Happy Janmashtami.........!!!

Pocket Money Rising: 75% of Indian Youth Spend INR 6000 per month On Cosmetics, Apparel & Mobile!

It’s unbelievable the amount of money today’s youth spend on things like cosmetics, apparels and mobiles. Go to any coffee shop and you will see teenagers spending over Rs. 100 for one coffee. I am just not able to digest this fact. And, this is not the case only with rich kids, the spending happens across the board.

An ASSOCHAM study conducted on the eve of “World Youth Day”, celebrated on August 12th, shows that about 75 percent of Indian youth (16 – 21 years old) spend more than Rs. 6000 on cosmetics, apparels and mobiles.

The findings were based on interactions with 2000 youngsters in 10 Indian cities. It revealed that their cosmetic consumption has gone up by about 65 percent in last 10 years.

10 years back, in 2003, the average expenditure done by urban Indian youth was less than Rs. 1500, which has risen multifold to Rs. 6000 in 2013.

According to the study, cosmetics and apparels account for majority of this spend. Majority of Indian youngsters spend over Rs. 4500 per month on cosmetics alone. This clearly points to the fact that looking good and appearances are increasingly becoming important to them. The rise in spending has been more pronounced in last 3 years since 2010 as compared to previous years.

Eating out is also one of the passions of today’s youth with around 15 percent of the pocket money is now being spent on food items as per the survey.

Interestingly, male counterparts spend more on cosmetics compared to females, mainly on items like men’s hair care products, deodorants, razors and blades.

Brands also play an important role for today’s Indian youth with 85 percent of them preferring expensive branded quality products over cheaper local ones.

The most surprising finding (which I am not too sure of) is that according to survey male consumers frequently change their handsets as many as two or three times in a month and generally have two mobile handsets with them.

Steps to update project detail on GTU website...!!

1.      Open link in Mozilla or Google Chrome

Link: http://projects.gtu.ac.in/

2.      Go to Phase-I

3.   Enter Enrollment No. and Date of Birth. (Full name, College name and Department name will be updated automatically) Then enter your E-mail ID and Mobile No. and click on Add button.

4.     This process (step-3) is to be repeated till all members are added.

5.    After adding team members click on register team button. You will get TEAM ID with PDF generated. Keep it saved in your system for further use.

6.      Now go to main page i.e. http://projects.gtu.ac.in/

7.   Enter your team ID (Which is generated in PDF) and any one enrollment No. of your team member.

8.      You will get your team detail there.

9.      Now fill up all the details:

a.       Project title (Capitalize each word except in, on, an, a, etc.)

b.      Abstract of your project in one paragraph (You have to reduce your abstract in one paragraph. It should cover your core work detail only which you are going to do in future)

c.    Company name if IDP. If UDP write DIET or your project ID given by college i.e. 10MEPR….

d.    Company Detail in short if IDP. If UDP write college name i.e. Darshan Institute of Engineering & Technology, Rajkot.

e.       Fill up internal guide details

f.        Company representative detail if IDP.

g.       Click on Update.

h.   Then generate a pdf and take a print out of it and submit it to me on Monday (19/8/2013)

A seminar on "Utilization of Indian Standards in Education Institutes" @ DIET

 A seminar on “Utilization of Indian Standards in Education Institutes” was organized at Darshan Institute of Engineering & Technology, Rajkot on 25^th July, 2013. It was an excellent learning experience for our students of B.E. 7th semester Mechanical Department.

A seminar was conducted by Mr. Bir Raj Bans Singh Scientist ‘E’, Bureau of Indian Standards, Rajkot and Mr. R. Tirumdarao Scientist ‘B’ to aware our students about Indian Standards and also to motivate for the utilization of Indian Standards in their research/project work.

Priorities of Present Generation....!!

Yesterday night while I was talking to one of my college student, I happened to ask about his exam results. Seeing how coolly he replied he had failed and based on our further talk, I got an idea for the attached cartoon.

How higher education is becoming meaningless in India..!!

It is a really sad state of affairs in the country at the moment so far as higher education is concerned. It is more of a chore, a must do something rather than pursuing your field of interest, or striving for academic excellence. The de-facto standard in the country at the moment is to pursue a course in engineering irrespective of the field and the college, so long as it helps one get a degree at the end of four years. Which by the way, not many are interested in by the time those four years come to an end. The realization dawns a bit too late, that they were not cut up for it. The ones who lagged due to disinterest are doomed, the ones who persevered despite disinterest choose rosier avenues. At the end of which, everyone ends up on the losing side. The student loses years of his life struggling with something he hardly considered important. The college, faculty and administration spent resources on a no-returns venture.

The time has come, when parents need to lose hold of their control on the kids. It is their life, and with all due respect, the new generation is far smarter than the older one. It knows for sure what it wants. It may be a little out-of-control, but it is understanding, and given the field of interest, it is hard working. Perhaps more than the older generation. A burgeoning economy offers more career opportunities than probably there were in the pre-liberalization era. The time for ‘only doctors/engineers need apply’ in matrimonial ads is long past.

Today the youth is beating out new paths for itself, testing unchartered waters, dreaming big, following their dreams, chasing offbeat careers and making it big. While a degree in engineering or medical may still guarantee you that fat package, but the question is, is that what I want to be doing for the rest of my life.? You will not be the first, nor will be the last to ask that question.

Chetan Bhagat being the most ‘appealing’ example for the case in hand – an IIT graduate turned investment banker turned ‘ahem’ popular author. What went wrong with all those guys who chose investment banking after years at engineering. Or with Devendra Purbiya, who took to photography full time. There are examples galore. What went wrong with all these guys? Lack of realisation? Forced will? Lack of opportunity? Lack of information?

Another problem facing the country at the moment is the lack of structured guidance and information system to help equip students with the correct information at the right time. Getting to know about admission process in say National institute of photography, Mumbai may involve the candidate calling up every number listed in there, and still drawing a blank. Despite the ubiquitousness and the effective reach of the internet, phone and other mass media vehicles, our education infrastructure is lagging way behind. This is a void which needs to be filled. And no, we can’t wait for the so-called government to help us with it. About time we started helping ourselves. Wield the power of community, and ensure that the young ones reach where they want to, touching new heights.

Thoughts Welcome!

Online Courses – Heralding a new era of Learning

There are few things that can beat learning. Not just because it gives us means to survive but also because it opens our minds to new things and ideas that might have been foreign to us. I am a big fan of learning something new. Sometimes, I try something that I may have never tried before and sometimes it’s just a reiteration of things closer to me.

When I was a child books were the only source (credible enough) to learn something new. Discovery Channel came close second to expand my mind.

Those were the old days though. Now, in the era of internet when there exists a medium that works to and fro, information can be transferred at leisure and distance is no longer a constraint learning something new is not only easy but not very costly as well.

I would like to talk about three mediums (inside internet itself) that are helping people achieve the desired skills.

1. Books and other written stuff

While it may be old school it still serves the purpose. On the internet one can find several free books that are good to study. For example, I once searched for a book on Python and ended up with more (high quality) books than I could read. Then there always is Wikipedia. Helping students completing their projects the quality of the open encyclopedia is improving and is at par with its professional counterparts.

Add to this the amount of content available in form of blogs like cooking blogs and language learning courses pretty much everything under the sun has been tabulated and scripted on internet by people who are willing to impart the knowledge.

2. Online Videos and Courses

Reading is not everyone’s passion and not everyone has the patience to endure a long book. Enters videos! If you look at the number of channels on YouTube alone that are focused on teaching, it is amazing. Add to it the complete sites dedicated to the idea and it becomes mind-blowing. Be it ‘thenewboston’ on YouTube or Khan Academy or Udemy or the MIT opencourseware, the courses are there to teach you everything from Guitar to Programming to basic high school Maths.

And it is not only global universities who are doing this – Even in India, Government initiatives like NPTEL have allowed IITs across India to create thousands of hours of curriculum based online videos that not only help students, but also faculties immensely. Many online platforms like My Open Courses are being setup where students can ask questions and get their doubts clarified from top academic minds!

3. Interactive sites

How can internet end without interactive environment! Although, I have seen this only for programming languages (we have even reviewed a few) it is the best way to learn. There is no better way than to actually do it and these sites give a platform where you can make your own programs and move to notepad when you are ready for it. I am sure the same idea can be implemented for other arts as well. Like teaching to be a DJ! Make your own music instantly to go to next level.

Many times these three will be merged with each other. Books to go along with the videos or maybe a video with the interactive window, these things support each other.

What is important is that the knowledge is out there without discrimination of caste or race or geography. With the cost of internet decreasing and the price of internet enabled devices going down knowledge sharing might be the next big revolution.

Why Indian Students Still Fear Taking Competitive Exams in digital platform?

As summer temperatures soar, the tensions of students rise proportionally. With competitive exams at the center for most of the aspirants looking for a good technical institute, giving exams efficiently is definitely the prime concern. One of the toughest and most challenging exams at graduate level in India, the IIT Joint entrance examination was conducted with two formats – computer based and on paper.

This year, like the last year, saw a vast population move out of the urban centers to tier II cities so that they could opt for offline JEE. Cities such as the outskirts of Thane, Amravati, Pune, Pondicherry were flooded with students as these supported the on paper exam. The JEE for Cities such as Mumbai, Kolkata, Bangalore was made compulsively computer based.

A widespread scare among the aspirants for choosing the computer based exam was observed, although on a lower side as compared to last year. For some, it’s the confidence of paper – pencil pattern to which students are traditionally used to matters.

For some, since the coaching institutes suggested that the computer based examination would be risky as it involves technical glitches and dependency on center, it was better to opt for paper exam.

We explore why we are still hesitant to adapt the technological upgradations.

The purpose of digitizing the examinations was to let students choose the preferred day and timings in the given JEE Window, so that it’s much easier on both the students, and the JEE Evaluators to do it in installments.

1. One could not change the answer once finalized in the traditional paper pen exam, as the answers had to be shaded dark on the answer sheet (which would be scanned and evaluated later). In case of computer based exam, one could change the answers by a click – convenience much needed for students amidst high tension and pressure.

2. Digitizing the exam would also mean the evaluation is fair and processed automatically; the generation of score sheets would be quicker and access to results and further decision on admissions would be faster.

As the IIT JEE authorities pound efforts to give comfort to students, the stats show that students still prefer the traditional format on paper.

Student Preference (Computer based Exam Vs Offline exam takers, in Lakh)

Why?

1) Previous Fiasco’s: Evidence such as the CAT Examination fiasco not long back, suggest that the first time use of a digitally improved mechanism involves a larger risk factor. We are used to referring papers from the past and the methodologies our ‘seniors’ used in solving the same. Thus, mind wanders off to choosing the safer route.

2) The fear of an abeyance: A glitch or a failure which can be counted to many such as electricity issue, bug in the software, machine dependency or crashing of system evidently concludes, a paper system is a better option.

3) Traditional Comfort: When we sit for an exam on a desk rather than on a computer – we get to see the whole question paper as against on a computer – where one question pops up sequentially.

4) Use of Paper Tests: A student having studied in a coaching institute or at home, has studied for the past two years on paper, and is habituated to such an environment. Preference automatically goes to the paper test.

While it wouldn’t have been a topic of discussion, had the JEE computerized the whole procedure at once – the fact that they are upgrading phase by phase makes me wonder, if they too, like the students, doubt about the robustness of the digital environment as well.

It would be great to know your comments – What mode of exams would you prefer (if you were a student)? Computer based or on Paper?

IT ક્ષેત્રે ચાલુ વર્ષે નોકરીની 1.20 લાખ તક સર્જાશે..!!

નવી દિલ્હી :  

કેમ્પસ હાયરિંગના ઘટતાં પ્રભાવ છતાં દેશના IT & ITeS ક્ષેત્રમાં ચાલુ વર્ષે નોકરીની 1.20 લાખ તક સર્જાવાની શક્યતા હોવાનું નિષ્ણાતોએ જણાવ્યું હતું .

પશ્ચિમના અર્થતંત્ર મંદીનો સામનો કરી રહ્યા હોવાથી કેમ્પસ હાયરિંગમાં ઘટાડો જોવા મળી રહ્યો છે તેથી આ વર્ષે મોટા ભાગની ભરતી ખુલ્લા માર્કેટમાંથી થશે .

ગય વર્ષે કેમ્પસ હાયરિંગનું પ્રમાણ ઘટ્યું હતું , આ વખતે પણ એવી જ સ્થિતિ છે . ચાલુ વર્ષે આ ક્ષેત્રે નોકરીની 1,20,000 જગ્યાઓ સર્જાવાનો અમારો અંદાજ છે , તેમ ટેલેન્ટ એસેસમેન્ટ કંપની મેરિટ ટ્રેડના ઈનોવેશન અને કોર્પોરેટ બિઝનેસના વડા રાજીવ મેનને જણાવ્યું હતું .

નાસકોમના અંદાજ પ્રમાણે ચાલુ વર્ષે IT સેક્ટર 12 થી 14 ટકાના દરે વિકાસ સાધે તેવી શક્યતા છે .

વર્ષો સુધી IT કંપનીઓ ભરતી માટે કેમ્પસ હાયરિંગ પર મદાર રાખતી હતી . જોકે , 2008 બાદ બદલાયેલી આર્થિક પરિસ્થિતિમાં આ ટ્રેન્ડ બદલાઈ રહ્યો છે અને તેનાથી કેમ્પસમાંથી હાયરિંગ પર અસર જોવા મળી હતી .

ગત વર્ષે 1.8 લાખ ગ્રેજ્યુએટની કેમ્પસમાંથી IT સેક્ટરમાં સીધી ભરતી થઈ હતી જે પ્રમાણ આ વર્ષે 30 ટકા ઘટવાની સંભાવના છે .

બદલાતી આર્થિક પરિસ્થિતિને કારણે કેમ્પસમાંથી સીધી ભરતીનું પ્રમાણ ઘટી રહ્યું છે . બિઝનેસની માંગમાં સાતત્યના અભાવે એન્ટ્રી લેવલની ભરતી પર અસર જોવા મળી છે .

આ નવા ટ્રેન્ડ અંગે બોલતાં ગ્લોબલ હન્ટના એમડી સુનિલ ગોયલે જણાવ્યું હતું કે , હાલમાં સ્થિતિ એવી છે કે નીચા ભાવે અનુભવી લોકો ઉપલબ્ધ હોવાથી કેમ્પસમાંથી સીધી ભરતી કરવાનું ઘટી રહ્યું છે . આ સ્થિતિમાં કંપનીઓ પણ સીધી માર્કેટમાંથી ભરતી કરવાનું પસંદ કરી રહી છે .

2005 માં IT ક્ષેત્રે કેમ્પસમાંથી 3,65,000 સ્નાતકોની સીધી ભરતી કરવામાં આવી હતી પણ , તે પ્રમાણે 2012 માં ઘટીને 1,30,000 થઈ ગયું હતું .

India And Israel To Jointly Develop 5G Technology!

As far as internet speeds go, India is as good as it is in Olympics. Sometimes I do wonder; how do we lack so much in certain things in which we can be at par with other nations easily?

The speeds in India are at a rise. We have finally left the Kbps era and many of us are now used to our Youtube videos actually running without leaving them to buffer for an hour.

It is even better to see that Government realizes this and is making an effort so that we do not see the delay that we have seen earlier in technology coming to India.

3G reached in India when bigger and better countries were moving to 4G. 4G in India is currently in nascent stage and not just because of price but because of reach. Eventually 4G will become commonplace but it is not anytime soon.

In such light, it is heartening to see that India and Israel have agreed to jointly work on the development of 5G technology.

There are two-fold advantages of that.

1. No other country has deployed 5G yet. In fact, the companies testing it, believe that it would take around 5 years for 5G to come to market. This means that we would be perfectly placed to be in step with the rest of the world where 5G is concerned.

2. Israel is known for its technology and innovation. This means that the quality of 5G would not be lacking and would be at par with any other 5G technology.

The matters regarding 5G were discussed when Telecom and IT minister Kapil Sibal visited Israel last month.

Here is what a senior DoT official had to say:

“Israel has technology and innovation, India has the capital and market. The two areas which emerge out of discussion related to telecom were: reducing roaming charges between India and Israel and exploring the possibilities of standard formulation, research and development, and manufacturing in the area of 4G and 5G.”

Looking at the jump from 2G to 3G in terms of internet speeds and from 3G to 4G, it will be really exciting to see what 5G will have to offer. Theoretically, it can reach to about 1 Gbps which is the speed of fibre optics network.

Let’s see what fruit this joint venture bears.