UGC NET mass failure: candidates to move court

Kochi: Candidates from Kerala who appeared for the National Eligibility Test (NET) by the University Grants Commission (UGC) on June 24 this year fear that the failure of many of them to get through the test may have been because of massive irregularities.

Around 5,71,627 candidates sat for the eligibility exam out of which 43,957 candidates were declared qualified. As many as 3,625 candidates qualified for Junior Research Fellowship (JRF). The candidates are highlighting the unusual number of candidates from certain centres who were declared eligible to show possibility of malpractices.

For example out of the candidates who opted history as main subject 1253 candidates in Uttar Pradesh were declared eligible. The figures for Kerala and Tamil Nadu in this category are 10 and 5 respectively. In Rajasthan and New Delhi the number of candidates who cleared the test are 500 and 254 respectively.

Candidates in South India fared poorly in the history stream with just 3 students clearing the test in Karnataka. The figures are respectively 5 and 3 for West Bengal and Gujarath.

Some centres recorded allegedly abnormal figures of success. In a national test in which only 43,957 candidates could clear the test an exam centre Guru Gobind Singh Indraprasth University had 5009 people passing the test. Around 4443 candidates who sat for exam at Allahabad University too cleared the test. The number of students who cleared the test from Rajasthan University are 3071.
The candidates are now planning to launch an agitation and move the court to demand a probe into the issue.

Network Technologies Resource LIbrary

Everything you need to know about networking technologies and best practices is at your fingertips in our resources directory. Here we've compiled our best guides and learning tools and organized them by technology and job function. Whether you're a network architect, engineer, or on the operations team, you'll easily find the information you need on topics like network management, network security, routing and switching, VPNs, wireless networking, and network design.

Networking Site for Bookworms

Two students of the Indian Institute of Technology, Gandhinagar (IIT-Gn) have used a Japanese firm’s visual search technology to build a social networking site for bookworms hooked to academic publications. Having tested it among fellow students on campus, they now plan to launch it nationwide by December.
Nikhil Balram, a guest professor and chief executive of Silicon Valley-based Ricoh Innovations, came to the institute last year for a workshop on turning technical innovations into plausible businesses and demonstrated his company’s visual search technology, challenging students to think of a commercial use.
“It’s like having a magic lens on your smartphone where you’re reading something and you say, ‘Well, I’d like to know more about this’, take a picture, connect to our server, we recognise it and connect you to whatever online content that article’s owner wants you to see,” said Balram, adding the company “developed it over five years ago but had not yet come up with an application for it”.
Among several ideas proposed, he picked the one by fourth-year engineering students Adit Gupta and Tarkeshwar Singh, which was to make books even on material sciences a hot topic for online social discussion and name it something catchy, like “Booksnap”.
“Whenever you go to a library, there are tens of thousands of books and you don’t know which one to read, so you call up tour friends and borrow one based on what they recommend, you read a bit of it, come back, return it and probably have to go through the whole cycle again. This network simplifies that process,” said Tarkeshwar, an electrical engineering student.

There are various uses for Booksnap, which employs a registration process similar to other social networking sites and which has an accompanying app compatible with smartphones.
One use, as its creators explain, is for those times when, just before exams, a student has little time and too many books to read.
In such a situation, the student can click a picture of the books likely to be more important and put it on the network, where the index looks for matches and, if found, shows a list of comments and reviews about the book and it’s contents. Conversely, users can log on and see what other students in the same field are reading.
Other functions would be search options for books already indexed on the network, “spaces” for groups of students with similar interests, and the option of “following” books, where updates on the book is notified to subscribing users via email.

Virtual e-Text Archive of Indic Texts

Thesaurus Linguae Graecae] or [Perseus Project]-style [collection of texts] for Sanskrit or the other languages of classical Indian studies, this page will begin an attempt to bring together in one location links to machine-readable files of texts in Indic languages, wherever they may be.

 A Collection of links of Digital Repositories in the Indologicl study

The Text Encoding Initiative (TEI) is a consortium which collectively develops and maintains a standard for the representation of texts in digital form. Its chief deliverable is a set of Guidelines which specify encoding methods for machine-readable texts, chiefly in the humanities, social sciences and linguistics. Since 1994, the TEI Guidelines have been widely used by libraries, museums, publishers, and individual scholars to present texts for online research, teaching, and preservation. In addition to the Guidelines themselves, the Consortium provides a variety of supporting resources, including

Digital Library of India

The Digital Library of India: The Digital Library of India (DLI) has scanned and preserved over 250,000 books in many languages, of which around 13,000 are in Sanskrit. This project is coodinated by the IISc and has over 20 partner centers across different specialties. Read an article Digital Libraries in India for some details of the project.

The Government of India has spent a large amount of resources in scanning and preserving valuable books through this project. The principal collections are housed at the IISc, Bangalore and at the IIIT, Hyderabad. You can either download books directly as mentioned below or you can read them page by page in a browser. To read books in a browser, you should download the AlternaTIFF plugin on Windows computers Given below are the main DLI collections. Each houses a different set of books. You can find lists of books in each collection and catalogs of the current availability of scans of each book, in the links next to each collection.

The Clay Sanskrit Library

In the late 1990's, when John Clay started to work on the concepts for the Clay Sanskrit Library ("CSL"), his key objective was to produce fifty titles.The Clay Sanskrit Library is a series of books covering a wide spectrum of Classical Sanskrit literature spanning two millennia. Bound in the convenient pocket size (4.5" x 6.5") in an elegant design, each work features the original Sanskrit text in transliterated Roman letters on the left-hand page with its English translation on the facing page.John Clay's vision came to life in the late 1990's, when he began to put the people and resources together for what would become the Clay Sanskrit Library. Since the publication of the first volume in 2005, forty-nine volumes have been published, including twelve new volumes in 2009, and another seven titles are scheduled to be released in August 2009. The selection represents the richness and wide variety of Sanskrit literature, covering works of drama, poetry, satire and novels, as well as the two famous epics, the Maha·bhárata and the Ramáyana.

First Wi-Fi Enabled University in Karnatak

MYSORE: University of Mysore has added another feather in its cap by becoming the first Wi-Fi campus in the state. With this, it also became the first institution to introduce internet service in a bigger area compared to other universities.
The facility enables individuals access Wi-Fi while sitting in classrooms, campus or at hostel rooms 24x7 free of cost. The facility is expected to benefit research scholars and students. Through Wi-Fi, students can access UoM's digital library which has over 5,000 books.
The university's information and communication division (ICD) has introduced wireless network (Wi-Fi) in the 80-acre campus through a 100-foot tower. Carrier-class wave using multi-input and multi-output technology (MIMO) drives the project.
Explaining the project to TOI, G Hemanth Kumar, professor and chairman, department of studies in computer sciences, said the Wi-Fi project has been funded under Institution of Excellence Scheme by University Grants Commission and the installation has cost Rs 64 lakh.
UoM vice-chancellor V G Talawar approved the idea of varsity going Wi-Fi. Mourya Infotech Pvt Ltd (Bangalore) will provide free maintenance for three years.
MIMO will provide free maintenance for three years, and BSNL and a private internet provider will give internet service he added. Students have been allowed to avail Wi-Fi service even in classroom for academic purpose.


Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MIMO) technology is a wireless technology that uses multiple transmitters and receivers to transfer more data at the same time (Figure 1). Wireless products with 802.11n support MIMO. This is part of the technology that allows 802.11n to reach much higher speeds than products without 802.11n.

MIMO technology takes advantage of a radio-wave phenomenon called multipath where transmitted information bounces off walls, ceilings, and other objects, reaching the receiving antenna multiple times via different angles and at slightly different times. Multipath is a natural occurrence for all radio sources. Radio signals bounce off objects and move at different speeds towards the receiver. In the past multipath caused interference and slowed down wireless signals. MIMO takes advantage of multipath to combine the information from multiple signals improving both speed and data integrity.
MIMO technology leverages multipath behavior by using multiple, “smart” transmitters and receivers with an added “spatial” dimension to dramatically increase performance and range. MIMO allows multiple antennas to send and receive multiple spatial streams at the same time. Smart transmitters and receivers are used with all 802.11n devices. Using multiple antennas the data can be sent and received through multiple signals. More antennas usually equates to higher speeds. A wireless adapter with 3 antennas may have a speed of 600mbps while an adapter with 2 antennas has a speed of 300mbps. The router also needs to have multiple antennas and fully support all of the features of 802.11n to gain the highest speed possible.

MIMO makes antennas work smarter by enabling them to combine data streams arriving from different paths and at different times to effectively increase receiver signal-capturing power. Smart antennas use spatial diversity technology, which puts surplus antennas to good use. If there are more antennas than spatial streams, the additional antennas can add receiver diversity and increase range.

In order to implement MIMO, either the station (mobile device) or the access point (AP) need to support MIMO. Optimal performance and range can only be obtained when both the station and the AP support MIMO.

Legacy wireless devices can’t take advantage of multipath because they use a Single Input, Single Output (SISO) technology. Systems that use SISO can only send or receive a single spatial stream at one time.

Biographical Bibliography

INDIAN BIOGRAPHIES

Biographies of Great Indians

Famous Indians

American Indian Biographies

Biographies of Great men and women of India

Biographies of Musicians

Holy Men and Women in Indian Tradition

Kamat,s Potpurri

Great Kings and Queens

Famous Freedom Fighters Biography

Richest People Biography India

Famous Gods & Goddesses Biography

Famous Sports People Biographies

Biographies of Great personalities of India

Biographies for Children

Biographies of Indian Political Personalities

Biographychannel

NobelPrize Biographies

IndianFilmActorsBiographies

Biographies of Indian Scientists

Encyclopedia of World Biography

Prime Ministers of India

Female Heroes of India

Legends of India

Central Hindi Directorate

The Headquarters of Central Hindi Directorate (CHD) and Commission for Scientific and Technical Terminolgy (CSTT) at present is situated at West Block-7, Ramakrishna Puram, New Delhi –110066. Both the pioneer offices entrusted with the responsibility of promotion and propagation, developing and enriching Hindi, have all along, been making relentless efforts to fulfil the responsibility of the government. These organisations have a huge common Library which is unique in all respects. This library was established in 1952 under then Ministry of Education, Govt of India as a Hindi Division, when CHD and CSTT were set up in 1960 and 1961 respectively.

 All Library collection were handed over to CHD Library in 1962. The books are available in it.This library is to the staff of both offices only. Therefore the books / magazines are issued to the CHD and CSTT . The CHD and CSTT have been inviting from time to time, outside experts through out the year to hold meetings to prepare the Dictionaries, Glossaries and Definitional Dictionaries in different Indian and Foreign languages. The prime objective of library is to provide all necessary reference information and reference books from the library to fulfill the work in both offices. The library has a major role in the field of Hindi Language development, so we can say this is a reference library for Hindi Language.

This Library has a unit of Encyclopedias and Dictionaries published by the National and International publishers. The Literature of Hindi, English and other National and International Languages is also available. It has also a huge collection of Encyclopedias and dictionaries in Urdu, Sanskrit, Kannad, Bangla, Telgu, Tamil, Malyalam, French, German, Spanish, Chez etc. In addition to there are also available the Definitional Dictionaries of Humanities and Sciences of CSTT with the other publishers those are published by them from time to time. To make this library up-to-date and modern the new books on computers and newly emerged subjects are also available.

Higher Education Policy

India has no definite higher education policy: NITTE University VC

11 Sep 2012

Expressing concern over the state of higher education in the country, Vice-Chancellor of NITTE University Dr S. Ramananda Shetty said that India has no “definite higher education policy”. Even after numerous commissions and committees submitting their reports on improving higher education since 1948, there is clear road-map as to where our education sector is heading, he said.

He was delivering the foundation day lecture at Mangalagangotri, Mangalore University on the topic “some reality about our higher education system and dentistry and beyond” as reported by The Hindu.

Dr Shetty, formerly Vice-Chancellor of Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences, said “For the sake of higher education the government had formed many commissions and committees, passed bills and amended laws, provided adequate funds but still there was no road map to move on. D. S. Kothari Commission’s report on education in 1966 was a visionary report. It had recommended allocating six per cent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) to education. The latest National Knowledge Commission (NKC) had also recommended a similar allocation. Even after the Kothari Commission Report only 3.7 per cent of the GDP had been earmarked for education In that the major share had been bagged by institutes of excellence.”

He also highlighted the underlying confusion over the road map on improving higher education. The NKC report had laid thrust on opening more universities and colleges. While the Tandon committee report said that the existing universities should be strengthened.

Referring to professional education he said that as nine regulatory bodies were controlling it not much progress was happening in the sector. The country was facing a shortage of one million doctors and two million nurses. Medical colleges were spread disproportionately in the country.

Dr Shetty said that India with 315 medical colleges produced 36,000 graduates a year while China with 188 medical colleges produced 1.75 lakh graduates a year.

Indian Digital Library

MeraLibrary.com is an online digital library focusing on Indian language content. MeraLibrary is essentially a community marketplace where users can subscribe to content, rent out ebooks or purchase the ebooks outright, from the same platform. However, we observed that the site only offers rental, at the moment. Currently, MeraLibrary provides an eBook reading experience on the website, however, it intends to launch its own application on Android and iOS Smartphones and Tablets. To read ebooks on MeraLibrary, users need to install the Adobe Flash Player plug-in on their browser. They need to register to the site and subscribe to suitable subscription option to browse through ebooks collection across various languages. One can rent the eBook and read the ebook online on their browser by hitting the read link.


 

Launched in July 2012, MeraLibrary offers ebooks in Indian languages including Kannada and Malayalam, along with English. It offers books in Fiction, Religion, Travel, Biography and Autobiography, Psychology, Drama, Technology, among others. Currently, MeraLibrary features books from public domain and does not have a very compelling catalog.

Subscription and Payment
The portal offers monthly, bi-annual and yearly subscription plans for Rs 200 per month, Rs 1000 for 180 days and Rs 2000 for one year subscription. Users can read up to two books at a time. The website accepts credit card (Visa/Master Card) as a mode of payment.
Other Players
While MeraLibrary allows users to read books online, there are sites such as Bookmebook.com and Myonlinelibrary which are essentially physical libraries, allowing users to browse catalogues and get physical books delivered (on a lending basis) offline. Project Guttenberg, HathiTrust and WikiSource also offer books in public domain in digital format, on a non-profit basis.
Amazon also offers a Kindle Owners Lending Library, where eBook owners can lend/borrow a book for free as frequently as a book a month, with no due dates. However, this service is not available in India. Recently, Amazon also launched the Kindle Store for the Indian market on Amazon.com, which features ebooks available for purchase in Indian currency. Landmark also launched its e-books store.
We feel that the store would need more titles to pick up momentum. It should also offer support downloads in pdf and other formats, as these books are in public domain.

The above text was posted at Medianama.com by Apurva Chaudhary on Sep 11th, 2012