sreedharan_ck

  “In our country, engineers are not able to come up very fast. We (engineers) are not taking enough efforts to keep ourselves up-to-date. Engineering colleges or institutes that we have in the country, according to me, are producing very sub-standard quality of engineers,” said E Sreedharan, a Padma Vibhushan awardee, credited for successfully steering challenging projects like Konkan Rail and Delhi Metro. He also expressed his anguish and concern about the IITians heading to foreign countries for higher studies or for better employment. India has the largest number of engineers as well as the largest number of engineering education infrastructure in the world. The first engineering college was established by the British at Roorkee in the year1847 followed by the College of Engineering, Guindy, Chennai in 1859.As on 2021, India annually produces over a million engineering graduates. India’s technical education infrastructure includes 4200 engineering colleges, 3400 polytechnic...

  In the ‘90s, Sachin Tendulkar, then considered as the “God of cricket,’ revealed to the awe struck kids that ‘Boost is the secret of my energy.’ Kids believed him and took the claim seriously and cajoled their parents into buying the health drink as one of the essential grocery. Such is the power of the celebrity endorsement. It makes a lasting impression on the admiring fans, young or old, and strongly motivates them to emulate their favourite idols. In 1760s, Josiah Wedgwood, the founder of the Wedgwood brand of pottery and chinaware, used royal endorsements to create an aura around the name of his company’s products that gave the brand a value far beyond the actual attributes of the product itself. In India, the credit for the first celebrity brand endorsement goes to the popular yesteryear’s film actress Ms. Leela Chitnis. In 1941, she endorsed Lux- the soap brand. This opened up a new avenue for the celebrities to endorse brands and earn substantial income, which has n...

  A recent investigation by one of the Indian government agencies found that Manav Bharti University (MBU) in the northern state of Himachal Pradesh has allegedly sold as many as 36,000 degrees since it was founded in 2009, for prices ranging from 100,000 to 300,000 rupees (US$1,362-4,085). Of the 41,000 degrees issued by the university in that time, only 5,000 were found to be genuine. No Indian university can grant a degree without the regulator University Grants Commission’s (UGC) approval. Still, a large number of unauthorised universities are blatantly doling out certificates for years despite being on the watch list of the regulator. UGC is maintaining a list of fake universities for decades. UGC has been issuing fake universities list promptly every year since 1944. What catches the attention is that some institutions have been appearing on the list quite consistently. One such example is – Mahila Gram Vidyapith, a University in Uttar Pradesh’s Pratapgarh. It is making i...