All these will be brought out by the Human Resource Development (HRD) Ministry in its Rs.6000 crore plan.

The HRD Ministry is also putting together a revamped ICT scheme for all 1.8 lakh secondary schools and higher secondary schools. Under the scheme, school children will be taught Word Processing, PowerPoint, and Spreadsheets etc. to keep them abreast with the latest developments in field of computer-aided education.

The HRD Ministry is not only introducing hi-technologies in the schools but is also trying to employ qualified teachers in the schools.

The scheme, to be spread out over the 11th Plan period, will get an allocation of Rs.5500 crores as Rs.500 crores has already been used to enhance the laboratory and hardware facilities in over 20,000 schools.

If you are former president A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, who will step behind the podium on September 13 to mentor PGP-M students at IIM-Ahmedabad (IIM-A) as part of a programme called Globalising Resurgent India through Innovative Transformation, you are probably thinking what nobody else is.

The best colleges offer agile programmes, fewer compulsory subjects and more electives

To let a bright bunch of individuals, galvanised by their own mercurial intellect, compete and deliver what a couple of hundred MPs have not been able to; all this because their institution has yet again proved it is in a class of its own.

IIM-A-Business Today (BT) Best B-school survey's topper for 2008-2009-has proved no hyperbole is too much to be able to describe its attributes.

The undisputed leader for half a decade, IIM-A maintains its league among all the stakeholders including young executives, aspiring MBAs and recruiters. Says Vani Kabra, graduate of the London School of Economics (LSE) and MBA graduate from IIM-A, "While LSE was more diverse, IIM-A was definitely tougher and the quality of students far superior." It was at IIM-A that she received a true grounding in teamwork.

"The course structure requires you to work in teams for almost everything, from projects to assignments and presentations," she adds. What's more, exacting standards and long hours mean that students are ready for the 'real world' challenges. This is why IIM-A has been able to race ahead of IIM-Bangalore (IIM-B), despite IIM-B scoring ahead of it on many parameters.

NABI integrates three disciplines under its roof - agri-technology, food technology and nutrition technology. The BPU is designed to link research and development system with production facility, to serve as an incubator for start-up agri-food companies.

An Agri-food Park would also be set up within the cluster and would be operated on Public Private partnership model. Ministry sources said that this integration of R&D, production and enterprise has been planned for the first time in the country. The cluster has been designed with the help of Canadian experts.

NABI has been designed to be translational in the area of agriculture - new gene discovery, genomics, designer crops; food technology - food processing technologies, bioprocess engineering, food safety and nutrition science and technology - Public health nutrition technologies, functional foods and nutraceuticals, wellness foods.

The cluster will produce not only Ph Ds but also agri-food entrepreneurs and will spawn new industries in the region.

Ambedkar Vishwavidyalaya Act, 2007. It will be temporarily located in the campus of Integrated Institute of Technology Dwarka. Prof.

This year, the emphasis is on how to bring students of Sanskrit closer to the subject by stressing on its importance. In store for Sanskrit lovers are lectures by renowned writers and scholars of Sanskrit.

Commenting on the need for such a festival, he says that it is often thought that Sanskrit is the language of the select few. "That, however, is not the case-- it is as much a common's man's language as any other."

In his lecture, GC Tripathi spoke about the `Concept of Vak in Vedic Literature'. B Bhattacharya, Vice-Chancellor of JNU, praised the concept and said that the language should reach the common man.

The NPU, expected to start functioning from 2010, will provide training to police personnel in subjects like Biological Warfare, Conflict Resolution, Forensic Science and Terrorism.

The university will be setup on the lines of the National Defence Academy (NDA) and would act as a think-tank of the Central Government on internal security issues.

The proposed university would impart quality education, research and other academic activities in police-related subjects. It would also look at other areas of the physical and social sciences.

There are plans to affiliate all existing police training institutes in states and police and paramilitary academies, including the National Police Academy, CRPF Academy, BSF Academy, Internal Security Academy and the National Industry Academy, with the NPU.

The chief minister formally launched the Indraprastha Institute of Information Technology (IIIT) last week, releasing its admission brochure for the 2008-09 academic year. The state university for IT which seeks to broadbase study of the subject will start enrolling students from this academic year and will temporarily function from the NSIT campus in Dwarka before shifting to its own campus in Okhla.

IIIT, according to director Panjaj Jalote, will be specifically looking at applications of IT in various fields like e-governance , defence, life sciences, education , finance, automobile engineering and mobile computing . It will be a research-led institute offering facilities for B tech, M Tech and Phd. Former Nasscom chief Karan Karnik, who is a member of the institute's board of directors, lauded the effort to create students who would create intellectual property rather than swell the ranks of educated job-seekers .

The form is available on the institute's website iiitd .ac.in. Last date for receiving completed forms is August 20 and the examination is on August 23.

Here is an indicative list of some of the training institutions. Most of our cities have institutes handling this subject. You may personally confirm the details of courses, infrastructural facilities, record of placement and the terms of admission before applying to these institutions.

*National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT) at New Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Chennai, Gandhinagar, Bangalore and Rae Bareli. Web site: www.niftindia.com

It is expected that units of NIFT would start functioning at Kannur, Bhopal, Shillong and Patna in 2008.

*National Institute of Design (NID), Paldi, Ahmedabad - 380 007

NID is a unique centre of excellence dealing with a wide variety of design programmes.

*NIFT-TEA Knitwear Fashion Institute, Tirupur - 641 606

*Pearl Academy of Fashion, 82, Sterling Road, Nungambakkam, Chennai - 600 034

*Institute of Design, 134, Boxwood Offices, Nungambakkam High Road, Chennai - 600 034

The new college, which is affiliated to Indraprastha University and approved by the All-India Council of Technical Education, has been conceived and designed as a super-specialty institute in the disciplines of mechanical, automation and robotics and nano-technology.

Speaking at the inaugural ceremony, Ms. Diskhit said the institute would soon acquire international status. She said it had been the aim of her government to provide world-class technical education to students and added that efforts in that direction had been made in the recent past. Ms. Dikshit said that the number of seats available at the degree-level engineering institutions had also been augmented. Two new degree level engineering colleges have been set up by the Delhi Government recently. They are: Government Engineering College at Jaffarpur that caters to needs of West Delhi and G.B. Pant Engineering College at Okhla for the people of South Delhi.

The total investment was a little over 84 crore, which is 30 crore more than what went in sponsored research projects, consultancy jobs and FITT projects undertaken by IIT, Delhi, in the year 2006-07.

"This development is a reflection of the confidence of our young faculty members. It also shows a realization on the part of the society that knowledge is vital and that it should be invested in," said IIT, Delhi, Director Surendra Prasad.