IPSR Solutions Ltd. is conducting a Mega Recruitment Drive for B.Com and M.Com graduates.
2008, 2009, 2010 batches can participate. This is a good opportunity. Don't miss this
Registration and Details are available in the following links...
http://www.ipsr.org/placements/mega-recruitment-drives.asp
The third largest IT company in India recruiting Candidates for their BPO Division:
Date: IPSR Office Kottayam (05/05/2010) ..... Details follow the link below http://www.ipsr.org/placements/largestitcompany-recruitment-drive.asp
Poornam Info Vision Recruiting Graduates and Post Graduates
Date: 7th may 2010 @ St.Theresa's College Ernakulam.
Send resume to CV@ipsr.org on or before May 5, 2010.
Salary details, job description, selection procedure etc are available in the following link.
http://www.ipsr.org/placements/poornam07.asp
First Source - Recruitment For Domestic and International Process
Date:08-05-2010 IPSR Offices - Kozhikode,Cochin, and Kottayam. For details of salary, selection and eligibilty criteria follow the link...
http://www.ipsr.org/placements/fsource25th.asp
Remember u have to confirm your participation on or before 05-05-2010
You may ring this number for any clarification : +91-9446922478
National Eligibility Test June-2010 for Junior Research Fellowship and Eligibility for Lectureship - Apply Online
HOW TO APPLY:
(APPLICATIONS HAVE TO BE SUBMITTED ONLINE)
i) Before applying Online, the candidates must possess the following : (i) Scanned passport (pp) size photograph in JPEG format, (ii) Copy of Bank Challan (fee receipt).
ii)Candidate seeking admission to the Test must apply online (i.e. http://www.ugcnetonline.in/ OR through a link available on the UGC website: http://www.ugc.ac.in/). The candidates are required to download the Bank Challan Performa from the above website OR take photocopy from the UGC-NET Notification to be published in the Employment News dated 10-04-2010. and then deposit the requisite test fee in any branch of State Bank of India along with the bank charges (commission) of Rs.20/-. Candidate after successfully filling the online application is required to take printout of the Online Application Form, Attendance Slip and Admission Card on separate A-4 size papers and paste his/her recent passport sized photograph, put his/her signature at the required space, attach attested copy of SC/ST/OBC(Non-creamy layer)/PH/VH certificate, if applicable together with certificate of educational qualification/ research experience entitling the candidate for age relaxation and send the same with UGC marked copy of Bank Challan to the Registrar of the university (UGC Test Centre) from where the candidate has opted to appear for the Test. In case, the printout of Online Application Form along with the required documents does not reach the Test Centre on or before 30-04-2010, the candidature of the applicant shall be rejected. Before applying On line, candidates are advised to go through detailed notification available at UGC website and also to be shortly published in the Employment News. Please note that Fee submitted through any other mode like Money Order, Demand Draft, IPO etc. will be summarily rejected.
iii)The envelope containing the Application Form should be superscribed “UGC NATIONAL ELIGIBILITY TEST FOR JUNIOR RESEARCH FELLOWSHIP AND ELIGIBILITY FOR LECTURESHIP, JUNE, 2010”.
iv)The candidates must affix their recent identical passport size photographs, at the places indicated, on the printout of Online Application Form and must sign across the photograph after it is affixed so that a part of the signature spreads over the Application Form beyond the photograph. Besides, it should be duly attested by the Head of the University Department/Principal of the College/Class-I Gazetted Officer.
v)In order to avoid last minute rush, the candidates are advised to apply early enough. UGC will not be responsible for network problems or any other problem of this nature.
SCHEME OF TEST
i)The Test will consist of three papers. All the three papers will be held on 27th June, 2010 in two separate sessions as under :
Session Paper Marks Duration
First I 100 1¼ Hours (09.30 A.M. to 10.45 A.M.)
First II 100 1¼ Hours (10.45 A.M. to 12.00 NOON)
Second III 200 2½ Hours (01.30 P.M. to 04.00 P.M.)
Paper-I shall be of general nature, intended to assess the teaching/research aptitude of the candidate. It will primarily be designed to test reasoning ability, comprehension, divergent thinking and general awareness of the candidate. UGC has decided to provide choice to the candidates from the December 2009 UGC-NET onwards. Sixty (60) multiple choice questions of two marks each will be given, out of which the candidate would be required to answer any fifty (50). In the event of the candidate attempting more than fifty questions, the first fifty questions attempted by the candidate would be evaluated.
Paper-II shall consist of questions based on the subject selected by the candidate. Each of these papers will consist of a Test Booklet containing 50 compulsory objective type questions of two marks each.The candidate will have to mark the response for question of Paper-I and Paper-II on the Optical Mark Reader (OMR) sheet provided alongwith the Test Booklet. The detailed instructions for filling up the OMR Sheet will be sent to the candidate along with the Admit Card.
Paper-III will consist of only descriptive questions from the subject selected by the candidate. The candidate will be required to attempt questions in the space provided in the Test Booklet. The structure of Paper-III has been revised from June,2010 UGC-NET and is available on the UGC website www.ugc.ac.in. Paper-III will be evaluated only for those candidates who are able to secure the minimum qualifying marks in Paper-I and Paper-II.
Negative Marking in Paper-I & Paper-II : Negative marking at the rate of 25% has been introduced from December 2009 UGC-NET onwards. For each incorrect answer, 0.5 marks shall be deducted.
For Syllabus: http://www.ugc.ac.in/inside/syllabus.html
(APPLICATIONS HAVE TO BE SUBMITTED ONLINE)
i) Before applying Online, the candidates must possess the following : (i) Scanned passport (pp) size photograph in JPEG format, (ii) Copy of Bank Challan (fee receipt).
ii)Candidate seeking admission to the Test must apply online (i.e. http://www.ugcnetonline.in/ OR through a link available on the UGC website: http://www.ugc.ac.in/). The candidates are required to download the Bank Challan Performa from the above website OR take photocopy from the UGC-NET Notification to be published in the Employment News dated 10-04-2010. and then deposit the requisite test fee in any branch of State Bank of India along with the bank charges (commission) of Rs.20/-. Candidate after successfully filling the online application is required to take printout of the Online Application Form, Attendance Slip and Admission Card on separate A-4 size papers and paste his/her recent passport sized photograph, put his/her signature at the required space, attach attested copy of SC/ST/OBC(Non-creamy layer)/PH/VH certificate, if applicable together with certificate of educational qualification/ research experience entitling the candidate for age relaxation and send the same with UGC marked copy of Bank Challan to the Registrar of the university (UGC Test Centre) from where the candidate has opted to appear for the Test. In case, the printout of Online Application Form along with the required documents does not reach the Test Centre on or before 30-04-2010, the candidature of the applicant shall be rejected. Before applying On line, candidates are advised to go through detailed notification available at UGC website and also to be shortly published in the Employment News. Please note that Fee submitted through any other mode like Money Order, Demand Draft, IPO etc. will be summarily rejected.
iii)The envelope containing the Application Form should be superscribed “UGC NATIONAL ELIGIBILITY TEST FOR JUNIOR RESEARCH FELLOWSHIP AND ELIGIBILITY FOR LECTURESHIP, JUNE, 2010”.
iv)The candidates must affix their recent identical passport size photographs, at the places indicated, on the printout of Online Application Form and must sign across the photograph after it is affixed so that a part of the signature spreads over the Application Form beyond the photograph. Besides, it should be duly attested by the Head of the University Department/Principal of the College/Class-I Gazetted Officer.
v)In order to avoid last minute rush, the candidates are advised to apply early enough. UGC will not be responsible for network problems or any other problem of this nature.
SCHEME OF TEST
i)The Test will consist of three papers. All the three papers will be held on 27th June, 2010 in two separate sessions as under :
Session Paper Marks Duration
First I 100 1¼ Hours (09.30 A.M. to 10.45 A.M.)
First II 100 1¼ Hours (10.45 A.M. to 12.00 NOON)
Second III 200 2½ Hours (01.30 P.M. to 04.00 P.M.)
Paper-I shall be of general nature, intended to assess the teaching/research aptitude of the candidate. It will primarily be designed to test reasoning ability, comprehension, divergent thinking and general awareness of the candidate. UGC has decided to provide choice to the candidates from the December 2009 UGC-NET onwards. Sixty (60) multiple choice questions of two marks each will be given, out of which the candidate would be required to answer any fifty (50). In the event of the candidate attempting more than fifty questions, the first fifty questions attempted by the candidate would be evaluated.
Paper-II shall consist of questions based on the subject selected by the candidate. Each of these papers will consist of a Test Booklet containing 50 compulsory objective type questions of two marks each.The candidate will have to mark the response for question of Paper-I and Paper-II on the Optical Mark Reader (OMR) sheet provided alongwith the Test Booklet. The detailed instructions for filling up the OMR Sheet will be sent to the candidate along with the Admit Card.
Paper-III will consist of only descriptive questions from the subject selected by the candidate. The candidate will be required to attempt questions in the space provided in the Test Booklet. The structure of Paper-III has been revised from June,2010 UGC-NET and is available on the UGC website www.ugc.ac.in. Paper-III will be evaluated only for those candidates who are able to secure the minimum qualifying marks in Paper-I and Paper-II.
Negative Marking in Paper-I & Paper-II : Negative marking at the rate of 25% has been introduced from December 2009 UGC-NET onwards. For each incorrect answer, 0.5 marks shall be deducted.
For Syllabus: http://www.ugc.ac.in/inside/syllabus.html
For details log on to: http://www.ugc.ac.in/inside/lateststructureofpapaer3net.pdf
Canara Bank - Recruitment Project 2010
RECRUITMENT OF PROBATIONARY OFFICERS & PROBATIONARY CLERKS
APPLICATIONS ARE INVITED FROM INDIAN CITIZENS FOR APPOINTMENT TO THE POSTS MENTIONED BELOW
Eligible candidates are requested to apply ON-LINE through Bank’s website www.canarabank.com. No other means / mode of Application will be accepted.
Important Dates
Closing Date for on-line registration in Website
24.04.2010
Tentative Date of Written Test
04.07.2010 (Probationary Officer)
18.07.2010 (Probationary Clerk)
The details of Number of Posts are as follows
1 Probationary Officer [JMGS-I] Posts: 500 Min-Max Age 21 – 30
2 Probationary Clerk Posts: 1000 Min-Max Age 18 – 28
For details log on to
http://www.canarabank.com/English/Scripts/RecruitmentProjectAdver.aspx
Recruitment Drive - Royal Bank of Scotland
Royal Bank Of Scotland
BA / BCom / BSc / BBA / MSc / MBA( Finance only)
23rd, 24th 25th April 2010 at Calicut and Cochin
Royal Bank of Scotland an MNC present in more than 56 countries with more than 1,70,000 employees world wide is conducting recruitment drive in kerala for the job ‘Back end Operations of Banking’ (Job Location: Chennai) on 23rd April (Calicut) and 24th April (Cochin). This is not a call centre or BPO Job. Eligibility: Any Graduate BA / BCom / BSc / BBA / MSc / MBA ( Finance only). BE/ BTech/ME/MTech/MCA/ BSc (CS/IT) MSc ( CS/IT)/ Not eligible.) All other graduates and post graduates can apply. No % bar.
Recruitment Dates:
23rd April 2010 at Calicut (JDT Islam Campus, Vellimadu Kunnu, Calicut 12)
24th April 2010 at Cochin (Rajagiri Engineering College, Kakkanad, Cochin)
The selection process consists of the following stages;
1.Group Discussion
2.Online test
3.Business & HR round of interview
Skills needed:
Ability to organise own tasks/duties
Capability to understand procedures
Numerical insight
Ability to work in a team
Ability to use systems
Ability to work in Shifts is a must
Computer proficiency (Word, Excel, Lotus Notes, Internet)
Good English & Second language (third language is an advantage)
Mandatory Skills:
Graduate/Post Graduate in any disciplines.Except MCA 's & BEs
Good communication skills.
Consistent academic record.
Ability to handle numerical data.
High degree of proficiency in MS-office
Interested eligible candidates can report at the test venue ( If possible , after sending the mail with subject "RBS - Confirmation" to office@shredskerala.org)
All the candidates should bring the following.
1.Two copies of RESUME
2.Two sets of photocopies of your mark lists
3.Three copies of passport size photographs
4.Rs.100/- to be paid to SHREDS towards examination fees
5.5 self addressed Rs.5/- stamped long envelopes
6.Gum
7.Valid photo identity card (Driving licence or Voters id or Passport or College id)
For details, visit
http://www.shredskerala.org/D_ABN%20Amro%200910%202310410.html
BA / BCom / BSc / BBA / MSc / MBA( Finance only)
23rd, 24th 25th April 2010 at Calicut and Cochin
Royal Bank of Scotland an MNC present in more than 56 countries with more than 1,70,000 employees world wide is conducting recruitment drive in kerala for the job ‘Back end Operations of Banking’ (Job Location: Chennai) on 23rd April (Calicut) and 24th April (Cochin). This is not a call centre or BPO Job. Eligibility: Any Graduate BA / BCom / BSc / BBA / MSc / MBA ( Finance only). BE/ BTech/ME/MTech/MCA/ BSc (CS/IT) MSc ( CS/IT)/ Not eligible.) All other graduates and post graduates can apply. No % bar.
Recruitment Dates:
23rd April 2010 at Calicut (JDT Islam Campus, Vellimadu Kunnu, Calicut 12)
24th April 2010 at Cochin (Rajagiri Engineering College, Kakkanad, Cochin)
The selection process consists of the following stages;
1.Group Discussion
2.Online test
3.Business & HR round of interview
Skills needed:
Ability to organise own tasks/duties
Capability to understand procedures
Numerical insight
Ability to work in a team
Ability to use systems
Ability to work in Shifts is a must
Computer proficiency (Word, Excel, Lotus Notes, Internet)
Good English & Second language (third language is an advantage)
Mandatory Skills:
Graduate/Post Graduate in any disciplines.Except MCA 's & BEs
Good communication skills.
Consistent academic record.
Ability to handle numerical data.
High degree of proficiency in MS-office
Interested eligible candidates can report at the test venue ( If possible , after sending the mail with subject "RBS - Confirmation" to office@shredskerala.org)
All the candidates should bring the following.
1.Two copies of RESUME
2.Two sets of photocopies of your mark lists
3.Three copies of passport size photographs
4.Rs.100/- to be paid to SHREDS towards examination fees
5.5 self addressed Rs.5/- stamped long envelopes
6.Gum
7.Valid photo identity card (Driving licence or Voters id or Passport or College id)
For details, visit
http://www.shredskerala.org/D_ABN%20Amro%200910%202310410.html
SIB Campus Recruitment Drive @ Deva Matha College KVLD
CAMPUS RECRUITMENT OF MARKETING EXECUTIVES
The South Indian Bank Ltd., a premier commercial bank in the Private Sector in India, having business of Rs.38,000 crores and 580 branches spread over 26 states in the country is looking for talented and bright youngsters from various reputed colleges, who aspire to build a good career in the bank. Our college is also included in the recruitment programme of South Indian Bank.
Initially the appointment will be on a contractual basis subject to satisfactory performance for which quarterly reviews will be made based on the targets given. On successful completion of one year as Marketing executives, they are eligible to be absorbed in the Bank in the Clerical Cadre in full time scale wages as per the terms and conditions applicable for appointment in that cadre in the Bank’s regular pay rolls.
Eligibility norms for the candidates:
1.Shall be a final year Graduate/Post Graduate Students
2.Educational Qualification
a.For Final Year graduate students:
i.60% marks in SSLC
ii.Pass in 1st chance in 1st and 2nd year of Degree – 55% or above for Science streams and 50% or above for other streams.
iii.Pass in ensuing final exams in 1st attempt-overall percentage -55% or above in Science stream/50% or above in other streams.
b.For Final year post graduate students:
i.SSLC : Minimum 60%
ii.Degree: 55% or above in Science Stream and 50% or above in other streams.
iii.P.G. : 1st year 50% and above in 1st chance and shall score similar % for final exam in first attempt.
3.Age : Maximum 21 years as on 31.12.2009
Relaxation of 2 years for PG students
The selection will be done on the basis of G.D. and interviews. The selected candidates will be given necessary training and will be paid Rs.10,000/-per month.
Interested students may submit application forms to the College office (form available in office) on or before 31.03.2010.
UNION BUDGET 2010 - KEY FEATURES
CHALLENGES
! To quickly revert to the high GDP growth path of 9 per cent and then find the
means to cross the ‘double digit growth barrier’.
! To harness economic growth to consolidate the recent gains in making development
more inclusive.
! To address the weaknesses in government systems, structures and institutions at
different levels of governance.
OVERVIEW OF THE ECONOMY
! India among the first few countries in the world to implement a broad-based
counter-cyclic policy package to respond to the negative fallout of the global
slowdown.
! The Advance Estimates for Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth for 2009-10
pegged at 7.2 per cent. The final figure expected to be higher when the third and
fourth quarter GDP estimates for 2009-10 become available.
! The growth rate in manufacturing sector in December 2009 was 18.5 per cent – the
highest in the past two decades.
! A major concern during the second half of 2009-10 has been the emergence of
double digit food inflation. Government has set in motion steps, in consultation
with the State Chief Ministers, which should bring down the inflation in the next
few months and ensure that there is better management of food security in the
country.
CONSOLIDATING GROWTH
Fiscal Consolidation
! With recovery taking root, there is a need to review public spending, mobilise
resources and gear them towards building the productivity of the economy.
! Fiscal policy shaped with reference to the recommendations of the Thirteenth
Finance Commission, which has recommended a calibrated exit strategy from the
expansionary fiscal stance of last two years.
! It would be for the first time that the Government would target an explicit reduction
in its domestic public debt-GDP ratio.
On the Direct Tax Code (DTC) the wide-ranging discussions with stakeholders
have been concluded – Government will be in a position to implement the DTC
from April 1, 2011.
! Centre actively engaged with the Empowered Committee of State Finance Ministers
to finalise the structure of Goods and Services Tax (GST) as well as the modalities
of its expeditious implementation. Endeavour to introduce GST by April, 2011
People’s ownership of PSUs
! Ownership has been broad based in Oil India Limited, NHPC, NTPC and Rural
Electrification Corporation while the process is on for National Mineral
Development Corporation and Satluj Jal Vidyut Nigam. This will raise about
Rs 25,000 crore during the current year.
! Higher amount proposed to be raised during the year 2010-11.
Fertiliser subsidy
! A Nutrient Based Subsidy policy for the fertiliser sector has been approved by the
Government and will become effective from April 1, 2010.
! This will lead to an increase in agricultural productivity and better returns for the
farmers, and overtime reduce the volatility in demand for fertiliser subsidy and
contain the subsidy bill.
Petroleum and Diesel pricing policy
! Expert Group to advise the Government on a viable and sustainable system of
pricing of petroleum products has submitted its recommendations.
! Decision on these recommendations will be taken in due course.
Improving Investment Environment
Foreign Direct Investment
! Number of steps taken to simplify the FDI regime.
! Methodology for calculation of indirect foreign investment in Indian companies
has been clearly defined.
! Complete liberalisation of pricing and payment of technology transfer fee and
trademark, brand name and royalty payments.
Financial Stability and Development Council
! An apex level Financial Stability and Development Council to be set up with a
view to strengthen and institutionalise the mechanism for maintaining financial
stability.
! This Council would monitor macro-prudential supervision of the economy,
including the functioning of large financial conglomerates, and address interregulatory
coordination issues.
Banking Licences
! RBI is considering giving some additional banking licenses to private sector players.
Non Banking Financial Companies could also be considered, if they meet the RBI’s
eligibility criteria.
Public Sector Bank Capitalisation
! Rs.16,500 crore provided to ensure that the Public Sector Banks are able to attain
a minimum 8 per cent Tier-I capital by March 31, 2011.
Recapitalisation of Regional Rural Banks (RRB)
! Government to provide further capital to strengthen the RRBs so that they have
adequate capital base to support increased lending to the rural economy.
Corporate Governance
! Government has introduced the Companies Bill, 2009 in the Parliament to replace
the existing Companies Act, 1956, which will address issues related to regulation
in corporate sector in the context of the changing business environment.
Exports
! Extension of existing interest subvention of 2 per cent for one more year for exports
covering handicrafts, carpets, handlooms and small and medium enterprises.
Agriculture Growth
! Government will follow a four-pronged strategy, covering
(a) Agricultural production
! Rs. 400 crore provided to extend the green revolution to the eastern region of the
country comprising Bihar, Chattisgarh, Jharkhand, Eastern UP, West Bengal and
Orissa.
! Rs. 300 crore provided to organise 60,000 “pulses and oil seed villages” in rain-fed
areas during 2010-11 and provide an integrated intervention for water harvesting,
watershed management and soil health, to enhance the productivity of the dry land
farming areas.
! Rs. 200 crore provided for sustaining the gains already made in the green revolution
areas through conservation farming, which involves concurrent attention to soil
health, water conservation and preservation of biodiversity.
(b) Reduction in wastage of produce
! Government to address the issue of opening up of retail trade. It will help in bringing
down the considerable difference between farm gate, wholesale and retail prices.
! Deficit in the storage capacity met through an ongoing scheme for private sector
participation – FCI to hire godowns from private parties for a guaranteed period of
7 years.
(c) Credit support to farmers
! Banks have been consistently meeting the targets set for agriculture credit flow in
the past few years. For the year 2010-11, the target has been set at Rs.3,75,000
crore.
In view of the recent drought in some States and the severe floods in some other
parts of the country, the period for repayment of the loan amount by farmers extended
by six months from December 31, 2009 to June 30, 2010 under the Debt Waiver
and Debt Relief Scheme for Farmers.
! Incentive of additional one per cent interest subvention to farmers who repay
short-term crop loans as per schedule, increased to 2% for 2010-11.
(d) Impetus to the food processing sector
! In addition to the ten mega food park projects already being set up, the Government
has decided to set up five more such parks.
! External Commercial Borrowings to be available for cold storage or cold room
facility, including for farm level pre-cooling, for preservation or storage of
agricultural and allied produce, marine products and meat.
Infrastructure
! Rs 1,73,552 crore provided for infrastructure development which accounts for over
46 per cent of the total plan allocation.
! Allocation for road transport increased by over 13 per cent from Rs. 17,520 crore
to Rs 19,894 crore.
! Rs 16,752 crore provided for Railways, which is about Rs.950 crore more than last
year.
India Infrastructure Finance Company Limited (IIFCL)
! IIFCL’s disbursements are expected to touch Rs 9,000 crore by end March 2010
and reach around Rs 20,000 crore by March 2011.
! IIFCL has refinanced bank lending to infrastructure projects of Rs. 3,000 crore during
the current year and is expected to more than double that amount in 2010-11.
! The take-out financing scheme announced in the last Budget is expected to initially
provide finance for about Rs. 25,000 crore in the next three years.
Energy
! Plan allocation for power sector excluding RGGVY doubled from Rs.2230 crore
in 2009-10 to Rs.5,130 crore in 2010-11.
! Government proposes to introduce a competitive bidding process for allocating
coal blocks for captive mining to ensure greater transparency and increased
participation in production from these blocks.
! A “Coal Regulatory Authority” to create a level playing field in the coal sector
proposed to be set up.
! Plan outlay for the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy increased by 61 per
cent from Rs.620 crore in 2009-10 to Rs.1,000 crore in 2010-11.
! Solar, small hydro and micro power projects at a cost of about Rs.500 crore to be
set up in Ladakh region of Jammu and Kashmir.
Environment and Climate change
! National Clean Energy Fund for funding research and innovative projects in clean
energy technologies to be established.
! One-time grant of Rs.200 crore to the Government of Tamil Nadu towards the cost of
installation of a zero liquid discharge system at Tirupur to sustain knitwear industry.
! Rs.200 crore provided as a Special Golden Jubilee package for Goa to preserve the
natural resources of the State, including sea beaches and forest cover.
! Allocation for National Ganga River Basin Authority (NGRBA) doubled in
2010-11 to Rs.500 crore.
! Schemes on bank protection works along river Bhagirathi and river Ganga-Padma
in parts of Murshidabad and Nadia district of West Bengal included in the Centrally
Sponsored Flood Management Programme.
! A project at Sagar Island to be developed to provide an alternate port facility in
West Bengal.
INCLUSIVE DEVELOPMENT
! The spending on social sector has been gradually increased to Rs.1,37,674 crore in
2010-11, which is 37% of the total plan outlay in 2010-11.
! Another 25 per cent of the plan allocations are devoted to the development of rural
infrastructure.
Education
! Plan allocation for school education increased by 16 per cent from Rs.26,800 crore
in 2009-10 to Rs.31,036 crore in 2010-11.
! In addition, States will have access to Rs.3,675 crore for elementary education
under the Thirteenth Finance Commission grants for 2010-11.
Health
! An Annual Health Survey to prepare the District Health Profile of all Districts
shall be conducted in 2010-11.
! Plan allocation to Ministry of Health & Family Welfare increased from Rs 19,534
crore in 2009-10 to Rs 22,300 crore for 2010-11.
Financial Inclusion
! Appropriate Banking facilities to be provided to habitations having population in
excess of 2000 by March, 2012.
! Insurance and other services to be provided using the Business Correspondent model.
By this arrangement, it is proposed to cover 60,000 habitations.
! Augmentation of Rs.100 crore each for the Financial Inclusion Fund (FIF) and the
Financial Inclusion Technology Fund, which shall be contributed by Government
of India, RBI and NABARD
! Rs. 66,100 crore provided for Rural Development.
! Allocation for Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme
stepped up to Rs.40,100 crore in 2010-11.
! An amount of Rs.48,000 crore allocated for rural infrastructure programmes under
Bharat Nirman.
! Unit cost under Indira Awas Yojana increased to Rs.45,000 in the plain areas and
to Rs.48,500 in the hilly areas. Allocation for this scheme increased to Rs.10,000
crore.
! Allocation to Backward Region Grant Fund enhanced by 26 per cent from Rs.5,800
crore in 2009-10 to Rs 7,300 crore in 2010-11.
! Additional central assistance of Rs 1,200 crore provided for drought mitigation in
the Bundelkhand region.
Urban Development and Housing
! Allocation for urban development increased by more than 75 per cent from Rs.3,060
crore to Rs.5,400 crore in 2010-11.
! Allocation for Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation raised from Rs.850 crore to
Rs.1,000 crore in 2010-11.
! Scheme of one per cent interest subvention on housing loan upto Rs.10 lakh, where
the cost of the house does not exceed Rs.20 lakh — announced in the last
Budget — extended up to March 31, 2011. Rs.700 crore provided for this scheme
for the year 2010-11.
! Rs.1,270 crore allocated for Rajiv Awas Yojana as compared to Rs.150 crore last
year.
Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises
! High Level Council on Micro and Small Enterprises to monitor the implementation
of the recommendations of High-Level Task Force constituted by Prime Minister.
! Allocation for this sector to be increased from Rs.1,794 crore to Rs.2,400 crore for
the year 2010-11.
! The corpus for Micro-Finance Development and Equity Fund doubled to Rs.400
crore in 2010-11.
Unorganised Sector
National Social Security Fund for unorganised sector workers
! National Social Security Fund for unorganised sector workers to be set up with an
initial allocation of Rs.1000 crore. This fund will support schemes for weavers,
toddy tappers, rickshaw pullers, bidi workers etc.
! Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana benefits extended to all such Mahatma Gandhi
NREGA beneficiaries who have worked for more than 15 days during the preceding
financial year.
A new initiative, “Swavalamban” will be available for persons who join New
Pension Scheme (NPS), with a minimum contribution of Rs.1,000 and a maximum
contribution of Rs.12,000 per annum during the financial year 2010-11, wherein
Government will contribute Rs.1,000 per year to each NPS account opened in the
year 2010-11. Allocation of Rs.100 crore made for this initiative.
Skill development
! National Skill Development Corporation has approved three projects worth about
Rs 45 crore to create 10 lakh skilled manpower at the rate of one lakh per annum.
! An extensive skill development programme in the textile and garment sector to be
launched by leveraging the strength of existing institutions and instruments of the
Textile Ministry to train 30 lakh persons over 5 years.
Social Welfare
! Plan outlay for Women and Child Development stepped up by almost 50 per cent.
! The ICDS platform being expanded for effective implementation of the Rajiv Gandhi
Scheme for Adolescent Girls.
! “Saakshar Bharat” to further improve female literacy rate launched with a target
of 7 crore non-literate adults which includes 6 crore women.
! Mahila Kisan Sashaktikaran Pariyojana to meet the specific needs of women
farmers to be launched with a provision of Rs 100 crore as a sub-component of the
National Rural Livelihood Mission.
! Plan outlay of the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment enhanced by 80
per cent to Rs.4500 crore. With this enhancement, the Ministry will be able to
revise rates of scholarship under its post-matric scholarship schemes for SCs and
OBC students.
! Plan allocation for the Ministry of Minority Affairs increased by 50 per cent from
Rs.1,740 crore to Rs.2,600 crore for the year 2010-11.
STRENGTHENING TRANSPARENCY & PUBLIC ACCOUNTABILTY
! Financial Sector Legislative Reforms Commission to be set up to rewrite and clean
up the financial sector laws to bring them in line with the requirements of the
sector.
! Rs 1,900 crore allocated to the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI)
for 2010-11. UIDAI will be able to meet its commitments of issuing the first set of
UID numbers in the coming year
! A Technology Advisory Group for Unique Projects (TAGUP) to be set up to look
into various technological and systemic issues for effective tax administration and
financial governance.
! Independent Evaluation Office (IEO) chaired by the Deputy Chairman, Planning
Commission to be set up to evaluate the impact of flagship programmes.
Security and Justice
! Allocation for Defence increased to Rs. 1,47,344 crore including Rs 60,000 crore
for capital expenditure.
! About 2,000 youth to be recruited as constables in five Central Para Military Forces
from Jammu and Kashmir in the year 2010.
! Planning Commission to prepare an integrated action plan for the thirty-three left
wing extremism affected districts. Adequate funds will be made available to support
the action plan.
! Government has approved the setting up of the National Mission for Delivery of
Justice and Legal Reforms to help reduce legal backlog in courts from an average
of 15 years at present to 3 years by 2012.
BUDGET ESTIMATES 2010-11
! The Gross Tax Receipts are estimated at Rs. 7,46,651 crore
! The Non Tax Revenue Receipts are estimated at Rs. 1,48,118 crore.
! The net tax revenue to the Centre as well as the expenditure provisions in 2010-11
have been estimated with reference to the recommendations of the Thirteenth
Finance Commission.
! The total expenditure proposed in the Budget Estimates is Rs. 11,08,749 crore,
which is an increase of 8.6 per cent over last year.
! The Plan and Non Plan expenditures in BE 2010-11 are estimated at Rs. 3,73,092
crore and Rs. 7,35,657 crore respectively. While there is 15 per cent increase in
Plan expenditure, the increase in Non Plan expenditure is only 6 per cent over the
BE of previous year.
! Fiscal deficit for BE 2010-11 at 5.5 per cent of GDP, which works out to Rs.3,81,408
crore.
! Taking into account the various other financing items for fiscal deficit, the actual
net market borrowing of the Government in 2010-11 would be of the order of
Rs.3,45,010 crore. This would leave enough space to meet the credit needs of the
private sector.
! The rolling targets for fiscal deficit are pegged at 4.8 per cent and 4.1 per cent for
2011-12 and 2012-13, respectively.
! Against a fiscal deficit of 7.8 per cent in 2008-09, inclusive of oil and fertilizer
bonds, the comparable fiscal deficit is 6.9 per cent as per the Revised Estimates for
2009-10.
! Conscious effort made to avoid issuing bonds to oil and fertilizer companies.
Government would like to continue with this practice of extending Government
subsidy in cash, thereby bringing all subsidy related liabilities into Government’s
fiscal accounting.
TAX PROPOSALS
! The Centralized Processing Centre at Bengaluru is now fully functional and is
processing around 20,000 returns daily. This initiative will be taken forward by
setting up two more Centres during the year.
! The Income Tax department has introduced “Sevottam”, a pilot project at Pune,
Kochi and Chandigarh through Aayakar Seva Kendras, which provide a single window
system for registration of all applications including those for redressal of grievances
as well as paper returns. The scheme will be extended to four more cities in the year.
! Automation of Central Excise & Service Tax, has already been rolled out throughout
the country this year. Similarly, a Mission Mode Project for computerization of
Commercial Taxes in States has been approved recently. With an outlay of
Rs. 1133 crore of which the Centre’s share is Rs. 800 crore, the project will lay the
foundation for the launch of GST.
! The income tax department to notify SARAL-II form for individual salaried
taxpayers for the coming assessment year.
! Scope of cases which may be admitted by the Settlement Commission expanded to
include proceedings related to search and seizure cases pending for assessment.
Scope of Settlement Commission also expanded in respect of Central Excise and
Customs to include certain categories of cases that hitherto fell outside its
jurisdiction.
! Bi-lateral discussions commenced to enhance the exchange of bank related and
other information to effectively track tax evasion and identify undisclosed assets
of resident Indians lying abroad.
Direct Taxes
! Income tax slabs for individual taxpayers to be as follows
Income upto Rs 1.6 lakh Nil
Income above Rs 1.6 lakh and upto Rs. 5 lakh 10 per cent
Income above Rs.5 lakh and upto Rs. 8 lakh 20 per cent
Income above Rs. 8 lakh 30 per cent
! Deduction of an additional amount of Rs. 20,000 allowed, over and above the
existing limit of Rs.1 lakh on tax savings, for investment in long-term infrastructure
bonds as notified by the Central Government
! Besides contributions to health insurance schemes which is currently allowed as a
deduction under the Income-tax Act, contributions to the Central Government Health
Scheme also allowed as a deduction under the same provision.
! Current surcharge of 10 per cent on domestic companies reduced to 7.5 per cent.
! Rate of Minimum Alternate Tax (MAT) increased from the current rate of 15 per
cent to 18 per cent of book profits.
To further encourage R&D across all sectors of the economy, weighted deduction
on expenditure incurred on in-house R&D enhanced from 150 per cent to 200 per
cent. Weighted deduction on payments made to National Laboratories, research
associations, colleges, universities and other institutions, for scientific research
enhanced from 125 per cent to 175 per cent.
! Payment made to an approved association engaged in research in social sciences
or statistical research to be allowed as a weighted deduction of 125 per cent. The
income of such approved research association shall be exempt from tax.
! Benefit of investment linked deduction under the Act extended to new hotels of
two-star category and above anywhere in India to boost investment in the tourism
sector.
! Allow pending projects to be completed within a period of five years instead of
four years for claiming a deduction of their profits, as a one time interim relief to
the housing and real estate sector. Norms for built-up area of shops and other
commercial establishments in housing projects to be relaxed to enable basic facilities
for their residents.
! Limits for turnover over which accounts need to be audited enhanced to Rs. 60
lakh for businesses and to Rs. 15 lakh for professions.
! Limit of turnover for the purpose of presumptive taxation of small businesses
enhanced to Rs. 60 lakh.
! If tax has been deducted on payment by way of any expense and is paid before the
due date of filing the return, such expenditure to be allowed for deduction. Interest
charged on tax deducted but not deposited by the specified date to be increased
from 12 per cent to 18 per cent per annum.
! To facilitate the conversion of small companies into Limited Liability Partnerships,
transfer of assets as a result of such conversion not to be subject to capital gains
tax.
! “The advancement of any other object of general public utility” to be considered as
“charitable purpose” even if it involves carrying on of any activity in the nature of
trade, commerce or business provided that the receipts from such activities do not
exceed Rs.10 lakh in the year .
! Proposals on direct taxes estimated to result in a revenue loss of Rs. 26,000 crore
for the year.
Indirect Taxes
! Rate reduction in Central Excise duties to be partially rolled back and the standard
rate on all non-petroleum products enhanced from 8 per cent to 10 per cent
ad valorem.
! The specific rates of duty applicable to portland cement and cement clinker also
adjusted upwards proportionately. Similarly, the ad valorem component of excise
duty on large cars, multi-utility vehicles and sports-utility vehicles increased by 2
percentage points to 22 per cent.
Restore the basic duty of 5 per cent on crude petroleum; 7.5 per cent on diesel and
petrol and 10 per cent on other refined products. Central Excise duty on petrol and
diesel enhanced by Re.1 per litre each.
! Some structural changes in the excise duty on cigarettes, cigars and cigarillos to be
made coupled with some increase in rates. Excise duty on all non-smoking tobacco
such as scented tobacco, snuff, chewing tobacco etc to be enhanced. Compounded
levy scheme for chewing tobacco and branded unmanufactured tobacco based on
the capacity of pouch packing machines to be introduced.
Agriculture & Related Sectors
! Provide project import status with a concessional import duty of 5 per cent for the
setting up of mechanised handling systems and pallet racking systems in ‘mandis’
or warehouses for food grains and sugar as well as full exemption from service tax
for the installation and commissioning of such equipment.
! Provide project import status at a concessional customs duty of 5 per cent with full
exemption from service tax to the initial setting up and expansion of
♦ Cold storage, cold room including farm pre-coolers for preservation or storage
of agriculture and related sectors produce ; and
♦ Processing units for such produce.
! Provide full exemption from customs duty to refrigeration units required for the
manufacture of refrigerated vans or trucks.
! Provide concessional customs duty of 5 per cent to specified agricultural machinery
not manufactured in India;
! Provide central excise exemption to specified equipment for preservation, storage
and processing of agriculture and related sectors and exemption from service tax
to the storage and warehousing of their produce; and
! Provide full exemption from excise duty to trailers and semi-trailers used in
agriculture.
! Concessional import duty to specified machinery for use in the plantation sector to
be, extended up to March 31, 2011 along with a CVD exemption.
! To exempt the testing and certification of agricultural seeds from service tax.
! The transportation by road of cereals, and pulses to be exempted from service tax.
Transportation by rail to remain exempt.
! To ease the cash flow position for small-scale manufacturers, they would be
permitted to take full credit of Central Excise duty paid on capital goods in a single
installment in the year of their receipt. Secondly, they would be permitted to pay
Central Excise duty on a quarterly, rather than monthly, basis.
Environment
! To build the corpus of the National Clean Energy Fund, clean energy cess on coal
produced in India at a nominal rate of Rs.50 per tonne to be levied. This cess will
also apply on imported coal.
Provide a concessional customs duty of 5 per cent to machinery, instruments,
equipment and appliances etc. required for the initial setting up of photovoltaic
and solar thermal power generating units and also exempt them from Central Excise
duty. Ground source heat pumps used to tap geo-thermal energy to be exempted
from basic customs duty and special additional duty.
! Exempt a few more specified inputs required for the manufacture of rotor blades
for wind energy generators from Central Excise duty.
! Central Excise duty on LED lights reduced from 8 per cent to 4 per cent at par with
Compact Fluorescent Lamps.
! To remedy the difficulty faced by manufacturers of electric cars and vehicles in
neutralising the duty paid on their inputs and components, a nominal duty of 4 per
cent on such vehicles imposed. Some critical parts or sub-assemblies of such
vehicles exempted from basic customs duty and special additional duty subject to
actual user condition. These parts would also enjoy a concessional CVD of 4 per
cent.
! A concessional excise duty of 4 per cent provided to “soleckshaw”, a product
developed by CSIR to replace manually-operated rickshaws. Its key parts and
components to be exempted from customs duty.
! Import of compostable polymer exempted from basic customs duty.
Infrastructure
! Project import status to ‘Monorail projects for urban transport’ at a concessional
basic duty of 5 per cent granted.
! To allow resale of specified machinery for road construction projects on payment
of import duty at depreciated value.
! To encourage the domestic manufacture of mobile phones accessories, exemptions
from basic, CVD and special additional duties are now being extended to parts of
battery chargers and hands-free headphones. The validity of the exemption from
special additional duty is being extended till March 31, 2011.
Medical Sector
! Uniform, concessional basic duty of 5 per cent, CVD of 4 per cent with full
exemption from special additional duty prescribed on all medical equipments. A
concessional basic duty of 5 per cent is being prescribed on parts and accessories
for the manufacture of such equipment while they would be exempt from CVD
and special additional duty.
! Full exemption currently available to medical equipment and devices such as
assistive devices, rehabilitation aids etc. retained. The concession available to
Government hospitals or hospitals set up under a statute also retained.
! Specified inputs for the manufacture of orthopaedic implants exempted from import
duty.
Infotainment
! To address the difficulties experienced by film industry in importing digital masters
of films for duplication or distribution loaded on electronic medium vis-a-vis those
imported on cinematographic film, owing to a differential customs duty structure,
customs duty to be charged only on the value of the carrier medium. The same
dispensation would apply to music and gaming software imported for duplication.
In all such cases the value representing the transfer of intellectual property rights
would be subjected to service tax.
! Provide project import status at a concessional customs duty of 5 per cent with full
exemption from special additional duty to the initial setting up “Digital Head End”
equipment by multi-service operators.
Precious Metals
! Rates on precious metals indexed as follows:
♦ On gold and platinum from Rs.200 per 10 grams to Rs.300 per 10 grams
♦ On silver from Rs.1,000 per kg to Rs.1,500 per kg.
! Basic customs on Rhodium – a precious metal used for polishing jewellery reduced
to 2 per cent.
! Basic customs duty on gold ore and concentrates reduced from 2 per cent ad valorem
to a specific duty of Rs.140 per 10 grams of gold content with full exemption from
special additional duty. Further, the excise duty on refined gold made from such
ore or concentrate reduced from 8 per cent to a specific duty of Rs.280 per 10
grams.
Other Proposals
! Full exemption from import duty available to specified inputs or raw materials
required for the manufacture of sports goods expanded to cover a few more items.
! Basic customs duty on one of key components in production of micro-wave ovens,
namely magnetrons, reduced from 10 per cent to 5 per cent.
! Value limit of Rs. 1 lakh per annum on duty-free import of commercial samples as
personal baggage enhanced to Rs. 3 lakh per annum.
! Outright exemption from special additional duty provided to goods imported in a
pre-packaged form for retail sale. This would also cover mobile phones, watches
and ready-made garments even when they are not imported in pre-packaged form.
The refund-based exemption is also being retained for cases not covered by the
new dispensation.
! Toy balloons fully exempted from Central Excise duty.
! Reduction in basic customs duty on long pepper from 70 per cent to 30 per cent;
! Reduction in basic customs duty on asafoetida from 30 per cent to 20 per cent;
! Reduction in central excise duty on replaceable kits for household type water filters
other than those based on RO technology to 4 per cent;
Reduction in central excise duty on corrugated boxes and cartons from 8 per cent
to 4 per cent;
! Reduction in central excise duty on latex rubber thread from 8 per cent to 4 per
cent; and
! Reduction in excise duty on goods covered under the Medicinal and Toilet
Preparations Act from 16 per cent to 10 per cent.
! Proposals relating to customs and central excise are estimated to result in a net
revenue gain of Rs. 43,500 crore for the year.
Service Tax
! Rate of tax on services retained at 10 per cent to pave the way forward for GST.
! Certain services, hitherto untaxed, to be brought within the purview of the service
tax levy. These to be notified separately.
! Process of refund of accumulated credit to exporters of services, especially in the
area of Information Technology and Business Process Outsourcing, made easy by
making necessary changes in the definition of export of services and procedures.
! Accredited news agencies which provide news feed online that meet certain criteria,
exempted from service tax.
! Proposals relating to service tax are estimated to result in a net revenue gain of Rs
3,000 crore for the year.
! Proposals on direct taxes estimated to result in a revenue loss of Rs. 26,000 crore
for the year. Proposals relating to Indirect Taxes estimated to result in a net revenue
gain of Rs.46,500 crore for the year. Taking into account the concessions being
given in the tax proposals and measures taken to mobilise additional resources, the
net revenue gain is estimated to be Rs. 20,500 crore for the year.
! To quickly revert to the high GDP growth path of 9 per cent and then find the
means to cross the ‘double digit growth barrier’.
! To harness economic growth to consolidate the recent gains in making development
more inclusive.
! To address the weaknesses in government systems, structures and institutions at
different levels of governance.
OVERVIEW OF THE ECONOMY
! India among the first few countries in the world to implement a broad-based
counter-cyclic policy package to respond to the negative fallout of the global
slowdown.
! The Advance Estimates for Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth for 2009-10
pegged at 7.2 per cent. The final figure expected to be higher when the third and
fourth quarter GDP estimates for 2009-10 become available.
! The growth rate in manufacturing sector in December 2009 was 18.5 per cent – the
highest in the past two decades.
! A major concern during the second half of 2009-10 has been the emergence of
double digit food inflation. Government has set in motion steps, in consultation
with the State Chief Ministers, which should bring down the inflation in the next
few months and ensure that there is better management of food security in the
country.
CONSOLIDATING GROWTH
Fiscal Consolidation
! With recovery taking root, there is a need to review public spending, mobilise
resources and gear them towards building the productivity of the economy.
! Fiscal policy shaped with reference to the recommendations of the Thirteenth
Finance Commission, which has recommended a calibrated exit strategy from the
expansionary fiscal stance of last two years.
! It would be for the first time that the Government would target an explicit reduction
in its domestic public debt-GDP ratio.
On the Direct Tax Code (DTC) the wide-ranging discussions with stakeholders
have been concluded – Government will be in a position to implement the DTC
from April 1, 2011.
! Centre actively engaged with the Empowered Committee of State Finance Ministers
to finalise the structure of Goods and Services Tax (GST) as well as the modalities
of its expeditious implementation. Endeavour to introduce GST by April, 2011
People’s ownership of PSUs
! Ownership has been broad based in Oil India Limited, NHPC, NTPC and Rural
Electrification Corporation while the process is on for National Mineral
Development Corporation and Satluj Jal Vidyut Nigam. This will raise about
Rs 25,000 crore during the current year.
! Higher amount proposed to be raised during the year 2010-11.
Fertiliser subsidy
! A Nutrient Based Subsidy policy for the fertiliser sector has been approved by the
Government and will become effective from April 1, 2010.
! This will lead to an increase in agricultural productivity and better returns for the
farmers, and overtime reduce the volatility in demand for fertiliser subsidy and
contain the subsidy bill.
Petroleum and Diesel pricing policy
! Expert Group to advise the Government on a viable and sustainable system of
pricing of petroleum products has submitted its recommendations.
! Decision on these recommendations will be taken in due course.
Improving Investment Environment
Foreign Direct Investment
! Number of steps taken to simplify the FDI regime.
! Methodology for calculation of indirect foreign investment in Indian companies
has been clearly defined.
! Complete liberalisation of pricing and payment of technology transfer fee and
trademark, brand name and royalty payments.
Financial Stability and Development Council
! An apex level Financial Stability and Development Council to be set up with a
view to strengthen and institutionalise the mechanism for maintaining financial
stability.
! This Council would monitor macro-prudential supervision of the economy,
including the functioning of large financial conglomerates, and address interregulatory
coordination issues.
Banking Licences
! RBI is considering giving some additional banking licenses to private sector players.
Non Banking Financial Companies could also be considered, if they meet the RBI’s
eligibility criteria.
Public Sector Bank Capitalisation
! Rs.16,500 crore provided to ensure that the Public Sector Banks are able to attain
a minimum 8 per cent Tier-I capital by March 31, 2011.
Recapitalisation of Regional Rural Banks (RRB)
! Government to provide further capital to strengthen the RRBs so that they have
adequate capital base to support increased lending to the rural economy.
Corporate Governance
! Government has introduced the Companies Bill, 2009 in the Parliament to replace
the existing Companies Act, 1956, which will address issues related to regulation
in corporate sector in the context of the changing business environment.
Exports
! Extension of existing interest subvention of 2 per cent for one more year for exports
covering handicrafts, carpets, handlooms and small and medium enterprises.
Agriculture Growth
! Government will follow a four-pronged strategy, covering
(a) Agricultural production
! Rs. 400 crore provided to extend the green revolution to the eastern region of the
country comprising Bihar, Chattisgarh, Jharkhand, Eastern UP, West Bengal and
Orissa.
! Rs. 300 crore provided to organise 60,000 “pulses and oil seed villages” in rain-fed
areas during 2010-11 and provide an integrated intervention for water harvesting,
watershed management and soil health, to enhance the productivity of the dry land
farming areas.
! Rs. 200 crore provided for sustaining the gains already made in the green revolution
areas through conservation farming, which involves concurrent attention to soil
health, water conservation and preservation of biodiversity.
(b) Reduction in wastage of produce
! Government to address the issue of opening up of retail trade. It will help in bringing
down the considerable difference between farm gate, wholesale and retail prices.
! Deficit in the storage capacity met through an ongoing scheme for private sector
participation – FCI to hire godowns from private parties for a guaranteed period of
7 years.
(c) Credit support to farmers
! Banks have been consistently meeting the targets set for agriculture credit flow in
the past few years. For the year 2010-11, the target has been set at Rs.3,75,000
crore.
In view of the recent drought in some States and the severe floods in some other
parts of the country, the period for repayment of the loan amount by farmers extended
by six months from December 31, 2009 to June 30, 2010 under the Debt Waiver
and Debt Relief Scheme for Farmers.
! Incentive of additional one per cent interest subvention to farmers who repay
short-term crop loans as per schedule, increased to 2% for 2010-11.
(d) Impetus to the food processing sector
! In addition to the ten mega food park projects already being set up, the Government
has decided to set up five more such parks.
! External Commercial Borrowings to be available for cold storage or cold room
facility, including for farm level pre-cooling, for preservation or storage of
agricultural and allied produce, marine products and meat.
Infrastructure
! Rs 1,73,552 crore provided for infrastructure development which accounts for over
46 per cent of the total plan allocation.
! Allocation for road transport increased by over 13 per cent from Rs. 17,520 crore
to Rs 19,894 crore.
! Rs 16,752 crore provided for Railways, which is about Rs.950 crore more than last
year.
India Infrastructure Finance Company Limited (IIFCL)
! IIFCL’s disbursements are expected to touch Rs 9,000 crore by end March 2010
and reach around Rs 20,000 crore by March 2011.
! IIFCL has refinanced bank lending to infrastructure projects of Rs. 3,000 crore during
the current year and is expected to more than double that amount in 2010-11.
! The take-out financing scheme announced in the last Budget is expected to initially
provide finance for about Rs. 25,000 crore in the next three years.
Energy
! Plan allocation for power sector excluding RGGVY doubled from Rs.2230 crore
in 2009-10 to Rs.5,130 crore in 2010-11.
! Government proposes to introduce a competitive bidding process for allocating
coal blocks for captive mining to ensure greater transparency and increased
participation in production from these blocks.
! A “Coal Regulatory Authority” to create a level playing field in the coal sector
proposed to be set up.
! Plan outlay for the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy increased by 61 per
cent from Rs.620 crore in 2009-10 to Rs.1,000 crore in 2010-11.
! Solar, small hydro and micro power projects at a cost of about Rs.500 crore to be
set up in Ladakh region of Jammu and Kashmir.
Environment and Climate change
! National Clean Energy Fund for funding research and innovative projects in clean
energy technologies to be established.
! One-time grant of Rs.200 crore to the Government of Tamil Nadu towards the cost of
installation of a zero liquid discharge system at Tirupur to sustain knitwear industry.
! Rs.200 crore provided as a Special Golden Jubilee package for Goa to preserve the
natural resources of the State, including sea beaches and forest cover.
! Allocation for National Ganga River Basin Authority (NGRBA) doubled in
2010-11 to Rs.500 crore.
! Schemes on bank protection works along river Bhagirathi and river Ganga-Padma
in parts of Murshidabad and Nadia district of West Bengal included in the Centrally
Sponsored Flood Management Programme.
! A project at Sagar Island to be developed to provide an alternate port facility in
West Bengal.
INCLUSIVE DEVELOPMENT
! The spending on social sector has been gradually increased to Rs.1,37,674 crore in
2010-11, which is 37% of the total plan outlay in 2010-11.
! Another 25 per cent of the plan allocations are devoted to the development of rural
infrastructure.
Education
! Plan allocation for school education increased by 16 per cent from Rs.26,800 crore
in 2009-10 to Rs.31,036 crore in 2010-11.
! In addition, States will have access to Rs.3,675 crore for elementary education
under the Thirteenth Finance Commission grants for 2010-11.
Health
! An Annual Health Survey to prepare the District Health Profile of all Districts
shall be conducted in 2010-11.
! Plan allocation to Ministry of Health & Family Welfare increased from Rs 19,534
crore in 2009-10 to Rs 22,300 crore for 2010-11.
Financial Inclusion
! Appropriate Banking facilities to be provided to habitations having population in
excess of 2000 by March, 2012.
! Insurance and other services to be provided using the Business Correspondent model.
By this arrangement, it is proposed to cover 60,000 habitations.
! Augmentation of Rs.100 crore each for the Financial Inclusion Fund (FIF) and the
Financial Inclusion Technology Fund, which shall be contributed by Government
of India, RBI and NABARD
! Rs. 66,100 crore provided for Rural Development.
! Allocation for Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme
stepped up to Rs.40,100 crore in 2010-11.
! An amount of Rs.48,000 crore allocated for rural infrastructure programmes under
Bharat Nirman.
! Unit cost under Indira Awas Yojana increased to Rs.45,000 in the plain areas and
to Rs.48,500 in the hilly areas. Allocation for this scheme increased to Rs.10,000
crore.
! Allocation to Backward Region Grant Fund enhanced by 26 per cent from Rs.5,800
crore in 2009-10 to Rs 7,300 crore in 2010-11.
! Additional central assistance of Rs 1,200 crore provided for drought mitigation in
the Bundelkhand region.
Urban Development and Housing
! Allocation for urban development increased by more than 75 per cent from Rs.3,060
crore to Rs.5,400 crore in 2010-11.
! Allocation for Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation raised from Rs.850 crore to
Rs.1,000 crore in 2010-11.
! Scheme of one per cent interest subvention on housing loan upto Rs.10 lakh, where
the cost of the house does not exceed Rs.20 lakh — announced in the last
Budget — extended up to March 31, 2011. Rs.700 crore provided for this scheme
for the year 2010-11.
! Rs.1,270 crore allocated for Rajiv Awas Yojana as compared to Rs.150 crore last
year.
Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises
! High Level Council on Micro and Small Enterprises to monitor the implementation
of the recommendations of High-Level Task Force constituted by Prime Minister.
! Allocation for this sector to be increased from Rs.1,794 crore to Rs.2,400 crore for
the year 2010-11.
! The corpus for Micro-Finance Development and Equity Fund doubled to Rs.400
crore in 2010-11.
Unorganised Sector
National Social Security Fund for unorganised sector workers
! National Social Security Fund for unorganised sector workers to be set up with an
initial allocation of Rs.1000 crore. This fund will support schemes for weavers,
toddy tappers, rickshaw pullers, bidi workers etc.
! Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana benefits extended to all such Mahatma Gandhi
NREGA beneficiaries who have worked for more than 15 days during the preceding
financial year.
A new initiative, “Swavalamban” will be available for persons who join New
Pension Scheme (NPS), with a minimum contribution of Rs.1,000 and a maximum
contribution of Rs.12,000 per annum during the financial year 2010-11, wherein
Government will contribute Rs.1,000 per year to each NPS account opened in the
year 2010-11. Allocation of Rs.100 crore made for this initiative.
Skill development
! National Skill Development Corporation has approved three projects worth about
Rs 45 crore to create 10 lakh skilled manpower at the rate of one lakh per annum.
! An extensive skill development programme in the textile and garment sector to be
launched by leveraging the strength of existing institutions and instruments of the
Textile Ministry to train 30 lakh persons over 5 years.
Social Welfare
! Plan outlay for Women and Child Development stepped up by almost 50 per cent.
! The ICDS platform being expanded for effective implementation of the Rajiv Gandhi
Scheme for Adolescent Girls.
! “Saakshar Bharat” to further improve female literacy rate launched with a target
of 7 crore non-literate adults which includes 6 crore women.
! Mahila Kisan Sashaktikaran Pariyojana to meet the specific needs of women
farmers to be launched with a provision of Rs 100 crore as a sub-component of the
National Rural Livelihood Mission.
! Plan outlay of the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment enhanced by 80
per cent to Rs.4500 crore. With this enhancement, the Ministry will be able to
revise rates of scholarship under its post-matric scholarship schemes for SCs and
OBC students.
! Plan allocation for the Ministry of Minority Affairs increased by 50 per cent from
Rs.1,740 crore to Rs.2,600 crore for the year 2010-11.
STRENGTHENING TRANSPARENCY & PUBLIC ACCOUNTABILTY
! Financial Sector Legislative Reforms Commission to be set up to rewrite and clean
up the financial sector laws to bring them in line with the requirements of the
sector.
! Rs 1,900 crore allocated to the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI)
for 2010-11. UIDAI will be able to meet its commitments of issuing the first set of
UID numbers in the coming year
! A Technology Advisory Group for Unique Projects (TAGUP) to be set up to look
into various technological and systemic issues for effective tax administration and
financial governance.
! Independent Evaluation Office (IEO) chaired by the Deputy Chairman, Planning
Commission to be set up to evaluate the impact of flagship programmes.
Security and Justice
! Allocation for Defence increased to Rs. 1,47,344 crore including Rs 60,000 crore
for capital expenditure.
! About 2,000 youth to be recruited as constables in five Central Para Military Forces
from Jammu and Kashmir in the year 2010.
! Planning Commission to prepare an integrated action plan for the thirty-three left
wing extremism affected districts. Adequate funds will be made available to support
the action plan.
! Government has approved the setting up of the National Mission for Delivery of
Justice and Legal Reforms to help reduce legal backlog in courts from an average
of 15 years at present to 3 years by 2012.
BUDGET ESTIMATES 2010-11
! The Gross Tax Receipts are estimated at Rs. 7,46,651 crore
! The Non Tax Revenue Receipts are estimated at Rs. 1,48,118 crore.
! The net tax revenue to the Centre as well as the expenditure provisions in 2010-11
have been estimated with reference to the recommendations of the Thirteenth
Finance Commission.
! The total expenditure proposed in the Budget Estimates is Rs. 11,08,749 crore,
which is an increase of 8.6 per cent over last year.
! The Plan and Non Plan expenditures in BE 2010-11 are estimated at Rs. 3,73,092
crore and Rs. 7,35,657 crore respectively. While there is 15 per cent increase in
Plan expenditure, the increase in Non Plan expenditure is only 6 per cent over the
BE of previous year.
! Fiscal deficit for BE 2010-11 at 5.5 per cent of GDP, which works out to Rs.3,81,408
crore.
! Taking into account the various other financing items for fiscal deficit, the actual
net market borrowing of the Government in 2010-11 would be of the order of
Rs.3,45,010 crore. This would leave enough space to meet the credit needs of the
private sector.
! The rolling targets for fiscal deficit are pegged at 4.8 per cent and 4.1 per cent for
2011-12 and 2012-13, respectively.
! Against a fiscal deficit of 7.8 per cent in 2008-09, inclusive of oil and fertilizer
bonds, the comparable fiscal deficit is 6.9 per cent as per the Revised Estimates for
2009-10.
! Conscious effort made to avoid issuing bonds to oil and fertilizer companies.
Government would like to continue with this practice of extending Government
subsidy in cash, thereby bringing all subsidy related liabilities into Government’s
fiscal accounting.
TAX PROPOSALS
! The Centralized Processing Centre at Bengaluru is now fully functional and is
processing around 20,000 returns daily. This initiative will be taken forward by
setting up two more Centres during the year.
! The Income Tax department has introduced “Sevottam”, a pilot project at Pune,
Kochi and Chandigarh through Aayakar Seva Kendras, which provide a single window
system for registration of all applications including those for redressal of grievances
as well as paper returns. The scheme will be extended to four more cities in the year.
! Automation of Central Excise & Service Tax, has already been rolled out throughout
the country this year. Similarly, a Mission Mode Project for computerization of
Commercial Taxes in States has been approved recently. With an outlay of
Rs. 1133 crore of which the Centre’s share is Rs. 800 crore, the project will lay the
foundation for the launch of GST.
! The income tax department to notify SARAL-II form for individual salaried
taxpayers for the coming assessment year.
! Scope of cases which may be admitted by the Settlement Commission expanded to
include proceedings related to search and seizure cases pending for assessment.
Scope of Settlement Commission also expanded in respect of Central Excise and
Customs to include certain categories of cases that hitherto fell outside its
jurisdiction.
! Bi-lateral discussions commenced to enhance the exchange of bank related and
other information to effectively track tax evasion and identify undisclosed assets
of resident Indians lying abroad.
Direct Taxes
! Income tax slabs for individual taxpayers to be as follows
Income upto Rs 1.6 lakh Nil
Income above Rs 1.6 lakh and upto Rs. 5 lakh 10 per cent
Income above Rs.5 lakh and upto Rs. 8 lakh 20 per cent
Income above Rs. 8 lakh 30 per cent
! Deduction of an additional amount of Rs. 20,000 allowed, over and above the
existing limit of Rs.1 lakh on tax savings, for investment in long-term infrastructure
bonds as notified by the Central Government
! Besides contributions to health insurance schemes which is currently allowed as a
deduction under the Income-tax Act, contributions to the Central Government Health
Scheme also allowed as a deduction under the same provision.
! Current surcharge of 10 per cent on domestic companies reduced to 7.5 per cent.
! Rate of Minimum Alternate Tax (MAT) increased from the current rate of 15 per
cent to 18 per cent of book profits.
To further encourage R&D across all sectors of the economy, weighted deduction
on expenditure incurred on in-house R&D enhanced from 150 per cent to 200 per
cent. Weighted deduction on payments made to National Laboratories, research
associations, colleges, universities and other institutions, for scientific research
enhanced from 125 per cent to 175 per cent.
! Payment made to an approved association engaged in research in social sciences
or statistical research to be allowed as a weighted deduction of 125 per cent. The
income of such approved research association shall be exempt from tax.
! Benefit of investment linked deduction under the Act extended to new hotels of
two-star category and above anywhere in India to boost investment in the tourism
sector.
! Allow pending projects to be completed within a period of five years instead of
four years for claiming a deduction of their profits, as a one time interim relief to
the housing and real estate sector. Norms for built-up area of shops and other
commercial establishments in housing projects to be relaxed to enable basic facilities
for their residents.
! Limits for turnover over which accounts need to be audited enhanced to Rs. 60
lakh for businesses and to Rs. 15 lakh for professions.
! Limit of turnover for the purpose of presumptive taxation of small businesses
enhanced to Rs. 60 lakh.
! If tax has been deducted on payment by way of any expense and is paid before the
due date of filing the return, such expenditure to be allowed for deduction. Interest
charged on tax deducted but not deposited by the specified date to be increased
from 12 per cent to 18 per cent per annum.
! To facilitate the conversion of small companies into Limited Liability Partnerships,
transfer of assets as a result of such conversion not to be subject to capital gains
tax.
! “The advancement of any other object of general public utility” to be considered as
“charitable purpose” even if it involves carrying on of any activity in the nature of
trade, commerce or business provided that the receipts from such activities do not
exceed Rs.10 lakh in the year .
! Proposals on direct taxes estimated to result in a revenue loss of Rs. 26,000 crore
for the year.
Indirect Taxes
! Rate reduction in Central Excise duties to be partially rolled back and the standard
rate on all non-petroleum products enhanced from 8 per cent to 10 per cent
ad valorem.
! The specific rates of duty applicable to portland cement and cement clinker also
adjusted upwards proportionately. Similarly, the ad valorem component of excise
duty on large cars, multi-utility vehicles and sports-utility vehicles increased by 2
percentage points to 22 per cent.
Restore the basic duty of 5 per cent on crude petroleum; 7.5 per cent on diesel and
petrol and 10 per cent on other refined products. Central Excise duty on petrol and
diesel enhanced by Re.1 per litre each.
! Some structural changes in the excise duty on cigarettes, cigars and cigarillos to be
made coupled with some increase in rates. Excise duty on all non-smoking tobacco
such as scented tobacco, snuff, chewing tobacco etc to be enhanced. Compounded
levy scheme for chewing tobacco and branded unmanufactured tobacco based on
the capacity of pouch packing machines to be introduced.
Agriculture & Related Sectors
! Provide project import status with a concessional import duty of 5 per cent for the
setting up of mechanised handling systems and pallet racking systems in ‘mandis’
or warehouses for food grains and sugar as well as full exemption from service tax
for the installation and commissioning of such equipment.
! Provide project import status at a concessional customs duty of 5 per cent with full
exemption from service tax to the initial setting up and expansion of
♦ Cold storage, cold room including farm pre-coolers for preservation or storage
of agriculture and related sectors produce ; and
♦ Processing units for such produce.
! Provide full exemption from customs duty to refrigeration units required for the
manufacture of refrigerated vans or trucks.
! Provide concessional customs duty of 5 per cent to specified agricultural machinery
not manufactured in India;
! Provide central excise exemption to specified equipment for preservation, storage
and processing of agriculture and related sectors and exemption from service tax
to the storage and warehousing of their produce; and
! Provide full exemption from excise duty to trailers and semi-trailers used in
agriculture.
! Concessional import duty to specified machinery for use in the plantation sector to
be, extended up to March 31, 2011 along with a CVD exemption.
! To exempt the testing and certification of agricultural seeds from service tax.
! The transportation by road of cereals, and pulses to be exempted from service tax.
Transportation by rail to remain exempt.
! To ease the cash flow position for small-scale manufacturers, they would be
permitted to take full credit of Central Excise duty paid on capital goods in a single
installment in the year of their receipt. Secondly, they would be permitted to pay
Central Excise duty on a quarterly, rather than monthly, basis.
Environment
! To build the corpus of the National Clean Energy Fund, clean energy cess on coal
produced in India at a nominal rate of Rs.50 per tonne to be levied. This cess will
also apply on imported coal.
Provide a concessional customs duty of 5 per cent to machinery, instruments,
equipment and appliances etc. required for the initial setting up of photovoltaic
and solar thermal power generating units and also exempt them from Central Excise
duty. Ground source heat pumps used to tap geo-thermal energy to be exempted
from basic customs duty and special additional duty.
! Exempt a few more specified inputs required for the manufacture of rotor blades
for wind energy generators from Central Excise duty.
! Central Excise duty on LED lights reduced from 8 per cent to 4 per cent at par with
Compact Fluorescent Lamps.
! To remedy the difficulty faced by manufacturers of electric cars and vehicles in
neutralising the duty paid on their inputs and components, a nominal duty of 4 per
cent on such vehicles imposed. Some critical parts or sub-assemblies of such
vehicles exempted from basic customs duty and special additional duty subject to
actual user condition. These parts would also enjoy a concessional CVD of 4 per
cent.
! A concessional excise duty of 4 per cent provided to “soleckshaw”, a product
developed by CSIR to replace manually-operated rickshaws. Its key parts and
components to be exempted from customs duty.
! Import of compostable polymer exempted from basic customs duty.
Infrastructure
! Project import status to ‘Monorail projects for urban transport’ at a concessional
basic duty of 5 per cent granted.
! To allow resale of specified machinery for road construction projects on payment
of import duty at depreciated value.
! To encourage the domestic manufacture of mobile phones accessories, exemptions
from basic, CVD and special additional duties are now being extended to parts of
battery chargers and hands-free headphones. The validity of the exemption from
special additional duty is being extended till March 31, 2011.
Medical Sector
! Uniform, concessional basic duty of 5 per cent, CVD of 4 per cent with full
exemption from special additional duty prescribed on all medical equipments. A
concessional basic duty of 5 per cent is being prescribed on parts and accessories
for the manufacture of such equipment while they would be exempt from CVD
and special additional duty.
! Full exemption currently available to medical equipment and devices such as
assistive devices, rehabilitation aids etc. retained. The concession available to
Government hospitals or hospitals set up under a statute also retained.
! Specified inputs for the manufacture of orthopaedic implants exempted from import
duty.
Infotainment
! To address the difficulties experienced by film industry in importing digital masters
of films for duplication or distribution loaded on electronic medium vis-a-vis those
imported on cinematographic film, owing to a differential customs duty structure,
customs duty to be charged only on the value of the carrier medium. The same
dispensation would apply to music and gaming software imported for duplication.
In all such cases the value representing the transfer of intellectual property rights
would be subjected to service tax.
! Provide project import status at a concessional customs duty of 5 per cent with full
exemption from special additional duty to the initial setting up “Digital Head End”
equipment by multi-service operators.
Precious Metals
! Rates on precious metals indexed as follows:
♦ On gold and platinum from Rs.200 per 10 grams to Rs.300 per 10 grams
♦ On silver from Rs.1,000 per kg to Rs.1,500 per kg.
! Basic customs on Rhodium – a precious metal used for polishing jewellery reduced
to 2 per cent.
! Basic customs duty on gold ore and concentrates reduced from 2 per cent ad valorem
to a specific duty of Rs.140 per 10 grams of gold content with full exemption from
special additional duty. Further, the excise duty on refined gold made from such
ore or concentrate reduced from 8 per cent to a specific duty of Rs.280 per 10
grams.
Other Proposals
! Full exemption from import duty available to specified inputs or raw materials
required for the manufacture of sports goods expanded to cover a few more items.
! Basic customs duty on one of key components in production of micro-wave ovens,
namely magnetrons, reduced from 10 per cent to 5 per cent.
! Value limit of Rs. 1 lakh per annum on duty-free import of commercial samples as
personal baggage enhanced to Rs. 3 lakh per annum.
! Outright exemption from special additional duty provided to goods imported in a
pre-packaged form for retail sale. This would also cover mobile phones, watches
and ready-made garments even when they are not imported in pre-packaged form.
The refund-based exemption is also being retained for cases not covered by the
new dispensation.
! Toy balloons fully exempted from Central Excise duty.
! Reduction in basic customs duty on long pepper from 70 per cent to 30 per cent;
! Reduction in basic customs duty on asafoetida from 30 per cent to 20 per cent;
! Reduction in central excise duty on replaceable kits for household type water filters
other than those based on RO technology to 4 per cent;
Reduction in central excise duty on corrugated boxes and cartons from 8 per cent
to 4 per cent;
! Reduction in central excise duty on latex rubber thread from 8 per cent to 4 per
cent; and
! Reduction in excise duty on goods covered under the Medicinal and Toilet
Preparations Act from 16 per cent to 10 per cent.
! Proposals relating to customs and central excise are estimated to result in a net
revenue gain of Rs. 43,500 crore for the year.
Service Tax
! Rate of tax on services retained at 10 per cent to pave the way forward for GST.
! Certain services, hitherto untaxed, to be brought within the purview of the service
tax levy. These to be notified separately.
! Process of refund of accumulated credit to exporters of services, especially in the
area of Information Technology and Business Process Outsourcing, made easy by
making necessary changes in the definition of export of services and procedures.
! Accredited news agencies which provide news feed online that meet certain criteria,
exempted from service tax.
! Proposals relating to service tax are estimated to result in a net revenue gain of Rs
3,000 crore for the year.
! Proposals on direct taxes estimated to result in a revenue loss of Rs. 26,000 crore
for the year. Proposals relating to Indirect Taxes estimated to result in a net revenue
gain of Rs.46,500 crore for the year. Taking into account the concessions being
given in the tax proposals and measures taken to mobilise additional resources, the
net revenue gain is estimated to be Rs. 20,500 crore for the year.
NAAC Re-accreditation Process @ Deva Matha College
THE NATIONAL ASSESSMENT AND ACCREDITATION COUNCIL (NAAC) is an autonomous institution established by the University Grants Commission (UGC) of India, to assess and accredit institutions of higher education in the country.
The vision of the NAAC is:
To make quality the defining element of higher education in India through a combination of self and external quality evaluation, promotion and sustenance initiatives.
The mission statements of the NAAC aim at translating the NAAC’s vision into action plans, to define the following specific tasks of NAAC engagement and endeavour:
•To arrange for periodic assessment and accreditation of institutions of higher education or units thereof, or specific academic programmes or projects;
•To stimulate the academic environment for promotion of quality in teaching-learning and research in higher education institutions;
•To encourage self-evaluation, accountability, autonomy and innovations in higher education;
•To undertake quality-related research studies, consultancy and training programmes, and
•To collaborate with other stakeholders of higher education for quality evaluation, promotion and sustenance.
Striving to achieve its goals as guided by its vision and mission statements, NAAC primarily focuses on assessment of the quality of eligible higher education institutions of the country. NAAC uses an internationally accepted methodology, which consists of self-assessment and external quality assessment.
CORE VALUES
NAAC includes the following core values in its accreditation frame work. ALL Higher education Institutions are supposed to frame their activities to achieve this core values.NAAC assesses institutional functioning with reference to the contributions made by HEIs towards the five core values. In general, HEIs are expected to demonstrate how they achieve the objectives of the core values through the data and information detailed in the SSR (Self Study Report).
1.Contributing to National Development
2.Fostering Global Competencies among Students
3.Inculcating a Value System among Students
4.Promoting the Use of Technology
5.Quest for Excellence
CRITERIA FOR ASSESSMENT
The NAAC has identified the following seven criteria to serve as the basis for assessment of HEIs:
1.Curricular Aspects
2.Teaching-Learning and Evaluation
3.Research, Consultancy and Extension
4.Infrastructure and Learning Resources
5.Student Support and Progression
6.Governance and Leadership and
7.Innovative Practices
The SSR (Self Study Report)is expected to highlight the functioning of an institution with reference to these seven criteria. Each criterion has Key Aspects which form the basis of criterion-wise assessment. One key aspect is dedicated to Best Practices under each criterion.
CRITERIA AND KEY ASPECTS
Criterion I—Curricular Aspects: This criterion deals with how the curriculum - either assigned by a University or marginally supplemented or enriched by an institution, or totally remade, depending on the freedom allowed in curricular design, aligns with the mission statement of the institution. It also considers the practices of an institution in initiating a wide range of programme options and courses that are relevant to the local needs and in tune with the emerging national and global trends. Apart from issues of academic flexibility and diversity, to suit different levels of learners, aspects on career orientation, multi-skill development and involvement of stakeholders in curriculum updation, are also gauged under this criterion.
The focus of this criterion is captured in the following criterion statements and key aspects:
CRITERION STATEMENTS
The institution has clearly stated goals and objectives that are communicated systematically to all its constituencies.
The programmes of the institution are consistent with its goals and objectives.
The institution has a wide range of programme offerings that provide adequate academic flexibility.
Feedback from academic peers, students, employers and other stakeholders are used in the initiation, review and redesign of programmes.
The institution practices sustainable curricular practices, to achieve academic excellence.
KEY ASPECTS
•Curricular design and development
•Academic flexibility
•Feedback on curriculum
•Curriculum update
•Best practices in curricular aspects
The description of the key aspects are given below:
Curriculum design and development
It is a process of developing appropriate need based curricula in consultation with expert groups, based on the feedback from stakeholders, resulting in the development of relevant programmes with flexibility, to suit the professional and personal needs of the students and realization of core values.
Academic flexibility
Choice offered in the curriculum, in terms of programme, curricular transactions and time-frame options.
Feedback on curriculum
Responses from students, academic peers and employers, for review and re-design of curricula.
Curriculum update
The process of revision and redesign of curricula based on recent trends and developments, the feedback from all stakeholders and catering to the needs of the society/ economy/ environment.
Best practices in curricular aspects
Sustainable curricular practices which lead to academic effectiveness and excellence.
Criterion II— Teaching-Learning and Evaluation: This criterion deals with the efforts of an institution to serve students of different backgrounds and abilities, through effective teaching-learning experiences. Interactive instructional techniques that engage students in higher order ‘thinking’ and investigation, through the use of interviews, focused group discussions, debates, projects, presentations, experiments, practicum, internship and application of ICT resources, are important considerations. It also probes into the adequacy, competence as well as the continuous professional development of the faculty who handle the programmes of study. The efficiency of the techniques used to continuously evaluate the performance of teachers and students is also a major concern of this criterion.
The focus of this criterion is captured in the following criterion statements and key aspects:
CRITERION STATEMENTS
The institution has a transparent admission process.
The programmes of teaching and learning cater to individual differences amongst learners.
The institution facilitates the effective conduct of the teaching-learning processes.
The institution has provision for use of ICT in the enhancement of teaching process.
The institution has a well-conceived plan for continuously monitoring student progress.
The institution has an effective mechanism to recruit adequate qualified faculty.
The student evaluation processes are reliable and valid.
The institution has an open and participative mechanism for evaluation of teaching and promoting work satisfaction of the faculty.
The teachers have opportunities for continued academic growth and professional development.
The institution has sustainable good practices in teaching, learning and evaluation to achieve academic excellence.
KEY ASPECTS
•Admission process and student profile
•Catering to diverse needs
•Teaching-learning process
•Teacher quality
•Evaluation process and reforms
•Best practices in teaching, learning and evaluation
The description of the key aspects are given below:
Admission process and student profile
The process of admitting students to the programmes is by a transparent, well-administered mechanism, complying with all the educational norms of the Government. The student profile is reflected from the composition of the student community representing different socio-economic and learner backgrounds.
Catering to diverse needs
The programmes and strategies adopted by institutions satisfy the needs of the students from diverse backgrounds including backward community as well as from different locales. Gender equity and admission opportunity for differently-abled students are also considered.
Teaching-Learning process
Learner-centered education through appropriate methodologies to facilitate effective learning outcome.
Teacher quality
‘Teacher quality’ is a composite term to indicate the quality of teachers in terms of qualification of the faculty, teacher characteristics, the adequacy of recruitment procedures, faculty availability, professional development and recognition of teaching abilities.
Evaluation process and reforms
Assessment of teaching, learning and evaluative processes and reforms, to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of the system. Innovative evaluation process is to gauge the knowledge and skills acquired at various levels of the programmes.
Best practices in teaching- learning and evaluation
The institution has sustainable practices in teaching-learning and evaluation, which have the greatest impact on performance, leading to successful end result in Teaching, Learning and Evaluation
Criterion III— Research, Consultancy and Extension: This criterion seeks information on the policies, practices and outcomes of the institution, with reference to research, consultancy and extension. It deals with the facilities provided and efforts made by the institution to promote a ‘research culture’. The institution has the responsibility to enable faculty to undertake research projects useful to the society. Serving the community through extension, which is a social responsibility and a core value to be demonstrated by institutions, is also a major aspect of this criterion.
The focus of this criterion is captured in the following criterion statements and key aspects:
CRITERION STATEMENTS
The institution promotes research culture among faculty and students.
The institution encourages faculty to publish in academic journals.
The institution encourages faculty to participate in professional academic
programmes.
The institution promotes faculty participation in consultancy work.
The institution is responsive to community needs and conducts relevant extension
programmes.
The institution has sustainable good practices in research, consultancy and
extension to achieve academic excellence.
KEY ASPECTS
•Promotion of research
•Research and publication output
•Consultancy
•Extension activities
•Collaborations
•Best practices in research, consultancy & extension
The descriptions of the Key Aspects are given below:
Promotion of research
The process of promoting research culture among faculty and students is ensured by facilitating participation in research and related activities, providing resources and other facilities
Research and publication output
Quality research outcome, beneficial for the discipline/ society/ industry/ region and the nation. Dissemination of knowledge including theoretical and practical findings of research, through various media.
Consultancy
Activity with or without remuneration, for which the expertise and the specific knowledge base of the faculty becomes the major input.
Extension activities
The aspect of education, which emphasizes community services. These are often integrated with curricula as extended opportunities, intended to help, serve, reflect and learn. The curriculum-extension interface has an educational value, especially in rural India.
Collaborations
A formal agreement/ understanding between any two or more institutions for training/student exchange/faculty exchange or research with or without resource sharing.
Best practices in research, consultancy and extension
Sustainable practices in Research, Consultancy and Extension leading to superior performance resulting in successful outcome in terms of generating knowledge which will be useful for the learner as well as the community.
Criterion IV—Infrastructure and Learning Resources: This criterion seeks to elicit data on the adequacy and optimal use of the facilities available in an institution to maintain the quality of academic and other programmes on the campus. It also requires information on how every constituent of the institution - students, teachers and staff - benefit from these facilities. Expansion of facilities to meet future development is included among other concerns.
The focus of this criterion is captured in the following criterion statements and key aspects:
CRITERION STATEMENTS
The institution has adequate physical facilities for the conduct of the educational programmes efficiently.
The growth of the infrastructure keeps pace with the academic growth of the institution.
The institution has effective mechanisms for maintenance and optimal use of infrastructure.
The institution has adequate library, computer facilities and other learning resources, with easy access to all its constituencies.
The institution has sustainable good practices for ensuring adequate infrastructure and learning resources and its optimum use to facilitate student learning.
KEY ASPECTS
•Physical facilities
•Maintenance of infrastructure
•Library as a learning resource
•ICT as learning resources
•Other facilities
•Best practices in the development of infrastructure and learning resources
The descriptions of the key aspects are given below:
Physical facilities
Adequate infrastructure facilities to conduct the educational programmes. The growth of the infrastructure keeps pace with the academic developments in the institution.
Maintenance of infrastructure
Effective mechanism for the upkeep of the infrastructure facilities and promote the optimum use of the same.
Library as a learning resource
The library holdings in terms of books, journals and other learning materials and technology-aided learning mechanisms which enable students to acquire information, knowledge and skills required for their study programmes.
ICT as learning resources
The ICT facilities and other learning resources are adequately available in the institution for academic purposes.
Other facilities
The other supportive facilities on the campus, which contribute to the effective ambience for curricular, extra- curricular and administrative activities.
Best practices in the development of infrastructure and learning resources
Sustained practices leading to continuous improvement of infrastructure and learning resource development to create an optimum learning ambience.
Criterion V-Student Support and Progression: The highlights of this criterion are the efforts of an institution to provide necessary assistance to students, to acquire meaningful experiences for learning at the campus and to facilitate their holistic progression. It also seeks information on student and alumni profiles.
The focus of this criterion is captured in the following criterion statements and key aspects:
CRITERION STATEMENTS
The institution provides clear information to students about admission, completion requirements for all programmes; the fee-structure and refund policies; financial aid and student support services.
The institution has sufficient and well-run support services to all its students.
Student progression is monitored effectively.
Institution has mechanisms for student counseling and placement services.
The institution has an effective mechanism to use student feedback for quality enhancement.
The institution has good sustainable practices for effective student support and progression.
KEY ASPECTS
•Student progression
•Student support
•Student activities
•Best practices in student support and progression
The descriptions of the key aspects are given below:
Student progression
Vertical movement of students from one level of education to the next higher level or towards gainful employment.
Student support
Facilitating mechanisms like guidance cell, placement cell, grievance redressal cell and welfare measures to support students.
Student activities
The participation of the students in activities, which can develop various skills, to foster holistic personality development.
Best practices in student support and progression
Sustainable good practices which effectively support the students and facilitate optimal progression. Benefits often include the assurance of quality results.
Criterion VI—Governance and Leadership: This criterion helps gather data on the policies and practices of an institution in the matter of planning human power requirement, recruitment, training, performance appraisal, finance management and the role of leadership in institution building.
The focus of this criterion is captured in the following criterion statements and key aspects:
CRITERION STATEMENTS
The leadership provides clear vision and mission to the institution.
The functions of the institution and its academic and administrative units are governed by the principles of participation and transparency.
Academic and administrative planning in the institution move hand in hand.
The institution practices relevant welfare schemes for all its constituencies.
There are fair and expeditious grievance redressal mechanisms at all levels of the institution’s functioning.
The institution is effective in resource mobilization and planning development
strategies.
The finances of the institution are judiciously allocated and effectively utilized by proper budgeting system.
Auditing procedures and the follow up actions are systematized.
Institution has sustainable practices for governance and leadership
KEY ASPECTS
•Institutional vision and leadership
•Organizational arrangements
•Strategy development and deployment
•Human resource management
•Financial management and resource mobilization
•Best practices in governance and leadership
The descriptions of the key aspects are given below:
Institutional vision and leadership
Effective leadership in building the organizational culture by setting values, and demonstrating effectiveness through participative decision-making process to achieve the vision, mission and goals of the institution.
Organizational arrangements
The formal and informal arrangements in the institution to co-ordinate the academic and administrative planning and implementation.
Strategy development and deployment
Formulation of development objectives, directives and guidelines with specific plans for implementation
Human resource management
The process of assessing adequate human power requirements; staff recruiting, monitoring and planning professional development programmes for personnel development and seeking appropriate feedback responses.
Finance management and resource mobilization
Budgeting and optimum utilization of finance, including mobilization of resources. The planning and development strategies adopted by the institution, for mobilizing resources.
Best practices in governance and leadership
Sustainable good practices of Governance and Leadership that would lead to administrative and academic excellence.
Criterion VII—Innovative Practices: This criterion focuses on the innovative efforts of an institution that help in its academic excellence. An innovative practice could be a pathway created to further the interest of the student and the institution, for internal quality assurance, inclusive practices and stakeholder relationships.
The focus of this criterion is captured in the following criterion statements and key aspects:
CRITERION STATEMENTS
The institution displays sensitivity to changing educational, social and market demands.
The institution is geared to promote an ambience of creativity innovation and improving quality.
The institution promotes inclusive practices for social justice and better stakeholder relationships.
The institution adopts quality management strategies in all academic and administrative aspects.
The institution promote value-based education for inculcating social responsibilities and good citizenry amongst its student community.
KEY ASPECTS
•Internal quality assurance System
•Inclusive practices
•Stakeholder relationships
The description of the key aspects are given below:
Internal quality assurance system
Self-regulated responsibilities of the higher education institutions, aimed at continuous improvement of quality, for achieving academic excellence.
Inclusive practices
New and creative approaches in education involving all stakeholders for adopting inclusive practices to promote social justice.
Stakeholder relationships
Affiliation and interaction with groups or individuals who have an interest in the activities of the institution and the ability to influence the actions, decisions, policies, practices or goals of the organization.
SELF-STUDY REPORT (SSR)
While preparing the SSR, institutions may bear in mind that the report should provide information on the following:
-Evidence of contributing to the core values
-Evidence of building on the strengths identified by the institutions
-Action taken to rectify the deficiencies noted by the institutions
-Substantive efforts made by the institution over a period of time, towards quality enhancement
-Specific future plans of the institution for quality enhancement
The SSR shall be in two parts - Part 1 is institutional data and Part II is an evaluative report under the seven criteria of NAAC, along with the inputs from the Departments.
The institution has to submit the SSR in hardcopy as well as a CD containing soft copy.
A bulky SSR with too many details and descriptions may result in lack of clarity. Such a report would also lack focus and would generate more information gaps than explanations. Even for a large and complex institution, it is possible to restrict the essential documentation to manageable proportions. With these considerations, institutions are required to restrict the SSR to the following two aspects only:
-Institutional data
-Criterion-wise Evaluative Report
PREPARATION OF SELF STUDY REPORT
Part-I: Institutional Data
A. Profile of the College
B. Criterion wise Inputs
1. Criterion I: Curricular Aspects
2. Criterion II: Teaching-Learning and Evaluation
3. Criterion III: Research, Consultancy and Extension
4. Criterion IV: Infrastructure and Learning Resources
5. Criterion V: Student Support and Progression
6. Criterion VI: Governance and Leadership
7. Criterion VII: Innovative Practices
C.Profile of the Departments
Part II: The Evaluative Report
A. Executive Summary
B. Criterion-wise Evaluative Report
C. Evaluative Report of the Departments
D. Declaration by the Head of the institution
Appendices
1. Sample Questionnaires for feedback from Students
2. Sample formats for Teacher appraisal Reports
3. Glossary
4. Abbreviations
METHODOLOGYFor the assessment of a University/Autonomous College/ College with Potential for Excellence /Affiliated College /Constituent College as a unit that is eligible to be assessed, the NAAC follows a four-stage process, which is a combination of self-study and peer review. The four stages are:
I.On-line submission of a Letter of Intent (LoI for all institutions and Institutional Eligibility for Quality Assessment (IEQA) format for Affiliated/ Constituent colleges that are seeking Assessment and Accreditation for the first time.
II.Preparation and submission of a Self-Study Report (SSR) by the institution;
III.Peer Team visit to the institution.
IV.Final decision by NAAC.
Stage I: On-line submission of LoI and/or IEQA format:
All HEIs are expected to submit a LoI to NAAC. While Universities, Autonomous Colleges and Colleges with Potential for Excellence submit the LoI to undergo A&A of NAAC directly, Affiliated and Constituent colleges submit their LoI and thereafter submit the filled-in format for IEQA status on line. These institutions become eligible to go to stage-II only after completing the first-step of acquiring the IEQA status.
Stage II: Preparation of the Self-Study Report (SSR):
The first and the most important step in the process of assessment and accreditation is the preparation of the SSR by the institution following the guidelines formulated by the NAAC. The institution has to prepare the SSR in two parts, Part I is the institutional data and Part II is the evaluative report. This will be an internal exercise by the institution that is expected to be done with honest introspection. It aims at providing an opportunity for the institution to measure its effectiveness and efficiency, and to identify its strengths and weaknesses. The NAAC believes that an institution that really understands itself - its strengths and weaknesses, its potentials and limitations - is likely to be effective in carrying out its educational mission and make continuous improvement. Self-study is thus envisaged as the base document for the process of assessment and accreditation. The five core values listed by NAAC form the value framework for assessment of HEIs.
It is through the self-study report that the peer team understands the institution, and gets the required information, for assessment. Hence the institution needs to present the factual details of all aspects of its functioning, namely the inputs, processes and the outputs. As the entire assessment exercise would be based on this document, it should be prepared with utmost care, giving all the relevant information according to the criteria defined by NAAC.
Stage III: Peer Team Visit to the Institution: On receiving the self-study report from the institution, NAAC constitutes the peer team and consults the institution about any justifiable reservation it may have about any member of the team. The peer team visits the institution and looks for evidences, to validate the self-study report, through interactions with the various constituents of the institution, checking documents and visiting the various units of the institution. At the end of the visit, the team shares the draft Peer Team Report with the institution. The PTR duly signed by the Head of the institution and the peer team members, is submitted to NAAC. The team also recommends the criterion-wise Grade Point Averages (GPA), the final Institutional Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA) and the Institutional Grade to NAAC.
Stage IV: Final decision by NAAC: The Executive Committee of NAAC reviews the PTR and takes a decision about the institutional CGPA and the Grade. The accreditation certification by NAAC is valid for a period of five years.
Blue Ocean Strategy: Survival strategy in the midst of Global Meltdown
BLUE OCEAN STRATEGY - proposed by INSEAD professors Renee Mauborgne and W Chan Kim in their best selling book by the same name.
The book urges companies to stop benchmarking competition and start creating new and uncontested markets, eventually making rivals obselete. This can be the survival strategy for companies in the time of meltdown.
examples: IPL created a whole new experience out of an age old game.
Ringtones is a multi-billion dollar industry now.
Business of Social Networking sites.
The book urges companies to stop benchmarking competition and start creating new and uncontested markets, eventually making rivals obselete. This can be the survival strategy for companies in the time of meltdown.
examples: IPL created a whole new experience out of an age old game.
Ringtones is a multi-billion dollar industry now.
Business of Social Networking sites.
Quality Enhancement in Higher Education through ICT
In this era of globalization and hyper-competition, the concept of teaching has under gone sea change. Learning and dissemination of information are becoming more important. Internet based education and e-learning are the trends of the day.
Abstract
Changes in the economic and social fundamentals call for transformation in the skills, capabilities and attitudes of the masses. This requires a shift in the delivery and pedagogy used in the current education system. Information and Communication Technology (ICT) increases the flexibility of delivery of education so that learners can access knowledge anytime and from anywhere. It can influence the way students are taught and how they learn as now the processes are learner driven and not by teachers. This in turn would better prepare the learners for lifelong learning as well as to contribute to the industry. It can improve the quality of learning and thus contribute to the economy. Especially in developing countries like India, effective use of ICT for the purpose of education has the potential to bridge the ‘digital divide’.
Introduction
India, like any other knowledge economy, depends on the development of its educational sector. Higher education drives the competitiveness and employment generation in India. However, research findings have shown that the overall state of higher education is dismal in the country. There is a severe constraint on the availability of skilled labor. There exist socio-economic, cultural, time and geographical barriers for people who wish to pursue higher education (Bhattacharya and Sharma, 2007). Innovative use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) can potentially solve this problem. Education is the driving force of economic and social development in any country. Considering this, it is necessary to find ways to make education of good quality, accessible and affordable to all, using the latest technology available.
The last two decades have witnessed a revolution caused by the rapid development of Information and Communication Technology (ICT). ICT has changed the dynamics of various industries as well as influenced the way people interact and work in the society.
The challenges before the education system in India can be said to be of the following nature:
Access to education- There exist infrastructure, socio- economic, linguistic and physical barriers in India for people who wish to access education (Bhattacharya and Sharma, 2007).
Quality of education- This includes infrastructure, teacher and the processes quality. For any nation, the level and quality of education is one of the most significant parameters of development. In India, the total literacy has gone up over the years but the quality needs tremendous improvement. Now, as India strives to compete in a globalised economy in areas that require highly trained professionals, the quality of higher education becomes increasingly important.
Resources allocated- Central and State Governments reserve about 3.5% of GDP for education as compared to the 6% that has been aimed (MHRD, 2007).
There exist drawbacks in general education in India as well as all over the world like lack of learning materials, teachers, remoteness of education facilities, high dropout rate etc (UNESCO,
2002).
ICT enabled Education
The Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) is an umbrella term that includes any communication device or application, encompassing: radio, television, cellular phones, computer, and network hardware and software, satellite systems and so on, as well as the various services and applications associated with them, such as videoconferencing and distance learning . When such technologies are used for educational purposes, namely to support and improve the learning of students and to develop learning environments, ICT can be considered as a subfield of Educational Technology. ICTs in higher education are being used for developing course material; delivering content and sharing content; communication between learners, teachers and the outside world; creation and delivery of presentations and lectures; academic research; administrative support, student enrolment etc.
In the current Information society, there is an emergence of lifelong learners as the shelf life of knowledge and information decreases. People have to access knowledge via ICT to keep pace with the latest developments. In such a scenario, education, which always plays a critical role in any economic and social growth of a country, becomes even more important. Education not only increases the productive skills of the individual but also his earning power. It gives him a sense of well being as well as capacity to absorb new ideas, increases his social interaction, gives access to improved health and provides several more intangible benefits. The various kinds of ICT products available and having relevance to education, such as teleconferencing, email, audio conferencing, television lessons, radio broadcasts, interactive radio counseling, interactive voice response system, audiocassettes and CD ROMs etc have been used in education for different purposes (Bhattacharya and Sharma, 2007).
The four main rationales for introducing ICT in education
Social: Perceived role that technology now plays in society and the need for familiarizing students with technology.
Vocational: Preparing students for jobs that require skills in technology.
Catalytic: Utility of technology to improve performance and effectiveness in teaching, management and many other social activities.
Pedagogical: To utilize technology in enhancing learning, flexibility and efficiency in curriculum delivery
ICT can be used as a tool in the process of education in the following ways:
Informative tool: It provides vast amount of data in various formats such as audio, video, documents.
Situational tool: It creates situations, which the student experiences in real life. Thus, simulation and virtual reality is possible.
Constructive tool: To manipulate the data and generate analysis.
Communicative tool: It can be used to remove communication barriers such as that of space and time.
Research findings show that technology can support pedagogical, curricular, and assessment reforms, which intend to support the process of knowledge creation. Students and teachers plan their learning activities and build on each other’s ideas to create new knowledge. It also facilitates monitoring of their progress in understanding and preparation for lifelong learning and participation in the information society (Bhattacharya and Sharma, 2007).
Use of ICT in education develops higher order skills such as collaborating across time and place and solving complex real world problems. It improves the perception and understanding of the world of the student. Thus, ICT can be used to prepare the workforce for the information society and the new global economy.
In view of ICT, education can be classified in three main categories-
§ E-Learning
§ Blended Learning, and
§ Distance Learning.
E-Learning
Electronic learning or e-learning is a general term used to refer to computer-enhanced learning. It is commonly associated with the field of advanced learning technology (ALT), which deals with both the technologies and associated methodologies in learning using networked and/or multimedia technologies. It is also known as online learning. Distance education provided the base for e-learning's development. E-learning can be "on demand". It overcomes timing, attendance and travel difficulties.
E-learning allows delivery, dialogue and feedback over the Internet. It allows mass customization in terms of content and exams. E-education can provide access to the best gurus and the best practices or knowledge available (UNESCO, 2002). It is possible to leverage the online environment to facilitate teaching techniques like role-play across time and distance. It can also facilitate the development of scenarios, which can be rarely witnessed in practice. ICT can play a valuable role to monitor and log the progress of the students across time, place and varied activities.
E learning allows higher participation and greater interaction. It challenges the concept that face-to-face traditional education is superior to it (Bhattacharya and Sharma, 2007). The web and the Internet is the core ICTs to spread education through e-learning. The components include e-portfolios, cyber infrastructures, digital libraries and online learning object repositories. All the above components create a digital identity of the student and connect all the stakeholders in the education.
E-Learning has the following advantages:
Eliminating time and geographical barriers in education for learners as well as teachers
Enhanced group collaboration made possible via ICT
New educational approaches can be used
It can provide speedy dissemination of education to target disadvantaged groups
It offers the combination of education while balancing family and work life
It enhances the international dimension of educational services.
Blended Learning
Blended Learning is the combination of multiple approaches to learning. It is usually used to define a situation where different delivery methods are combined together to deliver a particular course. These methods may include a mixture of face-to-face learning, self-paced learning and online classrooms.
Face to face learning refers to learning that occurs in a traditional classroom setting where a faculty member delivers instruction to a group of learners. This could include lectures, workshops, presentations, tutoring, conference and much more.
Self paced learning provides the flexibility to learn according to the availability of learners’ own time and pace, it occurs in a variety of ways such as: reading specific chapters from text book, studying course material presented through web-based or CD-based course, attending prerecorded classes or sessions, reading articles referred by faculty member, working on assignments & projects, and searching & browsing the internet.
Online Collaborative Learning Online collaboration involves interaction between learners and faculty members through the web; this interaction can occur in one of the following modes:
• Synchronous interaction
• Asynchronous interaction
Synchronous, means "at the same time", it involves interacting with a faculty member and other learners via the Web in real time using technologies such as virtual classrooms and/ or chat rooms. On the other hand, Asynchronous means "not at the same time"; it enables learners to interact with their colleagues and faculty member at their own convenience; such as interacting through email.
Distance Learning
It is a type of education, where students work on their own at home or at the office and communicate with faculty and other students via e-mail, electronic forums, videoconferencing, chat rooms, instant messaging and other forms of computer-based communication. It is also known as open learning. Most distance learning programs include a computer based training (CBT) system and communications tools to produce a virtual classroom. Because the Internet and World Wide Web are accessible from virtually all computer platforms, they serve as the foundation for many distance learning systems.
ICTs also allow for the creation of digital resources like digital libraries where the students, teachers and professionals can access research material and course material from any place at any time. Such facilities allow the networking of academics and researchers and hence sharing of scholarly material and leads to quality enhancement in teaching and learning.
In the absence of ICT, most of the responsibility of teaching and learning lies on the teachers. However, with the help of ICT one can transfer the responsibilities to the students so that they can self manage. It helps to individualize the teaching or guidance method as per the student’s need. It also boosts the confidence level and the self-esteem of the students who acquire the ICT skills through the process of being exposed to such kind of learning. ICT-based registration, evaluation, and administration help to link different levels of information and facilitate an overall view of the whole educational setup. It facilitates the evaluation and examination of the learning process and results by the students and the parents in a flexible and convenient way.
The globalization process has also created a large market of offshore students. To reach them, information technology is the only convenient medium, which can offer education as a service. It creates competition among the institutions for providing education and hence improves the quality (Cross and Adam, 2007).
The experience of many teachers, who are early innovators, is that the use of ICT is motivating for the students as well as for the teachers themselves (Plomp, Pelgrum & Law, 2007). The use of ICT can improve performance, teaching, administration, and develop relevant skills in the disadvantaged communities. It also improves the quality of education by facilitating learning by doing, real time conversation, delayed time conversation, directed instruction, self-learning, problem solving, information seeking and analysis, and critical thinking, as well as the ability to communicate, collaborate and learn. The possibility of real time interaction in all the different aspects of the education system like teaching, collaboration, debates etc hold great promise for the future.
ICT – Indian Way
India is making use of powerful combination of ICTs such as open source software, satellite technology, local language interfaces, easy to use human-computer interfaces, digital libraries, etc. with a long-term plan to reach the remotest of the villages. Community service centers have been started to promote e-learning throughout the country (Bhattacharya and Sharma, 2007). Notable initiatives of use of ICT in education in India include:
Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) uses radio, television, and Internet technologies.
National Programme on Technology Enhanced Learning: a concept similar to the open courseware initiative of MIT. It uses Internet and television technologies.
Eklavya initiative: Uses Internet and television to promote distance learning.
IIT-Kanpur has developed ‘Brihaspati’, an open source e-learning platform (Virtual Class Room).
Premier institutions like IIM-Calcutta have entered into a strategic alliance with NIIT for providing programmes through virtual classrooms.
Jadavpur University is using a mobile-learning centre.
IIT-Bombay has started the program of CDEEP (Centre for Distance Engineering Education Program) as emulated classroom interaction through the use of real time interactive satellite technology.
ERNET & EDUSAT (GSAT-3) systems - to provide support to Tele-education system of Distance learning to reach the un-reached people of India in every nook and corner.
INFONET and CEC (Consortium for Educational Communication) services of University Grants Commission supporting E-content, E-learning and E-course systems.
Information and Library Network (INFLIBNET) Centre is an Autonomous Inter-University Centre (IUC) of University Grants Commission (UGC) involved in creating infrastructure for sharing of library and information resources and services among Academic and Research Institutions.
One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) in Maharashtra etc.
Tele-Education System
It is the application of space technology in education. An integrated network system comprising of EDUSAT, Broadband and V-SAT networks helps in bringing virtual class rooms in a multi class environment with seamless two-way interaction between the teachers and students in a collaborative environment. This system should not only enable the lecture delivered from the studio at the University to reach any remote corner but also enable a good teacher in the remote area to provide multicast information to other participants of the programme.
Virtual Learning Campus (VLC)
Virtual Learning Campus or VLC is an approach that divides the responsibility of building, commissioning and running the different systems and Information Infrastructure for education like Broadband, EDUSAT and ERNET services, Synchronous class room environment, Asynchronous knowledge interaction environment, Servers and Portals, E-learning & Digital library, ERP management solutions etc. under centers of specializations in different Institutions in different disciplines. Students in any college may access the services over the web. The college itself needs to maintain basic e-learning and library portals for convenience. Such IT and Knowledge infrastructure in the college is readily standardized and used with reasonable broadband access to the VLC. In Indian context, every region having about 100 to 200 colleges may be brought under one regional VLC. All these VLCs may be connected over a national backbone network that may be formed by integrating different national networks like the ERNET and State Wide Area Network (SWAN) initiatives of the IT department.
Virtual University
Our former president, Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam suggests the establishment of a Virtual University in India through networking of all the Universities and other educational institutions for imparting universal tele-education. Virtual university will have the following tasks:
· Act as a central hub of all Universities, which are networked.
· Co-ordinate, organize, schedule and broadcast the lecture of specialists at a mutually convenient time to all participants.
· Digitize all the university libraries and make it available for seamless access by all the universities.
Virtual Universities are learner centric universities, which provide a common platform for teaching in Schools, Colleges and Universities and even vocational courses.
Benefits of ICT in Education
Student
§ Increased access
Flexibility of content and delivery
Combination of work and education
Learner-centered approach
Higher quality of education and new ways of interaction.
Employers
High quality, cost effective professional development in the workplace
§ Upgrading of employee skills, increased productivity
Development of a new learning culture,
Sharing of costs and of training time with the employees
Increased portability of training
Governments
Increase the capacity and cost effectiveness of education and training systems
To reach target groups with limited access to conventional education and training
To support and enhance the quality and relevance of existing educational structures
To ensure the connection of educational institutions and curricula to the emerging networks and information resources
To promote innovation and opportunities for lifelong learning.
Although ICT offers a whole lot of benefits there are some risks of using ICT in education which have to be mitigated through proper mechanisms. They are:
1. It may create a digital divide within class as students who are more familiar with ICT will reap more benefits and learn faster than those who are not as technology savvy.
2. It may shift the attention from the primary goal of the learning process to developing ICT skills, which is the secondary goal.
3. It can affect the bonding process between the teacher and the student as ICT becomes a communication tool rather than face to face conversation and thus the transactional distance is increased.
4. Also since not all teachers are experts with ICT they may be lax in updating the course content online which can slow down the learning among students.
5. The potential of plagiarism is high as student can copy information rather than learning and developing their own skills.
6. There is a need for training all stakeholders in ICT.
7. The cost of hardware and software can be very high.
Conclusion
Presently our university education system is contributing 3 million graduates and post graduates every year and the students seeking employment after completion of 10th class and 10+2 class are around 7 million per year. Thus nearly 10 million youth are injected into the employment market every year. In the 21st century, India needs a large number of talented youth with higher education for the task of knowledge acquisition, knowledge acquisition, knowledge imparting, knowledge creation and knowledge sharing. At present India has five hundred and forty million youth under the age of 25 which will continuously growing till the year 2050. Keeping this resource in mind, the Universities and educational systems should improve quality of education to create global cadre of skilled youth.
The increasing use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) has brought changes to teaching and learning at all levels of higher education systems (HES) leading to quality enhancements. Traditional forms of teaching and learning are increasingly being converted to online and virtual environments. There are endless possibilities with the integration of ICT in the education system. The use of ICT in education not only improves classroom teaching learning process, but also provides the facility of e-learning. ICT has enhanced distance learning. The teaching community is able to reach remote areas and learners are able to access qualitative learning environment from anywhere and at anytime. It is important that teachers or trainers should be made to adopt technology in their teaching styles to provide pedagogical and educational gains to the learners.
References:
Bhattacharya, I. & Sharma, K. (2007), 'India in the knowledge economy – an electronic paradigm', International Journal of Educational Management Vol. 21 No. 6, pp. 543-568.
Cross, M. & Adam, F. (2007), 'ICT Policies and Strategies in Higher Education in South Africa: ‘National and Institutional Pathways', Higher Education Policy 20(1), 73-95
UNESCO, (2002), 'Open and Distance Learning Trends, Policy and Strategy Considerations', UNESCO.
Plomp, T.; Pelgrum, W. J. & Law, N. (2007), 'SITES2006—International comparative survey of pedagogical practices and ICT in education', Education and Information Technologies 12(2), 83-92.
http://education.nic.in/higedu.asp/
Abstract
Changes in the economic and social fundamentals call for transformation in the skills, capabilities and attitudes of the masses. This requires a shift in the delivery and pedagogy used in the current education system. Information and Communication Technology (ICT) increases the flexibility of delivery of education so that learners can access knowledge anytime and from anywhere. It can influence the way students are taught and how they learn as now the processes are learner driven and not by teachers. This in turn would better prepare the learners for lifelong learning as well as to contribute to the industry. It can improve the quality of learning and thus contribute to the economy. Especially in developing countries like India, effective use of ICT for the purpose of education has the potential to bridge the ‘digital divide’.
Introduction
India, like any other knowledge economy, depends on the development of its educational sector. Higher education drives the competitiveness and employment generation in India. However, research findings have shown that the overall state of higher education is dismal in the country. There is a severe constraint on the availability of skilled labor. There exist socio-economic, cultural, time and geographical barriers for people who wish to pursue higher education (Bhattacharya and Sharma, 2007). Innovative use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) can potentially solve this problem. Education is the driving force of economic and social development in any country. Considering this, it is necessary to find ways to make education of good quality, accessible and affordable to all, using the latest technology available.
The last two decades have witnessed a revolution caused by the rapid development of Information and Communication Technology (ICT). ICT has changed the dynamics of various industries as well as influenced the way people interact and work in the society.
The challenges before the education system in India can be said to be of the following nature:
Access to education- There exist infrastructure, socio- economic, linguistic and physical barriers in India for people who wish to access education (Bhattacharya and Sharma, 2007).
Quality of education- This includes infrastructure, teacher and the processes quality. For any nation, the level and quality of education is one of the most significant parameters of development. In India, the total literacy has gone up over the years but the quality needs tremendous improvement. Now, as India strives to compete in a globalised economy in areas that require highly trained professionals, the quality of higher education becomes increasingly important.
Resources allocated- Central and State Governments reserve about 3.5% of GDP for education as compared to the 6% that has been aimed (MHRD, 2007).
There exist drawbacks in general education in India as well as all over the world like lack of learning materials, teachers, remoteness of education facilities, high dropout rate etc (UNESCO,
2002).
ICT enabled Education
The Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) is an umbrella term that includes any communication device or application, encompassing: radio, television, cellular phones, computer, and network hardware and software, satellite systems and so on, as well as the various services and applications associated with them, such as videoconferencing and distance learning . When such technologies are used for educational purposes, namely to support and improve the learning of students and to develop learning environments, ICT can be considered as a subfield of Educational Technology. ICTs in higher education are being used for developing course material; delivering content and sharing content; communication between learners, teachers and the outside world; creation and delivery of presentations and lectures; academic research; administrative support, student enrolment etc.
In the current Information society, there is an emergence of lifelong learners as the shelf life of knowledge and information decreases. People have to access knowledge via ICT to keep pace with the latest developments. In such a scenario, education, which always plays a critical role in any economic and social growth of a country, becomes even more important. Education not only increases the productive skills of the individual but also his earning power. It gives him a sense of well being as well as capacity to absorb new ideas, increases his social interaction, gives access to improved health and provides several more intangible benefits. The various kinds of ICT products available and having relevance to education, such as teleconferencing, email, audio conferencing, television lessons, radio broadcasts, interactive radio counseling, interactive voice response system, audiocassettes and CD ROMs etc have been used in education for different purposes (Bhattacharya and Sharma, 2007).
The four main rationales for introducing ICT in education
Social: Perceived role that technology now plays in society and the need for familiarizing students with technology.
Vocational: Preparing students for jobs that require skills in technology.
Catalytic: Utility of technology to improve performance and effectiveness in teaching, management and many other social activities.
Pedagogical: To utilize technology in enhancing learning, flexibility and efficiency in curriculum delivery
ICT can be used as a tool in the process of education in the following ways:
Informative tool: It provides vast amount of data in various formats such as audio, video, documents.
Situational tool: It creates situations, which the student experiences in real life. Thus, simulation and virtual reality is possible.
Constructive tool: To manipulate the data and generate analysis.
Communicative tool: It can be used to remove communication barriers such as that of space and time.
Research findings show that technology can support pedagogical, curricular, and assessment reforms, which intend to support the process of knowledge creation. Students and teachers plan their learning activities and build on each other’s ideas to create new knowledge. It also facilitates monitoring of their progress in understanding and preparation for lifelong learning and participation in the information society (Bhattacharya and Sharma, 2007).
Use of ICT in education develops higher order skills such as collaborating across time and place and solving complex real world problems. It improves the perception and understanding of the world of the student. Thus, ICT can be used to prepare the workforce for the information society and the new global economy.
In view of ICT, education can be classified in three main categories-
§ E-Learning
§ Blended Learning, and
§ Distance Learning.
E-Learning
Electronic learning or e-learning is a general term used to refer to computer-enhanced learning. It is commonly associated with the field of advanced learning technology (ALT), which deals with both the technologies and associated methodologies in learning using networked and/or multimedia technologies. It is also known as online learning. Distance education provided the base for e-learning's development. E-learning can be "on demand". It overcomes timing, attendance and travel difficulties.
E-learning allows delivery, dialogue and feedback over the Internet. It allows mass customization in terms of content and exams. E-education can provide access to the best gurus and the best practices or knowledge available (UNESCO, 2002). It is possible to leverage the online environment to facilitate teaching techniques like role-play across time and distance. It can also facilitate the development of scenarios, which can be rarely witnessed in practice. ICT can play a valuable role to monitor and log the progress of the students across time, place and varied activities.
E learning allows higher participation and greater interaction. It challenges the concept that face-to-face traditional education is superior to it (Bhattacharya and Sharma, 2007). The web and the Internet is the core ICTs to spread education through e-learning. The components include e-portfolios, cyber infrastructures, digital libraries and online learning object repositories. All the above components create a digital identity of the student and connect all the stakeholders in the education.
E-Learning has the following advantages:
Eliminating time and geographical barriers in education for learners as well as teachers
Enhanced group collaboration made possible via ICT
New educational approaches can be used
It can provide speedy dissemination of education to target disadvantaged groups
It offers the combination of education while balancing family and work life
It enhances the international dimension of educational services.
Blended Learning
Blended Learning is the combination of multiple approaches to learning. It is usually used to define a situation where different delivery methods are combined together to deliver a particular course. These methods may include a mixture of face-to-face learning, self-paced learning and online classrooms.
Face to face learning refers to learning that occurs in a traditional classroom setting where a faculty member delivers instruction to a group of learners. This could include lectures, workshops, presentations, tutoring, conference and much more.
Self paced learning provides the flexibility to learn according to the availability of learners’ own time and pace, it occurs in a variety of ways such as: reading specific chapters from text book, studying course material presented through web-based or CD-based course, attending prerecorded classes or sessions, reading articles referred by faculty member, working on assignments & projects, and searching & browsing the internet.
Online Collaborative Learning Online collaboration involves interaction between learners and faculty members through the web; this interaction can occur in one of the following modes:
• Synchronous interaction
• Asynchronous interaction
Synchronous, means "at the same time", it involves interacting with a faculty member and other learners via the Web in real time using technologies such as virtual classrooms and/ or chat rooms. On the other hand, Asynchronous means "not at the same time"; it enables learners to interact with their colleagues and faculty member at their own convenience; such as interacting through email.
Distance Learning
It is a type of education, where students work on their own at home or at the office and communicate with faculty and other students via e-mail, electronic forums, videoconferencing, chat rooms, instant messaging and other forms of computer-based communication. It is also known as open learning. Most distance learning programs include a computer based training (CBT) system and communications tools to produce a virtual classroom. Because the Internet and World Wide Web are accessible from virtually all computer platforms, they serve as the foundation for many distance learning systems.
ICTs also allow for the creation of digital resources like digital libraries where the students, teachers and professionals can access research material and course material from any place at any time. Such facilities allow the networking of academics and researchers and hence sharing of scholarly material and leads to quality enhancement in teaching and learning.
In the absence of ICT, most of the responsibility of teaching and learning lies on the teachers. However, with the help of ICT one can transfer the responsibilities to the students so that they can self manage. It helps to individualize the teaching or guidance method as per the student’s need. It also boosts the confidence level and the self-esteem of the students who acquire the ICT skills through the process of being exposed to such kind of learning. ICT-based registration, evaluation, and administration help to link different levels of information and facilitate an overall view of the whole educational setup. It facilitates the evaluation and examination of the learning process and results by the students and the parents in a flexible and convenient way.
The globalization process has also created a large market of offshore students. To reach them, information technology is the only convenient medium, which can offer education as a service. It creates competition among the institutions for providing education and hence improves the quality (Cross and Adam, 2007).
The experience of many teachers, who are early innovators, is that the use of ICT is motivating for the students as well as for the teachers themselves (Plomp, Pelgrum & Law, 2007). The use of ICT can improve performance, teaching, administration, and develop relevant skills in the disadvantaged communities. It also improves the quality of education by facilitating learning by doing, real time conversation, delayed time conversation, directed instruction, self-learning, problem solving, information seeking and analysis, and critical thinking, as well as the ability to communicate, collaborate and learn. The possibility of real time interaction in all the different aspects of the education system like teaching, collaboration, debates etc hold great promise for the future.
ICT – Indian Way
India is making use of powerful combination of ICTs such as open source software, satellite technology, local language interfaces, easy to use human-computer interfaces, digital libraries, etc. with a long-term plan to reach the remotest of the villages. Community service centers have been started to promote e-learning throughout the country (Bhattacharya and Sharma, 2007). Notable initiatives of use of ICT in education in India include:
Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) uses radio, television, and Internet technologies.
National Programme on Technology Enhanced Learning: a concept similar to the open courseware initiative of MIT. It uses Internet and television technologies.
Eklavya initiative: Uses Internet and television to promote distance learning.
IIT-Kanpur has developed ‘Brihaspati’, an open source e-learning platform (Virtual Class Room).
Premier institutions like IIM-Calcutta have entered into a strategic alliance with NIIT for providing programmes through virtual classrooms.
Jadavpur University is using a mobile-learning centre.
IIT-Bombay has started the program of CDEEP (Centre for Distance Engineering Education Program) as emulated classroom interaction through the use of real time interactive satellite technology.
ERNET & EDUSAT (GSAT-3) systems - to provide support to Tele-education system of Distance learning to reach the un-reached people of India in every nook and corner.
INFONET and CEC (Consortium for Educational Communication) services of University Grants Commission supporting E-content, E-learning and E-course systems.
Information and Library Network (INFLIBNET) Centre is an Autonomous Inter-University Centre (IUC) of University Grants Commission (UGC) involved in creating infrastructure for sharing of library and information resources and services among Academic and Research Institutions.
One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) in Maharashtra etc.
Tele-Education System
It is the application of space technology in education. An integrated network system comprising of EDUSAT, Broadband and V-SAT networks helps in bringing virtual class rooms in a multi class environment with seamless two-way interaction between the teachers and students in a collaborative environment. This system should not only enable the lecture delivered from the studio at the University to reach any remote corner but also enable a good teacher in the remote area to provide multicast information to other participants of the programme.
Virtual Learning Campus (VLC)
Virtual Learning Campus or VLC is an approach that divides the responsibility of building, commissioning and running the different systems and Information Infrastructure for education like Broadband, EDUSAT and ERNET services, Synchronous class room environment, Asynchronous knowledge interaction environment, Servers and Portals, E-learning & Digital library, ERP management solutions etc. under centers of specializations in different Institutions in different disciplines. Students in any college may access the services over the web. The college itself needs to maintain basic e-learning and library portals for convenience. Such IT and Knowledge infrastructure in the college is readily standardized and used with reasonable broadband access to the VLC. In Indian context, every region having about 100 to 200 colleges may be brought under one regional VLC. All these VLCs may be connected over a national backbone network that may be formed by integrating different national networks like the ERNET and State Wide Area Network (SWAN) initiatives of the IT department.
Virtual University
Our former president, Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam suggests the establishment of a Virtual University in India through networking of all the Universities and other educational institutions for imparting universal tele-education. Virtual university will have the following tasks:
· Act as a central hub of all Universities, which are networked.
· Co-ordinate, organize, schedule and broadcast the lecture of specialists at a mutually convenient time to all participants.
· Digitize all the university libraries and make it available for seamless access by all the universities.
Virtual Universities are learner centric universities, which provide a common platform for teaching in Schools, Colleges and Universities and even vocational courses.
Benefits of ICT in Education
Student
§ Increased access
Flexibility of content and delivery
Combination of work and education
Learner-centered approach
Higher quality of education and new ways of interaction.
Employers
High quality, cost effective professional development in the workplace
§ Upgrading of employee skills, increased productivity
Development of a new learning culture,
Sharing of costs and of training time with the employees
Increased portability of training
Governments
Increase the capacity and cost effectiveness of education and training systems
To reach target groups with limited access to conventional education and training
To support and enhance the quality and relevance of existing educational structures
To ensure the connection of educational institutions and curricula to the emerging networks and information resources
To promote innovation and opportunities for lifelong learning.
Although ICT offers a whole lot of benefits there are some risks of using ICT in education which have to be mitigated through proper mechanisms. They are:
1. It may create a digital divide within class as students who are more familiar with ICT will reap more benefits and learn faster than those who are not as technology savvy.
2. It may shift the attention from the primary goal of the learning process to developing ICT skills, which is the secondary goal.
3. It can affect the bonding process between the teacher and the student as ICT becomes a communication tool rather than face to face conversation and thus the transactional distance is increased.
4. Also since not all teachers are experts with ICT they may be lax in updating the course content online which can slow down the learning among students.
5. The potential of plagiarism is high as student can copy information rather than learning and developing their own skills.
6. There is a need for training all stakeholders in ICT.
7. The cost of hardware and software can be very high.
Conclusion
Presently our university education system is contributing 3 million graduates and post graduates every year and the students seeking employment after completion of 10th class and 10+2 class are around 7 million per year. Thus nearly 10 million youth are injected into the employment market every year. In the 21st century, India needs a large number of talented youth with higher education for the task of knowledge acquisition, knowledge acquisition, knowledge imparting, knowledge creation and knowledge sharing. At present India has five hundred and forty million youth under the age of 25 which will continuously growing till the year 2050. Keeping this resource in mind, the Universities and educational systems should improve quality of education to create global cadre of skilled youth.
The increasing use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) has brought changes to teaching and learning at all levels of higher education systems (HES) leading to quality enhancements. Traditional forms of teaching and learning are increasingly being converted to online and virtual environments. There are endless possibilities with the integration of ICT in the education system. The use of ICT in education not only improves classroom teaching learning process, but also provides the facility of e-learning. ICT has enhanced distance learning. The teaching community is able to reach remote areas and learners are able to access qualitative learning environment from anywhere and at anytime. It is important that teachers or trainers should be made to adopt technology in their teaching styles to provide pedagogical and educational gains to the learners.
References:
Bhattacharya, I. & Sharma, K. (2007), 'India in the knowledge economy – an electronic paradigm', International Journal of Educational Management Vol. 21 No. 6, pp. 543-568.
Cross, M. & Adam, F. (2007), 'ICT Policies and Strategies in Higher Education in South Africa: ‘National and Institutional Pathways', Higher Education Policy 20(1), 73-95
UNESCO, (2002), 'Open and Distance Learning Trends, Policy and Strategy Considerations', UNESCO.
Plomp, T.; Pelgrum, W. J. & Law, N. (2007), 'SITES2006—International comparative survey of pedagogical practices and ICT in education', Education and Information Technologies 12(2), 83-92.
http://education.nic.in/higedu.asp/
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