Over 79,000 engineering seats remain vacant in TN last year

Over 79,000 seats in engineering colleges across Tamil Nadu remained unfilled in the last academic year, the state Assembly was informed on Tuesday.

Of the total capacity of 2,62,164 seats in engineering colleges across Tamil Nadu, only 1,82,493 were filled in the last academic year, Higher Education Minister P Palaniappan said while replying to requests from many members to open new engineering colleges in their constituencies.

The 79,671 vacant seats include 55,055 government and 23,681 management quota seats.

Tamil Nadu has 553 engineering colleges, including seven government, three government-aided, 523 self-financed and 18 Anna University constituent colleges.

Source: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/news/states/over-79000-engineering-seats-remain-vacant-in-tn-last-year/article4573296.ece

IIT Roorkee seeks Rs. 2 cr fee for Yamuna restoration plan

Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Roorkee has sought six months and Rs. 2 crore as consultancy charges to prepare a complete plan for the restoration of Yamuna river. The Supreme Court had in December, last year, asked the directors of IIT, Delhi and Roorkee to prepare a new project for cleaning the Yamuna.

In response to the SC order, the Ministry of Environment and Forest constituted a committee following which IIT, Roorkee submitted a conceptual plan to clean the river. The Ministry has submitted the plan before SC along with an affidavit informing the court about IIT’s demand for consultancy charges.

In its conceptual plan, IIT Roorkee has suggested construction of a parallel drain along the right bank of river Yamuna from Wazirabad barrage to Okhla barrage joining the Agra canal. This drain shall intercept effluents from all the drains and divert to Agra canal directly after due treatment.

As per the plan, the envisaged parallel drain will also be equipped to release storm water during the monsoon.

It has also been suggested to enhance storage of rain water in the river. The necessary storage capacity may be obtained either through the existing barrage or by constructing a new one. For the improvement of sewerage system, the plan advises preparation of comprehensive GIS and data-based complete sewage system including other sewer lines, pumping stations, outfall, interceptors and storm water drains.

The proposed plan will soon be considered by SC that has on several occasions expressed displeasure at civic bodies’ failure to clean the Yamuna.

Source: http://www.hindustantimes.com/India-news/NewDelhi/IIT-Roorkee-seeks-Rs-2-cr-fee-for-Yamuna-restoration-plan/Article1-1036391.aspx

Class XII hall ticket must for JEE Main

Students appearing for JEE (Main) will have to carry their Class XII hall ticket along with their JEE admit card to the exam centre. This is because nearly 2 lakh of the 12.82 lakh candidates who have registered for JEE (Main) have not submitted their Class XII roll numbers to the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) .

Many of the students who had submitted their roll numbers have requested the board to allow them to change the information as they had submitted incorrect data. The pen-and-paper JEE (Main) will take place on April 7 while the computer-based test will be held from April 8-25.

The students will be given an authentication sheet in the examination hall to verify their roll numbers. "The candidates are also advised to bring along a copy of their Class XII hall ticket and submit it to the invigilator," states a notification on the JEE (Main) official website.

The CBSE, which is conducting the JEE (Main), has been asking students to submit the roll numbers of their Class XII/qualifying exam before downloading the JEE (Main) admit cards. CBSE chairman Vineet Joshi said, "While two lakh students have not submitted their roll numbers at all, several students who had provided their details have written to the board, saying they had made mistakes. Students anyway have time till April 25 to submit their roll numbers. The hall ticket process will ensure that they do not make mistakes while submitting their details."

This is the first year that the scores of Class XII/qualifying exam will also be given weightage while determining the all-India rank in JEE (Main). Students who cleared their Class XII exam in 2011 or 2012 have to submit a copy of their final marksheet to the invigilator. Students who passed in 2011 or 2012, but opted for improvement of performance in 2013 in all subjects have to submit a copy of their admit card for this year.


Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/mumbai/Class-XII-hall-ticket-must-for-JEE-Main/articleshow/19353554.cms

Information on admission to IIST Thiruvananthapuram for B.Tech courses for year 2013

Admission to Under Graduate Programmes (B.Tech. 2013)
(A) Who can apply ?

Only Indian citizens can apply for admission to IIST. The date of birth of candidates belonging to GEN and OBC (NCL) categories should be on or after October 1, 1988, while the date of birth of those belonging to SC, ST and PD categories should be on or after October 1, 1983.
(B) Eligibility

After qualifying the Joint Entrance Examination, JEE (Main)–2013 conducted by CBSE, the candidate must appear for IIT-JEE(Advanced)-2013 and score the following minimum prescribed category-wise marks in JEE(Advanced)-2013:
(a) General Candidates: At least 5% marks in each of the three subjects (Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics) and 20% marks in aggregate.
(b) OBC (NCL) Candidates: At least 90% of the marks prescribed for General Candidates under (a).
(c) SC, ST & PD Candidates: At least 50% the marks prescribed for General Candidates under (a).
The marks secured by the candidate in JEE(Advanced)-2013 examination will be used only for deciding his/her eligibility for admission, and will not be considered for preparing the rank list for admission to IIST.
(C) Rank List for Admission

Admission to Undergraduate Programmes (B.Tech) for the year 2013 will be based on the All India Rank List (including category rank list) to be prepared and published for the year 2013 by Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE). This rank list is based on 60% weightage of score in the Joint Entrance Examination JEE(Main)-2013, and 40% of normalized score in Class 12th or other qualifying examinations.
A candidate not meeting the eligibility criteria given under (B) will not be considered for admission to B.Tech programme of IIST even if his/her name appears in the JEE(Main)-2013 rank list.
Online registration of application for admission to IIST will commence at www.iist.ac.in on 17th May 2013 and end on 8th July 2013.

Detailed information and IIST Admission Brochure will be published in our website by 30th April, 2013.

The JEE Challenge

Class XII students, having just completed their Board examinations, are now getting into the last-minute preparation for the JEE Mains. This examination consists of a single paper consisting of questions from the test areas of Mathematics, Physics and Chemistry. While the questions from these subjects carry equal weightage from the scoring perspective, students should keep in mind that it is the overall score that matters for better performance in this examination.

We shall look at some of the points to be kept in mind while you are doing the final run-up to this entrance examination. For students, it is a very large examination in terms of the spread of the competition — the registrations for JEE Mains had touched 14 lakh when the application window closed. Even for the CBSE, the entity that conducts the examination, this is a new high for a competitive examination.

MCQ-oriented revision

Do not forget that the skills for solving the multiple choice questions (MCQ) variants are slightly different from the requirement. Quickly getting to the “what’s finally required of me” query is what should drive your approach while answering a question. So even while revising, the perspective is to quickly get to the key properties, formulae, equations rather than the entire theory behind the concept. While sitting with your journals/workbooks and revision tests, try to reconstruct the flow of topics from the work you have done or from the MCQ that you are working with.

The MCQ variants of a concept need not be always approached top down for problem-solving. Top down is the approach familiar with the students since they are fresh from the Board exams where detailing on paper is required. While solving MCQs, detailing needs to happen in the mind, quickly moving through steps/processes that can be short circuited. What this means practically while facing a question is to also consider the options given before lunging into detailed problem-solving. Sometimes the conditions given in the question will pre-empt the possibility of a couple of options springing up as answers.

Another angle to this approach that will pay dividends in the examination is to mindmap questions that are within your comfort zone of concepts and topics. This needs to be done during the first few minutes when you scan the entire paper. While there is no strict criteria that you must attempt the questions in any particular order of subjects within the window of three hours, try not to scamper around wildly as you would spend more than normal time to search for your marked questions.

Learn to let go

Do keep in mind that you are not in the examination to complete the paper. In fact, a smart test-taker should go in with the approach of targeting only about 80 per cent of the questions. This approach will clearly take away any unnecessary pressure build-up when you feel that you are unable to do the first few questions.

The penalty of choosing wrongly is actually a double edged sword. It robs you of the time you have invested — the opportunity cost of not attempting another question — and also “rewards” you with a negative mark.

If you have spent a couple of minutes on a “hard nut” and are still nowhere near the proverbial light at the end of the tunnel, have the heart to let go. Letting go frees you from further under-utilisation of your precious time. And do not worry about the time you have under-utilised.

Most test-takers would have sub-optimally utilised the time at some point during the testing window. In a competitive examination, the key is to first attempt the questions you know and then move on to the other questions. There is no time for remorse.

Source: http://www.thehindu.com/features/education/college-and-university/the-jee-challenge/article4564380.ece

Centre asks IIT Bhubaneswar to fill up reserved posts

The Centre has asked the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), including IITBhubaneswar (IITBBS), to carry out special recruitment drives to fill up vacancies meant for Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs).

Pointing out that most posts meant for the reserved categories were lying vacant in the elite technical institutions, the ministry of human resources development (MHRD) has recently asked the IITs to take corrective steps at the earliest.

IIT sources said MHRD secretary Ashok Thakur wrote to the IIT board of governors after a parliamentary committee expressed its dissatisfaction over the large-scale vacancies for the reserved categories. The panel had pointed out that the National Institutes of Technology (NITs) largely filled up the reserved posts indicating availability of qualified persons among the reserved category too.

However, the IITs invariably failed to recruit SCs and STs. IITBBS data indicates the institute fares poorly in maintaining the reservation ratio, as prescribed by the department of personnel and training (DoPT). The institute currently has 73 faculty members of three categories. Of the 56 posts of assistant professors, it has none from the ST category and just one from the SC.

As many as 47 posts are occupied by the General category candidates while OBCs hold seven posts and a person with disability holds another. As per quota rules, it should have 15% SCs, 7.5% STs and 27% OBCs. Of the 30 sanctioned posts of associate professors, only four are filled all by general candidates only. All the 13 professors are from General category.

Of the total 73 teachers, 63 are regular, including six professors, four associate professors and 53 assistant professors. While four professors are reemployed (after retirement), three professors and three assistant professors are in the visiting category, the institute sources said.

Skewed reservation norms glare in non-teaching posts as well with not even one occupied by SCs or STs. Of the 12 sanctioned Group A posts, only seven are filled, all by general category candidates while the rest five are vacant. In Group B, only 10 of the sanctioned 40 posts are filled; eight by general and two by OBCs. In Group C, five of the 47 sanctioned strength are filled, four by general and one by OBC category, the institute sources said.

IIT authorities, when contacted, said the institute is always striving hard to meet the reservation guidelines while filling up the posts. "We have not carried out any special drive but we always make the advertisements open for all categories as per norms," said IITBBS registrar B K Ray.


Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/bhubaneswar/Centre-asks-IIT-Bhubaneswar-to-fill-up-reserved-posts/articleshow/19332910.cms

Tamilnadu engineering admission (TNEA) form to be issued from third week of April

Reportedly forms for Tamilnadu engineering admission will be issued by Anna University from third week of April. Anna university will conduct Tamilnadu engineering admission (TNEA-2013).
According to sources TNEA application forms will be issued through 59 centres, including government, government-aided engineering and polytechnic colleges, from the third week of April and the process will go on for a month.

Eligibilty criteria for engineering admission in Tamilnadu
Minimum eligibility marks to enter into engineering course for SC/ST students is 40 per cent. But, Tamil Nadu state government has fixed the minimum eligibility marks as 35 per cent for SC/ST students. University authorities are awaiting state government’s final decision on this issue. Once, government makes a decision, printing of application forms will commence immediately