India's first cloud-based system to drive 8 mn varsity students' admission

US-based Campus Management Corp has partnered Maharashtra government to roll out a single-window system for students' end-to-end solutions during the admission process.

In a move that will see creation of a single-window system for university students in Maharashtra, US-based edtech company Campus Management Corporation has partnered with the state government to roll out a cloud-based centralised structure to manage and track admission process.

The project, reportedly the first of its kind initiative in India, will digitalise the administrative and academic processes of all the 14 non-technical universities in the state.

The University Management System (UMS), which will be kicked off next week, will drive the admission process of about 8 million students for non-technical courses in Maharashtra from next year. US-based IT services provider UST Global is also a part of the project.

“We will track the students for the entire college cycle beginning from allotment of college to career services," said Raj Mruthyunjayappa, managing director, Campus Management Corporation.

UMS will look at all the criteria, including academic scores and reservation category of the candidates, before assigning them colleges. It will then track the academic performance, grades and attendance of the students through its cloud-based software. As the academic cycle gets over, UMS will connect the industry with the students' base for employment opportunities.

The whole system has been built by the Bengaluru team of the company on the Microsoft Azure cloud platform, which is one of the oldest partners of the US-based edtech firm.

ALSO READ: College entrance system needs an overhaul of the exam, not just the agency

Campus Management Corporation has started the process of hiring for the new Mumbai office, which will have about 100 engineers by the end of the year to track the system.

At 440, the company has the highest employee base in India around the globe. The Indian team also manages its sales and services outside America.

Among its major clients in India, the National Skill Development Corporation is already using Campus Management Corporation's platform. Last year, Maharashtra's Directorate of Vocational Education and Training project came on the Campus Management Corporation platform.

The company also provides software across the full student life cycle to 30 colleges in India, including IIM Udaipur.

Even though India is the second biggest market for the firm, the company does not see it surpassing the mature US market in the foreseeable future, the company's chief executive officer, Jim Milton, said.

With clients in over 35 countries, Milton said the company will be expanding its footprint to newer geographies in Latin America.

Campus Management Corporation has already set up operations in five new countries in the past two months, including South Africa, Nigeria, Spain, Portugal, and Denmark.

Article Source : BS

Long queues again? ATMs go dry as many states face cash crunch: Top updates

Several states are facing a cash shortage despite currency flows in the economy at the pre-demonetisation level

A cash crunch has been reported in several states of India -- Karnataka, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Telangana. People are facing a huge monetary crisis, with a majority of automated teller machines (ATMs) running out of cash. In Bihar's Patna several ATMs have gone 'out of service' causing inconvenience to the locals.

Taking stock of the situation, Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said: "We have reviewed the currency situation in the country; there is more than adequate currency circulation and it is available with the banks... a temporary shortage caused by the sudden and unusual increase in some areas is being tackled.

Here are the top developments in the crisis caused by a sudden shortage of cash across several states and what the government is saying:1. Life gets miserable for many Indians, especially traders: Despite the currency flow in the economy going back to the pre-demonetisation level, ATMs are going dry making life miserable for many residents, especially traders. Many are running from one ATM to another in search of currency notes.

ALSO READ: Demonetisation redux? ATMs again running dry across states amid cash crunch

2. Some ATMs not dispensing more than Rs 5,000: Only one ATM at State Bank of India’s branch had cash, but the machine was dispensing only up to Rs 5000 cash and that too only in the form of Rs 100 currency notes, according to The Times of India report.

The people in Delhi, on the other hand, said that most of the ATMs are dispensing only Rs 500 notes.

3.Hyderabad, Varanasi office-goers face troubles: In Hyderabad, office goers have told news agency ANI, that they have been unable to withdraw cash from ATMs in several parts of the city since yesterday. There are reports from Varanasi as well of people saying there is no cash at ATMs since yesterday, said TOI report.

However, people in Madhya Pradesh claimed that they have been facing a cash crunch for the last two weeks.

4. Govt's meeting with RBI on cash shortage across states: The finance ministry held a meeting with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), banks, and state government officials on Thursday to take stock of cash availability after receiving complaints of the dearth of money in some states. The non-release of funds by the Centre is being cited as one reason for the cash crunch.

Old bridge on Mumbai-Goa highway collapses; 2 buses, other vehicles missing

Old bridge on Mumbai-Goa highway collapses; 2 buses, other vehicles missing

At least two buses and several other vehicles went missing near Mahad city after a bridge on the Savitri River collapsed early on Wednesday due to torrential rains in the Konkan region.

The bridge, more than seven decades old and a critical link to the Mumbai-Goa national highway, crashed around 1 a.m. due to the flood waters rushing into the river.

Two state transport buses with 11 passengers each were missing and there was no contact with either their drivers or the passengers, Raigad Collector Sheetal Ugale said.

Since the Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation buses — which started from Mumbai — did not arrive at their scheduled Mahad depot, Ugale appealed people to get in touch with the concerned authorities about their missing relatives.(more)

Keenan-Reuben murder: All four accused found guilty; sentenced to life imprisonment

A special women's court on Thursday convicted all four men accused in the 2011 Amboli murder of KeenanReuben Fernandez and sentenced them to life imprisonment.

Special Public Prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam said the court has held them guilty under Section 302 as well as Section 354 of the IPC.

"We prayed today that all the accused be sentenced forlife imprisonment and court has awarded the same," he added.

The four men Jitesha Rana, Sunil Bodh, Satish Dulhaj and Dipak Tival have been in jail since their arrest on October 20, 2011, the night of the murder.

Keenan, 24, and Reuben, 29, were attacked outside a popular eatery in Amboli in Mumbai's Andheri on October 20, 2011.Read More.

Kicked out of Maharashtra: How the HC order will affect IPL 2016

The ninth iteration of the Indian Premier League (IPL) has run into the mother of all roadblocks — in the form of the Bombay High Court's Wednesday order that all IPL matches scheduled in Maharashtra after April 30 be shifted elsewhere in view of the severe drought in the state.

The order came despite an assurance by the Board Of Control For Cricket In India (BCCI) that IPL franchises of Mumbai and Pune had agreed to contribute Rs 5 crore to the chief minister’s drought relief fund.

Additionally, the BCCI on Tuesday had assured the Bombay High Court that untreated sewage water would be used to maintain pitches for the seventeen IPL matches to be played in Mumbai and Pune.

Despite all arguments set in front of the court by the BCCI, the court said: “We agree that merely shifting of IPL matches out of the state will not be a solution but this can be a beginning to address the drought situation in Maharashtra. Several people are dying because of water scarcity in the state. This court cannot ignore the plight of such people.

”What led to the judgement in the first place:

 A public interest litigation filed by NGO Loksatta Movement, challenging the use of large quantities of water in stadiums despite the state being drought-hit, brought the matter to the attention of the Bombay High Court.

Earlier this month, the high court had questioned the rationale of organising these matches in Maharashtra when the state is under drought.

"How can you waste water like this? Are people more important or IPL? How can you be so careless," the court had said while hearing the suit, adding, "This is criminal wastage. You know the situation in Maharashtra."

The matter had escalated further when Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis refused to provide potable water for maintaining the pitches and said that he was not bothered even if the matches were shifted out of the state.

"My government has taken strong position in the High Court. We have said that we will not provide potable water for IPL for this season. We don't have any problem even if IPL is shifted, but no potable water will be provided," he had told the media.

Latur water crisis worsens: city suffers more than rural areas

It is 11:30 am. The bright sun is blazing on a field in Bhatangli village in Latur district of Maharashtra, some 500 km from Mumbai. Asha Bhagotmale and her neighbours walked four km before they could find a field where a kind farmer is sharing his borewell water with people like her.

“We have to walk a few km every day in search of water,” Bhagotmale says. She usually starts her day at 6 am in search of water but in these days of scarcity, she sometimes has to set out at midnight. “I have to fill any kind of water; even if it is not potable, I can at least use that for doing other chores,” she says.

Latur water crisis: In Latur town, the government sends a tanker every 20-30 days, and locals have to depend on private operators to procure water.

Miles of fertile, black soil farms are dried, and the crisis has pierced hamlets such as Bhatangli, Bhatkheda and Sonavati. With two more months of summer round the corner, where the mercury can soar above 40 degree celsius, Latur and the neighbouring districts of Beed and Osmanabad, in the Marathwada region, are facing one of the worst droughts in four decades. Marathwada is largely an agricultural belt in Maharashtra, one of the most industrialised states of the country.

As rains turned deceptive for a third year in a row, the crisis aggravated. In 2015, the state received 59.4 per cent deficient rainfall while the national shortfall was 14 per cent compared to the normal.

The drought in the region is so bad that stored water in the dams of Marathwada are as low as five-six per cent; last year, it was 18 per cent at this time. The groundwater level in the region has dipped at an alarming rate. Most of the rivers and reservoirs in Latur district are dry. Manjara dam, which is the source of water in Beed, Osmanabad and Latur districts, has dried completely.