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.

Ramjas has already asked the freshers this year to register for peer tutoring. ``I have sent a letter to all the freshers before the orientation programme informing that all those who felt the need of extra help in academics could turn up for peer tutoring. However, now the teachers need to be roped in to get the seniors to take part in the new scheme,'' said Rajendra Prasad, principal of Ramjas College.

According to Prasad, if students are given the responsibility to teach what they learn, they would gain confidence and even the juniors will feel more free during the interaction in the class. ``This scheme is very popular in American and European universities. Peer-tutoring is even being practised in IITs and many professional institutes. However, this is the first time that we will implement the programme in Delhi University,'' said Prasad.

However, students doubt that such a venture will be successful in conventional courses offered by DU. Ramjas had planned the peer-tutoring scheme last year also but it did not take off as the students and teachers were not made aware of it properly. However, this time, Prasad says, the students will be encouraged by teachers to take part in the programme.

The centre, which will be located in Sector 62 of Noida covering five acres, has got the clearance of the Union Human Resource Development Ministry. It is estimated to cost Rs 40 crore on completion.        

IIT-K authorities are planning to make the centre fully operational by 2009-10, when the institute will observe its golden jubilee.        

"IIT Kanpur was contemplating for a long time to open an extension centre near Delhi and a proposal for the same has been sent to the Union HRD Ministry," Registrar Sanjeev Kashalkar said.        

Kashalkar said once the institution gets the green signal from the HRD Ministry, construction of the centre will commence from January 2009 with an initial investment of Rs 20 crore.        

The extension centre will have facilities for distance education, he added.

The committee, headed by Prof P.V. Indirasen, former director of IIT Madras, has come down heavily on the college for lack of research among faculty and no systematic approach towards regular revision of college syllabus.

"We have recommended that problems such as delay in hiring of faculty, lack of research among faculty members and failure of Career Assessment Schemes can be overcome through autonomy and delegating certain powers to the principal of DCE," said Prof Indirasen. "Moreover, efforts have to be made to attract good quality faculty by giving research grants and other incentives," he said.

"The electrification project will cover over 56,000 government-run primary and upper primary schools in all the 71 districts of the state," Director Basic Education D.C. Kannaujia told IANS.

The government has earmarked a grant of Rs.1.7 crore (Rs.17 million) for the project that will be undertaken shortly to provide a conducive and better atmosphere for students in their classrooms, he said.

Electricity to schools will be provided in a phased manner. Initially, the electrification project will be undertaken in 1,000-odd schools in various districts in the state, officials said.