‘Jackson Doctor Faces Manslaughter Charge’

Michael Jackson’s personal physician is to be charged with manslaughter, say reports in the US.

Jackson’s doctor has had his offices and home raided by police

Dr Conrad Murray’s role in the star’s death is currently being probed by US authorities.

But a US TV network said his arrest on a manslaughter charge was expected within the next two weeks.

Citing police sources, Fox News also said Jackson’s dermatologist, Dr Arnold Klein, would be hit with charges related to medical malpractice.

A spokeswoman for the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s office said police had not yet decided on any charges.

“Until police complete their investigation and bring it to our office, there is no way to know what charges may be filed and against whom,” she said.

Dr Murray, 51, was at Jackson’s side when the 50-year-old King of Pop died on June 25.

Federal agents are believed to be working on the theory that he administered a powerful sedative shortly before the singer collapsed in his rented Beverly Hills home.

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Wipe out swine flu

Protection … H1N1 virus

ANTISEPTIC flu wipes proven to kill the H1N1 swine flu virus have gone on sale for the first time in Britain.

The hand and surface tissues are the first on the market to be tested against the deadly virus. They are said to protect against 99.9 per cent of bacteria, fungi and viruses.

Maker Kingfisher Healthcare says it is “the single most effective thing you can do to protect against infection”.

The wipes come in three sizes with the cheapest pack of 25 costing £3.99. For stockists call 01509 881999.

ONE in three nurses don’t want a swine flu jab due to safety fears and a belief the bug is mild, a poll found.

City’s Micah gets swine flu (uk)

Man sickie … Micah Richards on hotel balcony

ENGLAND soccer ace Micah Richards is stranded on a holiday island after being struck down with swine flu.

The Manchester City defender was BANNED from flying back to the UK after falling ill with the bug during a break in Cyprus.

He is virtually trapped in his hotel room for fear of spreading the virus. Yesterday he was spotted blowing his nose on his balcony.

Micah fell ill last weekend while staying with ten pals at a posh resort near party centre Ayia Napa.

Party centre … Ayia Napia where Micah is stranded

Alamy

He was told to separate himself from friends after testing positive for the flu and moved into a five-star beach hotel nearby.

The star was due to jet back on Wednesday — but has been told he is not allowed to go until he gets a clean bill of health.

He is taking Tamiflu medication and now hopes to be well enough to fly tomorrow.

Last night Micah told The Sun: “At first I thought it was a really bad chest infection, or maybe alcohol poisoning.

Star … Micah Richards in action

“I felt so weak that I couldn’t move or eat.

“My friends had to bring me drinks in bed.

“When I was told I had swine flu all sorts of things started going through my mind. You see on the news people dying of it.” Micah, 21, flew out to Cyprus after representing England in the UEFA Under-21 Championships in Sweden.

He added: “My club have been very understanding. I’ll get some stick from the lads when I do return — they will probably all turn up to training in surgical masks.”

But he warned: “No one out there is so fit and healthy they can’t catch swine flu. If I can get it, anyone can.”

Only 125 people in Cyprus have contracted swine flu, compared with more than 10,000 who have caught it in Britain.

Yesterday it was revealed Britain has the third worst swine flu toll in the world behind the US and Mexico.

Aussie team in swine flu scare

SWINE FLU FEAR … Ricky Ponting

AUSTRALIA have booted a newspaper reporter out their Ashes camp after he was struck down with swine flu.

Ben Dorries, who writes for News Limited, started feeling the symptoms during the recent Lord’s Test match before being diagnosed by a doctor over the telephone.

The Aussies are currently gearing up for Friday’s three-day game at Northampton ahead of the crucial third Test at Edgbaston next week.

And after going 1-0 down in the series to England on Monday, Ricky Ponting’s side have told Dorries to stay away from players and staff for fear of the bug sweeping through the squad.

A spokesperson for Cricket Australia said: “Australian team medical staff have asked that Ben quarantine himself away from the Australian team and other cricketing media for the next three days.

“These measures are being taken as a precautionary step.

“There is no indication that anybody associated with the Australian team has the same symptoms.”

Swine Flu – Deadly serious (uk)

PLANS for mass graves have been drawn up to cope with a second wave of swine flu this Autumn.

The chilling proposals are spelled out in a Home Office document discussed at a meeting of Whitehall officials and council leaders last month.

It warns emergency plans may be needed in areas where there are not enough graves to cope.

The 59-page document talks about using “a grave that is for a number of unrelated persons, excavated mechanically in advance and designed for efficient preparation and use”.

New wave … bug

It said this approach would create a “burial site for multiple graves and consecutive burials”.

But it stressed there must still be “marking of the position of individual burials.”

The document is called A Framework for Planners Preparing to Manage Deaths.

The meeting heard the number of burials could more than double within a few weeks of a full-blown pandemic.

It heard a presentation on the Home Office guidance from John Barrelled, a senior official from Westminster City Council.

The document warned some cemeteries “may experience shortage of grave space, in particular in inner city areas”.

Frightening … Government document

Freight containers and “inflatable” storage units may be needed to provide extra mortuary space.

But it stressed “refrigerated vehicles and trailers should not be used”.

Cemeteries and crematoriums may need to work seven days a week and hire extra staff to cope.

It also warned there may be a need for more “basic and shorter services at the chapel” or for “memorial services” to be held at a person’s home instead.

It may no longer be possible to bury some people in family plots.

New laws could be passed to allow “streamlined” cremations.

Whitehall officials are speaking to coffin makers to see if they can meet demand.

Retired docs could be drafted in to issue death certificates so GPs can focus on patients.

It may also become impossible to fly home the bodies of Britons who die abroad. Presently 30 per cent of people are buried.

New cases of swine flu have fallen sharply from a peak of over 110,000 a week in late July.

But experts predict a second wave this autumn.

Swine flu drug makes kids sick

MORE than half of children who take swine flu drug Tamiflu suffer terrifying side-effects such as nausea, insomnia and nightmares.

Two studies by the Health Protection Agency (HPA) showed a “high proportion” of Brit schoolkids reported problems after taking the drug.

Data was gathered from children at three schools in London and one in the South West who were given Tamiflu earlier this year after classmates became infected with the deadly virus.

Balance

The findings will shock parents and raise questions over whether the powerful anti-viral should be given out so freely.

The government’s chief medical officer Sir Liam Donaldson defended the drug today, saying: “All drugs do have side-effects.

“It is always a case of deciding the balance between benefiting a patient from a treatment and the side-effects.

“Most of the side-effects are relatively minor – a degree of nausea, a bit of a tummy upset, the sort of thing you get quite often with antibiotics.”

He added: “If we look at the rate of admissions to hospital, it has been the under-fives who have had a very much higher rate of hospitalisation.

“It isn’t common but when it does happen, it can happen amongst the youngest age groups.”

The most frequently reported side effect among children was nausea, followed by stomach pain or cramps and problems sleeping.

Gastrointestinal side effects (nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea, stomach pain and cramps) were reported by 40 per cent of kids tested.

Almost one in five kids reported side-effects such as poor concentration, inability to think clearly, problems sleeping, feeling dazed or confused, bad dreams or nightmares and “behaving strangely”.

The data published by the Government today comes after the National Pandemic Flu Service for England launched last Thursday.

Rather than calling their GP, people with swine flu are now being urged to contact a helpline or receive a diagnosis online.

Some 150,000 people have received Tamiflu via the National Pandemic Flu Service.

Swine flu could be good for you

SWINE flu could be helping to keep Brits (people of great  Briton)  HEALTHY, new research has revealed.

More than half of the UK are eating better and exercising more to help combat the outbreak – suggesting the pandemic is helping improve the nation’s long term health.

A huge 60 per cent of people have boosted their fitness regimes to keep fit and healthy to deal with symptoms of swine flu.

Battled

And a survey by researchers TNS Omnibus says that sales of fruit and veg have shot up by 11 per cent as a result of the killer virus. Vitamin supplement sales have also increased.

Parents of young children have shown to be the most vigilant with a third buying products specifically to prevent the flu.

Fifty-three per cent of people have designated their own “flu friend” who can fetch them food and medicine if they are struck down.

Two per cent of people have said they have stockpiled food supplies and four per cent extra bottles of water in case they are forced to remain indoors.

One in ten Brits have said they try to avoid public transport and crowded areas while more than HALF actively try to avoid talking to people with a cold.

Sue Homeyard, of TNS Omnibus, said: “Swine flu is changing the way we live our lives and although the epidemic is having a devastating social and economic impact, we may yet see some benefit in the long term.

“Britons are starting to consciously consider their health and are looking after themselves better by eating healthier food, stocking up on vitamins and exercising more.

“The government and health authorities have canvassed Britons to change their lifestyles for years, but this may be the first time we see a real difference in people’s behaviour.”

Home loans: SBI closes in on HDFC

ICICI Bank set to cut rates to 8.75% soon

COMPETITION is hotting up between HDFC, State Bank of India and ICICI Bank to emerge as the largest player in the home loan market. ICICI Bank, which has recently been pipped by SBI to second spot, is set to up the ante by announcing a fresh round of rate cut to take the competition head on. Going by the present trend and its aggressive push in the home loan segment, SBI could soon overtake HDFC on its home turf.
Top ICICI officials said the bank is set to reduce its interest rates on home loans in next couple of days. “For loans up to Rs 20 lakh, the bank will match HDFC rate, by bringing it down to 8.75 per cent. For loans above Rs 20 lakh, our rates will be 25-50 basis point above HDFC’s,” said a senior ICICI Bank official.
HDFC leads the pack with a home loan portfolio of Rs 60,232.9 crore at the end of June, with SBI coming in a close second with a portfolio size of Rs 57,513 crore. ICICI is not far behind with an aggregate home loan portfolio of Rs 53,000 crore.
However, while SBI has registered a growth rate of 24 per cent during the first quarter of this fiscal and HDFC registering a 21 per cent growth, ICICI Bank has recorded a negative growth of 7.6 per cent during the period.
With its elaborate network of 11,849 branches and aggressive rate cuts SBI has been steadily gaining market share, which stands at 20 per cent, almost in line with the country’s largest home loan provider HDFC. Incidentally, while HDFC’s portfolio includes non-resident Indian (NRI) loans, SBI places such loans in a separate category.
SBI’s home loan portfolio has been growing substantially since February when it launched the 8 per cent home loan scheme. The bank has sanctioned Rs 2,348 crore under the new happy loan scheme and its market share has risen from 17.48 per cent to 19.74 per cent. At the end of 2008-09, SBI portfolio was Rs 54,063 crore against Rs 44,626 crore in the year ago period.
SBI officials said the bank proposes to give a further push to this segment. “We need to scale up before competition heats up. ICICI Bank has now taken a pause, but they will start growing aggressively once the rough patch is over, we need to anticipate this growth and enhance our portfolios. Among retail loans, home loans will certainly we our focus,” said a senior SBI official.
HDFC admits that it growth has been hit by economic downturn. However, the home loan provider says that despite the competitive pressures, it will concentrate on the quality of its assets. “We will like to grow by focusing on quality and keeping the delinquencies under check. Our total write-offs are just 4 per cent of the cumulative disbursements. Even provisioning for contingencies are twice that of regulatory requirement at Rs 622 crore and Rs319 crore,” said a senior HDFC official.
HDFC sources 95 per cent of its home loans though HDFC Sales, a wholly-owned subsidiary of HDFC, 20 per cent of direct walk in, 30 per cent from HDFC Bank branches and 5 per cent through the direct sales agents (DSAs).

IIT, IIM teachers to stop admin work

IIT teachers connected with administrative jobs will now resign from their administrative posts with immediate effect as a mark of protest against the new pay scale approved by the cabinet on August 7. Faculties at IIT-K, IIT-Rand IIT-C have already taken resolution to this effect, the other IITs will soon join them, Prof Kanchan Chow-dhury, president, IIT-K Teachers’ Association, also an office bearer of All India IIT Faculty Federation, said after a federation meeting on Wednesday.
IIT and IIM teachers are already on a warpath with the Centre over the 6th Pay Commission, which according to them has snip-ped the annual increments recommended for these teachers and shuffled existing hierarchies. Chowdhury said that the IIT teachers would also go on mass casual leave on Friday and existing IITs would stop maintaining the new IITs with immediate effect. Faculty at Roorkee would also take four days earned leave after the mass casual leave.
Chowdhury said that the IIT teachers would eventually go for ‘long-term non-cooperation’ with administration. IIT and IIM teachers do the administrative jobs as well. As a result, deputy director, dean, all head of departments, professors-in charge, wardens, deputy wardens and purchase hea-ds would also resign. “We are teachers. That’s our core area. We will no longer get engaged in non-core areas, that is administrative jobs. We want the directors tell the HRD ministry that under these circumstance it’s impossible to run the institutes,” he said.
IIM faculty will also take a resolution in this regard, Prof Anindya Sen, former dean, IIM-C, said. “Enou-gh is enough. We have suffered for long. It is high time we stand together and make our voices heard,” he said.

http://www.iitd.ac.in/

http://www.iitb.ac.in/

http://www.iitm.ac.in/

http://www.iitk.ac.in/

http://www.iitkgp.ernet.in/

http://www.iitr.ac.in/

http://www.iit.org/

http://www.iimidr.ac.in/

http://www.iimk.ac.in/

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http://www.iimb.ernet.in/

http://www.iimahd.ernet.in/

Flu-hit travel portals see jump in traffic

Swine flu may be among the most Googled by Indians, but apart from a brief lull in the Mumbai-Pune circuit last week, domestic travel seems to be back to normal, say travel portals. Yatra.com reported 20-25 per cent cancellation – mostly in the Mumbai-Pune route – up from their daily average of 6-8 per cent. Makemytrip.com too saw a 20 per cent dip in air traffic inflow to Pune last week.
“But since the I-Day weekend, things are back to normal. In fact, we saw a good 15-20 per cent jump in traffic on our site compared with last August,” said Keyur Joshi, COO and co-founder, Makemytrip.com.
Yatra.com reported a higher rate of cancellation among air travelers than those traveling by train or buses last week. “That could be because air travelers tend to be more aware. Besides, there is the perceived risk of being more vulnerable since it’s the same air being circulated in a flight,” says Dhruv Shringi, CEO and co-founder of Yatra.com.
Last week also saw an increase in traffic outflow from Pune – air traffic went up by 12-13 per cent reports Makemytrip.com. The site saw a 5-10 per cent drop in overseas holidays too last week, but things seem fine this week. Bus travel portal Redbus.in had an interesting observation: “We have seen that people increasingly prefer to travel by non-AC buses due to swine flu. In some regions such as Chennai, the cost of non-AC buses has shot up by 20-30 per cent owing to the demand,” says Phanindra Sama, CEO of Redbus.in.Given the extensive media coverage of the pandemic, travel portals were expecting much worse. “We had beefed up our call centres to handle increased queries, but luckily, we didn’t see any dramatic reactions to what we now call ‘media flu’,” said Joshi.Yatra.com plans to roll out mailers to temper down the panic. “More deaths are caused by regular flu than swine flu, but no one reports that,” says Shringi. Makemytrip has already begun sending out mailers to clarify myths about swine flu to their members.

Swine flu puts Hyderabad IT companies on high alert

Even as Hyderabad grapp-les with the spurt in swine flu cases, IT companies in the city find themselves to be the most vulnerable to the deadly virus. With Google shutting down one of its offices after an employee was confirmed to have the H1N1 virus, other major global IT companies are taking extra precautions to educate their workforces about the disease.
Several big names in the IT industry such as Micro-soft, Computer Associates (CA), Dell and IBM have major operations in Hyder-abad. These companies find themselves all the more susceptible to a swine flu attack, as they host a large number of visitors from the US and the South East Asian region. “We do get a lot of guests from the affected regions. Hence, we have to be extra careful,” Bipin Pendyla, VP and site manager, CA India Techno-logy Centre, told Financial Chronicle.
The company has asked its employees to be alert to swine flu symptoms and to take immediate medical help if they notice any. “We have also asked them to stay away from anyone suspected to be infected with the H1N1 virus,” Pendyla said.
Microsoft, which opera-tes one of its largest develo-pment centres in Hydera-bad, has sent out advisories and emails about the swine flu to its employees. The mails essentially talk about the dos and don’ts to be followed to prevent the dreaded disease, a spokes-person said.
MindTree said that there had been no impact on any of its projects at the Hyderabad office following the detection of one case of swine flu. A MindTree employee in the city was tested positive for swine flu on Monday. “Along with the medical authorities, Mind-Tree has taken several me-asures to arrest any poss-ible spread among other MindTree Minds. During the last 3 days, doctors have conducted awareness workshops for MindTree Minds in the Hyderabad office,” a statement said.
Broadridge, a global financial solutions compa-ny, has initiated an awar-eness campaign amongst its staffers about the virus. “The most effective way has been emails and instructions on how to deal with hygiene and updates from WHO,” said Rajita Singh, HR head.
Even smaller city-based companies, who have to deal with foreign clients, don’t want to take any chances. Says Ramesh Lognathan, MD and VP (products) Progress Software, “Given the incidents in Hyderabad this week, we have taken some additional measures. Proactively, apa-rt from creating the awareness on swine flu precautions amongst empl-oyees through posters and emails, we have also placed hand-sanitizers all over the office and strongly enco-uraged employees to use it as often as possible.”
Google said, “One of our contractual workers in Hyd-erabad has been diagnosed with the H1N1 virus. As a precautionary measure, we have closed the concerned office in Hyderabad for two days — July 14 and 15 — and are taking all necessary steps, including sanitising of common areas, to protect our employees.”

Nine fresh flu cases in Chennai

Nine fresh cases of A(H1N1) were recorded in the State on Wednesday, according to Public Health officials. All the nine cases were from Chennai and included two children. All patients were started on Tamiflu and the children were given special care by paediatricians.

This takes the total number of positive cases to 129.

The highlight on Wednesday was that two private hospitals in the city- Vijaya Hospital and Apollo Hospital – began to admit and treat patients. The drugs were dispatched from the Communicable Diseases Hospital by Corporation Health Authorities.

“It is very good that the private sector is pitching in with the treatment efforts. Everyone should contribute, especially in a situation like this,” said V.K.Subburaj, principal secretary, Health. He says though the number of cases in Tamil Nadu is still low, a new problem has cropped up – a number of patients seem to run away from the hospitals. This has occurred in Coimbatore, Madurai and Chennai already and public health officials have had to nearly hunt down these patients. “People should realise that running away untreated is neither good for them nor the community. They take the virus into the community and spread it there. That is the situation we are trying to avoid,” he added.

Meanwhile, a high-level meeting of all health department staff convened by the Health Minister will, on Thursday, review the prevention and treatment efforts in the instance of the influenza A(H1N1) virus, Mr. Subburaj said. This will be a preliminary meeting in the state, before the Minister, Secretary and Public Health Director represent Tamil Nadu’s position at the National level meeting of Health Ministers of the states convened by the Union Ministry for Health in New Delhi on Friday.

Tips to bell the CAT

Cracking the CAT demands clear focus, regular practice and good understanding of one’s strengths and weaknesses.

TAKE NO CHANCES: Having a strategy in place holds the key to cracking the CAT.

The notification for CAT (Common Admission Test)-2009 is likely to be released this month and the aspirants for the seven IIMs and 40 other top management schools, which follow the CAT format, will have about four months before the examination.

CAT, which is regarded as the mother of all management entrance tests, is considered to be the most difficult management entrance test in the world. But why is it considered to be the most difficult examination, when most of the questions asked in CAT in the last 10 years are of 10th standard level?

“CAT is not about rocket science. It tends to be difficult because of three main factors: The competition is intense (it is expected that over three lakh students will be competing for the 2,000 plus IIM seats in the CAT-2009), uncertainty over the question pattern is another factor and time management is the third factor that makes CAT the most difficult one,” says Director of TIME J.V. Murty.

He also adds that it is not a test of one’s intelligence or memory, “Anybody can crack CAT with clear focus, regular practice and good understanding of one’s strengths and weaknesses. The format also does not call for remembrance of thousands of formulae,” he says.

How to crack CAT?

The format has three sections: Quantitative aptitude (consisting of mathematics and data sufficiency), English (verbal ability, English usage and reading comprehension) and data interpretation and logical ability.

The number of questions per section could vary and this has been one of the surprise elements in the CAT format.

In CAT-2008 the quantitative aptitude and the data interpretation section had 25 questions each and the English section had 40. Whereas, in CAT-2007, the questions were evenly spread across the sections with 25 questions per section.

The paper is set for 360 marks and it has to be answered in two-and-ahalf hours.

Apart from securing the minimum overall score for receiving a call from any of the IIMs, one has to clear the cut-off marks in each of the section.

Do’s to crack it

Strong Fundamentals: The idea is simple- extensive reading is required for thorough knowledge of all topics, good reading speed, quick mental calculations and familiarity with all types of questions.

Practice is the key: Reading should be undertaken chapter wise and it has to be supplemented with regular mock tests and practice tests.

Be cool and confident: Lookout for questions in your strength areas and manage your time. Scan all questions. Do not worry about what you do not know and what will be the cut-offs.

Smart strategy: The effective strategy would be to plan your test and test your plan before implementation. It is also advisable to work with a mentor.

Computer based test

The biggest surprise for CAT-2009 aspirants would be the new format of CBT. From this year, CAT would no longer be a written test and it would be a computer based test.

Mr. Murty says that the CBT format is not an online test, it is only a computer based test and it does not prescribe for any change in the preparation methodology. There is no offline version of the test and it can be taken only at the designated 25 centres spread across the nation. The test will be conducted during a window period of 10 days starting in the last week of November.

The final dates will be notified through an advertisement.

According to an earlier IIM release, the centres will be under both electronic surveillance and manual invigilation. IIM has also mentioned about bio-metric means of identifying a candidate like finger prints or iris scan, the details of which are awaited.

Each candidate will be provided with a writing pad with numbered pages for calculations and rough work. The writing pad with all pages intact must be left at the desk, after the test. Rough work cannot be done on any other paper or sheet.

More papers

Since, the CBT- CAT will be conducted during a ten-day period; the most likely scenario is that students in each slot will get a different paper, which means more number of CAT papers.

The format of the test will remain more or less the same as that of the earlier paper and pencil tests.

,b>Click for answers

The only difference is that the candidate would read the question(s) on the computer terminal and would click on the answer on the screen instead of darkening the ovals on an OMR sheet.

The IIMs are expected to standardise the tests to ensure that all the tests are of the same difficulty level. In addition to this they might also normalise scores to iron out any differences in the difficulty level.

So there will be no difference between one test and another.

IT has no takers

Civil and Mechanical had many takers in engineering admissions this year, and IT seats went unclaimed

And the choice is: Some courses have lost their fancy in engineering admissions.

The engineering seat selection process in Karnataka this year registered some unusual and significant trends, albeit along expected lines. While the impact of the global economic recession on the students’ decision was obviously visible in their rejection of Information Technology courses, the fact that core engineering courses were opted for first was a silver lining, academics felt.

Top engineering rank-holders showed a clear preference for core branches of engineering. If trades such as civil and mechanical engineering had seen a slump in demand post the boom in the Information Technology sector, now they are back with a bang. On day one, more than 250 students opted for seats in each branch.

While Electronics and Communication remained the most sought-after course with about 400 students opting for it (as was the case last year too, when the financial crisis had just begun to creep into the students’ psyche), Civil and Mechanical had many takers.

The once-coveted Information Sciences had seats unfilled for over two weeks, with only the college or brand conscious students opting for the course in leading colleges. These trends were not so visible in the big and famous colleges, but till the last day most of the 1,400-odd vacancies in engineering colleges were in Information Sciences. Even Biotechnology, once termed the sunrise sector, had no takers for weeks.

Students are more focussed on colleges and even enquiring about campus placement statistics. The focus has shifted from sought-after course to colleges, and many even went back when they did not get a college of their choice, a Karnataka Examinations Authority official said.

Short-sighted

Students seem to be guided in their choice by news reports of recruitment freeze in leading IT companies, and the increasing number of opportunities offered in the manufacturing sector. Jawahar D., CEO of PES Engineering College, cautions against such trends that are short-sighted. The decline in placements is more visible in the IT sector because it offers the most number of jobs. This does not imply an increase in jobs offered by the manufacturing sector, he says, adding that all such trends will only be temporary, and the IT sector continues to hold just as much promise as it did before the recession.

As the curtain fell on the first round, it emerged that 1,400 seats had no takers. Students had, it seems, mainly rejected the newer and lesser-known colleges. Even then, another 3,700 seats have been added to the list for the second round, which is currently in progress. K.V. A. Balaji, Registrar of Visvevaraya Technological University, said that over 30 colleges had applied this year. This points to more supply than demand in the engineering sector, experts say. Similar statistics are emerging from the counselling for private engineering colleges, conducted by the Consortium of Medical, Engineering and Dental Colleges of Karnataka. Over 4,000 seats were unfilled after the first round, and the fact that more seats will be added does not help the case.

Larger issue

Currently, there are about 32,000 engineering seats on offer in about 155 colleges across the State (this does not include deemed universities). It is a consolidation of sorts. “As an affiliating university our job is to report to the AICTE and tell them if the requisite facilities are present. So, we have done that but whether these colleges are needed or not, and how to control the quality in these colleges is a larger issue, which needs much deliberation,” a university official pointed out.

Last year, students had surrendered seats after finding that a few colleges on the list were running with skeletal facilities and some sought transfer to other colleges. Though a report was commissioned into the state of five such colleges, no action was taken. University officials said that status reports had been submitted to the government.

Free mock CAT

Career Launcher has announced a Student Welfare Fortnight from August 8 to 21. Students who have currently not enrolled with the institute will also get the opportunity to participate in the free online mock CAT examination at any of the Career Launch centres across India.

This concept was initiated after the institute received numerous calls seeking expert guidance and tips for cracking the examination.

The CAT’09 online test series package contains five invigilated online Mock CATs and would offer an opportunity to attend two seminars conducted by experts from Career Launcher.

While one seminar would focus on how to increase CAT scores, the other one would deal with the ‘Nine Mantras’ to crack CAT’09.

For further details, visit www.careerlauncher.com

The alternative route to engineering

Those who are unable to pursue an engineering degree course (B.E. or B.Tech.) from engineering colleges, can opt for AMIE.

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Website: www.ieindia.org.

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Photo: K.V. Srinivasan

Viable option: AMIE is recognised as equivalent to an engineering degree by AICTE.

AMIE (Associate Membership of Institution of Engineers) is an alternative option to become an engineer. AMIE is recognised as equivalent to an engineering degree by AICTE, UPSC, SSC and Central Government Departments and State government departments.

Those who pass the AMIE exams can appear for the Indian Engineering Service exam held by the UPSC, Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering (GATE) and Graduate Record Examination (GRE). They can also go for M.E. or M.Tech. programmes. The AMIE qualification will not be considered for teaching posts in professional colleges.

The Institution of Engineers India (IEI), Kolkata, conducts the AIME examinations all over the country. The course involves syllabus-oriented private study and students can utilise library facilities and oral coaching.

The AMIE programme has two sections. Section A is common for all and under Section B, the student member can choose a particular branch of engineering. Section A and B examinations are held twice a year — in June and December.

Student membership

There are two type of student membership — technician and senior technician.

Minimum entry qualification for technician is a pass in Plus-Two or equivalent examination with minimum 45 per cent marks in aggregate in physics, chemistry and mathematics. B.Sc. degree holders with physics, chemistry and mathematics can also apply for membership.

For the enrolment as senior technician, three-year engineering diploma in any branch is required. AMIE Examination is separately designed for diploma stream (senior technician members) and non-diploma stream (technician members).

After completing the Plus-Two examination, you can register for section ‘A’ examination under technician (non-diploma) stream with the Institution of Engineers. The application fee is Rs.375, and Rs.4,800 has to be paid as registration fee for Section ‘A’ examinations.

Application forms can be bought from any of IEI centres.

Section A

The Section A (non-diploma) examination includes the following 10 subjects.

• Basic sciences: Engineering physics and chemistry, engineering mathematics.

• Social Science: Society and environment

• Engineering sciences: Fundamentals of design and manufacturing, material science and engineering, electrical science, mechanical science, electronics and instrumentation.

• Communication: Engineering drawing and graphics, computing and informatics.

The student member should pass Section ‘A’ examination in all 10 subjects of which seven papers are compulsory and three optional. Each paper carries 100 marks, and the duration of examination for each subject is three hours. Grading system is followed for all subjects. Nobody is permitted to appear in more than four subjects in one-term.

Section A (diploma) stream covers four subjects — fundamentals of design and manufacturing, material science and engineering, computing and informatics, society and environment.

Section B

After passing Section A papers, students should apply for registration for Section ‘B’ examination in any one engineering discipline of their choice in which examinations are being conducted by the institution. At present, Section B examination is being conducted in these engineering disciplines — chemical, civil, computer science and engineering, electrical, electronics and communication, mechanical, materials and metallurgical engineering, mining engineering, production engineering and textile engineering. Registration fee for Section B examination is Rs.4,800. Fee should be paid in the form of demand draft drawn in favour of the Institution of Engineers, payable at Kolkata.

AMIE examination centres will include Thiruvananthapuram, Kochi, Coimbatore, Tiruchi, Madurai, Neyveli, Chennai, Mysore, Bangalore, Visakhapatnam, Goa, Hyderabad and Mumbai.

All technician and senior technician members are provided with identity card. Student member must pass the Section A examination within six years and Section B examination within six years after passing Section A.

Technician and senior technician members pursing Section ‘B’ examination can take up project work only after securing minimum grade ‘C’ in five subjects in an engineering branch of Section ‘B’. The students should separately apply for project work to the headquarters of the institution. The grade cards will be issued to all the candidates who qualify in Section A and B examinations and those who pass Section ‘B’ examination will be given a provisional certificate of AMIE.

The Institution of Engineers also offers postgraduate courses for its graduates and corporate members in select engineering discipline in collaboration with the Birla Institute of Technology (BIT), Mesra, Ranchi. IEI chapters and some private institutes are also providing coaching classes for the registrants of AMIE examinations.

Firefox add-on for GRE

Vocabulary-building for the Graduate Record Examinations (GRE) usually involves a lot of cramming from wordlists in the many GRE training kits. And self-evaluation usually involves taking as many as one can of the hundreds of vocabulary tests both online and offline apart from the full GRE adaptive mock tests.

Now GREedge, a company specialising in delivering GRE coaching through mobiles and PCs, has come up with a software called ‘wordtracker’ which adds a toolbar to the Firefox browser and highlights words as the student browses the Internet.

The software highlights the so-called ‘GRE words’ in the page and on mousing over the word, it displays the dictionary meaning, usage, synonyms and antonyms of the word. Occasionally, an ‘evaluation’ pops up asking a simple question relating to the word.

The Wordtracker also allows the student to ignore a word in future windows or to mark it as a ‘favourite’.

The student can also write his or her own usage of the word to help remember it better.

The details are stored in the student’s account at GREedge’s server. The beta version of the software is available for download at www.greedge.com

College books just a click away

For students who have just stepped into college, a book bank could be a valuable resource. With the aim of helping students, Reach Book Bank has created an exclusive online facility that would help students use and access reference books. An online-only company, www.reachbookbank.com, is the brainchild of Shweta S., a young entrepreneur. “I explored the possibility of creating a web-based book bank which would be able to offer value to students, ,” she says.

They take orders for books and deliver them at people’s homes or colleges. Reach also has a separate charity section. All books they receive as donations, are made available free of cost .