The existing Civil Services (Prelim) Examination will be replaced by Civil Services Aptitude Test (CSAT). Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has given approval for the proposal for introduction of the Aptitude Test for Civil Services Examination. This has been informed by Prithvi Raj Chavan, Minister of State of Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions in the Lok Sabha today. According to the Minister the CSAT is expected to come into effect from Civil Services Examination, 2011.

It is notable that UPSC had recommended to replace Preliminary exam into Civil Services Aptitude Test. On November 12th last year UPSC Chairman DP Agrawal said in a function that the proposed Aptitude Test would have two objective papers for all participants of the examination. The recommendations have been made on the basis of Administrative Reforms Commission’s report.

Earlier, President Pratibha Devisingh Patil in her lecture at UPSC on “Governance and Public Services” on 12th November asked the commission to bring reforms in the selection process and public services. In her address she said “There are several issues on which fresh perspectives are always required so as to bring in reforms. Some of the pertinent questions are whether the selection procedure adequately looks for qualities and skills required in a changing environment in which Civil services work… Better systems of selection will in the long run have a positive effect on the quality of governance.”

Result of Indian Forest Service (IFtS) has been declared. UPSC has announced a list of 84 successful candidates. The merit list includes 33 OBCs, 12 SC and 7 ST candidates. There are 85 vacancies in the concerned department. For more detail candidates can consult UPSC or its website http://www.upsc.gov.in .

IGNOU has told its management students to complete their programme within eight years. Failing to complete the course management students will have to get admission in the respective courses afresh.
According to Ravi Mohan, Chief PRO, IGNOU, it is difficult to maintain records of huge number of students for the university as over 3.8 lakh students have been studying different management courses for over ten or eight years.
“There was no upper limit to complete management courses till now. This limit has been implemented recently. All students exceeding the limit must complete their course by this year”, Ravi Mohan told fachcha.com.
There are old 3.81 lakh students of Management programmes of IGNOU and MBA(B&F) have been informed to successfully complete all the requirements for the award of Degrees/ Diploma by December 2010 term-end examination. If they fail, they will have to seek fresh admission to complete the left-over courses, he adds.
IGNOU conducts several management courses at undergraduate and post graduate level. Other courses have upper limit to complete the course.

The Kalinga Chair for the year 2009 has been awarded to Prof. Yashpal, Chancellor, JNU and former UGC Chairman New Delhi and Prof. Trinh X. Thuan, Department of Astronomy, USA. The awards have been given for their extra-ordinary contributions in communicating science to people, who have jointly won the International UNESCO Kalinga Prize for Science Popularization for the year 2009.
National Council for Science & Technology Communication (NCSTC), Dept. of Science and Technology (DST) announced its annual national awards for Science communication for the year 2009 to recognize the outstanding work in the field of Science communication. The awardees in different categories include Dinesh C. Sharma, DD Ozha, Manas Pratim Das, Takhellambam Robindro Singh and N. Ramadurai. The awards have been given away by Science and Technology Minister Prithvi Raj Chavan on Friday in a function.

R B Mankar has been appointed as the new Vice-Chancellor of Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Technological University, Raigad. Mankar, a Chemical Engineer and Ph.D. from IIT has been Director of Laxminarayan Institute of Technology, Nagpur till now. 48-year old Mankar has written one book and 18 international publications on various topics. He has been appointed Vice-Chancellor for next five years.