Parents demand ESMA on schools

1.44 lakh private teachers will join 1.70 lakh government teachers in the strike
About 15,000 private schools and their 1.44 lakh teachers in the Telangana region have decided to go on an indefinite strike on Monday in response to the call given by the Telangana Joint Action Committee (TJAC).
Nearly 1.70 lakh government teachers in 30,000 government schools in the Telangana region have been on strike from September 16.
The managements of CBSE and ICSE schools and several parents’ associations have been demanding that the gov ernment bring schools under the Essential Services Maintenance Act (ESMA) to enable them to conduct the quarterly exams from Monday.
Several private schools affiliated to the state board have postponed the quarterly exams anticipating trouble because of the strike.
The decision to support the striking government employees as part of the Sakala Janula Samme was taken at a meeting of the Telangana Recognised Schools Managements Association (TRSMA) and Telangana Private Teachers’ Forum (TPTF) on Sunday . “The managements of 15,000 private schools in Telangana have agreed to close the schools from Monday in support of the Sakala Janula Samme. We demand the Centre and state governments to initiate the process of Telangana state immediately. We will continue the strike till the Centre and state governments come out with a positive statement on Telangana,” said Mr A. Papi Reddy, president, TRSMA.
About 1.44 lakh teachers of private schools have also decided to go on indefinite strike from Monday.
Two city schools among top 10
Two schools from Hyderabad were among the top-10 in the “Most Respected Day Schools and International Schools category” in the Education World-C Fore Schools Survey 2011.
In Day School category, the Gitanjali School stood at the 8th place while in International School category, the Indus International School secured 10th place.
Education World in association with C fore conducted survey to rate India’s most respected Day, Boarding and International Schools of 2011. The Shri Ram School, Delhi; Rishi Valley School, Chittoor and the Woodstock School, Mussoorie have been voted India’s most respected day, boarding and international schools respectively in the survey.

T-stir hits corporate schools hard

Corporate schools in the Telangana region that have been closed since September 13 on account of the ongoing strike for statehood, have told parents to collect the quarterly exam question papers from the school and conduct exams for their children in their own homes! A majority of corporate schools in the region are owned by managements belonging to the Seemandhra region. These schools, which have been shut down from September 13, fearing attacks from T-activists, will be opened only after the Dasara vacation, on October 10.
Parents were taken by surprise when they started receiving SMSes on their mobile phones from the schools asking them to collect the question papers and conduct the exams themselves.
Mr M. Manik, a parent said, “The corporate schools are giving question papers to parents for students from Classes VII to X since these schools start the foundation course for various competitive exams from this stage. The teachers told us that periodic exams are necessary for these students from this stage if they want to succeed in competitive exams after Class XII.” Though some corporate schools in the city tried to conduct the exams in the morning from 7 am to 10 am, before the T-activists take to the streets and force a shutdown, they dropped the idea after a few schools were attacked.
One school that tried to hold exams on Sunday was forcibly shut down.
Corporate schools located in the north Telangana in Nizamabad, Warangal and Karimnagar are the worst hit as they have lost the most number of working days on account of the agitations.
To appease the Telangana lobby, corporate schools have even prefixed the word Telangana to their name boards but this has not helped.
Other prominent schools in the city have uploaded question papers on their websites and asked students to download them and write the exams at home in the presence of their parents. Parents were asked to submit the answer sheets to the schools.

State passes G1 exam with flying colours

The first day of the GroupI main exams on Sunday went off peacefully in Hyderabad and Warangal centres in the Telangana region, and elsewhere in the state.
Despite the contentious atmosphere in which it was held, the student turnout was actually higher than in the previous years.
The government had made unprecedented security arrangements at exam centres in the Telangana region to ensure the exams were not disrupted by pro-statehood activists.
Despite candidates complaining of transportation problems on account of the Sakala Janula Samme, the highest attendance 69.45 per cent was recorded in Hyderabad and 66.96 per cent in Warangal.
The overall attendance in the state was 69.55 per cent, which was 20 per cent higher than previous Group-I main exams (38.09 per cent in 2005 and 53.05 in 2007). The exams will be held till October 3. The attendance was 68.33 per cent in Visakhapatnam, 71.25 per cent in Vijayawada and 71.46 per cent in Tirupati.
The situation was a little tense at the centre located in L.B. Nagar, when some T-lawyers tried to enter the centre to force postponement of the exam.
The cops immediately took them into custody.
They also took around 50 Kakatiya University students into custody in Warangal when they tried to disrupt the exam.
Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy, who is under fire from within and outside the party for refusing to postpone the exam, is said to have expressed satisfaction over the smooth conduct of the exam.
He has asked the police and Andhra Pradesh Public Service Commission to continue to focus on making foolproof arrangements for the rest of the exams. T-UPDATES Trains on track but buses off the road Trains services were restored from 6 pm after the 36-hr rail roko ended on Sunday. The RTC strike is still on.
Autos and Setwin buses are expected back on the roads on Monday Strikers to get 12-day salary In a major relief to the striking T-staff ahead of Dasara, the government has cleared salaries for the 12 days that they worked in September.
The catch is that the pay and accounts staff have to return to work to pay the salaries. Sunday’s Group 1 exam was held in 35 centres across the state. It was the 11 centres in Hyderabad and three centres in Warangal that gave the police and exam authorities some anxious moments, as T-activists had threatened to disrupt the exams here.
About 1,500 police personnel, CRPF and paramilitary forces were deployed in Hyderabad alone. There is a three-tier police security system in place at exam centres and candidates were thoroughly checked before being allowed to enter the exam centres.
Most candidates reached the exam centres an hour in advance as a precautionary measure, and used twowheelers and bikes as
transport. Some candidates came on bikes all the way from Karimnagar and neighbouring districts anticipating transportation problems in the city on account of the strike. The APSRTC operated special buses from major points for candidates appearing for the exams, which were provided police escort.
About 7,475 candidates out of the 11,500 who had registered appeared for the exam on the first day of the examination held across the State.
However, those candidates who were allowed to appear for the exams at the last minute, on the directions of the High Court on Friday, said they are planning to approach the Supreme Court to get the state government to postpone the exams by 45 days because they had no time to prepare.
Meanwhile, Cyberabad police commissioner D.
Tirumala Rao announced the imposition of Section 144, prohibiting assembly of five or more persons, around 100-mt radius of the examination centres in the Cyberabad Metropolitan Area. The exam centres are: Ushodaya Kalasala SKD Nagar, Vanasthalipuram; Mahatma Gandhi Law College, LB Nagar; Narayana Junior College, LB Nagar; and Pragathi Women’s Degree College, Kukatpally.
The prohibition orders will be in force from 6 am of September 25 to 6 pm of October 3. Any person violating the orders shall be liable for prosecution under the law, Mr Tirumala Rao said.

Strike holds students to ransom

Over 2 lakh D.Ed candidates’ admission was indefinitely postponed due to the Telangana strike
The ongoing Sakala Janula Samme in the Telangana region has taken its toll on the admission process to various professional courses in the entire state.
The admissions for various professional courses like M.Tech, M.Pharmacy, Pharm-D, B.Ed, D.Ed, Law and Physical Education have abruptly been stalled in the state. Lakhs of students who had qualified in the entrance tests have been left in the lurch.
Though it’s been nearly three months since the announcement of the results of the entrance tests, the state government is yet to initiate the admissions process. Students are tense because admission officials are not able to clarify when the admissions will begin and all this is thanks to the strike in the T-region.
The officials could not initiate the admission process even in the Seemandhra region due to the centralised admission procedure adopted by the government for professional courses.
They say that unless the situation becomes normal in the T-region, it would not be possible for them to admit students. Several lower-rung staff and officials working in admission counselling centres in the T-region are participating in the strike.
The officials have completed admissions only for Eamcet as of now. Over two lakh candidates have qualified the D.Ed entrance exam this year.
The results were announced three months ago however, candidates are still awaiting admission. Though it was initially decided to conduct counselling in Hyderabad from September 26, it was indefinitely postponed due to the T-agitations.
No one knows anything about the PGECET counselling for admission to the M.Tech and M.Pharmacy courses. The officials could not release the schedule for counselling to fill 25,000 seats in these courses. The schedule for counselling to fill 14,000 seats in the three year and five year law courses under Lawcet is yet to be released.

APPSC ‘error’ costs 52 candidates their jobs

Shocked Aspirants Planning To Move Court
A fresh controversy over the appointment of APPSC Group I officials has erupted with the commission denying jobs to 52 candidates who had cleared the written test as well as the interview for posts in the mines and geology department. While the commission first selected 173 candidates, 52 of them were later intimated that their ranks had been revised as the officials discovered an ‘error’ that had crept into the first evaluation. The candidates were later told that they had not made it to the final list.
    The 52 candidates, whose Group I dreams were shattered when the order was issued on September 19 (11 days after the first list was out), are now planning to move court. According to them, not only did the commission remove them from the final list, but it chose 71 new candidates in their place in the second list which was released on September 19. The candidates said that such unprecedented alteration of the final list raised doubts about the fairness of the selection process.
    It was only in 2010 that APPSC faced criticism for favouring certain candidates over others in the interview. The commission then chairman, Venkatrami Reddy, was accused of granting higher marks to candidates from non-Telangana regions. Candidates had also approached court from 2005 to 2010 against certain appointments made by the commission.
    The commission called for applications to vacant posts in the mining department in 2008 and conducted the examination on May 25 this year. The interviews were also held from September 5 to 8 after which a final list of selected candidates was released. This list was later changed by adding 71 new candidates and removing 52 candidates whose names were there in the first list. The order was issued by Poonam Malakondaiah, secretary, APPSC. The new accusations have come at a time when the commission is under a complete revamp under the charge of retired IAS officer, Rachel Chatterjee.
    The candidates who were denied posts in the department said that they have petitioned the chief minister to look into the irregularities in the appointment. “The current list is definitely flawed. I secured 168/330 marks in the examination and was the 30+ rank holder (general category) in the first list. In the second list I was removed,” said G Sudhakar. Sudhakar said that he had also made it to the reservation category list meant for SC candidates also, but in the second list he failed to get a post under general or reservation posts. Candidates said that the commission should give them a detailed explanation on why changes were made in the list. APPSC should also reveal who got benefited by the second list, candidates said.

MCI issues migration guidelines

The Medical Council of India has issued guidelines on inter-college migration of MBBS students.
Migration of students from one medical college to another would be restricted to five per cent of the sanctioned intake of the college during the year. No migration will be permitted from one college to another located within the same city.
Migration of students is permissible only if both the colleges are recognised by the Centre under Section 11(2) of the Indian Medical Council Act 1956 and further subject to the condition that it shall not result in increase in the sanctioned intake capacity. The candidate shall be eligible to apply for migration only after qualifying in the first professional MBBS exams. Migration during clinical course of study shall not be allowed.
An applicant candidate shall first obtain a NoC from the college where he/she is studying and the university to which that college is affiliated and also from the college to which the migration is sought and the university it is affiliated to. He/she shall submit the application for migration within a period of one month of passing along with the above cited NoCs to: (a) the director of medical education of the state, if migration is sought within the state or (b) the MCI, if the migration is sought from one college to another outside the state.

IIT Madras intake increases

We have increases our intake by 50 per cent from 5,500 and are marching towards 8,000 level ­­ Prof. Ramamurthi Director, IIT Madras
The number of students joining the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Madras, has increased by about 50 per cent and the administration has started constructing new buildings to accommodate them.
Speaking to reporters after inaugurating Shaastra, the IITM’s annual technical festival on Wednesday, Prof. Bhaskar Ramamurthi, who recently assumed charge as the director of the institute, said, “We have increased our intake by 50 per cent from 5,500 and are marching towards the 8,000 level.
Tenders have been awarded and we have started construction. The buildings will be ready in 18 months.
We have worked out a master plan so there is no problem in accommodating over 8,000 students,” he said.
Pointing out that the administration would maintain the character of the institute as a reserve forest, Prof. Ramamurthi said that the expansion would take place in the academic zone without disturbing the character of the institute.
Asked about the proposal to have a separate campus, the director said that if the state government provided land, they would think about it. “We can use the new campus for new initiatives but we are yet to decide anything about it; but for the next five years we will have expansion in this same campus,” he added.

BIE extends date for exam fee

The Board of Intermediate Education (BIE) has extended the due dates for payment of examination fee by first year regular (general and vocational) students and attendance exemption granted to private candidates appearing for first year exams to October 14 without fine and till October 20 with a fine of Rs. 100.
Tatkal scheme
The due dates are applicable for both general and vocational students and also attendance exempt private candidates for humanities only apart from candidates who wish to appear with change of group. There will be no further extension, a statement from BIE said.
The candidates who fail to pay the examination fee even with late fee should invariably apply for Tatkal scheme only which will be announced in November.

Centre to set up six pharma national institutes

The Union Cabinet on Friday approved setting up of six new National Institutes of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (NIPERs) to meet the shortage of skilled manpower in the pharmaceutical sector.
The new institutes will come up at Gandhinagar, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Hajipur, Guwahati and Rae Bareli.
Rs.633 cr outlay
The Union Cabinet, at a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, approved the establishment of the new institutes at a cost of Rs.633.15 crore, Information and Broadcasting Minister Ambika Soni told reporters here.
Focus on R&D
The decision would facilitate the establishment of full fledged NIPER campuses for imparting higher post-graduate level education as well as undertaking R&D projects, she said. It would also help in meeting the requirement of highly skilled manpower of the pharmaceutical industry and focus on R&D, Ms. Soni said.
The government had set up the National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research at Mohali under the NIPER Act, 1998.

NGO Management

NGOs or Non Government Organizations are the non-profit voluntary groups established at local, national or international level. They perform various tasks for solving problems and development of society. NGOs are connected with government or private sector firms. They deal with some social issues like women empowerment, girl child, gender issues, education, pollution, street children, slum dwellers, health, urban development, human rights, concerns of less privileged etc. NGOs bring up people’s concerns and issues to the government and policy makers non-profit making, voluntary, service-oriented/development oriented organization, either for the benefit of members (a grassroots organization) or of other members of the population (an agency). It is an organization of private individuals who believe in certain basic social principles and who structure their activities to bring about development to communities that they are servicing. An independent, democratic, non-sectarian peoples organizations working for the empowerment of economic and/or socially marginalized groups. The non-profit sector is no more the side dish to the main course… what am I talking about? Even till the late 90’s, the non-profit sector has always played second fiddle to most of the other mainstream occupation profiles. As a result development of courses in the non-profit stream had also taken a back seat. However, now the scene is entirely different. Government policies, work of the existing NGOs and the media have a lot to do with bringing Non-profit management into a mainstream career option.
Graduate Program in Non-Profit Management - India
Basic qualification is not required to serve in the non-profit sector. You can do your “bit”, no matter which field you are qualified in. For instance as a lawyer you can provide free legal service to the underprivileged.
However, if you are considering it as a career option you would need associated degrees. Ideally a degree in Social Welfare (MSW) degree, rural management or any masters’ degree in social sciences gives you a strong foot hold in this sector.
Qualification Needed for NGO Jobs:
No basic educational qualification is required to get into the social sector. However, Master in Social Welfare (MSW), any master’s degree in social sciences or rural management will be definitely helpful to get good job opportunities in NGOs . The courses offered in social work are B.S.W. or BA in Social Welfare, M.S. W. or M. A. in Social Welfare. The candidate can proceed for M. Phil or Ph.D program also if they are interested in pursuing further studies. Diploma and degree courses are offered by several institutes in India such as The Indian Institute of Social Welfare & Business Management in Kolkata, Tata Institute of Social Sciences in Mumbai, University of Delhi, University of Rajasthan, Jamia Millia University etc.
In India, NGO sector is widely spread all over the country, particularly in remote and rural areas. There are different types of NGOs in India such as volunteer sector, grass root organizations, civic society, private voluntary organizations, transitional social movement organizations and self-help groups (SSG). Some of the important NGOs in India are - Child Relief and You (CRY), Red Cross Society, CARE, National Institute of Public Cooperation and Child Development (NIPCCD). Some of the popular international NGOs are - World Wildlife Fund, Bread for the World, UNICEF, WHO, UNESCO, AMNESTY etc.
NGO Management Courses
NGO Management mainly focuses on the management of the organization, setting up of the goals and objectives of NGO activities, thorough understanding of the organizational framework of NGOs, and distribution of portfolios among its members. NGO Management also involves devising of strategies and operational pathways, supervision and planning of financial and other policies and various other programmes of the organization.
Qualifications: For enrolling for an NGO management course, applicants need to complete his / her graduation in any discipline. Experienced NGO professionals, social workers, and volunteers can also study these courses.
Benefits: The main areas of study in an NGO management course help an individual to understand the subject in detail from a more realistic point of view. The various benefits of NGO management course are:
·    Financial and Administrative Supervision
·    Awareness about Global Issues
·    Awareness about Environment
·    Awareness about global socio-economic scenario
·    Community Development
·    Management of Information
·    Organization of Issue Based Campaigns
·    Developing Human Resource and Finance
·    Attainment of Socio Cultural Perspective
·    Social Entrepreneurship
·    Leadership
Institutes offering NGO Management Courses in India
The premier institutes offering a post- graduation course in NGO management in India are:
·    Amity Institute of NGO Management
·    Annamalai University Directorate of Distance Education, (Tamil Nadu) Bharathidasan University Centre for Distance Education, Tiruchrappali (Tamil Nadu)
·    Madurai Kamaraj University, Directorate Of Distance Education, (Tamil Nadu)
If your work foe the not-for profit sector is going to be research based then you need to have a doctoral or at least a post-graduate qualification in the domain. (A masters in Environmental Sciences if you are working on Research project for an environmental NGO)
Ideally after Class XII, take up a subject from the social science discipline, followed by a Masters in MSW or MA in social work. The best known institutes offering such courses are Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai, the Xavier Institute of Social Science, Ranchi, and the Institute of Rural Management, Anand, Degrees in environment and forestry management are also offered by other institutes (the Institute of Forest Management - Bhopal). You can also obtain diplomas in specific areas like for the hearing impaired, or the physically handicapped.
Here is a list of some of the institutes and their addresses:
• National Institute for the Hearing Handicapped, Bandra Reclamation, Bandra (W), Mumbai - 400 050
• Courses in Physiotherapy, Occupational Therapy and Mental Retardation are offered in Cuttack, Calcutta and Secunderabad by Rehabilitation Council of India, Vishnu Digamber Marg, New Delhi - 110 002
• Diploma in Mental Retardation is offered in different States by National Institute for Mentally Handicapped, Manovikas Nagar, Secunderabad - 500 009
• PG Programme in Rural Management is offered by Institute of Rural Management, Anand - 388 001
• MA in Social Work is offered by Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Sion Trombay Road, Deonar, Mumbai - 400 088
• PG Course in Rural Development and Social Work is offered by Xavier Institute of Social Service, Purulia Road, Ranchi - 834 001
• MA in Social Work is offered by Kurukshetra University, Kurukshetra - 136 119
• MA and Diploma in Social Work is offered by Lucknow University, Lucknow
The premier institutes offering a post- graduation course in NGO management in India are:
·    Amity Institute of NGO Management
·    Annamalai University Directorate of Distance Education, (Tamil Nadu) Bharathidasan University Centre for Distance Education, Tiruchrappali (Tamil Nadu)
·    Madurai Kamaraj University, Directorate Of Distance Education, (Tamil Nadu)
If your work foe the not-for profit sector is going to be research based then you need to have a doctoral or at least a post-graduate qualification in the domain. (A masters in Environmental Sciences if you are working on Research project for an environmental NGO)
Ideally after Class XII, take up a subject from the social science discipline, followed by a Masters in MSW or MA in social work. The best known institutes offering such courses are Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai, the Xavier Institute of Social Science, Ranchi, and the Institute of Rural Management, Anand, Degrees in environment and forestry management are also offered by other institutes (the Institute of Forest Management - Bhopal). You can also obtain diplomas in specific areas like for the hearing impaired, or the physically handicapped.
Courtesy: Employment News

Festivals, time for bonding

Festivals help the community to bond and learn about the culture and pass it on to the next generation to stand them in good stead. Many look forward to celebrate Navratri, Vijaya Dashmi and Diwali as one gets to wear new clothes, eat sweets and it also marks the end of quarterly exams in schools. The festivals are one of the most popular ones and are celebrated with great enthusiasm across the nation and Indians living abroad. It basically marks the victory of good over evil and is celebrated differently according to the regions culture and traditions. It also marks the beginning of launching new ventures.

Navratri begins from the first day of the bright fortnight of the Hindu month of Ashwin, which usually marks the end of monsoons. This festival is dedicated to divine mother Goddess Durga and her nine forms and each day signifies a different form. Devouts believe that the mother destroyed the evil force (demon Mahisashura) during this period. In some places, special puja pandals are erected by installing the images of Mother Durga and all temples dedicated to Shakti also make arrangements for special pujas.

In the Eastern states, especially West Bengal, the city of Kolkata comes alive, with the celebration lasting five days beginning from Maha Shashti (the sixth day) and ending with Bijoya Dashami (the tenth day). The first day begins with welcoming Goddess Durga and ends with immersing the idols in the nearby water bodies on the evening of Dashami. According to mythology Goddess Durga descends to the Earth on Shashthi and returns to her abode on Dashmi.

Dusshera, Dasara or Vijaya Dashmi is celebrated with great enthusiasm across the country. The festival is celebrated with great fanfare in Kullu (Himachal Pradesh), Varanasi (Uttar Pradesh), Mysore (Karnataka) and West Bengal. It is the culmination of the nine-day long festivities during the Navaratri.
In Mysore, Dusshera, popularly called Dasara dates back its royal celebrations to 300 years, when Raja Wodayar ascended the throne of Mysore. Since then the festival has been celebrated on a grand scale, with a spectacular procession of floats, entertainers, and decorated elephants passing through the main streets of the city, with the erstwhile scion atop an elephant. During the festivities, special religious ceremonies are held at different temples, especially the Chamundeshwari Temple atop the Chamundi Hills.

In Tamil Nadu, the Navratris are equally divided for worshipping the three Goddesses namely Goddess of wealth and prosperity Lakshmi (the first three days), Goddess of learning and arts Saraswati (the next three days) and Mother Goddess Shakti, Durga (the last three days). Women and children also arrange small statues and dolls, known as ‘Bommai Kolu’, decorating it with designs, lamps and flowers.

In Gujarat, the Navratri festival acquires fascinating and colorful dimension. The highlights are the vibrant colourful dances of Garba and Dandiya-Raas where the young and old take part with fervour. It may be recalled that the Raas has its origin in the life of Lord Krishna.

After Kullu king, Jaganand brought an idol of Lord Raghunath from Ayodhya and put it on his throne as a mark of respect in the 17th century, celebrations of Kullu Dussehra began in the region. The week-long festivities come to an end with the sacrifice of a buffalo, rooster, lamb, fish and crab.

In Varanasi, and the entire north, Ramlila’s are enacted on all the 10 days culminating in the burning of the effigies of ten-headed Ravan, his brother Kumbhakarn and his son Meghnad. Scenes as depicted in the Ramayana are enacted by actors and children and many of them dress up as Lord Hanuman and many kids enjoy buying the bow and arrow and gada that are sold at fairs during this part of the time. It is also widely believed that on Vijaya Dashmi day, in Treta Yug, the seventh incarnation of Vishnu, Lord Ram killed demon king Ravan for abducting Lord Ram’s wife Devi Sita. Ravan’s ten heads depict the evils - Kama vasana (lust), Krodha (anger), Moha (delusion), Lobha (greed), Mada (over pride), Matsara (jealousy), Manas (mind), Buddhi (intellect), Chitta (will) and
Ahankara(ego).

Just like the effigies ending up in smoke, people must also burn the evil within them, and follow the path of virtue and goodness, which is the moral of Vijayadashmi. One must always bear in mind, that despite being very powerful, demon king was destroyed.
On Vijayadashmi, leaves of aapta tree are also exchanged as the legend goes that Pandavas stored their weapons on the Shami tree during their period of agyatvaas (unrecognizable exile). Mythology states that weapons were retrieved by the Pandavas on Vijayadashmi day. All vehicles and machines in factories too are decorated and worshipped.

Diwali
Diwali is a five-day festival, beginning on the 15th day of the Hindu month of Kartika. It is primarily called the festival of lights and earthen diyas are lit in everybody’s home and rangolis (beautiful designs) are made in the courtyard and entrances. Houses are decorated with flowers, electric lights and candles.

The festival begins with Dhanteras, and special prayers are offered to Goddess Lakshmi, and people buy gold and new vessels for cooking kheer (milk sweet). The second day, Naraka Chaturdasi, marks the crushing of demon Naraka by Lord Krishna and his wife Satyabhama is celebrated by the people of Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. They have an oil bath and burn up old clothes early in the morning to mark the death of Naraka. Amavasya, the third day of Deepawali/Diwali, marks the worship of Goddess Lakshmi and people burn firecrackers in the evening. Another legend goes that Lord Vishnu, as Vamana (dwarf incarnation) banished King Bali to Patalaloka. The fifth day is celebrated as Bhai Dooj (Yama Dvitiya), when sisters invite brothers to their homes.

It is also believed that Lord Ram returned to Ayodhya on Diwali day after 14 years of exile and defeating Ravana. To augment his return people lit 20 rows of lamps. In Bengal, Goddess Kali is worshipped on this day. Diwali also marks the beginning of the Gujarati New Year and many open new account books. On this day, people worship Lord Ganesha and Goddess Lakshmi. Many exchange gifts and sweets with friends, relatives and neighbours. Happy Festivals!

Festivals
October 3 - Mahasaptami
October 4 - Ashtami
October 5 - Mahanavami
October 6 – Vijaya Dashami
October 26 - Diwali

India lifts Asian Champions Trophy

India’s national game is hockey, but it lacks any patronage and is considered as a poor cousin to cricket where all the wealth and richness resides. This came to the fore after India beat arch rivals and Asian Games champions Pakistan 4-2 via penalty shootout in a nail-biting final to win the inaugural Asian Champions Trophy hockey tournament in Ordos, China, in September. In the group encounter, India rallied from behind to hold Pakistan 2-2.

The arch light of the final was goalkeeper S Sreejesh who made two crucial saves for India after both the sides were locked goalless during normal and extra time. Rajpal Singh, Danish Mujtaba, Yuvraj Walmiki and Sarvanjit Singh scored for India in the penalty shootout, while Muhammad Rizwan and Waseem Ahmed scored for Pakistan.

Gurwinder Singh Chandi, who took the first shootout couldn’t hit the goalpost as Pakistan goalkeeper Imran Shah made a save and Sreejesh too stopped Haseem Abdul Khan. Mujtaba then cleverly sent the ball past Shah to give India 1-0 lead, which was equalised by Rizwan. However, Indian captain Rajpal sent the ball safely into the post to help India take a 2-1 lead. Sreejesh then stopped Shafqat Rasool from scoring by taking the shot on the pads. Yuvraj made it 3-1 and Pakistan’s Waseem trimmed the margin to 3-2, but Sarvanjit’s conversion past Shah ensured India’s win.

The Asian Games Champions could have tilted the game in their favour as they had seven penalty corners during normal match time, while India had only one. Credit should be given to the Indian defence and the goalkeeper Sreejesh for saving the conversions. V Raghunath stood out with his tackling and clearances, while SV Sunil was the first to be shown the green card for his handling.

On India’s win, coach Michael Nobbs said that it was a great win and fantastic to see a young Indian side win such a prestigious tournament. He praised both the teams and said they had enough chances.

In the group encounter, India were trailing 0-2, but rallied from behind to force a draw. Pakistan took a 2-0 lead through Muhammad Waqas (40th minute) and Muhammad Irfan (42nd) but India responded immediately with Rupinder finding the target from an indirect penalty corner while Danish Mujtaba scored the equaliser in the 53rd minute after Indians appealed, the umpires from South Korea and New Zealand held discussion and allowed the goal to stand. Pakistan entered the finals with 10 points from three wins and a draw, while India waited for the outcome of all matches before entering the finals. Unbeaten India scored nine points from two wins and three draws.

In the run up to the finals, unbeaten India had a goal difference of +7, way ahead of the others. India’s asset has been its forward line. Its moments came when they beat China 5-0, and it fought back from the verge of defeat twice. Against Malaysia, India were losing 1-2 and drew the match 2-2, while against neighbours Pakistan they were down 0-2 and fought back with two goals.
Despite Pakistan coach’s unsportsman attitude, India shone. Pakistan coach constantly abused Indian players and used the ‘F’ word liberally and shouted ‘Thank You’, whenever the umpires reprimanded India.

Cash Awards: Hockey India (HI) became a laughing stock after it announced a reward of Rs. 25,000 to each player for the win, which was turned down by the players. The Sports Ministry, the governments of Punjab and MP chipped in with generous rewards for the winning players.

Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan announced a reward of Rs one lakh each to the members of the winning hockey team. Maharashtra Government announced a cash prize of Rs10 lakh to Yuvraj Valmiki and Mumbai Pradesh Committee requested CM Prithviraj Chavan to allot one flat to him from CM’s two percent quota and the cost of the flat would be borne by MPCC.

Meanwhile, the Kerala government announced a cash prize of Rs five lakh to PR Sreejesh for his remarkable role. Kerala Sports Minister KB Ganesh Kumar also announced a cash prize of Rs 50,000 to team manager Ramesh Kolappa. Orissa Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik also awarded Rs 1.5 lakh each to Ignesh Tirkey, Manajit Kulu and Roshan Minz.

New Zealand Venue: International Hockey Federation (FIH) withdrew the hosting rights for the 2011 men’s Champions Trophy, which was to be held in Delhi from December 3-11, due to the informal agreement between Hockey India and Indian Hockey Federation (IHF) thus costing Team India dearly, which has lost an automatic berth in the elite eight-team event. For a berth in the Champions Trophy, India will play in the Champions Challenge to be held in South Africa in November. New Zealand will replace India as hosts of this year’s Champions Trophy.

In a statement, FIH president Leandro Negre said that they regretted moving the Champions Trophy from India. He said that it was difficult for the teams, organisers and the fans, but this was the only way that they could maintain the integrity of the sport.

There were embarrassing moments for the Indian hockey players as some of them were facing acute shoe shortage. Most players had only one pair of shoes for warm-up sessions and matches. Manjit Kullu, the left half back in the Indian team, played with warm-up shoes after his only pair of hockey turf shoes split into two. Playing with warm-up shoes is like running on ice wearing normal shoes and the player was lucky not to have injured himself. Harpreet Singh too did not have turf shoes. Both Manjit and Harpreet have been selected for the senior national team and it is difficult for them to buy a good pair of shoe that costs around Rs 5,000 to Rs 7,000. On an average, a player uses three to four pairs annually and the pair provided by the Sports Authority of India is not that durable.

Adhyaapan: A unique learning and fun event for teachers

Education industry is booming today with a number of schools and colleges coming up. But, most of these institutions are facing challenges in appointing good quality teachers and this gap is being filled up by many coaching centres and digital material. Added to this many students are resorting to memorizing or rote learning instead of being able to think on their own. Education is measured by certificates and ranks. As a result, by the time they graduate they are termed ‘unemployable’.
Centre for Faculty Development and Management (CFDM) at Nalla Malla Reddy Engineering College (NMREC) has been working together with Teacher’s Academy to motivate teachers, give them teaching and mentoring skills, helping them in their professional development and creating a sense of pride in being teachers.
Adhyaapan, a mela, is another step in creating a day of fun and learning for teachers. Apart from lectures on skills, there was a wonderful display of posters and models. This display was organized in four corners, and teachers contributed their ideas and inputs at many points. Nearly 80 teachers from Sree Datta Group of Institutions, Nalla Malla Reddy Engineering College and Junior College, Ace College of Engineering, Vignan Institute of Technology and Science, St Martin’s Engineering College, Jahnavi Degree and PG College, KGR College of Engineering and Technology, Chaitanya Bharathi Institute of Technology, Vignan Bharathi Institute of Technology, Princeton College of Engineering and Technology, Science Institute of Technology, Bhoj Reddy Women’s Engineering College, Balaji Institute of Technology, TKR Engineering college, RVR Institute of Engineering and Technology and Rajamahendra College of Engineering took part at the mela.
Edu-Corner: The evolution of education from ancient times, current challenges and opportunities. Trends in teaching today, education scenario statistics and teachers were asked if the concept of Gurukul system was relevant today.
Guru-Shishya Corner: The relationship between student and teacher has changed over time due to social and cultural changes. This corner brought out the attitude a teacher must possess in order to become a role model, a friend and counselor. Visitors could add their own points too.
Inspiring Teacher Corner: This corner showcased the stories of great teachers. It also enumerated 20 reasons to become a teacher, the characteristics of a good teacher and teaching self-profile. Visitors could add their own inputs too.
Book Exhibition: Books were displayed by Cambridge University Press and Book Selection Center. Two contests were organized around the books - to recall maximum number of book titles with author names in a minute and to give the gist of a book in one minute.
The display was followed by idea contest – where teachers presented their unique solutions to social or educational problems, and won prizes. The fun portion was events with competitions with cash prizes.
Overall, the day was full of activities that motivated the teachers and also gave them the big picture. It also showed how information can be presented in interesting ways instead of the traditional lecture way.
Parallel workshops were conducted – IT Resources for teachers, Counseling and Mentoring, Working for PhD by Uma Garimella, Shankarson Roy and Vikram.

Understanding Intelligence

When we look around us, we find everyone different and similar from us and one another in many aspects and what makes us unique is the way we respond to situations that we face in our day-to-day life. The way we respond is the intelligence of the person. We can understand intelligence in simple terms as follows.
·    Responding meaningfully to situations
·    Adjust effectively to new environments
·    Persons ability to develop cognition( like language, problem solving,  memory, perception)
·    Experiential  learning from day-to-day activities
·    Ability to acquire new knowledge and abilities
·    Ability to judge and evaluate
The question that each one of us faces is ‘can we know what intelligence is’? In the past, many theories have been established in understanding intelligence. The following three theories are most popular:

Spearman Theory:
Spearman basic assumption is that all mental task requires two kinds of abilities ‘G‘ and a specific ability ‘S‘. ‘G‘ is common to all intellectual tasks, whereas ‘S‘ is specific task. Consequently, there is one ‘G‘ but as many ‘S‘ as there are different intellectual tasks.
Thurston’s Theory:
According to Thurston, the following are common clusters of primary mental abilities of intelligence.
Verbal- The ability to understand and utilize verbal ideas
Numerical - The ability to carry out arithmetic operations
Spatial – The ability to understand spatial relationships and space
Perceptual- The ability to identify objects quickly and accurately
Memory- The ability to store and retrieve information
Reasoning- The ability to understand abstract information
Word Fluency- The ability to think of words quickly

Guilford Theory
Guilford proposes that there are three dimensions to intelligence - Content, Operations and Product and the combinations of all three produce unique intellectual abilities which could be used in testing intelligence.
Content dimension consist of figural, symbolic, semantic and behavioural content. Operations dimension consist of cognition, memory, logical production, creativity and evaluation. Product dimension consist of relations, systems, transformation, implication and etc.
Causes of differences in intelligence:
There are various factors that can influence our intelligence from the time we are born. The following are some of the factors.
·    Hereditary Factors
·    Home environment
·    Parent-Child relationship
·    Economic status
·    Race and culture
·    Sex differences
·    Physical conditions
IQ
The term IQ, or Intelligence Quotient, describes a score on a test that rates the person’s cognitive ability as compared to the general population. An IQ test consists some of these abilities like reasoning, problem-solving, perceive relationships between things, store and retrieve information, visualize manipulation of shapes, mathematical ability, use logic, ability to complete sentences or recognize words and the ability to recall.
The following are some of the popular Intelligence test that is used for different age groups:
·    Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children,   6 – 16 years
·    Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale,  16 – 89 years
·    Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale,  2 – 85 years
·    Comprehensive Test of Non-verbal Intelligence,  6 – 18 years
·    Kaufman Assessment Battery for Children,  3-18 years
·    Universal Non-verbal Intelligence Test,  5 – 17 years
·    Woodcock-Johnson Tests of Cognitive Abilities 2 – 90 years
Stern proposed a formula that is used in calculating IQ score that is

Mental Age        x 100
Chronological age (birth age)

Mental age is usually the score on the test.

It is sometimes important to know your IQ score but not really essential. The advantages of knowing an IQ score are, it helps us to build confidence to take up new challenges, Boost morale, helps in improving learning ability, helps us  understand if we have special needs and many times it is considered for employment and education.

Improving IQ:
There is lot of controversy around this question, can we improve intelligence? And many of the researchers say that we can improve intelligence as intelligence is abilities. Following are some of the ways to improve our intelligence:
·    Creating a Learning environment
·    Exposing our self to new situations and trying novel things
·    Involving ourselves in  mental task like problem solving and puzzles
·    Keeping ourselves physically fit, to improve self-confidence
·    Interacting and networking with others
·    Using senses (hearing, seeing, touching, tasting, and smelling) when exposed to new things for the first time.
·    Always take time to reflect and provide yourself with an insight for activities
Myths and Facts about IQ
M: IQ measures individuals Intelligence
F: IQ measures individual’s capacity of intelligence
M: IQ measure individual’s competence
F:  IQ measures individual’s capacity in terms of abilities
M: IQ score never changes
F: IQ score can change over age
M: IQ measures native intelligence in an individual
F: IQ measures developed skills and abilities of an individual
M: IQ score can tell the intelligence limit of an individual
F: IQ score does not tell individuals intelligence limit

The art of Presentation

DEFINITIONS: “A presentation is a means of communicating ideas, knowledge or information effectively to a group of interested listeners”.

PURPOSE: To seek effectively, interestingly and pervasively at small or big gatherings.

POSTURE: Standing or Sitting depending on the situation

DURATION: * 5 min to 1 hr
* 20 min to 1 hr to prepare an outline
* 10 min to 30 min to revise it
Effective 5 minute speech will take a novice 30 minutes to 2 hrs.

FACTORS: 3 important factors are:
i.    The structure of the presentation
ii.    The presenter
iii.    The audience
A good presentation will have an effective opening, a body, a summary and a conclusion, lastly question and answer session.

i) OPENING / INTRODUCTION: It achieves 3 purposes
a)    It attracts the attention of the audience
b)    It involves the audience by being relevant to their needs and being perceived by them as useful in fulfilling these needs in some way.
c)    It purposes the central idea or purposes of the presentation
-    Announce the objective
-    Break the audience pre-occupation with other matters.
-    Facilitate audience involvement and participation
-    Clearly set the mood of presentation
ii) BODY: Content of your presentation and most informative section, the body of the presentation argues your case with facts and the principles holding them together in such a way as to persuade the audience to accept your central purpose, remember it and pay attention to flow of ideas.
-    If your presentation conveys information that is heavy and difficult to understand intersperse it with jokes and anecdotes.
-    Ask the audience questions in the course of your presentation instead of stating facts
-    State main points first then supplementary details
-    Make sure that you have researched your topic thoroughly and have included all the relevant information.

iii) SUMMARY: Important points are put together like to summarize their ideas at the end of every important concept. Some like to summarize when they conclude the presentation.

iv) CONCLUSION: The conclusion sums up your presentation preparing the audience for its end, reminding the audience that its needs are being fulfilled, reiterating the central idea, highlighting its main but not subordinate points, ending with a memorable and appropriate anecdote, quote or maxim. You can close a presentation with
a)    An apt quotation
b)     A call for action on a particular issue

V) QUESTION AND ANSWER SESSION: Any presentation skill should ideally be followed by a question and answer session.

THE PRESENTER: The presenter has to organize presentation in nine steps:

i)    Know your audience: What are its interests, values, social status, age, knowledge level? What is the occasion on which you are speaking? Duration of the speech, physical setting – size of the room, the seating, whether you can use slides a projector, location, how long it will take you to reach it from wherever you are starting off, the time, is it a pre – or post lunch or an evening function? Take the next step and start preparing for your speech.

ii)    Choice of subject: What are the subjects you are knowledgeable about? Make a list would all of them interest your audience? – decide how you can have an impact on your audience with your talk?
-    Can you persuade it to change its life style to a healthier one?
-    How much does it already know about the subject?
-    How much more does it need to know?
-    Will it keep the audience interested?
-    Will it be persuaded of your point of view?
-    Are contrary points of view foreseen and answered by the information and arguments extended?
-    Will the audience be entertained and stimulated to remember and act on your words?
-    Select all the material available to you to achieve the foregoing results.

iii)    How to address your audience’s needs: your audience may not be homogenous. But human beings have common needs like a) comfort b) economic gain c) fulfillment of curiosity d) freedom from anxiety e) acceptance by their group and f) security.
  Your presentation should appeal to one or more of theses needs.
– Be authoritative in your subject
–Talk in a clear, concise, entertaining, easy to understand and memorable style. So ask yourself: what needs of this particular audience does my topic fulfill?

iv)    Catch your audiences attention:
- Just wait for audience to settle down
-Then introduce your subject but keep it short
-Don’t give the audience false expectations
-You can begin with a joke / story but it should be short and relevant.
-You can also challenge the audience, I have a question which I wonder how many of you can answer?
-You can get attention by using visual aids, or playing a portion of an audio – cassette relevant to your presentation.
– change your tone, level of voice and pitch to suit the intended effect and use gestures.

v)    Develop the body of your speech: your arguments and facts should be interlinked. Emphasise important points by developing them at greater length and repeating then. Present your ideas beginning with the least complicated ones and preceding to more complex ones. Also present the least controversial and most acceptable arguments first and develop logically from there.

vi)    Make your talk meaningful and memorable: - illustrate with examples so that the audience can relate to them and remember them.
- Make as many points as possibly personally applicable to your audience
- Even if you are talking about a distant historical situation, remind the audience what conditions   it would be facing if it lived in the times you are talking about
- Be clear and vivid in your descriptions
- Collect plenty of support material
- Use day’s news item / advertisement
- Also use case histories statistics, surveys
-  surveys, repots, analogies.   
vii) Connect your thought: Don’t form one argument to another and back again.
  - proceed logically by adding more arguments
 – repeat a point to emphasis it using a visual aid as a signpost

viii)    Conclusion: use an attention getter to show your audience that you are coming to the end

 – You can do so, by pausing and repeating the theme of your lecture

 – Tell them, next how it is related to them. – repeat its central purpose and the enumerated important points for easy recall

ix)    Final statement: This should be an anecdote that dramatically illustrates the point of your presentation or a call to action summed up in a maxim or a quote.

THE AUDIENCE: Important elements use different presentation tools, handouts, video, clippings, presentation software, transparencies, and pictures.

REVISE AND PREPARE TO PRESENT

While revising your presentation as you have written it down check the following

1) Have you written it down fully sentence by sentence not just points or ideas?

2) Are you satisfied with every argument illustration anecdote?

3) Does it all fit together or does it fall apart?

4) Can it be easily followed?

5) Try it out at home on your family and question them for their understanding

6) Does it have unity, coherence and right emphasis

7) Are the main points memorable and meaningful

8) Are you distributing handouts at the end

9) Make a check list of what are you  carrying so you don’t forget half of them at home

10) Make sure the quality of your aids does not win your presentation

11) What visual aids are you using? Films/ Slides/ Flip/ Charts/ Diagrams/ Illustrations models/ Tapes.

(The author is Asst Professor– School of Management Science, NNRGI. E-mail: madhurabn@gmail.com)

Bapu lives on

‘Ahimsa must express itself through acts of selfless service of the masses.’
-Mahatma Gandhi

Many discussions have been held on Mahatma Gandhi and he has been popularly called the apostle of peace, Father of the Nation, Bapu, Mahatma and others. The teachings and values of the Mahatma are very popular in India and across the globe and no education is complete unless a student learns about the role and values of the Mahatma.

Though nominated five times between 1937 and 1948 for the Nobel Peace Prize, Gandhiji never received one. The United Nations General Assembly unanimously adopted a resolution declaring October 2 as ‘the International Day of Non-Violence’ and January 30 as Day of Non-violence and Peace in schools.

During his visit to India in 2010, while addressing the Joint Session of the Parliament, United States President Barack Obama said that had it not been for Gandhi and the message he shared with America and the world, he wouldn’t be where he was. In September 2009, addressing a gathering at the Wakefield High School, Obama said that his biggest inspiration came from Mahatma Gandhi. The US president was replying to a question on ‘Who was the one person, dead or live, that he would choose to dine with?’ He went on to add that he found lot of inspiration in Gandhiji, who also inspired Martin Luther King Jr with his message of non-violence. Paying a tribute to the Mahatma, Obama said that he ended up doing so much and changed the world just by the power of his ethics.

Born on October 2, 1869, at Porbandar, Gujarat, Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, propagated the philosophy of Satyagraha and Ahimsa. It is widely believed that Gandhiji popularly called Bapu was interested in everything concerning individual or society. Gandhiji’s crusade against untouchability and the notions of superiority and inferiority by birth and emancipation of Indian women are well known.

Gandhiji shot into prominence during his stay in South Africa, when he raised his voice against colonial and racial discrimination and the Asiatic (Black) Act and the Transvaal Immigration Act by beginning a non-violent civil disobedience movement. Returning to India in 1915, Gandhiji began long-needed social reforms such as ‘Harijan’ welfare, small-scale industries and self-reliance and rehabilitation of lepers. He called for equal rights to all in the society irrespective of which strata they belonged to.

Six years after his return to India, Gandhi took charge of the Indian National Congress and gave a call for achieving Swaraj - independence of India from foreign domination. He asked the countrymen to protest the British-imposed salt tax with the 400 km Dandi Salt March in 1930, and also called the British to Quit India in 1942.

Gandhiji opened the party membership for a token fee and established a hierarchy of committees for improving discipline and transforming the party from an elite organisation to one of mass national appeal as evident in the recent protest of Anna Hazare on Jan Lokpal Bill. The Mahatma also brought the policy of boycotting foreign goods and using khadi. He exhorted all Indians to spend time daily on spinning khadi in support of the independence movement. Apart from boycotting British products, Gandhiji also urged the countrymen to boycott British educational institutions and law courts, and quit government employment and abandon British titles and honours among many others.

In his autobiography, ‘The Story of My Experiments with Truth’, Gandhiji admitted that Indian classics, especially the stories of Shravan and Maharaja Harishchandra, had a great impact on him and he had imagined himself as Raja Harishchandra. It is from these two characters that it is believed that Gandhiji identified himself with Truth and Love as supreme values.

Martin Luther King Jr. during his famous “I Have a Dream” speech also used the principle of Gandhiji’s Satyagraha, which meant an individual’s moral power. Satyagraha means ‘universal force’ and makes no distinction between kinsmen and strangers, young and old, man and woman, friend and foe.

Early Life

Gandhiji passed matriculation from Samaldas College at Bhavnagar, Gujarat, and studied Indian law and jurisprudence at University College London and trained to become a barrister at the Inner Temple. Gandhiji returned to India in 1891 and tried to begin his law practice in Bombay but failed and also tried his hand at teaching. He, however, began drafting petitions for litigants in Rajkot but was forced to abandon it and take up a year-long contract with an Indian firm, Dada Abdulla & Co., in the Colony of Natal, South Africa.

In 1895, in South Africa, Gandhiji faced discrimination when he was thrown off a train at Pietermaritzburg after refusing to move from the first-class to a third-class coach, while holding a valid first-class ticket. He was again attacked for refusing to make way for a European passenger. Gandhiji also refused to follow a Durban court order asking him to remove his turban.

Gandhiji’s first major achievement came in 1918 with the Champaran agitation and Kheda Satyagraha. In Kheda in Gujarat, he established an ashram and organized volunteers to carry out a study of the villages. In a move to boost the confidence of the villagers, the Mahatma began clean-up, building schools and hospitals and encouraged villagers to condemn social evils.

Freedom Struggle

In his struggle against the British, Gandhiji employed the weapons of non-cooperation and non-violence. He condemned the actions of the British and retaliatory action of the Indians at the Jallianwala Bagh massacre in Punjab. It was only after this incident that Gandhiji gave a call for Swaraj. He began his three-week fast in the autumn of 1924 after all attempts to patch up the growing differences between Hindus and Muslims failed. In this, he achieved limited success. Gandhiji embarked on a six-day fast in September 1932 to force the government to adopt an equitable arrangement after he rejected the government view of separate electorates for untouchables under the new constitution.

In August 1946, Gandhiji opposed the partition and suggested an agreement asking the Congress and Muslim League to cooperate and achieve independence under a provisional government, and settle the issue of partition through a plebiscite in Muslim majority districts. To quell riots, Gandhiji personally visited the affected areas. Norwegian historian, Jens Arup Seip, states that the Mahatma’s teachings, the efforts of his followers, and his own presence, prevented more bloodshed during the partition. After invoking of the Indian Independence Act nearly 12.5 million people were displaced and thousands lost their lives.

Depiction in Films

Many films have been made on the Mahatma, but the most loved by the audience is Hindi film, ‘Lage Raho Munna Bhai’ that was released in 2006. In 1982, Ben Kingsley essayed the role of Gandhi, which won the Academy Award for Best Picture. In 2007, another film, ‘Gandhi, My Father’ explored the relationship between him and his son Harilal. Another movie, ‘The Making of the Mahatma’ talks about Bapu’s time in South Africa.

The apostle of peace appears on every Indian rupee and there are two temples dedicated to him - one in Sambalpur, Orissa, and the other in Chikmagalur district, Karnataka.
Gandhiji got married at the age of 13 years to Kasturbai Makhanji, popularly called Kasturba or Ba and had four sons - Harilal, Manilal, Ramdas and Devdas. While proceeding for his evening prayers, Gandhiji was shot dead by Nathuram Godse on January 30, 1948 in New Delhi. Gandhiji’s philosophies and morals of life will keep him alive in people’s minds forever.

Long live Gandhiji and his ideals!

CAREER IN WEB DEVELOPMENT

With the advent of multinational companies and globalization, India has emerged as a hot place for job seekers with lot of opportunities in various sectors. Indian companies are now rich with great talent in the world and million dollars offshore projects.  Information Technology is one of the demanding fields where the Indian talent is asked for their remuneration with lot of growth prospects.
 Numbers of domains are associated with the I.T. industry in the world where a professional can bring home a thick packet of salary.  Web applications development is one of the areas where jobs as well as remunerations are endless.
 Web application development is very wide domain in which a job seeker should choose one of his interests out of abundant programming languages, scripts, tools and packages. Obviously, one should be able to be perfect in particular programming language or tool because it is very difficult to be expert in everything.
In Web development, there are many fields where a candidate can move with sufficient knowledge and proficiency. 
 Various positions in any Web Development Company are listed here -
1.    Web Designer
2.    Flash Designer and Game Specialist
3.    Web Master and Portal Manager
     1. WEB DESIGNER
Web designer is responsible for user interface design of a website. It includes designing of logo, banners, advertisements as well as other interactive elements. Its main goal is includes the development of user friendly, interactive and attractive designs so that user click on most of the links or banners. Moreover, the contents are presented to the end user in form of web pages. These interactive elements are placed in a website using markup languages. So, a web designer should be proficient in atleast HTML which is very common and effective markup language.
 In general practice, a web designer is responsible for creating static web pages rather than database driven dynamic web pages.  Here, static web page refers to the web document which remains same in content and layout unless the web designer changes it manually.
 On other part, dynamic web pages change its structure and contents depending upon the input given by the end-user.
 For a commercial website, the following aspects are considered
1.    Quality of images
2.    Quality of Content or simply Effective Content Writing
3.    User Friendly with simple, efficient and reliable interfaces
4.    Search Engines Friendly
5.    Color combination of text, background and images
6.    Quick downloading of pages
7.    Consistency in all web pages of the website
8.    Consistency in navigation
 1.1 DESIRED PROFILE
·    Graduate in any Discipline.
·    Good Communication Skills to interact directly with the Client.
·    Good knowledge of Designing Concepts,
·    Exposure to Search Engine Optimization Techniques
·    Awareness of the latest trend in web designing & development.
·    Knowledge of HTML, DHTML, CSS, JavaScript, Dreamweaver, Flash, Flash action scripts
·    Basic knowledge of server side scripts and database handling.
·    Knowledge to customize the web applications for multiple web browsers – Microsoft Internet Explorer, Opera, Mozilla Firefox
 1.2 RESPONSIBILITIES
·    Updating and maintaining the company Websites on regular basis.
·    To help in providing input and support for design functionality.
·    Understanding and gathering the client’s requirements and designing as per specifications
·    Delivering Creative Visualizations designs of Websites based on client requisition.
·    Designing banners/templates/logo and other media elements including.
·    Digital image processing using Adobe PhotoShop, Flash and other tools.
 2. FLASH DESIGNER AND GAME SPECIALIST
Flash designer is responsible for developing attractive and eye-catchy animations for the website to attract the visitors.  Various 2D/3D designs are developed using Macromedia Flash and Action Scripting. Flash animators work on professional product demos, advertisements and animations. Creativity, good understanding of the design specification and translation of business ideas into stunning animations/presentations is expected from a Flash Designer.
Action script programmers work on online games, corporate intros and product demonstrations. Good knowledge in AS2 and AS3 (Action Script) and SCORM (Sharable Content Object Reference Model) are required to become the team member of Action Script programmers.
 A fresh animator becomes the part of a team of producers who are responsible for producing effective and high quality games. The key job functions of the animators include producing ultimate games from concept stage till final publishing on the website. The game developers handle the external clients as well as in-house teams.
 While working as a key resource in online game development division, the candidates get familiar with various tools for creating wonderful animations.
 2.1 DESIRED PROFILE
·    Graduate in any discipline
·    Strong working knowledge and understanding of current web standards and user interface
·    In-depth knowledge and development experience with HTML/XHTML, JavaScript, CSS, Macromedia Flash and ActionScript, and Macromedia Breeze
·    Excellent 2D and 3D Animation skills
·    Ability to visualize and illustrate storyboards. 
·    Good conceptualization and visualization skills. 
·    Proactive in mocking up animation ideas 
·    Comprehensive knowledge of Multimedia Packages.
·    Knowledge of CorelDraw, SoundForge, Flash Action Scripting (AS 2.0 & AS 3.0) and experience as an animator for international clients will be an advantage.
·    Good analytical skills and aptitude
·    Ability to handle projects independently as well as excellent in interacting with the team members. 
·    Game enthusiast
 2.2 RESPONSIBILITIES
·    Interacting with client to analyze their requirement.
·    Performing quality work and add value by suggesting innovative ways of game programming and optimization of the game through Programming.
·    Video and Audio Editing
·    Implementation of new technologies with ease
·    Developing a project right from visualization, analysis, design, development and testing. 
·    Collaborate within the team to design and develop the project. 
·    Developing eye catchy games and animations.
·    Work with other designers – both internally and externally – to connect their designs to our proprietary back-end technology.
·    Work with other designers to provide a richer audience experience through the use of Flash, PHP and other advanced web technologies
 3. WEBMASTER AND PORTAL MANAGER
The webmaster also called as the web architect web developer, the website author, or the website administrator, is the person who is responsible for designing, developing, marketing, or maintaining a website. Webmasters are responsible for managing all aspects of Web operations including marketing aspects.  A webmaster is also named as Internet Specialist, Network/Web Engineer, Web Administrator or Web Application Engineer
 Webmasters typically have the expertise in various scripting languages such as PHP, ColdFusion, Perl and Javascript. They are also expert in configuring web servers such as Apache and serve as the server administrator.  The main responsibilities of the webmaster include the management of access privileges of different users of a website as well as the appearance and setting up website navigation.
 The Web Portal Manager works in the same way as a webmaster but his role is quite diversified.  A web portal presents information in a website from different sources in a unified way.
 Varying from the standard search engines, web portals provide other services such as
·    Matrimonial Services
·    E-mail
·    News
·    Sports
·    Shopping
·    Travels and Tour Management
·    Stock prices and Business Details
·    Career counseling and education
·    Information
·    Entertainment and many more

Some of the famous web portals are
·    Rediff.com
·    Yahoo.com
·    Google.com
·    Indiatimes.com
·    India.gov.in
 3.1 DESIRED PROFILE
·    Sound knowledge of website development, and should be creative enough to produce innovative designs and ideas.
·    Candidate should have rich relevant experience on weblogic or websphere administration (dual skills have added advantage)
·    Experience in a production environment.
·    Coding (HTML / PHP / .net / ASP / Database / Java script / Joomla / oscommerce / other shopping carts / payment integration / vBulletin / CSS etc.
·    Good knowledge of UNIX and Linux administration with network troubleshooting.
·    Hands on Experience on CA Siteminder. CA Siteminder is a Web access management system which is having all features to manage a website or web portal.
·    Web design skills and experience
·    Excellent knowledge and experience with HTML at the tag level
·    Experience with DHTML, COM and client-side JavaScript programming experience is also required. 
·    Thorough knowledge of browser compatibility issues for all platforms/major browsers is necessary. 
·    Knowledge of conversion of existing images (TIFF, BMP, PSD) for online use (JPG, GIF) using Adobe ImageReady and PhotoShop. 
·    Thorough knowledge of browser compatibility issues for all platforms/major browsers.
 3.2 RESPONSIBILITIES
·    Creating and maintaining websites and online marketing
·    Handling issues with technology
·    Creating new content and updating old content on websites
·    Monitoring search engine optimization and placement
·    Tracking effectiveness of online marketing and website lead capturing
·    Trading links with appropriate sites
·    Install SSL certificates
·    Integration of web infrastructure components with each other and Line of Business applications
·    Installation of database plug-ins and connectivity
·    Managing URL redirections
·    Managing concurrency and security in website.

Courtesy: Employment News

Numbers: The Way to Success…

Are you a number lover? Are you a number genius?

You think it is odd that you spend more time playing with numbers than with a cricket ball?
Think again as few years down the line you might be the most sought after in the job world!

A study released by CareerCast.com, a job site that evaluated 200 professions on five criteria: environment, income, employment outlook, physical demands and stress, determined that the best of the jobs is of mathematicians!

Mathematics as we know had been a part and parcel of the business world since the inception of trade. However, for a long time it had been practiced only to maintain logs and keep an account of loss and profit. Of late accountancy has undergone as huge a transformation as the business world itself not only in its terminology but also in its scope.

Performing complex and lengthy numerical calculations or determining something by mathematical or logical methods is now known as Number Crunching. Huge calculations or number crunching has found new avenues of work. An employee with the gift of calculations can look at any of the following fields to make a mark according to his own interests.

• Insurance or financial planning: For those who dislike compliance but enjoy solving problems, these professions would allow one to find solutions on a more year-round basis.
• Actuarial science: For those who have the ability to assess the financial impact of an uncertain future event.
• Technical compliance: Those who love research and following regulations and codes, working in a technical compliance role at a private company could be a good match.
• Operational accounting: This could be a fit for professionals interested in the process-driven approach to accounting but tired of the finance aspect.
• Risk management: A strong demand for risk-management pros exists across an array of industries.
• Inventory manager: Responsibilities include forecasting sales, which may make it an attractive option for those who like the tax-planning aspect of accounting.
• Tech implementation: CPAs who like to crunch tech as much as numbers, working on a company’s global implementation of software might be a more appropriate fit.
Accountants are also needed in the media, arts, retail and the public sector.

Scope of Number Crunching:
It is no revelation then that graduates with finance specialization are the most sought after in the market. With an opportunity thrown at them to work with the leading banks, Non-banking Finance Companies and Finance Companies other than Banks, these students have a wide spectrum of fields to venture into. Gone are the days when accountants were stereotyped as shy people who are good at doing taxes and balancing books but somewhat inept when it comes to dealing with people or business directly. By the numbers 23% of top officers (chair, CEO, president, CFO, COO and corporate secretary) in Report on Business (ROB) Top 1000 companies were chartered accountants in 2006 while it went up to 61% in 2010.

“The qualifications of an accountant are highly desirable today for companies looking to fill a CEO position” says Peter Grech, managing director at Grech Associates Executive Search Inc., an executive recruitment firm in Toronto. In the wake of corporate scandals, executives with financial education are more marketable as CEOs because they’re viewed as someone who can be held to a higher level of accountability.Many companies see mergers and acquisitions as critical to survival and growth, and having a CEO with a strong grasp of financial structures and the ability to read meaning into the numbers on a financial statement can give a company a distinct edge in complex business deals. CEOs are particularly valuable during tough economic times, when companies must often make cuts to their operations. Having someone at the helm who truly understands the financial implications of each decision can make a huge difference, he says.
Today’s accountants thus are a new breed of professionals, many are strong managers, entrepreneurs and business strategists, and they’re taking on broader roles in their companies.
Number crunching in India especially in the government sector has also undergone a sea change. The Indian Economic Service (IES) offers excellent growth prospects. Moreover, in today’s rapidly globalising environment, one could play an important role in major policy decisions of the government. The Indian Statistical Service (ISS) and the Subordinate Statistical Service (SSS), currently employs 3,344 people and faces a staff shortage of 30% implying that in this field demand always exceeds supply.
Number Crunching has opened up new avenues of outsourcing and thus job opportunities. New Zealand may have 30,000 chartered accountants, but an increasing portion of its number-crunching is being done in India.
At least two New Zealand accountancy firms, including Polson Higgs, have been progressively outsourcing back-office accounting to India, taking advantage of cheaper labour and different time-zones. Polson Higgs has 120 staff in Christchurch and Dunedin and seven chartered accountants in Coimbatore. Auckland firm Gilligan Sheppard has also out-sourced back-office accounting to India in the past three years and has started offering the service directly to small-scale rural accounting firms through a related company, Connect Accounting. Connect Accountants has 50 chartered accountants in Chandigarh.
Getting Started
Apart from an ability to crunch numbers, one would also need a Bachelor’s degree in accounting and commerce from any university to become an accounts professional. Once that is completed, one can do an internship or start off as an assistant to any reputed chartered accountant or join any business at an entry level job.

Some institutions like banks may insist on a professional degree like an MBA or CA. Others require a basic graduate/post graduate qualification, but with the necessary knowledge and skills.

It is possible to be extremely successful in finance without a master’s degree from a top-ranked school. Some areas of finance, particularly relationship management and sales, only require the knowledge of basics. One’s people and sales skills will allow them to succeed. However anyone eyeing at developing adaptive quantitative trading or economic models, will need a master’s degree in business administration (MBA) at the minimum, with top jobs usually going to holders of doctorates in math, statistics, economics or finance.

The most sought after professional degree in the Commerce stream is Chartered Accountancy. In India, only Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) is legislatively competent to award the degree of CA. The Institute has its headquarters at New Delhi. In addition, it has five Regional Councils located in Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Kanpur and New Delhi and 116 Branches spread all over the country. Common Proficiency Test (CPT) is an entry level test for Chartered Accountancy Course. It is a test of four subjects i.e., Accounting, Mercantile Laws, General Economics and Quantitative Aptitude. A student may register with the Board of Studies of the Institute for Common Proficiency Test (CPT) after passing Class 10 examination and may appear for the same after appearing in the 10+2 examination. After passing CPT and 10+2 one may join the Chartered Accountancy Course.

In the Government sector, ISS is the senior service and SSS, the junior one. One will need a post-graduate degree in maths or statistics or economics to apply for ISS. SSS applicants need to have a graduate degree in these subjects.

To become an actuary, one must be a Fellow of a recognised professional examining body like the Actuarial Society of India (ASI), Mumbai or the Institute of Actuaries, London. The Institute of Actuaries Of India (IAI or formally ASI) is the only professional body of Actuaries in India.

The Road Ahead…
The most important part of any professional education is the scope to earn and grow. In the accounting business, sky is the limit in terms of money one can make. There is no dearth of opportunities in the industry. But it solely depends upon the individual approach to grab them coupled with one’s own interest, willingness to work, and of course the willingness to learn.

People with accounting skills can work anywhere. Recognizing the skills that go beyond number crunching is important when considering career paths that deviate from the traditional CA trajectory. There’s a range of fields where the skills of a certified accountant can apply from risk management to recruiting, making a career change possible. People with inclination towards soft skills or people management also find their calling in marketing, human resources, client acquisition and development.

On a lighter note, one can say that accounting is a great employment option because this is one of those jobs where, one can always send in a fat bill to the client irrespective of the amount of time spent on the work!

Potential for Retail in India: Is sky the limit?

As the name suggests, Retail Banking & Finance manages the banking needs of individuals and small businesses. Why are we saying ‘And Finance’? Because Non Banking Finance Companies (NBFCs) also offer financing — loans — to individuals, not just banks.

It’s important to know that retail banking is the largest recruiter of all the divisions. It may not be glamorous, but it sure is a steady career. And in India, with millions of citizens yet to access banking services, it is growing fast. Remember, in banking, as in everything else, focus counts. If you focus on an achievable objective you are likely to crack a job. And if the work you do matches your skill sets, there is no stopping you.

So what are the roles at the entry-level, here? Let’s try and classify them into those facing the customer, and those which are purely operational.

Service roles: These are customer facing roles. The main ones are that of a teller and customer service officer. A teller doesn’t just receive and handout cash, he also handles foreign exchange, gives out demand drafts and manages remittances (payments such as wire transfers, money orders, telegraphic transfers etc). You will see these roles in branches, and public sector banks are the largest recruiters here. The pre-requisite is a graduate degree, preferably in Commerce. You will, of course, need to go through a recruitment exam/interview to get selected.

What about a customer service officer/personal banker? As the name suggests, the role is to handle all the queries and issues a customer to the branch may have, and will be located in the branch. You will see this role mainly in the private and MNC banks. A personal banker (also called a Relationship Officer/Manager) also has a sales target. This is especially true for someone who joins with an MBA degree — will be allocated a group of customers and has to manage their requirements as well as understand their needs and sell them products such as loans, mutual funds, gold coins, etc. It is therefore important for them to have a good understanding of retail banking as a whole — has to handle any issues which the customer may have across the bank. (“My cheque hasn’t been cleared/ How does my brother open an NRI account/ I need foreign currency etc.). Apart from this knowledge, he should also have good communication skills — which doesn’t mean just the ability to talk, but also the ability to listen and understand what the customer needs. The growth path is typically to a higher profile of customers (with more money!), and then to a branch manager.

Sales roles: These are pure customer facing roles. A sales officer typically is assigned to specific products — either deposit products (called CASA or Current Accounts & Savings Accounts) or loans such as auto loans, personal loans, home loans, etc. Most sales officers just go and pitch their products to the customer. They do not study the customer’s profile, understand their requirements and based on that ask them questions. This is important.

Also remember, a satisfied customer will get you more business. Many sales people also do not know their products well. Study the variants of the product you are selling, and the key processes (documents needed, how long it takes for a loan to get disbursed/account to get opened, etc). Both graduates and MBAs are recruited here. A good sales officer can have a fast growth path, and move up to managing a sales force for a product, groups of products and larger territories.

Operational roles: Typically a role for graduates, roles here involve attention to detail. All the services needed to make sure that the bank’s offerings work properly, gets done here. For example, payment processing for a loan, checking the documentation of a loan or new account, cheques and electronic payments are all handled by operations. These are not customer facing roles, but need a high degree of efficiency and ability to manage large volumes of work. Growth can be fast if you achieve this.

Certifications

So how can I get such a job? Are my basic qualifications good enough? Is there any additional certification that will help you learn about and join the retail banking division of a bank?

A certification can prove critical on two important counts; it can provide an edge in the interview and it can show you are focused and know what you want to do with your career.
There aren’t too many, but the prominent ones which give you an overview on banking are:
Indian Institute of Banking & Finance (IIBF): This is an entry-level diploma. You get a set of three books, and write an exam. This is mainly for the Public Sector Banks (PSBs).

Institute of Banking, Finance & Insurance (IFBI): More private sector oriented, they have entry-level diplomas in banking operations and relationship management. They are offered as classroom sessions over six months.

Finitiatives Learning India Pvt. Ltd: (FLIP): Again more for the private sector, they have entry-level online training & certifications in banking as well as higher level programmes in retail banking.

Try Googling ‘retail banking training certification’, and choose pages from India, to see more choices. While none of these are a must, they certainly help you get an overview of the banking domain, and give you an edge during the recruitment process; they also help you settle into your role faster and perform better.

Follow up PG with research

Getting a well secured job after completing studies is dream of any student, but many others prefer to study further and go in for research programmes. All such interested students can enroll for the Research and Teaching Assistantship (RTA) programme offered by the New Delhi based Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU). Applications have been invited for the programme that commences in this academic session.

Interested students can download the application form from the University’s website www.ingou.ac.in . The last date for sending the applications is October 10, 2011.

Eligibility: All those who have earned a Postgraduate degree in any discipline from any recognized University with a good academic record are eligible to apply for the RTA Programme.  

The programme conducted by IGNOU provides postgraduates with a unique opportunity to pursue rigorous and high quality Ph.D. Programme combining it with eight hours of teaching work per week under the guidance and supervision of a senior teacher at various Schools/Centres/ Institutes/units. Following the strict guidelines laid down by the University Grants Commission (UGC) in awarding Ph.D, IGNOU seeks at least one original research publication in a high-impact refereed journal in the area of research. It also calls for development of a technology-enabled teaching module and appropriate course works.

On being awarded the Research and Teaching Assistantship, according to the Government of India rules, for a period of three years, a candidate earns a Fellowship of Rs. 18,000/-(consolidated) plus HRA. A student’s performance will be reviewed annually before disbursal of fellowship. Depending on the progress of the student, from third year onwards, the Monthly Fellowship is raised to Rs. 20,000/-. The University also has a provision for an annual contingent grant of Rs. 20,000/-.

Candidates securing above 60 percent aggregate in all examinations and as on September 30, 2011 are below 25 years of age are eligible to apply for the RTA Programme. The age limit is relaxable by five years for women and Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribe/Physically Handicapped candidates.

All those applying for the RTA Programme need to give the following details:

* The candidate’s full name, age, date of birth (As spelt in the earlier certificates)
* Permanent Address
* Address for Correspondence with Telephone and e-mail id

The students must give in detail their Educational Qualifications. It consists of the following details:
·    Board/University/Institute from where they have passed
·    Year of .Passing
·    Class/Grade/ Division secured with percentage of Marks in each Examination
·    Subject of Specialization

Relevant Information: The student must inform the University about other details too. Like:
·    Previous research Experience, if any
·    Whether Qualified in the UGC NET/JRF or CSIR JRF Examination?
·    Two Testimonials from teachers who taught the student at the Post-Graduate level.

All the above documents and information have to be enclosed with a signed undertaking that all the information provided as part of this application is genuine and true. Completed application forms should reach the office of Director, Research Unit, Block-06, Room No.-18, IGNOU, Maidan Garhi, New Delhi-110068.

Spectrum of roles across Banking and Financial Services Industry

Working in the banking and financial services sector is challenging and pays well. It’s important however, to understand the different roles.

Are you in your final year of college or graduation and have you been wondering, what next? Accounting? Writing code for a software company? Call centre executive? Can you think of a sector that hires over a million people, pays well, and transacts in billions of dollars?

In the ever expanding world economy, banking & financial sector play a predominant role in regulating and supporting the flow of capital it’s the Banking and Financial Services (BFS) industry. This includes a wide spectrum of roles across banks, mutual funds and brokerages. Don’t forget that over 30 per cent of IT and BPO companies’ revenues come from servicing this industry. People move across banks, NBFCs, IT firms and BPO companies, using their experience for a range of roles.

Roles and responsibilities

Broadly, BFS players are divided into Banks and Non Banking Finance Companies or NBFCs.
What’s the difference?

The key difference relates to what you do regularly, without even thinking about it —withdraw money whenever you want! A bank is the only institution that is licensed to accept deposits which are repayable on demand — i.e. whenever the depositor wants. A bank collects money from depositors at a certain cost, and makes money by lending it out or investing it for higher returns.

Working in BFS is interesting, challenging and pays well. It’s important however, to understand the different roles, and the skills needed for each. Don’t look for the ‘glamorous’ roles — look for those where your personality and skills will ensure you perform well. If you enjoy what you do, you’ll do well.

Given this background, let us then understand the Banking and Financial Sector world. The key businesses in BFS can be broadly classified into six sub-divisions:
• Retail Banking & Finance
• Corporate Banking & Finance
• Private Banking & Wealth Management
• Treasury & Capital Markets
• Investment Banking
• Asset Management

Retail Banking and Finance

Retail, or individual banking, handles the banking needs of individuals and small businesses. The primary role is to mobilise deposits for the bank, via savings accounts, fixed deposits, current accounts, etc.

Retail loans are popular — personal loans, education loans, vehicle loans, home loans and credit cards. They also offer services such as lockers, demand drafts and foreign currency. So when you open an account, apply for a credit card, issue a demand draft etc, its retail banking at work.
Two important points:
First, for a bank, deposits are liabilities as they have to be returned to the account holder.

Loans generate income for the bank, and are called ‘asset products’.

Therefore, in Retail Banking, you either work on the liabilities side or on the assets side.
Second — and most important — the Retail banking division is typically the largest recruiter, especially for graduates.

Most people don’t bother to study much about it, and business schools ignore it but it makes perfect career sense to understand this division and start here. Private banks hire thousands of people for this division, and in large public sector banks, it runs into tens of thousands!
NBFCs also do a lot of retail lending. Simply put, if you are looking for a job, you will find most opportunities in retail banking.

Corporate Banking and Finance

The main responsibility of this division is to lend, and the target segment is corporates — large and mid-sized corporates. They give short-term loans, called working capital loans, and long-term loans called term loans.

Corporate Banking also offers services to corporates, such as trade finance and cash management, to help them in the course of their business.

Corporate banking hires reasonable numbers, though mostly post graduates — MBAs and CAs. Large NBFCs also lend to corporates.

Wealth Management

This is a personalised form of banking for the wealthy called High Networth Individuals or HNIs. It revolves around ensuring profitable investments for such clients. Traditional banking needs (deposits, cards, other services) of a client are also catered to by a specialised Relationship Manager. It needs, therefore, an understanding of various banking products and services, as well as investment products such as mutual funds.
Watch out for this sector. It is definitely the next ‘hot’ or sunrise sector; there is a huge gap between the numbers that Wealth Management needs, and available resources.

Treasury and Capital Markets

This is the division where financial products such as equities, bonds, currencies, and other exotic products are traded. These transactions can be on behalf of customers. That is, if Maruti wants to pay a million dollars for imports, it can’t buy this foreign currency on its own — it has to go via a bank. Banks also trade on their own behalf.

Institutions in this space:

Banks: Stock, bond & currency markets.
Brokerage firms and Mutual Funds: Stock and bond markets.

Banks usually hire MBAs and CAs for trading roles. Graduates have a good chance in the brokerage firms and Mutual Funds.

Investment Banking (‘I Banking’)

This ‘glamorous’ division covers activities such as:
Mergers and Acquisitions (M&As)

Raising capital (via shares or bonds) also called  Merchant Banking

Management graduates from premier business schools tend to be offered these positions. However, if you have the necessary skills, there is nothing stopping anyone entering this sometimes over-rated space.
Remember, from a job perspective, the numbers here are very small. So don’t get obsessed with I-Banking. While it may sound glamorous, you will probably be involved only in preparing presentations and Excel sheets for the first year!

Asset Management

Mutual Funds are an integral part of the BFS world, managing over Rs 400,000 crores of funds. The legal entity managing the funds is called an ‘Asset Management Company’, or AMC. AMCs hire graduates and post graduates in sales and research roles.

What do we mean by research? Well, for them to invest all that money, they need to track companies and industries, and decide where to invest. MF sales are also a large opportunity.