Kolkata, April 8. Faculty members of the Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta (IIM-C) are companies in their opposition to the Union Human Resource Development Ministry’s move to reduce taxes.

Prof. Asish K. Bhattacharyya, Dean (planning and management) of IIM-C and spokesperson of the Faculty, told Business Line, the Faculty of the opinion that the tax was cut under the autonomy of the Institute, which is registered by the association as a body independent, and not a hotel.

Professor Bhattacharyya said that there is an option of the Faculty, have resorted to legal measures. “We are considering all options. The judicial process is not a privileged, but we are obliged for such a measure as a major group of IIM-C,” he says. ”

“We also ask, Mr YC Deveshwar, president of the Governing Council on its draft resolution on reducing fees. IIM-C Faculty strongly believes that the Department of command on the subject was not a” mandatory “At the Institute. Approval for the new session at the IIM-C would begin in late May or early April.

Mr. Deveshwar, it is scheduled for April 16 Faculty.

In addition, the Supreme Court today directed all six IIMS to submit their comments on the issue of reducing costs by 16 April. The summit also court fixed the hearing of the public interest litigation on the subject, the same day. IIM-C response to the Supreme Court directive on the fee reduction would be completed early next week, according to the Institute of sources.

Prof. Bhattacharyya said: “We are discovering, through legal formalities, if we ever move the court”.

Regarding the issue of autonomy of the Faculty representatives pointed out that the memorandum of freedom of association and rules of IIM-C had clearly stated that “the general superintendence, direction and control over business of society (IIM-C-Gesellschaft) their income and property is vested benefits to the board of directors of the company, which bears the name “Board of Governors.”

The Faculty Council has estimated that the chairman of the Board of Governors, has been specially assigned by which they make, the resolution, Mr. Deveshwar could not as a “compromise” the autonomy of the committee. “The Institute of revenue, academic freedom, decisions concerning the students’ teacher-report and the curricula could not part of the area of the state,” he observed.

Prof. Bhattacharyya also pointed out that the IIM-C Faculty had a position paper of the Government in question to move in a reduction of taxes and the question of autonomy over a month ago, was the distribution to the officers.

The Faculty Council of Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta (IIM-C), Tuesday, a petition before the Supreme Court for impleading itself as co-respondents in the case of PIL against cut costs, for HRD on the Union in all Department of IIMS Government of the European Union.

Hearing on PIL is scheduled to begin on 16 April.

The IIM-C Faculty decided to representation, whoever may be made by the Board of Governors of the Institute. Prof. Asish Bhattacharyya, Dean (planning and management) of IIM-C and spokesperson of the Faculty, said the Business Line, there is a clear difference between the opinion of the Faculty and some members of the Board of Governors Tax on the issue of interface and the exercise of autonomy of the Institute.

The Faculty Council felt that the independence of representation should be addressed to bring the case before the Court of art.

“The Faculty feels that some members of the Board of Governors can not exercise their independent judgement in the interest of the institute. It is therefore responsible for the faculty, for the interests of the Institute, its teachers and students present and future, “Spokesman.

The Faculty Council, in its application at the end of court, said that “autonomy have so far by the Institute in the pursuit of excellence, not by any political or bureaucratic influence, it would be possible to l ‘Institute, to achieve their current status.

The Faculty is therefore every interest in ensuring that these non-interference in its affairs under way should continue, so that the Institute could be the target, without distraction. ”

Prof. Bhattacharyya also stressed that for the question of standing was concerned, has always questioned, the respondents in the previous hearings, the Institute of the Faculty was better placed than the Alumni Association of the IIM - C. He said, however, were Alumni of transition assistance of the Faculty.

The IIM-C Board of Governors In the meantime, was unable to formalize its response to the Apex Court directive last week for a model to 16 April.

According to some sources, the technical problem of convening a meeting of council is therefore a period of 15 days.

The director of IIM-C and the chairman of the Governing Council understood to have discussed issues related to the Institute’s response to the edge Court directive also as a form adoption of the resolution drafted by the presidency.

The fate of the planned meeting between the Faculty and the president on 15 April seems uncertain, given the evolving situation. Informed sources suggested that IIM-C could try for some time by the Court of art for its presentation, but is optional.

How IIM, Ahmedabad, the Supreme Court today for some cases, pressure on IIM-C, for a formal presentation.

NOW that the IIMs have more or less ruled out a legal recourse against the HRD Ministry’s directive to impose a fee cut in their PGP (Post-Graduate Programmes) courses, the country’s premier business schools are busy considering various options to make up for this revenue loss.

“One of the options before us is to increase the number of Management Development Programmes (MDPs),” said Prof Prakash G. Apte, Director, Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore.

In an exclusive interview with Business Line today, he said that the board of governors would meet in the next four days. “IIM-Bangalore will work out its finances then. We have not yet received the break-up for the planned and non-planned grants.”

But would increasing the number of management development programmes not impose a huge load on the already over-burdened professors who are handling various PG courses, executive education programmes and consultancy assignments?

(IIM-Bangalore, for instance, has about 70 professors for 700 students (400 in the PGP, 300 in the PGP in Software Management and 40 PhD students) and this year, the institute has conducted about 45 MDPs.)

Prof Apte said that they might even consider reducing the number of offerings for the students so that more staff time is available for corporate training programmes.

On whether the institute would recruit more teachers, he said: “Yes, that would be one option,” but expressed doubt about finding the right kind of talent in the industry.

But this too would require Government permission. And what about additional funds for the salaries? With the cut in allocation in this year’s Interim Budget - from Rs 79.73 crore last year to Rs 45 crore in 2004-05 - the IIMs would have to tread this path carefully.

Meanwhile, the Government is also insisting that the IIMs increase intake of students.

This might be one way of boosting their revenues, but Prof Apte said: “We can take about 40 more students, provided we have the right infrastructure like hostel rooms, mess, etc.”

Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) has concluded an agreement with the Indian Institute of Foreign Trade (IIFT), in which the staff of the ONGC be subjected to study MBA at IIFT Super Unnati Prayas regime.

ONGC send their employees IIFT for a full-time, 18 months of the MBA program with a specialization in international affairs. The company is also the transfer of employees, have their headquarters in New Delhi to study residential students at the Institute. The objective of the regulation is to update the knowledge base of the ONGC leaders. IIFT out specific written tests ONGC leaders of five centres across India.

Twenty employees were selected for the course. The course is in line with the needs of the ONGC. Issues such as logistics of international trade, World Trade Organisation (WTO) and issues related to WTO, international trade policies, Managing Global Sourcing, international business strategy, standards and ethics are underway .

After dumping taxes in the six IIMS, the HRD ministry has its eyes on other B-schools in the country.

The ministry is governed by the All India Council of Technical Education (AICTE) to follow the recommendations of the UR Rao Committee and the state fee committees, once their reports, Slash and costs of all schools B.

Among the prominent institutes, which is perhaps in the line of fire of the line Indian Institute of Foreign Trade (New Delhi), Jamnalal Bajaj Institute (Mumbai), Symbosis (Pune) and XLRI (Jamshedpur). There are over 600 institutions managing the AICTE, all may have to reduce their costs, less than Rs 40,000 per year, ministry officials sources said. Currently, fees range from 60000 to R RS 1.5 lakh.

The UR Rao Committee has already, with its recommendations, which were used by the ministry to justify its decision to reduce taxes on IIMS 80 per cent. A Ministry said government sources charges committees its recommendations to the AICTE within two months.

The Indian Institute of Information Technology and Management-Kerala (IIITM-K) has concluded an agreement with Sun Microsystems for setting up an advanced laboratory information system (AISL), taking charge of his education Grid (EduGrid).

Sun Microsystems provides servers and software for the implementation of EduGrid. A Sun Advanced Computing Laboratory must also be established in the IIITM-K support to higher education and research activities. It contains very configuration of Sun servers, software and content quality for the sake of advanced subjects, students, professionals KR Srivathsan, Director, IIITM-K.

EduGrid The project was designed with the objective development of an education Grid infrastructure in institutions of higher education throughout the state, promoting the design and development of quality courses in various disciplines and development of standards in higher education by providing institutional Course high quality product and services on the network.

Prof. Srivathsan told Business Line here that Sun Microsystems has special relations with key universities worldwide. A large quantity of advanced software applications in engineering and science is, above all, Sun or Linux platforms. Academic Institutions use a heterogeneous computing environment and therefore Sun strict compliance with open standards, is an asset. “In addition, they provide significant discounts for academic institutions for equipment and almost all its software free for academic use. They also take charge of Linux. Our ultimate goal is a Sun Center of Excellence in IIITM-K. Thus, approximately 30 such centers throughout the world. It will spur us on the implementation of the advanced knowledge society, campus initiatives for the future, “he added.

The National Institute for Technology Kochi and Kozhikode University for Science and Technology are among those already included, as resource centres EduGrid. “We will soon, they are content for equipping laboratories and launches Web-based, of course, the content management systems for development and teacher training. IIITM-K EduGrid acts as a centre of operations and is also a resource centre, “says Professor Srivathsan.

The infrastructure of these centres is now completed the first phase. “She is the host of the EduGrid backbone network nodes, is a high-end server EduGrid all serve to ensure that all students and teachers in the institutions of the host. They are also a content server for the development of systems, including content development tools software. ”

The Indian Institute of Technology and the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, cooperation with the EduGrid a project on the informal level. They are part of the national programme on Technology Enhanced Learning (NPTEL), whose objective is the development of teaching materials for 100 courses. These are more content as “wholesale”. Grid is the formation of such content to pack “Retail” distribution for other equally good content from institutions abroad, give lessons, teachers and help the presentation of content properly adapted to local plans for teaching higher education institutions in their normal course.

On ERNET discussions with India for setting up the network backbone of the grid, “said Professor Srivathsan last was probably the work begins in the next two months for the creation of the backbone. “We must bear in mind that the Union Ministry of Human Resources provides grants for All India Technical Education Council approved by the academic institutions and the library of the Commission Grant’s Indian National Digital Library in science and technology (INDEST) digital library ERNET only by initiatives “. Previously, IIITM-K-library became the first external member of the State in the INDEST consortium, the Ministry of the Union.

The sustainability of Akshaya “overcome the digital divide” in the state project is carried out if the positive aspects of the famous model for development of Kerala emulated by private entrepreneurs, not afraid to take risks.

After the Prime Mover in the state of Kerala IT mission official of an executive body, Akshaya draws heavily time to test the model as schools, health centres primary, know-how centres (reading rooms public) and other utility companies within a few kilometres from each other to provide efficient services.

This unique development paradigm put into practice by directors of yore contributed to what the State achieve enviable physical quality of life index.

Provides concept, in the presence of Professor Kenneth Keniston visit, the Indian program director, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), M. Kiran GR, Mission Coordinator, IT mission of the Business Line said that it wanted to be replicated in Akshaya, has already been mentioned in the pilot project in Malappuram district.

E-Akshaya kiosks have been planned so that every household in the country would not be farther than a long search for a distance of two kilometres to access electronic services. A number of masses of information and communication technology (ICT) to experiment with models elsewhere in the country have failed to take merely the absence of a sufficient number of service centers.

The government has directed public institutions, failed because of the laity management styles. In the Akshaya model, however, that the private contractor is responsible for enforcing the provision of services with the government ready to renew the support infrastructure, including content.

The sustainability of Akshaya centres is ensured, at least theoretically, to the extent that the contractor is underway for a benefit for which it has a Business Model. Unlike the case of a government of the project, the contractor is free to innovate and implement his ideas, according to local needs.

Asked if it spreads everywhere comparable model, Professor Keniston, said the group ITC e-choupal kiosks were the first to see in his eyes.

“At least, this is the only business model that I can not in India. It is a great effort disintermediation, where farmers have benefited and where the pay system itself. But what is operational and functional distinguishes itself by the Akshaya - Model and disability groups in which they become familiar with the theme on the needs of a rich and already well-established rural, agriculture, “he added.

There is another angle. Malappuram district is known for the large number of foreigners in the Gulf region, plus other sites abroad. Akshaya centres, a long way to ensure that women and communicate them immediately at a lower cost so menfolk with their employees overseas.

Among the five lakh families in Malappuram district, 4.5 times more than lakh have someone in the Gulf region.