Great Job Mr. Sibal, you kept your promises !!!

Class X board exams optional

The government on Monday announced that it will introduce grading system in all Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) schools and make Class X board exams optional from coming academic year (2010-11). Union Human Resource Development minister Kapil Sibal during a press conference in New Delhi ,said: "Central Advisory Board of Education (CABE) supports making Class X examination optional in CBSE system." . "There is a pan-India consensus over the issue. So we have decided to go ahead with this," Sibal said.The Class X board exams will become optional in all CBSE schools from the coming academic year (2010-11).The CBSE has prepared the format of an aptitude exam, which schools can use to test Class X students on their level of understanding in each subject. The emphasis, however, will be on continuous and comprehensive evaluation (CCE) through the year instead of a single public exam at the end of Class X.

This is a REAL GOOD move by the education minister. What ever so called educationist may argue, this is a right move in the long term. The crazy race from marks-marks-marks, has been killing the true potential of the individual. the worst is MARKS in class X have no correlation to career success.

Are parents making vegetables out of their kids for the craze of marks-marks-marks???

I met the Chatterjee family in Kolkata, they were concerned with their sons low marks, what more concerning is they were subscribing to psychiatric medication for their son who was restless and full of energy for past three years. When asked why are you doing so, they said, he is too restless and cannot sit at one place, he is good at sports but get bad marks so the psychiatrist suggested some medicines due to which their son at least is sitting at one place without any activity… i said .. very soon you will create a vegetable out our your son. Advised them to stop medication at once and nature his natural energy and talent.. hope they listened. (by the way many psychiatrists have got a business boost, the school ties up with a psychiatrist who gives commissions to the person who refers a case)

But there are many such parents doing many things and killing the energy and talent of their kids in the race for marks. I want to challenge the so called educationist who oppose this move to track down the merit list holders and their careers, i really doubt whether they have done something substantial in their careers.

Are Coaching classes really effective???

Even worst is the coaching classes have their business due to the race of marks. Its a lobby that is enjoying huge political support. I want to share these thoughts which may not be liked by the coaching class owners..

Every year the well known highly publicised coaching classes release adverts about their students who earned 95% of the marks and above. Many times the same student appears in adverts of three or four different classes. does that mean the student never goes to school and only attends coaching classes??

More over lets do a straight comparison.. the school / college have on an average 50 students. Only 5% raise their hand in the class to clarify doubts. Also there are 50 students in a coaching class which is cramped for space and over there only 5% students raise doubts to clarify concepts. In a school, which as the law of normal distribution says there would be 5% toppers and rest below them, the same goes with the coaching classes too right..

In the craze of marks parents invest in the coaching class fees and expect that their kid will turn out to be brilliant.. stop cheating yourself parents, if each parent takes keen interest in the students school activity and demand good learning .. we would yield good results..

Thank you Mr. Sibal

I want to thank Mr. Sibal for a good move… keep going Mr. Sibal.. let us see some more good reforms and get a OUTPUT oriented education than just an input oriented education.

Anand Desai, Founder -Dheya

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Law and Freedom: Learning from Swami Vivekananda.

The struggle never had meaning for the man who is free. But for us it has a meaning, because it is name-and-form that creates the world. We have a place for struggle in the Vedanta, but not for fear. All fears will vanish when you begin to assert your own nature. If you think that you are bound, bound you will remain. If you think you are free, free you will be.

If we could get rid of the belief in our limitations, it would be possible for us to do everything just now.

This life is a tremendous assertion of freedom; and this obedience to law, carried far enough, would make us simply matter — either in society, or in politics, or in religion. Too many laws are a sure sign of death. Wherever in any society there are too many laws, it is a sure sign that that society will soon die. If you study the characteristics of India, you will find that no nation possesses so many laws as the Hindus, and national death is the result. But the Hindus had one peculiar idea — they never made any doctrines or dogmas in religion; and the latter has had the greatest growth. Eternal law cannot be freedom, because to say that the eternal is inside law is to limit it.

Happy Independence Day….

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A TIME BOMB waiting to burst :Education VS Employability

While reading TOI, I am really concerned with the future of our education system. Let me explain ..In a place called Solan a PhD, an MBA and many one have registered under NREGA. What's NREGA?? Its National Rural Employment Guarantee Act. Every unemployed citizen in the rural area in entitled to employment under this act. The only difference is the work in more on the manual side like digging roads, pits etc..

This raises some tough questions. With the HR managers and the India Inc always shouting on top of their voice that – there are NO GOOD PEOPLE…where have all the good people gone??

While the education system is churning out PhDs, MBA, Masters, and Bachelors like a mass manufacturing products, the utility and the quality of those products are in question?? … Mr Sibal, Mr. education minister are you listening?? Tough Mr. Sibal has taken some great steps in reforming education, he needs to look at more of OUTPUT or RESULT oriented education policy.

With new education bill passing in the parliament, its even funny, the government has legitimised the private education system. Now these people are free to charge what ever they what without being accountable for the quality of education. Today, where the students and the parents invest on an average Rs 8 Lakhs for an engineering degree, Rs. 25 Lakhs for a medical degree and Rs.7 Lakhs for an MBA. The whole of investment is done for supposedly the better future of their kid, and when the kind lands into a job that pays miniscule salary and offers him a menial job, the onus of kids success is dumped solely on the student.

While making sales calls I happened to be meeting the President and the Owner of a large education society which has approx 35000 students studying in it. I was made to wait for 2 hours and then an arrogant chief of the institution arrived, he called us inside. It was admission time, this man from any angle did not look like an educationist but called himself Prof. He said he is very busy, so we waited. He had people walking in and out of his room. TO everyone he was quoting a figure.. if you need admissions, 3 lakhs for this campus, 2 lakhs for another and 1.5 lakhs for a distant campus… ALL IN CASH, no receipt , plus fees..??

People with no background in education are owners of large education institutions. Obviously there is no education imparted in colleges.. hence the business of coaching classes is booming. I fail to differentiate between the college and coaching class of tutorial classes.. both have the same number of student yet people go for it.

Ultimately… only 23% MBA are employable, 15% of grads are employable… majority take menial jobs.. and India as a nation is moving towards a HIGHLY QUALIFIED UNEMPLOYABLE nation with LOW PRODUCTIVITY???

Apart from their brilliant academic track records Ankit Chaudhary, Rajinder Rana, Anchal, Devi, Anjali and a bunch of others like them in Nauni, a picturesque town nestled in Solan, 45 km from Shimla, have one more thing in common. They are all workers labouring under NREGA.

“Some work is better than no work,’’ said Ankit, a PhD from the prestigious Dr YS Parmar University of Horticulture and Forestry, Solan. “And work is worship. Haven’t we been taught that? Moreover, I think all of us have another agenda in that NREGA (National Rural Employment Guarantee Act) funds should keep flowing into our village and should never ever be returned unutilized.’’

Its time we wake up and do something about it…. its a TIME BOMB waiting to burst

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New Tax code: Pay 10% tax for salary up to Rs 10 lakh

This is amazing. This would certainly make the salaried population happy. The only concern is the Tax Payer should also see the benefits of paying the taxes. As a tax payer we don't get to see the benefits of paying the taxes, neither the infrastructure like roads, sanitation , health care, security or anything that comes from the government is well organised… read on the news item that appeared in ET 12th Aug 09 New Delhi

In what could provide a major relief to income tax payers, the government on Wednesday proposed to tax only 10 per cent of income up to Rs 10 lakhs while under the existing regime this relief is limited to people with income of Rs three lakh only. Income between Rs 10 lakh and Rs 25 lakh would be taxed at the rate of 20 per cent and earnings thereafter would attract a rate of 30 per cent, as per the draft of the new Direct Taxes Code which is aimed at radical direct tax reforms. At present, 20 per cent rate is imposed on income between Rs 3 lakh and Rs 5 lakh. Income beyond Rs 5 lakh attracts 30 per cent tax.

The Direct Taxes Code was released by the government for public discourse and when approved it would replace the Income Tax Act of 1961 and other related laws. However, the draft proposes to retain the present ceiling of income tax exemption at Rs 1,60,000 in a year.

It also suggested an increase in tax deduction on savings of Rs 3 lakh and wanted all perks to be added to income for taxation purpose. In what could make India Inc happy, the code also recommended lowering corporate tax rate by 5 per cent to 25 per cent from the present 30 per cent. Besides, the draft proposed a change in methodology for computing the Minimum Alternate Tax (MAT), which is levied on those companies not paying any tax due to various exemptions.

The companies are at present levied surcharges and cesses besides corporate tax. Foreign companies attract a tax rate of 40 per cent.
As regards foreign firms, the draft said, they will have to pay 25 per cent corporate tax. In addition, they will have a liability of 15 per cent branch profit tax.
The draft also suggested two per cent MAT on gross asset value of a company, instead of the current levy of 15 per cent on book profits. In case of banking companies, the MAT should be 0.25 per cent on the gross assets.
The tax code also suggested abolishing the controversial Securities Transaction Tax (STT), but wants long term capital gains tax to be reintroduced. Releasing the Direct Taxes Code, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said if reasonable level of discussion happens on the code, a bill on Direct Taxes Code could be placed in the winter session of Parliament.

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