In business, it’s the early bird that rakes in the moolah. Taking cue from the age-old proverb, two MBA students have turned entrepreneurs even before graduating.

H.R. Sampreet and Saurav Dhiman, second-year students of the Vinod Gupta School of Management at the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, have launched their own company, Enfount Business Solutions. Their maiden venture is Bulkdeals.co.in, a Bangalore-based online retail window specialising in institutional and organisational buying of laptops, desktops and other electronic items.

“Across campuses, students form groups to buy computers so retailers give them a discount,” said Sampreet. “But this happens locally and in an unorganised manner,” he explained.

The duo saw a business opportunity in this campus trend and created an online platform that is a one-stop-shop for bulk deals of laptops and desktops of all brands.

“Here, students can register and get great deals directly from the brands,” Sampreet said. “We estimate this to be a Rs 200-400 crore market. The brands, too, were looking for a single window to reach out to the student community. We had the business model and wanted to hit the market early, so we started even before graduating,” he added.

The company is partnering with almost all top brands such as Dell, LG, Hewlett Packard, Lenovo and HCL.

The website had over 1,000 visitors in the first three days of its launch and already has more than 300 members and over 20 registered colleges, including all the IITs.

When asked how they plan to balance studies with running a business, Saurav said: “It is all about time management. Our business requires just two or three hours a day, which we can easily put in.”

More : telegraphindia.com

A unique opportunity for higher education aiming to prepare future leaders of the community is coming to Pickaway County this fall.

Berger Hospital is teaming up with Ohio University in Athens to offer OU’s professional Master of Business Administration in Circleville.

“We’re constantly meeting to talk about what we might do to expand educational opportunities for the community,” Berger President Tim Colburn said. “Why an MBA program? Because health care is a business, and we need to make sure we’re building and developing future leaders.”

Berger already has a partnership with OU at its Chillicothe branch to train nurses in Circleville, and Colburn said the success of that program gave Berger an inroad for more educational offerings locally.

The program, which takes about 22 months to complete, consists of one evening a week of classroom activities held via video conference with instructors in Athens and a weekend course once every six weeks on the Athens campus.

OU has been offering the professional MBA through outreach programs for the last five years, according to Dr. Ed Yost, OU’s director of executive graduate education and development, and he said it’s been very successful preparing students for the business world.

“This program is aimed at working professionals to complete an MBA in a non-full time environment,” Yost said. “It’s designed for people that who maybe don’t have a business degree to give people a background to turn into a managerial career step.”

Yost said the course is delivered with more group projects rather than class work, and that was part of the appeal for Berger, according to Suzanne Welker, Berger’s human resources director.

“We’re excited about the synergy the group will have and think the teamwork will benefit the hospital and community,” Welker said. “Business management develops over time and we want to maximize skill development.”

Students in the program will learn about analytical decision making, which focuses on making good business decisions and professional development, including managing people and resources, teamwork and leadership, according to Yost.

He said the course also gives professionals the opportunity to meet people in other businesses and build on local networks.

More : circlevilleherald.1upmonitor.com

Under pressure from local industrialists who fear they are losing out to foreign competition, the Indian government is reviewing a number of free-trade pacts, including those pending with Thailand and Asean.

“Bilateral agreements having divergent standards with different countries may not help India remain competitive in the international market,” said R.V. Kanoria, a international trade expert with the Confederation of Indian Industry, a New Dehli-based trade group.

“Liberalisation of tariffs by the Indian government should be calibrated with internal reforms in labour, infrastructure and agriculture,” he said in an interview with the Bangkok Post.

In October 2003, India signed a signed a limited trade deal with Thailand that came into effect in September 2004. Under the so-called “early-harvest” agreement, which expires in 2008, Indian and Thai firms can freely import and export 82 items. The deal calls for tariffs to be reduced by 50 percent in 2004-05, 75 percent in 2005 and 100 percent in 2006.

Bilateral trade in these 82 items consequently doubled to US$430 million in 2005 from $217 million in 2004, with Thailand recording a trade surplus of $253 million.

The lopsided numbers soured the Indian business community, particularly the automotive components makers, and talks on a more comprehensive deal that would cover thousands of items has since stalled. Recently CII said it was working to modify existing FTAs and implement a new set of industry recommendations for future trade deals, while claiming that multilateral agreements under the World Trade Organisation would benefit the country more than bilateral agreements.

“Toyota, Honda and Procter & Gamble are the three multinational corporations that have benefited the most from the Indo-Thai FTA,” said Sharif D. Rangnekar, an economic analyst and editor of the Indiabiznews.com website.

He added that “these three companies find the logistics of doing business with India rather attractive because they have major manufacturing units in Thailand and find it easy to launch their products in India”.

Indian products, on the other hand, “don’t have a large market in Thailand even if they have the required certification,” Mr Rangnekar said, explaining that this is partly due to the fact that India’s population of 1.1 billion dwarfs that of Thailand.

Criticism of the India-Thai FTA has come from a wide range of sources, including industry groups, independent research think-tanks and columnists. In 2004, the National Council of Applied Economic Research slammed the pact, primarily because of the complicated issue of “rules of origin”. It also questioned if the “early-harvest” agreement is compatible with WTO rules.

Last year, India’s Ministry of Commerce undertook an impact assessment study of the limited trade scheme with Thailand, which analysed trade flows and drew inferences for the future. The Tariff Commission also submitted a similar study to the federal Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion in New Delhi.

The CII committee headed by Mr Kanoria will soon come up with guidelines for the Indian government to consider before negotiating FTAs. These are expected to include guidelines relating to negative list, common floor prices and rules of origin.

A survey by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI), one of the largest apex industry associations in India together with the CII, found in 2005 that imports from Thailand rose phenomenally under the limited FTA, while exports from India to Thailand actually declined.

R.S. Baskkaran, professor, Periyar anniversary Polytechnic College, Vallam, received the “Best Polytechnic Teacher Award” for 2005 in recognition of her outstanding contribution to the polytechnic education system.

The release given here by the Polytechnic said the award was NO Shetty, chairman, Southwestern Region, AICTE, Bangalore, in the constitutive of the eighth Indian company for technical training Annual Convention (Tamil Nadu and Pondichery section ) Held a PSNA College of Engineering and Technology, Dindigul.

More than 300 technical papers presented at the Convention different high schools and specialized engineering schools, five papers were prepared and presented by members of the Faculty Periyar anniversary Polytechnic College.

P. Arul Selvan, professor, Department of Communication, Manonmaniam Sundaranar University, Tirunelveli, a conference on “Community Radio experiences in India under the aegis of the Division of visual communication JJ College of Arts and Science, Pudukottai, recently.

It explains the philosophy behind the concept of Community Radio, run by you the people for the people and on behalf of the people. Community radio in general reflects the problems of people in their own dialect and non-profit organizations.

Dr. Arul Selvan said that the establishment of a community radio station does not cost much. They are far from the Nepali SriLankan and municipalities, whereas the experiment is still at the beginning of the country. Anna FM, started by Anna University, is the first campus radio in India.

S. Parthasarathy, Director, Division of visual communication; Suganthini Joyce, professor in the department, spoke.

Students of the social division of labour, JJ College of Arts and Science, an outreach program of “alcoholism” MCT school registration in Arangal Namanasamudram. Swagurunathan, Principal of the school; Cyril, teachers and Ponnarasan, physical education teacher; spoke on the occasion. Bharathimohan and Ravi Kumar, both the Khajamalai Ladies Association, Tiruchi, cultural programmes, the awareness of students on the harmful effects of alcohol and drugs.

The department of microbiology and biotechnology for Srinivasan College of Arts and Science, Perambalur, is organizing a seminar on “emerging trends in life sciences recently. S. Sankaran, Dean, Faculty of Life Sciences, Dhanalakshmi Srinivasan College of Arts and Science for Women, was the guest conductor. It motivates students with new ideas on relevant areas. Pupils and students actively in the interactive session in the port.

The association Bio-Pearl of the department of bio-chemistry of Dhanalakshmi Srinivasan College of Arts and Science, Perambalur, organized a specific course of the programme for the benefit of life sciences students. N. Pradeep Kumar, project manager and coordinator of the programme and bio-informatics Institute of India, Hyderabad, a conference on career prospects and projects of life sciences. He invited students to be more aware of recent trends and the importance of the major problems in the field of life sciences. He also stressed the importance of research.

During the interactive session, Mr. Pradeep Kumar clarify various concerns of students.

The main R.M. Meenakshi, the presidency of the function. The head of the department of bio-chemistry, P. Manju, spoke.

The Rotaract Club of college Ranganathapuram village. The club has planned to organise camps and awareness programmes in the village and take careful planning in this regard was held recently. The club members have visited the village and spoke with the chairman of village panchayats, Chinnasamy and other members away.

One day during training programme for government officials was held in Thai Than Hans Roever College, Perambalur recently. This program was organized jointly by the Department of Management Studies and Department of Social Work college.

The Ford Foundation International Fellowships Program (IFP) announced today the selection of 401 new Ford Foundation International Fellows from among nearly 22,000 applicants worldwide. IFP accepts applications from people in 22 countries and territories throughout the developing world.

“IFP Fellows are thriving in their diverse academic settings, distinguishing themselves as excellent scholars and bringing valuable new perspectives to the universities where they are studying,” said Susan V. Berresford, president of the Ford Foundation.

Award winners in this fifth round of IFP competitions were selected on the basis of IFP’s three core criteria of academic achievement, strong leadership skills and potential, and commitment to the development of their communities and countries. IFP especially seeks candidates from groups and communities with little access to higher education.

“IFP’s strategic university partners know that IFP Fellows bring their strong cultural attachments and passion for social justice to their studies,” added Donald McHenry, chairman of the Board of Directors of the International Fellowships Fund, IFP’s parent organization, and former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations. “Their diverse experiences, and their diversity itself, is a boon to any academic community.”

IFP Fellows receive support for up to three years of post-baccalaureate study in an appropriate university program anywhere in the world. Currently, more than 1,000 IFP Fellows have enrolled at 385 different universities in 41 countries. IFP is expanding its network of “strategic university partnerships” with leading institutions around the world that provide language training, mentoring, and academic support for clusters of IFP Fellows. IFP now has formal agreements and clusters of Fellows at over 30 universities in a dozen countries. Among IFP’s university partners are the Asian Institute of Management in Manila, the Australian National University, the Center for Tropical Agronomy Research and Education in Costa Rica, Columbia University in New York, the East-West Center at the University of Hawaii, and the Universities of Sussex and Birmingham, UK.

“Grouping Fellows at excellent institutions has real benefits for Fellows,” said IFP Executive Director Joan Dassin. “The universities provide increased language training and academic support and mentoring, and our Fellows are able to quickly begin building a network among their IFP colleagues that aids their studies and their professional development.”

Over the past year, numerous IFP Fellows have been recognized for outstanding work in both academic and professional spheres, winning prestigious awards from their host universities, development agencies and national governments. Their extraordinary success is an important indicator that candidates chosen from groups and communities traditionally excluded from higher education can excel in competitive graduate programs. Several universities have offered outstanding IFP Fellows additional support to pursue doctoral studies after the term of their IFP Fellowship.

IFP continues to sponsor networking and leadership activities that complement formal graduate-level studies and aim to build an enduring cohort of IFP Fellows who can gain from each other’s learning and experience. IFP conducted four Leadership for Social Justice Institutes in 2004, in Mexico, the Netherlands, Thailand, and the USA.

Over 3,300 IFP Fellows will be chosen through 2012. The new IFP Fellows were chosen from among 21,684 applications received in Chile, China, Egypt, Ghana, Guatemala, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Mozambique, Nigeria, Palestine, Peru, Senegal, South Africa, Thailand, and Vietnam. A total of 1,509 IFP Fellows have been selected since the program’s first Fellows were chosen in June 2001. Brazil, Kenya, Russia, Tanzania, and Uganda will rejoin the selection cycle in 2005.

Under its “Look East Policy”, India, training in the field of railways BIMSTEC technical personnel from countries free of charge.

This was confirmed by the Minister of Railways, Lalu Prasad presents, while the budget for 2005-06 Rail.

He said that the offer was the first meeting of railway-Chief Executive Officers of the BIMSTEC countries have September here in the past and the gesture was widely appreciated by member countries.

An International Railway Strategic Management Institute under the auspices of the International Union of Railways (UIC), founded in India and the first module during the first manager of the railway would be in Paris in May this years, “said Prasad.

The second module of the course would be the railway staff College in Vadodara in west of the Indian state of Gujarat, in November.

The World Executive Board session of the UIC in India would be this year, April, for the first time under the presidency of the Indian Railways.

Prasad said, it was a recognition of the importance of Indian Railways in the world railways community.

There is a great debate regarding the Employment Guarantee Scheme (EGS) and the usual slogans such as “Kick-Start of the economy, increasing the savings rate, reducing tax rates and reducing the budget deficit mouth.

The EGS is expected to reduce unemployment, establish durable asset, to supplement rural incomes, an antidote against inflation and the chain of community efforts. But the biggest segment of the work are independent and government policies are sure that they pauperise.

Grand role in national incomes

Table 1 shows the various groups in the national income pie. The so-called unorganisiert sector, composed of individual companies and partnership (P & P-sector) represents almost 38 per cent of national income, while groups form barely 14 per cent and 24 per cent in government.

The P & P dominates the services sector in areas such as construction, trade, non-Railway transport, hotels and restaurants and other services. These are the sectors with higher growth in the economy. Since the private sector, the drafters of the English-language newspapers and bureaucrats - all members of “groups of workers” - public opinion and policy makers, formulators, the travails of self-employed workers are not yet fully understood discussed.

Losses shares in the bank credit

The share of self-employed savings is significant and India, it is in the household sector.

It is clear from Table 2, it is clear that almost 94 per cent of the savings comes from households and at least 70 percent of non-wage groups, ie the self-employed.

Table 3 gives the various sectors in the credit output banks. Despite the high proportion of household savings and income of their share in the credit off-take fell by 58 per cent in 1990 to 43 percent in 2002. In other words, commercial banks have independent groups.

The largest category in the field of employment

From the viewpoint of employment, Table 5 shows that the independents are more than half of the east, unlike the situation in the USA, where only 7 per cent in this category, as shown in the table 6

Therefore, much of a policy regarding the labour market, are useful in the Western context perhaps inappropriate, our situation.

A significant proportion of independent workers is scheduled for caste / Tribe / Other Backward Classes category. Table 7 contains the most important aspects of the category of self-employed is based on a survey NSS