Surbhi Bhatia/TNN

EVERY time you think of womenscientists, you can’t help but thinkof Marie Curie or DorothyHodgkin. In fact, how many of useven know that women scientistsin India have made important con-tributions to science? In order tohighlight the achievements ofIndian women scientists, theIndian Academy of Science,Bangalore (IASB), has published abook titled Lilavati’s Daughter:The Women Scientists in India. Asthe name suggests, the book is acollection of autobiographies andbiographies of about 100 womenscientists of India. The name isdrawn from The Lilavati, a 12th cen-tury treatise in which mathemati-cian Bhaskaracharya addresses anumber of problems to his daugh-ter Lilavati.

The publication of the book canbe attributed to the efforts put inby the Women in Science panel ofIASB to promote the cause of sci-ence among women. “One impor-tant issue that the panel is dealingwith is the under-representation ofwomen in sciences in India.

Around 20 to 30% of the womenpursue PhD but how many of themgo on to become scientists? Wewant young girls to take up sci-ence. So, we thought it might beinspirational for youngsters tolearn about women scientists,”said Rohini Godbole, one of thetwo editors of the book and chairof the Women in Science panel.

The book puts together a biogra-phical sketch of influential womenscientists of earlier generations tounderline the fact that we have rolemodels within the country. “Wethought it was important for younggirls with research ambitions toknow of women figures whoachieved their goals in the Indiansocial and academic environment,”said Godbole. “We want to promotethe cause of science amongwomen. Very few are aware of thefact that women are paidequally well just asscientists in government depart-ments and that they have highgrowth prospects,” said DBalasubramanian, president,IASB.

Godbole also informed that in

order to find out why a lessernumber of women become scien-tists despite doing their PhD, theacademy has decided to carry outa nation wide survey of 1,500women.

The book was released at the74th annual meeting of the IndianAcademy of Science that was heldat the Indian Institute ofTechnology, Delhi, recently. Everyyear, the academy organises meet-ings to present lectures of theelected fellows of the academy.Formed in 1934 by CV Raman, theacademy aims to promote thecause of science, both in the pureand applied branches.

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British Council to focus on vocational educationProyashi Barua/TNN

SALLY Goggin has been appointed the newfirst secretary-education of British Councilin India. She feels that this is perhaps theright time to focus on vocational educationand that although India has a rich heritage ofvocational skills, “there is a need to upgradethe institutions that impart vocational edu-cation so that they can create a more employ-able workforce.”

Goggin further explains how in the UKthere is a significant thrust on vocationaleducation as most of the students opting outof higher education go for vocational cours-es. Keeping that in mind, the British Councilintends to facilitate a channel of communi-cation between both the countries andenable a meaningful exchange in terms ofteaching. This will include inspection ofexisting infrastructure and equipment invocational institutes, capacity building,teacher training, syllabus improvisation andalso reviewing the process of certification.

In fact, in a couple of months’ time, repre-sentatives from the British Council will bemeeting World Bank representatives toengage in a pertinent policy dialogue.

So far, the British Council has linked 500schools in India with schools in the UK.Goggin is keen to triple the number duringher tenure. She also intends to go beyondmere student exchange programmes andinvolve students in more collaborative andparticipative projects through video confer-encing.

Another area that Goggin plans to takeinterest in is to strengthen research collabo-rations both in the contemporary and tradi-tional areas. Incidentally, the ResearchCouncil of UK has just established their firstever office in India, and British Council willbe working in tandem with it. Also,developing leadership of institutions will beone of Goggin’s priorities. The BritishCouncil is already on its way to initiatingdiscussions with the director of theUniversity Grants Commission.

AFTER achieving success in thehardcore technical field, Sam

Pitroda, chairman, NationalKnowledge Commission (NKC), isnow on a mission to bring aboutanother revolution of sorts inknowledge-related institutes in thecountry. Pitroda does not believein setting up everything in orderand then thinking about thechange. A case in point is the set-ting up of new IITs as a result ofrecommendations made by theNKC under Pitroda’s leadership.

He hails from a Gujarati familysettled in Orissa. He adds: “I wasraised in a small tribal village ofOrissa. The village had no electric-ity, no water and no schools. Theonly connection between our fami-ly and Gujarat was MahatmaGandhi. Later, I was sent toGujarat for pursuing myeducation. In fact, I was the firstperson from my family to study ina college.”

Pitroda was a student of physicsand it was during his college years

that he heard about the US sendinga man to the moon. “When I read itin the newspaper, I wanted to be inUS. And even though I had nomoney in hand, I somehow man-aged to make it to the US. My PhDtook seven years to complete, afterwhich I opted for a yearlong coursein electrical engineering and soonafter entered a telecom company”informs Pitroda. Eventually, hebecame a successful entrepreneurin US. And yet, he returned toIndia. “One day, when I wanted totalk to my wife, the telephone linesjust did not work. It was at thatmoment I wanted to do somethingfor the telecom sector and decidedto come back to India,” saysPitroda.

Once back, he even got theopportunity to work with thenPrime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. Heelaborates: “We faced criticismfrom all corners. But, we startedthe journey and now the world has

recognised India’s potential in thetelecom sector.” But, after RajivGandhi’s death, hard times wereonce again upon Pitroda. “I ranout of money, went back to USagain under tourist visa, as I hadgiven up US citizenship. Betweenthat I also suffered from two heartattacks and cancer. But, this wasmy life’s journey. And it has taughtme to carry on despite hardtimes,” he recalls.

As for his success mantra,Pitroda believes, “It is importantto have self confidence and to workhard. Do not expect things tochange overnight. They willchange gradually.”

FROM HUMBLE BEGINNINGSSAM PITRODA BECAME A SUCCESSFUL ENTREPRENEUR IN THE US BUT DECIDED TO COME BACK TO INDIA BECAUSE

THE PHONE LINES DIDN’T WORK. TODAY, HE’S KNOWN AS THE MAN BEHIND REVOLUTIONISING THE COUNTRY'STELECOM SECTOR AND MORE. SURBHI BHATIA REPORTS

SUCCESS MANTRA

Change in placement strategiesby DU departments

Surbhi Bhatia/TNN

AT a time when students across disciplines areworried about their placements due to the econom-ic slowdown, it is intriguing to know what studentspursuing courses in finance, the worst hit sector inthe slowdown are going through. Ironically though,they are not worried. This is especially true for stu-dents of two of the departments of DelhiUniversity (DU) — department of financial studies(DFS) and the department of business economics(DBE). Though the focus of the courses offered byboth these departments are different, both depart-ments depend heavily on the banking, finance andinsurance sector for the final placements.

While DFS is adopting new placement strategiesDBE is planning to shift focus towards more aca-demic and research-oriented jobs. The maximumnumber of students from the last batch of DFSreceived placement offers from the investmentbanking sector, which was followed by capital mar-kets. So are students worried in this situation?“Placement has never been an issue with ourdepartment since we have a small batch. But, sincewe only have options in finance we have reworkedon our strategies,” said Muneesh Kumar, professorand co-ordinator, admissions and placements, DFS.While elaborating on them, he said, “We will try tofocus on segments where the impact is less. We arealso trying to evaluate new opportunities this glob-al meltdown will throw for finance people.” Kumarwent on to add that once companies go for restruc-turing they would require more analysts,researchers and consultants.

The department, according to Kumar, would alsoapproach companies that had long standing rela-tions with them. He is also of the view that freshgraduates and interns will be at a gaining end. “Ifcompanies want to reduce cost they will preferrecruiting fresh graduates than paying highersalaries to existing employees. Also, companieswill involve interns in more projects to get workdone,” opined Kumar. “It is the front-end jobs in thefinance sector that have got affected but since dur-

ing our course we underwent training for corefinancial services that are still in demand we arebetter off,” said Deepak Jotwani, a student of DFS.

When it comes to DBE, students have beenthinking of opting for other areas. DBE offers atwo-year postgraduate course called Master’s ofbusiness economics. “We equip students on howto apply economic theory into practice. Studentsfrom our department usually branch out as busi-ness analysts, financial planners, marketing man-agers, business consultants, stock exchange ana-lysts and now also as journalists,” informed

Aradhna Aggarwal, head, DBE. “The advantageof the course offered by our department is thatour students specialise in more than one subject.Hence, though it is true that lesser number offinance companies and banks will recruit thistime, our students are equipped to pursue otheroptions,” she maintains. According to Aggarwal,students are getting more attracted towardsresearch firms, analysis, academics and market-ing. “One interesting shift that we have witnessedis increasing interest in academics, governmentjobs and PSUs,” she added.

IN PRINTThe UK government has published an implementationplan for the student tier of the Points Based System.Known as Tier 4, the new system will protect students fromexploitation by unrecognised colleges and ensure that stu-dents comply with the terms of their visas to study. One ofthe key benefits is that now students will be able to workout whether they have sufficient points to qualify beforethey make a visa application. This new system will berolled out gradually from March 2009.

DUBAI ROLLInstitute of Management Technology, Dubai hasopened the admission process of the new batch for itstwo-year full-time MBA programme that will commencein January 2009. The eligibility for this programme is aBachelor’s degree or its equivalent with minimum 50%marks from a recognised university. The last date forapplying is December 5.

Power of Indian women scientists unravelled

Photo: Ganesh Chandra

Photo: Ganesh Chandra