The document enumerates 10 key steps that, if adopted, will transform higher education enabling India to compete with neighbouring countries such as China. Number of students aiming for higher education is likely to increase in the next few decades. The document proposes a reform in the entire examination system, including entrance, selection, qualifying and final examinations.
The document enumerates 10 key steps that, if adopted, will transform higher education enabling India to compete with neighbouring countries such as China. Number of students aiming for higher education is likely to increase in the next few decades. The document proposes a reform in the entire examination system, including entrance, selection, qualifying and final examinations.
The document enumerates 10 key steps that, if adopted, will transform higher education enabling India to compete with neighbouring countries such as China. Number of students aiming for higher education is likely to increase in the next few decades. The document proposes a reform in the entire examination system, including entrance, selection, qualifying and final examinations.
C. N. R. Rao, as the Chairman of the the employment opportunities get nar- the United States. The document also Science Advisory Council to the Prime rowed down. The first element of the demands an overhaul in the administra- Minister of India, has submitted a docu- 2011 document is thus a recommendation tion of the education system and refers to ment to the Ministry of Human Resource for forming a group that estimates the it as an urgent need. It also lays emphasis Development (MHRD), Government of manpower situation 20 years from now. on improving teaching standards in the India, raising concerns over the state of This is to ensure that young people have country and on harvesting talent of the higher education and a checklist for its various alternative career options outside young in rural India. It suggests nurtur- progress. The document titled ‘Essential mainstream science and engineering. ing inter-institutional collaborations, Steps for Progress in Higher Education: According to the document, 10 higher both within the country and at an interna- A Check-list’ enumerates 10 key steps education institutions need to be identi- tional level. that, if adopted, will transform higher fied and provided enough support for en- Other issues voiced are the increasing education enabling India to compete with hancing their competencies. Presently, number of government colleges and neighbouring countries such as China. India’s institutions do not rank anywhere universities, curricula for basic and spe- Over the years India has increased its near the top institutions in world’s rank- cialized courses, rating of institutions, investment in science and higher educa- ing. The document also calls for a greater criteria for the appointment of vice- tion. In a vision document titled India as support in science and higher education chancellors and directors, and loss of a Global Leader in Science in 2010, Rao from the States. creativity among the young due to the had advised an increase in science fund- Considering that the examination sys- examination and reward system. The ing up to 2.5% of GNP by 2020. tem is in shambles, the document pro- document suggests that a task force be Number of students aiming for higher poses a reform in the entire examination created by MHRD to look into these education is likely to increase in the next system, including entrance, selection, issues and to come up with a vision few decades. New IITs and IISERs are qualifying and final examinations. It document laying a roadmap for higher being created that will absorb some of suggests to have a single national exami- education in the country. these numbers. But when a greater num- nation system for admission to higher ber of students pass out in the same field education institutions, like the GRE in Richa Malhotra
The design of an advanced nuclear reactor
ernment of India, Department of Atomic nuclei and an uncontrolled chain reaction Energy and Chairman of the Atomic could ensue, with the possibility of an Energy Commission) delivered the S. explosion. This can be avoided if the Ramaseshan Memorial Lecture at the chain reaction is controlled through a Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore on ‘neutron absorption’ process which arti- 29 April 2011. His topic ‘How the design ficially removes the excess neutrons of an advanced nuclear reactor evolves?’ from the system. The job of a nuclear is extremely relevant today in the context physicist is to evaluate the spatial and of the disaster at Fukushima and the temporal distribution of neutron flux, i.e. debate on whether India should continue the distribution of the nuclear fission with nuclear power. energy. Banerjee pointed out that hundreds of Only one fissionable nucleus exists in people work for 20 years on the drawing nature – uranium-235. The other possible Srikumar Banerjee speaking at IISc, board to design a nuclear reactor. The fissionable nuclei are plutonium-239 (ob- Bangalore. design involves multidisciplinary inputs tained from uranium-238) and uranium- from fields such as reactor physics and 233 (obtained from thorium-232). In India, Ramaseshan and Banerjee are two of thermal hydraulics, and has also to be there are limited resources of uranium India’s distinguished materials scientists. verified. (~150,000 tonnes, only a part of which While Ramaseshan’s expertise contri- The source of energy in a reactor is can be converted to fuel) and large reser- buted to the development of the Chitra– nuclear fission. The energy released by ves of thorium (~225,000 tonnes, the TTK heart valve, Banerjee’s work on fission of 1 g of uranium-235 is 1 MW- whole of which can be converted to fuel). zirconium alloys had applications in the day of energy. To release the same The main components of a nuclear re- development of pressure tubes for the amount of energy, 3 tonnes of coal actor are: (i) fuel: the material containing Indian pressurized heavy water reactors. would be required. The neutrons released the isotope that is fissioned, e.g. natural Srikumar Banerjee (Secretary to Gov- in fission interact with other uranium thorium, plutonium and thorium-based
1472 CURRENT SCIENCE, VOL. 100, NO. 10, 25 MAY 2011
(McGill-Queen's Studies in The History of Ideas) Philip Kain - Schiller, Hegel, and Marx - State, Society, and The Aesthetic Ideal of Ancient Greece-McGill-Queen's University Press (1982)