Yogesh Avasthi

The admission committee will use raw percentile scores of students to prepare merit list this year; officials claim new formula is more transparent than last year’s which used normalised scores of various boards and JEE Yogesh Avasthi Posted On Saturday, April 26, 2014  http://www.ahmedabadmirror.com/article/2/20140426201404260300329061bc5ee38/Admission-panel-has-a-new-formula-ready.html Wiser after facing parental protests and legal battle, Admission Committee for Professional Courses (ACPC) has prepared a more transparent method in preparing the merit list this year. The formula being considered uses the raw percentile scores of students as against the benchmarking against Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) scores, officials in the know said. A large number of parents were up in arms against ACPC’s method of preparing merit list for admission to engineering and pharmacy colleges last year. Their contention was that the formula was against the interest of CBSE students. Twenty...

Modi stood for monitor’s post when he was 13, and got surprise victory over two students; he courageously fought for students’ issues with a strict principal, reminisce his former classmates Yogesh Avasthi Posted On Friday, April 25, 2014  A sea of saffron swept through the lanes of Varanasi as BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi led the way to the district magistrate’s office to file his nomination from the holy town on Thursday. For Modi, election is child’s play, literally. He contested his first election at the tender age of 13. Modi stood for the class representative’s post and, against all odds, trounced two popular students to achieve victory. “Modi’s qualities of leadership, dedication and strong will were quite evident as a child,” says ayurvedic practitioner Sudhir Joshi, who is Modi’s childhood friend. Modi studied from Class 1 to Class 5 at Vadnagar Prathmik Kumar Shala no 1. Then, he studied till Class 11 at Shri Bhagavatacharya Narayanacharya (also kno...

Instead of questions straight from books, tech varsity plans new pattern that will test aspiring engineers’ reasoning, creative thinking and critical understanding Yogesh Avasthi Posted On Monday, April 14, 2014 http://www.ahmedabadmirror.com/article/2/20140414201404140253086713c50e3a0/No-learnbyrote-GTU-students-will-now-have-to-think.html Engineering students will have to tax their reasoning and creative faculty as against the current rote learning to clear their university examinations. This, because Gujarat Technological University has planned a fundamental change in question pattern that universities in the state have been following for close to a quarter century. The changes will be notified on GTU website in the first week of August, officials said. Even teachers will have to work harder on preparing the papers. Instead of drawing questions directly from the book, which encourages memorising lessons, now the questions would be more logical in nature, pushing the student to thi...

So allege players visiting district sports complex in Khokhra; say nothing is being done despite repeated complaints about unclean premises and lack of basic facilities Yogesh Avasthi Posted On Monday, April 14, 2014 http://www.ahmedabadmirror.com/article/3/2014041420140414211806843df9bdd0/No-lights-no-curtains-no-parking-space-at-Khokhra-sports-complex.html While the state government is walking the extra mile, promoting sports by building grand sports universities and big sports complexes, local sports centres seem to be lying in neglect. One such example is the District Sports Complex at Khokhra. Recently, people registered a complaint about the sorry state of affairs here with the complex director, seeking better facilities and proper upkeep of the premises. Over 400 people visit this complex daily to play a variety of sports like badminton, table tennis, etc. They feel that the complex lacks basic facilities for participants and there has been no change in the attitude of authori...

Tension brews on GU campus as bright MA students fail semester-1 exam, blame faulty assessment; acknowledging discrepancy, VC promises to set up probe into the matter Yogesh Avasthi Posted On Tuesday, April 08, 2014 http://www.ahmedabadmirror.com/article/2/201404082014040802495431260b230c/OFF-THE-MARK.html Students are usually worried before exam, and relieved once they get the results in hand. For first year MA students, this is not the case. Several students in semester-1 were stupefied on seeing their results which were declared 10 days ago. Having scored excellent marks throughout their academic life, they were stunned to see low scores that can mar their career prospects. Claiming that most of them have scored badly in certain subjects due to faulty evaluation, students stormed the pro vice-chancellor and vice-chancellor’s offices on Tuesday seeking re-evaluation. Many even threatened to file RTI applications to see the evaluated answersheets. More than 250 students lodged formal...

Buying flats for up to Rs 2 crore in upmarket Bodakdev has brought a host of problems to 38 owners; they have approached the court after Vastrapur police allegedly refused to file complaint against the builder Yogesh Avasthi Posted On Friday, March 28, 2014 http://www.ahmedabadmirror.com/article/2/2014032820140328024438359a5fa8f2e/RESIDENTS-TAKE-ERRING-BUILDER-TO-THE-COURT.html Feeling shortchanged by their builder and betrayed by cops, about 40 flat owners in Bodakdev have approached Gujarat High Court to direct the police to file their complaint. The High Court, in turn has asked them to go to appropriate court for redressal. Houses worth crores of rupees in Pearl-36 residential complex in the upmarket neighbourhood did not bring a hassle-free, comfortable living to 38 people as they had expected. It is not even a year since they bought these houses paying up to Rs 2 crore, and they are facing problems like moisture seeping through walls, plaster and floor tiles coming out, inadequ...

14 students of Om Engineering College in Junagadh called up anti-ragging helpline after being scolded; apologise later Yogesh Avasthi Posted On Friday, March 21, 2014 http://www.ahmedabadmirror.com/article/3/2014032120140321015832812573e5f9f/Pulled-up-for-smoking-engg-students-accuse-teacher-of-ragging.html There was uproar in Gujarat Technical University after a few students of Om Engineering College in Junagadh accused their HoD of ragging them and called up the varsity’s anti-ragging helpline number. According to sources, 14 students of first year Bachelor of Technology (Civil, Mechanical and Electrical streams) felt they were being harassed by HoD Brijesh Garala after he pulled them up for smoking. The matter came to light after the varsity, the college, and the area’s police officer were informed of the students’ complaint by the anti-ragging cell. According to sources, these students had gone out for a smoke on March 12. “When they returned to the common room, Garala smelt ciga...

Junior Doctors Association chief writes to UGC’s anti-ragging panel, accusing dean of pressuring senior students into accepting guilt in ragging case; says the 3 suspended students are innocent while dean says strong message against ragging has to go out Yogesh Avasthi Posted On Saturday, March 08, 2014 http://www.ahmedabadmirror.com/article/2/2014030820140308040213781a558118/BJ-dean-victimising-medicos-alleges-doctors%E2%80%99-associationBJ-dean-victimising-medicos-alleges-doctors%E2%80%99-association.html The controversy surrounding the ragging of freshmen by seniors at B J Medical College refuses to die down with the Junior Doctors Association (JDA) president Vishal Chaudhary taking up the cudgels on behalf of those held guilty and suspended. He has written to UGC’s anti-ragging committee accusing Dean Bharat Shah of pressuring the accused into accepting their guilt. “He is out to finish their career,” Chaudhary alleged. Claiming that the students are innocent, he sought fresh inv...

Railway passengers travelling in general coach are allotted numbers on their tickets by Railway Police Force, according to which they are seated; method is supposed to eliminate the illegal interference by touts and coolies Yogesh Avasthi Posted On Friday, February 28, 2014 http://www.ahmedabadmirror.com/article/3/2014022820140228022238703b1054f6b/Get-a-number-take-a-seat.html Next time you are travelling on an unreserved ticket, you won’t have to dole out extra money to get a seat on the train. To ensure this, Ahmedabad’s Railway Protection Force has started numbering the tickets of passengers waiting in the queue near the general compartment. “The passenger will be seated according to these numbers, thus ascertaining that touts and coolies are not able to make money by illegally blocking the seats and selling them to passengers,” a railway official said. The official further added, “Daily, thousands of people travel to various destinations on unreserved tickets. There have be...