State board students with 70 per cent eligible for IIT-JEE’

Students of Rajasthan Board of Secondary Education (RBSE) scoring above 70 per cent in Class XII science stream will get into the top 20 percentile, making them eligible in the proposed common entrance test (CET) for IIT-JEE. 
    RBSE chairman Subhash Garg welcomed the proposed CET but said the final format and guidelines are still awaited. Experts are analysing the format and trying to examine its formula. The format has received a positive response, as most people think it will provide some relief to students trying to crack the IIT-JEE. 
    On Thursday, Garg attended a CBSE meet which addressed the issue of CET in New Delhi. Twenty-six state heads of education boards also took part in the meeting. 
    “I personally feel that this will help students achieve their goal of IIT, especially students of our state,” Garg said. 
    Mirju Ram Sharma, secretary of the board said, “We are waiting for the CET format to arrive, so that we could analyze its merits and demerits.” 
    “At present minimum marks for appearing in the IIT entrance exam is 60 per cent. The proposed CET format says that students within the 20 percentile from their respective boards can sit in the exam. This enables Rajasthan board science students scoring over 70 per cent to apply for the exam” Garg added. 
    As per the top 20 percentile formula under the proposed CET, science students of the state's board with 70 per cent and above will come in the top 20 percentile group. 
    “In other boards, especially in CBSE, there is cut-throat competition for 0.1 mark because of which the evaluation for top 20 percentile goes as high as 85 to 87 per cent. Students will be out of the selection process even after giving the JEE advance test if they get even one per cent less in their board exam. Altogether 1.5 lakh students will be selected in the JEE advance test,” an expert said. 
    In Rajasthan this year, the topper of Class XII science scored 96.80 per cent while the eight rank student got 94 per cent marks. A total of 3,500 students were able to get 90 per cent marks. While in CBSE Class XII science exam this year, 28,000 students scored 90 per cent. 
    “At present, students appearing in Class XII science are concerned about theIIT-JEE. They usually end up performing poorly in the board exams. The new format will change the students attitude and will encourage them to put more efforts to the board exam,” a professor from a science college added. “All students will get a chance to appear but only 1.5 lakh students will be selected for the advance test,” Triumph Academy director Ashish Chaturvedi said.

New format of IIT examination would go against the poor: Anand Kumar

Super 30 founder and mathematician Anand Kumar on Wednesday said that the decision of the IIT Council to give chance to students having top 20% from various boards in the class 12 examinations, was a decision in haste. "This is one decision that will go against the poor, who don't have the opportunity to study in elite schools," he added.

Under the new format, an advance test would be conducted and the elite educational institutions would admit students having top 20 percent from school boards.

Anand said that there was a huge gulf between the standard of top notch public schools and those run by the government. "Even the results of plus two are many a time mired in controversy due to rampant use of unfair means in examinations and manipulation by some colleges to ensure good results for their students. Under such a situation, could be killing for genuine students," he said soon after IIT council announcement to change the format of IIT from 2013..

Anand said that with July approaching, the decision would come as a dampener for many students, who were preparing for IIT-JEE. "They have already completed class 11 and are now in class 12. Suddenly they realize now that school results are also important. The IIT Council should have implemented it from 2014 at least to give students some time," he added.

Anand said that basing IIT-JEE format purely on intermediate syllabus would also not help, as the students from better schools would have the clear starting advantage. "It will also encourage rote learning and the coaching institutes would provide ready material. For the poor, who study in rural schools lacking even basic facilities and quality teachers, it will be a big deterrent. So far, they had a level playing field, where their hard work and performance mattered, not their past. Now, their past will hound them," he added.

"The results of state school boards, where bulk of the students comes from, are not always reflective of the students' talent," he added. "The factor could work if and only if there was a uniform schooling system, which unfortunately has not happened,".

IIT exam row resolved, new format from ’13

Ending a month-long row over introduction of a common entrance test (CET) for undergraduate engineering courses, the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) on Wednesday arrived at a compromise, whereby class XII scores are used to select candidates, while the tech schools continue to conduct their own admission tests. 
    The new format is expected to make entrance into the top tech schools tougher, but has emerged as a halfway house between the HRD ministry, which is keen on increasing the importance of board exams, and the IITs who don’t want to cede their autonomy. 
    According to the new formula, agreed to at a meeting of the IIT Council, all aspirants will give the JEE-Main exam. Of the approximately 12 lakh candidates, only the top 1.5 lakh will qualify to appear for the JEE-Advanced test. The two tests will be held on separate days within four-six weeks of each other.

COMPLEX FORMULA 
All aspirants (approx 12 lakh) to sit for JEE-Main exam Top 1.5 lakh to appear for JEE-Advanced test.  All 1.5 lakh students will be given a score and All India Rank But selection for IITs will also depend on board marks Students will have to be in top 20 percentile of their state or central board to qualify for IITs 

Sibal skips IIT council meet 
All 1.5 lakh students will be given a score and an All India Rank. However, they will be selected for IITs not just on the basis of their rank in the advanced test but also their board marks. For this, students will have to figure in the top 20 percentile of their state or central board. So going by last year’s scores, the cutoff percentage for a student appearing in CBSE board will be 78%, while for one appearing in the Uttar Pradesh state board will be 65%- 66%. This is expected to standardize varying standards across central and state boards. 
    The compromise does seem laboured but this is what IITs will have to settle for. The original government proposal, backed by the IIT Council, drew flak for messing up the admission format without achieving the professed objective of reducing dependence on tuitions. 
    The ministry’s plan to introduce ‘one nation, one test’ has been only partially fulfilled although the new format means board scores will reflect in a candidate’s selection. On May 28, the IIT Council had announced that entrance for IIT will be based on a new format replacing the 60% cutoff for school marks with a 50:50 weightage on the class XII score and JEE Main. The merit list for IIT was to be based on the Advance test. The formula for centrally funded engineering institutions, including NITs and IIITs, was 40% weightage to class XII score and 30% weightage each for JEE Main and Advanced. 
    The Council’s decision and consequently its powers have been challenged by IIT-Kanpur and Delhi Senates in the last few weeks with the institutes declaring they will hold their own entrance tests. HRD minister Kapil Sibal did not attend Wednesday’s meeting though he is chairman of the Council. Sources said his absence was intended to send out a message that there was no political interference in IIT’s decision-making process.

Kapil Sibal skips IIT council meet

Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal on Wednesday skipped the meeting of IIT Council convened by him to discuss the proposed common entrance test after opposition from some of the premier engineering institutions.

Sibal, who chairs the Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT) Council, did not turn up for the meeting on Wednesday afternoon, informed sources said.

Deemed universities may go with Engg CET

Heads Give ‘In Principle’ Approval to Sibal
Deemed universities are likely to adopt a single entrance test for undergraduate engineering programmes. Incidentally, the format of a common test had met with opposition from some sections in the Indian Institutes of Technology. In a meeting with HRD minister Kapil Sibal on Monday the university heads gave their “in-principle” approval to the new format. At present, several deemed universities conduct their own entrance tests, while some adopt AIEEE scores and the rest take state JEE results.
    This step is aimed at reducing stress among students appearing for multiple exams for entrances. Sources said that the universities had agreed to give a minimum of 40% weightage to board marks. The ministry has, however, been cautious in its approach. It has asked universities to respond to the proposal formally, and also announced that any concerns would be dealt with in subsequent meetings. Sources said that varsities would have the freedom to choose appropriate weightage for performance in Class XII Boards and the main exam standardized on percentile basis. Universities willing to give 100% weightage to class XII board marks performance for admission were also welcome to do so, though 40% would be the minimum.
     Sibal said the deemed universities were welcome to join the proposed test so that not only the system of exam is streamlined but also reduces the stress on the students appearing in multiple tests. The minister’s suggestion implies students aspiring to join engineering programmes under these universities would not have to appear for the advance test as has been proposed under the new system. “After detailed discussions, the universities welcomed the proposal of having a single exam in engineering giving weightage to school board marks. They assured Sibal that they would be intimating their decision on the weightage for the two Board marks and the main exam,” a ministry statement said.

Students in coveted IIT B departments unhappy lot

Happiness does not have anything to do with getting into the most-sought-after courses in IITs. Instead, it may have an inverse relationship.            
    A survey conducted at the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (IIT B) on the happiness quotient of students reveals that the ones in the computer science engineering and electrical engineering departments are not as happy as their counterparts in other departments. Incidentally, these two courses are most preferred by students in the first year at IIT B, almost every year.
    This year too, IIT B’s courses in these two branches were among the highest preferred choices.
    The survey conducted in the institute also shows that the students on the campus, in general too, are not happy as compared to the average individual’s happiness score (4.3). While the average happiness on the campus is found to be 3.43, girls are slightly on the better side, with 3.44, but boys on the campus are lower than average, with a score of 3.34.
    The survey was conducted using the Oxford Happiness Questionnaire developed by psychologists Michael Argyle and Peter Hills at Oxford University as it is considered as the accurate technique to measure psychological well-being.
    In the department wise survey, aerospace (3.76), civil (3.67), energy (3.64) departments managed to get a better average than the chemistry (3.40), chemical (3.34), electrical (3.29) and computer science (3.27) departments in the happiness survey. Metallurgical (3.49) and mechanical (3.45) departments take the middle positions.
    Students in the electrical and computer science departments are the least happy on the campus. The survey also shows that 80% students agree to ‘there is a gap between what I would like to do and what I have done’ question.
    Statistics taken of students from each year, revealed that students are happiest in their third year (3.56), though not happier than the average score. The lowest score was achieved by students in the second year (3.21). A student on the campus claimed that ‘the pressure factor hits students only after clearing the first year, which could be one reason why they are not happy in their second year’.
    The survey which was conducted by Akhil Srivatsan for the institute’s in-house students’ magazine had more than 200 respondents, with at least 10-15 on an average from each department.
  “We wanted to conduct this survey at our institute to check the average lifestyle of an individual on the campus. On how the life is going on the campus. The Oxford questionnaire was already available to us, so we picked up specific questions which were also true for students on the campus and conducted the survey,” said chief editor of the magazine, Saideep Sudi.
   Some of the questions included how optimistic students feel about their future and how happy they are based on the departments they belong to. “Though we don’t claim that the figures could be exact depiction of the reality, we tried to have quite a representation from each year and from each department.

Sibal pins hope on IIT Council meet

Says CET Will Help Put End to Capitation Fee
Despite IIT Delhi and Kanpur rejecting the proposed common entrance test and declaring their own exam for next year, HRD minister Kapil Sibal is hoping for a resolution in the IIT Council’s June 27 meeting. “Maharashtra, Gujarat and Haryana have agreed to bring all their state-run engineering colleges under the umbrella of CET. So, we hope the IIT Council would take into account the concern of the students,” Sibal told TOI. The main test and the advanced question papers would be framed by the IITs, so there was no question of compromising the identity of the institutes, he said.

 The proposed CET for admissions to engineering courses to centrally funded institutions will give a minimum 40% weightage to performance of a Class XII student. For admissions to NITs and IIITs, h/his class XII marks and performance in the main test would be taken into account. 
    For admission to IITs, the performance in the advanced test would be taken into account in addition to the combined grade in academics and main test. Given the variation of marking system in different school examination boards, the Indian Statistical Institute (ISI) has devised an equalization formula that would deny advantage to students, who score heavily in Class XII examination under liberal boards. 
    The CET’s aim is to reduce the number of examinations a student has totake for fulfilling h/his dream to become an engineer, Sibal said. “The ultimate goal is to make the CET the only entrance examination for the engineering colleges in the entire country. This would help eliminate capitation fee as all colleges would draw students from a single merit list,” the HRD minister said. 
    “Maharashtra, Gujarat and Haryana have agreed to bring all their state-run engineering colleges under the umbrella of CET. So, we hope the IIT Council in its June 27 meeting would take into account the concern of the students and comes to an appropriate decision in the light of recent developments,” he told TOI. 
    The main test as well as the advanced test question papers would be framed by the IITs, so there was no question of compromising the unique identity of the premier engineering institutes, Sibal said.
    The ultimate goal is to make the CET the only entrance exam for engineering colleges. Gujarat, Maharashtra and Haryana have agreed to bring all state-run engineering colleges under the umbrella of CET 

Compromise likely to end IIT common entrance exam row

Percentile Norm May Be Middle Path
   A middle ground that can end the standoff between the IITs and the government over changes in the entrance format to the top tech schools could be at hand with the clause of 50% weightage to class XII board exam scores being replaced by an eligibility cutoff at the top 20 or 30 percentile of board results.
   The percentile criterion, which will decide whether a candidate can take a shot at the entrance test, along with one’s performance in the JEE-main will be used to select around 50,000 students. Thereafter, their scores in an advanced test will be taken into account to prepare a merit list for admission to IITs.
   The proposal was discussed at a Joint Admission Board (JAB) meeting on Saturday. The board includes all the IIT directors and JEE chairmen, and is seen as a precursor to the IIT Council meeting on June 27. The much-criticized decision for a Common Entrance Test (CET) for all central engineering colleges had also been taken by the Council.
    If accepted and endorsed by the IIT Council, the new plan will bring to an end the month-long row over the CET for central engineering institutions and ensure students need to sit for only one test. The IITs’ complaint that their autonomy was being eroded would also be addressed.
    The specially convened Council meeting will take place after the senates of the Kanpur and Delhi IITs declared they would hold their own test, rejecting the CET decision as academically unsound. There are strong reasons to believe the senates of Bombay and Kharagpur could follow suit.
     The new alternative, discussed by the IIT directors, met with near unanimity since it addresses the IIT Council and the HRD ministry’s concerns about giving primacy to the school system. Sources said the new formula has been informally discussed by various senates who appear to be on board. 

JEE-main, advanced tests to be held on different days?
     The HRD minister-led IIT Council had announced on May 28 that admission to IITs will be based on a new format replacing the 60% cutoff for school marks, with a 50:50 weightage for the class XII score and the JEEmain performance.
    The merit list for the IITs was to be based on the test. The formula for centrally funded engineering institutions, including NITs and IIITs, was 40% weightage to Class XII score and 30% weightage each for JEE-main and the advanced test.
     Significantly, the IITs’ Joint Admission Board deliberations on Saturday come on the back of HRD minister Kapil Sibal’s statement that he was willing to look at any solution that the IITs come up with. Sibal has, however, reiterated that the new test will be implemented from 2013.
     Among the other changes that were discussed was holding the main and advanced tests on separate days to address the apprehension raised by some quarters that it would lead to undue pressure if held on the same day.
     The IIT Council — the highest decision making body that includes the directors of all 16 IITs, heads of educational bodies like UGC and AICTE and board of governors — will have to approve the decision.
     Sources said the IIT Council would also deliberate on whether it has the powers to take decisions regarding academic matters. The Council’s decision and consequently its powers have been challenged by the Kanpur and Delhi senates over the last few weeks.
     The otherwise belligerent All India IIT Faculty Federation, too, appeared to have softened, expressing a desire to reach an amicable solution. In a statement, the Federation said, “We appreciate that the minister has called an IIT Council meeting on 27 June, 2012, to address the concerns of the IIT community. Through this process of discussion and engagement, we are confident that an amicable solution will emerge that would be acceptable to all, without compromising on the IITs autonomy.”

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IIT, JEE brass meet on joint entrance test today - 23rd June

A series of meetings starting Saturday could break the impasse between the government and the IITs over the implementation of the common entrance test (CET) from the next academic session. IIT directors and JEE chairmen will meet on Saturday under the aegis of the Joint Admission Board (JAB), while a special meeting of the IIT Council has been convened by the HRD ministry for June 27. 
    The JAB will discuss the modalities of implementing the government’s May 28 decision that has caused resentment prompting Delhi and Kanpur to announce that they will be conducting their own tests. There are indications that IIT Bombay and IIT Kharagpur may follow their Delhi and Kanpur counterparts. 
    The IIT Council had announced that candidates for IITs and other central institutes like NITs and IIITs will have to take there-worked CET from 2013 which will also take class XII results into consideration. 
    The meeting assumes significance as it will precede the special meeting of IIT Council, the highest decision-making body headed by HRD Minister Kapil Sibal and including directors of all the 16 IITs, called on June 27. A statement by the ministry said the special meeting has been convened after the developments on Thursday in IIT Delhi, where the Senate adopted a resolution rejecting the proposed test and deciding to conduct its own entrance exam

IIT-Delhi to have own entrance exam

The Indian Institute of Technology Delhi (IITD) dealt a major blow to HRD minister Kapil Sibal’s common entrance test plan by announcing on Thursday that it would follow IIT Kanpur’s example and conduct its own entrance examination next year. 
    The defiance of the country’s two premier tech schools will mean students will have to write one more exam, defeating the purpose of the new format that Sibal is keen to push through. It could have a spiraling effect on other IITs, with the IIT Bombay Senate expected to meet in the first week of July. 
    The IIT Delhi decision strengthens the Kanpur institute’s hands and if resistance to the HRD ministry snowballs further, it could jeopardize the ministry’s efforts to push the common test through, although the decisions of senates have to be approved by respective council and board of governors. 
    All IITs have been agitated by the ministry’s proposal to give weightage to class XII board exam marks and make the entrance test common for admission to all central engineering institutes. The formula is differentiated for IITs and non-IIT institutions in terms of weightages. 
    The ambitious plan to introduce a single entrance test for centrally funded engineering institutes, including NITs and IIITs, was expected to reduce the stress on students and make the exam more inclusive by incorporating the board exam but ended up raising a storm over the alleged erosion of IITs’ autonomy. 
    Rejecting the IIT Council decision for a CET as “attack on the autonomy of the IITs”, the IIT Delhi Senate said it would “conduct its own entrance examination in coordination with other IITs, if possible”. 
    Speaking after the meeting, All India IIT Faculty Federation secretary Prof A K Mittal said, “A unanimous decision was taken to reject the IIT Council decision of conducting a single entrance test. IIT Delhi will conduct its own exam.” A Senate member said, “The proposed (common) test is academically unsound and procedurally untenable.’’ He said the other IITs have been asked to reject the new system and side with IIT Delhi and IIT Kanpur. 
GROWING REVOLT 
After IIT Kanpur, IIT Delhi senate rejects common entrance test, to conduct own entrance exam next year. IITD senate resolution says it will try to coordinate entrance exam with other IITs “to the extent possible” 

IIT Bombay, Madras and Kharagpur are backing the CET to be held from 2013


Decision unfortunate: IIT Bombay 
A resolution passed at the end of the meeting said the senate had decided that the next year’s test will be on the lines of JEE 2012. “For 2014 and beyond, the senate will set up a committee which will review and propose changes to the senate,” it said. The decision of the senate comes a day after Sibal reiterated that there was no going back from holding the single entrance test from next year. 
    Reacting to IIT Delhi’s decision, IIT Bombay board of governors chairman Dr Anil Kakodkar said, “If this has happened, it is unfortunate. The intention of the (IIT) council was to reduce the burden of students. But I hope we will be able to resolve this through discussion.” 
    The senior scientist pointed out that while IITs were premier institutes, there was a need to link the pool of BTech engineering students in IIT and other institutes. “China produces 10,000 engineering PhDs as does the US. Till some years ago, India produced only 1,000. We need to expand the pool of engineering graduates without diluting the quality,” he added, stressing focus on school education. 
    Faculty members, however, do not seem to be in the mood to listen. IIT Kanpur had early this month rejected the proposed CET, terming it “academically and methodically unsound”. 


Times View 
    The clash of will between the education minister and various IITs is seriously hurting the interests of the students, whom both sides of the argument claim to be acting for. Whether the new examination system proposed by Sibal makes sense or not is at this point a secondary issue. What is important is to recognize that the uncertainty over what will finally happen is a matter of grave concern for aspirants to India’s premier engineering institutes. The pressure of competitive exams is severe enough without this element of uncertainty being added to it. The minister and the directors of various IITs should agree to any changes be put on hold for the time being. If and when they are able to agree on what changes, if any, are needed, they can make them having given applicants sufficient time to adjust.

Sibal offers to drop 12th board weightage for JEE, IITs win with the help of PM

It seems that IITs have won the fight against proposed new common entrance format, Human Resources Development Minister Kapil Sibal has reportedly offered to drop weightage for 12th board marks for the Joint Entrance Examination to be held from 2013.

Reportedly Kapil Sibal has sent a verbal offering that IITs can hold JEE Advanced on any date rather than same date and that no weightage be given to 12th board marks either for screening or the advanced examination and that board marks will only serve as an eligibility criterion as earlier.

After IIT faculty met with the prime minister Manmohan Singh last week PM has assured that there will be no change in the status of IIT’s autonomy, Sibal has reportedly conceded only after PM had a meeting with Kapil Sibal and had a word with him on the issue.

Though it is still unclear of the gap between first and second round., a meeting is scheduled tomorrow where all IIT senate members will discuss the modified offer. IIT’s are still awaiting a written communication on the offer made by Kapil Sibal.

HRD Min to Write to Joint Admission IIT Boards for CET

Unfazed by the resistance from the IIT faculty as well as the alumni, government would soon write to the joint admission board of the IITs to prepare the modalities for conducting the proposed common entrance test for admission to engineering programmes under the new format.

Sources said HRD Ministry would be asking the joint admission boards to finalise modalities of the advance exam, one of the component of the two-tier test which would be implemented from 2013 onwards.

The development comes as Council of Boards of School Education is also expected to meet later this month to discuss issues related to coordination among different boards on matters such as holding the plus-two board examinations on time and time-bound declaration of results.

The new system of entrance test would take the board results into consideration for preparing the merit list.

IIT Faculty and the alumni have been opposing the move tooth and nail, demanding that the new system should not be implemented before 2014.

They contend that the proposed common entrance test would undermine the autonomy enjoyed by the IITs and dilute the IIT brand.

Indications are that IIT Delhi senate, which is expected to meet on June 21, would also follow on the lines of IIT Kanpur. The latter has decided to hold its own entrance test following its rejection of the new system.

The faculty federation has already met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh voicing their opposition to the test, stating that they have been assured by him that autonomy of IITs will be maintained.

The faculty federation insists that implementing the new system from 2013 will put a lot of pressure on students already in midst of preparing for the IIT-JEE next year.

The federation, which is of the view that the new format will increase stress of students instead of decreasing it, has said that students aspiring to join institutes other than the IITs need not sit for two test -- main and advance --as proposed.

It said that only the main be used for all institutes except the IITs to select students. It said the advance test should be required only for the IITs.

"The IITs advance test should be subjective type, just for the candidates aspiring to join the IITs. This advance test will be held on a day different from the main test and will be administered to only shortlisted candidates from the main test (50,000-70,000) by IITs only," the federation said in a statement yesterday after meeting PMO officials.

Meanwhile, sources within the federation claimed that the HRD ministry is considering one of their demands of not taking the plus-two board results into consideration while preparing the merit list.

The sources said that the federation is in talks with several IITs in this regard and is hopeful of a positive response from the Ministry.

They also claimed that Sibal is in touch with IIT directors to end the impasse.

Hundreds of fake OBC quota IIT aspirants back out of Joint Entrance Exams

Eight hundred IIT aspirants from the other backward classes (OBC), who made it past the Joint Entrance Exams, have stopped short of pressing their claim for the coveted admissions this year. This is a direct fallout of the JEE Committee slamming down on fake certificates. JEE is the body that administers joint entrance exams for all IITs and a few other institutes.

Of the total 4.8 lakh students who appeared for the JEE, 4,805 OBC candidates got through. After the withdrawals, only 4,000 remained in the fray for the 2,604 IIT seats available in this category. All these seats have just been filled this week in the first round of counselling.

"A majority (of those who withdrew) did fear their chances of getting into IITs might fall due to fake certificates," says GB Reddy, organising chairman of IIT-JEE 2012.

Effectively, one out of six OBC candidates who made it past the highly-competitive exams had pulled out or requested to be transferred to the general category, where they had to compete for an IIT seat on merit without the advantage of any reservation.

Life ban threat worked

Two hundred students asked to be considered under the general category, withdrawing their claim under the OBC quota for the first time ever. The remaining 600 students who had applied under the quota did not register for counselling. This figure is at least 500 more than the withdrawals seen last year.

This year, IIT-JEE had came down hard against fake certificates and warned that such candidates, if detected, would be barred from IITs for life. There was also another reason for the withdrawals. Even within the OBC category, those coming from families with household income of less than Rs 4.5 lakh (excluding salary from a government job and agriculture) are considered under the non-creamy layer category and are eligible for reservation for government-sponsored educational and professional benefit programmes.

There was a proposal to revise this to Rs 9 lakh and Rs 12 lakh for rural and urban centres. But this did not materialise. Candidates who had applied expecting this may also have pulled out later. "A warning was issued following some complaints from individuals, after the application process started, who called in to say many candidates who were claiming to be under the OBC category (non-creamy layer) did not belong to the category. The committee then cross-checked with the OBC Commission's website and found it was true. Hence, we issued a warning," says Prof RK Shevgaonkar, director, IIT-Delhi, which is the organising institute for this year's JEE.

Students who qualify under different reserved categories need to submit their category certificates by post at the time of counselling. Registration for counselling in all engineering colleges that accept JEE scores ended on June 10, and the first round of final seat allotment was announced on June 17. About 5.07 lakh students had applied for IITJEE this year. A total of 9,647 seats are available across 17 institutes, including the IITs, IT-BHU Varanasi and ISM Dhanbad.

IIT Bombay students create India’s first electric race car, Evo-1

On Thursday, IIT Bombay Racing Team launched Evo-1, Country’s first electric race car. 60 IIT Bombay students from different disciplines created Evo1, it costs Rs15 lakh. One of the team members Prateek Sharma said – the race car costs Rs15 lakh — Rs3 lakh more than what a car with traditional motor engines and which offers similar efficiency would cost.

Evo1 is powered by high-efficiency direct current motors and superior lithium polymer batteries. It has no tailpipe emissions, thus leaving a negligible carbon footprint. It also has a comprehensive data acquisition system, which collects and transmits data of important parameters of the car such as the amount of charge left in the battery and its temperature, motor current, number of revolutions per minute of the wheel and vehicle acceleration. Such a system is widely used during the testing stage to predict the ‘health’ of a car.

Evo-1 was lunched by Prof Rangan Bannerjee, dean of research and development at the institute. He said “We are ready for initiatives which give students exposure to practical groundwork. People who are working on such projects can become innovators tomorrow, which will help us make a difference in society.”

Delay in first round of IIT seat allotment, students forced to take admission to other deemed universities

IIT has opened counseling website for shortlisted candidates from 18 May where students can fill their choices online. The first round of seat allotment was scheduled on Thursday June 14. Initially seat allotment was delayed to Thursday midnight and now on JEE website it says – results have been delayed, no fix date or time is there on JEE website.

It is causing lot of anxiety among students. Students are checking JEE website every minute and now they are forced to take admission to other deemed universities as a safe option, as they are hopeful to get admission to IITs but not sure about that.

IIT Kharagpur faculty to go on hunger strike, if new JEE is not rolled back

The opposition for the new common entrance examination seems to be only getting stronger by the day,reportedly now IIT Kharagpur Teachers association has threatened to go on hunger strike if the Government does not roll back the new JEE.

“All the teachers who attended the May 2 senate meeting opposed the move. Following this, a special senate meeting was called on May 3, where non-senate member teachers participated. But, then, our director told us he could do nothing, since he had already forwarded the minutes of the May 2 senate meeting, stating that IIT-KGP agreed to the proposal” Said Faculty Association General Secretary Proshanta Guha.

Amid all the opposition from all the old IITs government is reportedly working on a new formula, reportedly government wants to end the controversy soon and is considering various options for the same.

86 of IIT JEE’s top 100 opt for IIT B

IIT Bombay retains its favourite position with top rankers while IIT Delhi has further slipped in the preference list. This year, 77 aspirants from the top 100 IIT-JEE ranks were allotted seats in IIT B, up from last year’s 70. IIT B was in fact the first choice of 86 of the top 100 candidates this year, though only 77 were given seats. In 2010, 67 of the first 100 had opted for IIT Bombay. IIT D saw a dip in the numbers of top rankers opting for the institute this year, from last year’s 24 to 19. Just 12 of the top ranking candidates filled IIT D as their first choice. The three female candidates in the top 100 also opted for IIT B. 
    Among the top 1,000 candidates too, around 285 opted for IIT B followed by 224 in IIT D. “Several factors like the location and climate are also in favour of the institute at Mumbai. The choices of top 100 students do not mean anything. Many students qualifying from the south with see Mumbai as a closer option than travelling to the north. It does not reflect on the institute,” said an official at IIT D. About a decade ago, IIT Kanpur was the preferred destination for most of the top 100 rankers in JEE. But since 2005, the trend has gradually changed in favour of IIT B. This year only three candidates from the top 100 went to IIT K. 
    A total of 8,593 boys and 907 girls were allotted seats in the first round of admissions to IITs, which started Sunday after a three-day delay. Of the 17,465 shortlisted for counselling, 1,476 candidates opted out of it. Out of the top 100 too, rank 69, has opted out of IITs. “Students who might have done well in other entrance exams might have opted out of IIT if they got lower ranks here. Also some of the students might have gone abroad for higher studies,” said a institute official. While Arpit Agrawal, the IIT-JEE-2012 topper opted for IIT D, the next eight ranks after him chose IIT B. Nishit Agrawal, all-India rank 6 and Mumbai zone topper was the only student to opt for electrical engineering, rest of the top 10 chose Computer Science and Engineering (CSE). CSE was among the most popular choices at IIT B and IIT D followed by electrical, mechanical and aerospace engineering at IIT-B. Only 668 candidates got the course and allotment of their first choice, 390 got their second choice and 379 got their third preferred option. A student had the choice of filling several options, the maximum being 215 courses. In 2011, 1,382 candidates got the course and allotment of their first choice. 
    Fewer girls qualify, despite rise in applications Of the candidates who got admission offers, 9.55% were girls, a marginal dip from last year. In 2011, 10.1% women candidates got seats in IITs. “We were expecting more girls to get seats this year as there was a steep rise in the numbers of women candidates (33% of total candidates) appearing for JEE. However, their numbers dipped marginally,” said G B Reddy, IIT JEE chairman, Delhi. Around 11 foreign nationals also made it to the IITs. “In spite of the delay in the release of the first allocation round, there will not be any change in the rest of the schedule. The second and third round of allocation will happen on the same day as scheduled. After students reject the seats, the vacant seats will be thrown up for the second round,” Reddy said. 
MOST PREFERRED COURSE (as first choice) 
Computer Science and Engineering in IIT Bombay 
| 4406 candidates 
Computer Science and Engineering in IIT-Delhi | 1082 candidates 
Electrical Engineering in IIT Bombay | 1016 candidates Mechanical Engineering in IITBombay | 874 candidates 
Aerospace Engineering in IITBombay | 539 candidates 
Total numbers of boys getting first allotment | 8593 
Total numbers of girls getting first round allotment: 907

Dr. Sibal, your remedy worse than the disease

The efficient functioning of the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) over the last five decades has made the nation proud. The secret of success is non-interference by government agencies in the admission and selection of students for the undergraduate B.Tech. course. Indeed, the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) to the IITs can be said to be one of the very best selection tests in the world. This was refined over a period of time, and it evolved into a good assessment of an aspiring candidate's mental and analytical reasoning. By its very nature, the JEE cannot be equated or compared with the several board examinations held in different States after Class 12.

It is no exaggeration to say that the cream of the youth got into the IITs because of the rigour of testing and unbiased procedures. Nobody, including the progeny of the highest dignitary in the land, could enter the portals of the IITs solely banking on influence. Naturally, the products of the institutions became the hot favourites for employers all over the world.

Tinkering with and revamping of the examination system for entrance to these prestigious institutions need to be avoided when it has been found to be sound. True, the contents of the board syllabi must also be learnt well by students. But the JEE even as it exists today cannot be cleared by the candidates without the subject knowledge gained from the different Central and Board syllabi for the Standard XI and XII. The JEE goes beyond these since many application-oriented questions (essential for a regimen of engineering education) figure in the question papers.

It is worth recalling that a committee appointed a few years ago to review the functioning of the IITs suggested the jettisoning of the B. Tech degree course and offering only the M. Tech and doctoral programmes. This was considered preposterous by the academic world and cut no ice with the people in the know of things. The reason: It is the undergraduate course which is the bulwark of the IIT system providing a pool of excellence at an early stage.

Luckily, the suggestion was not implemented making the availability of a reservoir of good technical manpower at the higher levels. No doubt, there is need for continuous refinement of the JEE and this is already happening without sacrificing the validity of assessment.

The Senate of each IIT has a great role to play because of the stakes involved. Now reports indicate a divided opinion among the Senates of different IITs on the latest proposal to modify the JEE. The Human Resource Development Ministry under Kapil Sibal has stirred up a hornets' nest and now the Minister says he respects the autonomy of the IITs and that he is ready for discussions though he is certain about “One India, one test.” What the Minister must remember is the adage that the remedy must not be worse than the disease.

Bombay campus emerges favourite among top 100 IIT qualifiers

Going by the first round of counseling for seat allocation in IITs this year, the Mumbai campus has emerged as the favourite among the top 100 qualifiers and computer science andengineering programme as the most preferred course.

As many as 86 candidates among the top 100 in the ranking list preferred IIT, Bombay for admission to their preferred programme. IIT, Delhi came far behind with only 12 students seeking admission there while the remaining two, among the top rank holders, preferred IIT, Kanpur and IIT, Madras. 17465 candidates were shortlisted for counselling this year, of whom 15989 registered, said IIT Delhi JEE office which is holding the counseling this year.

It said in the first round of seat allocation, 9500 candidates, including 11 foreign nationals, were given seats. No OBC seat and SC seat was left unfilled.

Sharing the details of the counseling, JEE officials said 668 candidates got the course and the institute of their first choice, 390 candidates got the course and the institute of their second choice and 379 candidates got the course and the institute of their third choice.

Computer science and engineering continued to remain the first choice among students with 4406 candidates opting for it in IIT, Bombay and 1082, in IIT Delhi.

The courses that remained the among the favourite were electrical engineering with 1016 candidates opting for it in IIT, Bombay and 874 for mechanical engineering and 539 in aerospace engineering in the same campus respectively.

10 reasons why Kapil Sibal's IIT formula doesn't work

Procedure: The new exam proposal was announced by the HRD ministry as a unilateral decision of the IIT Council against the advice and decisions of a majority of IIT faculty members, as was seen from senate deliberations. The senate is empowered by parliament through the IIT Act to decide on admission criteria.

Boards: While a large number of admission tests are undesirable, a single test is even more so as it is likely to lead to much more stress, and it can be unfair to a large number of students. At least two or three tests at different levels of competition provide a cushioning comfort for a large and diverse population of aspirants. The syllabi of the 42 state boards that conduct Class XII examinations vary widely.

Thus, before the unification of exams, it is absolutely essential that the syllabi in all the boards are uniform. Further, the real cause of the stress on students is the extra number of exams being conducted by private colleges and other government universities (such as BITS & Vellore). These institutes should align themselves with one of the three existing government exams.

Marks: Using school board marks through percentile-based normalisation, as proposed, is untested, and based on questionable hypotheses. The procedure has not been fully endorsed even by the expert committee consulted for the purpose. The new scheme adds percentile marks in the board exam to actual marks being obtained by students in the new JEE exam. Percentile is indicative of rank while actual marks give a value based on the test performance. Adding the two in this way without a proper analysis is mathematically absurd. Further, the students should have an idea of how the percentage scores would be mapped to percentiles.

Dry Runs: Since the data from school boards is required to calculate the ranks, it is absolutely essential to have a dry run before this is implemented. In one or two state boards, Class XII results are based on both Class XI and XII. There is one board that conducts the exam in June and announces the results in August. How will such situations be accounted for? A dry run would give an idea of all the problems.

Schools: Students are the victims of a bad school system and not its cause. Also, attributing failure of the schooling system to engineering admission tests is to abrogate the responsibility of improving it, while serious problems such as rise of coaching and lack of quality teachers and institutions continue to remain unaddressed.

Coaching: The issue of coaching classes is a social phenomenon. When only 5,000 seats are available in IITs and there are 15 lakh aspirants, it is inevitable that children or their parents will spend money to get extra help. In India, coaching flourishes for any type of examination in the form of school tuitions, coaching for IAS, IIM, GATE, bank exams, GRE, SAT etc. Coaching classes have pervaded the system further in two ways.

First, they have entered schools with students getting coaching from their school itself. Second, there is a nexus between coaching classes and schools, and children get full attendance despite not attending school. The new scheme is not going to curb any of this. In fact, it will magnify the problem as coaching classes will add Class XII syllabus to their domain.

2013: For students aspiring to appear in JEE 2013, the IIT Council proposal is a breach of trust. Both the processes and content of the new examination will not be clear to them any time soon because work on details has not even been initiated. In no case should any new system be introduced before 2014.

Small Test: Many IITs had suggested that IIT-JEE be held for a small number of students following a preliminary examination so that a test for the truly talented could be designed better. The IIT Council proposal, on the other hand, ranks the top 10,000 students for IITs by merely applying a numerical filter on the results of an examination meant to select an estimated 1,00,000 out of 12,00,000 students. Clearly any such filtering will not work.

Trust: The trust that IIT-JEE has earned over the past five decades is due to the continuous evolution of processes and unflinching devotion of the faculty and staff of IITs. Fragmenting the responsibility of conducting the tests is likely to dissuade the IIT faculty from participating. Any test leading to ranking in IIT admissions must be wholly owned by IITs.

Autonomy: IITs have become what they are because they have been allowed to function independently, and set standards in carrying out their academic responsibilities. The IIT Council proposal, if implemented, will seriously compromise the autonomy so essential for IITs to remain what they are.

IIT device to give trains jumbo alert

Gadget Will Detect Elephants On Tracks - 

To prevent incidents of elephants getting hit by trains, the ministry of railways and the ministry of environment and forest (MoEF) will join hands to carry out a project wherein the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Delhi, will develop a wireless sensor device. According to a report by the Elephant Task Force, dated August 31, 2010, 150 jumbos have been killed since 1987 after being hit by train. 
    The device — wild animal protection system — will detect the presence of elephants on railway tracks and activate a signal system alerting the station master to warn trains. The information given as response to an RTI inquiry (dated June 1), sought by international NGO Animal Equality, states the sensor device will be ready for trial in 2016. Amruta Ubale, a Pune-based member of Animal Equality, said, following many accidents that killed elephants, the organization had written to the railway minister and the environment and forests minister, urging them to consider the suggestions, including installation of radar sensors on trains to detect animal presence on the tracks. 
    Last year, at a meeting between the railway minister and the MoEF, the use of technological gadgets, which will be a cost-effective mechanism in the long run, was emphasized. The ministries had decided in 2011 to run the pilot project, preferably in the forest areas of north West Bengal, said Ubale. 
    “Sensor devices used by international car companies and some trains and ships, have proved useful in avoiding collisions,” said Ubale. 
    “The state forest department and animal welfare organizations jointly intervened in some states and implemented measures, such as patrolling, electric fencing, installation of signs and hoardings, levelling of steep embankments, creating awareness among engine drivers and railway staff and clearing vegetation at blind corners for better visibility. These appear to have been successful to some extent. 
    However, much needed to be done as trains continue to kill elephants. These measures combined with the sensor device shall hopefully prove successful in mitigating elephant deaths,” Ubale added.

According to a report in August 2010, 150 jumbos have been killed since 1987 after being hit by trains

Autonomy of IITs will remain intact: PM to federation

PM Manmohan Singh assured that the autonomy of IITs will remain “intact”, the IIT faculty federation, opposing the proposed common entrance to these institutes, claimed after meeting him.
    “We explained each of our points to him (PM). He has told us he will talk to HRD Minister and assured that the autonomy of the IITs will remain intact,” A K Mittal, secretary of All India IIT Faculty Federation (AIIITFF), said after the federation met Singh.
    The federation has been lobbying against the common entrance test (CET) for admission to the undergraduate programme to the IITs and other centrally-funded institutes saying that this will undermine the autonomous status enjoyed by the IITs.
    During the meeting, the federation raised the issue of autonomy and said the decision taken by the IIT council about holding the one nation one examination should be ratified by all the IIT senates. “We also insisted that any change in the entrance test should be effected only after 2013,” Mittal said. The federation also raised the issue of giving weightage to board marks after the process of normalization for preparing the merit list, saying “normalization of board marks needs more studies”, he said. IIT Delhi alumni association president Somnath Bharti said that this was a significant milestone in the fight for IITs’ autonomy.

325 IIT aspirants to get seats, not course choice

Those Picked Under Minority Sub-Quota To Be Put On OBC List - 

The IITs and other centrally-funded educational institutions will now have to put on hold the minorities sub-quota following the Supreme Court order. Students in this category who had already been counselled are likely to lose their choice of course or the IIT.
    IIT-JEE organizing committee chairman Prof G B Reddy said, “The minority quota will not be implemented this year but all the students who have been shortlisted will be accommodated in the OBC quota list. The first list for allocation of seats will be released on Thursday.’’
    There are a total of 9,647 seats in different IITs, including 4,722 for the general category students. A total 17,464 candidates were shortlisted for counseling this year. Under the proposed sub-quota, 441 seats were reserved for minorities, but only 325 candidates were shortlisted.
    Former member secretary to the National Commission for Backward Classes P S Krishnan denied that the subquota was worked out for religious considerations. He said, “The sub-quota from the OBC quota is not based on religion. It seeks to reserve seats for those from a religion or caste who are socially and educationally backward as well.”
    Krishnan said an indicator of the backwardness within the minority communities was the fact that despite reservation there were not enough deserving candidates who made it to IIT. He referred to the Sachar Committee report that has documented the social and educational backwardness of Muslims in India in extensive details. For instance, while the Muslim population forms 13.4%of the total population, it accounts for only 6.3% of graduates.
    The counselling for 15 IITs, Institute of Technology-Banaras Hindu University (IT-BHU) and the Indian School of Mines (ISM), Dhanbad was on till June 10 with the first list being announced on Thursday.
    The counselling website had been opened for the shortlisted candidates from May 18, giving them a chance to opt the courses of their choice. Online counselling ended on June 10.
    The first round of seat allotment will be intimated online through the counselling website on June 14. Seats not accepted in the first round will be allotted on AIR (All India Ranking) basis. The second round of allotment will be done on June 25.
    The final round of allotment will be done on July 6. This year a total of 4,79,651 candidates had appeared in both the papers of IIT-JEE, conducted on April 8. Out of the total number of candidates, 24,112 have secured ranks in various categories and 17,462 had been shortlisted for counselling for admission to 9,647 seats in 15 IITs, IT-BHU and ISM-Dhanbad.

The first round of seat allotment will be intimated online through the counselling website on June 14.

IIT-D alumni open to talks on CET row

A day after HRD minister Kapil Sibal said that the government had no intention to impinge on IITs’ autonomy, IIT Delhi Alumni Association said that while a legal recourse was an option, it would be willing to discuss the differences. 
    IIT Delhi Alumni president Somnath Bharti said that it was deeply worried about Sibal’s decision not to rollback.“The new JEE will not only ruin IITs’ autonomy but will also be detrimental to the interests of the students from rural India and the move, if properly analyzed, seems to benefit no one but coaching institutes — a fact belying the claims of MHRD,’’ he said. 
    Bharti added that the alumni were willing to discuss issues but seeking legal recourse would remain an option. When asked about the controversy over the common entrance test for IITs, Sibal, who is Washington, said, “Quite frankly this is not a minister’s decision. This is the unanimous decision of the IIT Council, consisted of all the IIT directors and chairmen. Then we have the triple IIT Council representatives there, we have NIT Council representatives there. They all decided unanimously for a particular course of action,” he said. 
    “In terms of the IIT Act, there is an IIT Council. In terms of that Act the Council is entitled to take certain decisions by virtue of a statue. The council has endorsed those decisions. I do not know what the exact objections to it are? I will go back and find out the exact nature of these objections and will surely address it,” he said.
    “But one thing I want to make clear that there is no intent to impact on the IIT system’s autonomy. That is quite clear. The academic autonomy of the IIT system has to be maintained and must be maintained. The exam that is being contemplated is going to be set by the IIT, not by the government, not by anybody else,” he added. 
    Meanwhile, All India IIT faculty federation secretary Prof A K Mittal on Tuesday said that IIT-Kanpur’s decision had ‘set the tone for other IITs that do not agree with the current HRD proposal of common entrance test.’

New JEE will not be rolled back,decision is final – Kapil Sibal

Recently IIT Kanpur senate has rejected implementation of Joint Entrance Examination,deciding to go forward with their own entrance examination,IIT Kanpur has also asked Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to take a direct intervention into the issue and cancel JEE, While IIT Delhi and IIT Kharagpur are very likely to follow the suite, HRD minister ruled out any probability of rolling back the new two-tier common entrance test for IITs, saying that the decision is final.

“We have no desire to anyway directly or indirectly,to protect the autonomy of IIT, while there is no intent to impact on the IIT system autonomy. The exam that is being contemplated is to be set by the IIT itself and the decision has been taken in accordance with the IIT Act”- Said Kapil Sibal talking about the issue, who is on US tour to co-chair the India-US education dialogue with the Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, he said that will look into the decisions taken by IIT Kanpur once he returns.

Best Engineering colleges 2012, IIT Kanpur tops the list

Nielsen and Indiatoday has jointly done a survey on best engineering colleges in 2012, where in IIT Kanpur, IIT Delhi and IIT Kharagpur took top three slots with IIT Kanpur taking the first position.

The ranking of engineering colleges was done using 7 parameters

Reputation
Academic input
Student care
Infrastructure
Placement
Perceptual rank
Factual rank

While IIT Kanpur scored rank 1 in Reputation, Academic Input, Student Care, Infrastructure , Placement and Perceptual rank, it scored 3 in factual rank while IIT Delhi score rank2 in eputation, Academic Input, Student Care, Infrastructure , Placement and Perceptual rank, it scored 4 in factual rank.
The list of top 25 engineering colleges , rankwise, according to the survey are:

1 IIT Kanpur
2 IIT Delhi
3 IIT Kharagpur
4 IIT Chennai
5 BITS Pilani
6 IIT Roorkee
7 IT BHU
8 NIT Karnataka
9 NIT Tiruchirappalli
10 IIT Guwahati
11 Delhi Technical University
12 Vellore Institute of Technology
13 National Institute of Technology
14 PSG College of Technology, Coimbatore
15 Birla Institute of Technology, Mesra
16 Netaji Subhash Institute of Technology, Delhi
17 International Institute of Information Technology, Allahabad
18 College of Engineering, Pune
19 Faculty of Engineering & Technology – Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi
20 VeerMata Jijabai Technological Institute(VJTI), Mumbai
21 KJ Somaiya College of Engineering , Mumbai
23 Sardar Patel College of Engineering , Mumbai
24 Indian Institute of Information Technology (IIIT), Gwalior