Date Sheet for B.Com(Hons) I Semester

Follow the link to view the datesheet - Click here

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Management Guru and a Visionary: CK Prahalad

CK Prahalad was an outstanding Management Thinker. He is famous for the concepts of core competence and Bottom of Pyramid. 

Prahalad's theory affected many Indian and developing world retail outlets.

It was Prahalad's proposition that businesses stop thinking of the poor as victims and instead start seeing them as value-demanding consumers that drove companies such as Hindustan Lever and Godrej to come out with ultra-small sachets of everything from shampoo to gutka sparking off a retail revolution.

His 2004 book The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid: Eradicating Poverty through Profits, became a New York Times bestseller and catapulted him to a rock star among management thinkers although he was already a storied business guru by then.

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Articles in De-facto: Annual Magazine , Commerce Department

De-facto: Annual Magazine , Commerce Department

You can contribute for any of the following sections

Theme Based Articles- Entrepreneurship (Preferably on Social Entrepreneurship)

Articles on Contemporary Issues- This section requires you to write on any present-day issue preferably related to Commerce, Business and Economics.

Fun and Frolic- Write something as merry as notes in a tune, as merry as a condemned man eating his last meal, as merry as a mouse in malt........ (Because all we wish is a smiling reader). Send in jokes, short stories, visuals, comic strips etc.

Submissions can be in Hindi or in English.

P.S-mail us on defactomag@gmail.com

For further details contact
Anveen Sandhu (Editor)-9873756721
Vardan Walia (Assistant Editor)-9899418422

Last Date for Submission: 30th October 2011
Submissions will be screened for their relevance.

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Squeezed out in India, students turn to US

Nikita Sachdeva is now a student
at Chicago

New Delhi:  Moulshri Mohan was an excellent student at one of the top private high schools in New Delhi. When she applied to colleges, she received scholarship offers of $20,000 from Dartmouth and $15,000 from Smith. Her pile of acceptance letters would have made any ambitious teenager smile: Cornell, Bryn Mawr, Duke, Wesleyan, Barnard and the University of Virginia.

But because of her 93.5 percent cumulative score on her final high school examinations, which are the sole criteria for admission to most colleges here, Ms. Mohan was rejected by the top colleges at Delhi University, better known as D.U., her family's first choice and one of India's top schools.

"Daughter now enrolled at Dartmouth!" her mother, Madhavi Chandra, wrote, updating her Facebook page. "Strange swings this admission season has shown us. Can't get into DU, can make it to the Ivies."

Ms. Mohan, 18, is now one of a surging number of Indian students attending American colleges and universities, as competition in India has grown formidable, even for the best students. With about half of India's 1.2 billion people under the age of 25, and with the ranks of the middle class swelling, the country's handful of highly selective universities are overwhelmed.

This summer, Delhi University issued cutoff scores at its top colleges that reached a near-impossible 100 percent in some cases. The Indian Institutes of Technology, which are spread across the country, have an acceptance rate of less than 2 percent - and that is only from a pool of roughly 500,000 who qualify to take the entrance exam, a feat that requires two years of specialized coaching after school.

"The problem is clear," said Kapil Sibal, the government minister overseeing education in India, who studied law at Harvard. "There is a demand and supply issue. You don't have enough quality institutions, and there are enough quality young people who want to go to only quality institutions."

American universities and colleges have been more than happy to pick up the slack. Faced with shrinking returns from endowment funds, a decline in the number of high school graduates in the United States and growing economic hardship among American families, they have stepped up their efforts to woo Indian students thousands of miles away.

Representatives from many of the Ivy League institutions have begun making trips to India to recruit students and explore partnerships with Indian schools. Some have set up offices in India, partly aimed at attracting a wider base of students. The State Department held a United States-India higher education summit meeting on Thursday at Georgetown University to promote the partnership between the countries.

Indians are now the second-largest foreign student population in America, after the Chinese, with almost 105,000 students in the United States in the 2009-10 academic year, the last for which comprehensive figures were available. Student visa applications from India increased 20 percent in the past year, according to the American Embassy here.

Although a majority of Indian students in the United States are graduate students, undergraduate enrollment has grown by more than 20 percent in the past few years. And while wealthy Indian families have been sending their children to the best American schools for years, the idea is beginning to spread to middle-class families, for whom Delhi University has historically been the best option.

American universities have now become "safety schools" for increasingly stressed and traumatized Indian students and parents, who complain that one fateful event - the final high school examination - can make or break a teenager's future career.

This admissions season, students exchanged exam horror stories. One knew a boy who was sick with typhoid but could not reschedule. "I know a girl who saw the physics paper and she fainted," said Nikita Sachdeva, her eyes widening.

Ms. Sachdeva, 19, graduated from Delhi Public School in 2010, with a 94.5 percent exam score, one point shy of the cutoff to study economics at St. Stephen's, one of the top colleges at Delhi University. She decided to take a year off and work as an intern at a nonprofit group affiliated with the World Health Organization, while applying to American universities.

But for some students, it is not merely the competition that drives them to apply to study in the United States. It is also the greater intellectual freedom of an American liberal arts education.

India's educational system is rigid, locking students into an area of study and affording them little opportunity to take courses outside their major beyond the 11th grade.

Only a few courses of study are considered lucrative career paths. Economics, commerce, engineering and medicine have a certain cachet, while English, history and languages are less well regarded. Often students who cannot afford to study abroad end up in less competitive courses, with a contraction of career possibilities.

"If somebody majors in English here, it's like, 'O.K., she'll get married,' " said Ms. Sachdeva, who is attending the University of Chicago this fall and is planning to major in economics with a minor in creative writing.

Other students, finding entrance to their dream school in India impossible, have made similar choices. Siddhant Puri had wanted to study computer engineering at one of the Indian Institutes of Technology since he was a child. But after a month of coaching in the 11th grade, he decided it was not for him. Instead, he became the vice president of his high school class and played soccer, and he now plans to study German literature and computer science at the University of California, Berkeley.

Such students have provided a welcome and much needed boon to American universities.

"We're accepting an increasing number of students, and they're excellent," said Matthew Gutmann, the vice president for international affairs at Brown University, which plans to open an office in New Delhi partly dedicated to recruiting students. Undergraduate applications from India have grown from 86 in 2008 to more than 300 for this academic year at Brown.

"India's a really big country; it therefore has a really big middle class," said Allan Goodman, the president of the Institute of International Education, a nonprofit organization based in New York. "They value education so much so they have been saving for education, and they're willing to invest in education. And our prices are very high."

The financial strain is considerable. Some middle-class salaries in India are below the poverty line in the West. The difference in tuition between top American and Indian universities is staggering. Tuition at Dartmouth is $41,736 a year, not including room and board, while most of the colleges of Delhi University cost about $150 to $500 per year.

The emotional sacrifice of letting a teenager travel across an ocean is no less acute for some parents. Dr. Chandra spent the days before her daughter's departure in a near panic. But she has accepted the idea that there is no college in India quite suitable for a young woman like her daughter, who wants to study psychology and who spent the past few months putting the finishing touches on a documentary she is making - on the short shrift the humanities receive in the Indian educational system.

"In the end, I'm glad it happened," Dr. Chandra said. "She's been an excellent student, and she's not used to settling for second best."

Courtesy: NDTV

Read more at: http://www.ndtv.com/article/india/squeezed-out-in-india-students-turn-to-us-141215&cp

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‘One day at IIM-A’ programme gives and receives joy

Registrations for the common admission test (CAT) closed last Tuesday and about 2.05 lakh candidates will slug it out from October 22 to November 18, to make it to the top business schools in the country — including the prestigious IIMs.

And, even as IIM Ahmedabad sees one of the most number of applications each year, 50 students got to study at the premier institute without even having applied to take the CAT.

On 8 October, the 50 lucky students spent a full day at IIM-A — attending classes and geting to live the experience of India’s top B-school, as part of its ‘Joy of Giving Week’ celebrations.

For many of the participants, like Rajendra Khemka, it was a dream come true. “It is likeNayak. It reminds me of Anil Kapoor — ek din ka CM, so it’s like living a dream,” Khemka told CNN-IBN.

Fifty students were part of the 'One Day at IIM-A' programme as part of its 'Joy of Giving' week. CNN-IBN

The participants who were to bag seats for the ‘One day at IIM-A’ programme based on an auction, eventually bagged them after a lucky draw. Earlier, the institute’s students planned to auction the seats to the highest bidders, but later scrapped the bidding process and conducted a lucky draw.

The participants will now voluntarily contribute money to the institute, which will be used to educate slum children — through Prayas, a voluntary organization run by IIM-A students that finances the education of 65 slum children in Ahmedabad.

This aspect made the programme more special to many of its participants.

Juhi Bansal, said, the ‘Joy of giving’ aspect was a bonus. “I’ve always dreamed of being at IIM-A and I jumped at the chance. Plus, what’s a bonus is the joy of giving,” she told CNN-IBN.

Another student, Raghav Bansal agreed. “It’s such a noble event. Feels good that the funds will be used for something good. Feels proud to be an Indian,” he said.

As part of the ‘One day at IIM-A’ programme, the chosen 50 participants attended a lecture on management, the economy and a case study class. They were also given a surprise quiz and posed for a photo shoot.

Shailesh Gandhi, Professor, IIM-A who taught the case study class said of the candidates, “They had done their preparations well. There was a lot of participation from across the group. And that was a very enriching experience.”

Anchit Agrawal, a volunteer for Prayas told CNN-IBN that the collections would encourage volunteers like him to do better work. “Till now our resources were from the campus and from alumni. Now its gone beyond that and will encourage us to do better work,” he said.

Clearly, while the lucky 50 wanted to share their ‘Joy of Giving’ they also received something in return — an experience that money could never buy and satisfaction from helping the underprivileged that is unmatched.

Check out the video at  - http://ibnlive.in.com/videos/191544/50-students-get-a-chance-to-live-their-iim-dream.html

Courtesy : First Post

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Serious about semesters

Delhi University shifted to a complete semester mode a few months back, breaking away from the decades-old annual exam system. As the first semester draws to an end in November, college principals tell us how they are helping students cope with it. “Students in our college are still coming to terms with the new system. Classes are being held regularly as they will have to appear for four papers in every semester as compared to just five annually. Internal assessment and class assignments are also being taken care of,” says Rajendra Kumar, vice-principal, Sri Venkateswara College. Hindu College students are not as relaxed as they were last year. “They are making a diligent effort not to miss any lectures. Teachers are leaving no stone unturned in finishing the syllabi. We have cut down on the festivities, lectures and seminars to devote more time for completion of courses,” says principal VK Srivastava. Also, for the first time in the history of the college, the library stays open even on Saturdays to enable students to access books and reading material. “We are also planning to conduct extra classes to help students keep pace with the topics covered in class, especially for those who have been admitted under the ECA quota recently,” Srivastava adds. The semester system, says Miranda House principal Pratibha Jolly, has been well-received by the students. “Coping with two systems at the

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Successful Entrepreneurship

Every famous business venture has a story attached to it, which the customers can relate to. Walking on the streets, Jim Poss was annoyed by the noise pollution created by  waste collection truck which was blocking traffic, polluting air, wasting gallons of diesel by doing round trips every then and now. Poss was caught up with the inefficiencies of operations including idling of pick up trucks, there has to a better approach to operate, he believed. He discovered the waste collecting trucks consume 1 BN gallon of diesel in a  year, and are among the most expensive vehicles to operate. The frustration caused Tension within him which in turn led to emergence of an idea. Thus, came the idea of BigBelly Solar Compactor.

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Bleeding Finances - Kingfisher Airlines

Auditor of Kingfisher Airlines expressed their opinion on the financial performance of Company for Q1, FY2012, deep concerns about the Company continuing as a Going Concern. Notwithstanding, several accomplishments achieved, the financial losses has taken a toll on the company, considering no profit ever been posted since its inception in 2003. With the Auditors, M/s BK Ramadhyani Co. questioning the Companies' ability to continue its operations in foreseeable future!! Auditor mentions Kingfisher need to infuse more funds in order to continue its operations smoothly. The Company is delaying payment of salaries to its employees for the month of July. Considering incredible increase in Aviation Turbine Fuel(ATF) which

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Notice for Students interested in Management of Commerce Department Site

All the B.Com (Hons), 1^st year students interested in development and maintenance of the official website of commerce society can send their applications, including-

•  Name
• Year and section
•   Phone No.
• E-mail ID
• Site/Blog (if any)

at info@commercehansraj.in earliest by 15^th October’2011.

For further details and assistance, contact-

Aman Jain

(Joint Secretary)

(M) +91 9310166440

(E) amanjn16@gmail.com

Download a Copy of Notice from Here

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