There are many ways Kalam is described: Inspirational, Great human being, Peerless Scientist; but for me he will remain sui-generis. I spent three Delhi winters as his Director Finance (1995-1998); he was no easy boss to work him as he does not take No for an answer. And the finance guys often have to administer this bitter pill! Here are a few reminiscences which will capture rare facets of this unique son of India.
He had a rare trust for his associates who had practically no personal life. He had a brush with the Public Accounts Committee (1996) who had selected an audit para castigating a missile laboratory severely. Despite our best efforts Kalam refused to approve a reply which was to be sent to the PAC Secretariat. Inderjit Gupta, the Chairman, opened the discussion by pointing out that they all recognize Dr. Kalam’s contribution as a scientist; but he cannot defy parliamentary convention. All eyes were on Kalam. Completely unruffled he asked Dr. Saraswat, presently Member NITI Aayog, to make a presentation on the activities of DRDO. All MPs sat glued completely enraptured and at the end of it the applause was deafening; I saw Dr. Murli Manohar Joshi nudging Inderjit Gupta to join the chorus. Kalam was indeed a charmer; he made a brief intervention & said, what is of utmost priority for him is that India improves its self reliance in critical technology significantly. For him what are at stake are the faith of his countrymen that he will deliver and the trust of his associates who work for the success of these strategic programs unflinchingly. He will neither betray the country nor his fully dedicated associates. Kalam was a blind acolyte of Dr. Vikram Sarabhai and space was his first odyssey in life. I noticed in 1995 that the blazer that he was wearing had patches all over and looked completely frayed. When I asked him as to why he was not going for a change, he recounted how it was gifted by Sarabhai when he was going to the USA for the first time during winter. He said in Delhi’s blustery winter and its mercurial men, he feels very assured in this sartorial protection! When I interviewed him in 2011 for my book on India’s Offset Policy and Self Reliance, I saw the same blazer and the glint in his eyes connected us to our old conversation! Kalam had this habit of getting interesting paper cuttings from the colleagues every day. He used to send them back next day with his illegible scribbling. Once my son sent him (1996) an article on how the Ridley Turtles were dying in great numbers during missile test firing at Chandipur. The cutting came back a week later with a typed reply which said “Science & nature have to coexist. We have decided to stop test firing during the breeding season; it’s a suboptimal solution; hope you will bear with us”. Dr. Kalam came to my office in 2010 when I introduced Spandy to him; he said “Oh, the Ridley Turtle Guy”! Kalam, even before became the President, had a wonderful global connect. I recall how one of our Industrial Employees from NSTL, Vizag during a test firing in the Cavitation Tunnel at Kirghizstan; lost his life. It was a Saturday & our Ambassador had thrown up his hands saying that the body can be sent to India only on Monday. The family was understandably distraught. Kalam came to know of it while in midst of a meeting. He recalled that the Prime Minister of Kirgizstan was possibly Dr. Apas Jumagulov, an old buddy and Professor of Physics whom he had met in Moscow in 1988. Lo & Behold the connection worked real wonders and the mortal remains of a modest industrial employee came in Kirgy PM’s aircraft, reached Vizag in few hours’ time. And Kalam was there to receive the casket. No wonder he is called the People’s President. It’s such an irony that the hoi polloi at his old residence at 10, Rajaji Marg were kept at a distance; so that the VIPs have ‘elite darshan’. So much for our Rule of Law! Dr. Kalam had two dreams; one to improve India’s Self Reliance Index (SRI) in Defence Acquisition from 30% to 70%, and to “Provide Urban Amenities to Rural Areas” (PURA). We have hardly moved on the first mandate. He told me during out interaction in 2011 that there is a lack of political will for self reliance. As regards PURA the recently released Socio Economic and Caste Census (2011) adequate testimony to the dismal picture of our rural landscape; where 70% are in casual employment, 36% are illiterates and only 4% have access to credit through Kisan Card. Our Jan Dhan scheme masks these grim realities. Kalam lived a very frugal life, was extremely erudite; he went to the Rashrapati Bhawan with two suitcases, and left it without any additional weight. Indians of every hue tried to reach him; parents with the painting of their children; poets with their musings and the marginalized with their outstretched hands which he clasped warmly. He walked briskely, often out pacing youngsters like us. In a sense he brought visions of the Dandi March! It was, therefore, ironical to see that he had to be helped to get up at Shillong. Dr. Kalam never wore his religion on his sleeve; nor did he flinch to call a spade a spade as he did in the ‘office of profit’ bill case. He new for sure, drunk in the elixir of populism, he would be denied a second term. He was a tad bitter about it but the loss was that of a nation. Otherwise you won’t find a photograph where the most venerated Air Force officer Marshal of the Air, Arjan Singh at the age of 96 would rise from his wheel chair to salute the mortal remains of a gentle colossus who “did not have the feet of the clay”. When I spoke to him last fortnight inviting him to KIIT International School, Bhubaneswar he said it would be during winter. As Robert Frost would say “The woods are lovely, dark and deep, But you have promises to keep, And miles to go before we sleep, And miles to go before we sleep”
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                                   Sir........ we will miss you29/7/2015 It is very painful and unfortunate that a Great visionary, Great Scientist, Nationalist to the core, Great Human being, always thinking about well beings of we common people, Leader in true sense, Hero of young generation, the only person to become so popular after Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose, tallest amongst all contemporary leaders, the only person to have so much respect, love and affections amongst the masses, is no more with us today. No words to express our grief.
Former president A P J Abdul Kalam, the 'missile man' who came to be known as 'People's President' passed on Monday after he collapsed during a lecture at the IIM Shillong on Monday evening. Considered the most popular President, Kalam became the 11th head of the state and occupied the post between 2002 and 2007 but lack of consensus denied a second term in office for a man who came from outside political spectrum. The country's first bachelor President, Kalam, whose flowing grey hair is seen as being at odds with what Indians thought a president ought to look like, was one among the most respected people of the country who contributed immensely both as a scientist and as a President. Acknowledged as the driving force behind India's quest for cutting-edge defence technologies, Kalam's contributions to India's satellite programmes, guided and ballistic missiles project, nuclear weapons programme and the Light Combat Aircraft project made him a household name. A seven-day national mourning will be declared by the Centre, Union Home Secretary L C Goyal said. Both the houses of Parliament are likely to make obituary references and adjourn as a mark of respect to his memory. As president, Kalam utilised any opportunity that came to him to address students, especially school children, to dream big so that they became achievers in life. President Pranab Mukherjee, Vice-President Hamid Ansari, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Rajnath Singh and leaders cutting across party lines condoled the demise of the former President. Modi described him as 'marg darshak' while the home minister termed him as an inspiration to an entire generation. KiiT International School and library pay rich tribute to our beloved Ex president Dr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam. He deserves a huge kudos for all he has given and done for the nation. Such an amazing inspiration, not just his deeds , even his words would make the listener feel energized. Hats off to such an ardent patriot, teacher & scientist. May all of us keep learning from his works and words. We all salute you and hope that you will continue to inspire our youth for generations, Such person never die, they are immortal and always will live in our memory and heart. Please go through this video, it shows his love on children, books, library and more......... International Conference on Children's Libraries, New Delhi, Feb 4 2010 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M-TkPcBisqs officialkalam.com https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCekjc2xMYTKwbujFuoPedyQ India pay tribute http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/India-pays-tribute-to-Kalam-Who-said-what/articleshow/48243850.cms In USA http://www.americanbazaaronline.com/2015/07/27/apj-abdul-kalam-reactions-from-the-united-states-on-the-indian-presidents-death/ Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â KALAM SIR..................WE SALUTE YOU29/7/2015 CBSE Introducing Library and Information Science as a new elective for classes XI-XII from session 2014-15
Central Board of Secondary Education(CBSE) Introducing Library and Information Science from the Academic year 2014-15 for Class XI and XII. The Course is defined with the following objectives:-
Details of the same Order, Application form, Syllabus and the Teacher qualification etc. are available at the website please visit below given link and also find the attached file. http://www.cbseacademic.in/circulars.html http://www.cbseacademic.in/web_material/Circulars/2014/7_LIS.pdf I think this will help you · Required Reference Titles for a CBSE School Library Introduction: Hotels are amongst the most visible and important aspects of a country's infrastructure and is closely linked with the tourism industry. As new & big hotels are opening in various places, value of trained hotel management professionals are gradually increasing. It is taken as one of the most glamorous careers opportunity. Hotel management involves combination of various skills like management, food and beverage service, housekeeping, front office operation, sales and marketing, accounting. To be successful in hotel management, you need the energy and enthusiasm to keep your team motivated day in day out, and to be able to stay interested in the job even when you’re doing routine tasks. You need to be able to think on your feet, be creative and know how to plan and organise. If you have these qualities, you like dealing with people and have a good knowledge of finance and business principles, hotel management is an area for you where you can progress rapidly. Eligibility : The minimum qualification required to go for a course in hotel management is 10+2. For certificate, diploma and bachelors courses 10+2 is sufficient. Duration of certificate courses is six months to one year. Bachelor and diploma courses are of duration one and half to three years. Personality traits : Students looking for a career in hotel management should have strong communication and interpersonal skills, reasoning skills, numerical aptitude and pleasing personality. They should have a good organizational background, strong commitment and self-discipline. One must be an extrovert, co-operative, polite and respectful to the guests, have patience to deal guest criticism even when you know you are right, willing to work hard even at odd hours and yet be cheerful. Courses : Since you ate considering education beyond class 12, you should be looking into the Hotel Management courses are usually of three-year duration leading to the grant of a diploma / degree. However, some degree courses are also of four years duration. Hotel Management courses at all institutes offer a blend of therotical and practical training. Students are given hands-on training in running of a hotel so that they can apply their theoretical learning to real-life situations and learn how to improve adapt. Placements / Job prospects : Students graduating from established institutes of hotel management have lucrative and interesting openings in various fields like Hotel & Restaurant management, Airline Catering and Cabin Services, Club management, Cruise Ship Hotel Management, Hospital administration and catering, Hotel and Tourism Associations, Institutional Management (supervising canteens in college, schools, in factories, company guest houses etc.), Catering departments of railways, banks, armed forces, shipping companies defence etc How to get started: There are multiple job profiles in hotel management and depending upon the candidates' education, work experience, the positions are offered. However, in order to work in top level or middle-level management candidates must have a degree in travel management. Whereas some hotels hire graduates straight from universities, some other hotels hire only trained hotel management graduates. Candidates can do degree course in hotel management soon after 10+2 which are offered by various hotel management institutes. The minimum selection criteria for an undergraduate course in hotel management is 10+2 with 50% marks. However, candidates who do not have 50% marks in +2 can do diploma or certificate course in hotel management which are being offered by various institutes. Additionally, some hotels provide training cum job placement and candidates who do not have other options can opt for it. Indian hotel management institutes conduct entrance exams before selecting the candidates for various courses. Course Fee The course fee depends upon the rank and reputation of hotel management colleges. Garden City College at Bangalore charges around Rs 3,50,000 for the three year graduate course, Christ College, Bangalore charges Rs 48,0000 per semester for 4 year BHM course. Similarly, a graduate course in hotel management at IHM Chennai can cost Rs 37,500 per semester. Students can also go for diploma courses offered by the same institutes. Scholarship Many hotel management institutes offer merit based concessions on fees to eligible candidates.Some institutes provide discounts to sponsored candidates who come for training. Junior Research Fellowship is offered to those candidates who are willing to explore their career in academics. Students looking for external funding can apply for low interest rate loan offered by most of the nationalised banks like Allahabad Bank, Bank of Baroda, PNB, IDBI, etc. Students of all the hotel management institutes which are affiliated with AICTE are eligible to get a loan of Rs 7.50 lakh for studying in India and Rs 15 lakh to study outside India. The low interest rate education loan can be repaid in 5-7 years of duration in equal instalments starting one year after the completion of the course. Salary Package Remuneration in hotel management industry differs depending upon the hotel management institute the candidate passed out from, work experience, skills and ability to handle tough situations. Those who come from top notch hotel management institutes such as IHM receive starting salary of Rs 20,000 or more. Similarly, candidates with diploma or certification programs can get salaries starting from Rs 8,000 to 10,000 . Again the salary package differs a lot on the size and shape of the employment company. Large hotel chains offer attractive remuneration and pamper their employees. International Focus Hilton hotel chain, Ramada hotel chain, Hyatt hotel chain, La Quinta hotel chain, Marriott hotel chain, Radisson hotel chain, Days Inn hotel chain, Best Western hotel chain, etc offer attractive career option for hotel management graduates from top notch hotel management institutes. Hotel management graduates working in the USA hotels get minimum salary in the range of US$ 6000 to 7000. Many hotels in the USA provide high paying part-time jobs at various positions. The Career Path · The General Manager : Such professionals are responsible for all operations in a hotel. As the GM, you will work closely with your Heads of Division to establish the operational plan and budgets, set pricing and sales targets, establish the standards for service to guests. · Resident Managers: Bestowed with the job to be available at just a call away. · Executive Housekeepers: These professionals are expected to ensure cleanliness in the hotel. · Front Office Managers: Most of the hotels own front desk, Front Office Managers manage the same. · Convention Services Managers: These professionals work in close coordination with client and the conferencing facilities offered by the hotel for various conventions, meetings, seminars, etc. · Section Supervisor or Manager. You will be responsible for supervising operations in a particular area, such as the reception or the bar, to make sure everything runs smoothly and the standard set by management is being observed, · Section supervisor/ manager €15,000-25,000 · Duty manager €20,000-30,000 · Department Manager €30,000-40,000 · Deputy General Manager and General Manager €40,000+ Top Companies Hotel management jobs coming from top notch hotels in India offer attractive career and growth prospects. Some of the leading hotel chains in India are as follows: · Ambassador Group of Hotels · Mansingh Group of Hotels · Oberoi Group of Hotels · Peerless Group of Hotels · Sarovar Park Group of Hotels · Sinclairs Group of Hotels · Best Western Group of Hotels · Casino Group of Hotels · Clarks Group of Hotels · Fortune Park Group of Hotels · ITDC Group of Hotels · Jaypee Group of Hotels · K Raheja Group of Hotels · Le Meridien Group of Hotels · Taj Group of Hotels · Tulip Star Group of Hotels · Welcome Heritage Group of Hotels · Holiday Inn Group of Hotels · HRH Group of Hotels · ITC Group of Hotels Top Institutes Dr.Ambedkar Institute of Hotel Management, Chandigarh · Institute of Hotel Management, Jodhpur · Institute of Hotel Management, Kolkata · Institute of Hotel Management, Lucknow · Institute of Hotel Management,Gandhinagar · Institute of Hotel Management, Bangalore · Institute of Hotel Management, Bhopal · Institute of Hotel Management, Bhubaneswar · Institute of Hotel Management, Chennai · Institute of Hotel Management, New Delhi · Delhi Institute of Hotel Management, New Delhi · Institute of Hotel Management, Gangtok · Institute of Hotel Management, Goa · Institute of Hotel Management, Catering & Applied Nutrition, Dehradun · Institute of Hotel Management, Gurdaspur · Institute of Hotel Management, Guwahati I hope the information given above would help you to get an idea of the career in Hotel industry. Do get back to us in case of any query. All the best Mrs. Kshyanaprava Sahoo Librarian KiiT International School Most of the students after grade 12 is in confusion to do what next? certainly this question will be there for them and their parents. Taking right decision at right time is very important thing so deciding upon the right career after grade 12 quite difficult task but we need to give chance to know what are the options, courses, and subject they can take to achieve their goal. I am always looking at our students to give some ideas what to choose? what is their interest? how they have to go behind their dreams? and so many other questions to satisfy their curiosity about their education.
Now onwards this is a platform for them to know something they don't know before or they will get information in more systematic way to choose various career options depending upon their aptitude, taste, capability on their talent or subject knowledge. To make a choice we need to have self-awareness, information about different courses available and understand what we need out of those careers. I believe this will definitely help you to come out from confused state of mind to take firm decisions on your favorite subjects to achieve your educational goal. Moreover that here you will get information on how to qualify for a course, skills you need to have or develop, so that career choice grabs your attention, you know where to start......... So I invite you each and everyone have to visit regularly to know something interested topics about your curious mind. I wish all the best for our students to achieve their goal to make everyone happy. Santosh kumar Akki Head Librarian KiiT International School Dear all,
Please go through some of these web links to get an information about a) Almanac a. Information Please Almanac (http://www.infoplease.com) b. Guinness World Records (http://www.guinnessworldrecords.com) b) Books and Reviews a. Bookbrowse.com (http://www.bookbrowse.com) b. New York Times Books (http://www.nytimes.com/pages/books/) c. Google Book Search (http://books.google.com/) d. Google Scholar (http://scholar.google.co.in/) e. Project Gutenberg (http://www.gutenberg.org) c) Dictionaries & Thesauri a. Cambridge Dictionaries Online (http://dictionary.cambridge.org/) b. Free translation.com (http://www.freetranslation.com/) c. WordReference.com (http://wordreference.com/) d. Cliché Site (http://www.clichesite.com/index.asp) e. Merriam-Webster Online (http://www.merriam-webster.com/) f. Internet Anagram Server (http://www.wordsmith.org/anagram/) d) Education a. FreevideoLectures.com (http://freevideolectures.com/algebra.php) b. Online Education Database(http://freevideolectures.com/algebra.php) c. World Resources Institute (http://earthtrends.wri.org/) e) General Searches a. Answers.com (http://www.answers.com/) b. ChaCha (http://www.chacha.com/) c. Google Earth (http://earth.google.com/) d. Google Things to do (http://www.google.co.uk/landing/thingstodo/) e. Internet Archive /Wayback machine (http://www.archive.org/index.php) f. PolyCola.com(http://www.polycola.com/) g. Shakespeare (http://nfs.sparknotes.com/) f) Language a. Modern Language (http://www.sas.edu.sg/library/hs/modern.html) b. BBC-Learning English(http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/) c. BBC- Grammar & Pronunciation (http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/language/) g) Poetry a. The Academy of American Poets(http://www.poets.org/) b. American Verse Project(http://quod.lib.umich.edu/a/amverse/) c. Glossary of Literary terms (http://www.uncp.edu/home/canada/work/allam/general/glossary.htm) h) Quotations a. Bartleby.com (http://www.bartleby.com/100/) b. The Quote Garden (http://www.quotegarden.com/) c. Quote World (http://www.quoteworld.org/) i) Measures, Weights, Conversion a. Convert-me.com(http://www.convert-me.com/en/) b. Online Conversion (http://www.onlineconversion.com/index.htm) c. Oanda.com (http://www.oanda.com/) j) Weblinks to award winning books a. American library Association-YALSA (http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/yalsa/booklistsawards/booklistsbook.cfm) b. The Man Booker Prize(http://www.themanbookerprize.com/) c. Nobel prize-Literature(http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/literature/) d. Pultizer Prizes (http://www.pulitzer.org/) |
AuthorHi one and all, I am Santosh kumar Akki working as a head librarian in KiiT International School Bhubaneswar Archives
August 2016
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