If you think that Desi sports like Kabaddi has lost its glory in the glamour games like IPL Cricket, read this. Ten nations including USA, England and Australia have confirmed their participation in the World Cup Kabaddi Punjab (WCKP) championship. The tournament is going to start from April 3rd.
The tournament will be organized at different venues across the state and it will be an annual event according to Vice-Chairman B S Majithia. The Rs. 2.16 crore tournament offer Rs. one crore to the winning team and Rs. 51 lakh for the runner-up side. Canada, Iran, Italy, Norway and Spain too have confirmed their participation apart from India.

After successfully launching ‘Dhanush’ and Prithvi-II on Saturday India today successfully test-fired its indigenously developed, N-capable, ballistic missile Agni-1 from the Integrated Test Range (ITR). With this India has successfully tested three N-capable missiles in last 36 hours.
The roaring Agni-I missile was launched at 13.05 hrs. IST. It is notable that Dhanush is water to air missile while Prithvi-II and Agni-I are surface to surface missiles. All these ballistic missiles have been developed by DRDO.

IGNOU’s National Centre for Disability Studies(NCDS) has announced admission for various Special Education Programmes (SEPs) in association with Rehabilitation Council of India (RCI).
On offer are M.Ed and B.Ed programmes in specialization areas of Hearing Impairment, Visual Impairment and Mental Retardation and Post Graduate Diploma programme (PGPD)and Post Graduate Certificate Programme(PGPC) in Hearing Impairment, Visual Impairment and Mental Retardation .
Candidates will have to clear an entrance test for B.Ed- Special education. Students will be selected on merit basis for M.Ed Special Education and students will be selected as per eligibility criteria for PGPD-SE and PGPC-SE programmes.

The Prospectus cum Application forms for the above programmes will be available from 5th April from IGNOU campus , Maidan Garhi and all regional centres. Candidates can also download the forms from the IGNOU website.

Indian Institute of Management, Kolkata has launched two programmes for business managers. Executive Program for Young Professionals (EPYP) and Executive Program in Business Management (EPBM), these two programmes will equip managers with the skills needed in the modern corporate world.

The certification programs have been designed to offer the maximum flexibility to aspirants,
and include a combination of classroom and campus training. Commenting on the launch, Indian Institute of Management Calcutta said, “These programs in particular, offer the right combination of interactive class room training along with on site classes, to ensure that students get a holistic learning experience while still pursuing their jobs.”

EPBM is designed to provide managers and professionals with a broad overview of the key
concepts, tools and techniques needed to successfully meet the challenges of today’s global business environment. Individual courses will give participants the knowledge needed to work cross-functionally within the organization and become more skilled in the basics of business management.

The one year programme will include Corporate Finance, Strategic Management, Information Technology in Management, Marketing Management, Behavioral Sciences, Cost Accounting, Financial Accounting, Human Resource Management,
Micro Economics, Macro Economics, Operations Management and Statistics.

Another programme EPYP will include overview of core business functions – Marketing, Finance and Control, Operations and Supply Chain Management and
HR; understand the role and tasks of a manager and key managerial skills; and managerial skills in select functional/job areas – one major and one minor area to be selected from Sales and Marketing / Finance and Control / Operations and Supply Chain Management.

Senior Journalist Siddharth Mishra has been elected new Chairman of Shaheed Bhagat Singh College. Ending a long period of uncertainty, the new governing body of Shaheed Bhagat Singh College was constituted on March 26. Mishra was unanimously elected as chairman of the governing body. The election was conducted by NK Chanda, nominee of Delhi University vice-chancellor. Mishra’s name was proposed by Dr BC Sehgal and Dr PK Khurana, the principals of Shaheed Bhagat Singh morning and evening colleges whereas seconded by the teacher representatives. Shaheed Bhagat Singh college is a Delhi University college maintained by Delhi government.
Sidharth Mishra has also served as chairman of the Maharaja Agrasen College and Shivajee college.

The aquatic life of river Yamuna is almost dead or in very bad situation not just due to the pollution but also the very slow water flow. This flow makes fish or other aquatic life practically not feasible in the stretch of 32 kms of Yamuna passes through Delhi. This has been found in a research of a scholar of Delhi School of Economics. The research scholar Vaneeta Chandna has been awarded Ph.D. by Delhi University this week.

“The minimum flow requirement for any river should be at least 285 cum/sec (cubic metre per second) but the flow in the river Yamuna in Delhi segment goes down to 5 cum/sec especially during summers. Hence, the aquatic life, needing a minimum flow of 10 cu m/sec, dies. So, even if the pollution is diverted from the river, it would not help the aquatic life unless the flow is maintained”, says the research.

The research, done under the guidance of Dr. R B Singh, also blames Delhi for pathetic condition of river Yamuna. “All pollutants lying on the surface of its basin are washed into the river, degrading its water quality …as a result the river no longer remains the source of water but becomes a channel which receives dirty waste water and transport downstream. Though Delhi covers only two percent of length and 0.5 percent of the basin area of the river, it contributes more than 70%of the waste water discharged into the river Yamuna everyday. The situation has become so grim that it has become a matter of great concern nationwide”, says the research.

It has also raised doubt about the sewage treatment plant saying it ‘inadequate’. According to findings only 46.4 percent of waste gets partial or full treatment and rest gets back into the river Yamuna through 17 open drains.

Heavy Metals & Fluoride:
Presence of heavy metals and Fluoride in Yamuna water is another major concern in the research. Though the concentration of heavy metals like magnesium, calcium etc. decreased during the post monsoon period the concentration of Fluoride remain same during the both pre and post monsoon period.

Raghu Menon, Secretary, Ministry of Information & Broadcasting, Government of India was elected as Chairman of the Inter-Governmental Council of the International Programme for Development of Communication (IPDC). This is for the first time in the history of IPDC that a developing country will be in the chair of the Inter-Governmental Council of the IPDC. Since its inception, the Chairmanship had always remained with developed countries. The candidature of the India, endorsed by Asia Pacific Regional Group and supported by countries from Africa, Arab and Lain American Region, won the election with 23 out of 37 votes against Switzerland who got 14 votes.

The Inter-Governmental Council of the IPDC was established in 1980 and implements national, regional and inter-regional projects in the areas of promotion of freedom of expression and media pluralism, development of community media, capacity building and promotion of international partnership.

In his acceptance speech, Raghu Menon thanked the members of the Inter-Governmental Council for reposing faith in his leadership and assured his full commitment for strengthening programme implementation under IPDC’s mandates. Apart from media development as a vehicle for fostering good governance, democracy and transparency, he also highlighted the need for media to be inclusive so as to ensure spread, reach and coverage of media accessibility to all the citizens. Inclusiveness would result in bridging the urban rural divide, reaching economically under-privileged sections of the society and to make full use of the technological advance to provide access to information at affordable costs. Shri Menon underlined the spin-off effect of the projects under implementation by IPDC in influencing policy formulation by Member States and underlined the importance of greater generation of resources for IPDC.

India has contributed US $ 1.4 million to IPDC Programme since its inception and is strongly committed to the Fund and its programmes. India will be Chair of the Inter-Governmental Council of IPDC till its next Session in 2012.
Source: PIB