Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan

The World Bank has expressed interest to support the newly launched Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA) scheme for improvement of quality of secondary education in the country.

The Ministry of HRD has agreed to the proposal of the World Bank and has written to Department of Economic Affairs (DEA) for further action, DEA sources told PTI.

The Bank at present also supports the government's flagship programme, Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA), which aims at universalisation of elementary education.

The Bank has taken interest in RMSA keeping in view the objective of the programme to check drop-out rate at secondary level completely by 2020.

The scheme also aims to achieve a general enrollment target of 75 per cent for classes IX-X within five years from 52.26 per cent as in 2005-06 by providing a secondary school within a reasonable distance of every habitation.

The government has allocated Rs 20,120 crore during the 11th Plan for the scheme.

The World Bank may provide soft loans for the scheme, sources said.

As per the provision of the scheme, Centre shall bear 75 per cent of the project expenditure during the 11th five-year plan while states' share will be the remaining 25 per cent.

Sharing pattern will be 50:50 for the 12th five-year plan.

For both the 11th and 12th five-year plans, funding pattern will be 90:10 for North Eastern States.

Apart from improving quality of education at secondary level by making all secondary schools conform to prescribed norms, the scheme also aims at removal of gender, socio-economic and disability barriers and ensuring universal access to secondary level education by 2017 and universal retention by 2020.

It would also provide facilities for estimated additional enrollment of 32.20 lakh children by 2011-12 through strengthening of about 44,000 existing secondary schools, opening 11,188 new secondary schools, appointment of 1.79 lakh additional teachers and construction of 80,500 additional classrooms.

The other interventions are providing infrastructure in schools such as new classrooms with furniture, library, science laboratory, computer room and disabled-friendly provisions.

Besides, more teachers would be recruited with emphasis on science, mathematics and English faculty.

Teachers would be provided in service training along with teaching aids such as ICT and special focus would be given to SC/ST/Minorities girls.

Steps such as priority for opening or upgrading of schools in areas of SC/ST/minority/weaker section concentration and enrollment drives and special coaching classes in these areas are also envisaged under the scheme.

The scheme will be implemented in a Mission mode, with a National Mission headed by the HRD Minister and a project approval board headed by Secretary of School Education and Literacy to appraise and approve state plans.

Similarly, State Missions would be set up under Chief Ministers of the States and the UTs.

The scheme envisages development of state-specific norms.

Each district will be a unit of planning. The district plan will be appraised and consolidated at the state level and the state plan will be appraised by the technical support group attached to the National Mission.

The civil construction will be through School Management and Development Committee with representation from parents, Panchayati Raj Institutions and civil society.

Network Moniters from LG

Electronic giant LG Electronics launched Network Monitors in India. For around Rs 11000 these monitors can reduce the cost of a business establishment significantly.Up to 11 monitors connect to a single host computer, reducing purchasing costs, power consumption and maintenance.

Today's multi-core computers are so powerful that the vast majority of applications use only two to five percent of an average computer's capacity. The revolutionary multi-computing solution from LG enables a single PC to be virtualized so that many users can tap the unused capacity and share it as if each person had an individual computer, without compromising performance, stability or speed. These LG Network monitor, N42 Series directly connect up to 11 users to the same computer. These multi-computing solutions include built-in keyboard, mouse, and audio connections. The monitors connect to a PCI card plugged into the host PC that creates multiple virtual workspaces in conjunction with NComputing vSpace desktop virtualization software.

"This is an ideal solution for small businesses, schools, government offices, libraries and call centers that need to provide computing capabilities but must also consider costs, maintenance and environmental impact," said Mr. Ki Wan Kim, CEO LG Electronics Middle East and Africa. "In a recent independent survey of IT managers, 70 percent of respondents expressed interest in a solution like this if it did not impact system performance."

Maximum Computing, Minimum Cost
LG's Network Monitors offer substantial cost savings compared to traditional PCs and thin clients. These monitors eliminate the need for all users to have individual computes at their desks. And unlike thin clients, they do not need expensive servers that take up valuable space in the datacenter. These monitors deliver uncompromised virtual workspaces for up to 11 users sharing a single host computer at less than $1000 per unit.

Lower Environmental Impact
Beyond being better for balance sheets, LG's Network Monitors are also better for the environment. An average computer draws over 100 watts of power, but LG's revolutionary multi-computing solutions add up to just a few watts (1-5 Watt) per user, greatly lowering power consumption. For instance, for an organization to operate ten desktop computers, it takes more than 1,000 watts of power. Using ten of LG's Network Monitors connected to a single PC only requires about 200 watts of power resulting in electricity savings of 80%. The solution also generates very little heat, reducing demand for air conditioning.

Simple Maintenance Reduces Costs and Downtime
Easier maintenance is another advantage of LG's Network Monitors, which greatly reduce time spent by IT personnel on repairs and software installation. Also, because these monitors can run off of a standard computer, rather than a server, the level of technical expertise required to maintain them is far lower. Further, monitors are much less complex than full-fledged desktop computers, meaning that they are far more reliable. Finally, setup for an array of these monitors is much simpler than for a traditional network.

LG developed its Network Monitors in collaboration with desktop virtualization provider, NComputing, based in Silicon Valley, California. NComputing is the leader in low cost desktop virtualization solutions and was recently honoured at CES with an Innovations 2009 Design and Engineering award.

LG's Network Monitors are compatible with both Microsoft Windows and Linux operating systems. including standard and widescreen aspect ratios, and are designed to fit the needs of a wide range of industries and organizations. The monitors can be driven via the Virtual Desktop Ready connection (RJ-45) or via a standard VGA port for maximum flexibility.

Influential Indian Leaders in Politics, Business, Sports, and Culture

In India, change is so rapid it surprises even the powerful. Fortunes vanish, markets melt down, and the most die-hard fans find someone else to love, someone else to vote for.

Take, for instance, Navin Chawla. With 712 million voters considering their ballot as Indians vote on who will lead their country, one of India's most powerful men is perhaps the Chief Election Commissioner, N. Gopalaswami. India's elections began on Apr. 15 and take place in stages nationwide over several weeks. During that time, Gopalaswami is a bureaucrat with almost unlimited powers to impose order on an unruly process, moderate hate speech, and herd the world's largest democracy through a peaceful transfer of power. But on June 16, the elections will end, and he will vanish back into the labyrinth of the Indian bureaucracy.

In modern India, even powerful reigns can be short-lived. In the newest edition of BusinessWeek's list of the 50 most influential Indians, politicians jostle for space with professors, businessmen with cricketers. The attempt is to pinpoint the shifts in power that defined India in the past year, and to predict the players to watch for in the next year.

These include political leaders L K Advani(BJPs Primeministerial candidate),Sonia Gandhi(Power of congress),Narendra Modi(A Icon for youth and Corporate world due to Powerful and Efficient tenure as CM of Gujrat),Manmohan Singh(Economist turn politician and PM of India) ,Lalu Yadav(King Maker ),Sharad Pawar,BSP Supremo Mayawati and Left icon Prakash Karat.

From Business sector inlcude tha Anil Ambani(ADAG),Mukesh Ambani(RIL),Ratan Tata(TATA Sons), Lakshmi Mittal(Arcelor-Mittal) ,Ajit Balakrishana(rediff.com and rediffusion),Dilip Shanghvi(Sun Pharma),Ajij Premji(Wipro),Narayan Murthy(Mento Infosys),Shanker Annaswamy(IBM India's managing director) and Anand Mahindra(M&M)

Sports power include the Cricket Superstar Sachin Tendularkar and Olympic Gold medalist Shooter Abhinav Bindra.

From Bollywood and entertainment sector include the Oscar award winner AR RAhman.

Also Included in list is vikram Ankola(Founder of SKS Microfinance),the poster boy of Indian Microfinance.Read full story(....)

SEBI to Join Global Regulators Group

India will soon join the high table of top securities regulators, including those from the US, the UK, France and Germany.

In recognition of the strides made by India in terms of creating an enhanced regulatory structure, International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO), a global policy forum for securities regulators, based in Spain, has invited the Indian capital market regulator, the Securities and Exchanges Board of India (SEBI), to join its technical committee. SEBI will join the committee at its next meeting in June.

India is currently a member of the Emerging Markets Committee of IOSCO and by the latter’s recent decision, it will join 15 key decision-making members.

The IOSCO membership will enable a two-way exchange of experiences in regulating markets between Sebi and other members with a view to promoting development of domestic bourses and making a united effort to establish an effective surveillance of international securities transactions.

It will also enable SEBI and other members to promote the integrity of the markets by a rigorous application of the standards and by effective enforcement against offences.

Apart from SEBI, regulatory authorities from Brazil and China have also been invited to take up membership of the technical committee.

Kathleen Casey, chairman of IOSCO’s technical committee, said, “The changing landscape of the international financial system in this time of crisis demands that organisations, such as ours, reflect such changes in the composition of its membership. It is quite proper that the technical committee now should include members from India, Brazil and China within its ranks.”

The new members were chosen on the basis of the size of their capital markets, the international nature of their markets and the development of their regulatory system and authority.

DTH Market Potential In India

India is country with variety of Culture and Geography.about 70% of Indian lives in Rural and Semi-Urban areas in which cable network are not available.Also most of people living in rural area can't afford to pay Rs 200-400 towards the cable fess monthly even if it is made available.While with the technology advances Private Companies(Dish TV) tries to introduce the concept of DTH-Direct to home which can be made available in everywhere in country it remain mostly in Urban areas due to lack of interest and unawareness about the rural market as potential revenue source.

With launch of India's First Free DTH Service -DD Direct Plus by Doordarshan on 16 December 2004 open up new dimension in this world of TV Viewing by Rural mass.This opens up the real future market of India for Brands.Response from rural and also poor and middle class urban was quite good with 6 million subscriber while Dish TV struggle for more than 15 yrs to reach 1 million.

Launch of DD Direct also opens the eyes of big corporate people about the really unexplored sector.Thanks to C.K.Prahalad for spreading the Buzzword"Bottom of Pyramid"and DD DTH which resulted in launch of 5 DTH services within span of about 3-4 years(Tata Sky, Sun Direct, Airtel digital TV and Big TV ,Videocon DTH throughout India).This really helped every Indian who watch TV in Terms of More Customer satisfaction and Better TV Viewing Experience.This also provided a platform for all products and services to reach a wider section of audience and also this resulted in flooding of new News and other Entertainment channels.

while initial expexctation about the DD DTH were very high among the Audience but Reality was something not Unexpected-Another Government Service (Indian).While initially DD was able to attract some big private channels-like Aaj TAk,Headline Today,BBC world , Zee Music.But soon almost all the channels get disappeared.Reason for this is high carriage fees partly shows inefficient management on govenrment side and other very seroius public thinking that government can't charge same fees as other private DTH Players are doing.This is despite the fact that Number of Subscriber is almost 6 times than most popular private operator.But soon the both parties realizes the mistakes thus resulting in reducation of carriage fess from 1 crore to 25 lakhs which resulted in flood of application from all types of channels including all the famous

music channels like Music India,9XM,B4U Music,Enter10,ETC and News and General Entertainment.While Music channels come first and able to secure slots but big News and GEC are unable to get their slot.Industry pressure of private DTH(all the private players are big name s sector on government may be one of reason for not allowing Heavy-weight players in Large audience reach as they want a pie of it.

I will write about "Whether DD DTH can be transformed into a profitable or no for profit venture like Freesat lauched by BBC and ITV in UK".

If you want to share any opinion then please put a comment here.Toghether we can Build a Better India.