24.5
5 IT BHU 22.4
According to the HR heads' perception, IIT Kanpur and IIT Bombay topped the list
At this point it may make some sense to revisit the debate on why IIT Delhi chose to stay out of our survey. Only a couple of weeks back a popular Delhi newspaper reported that a former director of the institute has alleged that the institute has become a victim of lack of appropriate initiatives from the faculty-a probable reason why IIT Delhi stayed away. Without going into how true these allegations are, what is important, nevertheless, is to keep in mind the close correlation between creation of intellectual capital and faculty development. The presence of IIT Guwahati, IIT Bombay and IIT Kharagpur in the top five and NIT Warangal at #7 is some consolation, but this does not take the responsibility away from IIT Kanpur and the NITs, which should ideally set the examples for others to follow. The lack of intellectual capital may not have an immediate impact on placements or recruiter's perception, but is likely to affect faculty development and curriculum updation in the long run. So, the next time you see the likes of TIETs in the top 10, do not rub your eyes in disbelief. Incidentally, TIET ranks at #3 on the intellectual capital scorecard.
Creating the Right Interface
Another aberration that the survey revealed is on the industry interface front. Most B-School surveys reveal that every top institute is working hard to improve its industry interface? However, the top T-Schools in India do not confirm to this trend as per survey results. Comparing a T-School to a management institute may not find favor with many of us, but in reality, there is no reason for differentiation beyond a point. Today, every top institute is vying for a place in the global market.
The top 10 on the industry interface scorecard show some new entrants-Jadavpur University at #4, BITS Pilani at #8, and an unknown Marathawada Institute of Technology at #10. And if you are looking for our topper, it's just about managed to stay in the top 30.
How They Stack Up
N o r t h
S No College Overall Rank
1 IIT Kanpur 1
2 IT BHU 5
3 Thapar Institute of Engg & Technology 9
4 Netaji Subhash Institute of Technology 10
5 Motilal Nehru National Institute of Technology 12
S o u t h
1 IIT Madras 3
2 NIT Warangal 7
3 NIT Trichy 8
4 NIT Suratkal 11
5 IIIT Hyderabad 14
E a s t
1 IIT Kharagpur 4
2 IIT Guwahati 6
3 NIT Rourkela 17
4 Jadavpur University 25
5 Sit Kolkata (Fomely IIIT) 27
W e s t
1 IIT Bombay 2
2 Govt College of Engineering, Pune 24
3 Sardar Patel College 26
4 IIIT Pune 34
5 Bharatiya Vidyapeeth College of Engineering 42
The Differentiator
A key differentiator in any survey is the perception of recruiters, and our survey is no different. This part of the study goes a little beyond crunching hard numbers. A perception ranking can be nebulous and can change dramatically if the respondents change. This explains why perception was given only 25% weightage in
our study.
What clearly sets apart the Tier I schools from the Tier II and Tier III ones is the recruiter's perception. Although the survey gave 40% weightage to placements, it's important to realize that recruiter's perception has a definite and undeniable effect on the placement pattern of an institute. It is also a critical component of brand equity and contributes significantly to the brand building process (read IITs). Interestingly, while SSN College of Engineering in Chennai failed to make to the perception chart despite making it to the Tier I list (the perception score given in the survey is an average that was allotted to all institutes recruiters chose not to rate); IIT Guwahati, which came at #6 in the study, features way below at #21 on the perception chart. This IIT has not only failed to leverage the IIT brand name, but has also fallen victim to the political uncertainty in the state.
Last word
The Dataquest-IDC-Nasscom survey findings is most likely to send some of the Tier I schools into a tizzy. However, instead of breathing fire down our necks, these institutes would do well to ponder a little on where exactly they have erred. In the meantime, we extend our heartiest congratulations to the champs.
Bhaswati Chakravorty
Next Page :
How We Ranked The T-Schools
Dataquest-IDC-NASSCOM Survey: India's Best T-Schools
Continued from page: 1
Bhaswati Chakravorty
Saturday, May 21, 2005
How We Ranked The T-Schools
(The methodology of the Dataquest-IDC-Nasscom "Best Tech School Survey")
Background
The first ever Dataquest-IDC-Nasscom survey scorecard on the best T-Schools in the country was compiled by Dataquest on the basis of a methodology and calculations vetted by research firm IDC. The IDC team was led by Parijat Chakraborty, and assisted by Arpit Singh and Nikhil Pant.
Research Objective
The aim of this survey was to determine the top Technology Schools (BE, B-Tech, or similar level graduate technical course) in the country and rank them on a list of parameters important for both students and recruiters.
Research Methodology
The Dataquest-IDC-Nasscom survey was done in two phases
Phase1- Desk Research
In this phase, an exhaustive desk research was done, jointly, by the Dataquest and the IDC team so as to identify the list of 150 Tech Schools, and 40 leading IT companies who were to be invited to be a part of this survey. We screened colleges established post 2002 and the ones which were not offering a BE, B-Tech, or similar level graduate technical courses.
Phase 2
The Tech Schools and the IT companies short-listed in phase 1 were approached by the IDC team. For the Tech Schools, face-to-face interviews were done with the college representative (preferably the placement coordinator). HR heads of leading IT companies were contacted over e-mail to include the recruiter perception in the survey. The data was compiled on the basis of two-year objective data (academic years 2003-04 and 2004-05) provided by the institutes and perception scores of the recruiters.
The Ranking: The final sample size of the survey was 118 institutes. The research team from IDC carried out the validation exercise. Field visits were also conducted to check the veracity of the information.
The objective scores were obtained by evaluating the T Schools against the following parameters:
* Placements
* Infrastructure
* Intellectual Capital
* Industry Interface
The weights were distributed as: Placements (40%), Infrastructure (15%), Intellectual Capital (15%) and Industry Interface (5%). The total weightage assigned to objective data was 75%.
These parameters were further categorized into sub parameters. This was done in the following manner:
Placements
(In the last two years)
* Percentage of students placed
* Percentage of students placed abroad
* Percentage of students going for higher studies
* Number of companies visiting the campus
* Max salary offered per annum
* Minimum salary offered per annum
* Average salary per annum
Infrastructure
* Computers/Students ratio
* Percentage of computers connected to the internet
* Hostel facility
* Internet access in the hostel
Intellectual Capital
* Faculty/Students ratio
* Percentage of permanent faculty
* Percentage of permanent faculty with industry experience
* Number of years of teaching experience of faculty
* Number of assignments in 2003-04 and 2004-05
* Average number of seminar attended in 2003-04 and 2004-05
* Average number of research papers published by the faculty in 2003-04 and 2004-05
Industry Interface
* Average number of seminars conducted by the institute in 2003-04 and 2004-05
* Average number of research papers by the institute in 2003-04 and 2004-05
* International affiliation or linkages
Perception Score: The perception survey of recruiters was conducted through another questionnaire. Recruiters were asked to rate importance of various aspects while deciding which Tech School to visit for campus recruitments on a 5-point scale. Recruiters were also welcome to add any parameter of their choice. They were given a list of institutes, which they had to rate on a 10-point scale. The overall weightage given to the recruiter's response was 25%. Infosys, Cadence Design System, Satyam, Sapient and IBM Global Services were some of the companies that participated in the recruiter's part of the survey.
The composite score, which is the total of the objective data score and the recruiter's perception score, was used to arrive at the final ranking.
IIT Delhi refused to participate in the survey.
Dataquest-IDC-NASSCOM Survey: India's Best T-Schools
Yes, the IITs top the Tech schools. But surprise: missing from the Top 10 are BITS Pilani, IIT Roorkee and DCE, edged out by the NITs and the Thapar and Netaji Subhas Institutes
Bhaswati Chakravorty
Saturday, May 21, 2005
There are T-Schools and there are T-Schools. But which is the fairest? What sets the best apart from the good? Who's the laggard? Here's your opportunity to find out. The second T-School survey conducted by Dataquest-IDC-Nasscom throws up some interesting results. Sit straight and fasten your seat belts as we zip you through some of the key highlights of the study.
No surprises. IIT Kanpur, IIT Bombay, IIT Madras and IIT Kharagpur, in that order, establish themselves comfortably in the top four and live up to our expectations. However, one look at our list of top 10 may surprise the reader. Here's why. The Institute of Technology at BHU (The Banaras Hindu University)-dislodges some of the better-known technology institutes to occupy the #5 slot, while institutes like Thapar Institute of Engineering & Technology and Netaji Subhas Institute of Technology (formerly DIT) strongly establish themselves in the top 10 listing.
The Top 20
Overall Rank
College
Composite Score
1 IIT Kanpur 77.5
2 IIT Bombay 75.6
3 IIT Madras 73.8
4 IIT Kharagpur 73.1
5 IT Benaras Hindu University 72
6 IIT Guwahati 71.6
7 NIT Warangal 70
8 NIT Trichy 67.6
9 Thapar Institute of Engineering & Technology, Patiala 66.7
10 Netaji Subhas Institute of Technology (DIT), New Delhi 64.5
11 Nit Suratkal 64.2
12 Motilal Nehru National Institute of Technology, Allahabad 62.1
13 Punjab Engineering College 60.3
14 IIIT Hyderabad 60.2
15 Birla Institute of Technology & Science, Pilani 59.9
16 IIT Roorkee 59.2
17 NIT Rourkela 58.5
18 NIT Kurukshetra 57.5
19 IIIT Allahabad 57.1
20 Delhi College of Engineering, New Delhi 57.1
It's imperative for us at this point to inform our readers that IIT Delhi refused to participate in the survey-there are some whispers about why the institute might have opted out of the survey, but we prefer to stay out of that debate for the time being. The inclusion of IIT Delhi could have made the final rankings look very different.
Some of the strong contenders for the top 10 spots were, however, relegated to the next 10 in the list. Key among them are some of the regional engineering colleges-now renamed National Institute of Technology-and the Birla Institute of Technology, Pilani (at #15). Unfortunately, Delhi College of Engineering, once considered a jewel in the crown, just about manages to find a place in the top 20.
The Making of the Best
What separates the best from the Tier II and Tier III technology schools? The Dataquest-IDC-Nasscom survey has considered four parameters-placement, infrastructure, intellectual capital and industry interface-for evaluation, and arriving at the final rankings. And, of course, there's the perception, where the recruiter's feedback on the institute is taken into consideration.
The Top 5 On Parameters
Placement
Rank College Score
1 IIT Chennai 31.2
2 IIT Kanpur 31
3 NIT Suratkal 27.1
4 NIT Warangal 26.4
5 Netaji Subhas Institute of Technology (DIT) 25.9
Intellectual Capital
Rank
College
Score
1 IT Bhu 11.8
2 IIT Guwahati 9.3
3 Thapar Institute of Engineering & Technology 8.3
4 IIT Bombay 8.2
5 IIT Kharagpur 8.2
Infrastructure
Rank College Score
1 IIT Kanpur 14.8
2 IIT Bombay 14.8
3 IIT Kharagpur 14.8
4 IIT Guwahati 14.8
5 Krishna Institute of Engineering And Technology 14.8
Industry Interface
Rank
College
Score
1 IIT Kharagpur 3.2
2 IIT Bombay 3.1
3 NIT Trichy 2.4
4 Jadavpur University 1.8
5 IT Bhu 1.6
On the placement scorecard, IIT Madras snatches the first position from IIT Kanpur, our topper in the study, and beats IIT Bombay as well (at #8). If you are still trying to grapple with the final rankings, here's a little more to add to that feeling of disbelief. Not just NIT Suratkal and NIT Warangal, but even the low profile Netaji Subhas Institute of Technology (NSIT), from Delhi, managed to beat IIT Bombay on the placement scorecard. If IIT Bombay has managed to find itself at the #2 spot in the overall ranking, it is thanks to a phenomenal recruiter's perception. IIT Bombay, along with IIT Kanpur, scores a full 25 in this category. NSIT comes in at the #5 spot on the placement scorecard. This Delhi-based institute has been getting some big names from the IT industry to its campus the last couple of academic years. IT major Infosys, in fact, lapped up around 108 students last year. The highest compensation offered in the academic year 2004-05 was Rs 8.5 lakh per annum. The placement score: 25.9 as opposed to the highest score of 31.2 in favor of IIT Madras.
IIT Kanpur (left) and IIT Bombay (right): At the top of the recruiters' perception scorecard
BITS Pilani (left) and Delhi College of Engineering (right): Took a tumbling and landed at #15 and #20, respectively
Infrastructure Matters
Today, infrastructure has emerged as an undeniable component of any benchmark. The survey clearly reveals that being a top technology institute does not mean that you have the right to ignore the infrastructure facilities in the institute. Take for example IIT Madras. This South-based IIT ranks at #3 in the survey, but performs rather poorly on infrastructure, to come at #28. Even BITS Pilani seems to have taken a leaf out of IIT Madras and follows close at #30. Here it becomes a bit of a necessity to say that despite scoring well on the recruiter's perception scorecard, coming just after the top four IITs, BITS Pilani failed to make it to the top 10 in the overall ranking. Obviously, the institute has been resting on past laurels.
The Knowledge Thrust
There is a strong caste system in the Indian technology education domain and the survey helps us identify the Brahmins, or those T-Schools that are trying to create knowledge. In other words, we are talking about intellectual capital. Today, world-class education implies a combination of infrastructure, faculty, brand equity and intellectual capital. Research, with its impact on industry and the society at large, counts for a lot of the worldwide rankings. And this is something that even Tier I B-Schools in the country are aiming for. Intellectual capital creates global educational institutions. However, our survey results indicate that there is a disparity in the overall rankings and the rankings based on intellectual capital. The top five T-Schools on the intellectual capital scorecard are IT BHU, IIT Guwahati, IIT Bombay, Thapar Institute of Engineering & Technology and IIT Kharagpur. A quick search down the list would find IIT Kanpur struggling to stay at #36. In case you are staring at that number in disbelief, let me assure you that this is not a printing error. The #1 T-School's performance in this front is quite a horror story. Are our premier engineering and technology institutes forgetting the worth of research and intellectual capital?
The Perception Factor
Rank
College
Score
1 IIT Kanpur 25
2 IIT Bombay 25
3 IIT Chennai 24.5
4 IIT Kharagpur 24.5
5 IT BHU 22.4
According to the HR heads' perception, IIT Kanpur and IIT Bombay topped the list
At this point it may make some sense to revisit the debate on why IIT Delhi chose to stay out of our survey. Only a couple of weeks back a popular Delhi newspaper reported that a former director of the institute has alleged that the institute has become a victim of lack of appropriate initiatives from the faculty-a probable reason why IIT Delhi stayed away. Without going into how true these allegations are, what is important, nevertheless, is to keep in mind the close correlation between creation of intellectual capital and faculty development. The presence of IIT Guwahati, IIT Bombay and IIT Kharagpur in the top five and NIT Warangal at #7 is some consolation, but this does not take the responsibility away from IIT Kanpur and the NITs, which should ideally set the examples for others to follow. The lack of intellectual capital may not have an immediate impact on placements or recruiter's perception, but is likely to affect faculty development and curriculum updation in the long run. So, the next time you see the likes of TIETs in the top 10, do not rub your eyes in disbelief. Incidentally, TIET ranks at #3 on the intellectual capital scorecard.
Creating the Right Interface
Another aberration that the survey revealed is on the industry interface front. Most B-School surveys reveal that every top institute is working hard to improve its industry interface? However, the top T-Schools in India do not confirm to this trend as per survey results. Comparing a T-School to a management institute may not find favor with many of us, but in reality, there is no reason for differentiation beyond a point. Today, every top institute is vying for a place in the global market.
The top 10 on the industry interface scorecard show some new entrants-Jadavpur University at #4, BITS Pilani at #8, and an unknown Marathawada Institute of Technology at #10. And if you are looking for our topper, it's just about managed to stay in the top 30.
How They Stack Up
N o r t h
S No College Overall Rank
1 IIT Kanpur 1
2 IT BHU 5
3 Thapar Institute of Engg & Technology 9
4 Netaji Subhash Institute of Technology 10
5 Motilal Nehru National Institute of Technology 12
S o u t h
1 IIT Madras 3
2 NIT Warangal 7
3 NIT Trichy 8
4 NIT Suratkal 11
5 IIIT Hyderabad 14
E a s t
1 IIT Kharagpur 4
2 IIT Guwahati 6
3 NIT Rourkela 17
4 Jadavpur University 25
5 Sit Kolkata (Fomely IIIT) 27
W e s t
1 IIT Bombay 2
2 Govt College of Engineering, Pune 24
3 Sardar Patel College 26
4 IIIT Pune 34
5 Bharatiya Vidyapeeth College of Engineering 42
The Differentiator
A key differentiator in any survey is the perception of recruiters, and our survey is no different. This part of the study goes a little beyond crunching hard numbers. A perception ranking can be nebulous and can change dramatically if the respondents change. This explains why perception was given only 25% weightage in
our study.
What clearly sets apart the Tier I schools from the Tier II and Tier III ones is the recruiter's perception. Although the survey gave 40% weightage to placements, it's important to realize that recruiter's perception has a definite and undeniable effect on the placement pattern of an institute. It is also a critical component of brand equity and contributes significantly to the brand building process (read IITs). Interestingly, while SSN College of Engineering in Chennai failed to make to the perception chart despite making it to the Tier I list (the perception score given in the survey is an average that was allotted to all institutes recruiters chose not to rate); IIT Guwahati, which came at #6 in the study, features way below at #21 on the perception chart. This IIT has not only failed to leverage the IIT brand name, but has also fallen victim to the political uncertainty in the state.
Last word
The Dataquest-IDC-Nasscom survey findings is most likely to send some of the Tier I schools into a tizzy. However, instead of breathing fire down our necks, these institutes would do well to ponder a little on where exactly they have erred. In the meantime, we extend our heartiest congratulations to the champs.
Bhaswati Chakravorty
Next Page :
How We Ranked The T-Schools
Dataquest-IDC-NASSCOM Survey: India's Best T-Schools
Continued from page: 1
Bhaswati Chakravorty
Saturday, May 21, 2005
How We Ranked The T-Schools
(The methodology of the Dataquest-IDC-Nasscom "Best Tech School Survey")
Background
The first ever Dataquest-IDC-Nasscom survey scorecard on the best T-Schools in the country was compiled by Dataquest on the basis of a methodology and calculations vetted by research firm IDC. The IDC team was led by Parijat Chakraborty, and assisted by Arpit Singh and Nikhil Pant.
Research Objective
The aim of this survey was to determine the top Technology Schools (BE, B-Tech, or similar level graduate technical course) in the country and rank them on a list of parameters important for both students and recruiters.
Research Methodology
The Dataquest-IDC-Nasscom survey was done in two phases
Phase1- Desk Research
In this phase, an exhaustive desk research was done, jointly, by the Dataquest and the IDC team so as to identify the list of 150 Tech Schools, and 40 leading IT companies who were to be invited to be a part of this survey. We screened colleges established post 2002 and the ones which were not offering a BE, B-Tech, or similar level graduate technical courses.
Phase 2
The Tech Schools and the IT companies short-listed in phase 1 were approached by the IDC team. For the Tech Schools, face-to-face interviews were done with the college representative (preferably the placement coordinator). HR heads of leading IT companies were contacted over e-mail to include the recruiter perception in the survey. The data was compiled on the basis of two-year objective data (academic years 2003-04 and 2004-05) provided by the institutes and perception scores of the recruiters.
The Ranking: The final sample size of the survey was 118 institutes. The research team from IDC carried out the validation exercise. Field visits were also conducted to check the veracity of the information.
The objective scores were obtained by evaluating the T Schools against the following parameters:
* Placements
* Infrastructure
* Intellectual Capital
* Industry Interface
The weights were distributed as: Placements (40%), Infrastructure (15%), Intellectual Capital (15%) and Industry Interface (5%). The total weightage assigned to objective data was 75%.
These parameters were further categorized into sub parameters. This was done in the following manner:
Placements
(In the last two years)
* Percentage of students placed
* Percentage of students placed abroad
* Percentage of students going for higher studies
* Number of companies visiting the campus
* Max salary offered per annum
* Minimum salary offered per annum
* Average salary per annum
Infrastructure
* Computers/Students ratio
* Percentage of computers connected to the internet
* Hostel facility
* Internet access in the hostel
Intellectual Capital
* Faculty/Students ratio
* Percentage of permanent faculty
* Percentage of permanent faculty with industry experience
* Number of years of teaching experience of faculty
* Number of assignments in 2003-04 and 2004-05
* Average number of seminar attended in 2003-04 and 2004-05
* Average number of research papers published by the faculty in 2003-04 and 2004-05
Industry Interface
* Average number of seminars conducted by the institute in 2003-04 and 2004-05
* Average number of research papers by the institute in 2003-04 and 2004-05
* International affiliation or linkages
Perception Score: The perception survey of recruiters was conducted through another questionnaire. Recruiters were asked to rate importance of various aspects while deciding which Tech School to visit for campus recruitments on a 5-point scale. Recruiters were also welcome to add any parameter of their choice. They were given a list of institutes, which they had to rate on a 10-point scale. The overall weightage given to the recruiter's response was 25%. Infosys, Cadence Design System, Satyam, Sapient and IBM Global Services were some of the companies that participated in the recruiter's part of the survey.
The composite score, which is the total of the objective data score and the recruiter's perception score, was used to arrive at the final ranking.
IIT Delhi refused to participate in the survey.
Saturday, June 16, 2007
India Together: Tender coconut juice, instantly chilled - 4 June 2007
India Together: Tender coconut juice, instantly chilled - 4 June 2007
ECONOMY/CONSUMERS
Tender coconut juice, instantly chilled
Moments after a customer approaches this cart, the vendor pours tender coconut juice into a funnel-like part. Chilled juice comes out of a stainless steel tap below, filling a 250 ml glass, for Rs.10. Shree Padre reports about Fruit Hut Beverages, a Hyderabad-based firm that has launched the Coco Fresco brand.
4 June 2007 - The scorching summer is here, and everybody likes to have a chilled drink. Instead of the artificial soft drinks, what if cool and fresh tender coconut water is available by the roadside?
ECONOMY/CONSUMERS
Tender coconut juice, instantly chilled
Moments after a customer approaches this cart, the vendor pours tender coconut juice into a funnel-like part. Chilled juice comes out of a stainless steel tap below, filling a 250 ml glass, for Rs.10. Shree Padre reports about Fruit Hut Beverages, a Hyderabad-based firm that has launched the Coco Fresco brand.
4 June 2007 - The scorching summer is here, and everybody likes to have a chilled drink. Instead of the artificial soft drinks, what if cool and fresh tender coconut water is available by the roadside?
For the first time in India, an enterprise of selling instantly chilled tender coconut water has started in Hyderabad. Fruit Hut Beverages is selling tender coconut water under the brand name Coco Fresco through 20 mobile carts operating at different centres of the city.
A close up of the 'work area'. Pic: Fruit Hut Beverages.
Moments after the customer approaches the cart, the vendor pours tender coconut juice into a funnel-like part of the cart. It comes out through a steel tap located below. Irrespective of the quantity of juice a nut has, customer gets 250 ml in a glass, in chilled form. A hundred nuts can be kept in the 'belly' of the cart.
This is the brainchild of two young MBA graduates, Swaroop Chandan and Goutham Kumar. "At home, we prefer soft drinks kept in the fridge. But unfortunately, we haven't developed a method to serve such a noble drink like fresh and cool tender coconut water. We were on the look-out for such a possibility since a year. While searching in net, we got a few ideas," recalls Chandan. Those ideas were later developed into this reality.
A key aspect of the system is that electricity is not required to cool the juice. The fresh juice runs from the funnel through a twisted coil below. The end of this coil is fitted to the tap. Food grade stainless steel is used in all these parts. Ice is kept outside the steel coil. As such, ice is not mixed with the juice. It takes only few seconds for the juice to reach the tap from the funnel by way of gravity. In this process, it gets instantly cooled. One filling of ice is suffice to cool about 200 glasses.
A key aspect of the system is that electricity is not required to cool the juice. Ice cubes are placed around the cooling steel coil. 
• Tender coconuts enter offices
• New biogas plant makes waves Everyday, sweet juice is poured into the steel coil. How do they maintain hygiene? "Oh, yes, we have taken care of that," Chandan explains. "In fact, these units are detachable. We have two such units for each cart. Every night, we detach it and take it to our centre. Next morning, the staff brings a unit that is already kept there, well washed and dried."
While tender coconuts sold by usual push carts are priced at Rs.8 in Hyderabad, Coco Fresco is Rs.10. There are many value additions. It's ready to drink, has more quantity and is always cool. In Hyderabad's high-tech city called Cyberabad, four carts are functioning. Sanjeev Reddy Nagar, Madhavpur, Gatchi Bouli, Ameerpet are the other centres in the city. It hasn't reached the other half of the twin-cities - Secunderabad. Coco Fresco's business is at the moment centered around a 10 km-radius of their godowns. Fruit Hut has two godowns.
"Youth, that too IT employees are our major consumers. People belonging to middle and upper middle classes," points out Chandan. According to him, generally tender coconuts have only 180 to 200 ml of water inside. Generally, it takes slightly more than one nut to fill the 250 ml glass.
At the Computer Science Corporation (CSC) in Raheja IT Park, two carts are operating. Here it is in-house vending. The arrangement is that CSC doesn't charge any fee; instead Coco Fresco has to sell for Rs.9 instead of Rs.10.
"At most of the places, we are selling an average of 200 glasses a day. On very few occasions it raises to 300. But, now, it's peak season. You will have these sales at most centres. We have to wait and watch as to how the sales remain in off-season," says Chandan, expressing anxiety. Luckily for them, the rainy season is short and late in Hyderabad.
The Mobile Cart. Pic: Fruit Hut Beverages.
Once settled, these youngsters have plans to diversify. They intend to serve minimally processed tender coconuts. In minimal processing, the outer husk of the nuts is trimmed to facilitate easier handling. After this, it is dipped in preservative solution and wrapped with cling film. These treatments retain the white color of the peeled nut and extends its shelf life. As such, minimally processed tender coconuts are ideal for taking home. (See earlier story on a Bangalore firm doing this)
The initial investment for Fruit Hut Beverages was Rs.10 lakh. The Coconut Development Board has committed a subsidy of Rs.2.5 lakhs towards the cost of the carts.
Fruit Hut is buying its tender coconuts from farmers groups of East and West Godavari districts. They deliver the nuts at the godowns twice a week. Chandan is tight-lipped about the price.
This enterprise could well be replicated in all our major cities. Already there are enquiries from cities like Vijayawada and Vizag in A.P. "Small numbers would be difficult. If there is confirmed order for more than 5 carts, we can provide them. One cart would cost around Rs.25,000," says Chandan. ⊕
Shree Padre
4 Jun 2007
Shree Padre is a journalist with many years of experience in agricultural reporting. He is the author of several books, including one on rainwater harvesting, published by Altermedia.
Contact information
Fruit Hut Beverages
1-112/25, Silpa Park
Novotel Road, Kondapur
Hyderabad 500 081
E-mail: s_chandans at yahoo dot com
Mobile: 
+91-99492 21238
India's Rural Job Scheme gives work and the comfort of home by Mohammed Shafeeq and Jatindra Dash
India's Rural Job Scheme gives work and the comfort of home by Mohammed Shafeeq and Jatindra Dash
Society
and the Comfort of Home
by Mohammed Shafeeq and Jatindra Dash
Unable to find work in the fields, M. Sakkubai in India's southern Andhra Pradesh state contemplated like many others in her village of migrating to the city in search of livelihood. Now, a new government poverty-alleviation scheme guaranteeing employment has given her economic sustenance and the security to go on living at home.
India's National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) came into effect on Feb 2, 2006, across 200 of India's poorest districts in 27 states, assuring 100 days of unskilled manual work in a year to one adult member of every rural household.
In the first 10 months, more than 13 million families in the country were provided employment and more than Rs.500 million (approx $11 million) pumped into the rural economy. According to central government estimates, the scheme has already generated 440 million mandays of employment.
Andhra Pradesh and the eastern state of Orissa, with some of the poorest pockets in the land, leads in the implementation of the scheme, launched by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in Andhra Pradesh's Bandlapalli village.
About 4.5 million people in Andhra Pradesh have been issued job cards and employment has been provided to over 1.2 million labourers covering 846,000 households. While 744 projects have been completed, 55,899 are in progress involving an expenditure of Rs.1.27 billion (approx $28 million).
In Orissa, the programme is being implemented in 19 districts, including the three impoverished districts of Kalahandi, Bolangir and Koraput known as India's hunger zone.
"Preliminary trends indicate that at least 15 to 20 percent of the people who migrate every year have not gone out this year. This is because of the NREGA," Bolangir district labour officer P.K. Bhoi.
Envisaged and passed in far away New Delhi, the act has wrought profound changes in the lives of many millions of people in the country. Like Sakkubai, who has been saved from becoming one more faceless migrant labourer and today earns more than what she would have earned as a construction worker in the city.
In the last eight years, successive droughts in Sakkubai's village Turkapally has led to large scale migration of workers to urban areas in the state and even to neighbouring states.
The NREGA has come as a godsend for the 45-year-old woman, among the 204 villagers who have registered themselves under the scheme. If the concerned authorities fail to provide them work, they are entitled to a daily unemployment allowance.
Engaged in desilting the local tank and digging pits for biodiesel plantations, Sakkubai earns anywhere between Rs.60 to Rs.80 (about $1.5 to $2) a day. Those who put in more than seven hours can earn about double. The scheme has not only recognised her worth as a woman, giving her equal wages for equal work, but also gives her almost double the money she would have made as a construction worker in the city.
B. Ramulu, an agriculture labourer, was all praise for the scheme saying it particularly benefited the old. "We were sitting idle in the past but now we are getting work," said the 60-year-old, who owns an acre of land but gets no income from it.
In Kamraipalli village, 100 km from the state capital Hyderabad, K. Yadaiah and his wife K. Renuka have got job cards. "Unlike previous schemes, when officials and politicians were siphoning funds meant for the poor, this scheme prevents any corruption as we directly get the money from post offices," said Yadaiah, displaying his post office passbook.
He said they were not covered by any insurance or health scheme while working as agricultural labourers.
"Here, officials will bear the expenditure for treatment if we are injured while working on any project."
NREGA beneficiaries enjoy other benefits too - clean drinking water and a woman caretaker appointed to look after children of labourers while on duty.
Social auditing, which is compulsory under the scheme, ensures transparency and public accountability in implementing the scheme. Two computer operators appointed for each sector record every minute detail of the works taken up.
"EGS software developed by Tata Consultancy Services helps simplifying complex activities like the issue of job cards to rural households, identification of work to be undertaken, generation of work estimates, work execution and wage payment," said Manohar Chari, an official associated with the scheme in Hyderabad.
Andhra Pradesh claims to be the first to implement automated solutions and has recently bagged the best software award from Microsoft for it.
In neighbouring Orissa, NREGA implementation is being monitored through NREGAsoft, which has been developed by the National Informatics Centre (NIC).
Changes are being felt in Orissa as well. Like Sakkubai, 40-year-old Narayan Bag is happy that he doesn't need to go looking for a job outside his home in Gedabanji village, 14 km from the district headquarters of Bolangir.
Bag has found work in the Rs.300,000 ($6,700) 1,200 m road project, which started in March this year. That's about the time of the year when Bag and dozens of other villagers from Gedabanji leave for at least a couple of months to find work, mostly in brick kilns.
Bag has already worked on the road for 25 days.
"Who doesn't want to stay at home? We hardly had jobs last year and had to move around other cities," said Bag, who lives in an government scheme house in his village of 296 people, mostly Gond tribals.
The NREGA has helped an estimated two million people like him in the state stay at home instead of going to Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh in search of work every summer.
It's a basic bread and butter issue, but also one that allows for rare luxuries like a new dress.
By working on the village road, Jasoda Kumra, a 20-year-old tribal girl in Gendabanji, has for the first time in her life saved enough to buy two goats and a dress for herself.
Officials estimate that more 12,000 people in Bolangir district migrate every year.
Till Oct 23 this year, 81,156 people in the district were engaged in 2,222 projects.
There are some complaints about the implementation of the scheme and some of corruption.
But these are early days yet. Notwithstanding the complaints, the NREGA has the potential to change lives for millions of India's forgotten poor - some of that has already begun.
January 27 2006
By arrangement with IANS
Friday, June 15, 2007
Deccan Herald - Why its time to ban the bulb
Deccan Herald - Why its time to ban the bulb
| |
| Tuesday June 5, 2007 | |
| Why its time to ban the bulb | |
| M S S Murthy explains the reasons behind the call for a ban on the incandescent bulb. | |
| Recently the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change of the UN issued strict warning to all nations of the world to cut down on CO2 emission to halt global warming, which otherwise may be devastating. Greenpeace has been spearheading a “Ban the Bulb” campaign across the world. The “bulb” in its campaign is the ubiquitous incandescent bulb that has been illuminating millions of houses for more than a century now. What has incandescent bulb to do with global warming? | |
Shashi Tharoor finds new worlds to conquer
INDIA-ABROAD
AZIZ HANIFFA
in Washington, DC
Shashi Tharoor plans to join the corporate world.The former United Nations under secretary general has accepted a position as chairman of
Afras Ventures, a new company based out of Dubai that seeks to promote foreign investment in India, specifically Kerala,
While he has obtained legal residency in Dubai, Tharoor will shuttle between New York , Dubai. and India,
"I will keep my place in New York, but I am a legal resident now of Dubai - that's wh re I am officially residing, " Tharoor told India Abroad.
"I will also be spending a lot of time in India. I expect to be living out of a suitcase. So, I will remain an NRI [non-resident Indian]."
Explaining how he came to be chairman of the company, Tharoor said, "There is another company, Afras Limited, which is the principal activity of my partner, that is one of the world's leading suppliers of pipes for the oil and gas industry- he gets them from European manufacture: and sells them to the Saudis, the Omanis and others."
He said Afras Ltd Managing Director Nandakumar Radhakrishnan - a fellow Keralite whom Tharoor had not met before but was apparently a distant relative of his - had been one of many peopIe in the private sector, think tanks and universities who tapped him to join their company or organization.
After a visit to Dubai and meetings with Radhakrishnan and reviewing his concept of this new company to promote investment in India, Tharoor decided to accept the offer.
. .
"This gentleman, who had family connection, got in touch with me and told me what he has been doing in Dubai and that he had made a success with Afras Ltd," Tharoor said. "And if I wouId be willing to come in with him in this new venture in a 50:50 partnership and try seriously to focus on India." .
"His argument was 'Why can't we contribute to the development of our country while at the same time making some money in the process through the private sector of the world?" Tharoor, who served for 29 years at the United Nations, continued.
"I thought about it and it struck me - I would be chairman, there would be profit participation, but there was also the dimension of actually making a contribution."
"So, one of the first things I did, after I wrapped up at the UN, turned in my diplomatic passport and got an ordinary one, got my visas and all of that, I went off to Dubai, spent 10 days there, spent some time in this company. Then we traveled to Kerala together," Tharoor added.
In Kerala, both he and Radhakrishnan met the chief minister, the finance and education ministers and several senior government officials and discussed investment in the further development of the state. .
Tharoor said Afras Ventures would promote investment "from wherever we can get it - it can be the United States, it can be the Gulf countries, whatever. The idea is to see whether we can do something for development The private sector frankly now is the engine of development - so 1 want to see what 1 can do in that area."
He spoke of how "when 1 lost the race [for the UN secretary general's post as the government of India's nominee], 1 found myself receiving an astonishing number of calls from a bewildering, wide rang of prospective employers. What startled me first of all was that this has happened. Let us face it, for 29 years [his tenure at the UN] 1 haven't even looked for a job.
"Suddenly, 1 found myself inundated and they came from a wide variety of areas. 1 was approached by a couple of very . distinguished think tanks - they were solid offers - and 1 was approached by a couple of universities. One or two of them reopened closed shortlists to put me on it."
Tharoor said all of this had happened so fast "I almost sleepwalked into a university. And to be quite honest because 1 was initially reeling from a prospective change in my life, 1 kind of said yes to everybody who called and suddenly 1 began to think seriously when 1 became a finalist for a position - which 1 was privately told was pretty much mine if 1 wanted it."
When it dawned on him that this university facu1ty position was about to be his, "I got to ask myself what I really wanted to do - because those [teaching at a university] are the kinds of things in some ways 1 can conceivably do at a later state of my life.
Right now, I still feel 1 am mid-career, but, like a good computer that's crashed, I need. to re-boot.
"So in my re-booting, 1 figured out having spent a lifetime in public service, that 1 shou1d do something that I've never done before - that wou1d stretch me a little bit," Tharoor continued. "The one thing that 1 would have to admit short of winning the secretary generalship, I had reached a stage where nothing that came across my desk at the UN surprised me or challenged me anymore. I mean, I was the guy who knew all the precedents of how things are going to be done pretty much. So, for me, it was a challenge to do something different."
"Amongst those who came calling were the private sector. 1 did get some calls from fairly well known corporations - it wou1dnot be po'lite to name them - but I didn’t quite fancy going from being Mr. UN to Mr Corporate. You know, as a kid, when I was leaving college, I could have gone into business management, but it has never been my motivation - I went on to Fletcher [School of Diplomacy] instead; and . international affairs.
"But at the same time the private sector did attract me," he acknowledged. . Jt's much more of an engine of development than it ever was because the private sector today accounts for far more capital flow to the developing world than governmental assistance ever does."
Thus, Tharoor said, for him it became a case of reflecting on "what can we do in the private sector that can make a difference? And, also having spent a lifetime in public service, it wouldn't be a bad idea to do well and do good at the same time. So I figured, let me look at that."
While being chairman of Afras Ventures will be his full-time job, he has also been signed up by the Washington-based Leading Authorities Inc, one of the country's most prominent speakers bureaus, which represents some of the most highprofile political, business, media, and entertainment figures.
Tharoor will be paid anything from $20,000 to $30,000 per speech on the East Coast and $30,000 to $50,000 per pop on the West Coast, which is what some of LAI's stable of celebrities garner.
"I am taking the thali [a multi-course Indian meal] approach. I want to do a number of different things. They'[the LAI] approached me and I said, why not? So I'll be speaking - as writing and speaking are my passions. "
Mathew R Jones, senior vice president, LAI, told India Abroad the reasons they signed Tharoor were several-fold.
"Obviously, his experience at the UN he's a very articulate gentleman, superb speaker," said Jones. "We sought him out - it, was sort of a combination. A mutual friend put us in touch, but we were very aware of him," Jones added.
While declining to disclose how much exactly Tharoor would be paid per speech, Jones said he would be right up there with several high-profile speakers on the political and diplomatic speaking circuit." The demand for him is in line with people of similar experience in terms of politics and diplomacy, and we are very excited about working with him," Jones said.
"We signed him on as soon as his term with the UN ended," Jones added, and acknowledged that his speech at the US Chamber of Commerce last week was his debut as one of the speakers the LAI presented.
Tharoor, asked if he was disappointed that the government of India had not offered him a senior position and if he would still consider a post if Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh were to call on him, diplomatically sidestepped the question, responding with a laugh. "As peopIe learnt to say in this business, there is no point commenting on the hypothetical," he said.
Beyond his job as chairman of Mras Ventures and on the speaking circuit, he said he had consultancy offers from three private equity firms in New York, and would shortly decide on the one he would go with.
Tharobr said he would also be involved in "a couple of causes. I'll give a little bit of time - 5 percent to' 10 percent - to a friend who is interested in tiger conservation. There's the human rights group, Breakthrough; they've asked me to join their board and I am going to do that. There's the Virtue Foundation, which I've agreed to join."
"So I'm going to be trying to spread myself as thin as humanly possible," he continued. "I've got a book coming out towards September. It's based on my columns, and it's called The Elephant, theTiger, and the Cell-phone, which is a compilation and a reworking of my op-eds, articles and essays over the last half-a-dozen years about India in the 21st century."
He said he had targeted to have it out August 15 on the 60th anniversary of India's independence, since his book Midnight to Millennium had been published 10 years ago on India's 50th anniversary. "But with all of the stuff going on in my life, I couldn't do it."
Thursday, June 14, 2007
India's top 20 engineering colleges
siness > Columnists > Guest Column >
India's top 20 engineering colleges
by Yogesh K Upadhyaya and Arvind Gupta
June 28, 2005
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India's top 20 engineering colleges
by Yogesh K Upadhyaya and Arvind Gupta
June 28, 2005
During spring, just as flowers bloom, rankings of engineering colleges pop out of national magazines. It is time to rejoice for students of some of the highly ranked colleges; while for others, it is time to worry and introspect.
Why do we need these rankings?
College ranking is a controversial yet a useful guide for many.
Consider this:
- For college-entering students to decide the best option available.
- For colleges to know what they need to improve and where they stand in the pecking order.
- For recruiters and human resource managers to decide the college they would visit for campus interviews and negotiate pay packages.
- For the teaching faculty to decide which colleges to aspire to teach in.
- For students and alumni, for whom it is a matter of pride.
Type of rankings
There are basically three types of rankings:
Government rankings: The central government carries out a survey of engineering colleges every few years. The survey, conducted by the World Bank, is used to arrive at a funding formula for financing colleges under United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and to monitor the progress of the colleges receiving funding.
The government survey is highly respectable and includes comments/suggestions for the improvement needed by the colleges. These are generally not available in public domain.
Academic rankings: These is carried out by leading institutions around the world and sometimes by academic and scientific magazines. The survey is authentic and unbiased, but is of limited use. It is used mainly to boost the ego of a college among similar colleges, to attract talented faculty and to keep flow of money from its patrons.
The Asian Technology Information Program, Tokyo, is a prestigious, non-profit think-tank, which monitors research programmes from universities/institutes across Asia and classifies some of the leading universities in a specific research area.
For example, according to ATIP, Indian Institute of Science is among the world leaders in the field of nano-crystal technology research. Similarly, it puts Banaras Hindu University among the leading research universities in the world in the field of application of hydrogen energy to two-wheeler vehicles.
Magazine rankings: Also known as popular rankings, these are the ones that are mostly read by common folk. These are carried out by national magazines as a guide for students and faculty, and for the college themselves.
Dataquest survey results
Following results have been published with the kind permission of Dataquest India for the 2005 engineering college rankings. (Note: IIT-Delhi did not participate in the survey):
Table A: 2005 Overall Rankings
The Top 20 | ||
Overall Rank | College | Composite Score |
1 | IIT Kanpur | 77.5 |
2 | IIT Bombay | 75.6 |
3 | IIT Madras | 73.8 |
4 | IIT Kharagpur | 73.1 |
5 | Institute of Technology, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi | 72 |
6 | IIT Guwahati | 71.6 |
7 | NIT Warangal | 70 |
8 | NIT Trichy | 67.6 |
9 | Thapar Institute of Engineering & Technology, Patiala | 66.7 |
10 | Netaji Subhas Institute of Technology (DIT), New Delhi | 64.5 |
11 | NIT Suratkal | 64.2 |
12 | Motilal Nehru National Institute of Technology, Allahabad | 62.1 |
13 | Punjab Engineering College, Chandigadh | 60.3 |
14 | International Institute of Information Technology, Hyderabad | 60.2 |
15 | Birla Institute of Technology & Science, Pilani | 59.9 |
16 | IIT Roorkee | 59.2 |
17 | NIT Rourkela | 58.5 |
18 | NIT Kurukshetra | 57.5 |
19 | Indian Institute of information Technology, Allahabad | 57.1 |
20 | Delhi College of Engineering, New Delhi | 57.1 |
Table B: 2005 Top 5 on Parameters
The Top 5 On Parameters | |||||||||||||||||||||
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Table C: 2005 The Perception Factor
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Table D: 2005 Performance region-wise
How They Stack Up | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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In India, there are two popular ranking surveys for engineering colleges: one is by India Today magazine and other by Dataquest magazine.
India Today survey
The magazine has been conducting such surveys for the last several years. This year, the survey was carried out in association with A C Nielsen ORG-MARG.
The ranking shows top 10 engineering colleges in the India, along with the rankings in the field of business management, medicine, commerce, science, law and arts.
The survey takes into account institute's infrastructure, research, admitted student quality, placement statistics, perception among academic and industrialists, etc.
Dataquest survey
The survey, done for technical schools only, was conducted for the first time this year in India by this magazine. It was done in collaboration with International Data Corporation and the National Association of Software and Service Companies.
IDC is a world leader in the market research for information technology and software industries. Nasscom is India's most powerful IT industry association -- which even the country's Planning Commission consults for IT and software-related forecast and planning.
The survey has a no-nonsense approach, as the study claims: "The Dataquest-IDC-Nasscom survey findings are most likely to send some of the Tier-I schools into a tizzy. However, instead of breathing fire down our necks, these institutes would do well to ponder a little on where exactly they have erred."
The survey takes into account the infrastructure of the college, placement scenario, intellectual capital (faculty quality and strength, research, et cetera), interface with industries and perception of recruiters.
How reliable are these surveys?
With different surveys showing different rankings for the same college, the common man asks the question: which of the surveys to believe?
Well, the answer is that there is no clear answer.
Different surveys take different criteria, ask different questions for the same criterion and give different weightage while arriving at a composite score for determining overall rankings.
Hence all these surveys are correct up to some extent in their own way.
A good survey will not be afraid of the public criticism and the most popular colleges need not be the best in the ranking. The list should not be the same year after year and, at the same time, there should not be any drastic changes in rankings at each year. Good examples are college rankings in the United States by magazines such as Business Week and US News & World Report.
Each survey has its own drawbacks of some kind. For example, the India Today survey, although based on acceptable criteria, mostly reserves the top six to seven slots for a group of institutes, while the next three to four ranks fluctuate every year.
It may be advisable for it to publish the expanded list, such as top 20 overall ranks and provide rankings under different criteria/sub-categories.
On the other hand, the Dataquest survey is geared towards requirements of the IT and software industry.
Moreover, students need not depend solely on college rankings for the selection of a college. Other factors beyond rankings are also to be considered. Such as quality of study, selecting proper branch, proximity to home, hostel facilities, etc. They should visit the campus to get first-hand information and also find out from their friends who have studied there.
In conclusion
The surveys have a welcome move of also including colleges which do not have a favourable public perception. Bold surveys give the masses a second chance to know about the good colleges unknown to them so far.
This is an important step since the mass media in India is saturated with success stories of only 1 per cent of the total of 1,200 engineering colleges, giving a distorted vision for many and false pride for some. It is expected that the coming years, the surveys will be more refined.
In such a scenario, beacons of college rankings from the lighthouse of magazines will guide the boatload of applicants to the islands of academic excellence.
Yogesh Upadhyaya is a chemical engineering graduate from IT-BHU and an MS (chemical engineering) from Rutgers University, New Jersey. Arvind Gupta, also an alumnus of IT-BHU, is CEO of e-Enable Technologies, New Delhi.
The Dataquest survey rankings are published by the kind permission of Dataquest , a CyberMedia publication.
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