Online portals for pre-loved children’s books are a hit

Websites sell pre-owned children’s books at a fraction of the original price

Anisha M. Shah is an avid reader and wanted her two-year-old son to develop the same love for books. As the pile of books kept increasing, so did the cost of buying them: there came a stage when Anisha started to feel the pinch. But determined not to let money come in the way, she soon stumbled on pre-owned books that could be sourced online at far lower prices. Once she had hit upon this solution, she wanted to help other parents too.

In December 2017, Anisha decided to step into the business of sourcing second-hand books (or ‘pre-loved’ books, as she calls them) and selling them online. Love for Books, her Facebook page, was an immediate hit. “Most of the books I was looking at are imported from the U.K. As I explored, I realised that most of these books are either not available in India, or, if available, are very expensive. But I could get pre-owned books at one-third or one-fourth the original price,” Anisha says.

To read the full article, visit:

https://www.thehindu.com/books/online-portals-for-pre-loved-childrens-books-are-a-hit/article25901014.ece

Don’t allow new colleges from 2020, review every two years: panel to engg body

AICTE chairman Anil Sahasrabuddhe told The Indian Express that the committee has submitted its report and that its suggestions are being considered by the technical education regulator.

Written by Ritika Chopra |New Delhi |Updated: January 1, 2019 4:50:43 am

The panel, in a 41-page report, has also suggested that no additional seats should be approved in traditional engineering areas such as mechanical, electrical, civil and electronics and that institutes should be encouraged. (Representational image)

With more than half the engineering seats falling vacant every year, a government committee, headed by IIT-Hyderabad chairman B V R Mohan Reddy, has advised the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) to stop setting up new colleges from 2020 and review the creation of new capacity every two years after that.

AICTE chairman Anil Sahasrabuddhe told The Indian Express that the committee has submitted its report and that its suggestions are being considered by the technical education regulator.

The panel, in a 41-page report, has also suggested that no additional seats should be approved in traditional engineering areas such as mechanical, electrical, civil and electronics and that institutes should be encouraged to convert current capacity in traditional disciplines to emerging new technologies.

This recommendation has been justified on the ground that current capacity utilisation in traditional disciplines is just 40% as opposed to 60% seat occupancy in branches such as computer science and engineering, aerospace engineering and mechatronics. For the same reason, the committee has urged the AICTE to introduce undergraduate engineering programmes exclusively for artificial intelligence, blockchain, robotics, quantum computing, data sciences, cybersecurity and 3D printing and design.

An investigation by The Indian Express in December 2017, found there were no takers for 51 per cent of the 15.5 lakh B.E/B.Tech seats in 3,291 engineering colleges in 2016-17.

The investigation found glaring gaps in regulation, including alleged corruption; a vicious circle of poor infrastructure, labs and faculty; non-existent linkages with industry; and the absence of a technical ecosystem to nurture the classroom. All this, it found, accounted for low employability of graduates.

A few weeks later, the AICTE had announced its decision to reduce the intake in courses with poor admissions by half from the academic year 2018-19, a move aimed at addressing the mismatch. Following this, the total number of B.Tech and M.Tech seats this year, across all AICTE-approved institutes, dropped by 1.67 lakh – the sharpest fall in five years and almost double of what was witnessed in 2017-18.

However, with enrolment remaining virtually stagnant, the AICTE appointed a committee headed by former NASSCOM chairperson and industrialist B V R Mohan Reddy this year to come up with a medium and short-term perspective plan for expansion in engineering education.

While committee headed by Reddy has recommended no new engineering institutes should be set up from 2020, it has said that concessions should be made for applications already in the pipeline.

“While we take such a serious decision, we also recognize that there could be some applications in the pipeline for additional/new capacity applied in the last one or two years. These may be pending for want of some minor clearances. So, applications made in the current year and the past two years may be considered for starting institutions if the infrastructure is already in place,” the report states.

As for approving additional seats in existing institutions, the committee has suggested that the AICTE should only give approvals based on the capacity utilisation of concerned institute.

Source: https://indianexpress.com/article/education/aicte-government-committee-anil-sahasrabuddhe-5517865/ (Accessed on January 7, 2019)

GATE 2019: One-month preparation plan

Know how to prepare for GATE 2019 in one month, important tips to score high in Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering (GATE) 2019.

GATE 2019: The Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering (GATE) 2019 is scheduled to be held on February 2, 3, 9, 10 2019. The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras has released the complete exam schedule with paper wise exam date and sessions. Candidates need a minimum cut-off score, varying between 25 to 45, to qualify GATE. A greater score than that is required to get a good rank in order to get M.Tech admission in IITs or clear cut off for PSU recruitment.

Candidates can download GATE 2019 Admit Card from January 4, 2019, at GOAPS. With a month to go for your GATE exam, we bring a one-month preparation plan with important tips, do’s and don’ts.

First and foremost, GATE will test your understanding of concepts and not rote learning. So be sure you have a firm hold on all the basics. Taking notes and teaching someone (or pretending to teach) improves grasping power.

Candidates should practise solving problems on all concepts studied. This can be done by solving examples and problems given in GATE preparation books, previous year question papers, sample papers, GATE mock tests.

Past year papers should be solved because concepts and types of questions are repeated. It also helps you be prepared for the actual difficulty level of exam.

Taking online mock tests kills two birds with one stone. One, you get to practice more questions of GATE exam level. Second, you get hands-on experience with the online test.

01:

Mock tests should be taken either from 9:30 AM to 12:30 PM, or 2:30 PM to 5:30 PM, depending upon what slot has been allotted to you as per your GATE 2019 Admit Card. Doing this will prepare your body clock to be alert and attentive during those hours when you will actually have to take the exam.

Keep your confidence levels high. You can do this by engaging in activities, surrounding yourself with such people that motivate you. Being confident directly makes your learning abilities better and helps you remain calm during the exam. Lowered levels of anxiety during the exam are crucial to perform well.

Assess expected time for a question. This is a habit you develop by practising. As soon as you see a question, you should be able to tell how much time it will take.

Be a pro with a virtual calculator. A virtual calculator is a weapon in your hand. The better you use it, the better you can perform. So in the last one month before the exam, do all your calculations in a virtual calculator.

There will be multi-session papers for civil engineering and mechanical engineering. This year GATE is being conducted for 24 subjects, which is one subject more than last year. Statistics was been introduced this year.

Post-exam, answer key of GATE 2019 shall be displayed at GOAPS along with candidate responses. Those who appear in the exam will be able to submit objections to the responses and answers through the objection submission form on the official website.

GATE 2019 Result will be announced on March 16, 2019, on the basis of answers finalised by IIT. The validity of GATE scores is for 3 years from the date of declaration of result.

Last year the GATE cut offs for general candidates for AE, AG, AR, BT, CE, CH, CS, CY, EC, EE, EY, GG, IN, MA, ME, MN, MT, PE, PH, PI, TF, XE, XL were 34.4, 25, 43.9, 27.9, 26.9, 37.8, 25, 25.4, 25, 29.1, 49.3, 32.4, 37.1, 29.4, 34.7, 45, 40.3, 39.8, 29, 32, 32.2, 31.5, 29.9 respectively.

Source: https://indianexpress.com/article/education/gate-2019-one-month-preparation-plan-5519886/ (accessed on January 7, 2019)

Indian technology talent is flocking to Canada

What would induce a software developer to quit a good job in Silicon Valley and trade California’s sunshine for Toronto’s wintry skies? For Vikram Rangnekar, born in India and educated in America, the triggers were the restrictions placed on immigrant tech workers holding an h-1b visa...

To read the full article, please visit:
https://www.economist.com/business/2018/12/22/indian-technology-talent-is-flocking-to-canada