The Competition World

Since its establishment in 1985, Indira Gandhi National Open University IGNOU has contributed significantly to the development of higher education in the country through the Open and Distance Learning (ODL) mode. Known as the 'People's University' IGNOU follows a learner-centric approach and has successfully adopted a policy of openness and flexibility in entry qualifications, time taken for completion of a programme, and place of study. The University, at present, offers 338 programmes of study through over 3,500 courses to cumulative student strength of over 30 lakh students. The programmes The University offers various programmes at the following levels: ·          Doctorates ·          Masters and Bachelors degree programmes ·          Post-graduate and Under-graduate Diplomas ·          Certificates. The education is diss...

Nirendra Dev* The provision of drinking water supply is an imperative need of the society. Ensuring adequate and effective supply of drinking water in rural areas is one such important priority area and was thus incorporated as one of the six key components of Bharat Nirman programme under the UPA government in 2004. During the Bharat Nirman Phase – I period itself, over 55,000 un-covered and about 3.31 lakh slipped-back habitations were covered with provisions of drinking water facilities. In addition over 2 lakh quality-affected habitations were to be addressed for water quality problem.   The Planning Commission documents say, the national goal of achieving universal access of the mammoth rural population to adequate potable drinking water at a convenient location at all times is truly a daunting task. Thus it is not without good reason that a national water supply and sanitation programme was introduced in the social welfare sector way back in 1954. Essentially, provisio...

As our lifestyles become more 'developed' by the day, so does the damage we do to the environment. Our every move, from watching television, to working at a computer, to taking a flight to our favourite holiday destination harms the environment in one way or the other. Air and water pollution levels are increasing world over by the day. Never before has the need to use alternative resources, such as wind, solar and nuclear energy been so high. India is one of the largest petroleum consuming and importing countries. India imports about 70 % of its petroleum demands. The current yearly consumption of diesel oil in India is approximately 40 million tones constituting about 40% of the total petro-product consumption. Bio-diesel can be the major replacement in terms of petro-product consumption by India which is eco-friendly too. Bio-diesel is a clean burning, eco-friendly natural fuel obtained from tree born oil by a chemical transformation process called “Transesterifi...

Dr. Shailesh Nayak * Recognizing the importance of strong coupling among various components of the earth, viz. atmosphere, oceans, cryo -sphere and geo-sphere the Ministry of Earth Sciences was found in 2006.   Soon after in 2007 came in a virtual organisation, an executive arm of the Ministry ,   the Earth System Science Organisation (ESSO).   It has three major branches of earth sciences viz., ( i ) Ocean Science & Technology (ii) Atmospheric Science & Technology and (iii) Geoscience and Technology. The sole purpose of the endeavor was to address holistically various aspects relating to earth processes for understanding the variability of earth system and for improving forecast of the weather, climate and hazards.   Primarily   aimed to develop   and improve capability to forecast weather, climate and hazard related phenomena for societal, economic and environmental benefits including addressing aspects relating to climate change science, c...

Indian Space Programme is an indigenous effort with a capability to meet various socio-economic developmental needs of the country. The major impetus has been to exploit and develop space-technology and applications that are relevant for India. INSAT system has been established for providing services in communication, broadcasting and meteorology. The Indian Remote Sensing (IRS) satellite system has been established for the natural resource management. ISRO has built indigenous capability to launch satellites into Low Earth Orbit (LEO), Polar Sun- synchronous orbit as well as Geo-Synchronous satellite orbits through PSLV and GSLV launchers respectively. PSLV was also used to undertake an un-manned mission to the Moon. ISRO has carved a niche for itself among space faring nations through its successful application driven programmes which has benefited the country immensely.   Successful Missions * India's Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-C17) in its nineteenth flight successfu...