Gujarat: State youths ace as CAT announces results

Due to Covid and delay in examination, there were few changes in the examination including reducing questions from 100 to 76 questions and time duration from three to two hours.

In a rare achievement, a candidate from Gujarat, Pulkit Pandey, scored 99.99 percentile in verbal ability section of Common Admission Test (CAT), the results of which were announced Saturday.

The 23-year-old electronics engineer from Vadodara, who got an overall score of 99.84 percentile, has been working as a programmer at Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) in Gandhinagar since 2019.

“Certainly scoring high in the verbal section for us (Gujarat candidates) is very difficult. Since English does not come naturally to us as we speak majorly in Gujarati and rarely in Hindi. During my mocks, I would score between 80-85 percentile and get demotivated,” Pandey, who is originally from Uttar Pradesh and has been in Gujarat since Class 4.

Agreeing with Pulkit, Manish Shah, director of a private mentoring institute in Ahmedabad said, “In Gujarat, children lag in competitive examinations, especially postgraduate ones like MBA. Since the verbal section in CAT is English-oriented, evaluating the comprehension and aptitude, it is rare for candidates to score high in this section as people in Gujarat generally do not speak English unlike other states. So you need some good preparation.”

Also, the engineering background, Pulkit said, was a disadvantage for him that forced him to work harder for the verbal ability section. “As told by my mentors I started reading novels and books. Reading English books or novels also does not come naturally to me being from an engineering background. Added with a 9-7 job that would even get extended to 9.30 pm, there were only weekends for me to prepare. Amid all this, I had to go extra mile improving my English language,” he added.

Another engineer, Prasad Doshi, topped Ahmedabad with 99.97 percentile. A mechanical engineer from Nirma University, Prasad is hoping to get through Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad.

“Being the top institute and in my home city, I would certainly prefer IIM-A,” he said.

Prasad, who scored 98.5 percentile in verbal ability, said this was the lowest scoring section as he was using the mother tongue most of the times.

Currently working in a manufacturing company in Sanand, he quit his job in Adani Green Energy in Kutch to be in Ahmedabad, his home city. His elder brother is also pursuing MBA from XLRI-Xavier School of Management Jamshedpur.

Following the league of engineers to crack CAT, Abhinav Gupta, chemical engineer who is currently working in a pump manufacturing company in Rajkot, scored 99.58 percentile in his fourth attempt. However, one thing that makes him different from the league is his decision to choose MBA from India over a scholarship from Rice Jones School of Business.

“I am hoping to get through some top rated MBA institutes in the country. So I would let go the scholarship of over Rs 67 lakh (USD 92,000) for a period of two years. Though getting 75 per cent of the tuition fee as scholarship is not common as the institute’s website only says that 70 per cent of the students get 25 per cent tuition fee as scholarship,” said Abhinav Gupta, who completed his BTech in 2018.

He had applied for the scholarship in October for which the result were announced in December.

Covid-19 lockdown turned out to be in his favour. “I had left my earlier job and was to join the new one when lockdown was imposed. Between this, I had a gap of 5-6 months which gave me enough time to prepare. Also since most of the CAT training in Ahmedabad was online, I could get enrolled and train along with my job in Rajkot,” he said.

When asked about the difference between entrance tests and interviews here and abroad Gupta said, “In India, more questions during the interview are asked on general knowledge, but in abroad, they ask you what you want to do or what are your goals.”

The CAT question paper was prepared by IIM Indore this year.

Due to Covid and delay in examination, there were few changes in the examination including reducing questions from 100 to 76 questions and time duration from three to two hours.

Maharashtra sees 3,314 new Covid-19 cases, 66 deaths

Maharashtra sees 3,314 new Covid-19 cases, 66 deaths

MUMBAI: The Covid-19 tally in Maharashtra rose to 19,19,550 on Sunday with the addition of 3,314 fresh infections, the state health department said.

With 66 more people succumbing to the viral disease, the overall death toll in the state mounted to 49,255, it said in a statement.

A total of 2,124 patients were discharged in the state during the day, taking the number of recoveries to 18,09,948, it said.

The state has 59,214 active cases.

With 50,635 new tests, the total number of tests conducted in Maharashtra went up to 1,25,02,554.

Maharashtra's Covid-19 case recovery rate has improved to 94.29 per cent while the case fatality rate stood at 2.57 per cent, the release said.

Mumbai city reported 578 fresh coronavirus positive cases in the day, taking the cumulative caseload to 2,90,914, while  the death toll rose by eight to 11,076.

Mumbai division, which comprises Mumbai city and its satellite towns, added 1,050 fresh Covid-19 cases and 14 fatalities. With this, the overall case tally in the Mumbai division reached 6,56,557 while the fatality count is 19,021, the statement said.

Elsewhere, Nashik city reported 220 fresh Covid-19 cases, Pune 302, Pimpri Chinchwad 107, and Nagpur 255.

Maharashtra's Covid-19 tally is as follows: Positive cases 19,19,550, deaths 49,255, recoveries 18,09,948, active cases 59,214, total tests 1,25,02,554, tests conducted today 50,635.

Jammu and Kashmir DDC Election Results 2020 Live Updates: Counting of votes for 280 seats underway

Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) DDC Election Results 2020 Live Updates: The elections, held in eight phases, began on November 28 and ended on December 19. Officials in the State Election Commission said a total of 2,181 candidates, including over 450 women, were in the fray for the 280 DDC seats.

Jammu and Kashmir DDC Election Results 2020 Live Updates: Counting of votes for the recently concluded Jammu and Kashmir District Development Council (DDC) elections is underway. The fate of nearly 2,181 candidates for the 280 District Development Council (DDC) seats in Jammu and Kashmir will be decided today. The elections, held in eight phases, began on November 28 and ended on December 19.

A day before the counting of votes, the PDP claimed detention of three of its senior leaders Monday. While the police were silent on the matter, PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti called the action “out and out gunda raj”, and said it showed the BJP was trying to “manipulate” the results. The PDP leaders reportedly detained were former minister and senior leader Naeem Akhtar, Mufti’s uncle Sartaj Madni, and her former political adviser Peerzada Mansoor Hussain. A senior PDP leader said they had no contact with its Ganderbal district president Bashir Ahmad Mir either, and his family had been informed that he too had been detained.

 

12 mild earthquakes since June, Delhi feels strong tremors again

A medium-intensity earthquake of magnitude 4.2 on the Richter scale hit several parts of Delhi and the National Capital Region (NCR) on Thursday night, prompting people to rush out of their homes. Strong tremors were felt in Delhi and surrounding areas for several seconds. The earthquake struck at 11:46pm at a depth of 7.5km from the surface. There was no report of any damage to life or property as earthquakes of magnitude four or below hardly cause any damage.

The epicentre of the earthquake was Haryana’s Rewari, according to India’s National Center for Seismology(NCS). “Earthquake tremors in Delhi NCR. Tremors felt in Gurugram, Noida and Ghaziabad. As per the National Centre for Seismology, the epicentre was suggested to be 48 kilometres southwest of Gurugram,” Skymet Weather tweeted.

Delhi, which lies close to a faultline, is susceptible to big earthquakes, geologists say. The city falls in seismic zone IV - a very high-risk zone.

In June, an earthquake of magnitude 2.1 was detected near Delhi. It was the eleventh minor earthquake recorded in and around Delhi since May. On 15 May, a quake of magnitude 2.2 on the Richter Scale hit 13km NW of New Delhi. On May 10 a magnitude 3.4 earthquake shook the national capital, epicentre in Wazirpur area of NCR, which was the strongest this year until the earthquake reported on Thursday. On April 12 and 13 also there were quakes of magnitudes 3.5 and 2.7 respectively in Delhi region.

These recent earthquakes have triggered discussions on the possibility of increased seismicity around Delhi, and fears of an impending big earthquake sometime soon. None of these apprehensions has any scientific basis as rarely has Delhi been the epicentre of any earthquake. Delhi experiences tremors even when an earthquake occurs as far as in Central Asia or the Himalayan ranges, that are seismically the most active regions and because of large population and high density, an earthquake in Delhi sets an alarm.

 

India has a new unicorn: Zenoti

 

The startup head Sudhir Koneru told ET Now in an exclusive interview said that it was the best of times and the worst of times in 2020 as the company maneuvered through the impact of the pandemic and saw the beauty industry shutdown. The company provides software solutions to salons and is now back to 80% of pre-covid levels. 

He also says that with the acceleration in technology adoption, came a lot of work for the employees as growth was well over 100% and the company had to scramble during the working from home regime. It was not an easy task for employees to deliver that kind of productivity, says Koneru.

The company first began with the core market of spa salon and laser skincare providers like Kaya but now has two new verticals like pet grooming and pet spas which are a big growth industry in the U.S. The company also plans to get more funding in verticals like physical therapy.

The ups and downs

The company saw its fair share of challenges through the year before bagging the unicorn tag. Koneru says that it is not enough to have a great idea or a  good market as they ran into troubles with the partner's technology. We launched a fully integrated payment solution for the US and UK with a partner but we did run into some problems, he said, "I would say for success versus not making, it is just the perseverance to drive through."

What's the future?

Sudhir Koneru wants his company to be the Uber of the beauty business. He says that his platform wants to put the algorithm to use to transform the industry and maximize value for practitioners in the space. Koneru says he wants practitioners to use his platform for their craft and leave all the mundane bits of getting their bookings, tips, and money from customers to zenoti.

"We say to practitioners that- hey, you do your craft continue to get great at it, leave everything else to zenoti. When I say leave everything else to zenoti, it's literally like Uber drivers, you don't worry about where you're going to get your next ride, you don't worry about whether the money you got is the right tip or whether it showed up in your bank account, you leave it to the Uber platform and the technology and algorithms," he said.

Zenoti is the fifth software product company of Indian origin to join the unicorn club. Zenoti powers over 12,000 businesses across 50 countries, offering mobile-first solutions for appointment scheduling, self-check-in, payments, employee management and even inventory tracking. The company plans to use the fresh capital to continue to scale its operations and invest in R&D for innovations using AI and smart algorithms. India has seen over 10 unicorns in a pandemic hit year, paving way for a more entrepreneurial temper.

PM Modi visit gujarat

Gujarat: PM Modi lays foundation stones for energy park, milk plant

KUTCH: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday (December 15) will visit Dhordo in Kutch, Gujarat and lay the foundation stone of several development projects in the state. These projects include a desalination plant, a hybrid renewable energy park, and a fully automated milk processing and packing plant.

He will also meet members of the farming community, including Sikh cultivators in Gujarat during his visit, amid the ongoing protest by farmers at Delhi borders against the central farm laws.

PM Modi will also undertake a visit to the White Rann, followed by witnessing a cultural programme. Harnessing its vast coastline, Gujarat is taking a significant step towards transforming seawater to potable drinking water with the upcoming Desalination Plant at Mandvi, Kutch.

Kutch has made a mark for its development trajectory, especially in sectors like agriculture. Tomorrow, 15th December, I will be in Kutch to lay the foundation stone for various development works that will benefit the region. 

This Desalination Plant, with 10 crore litre per day capacity (100 MLD), will strengthen water security in Gujarat by complementing Narmada Grid, Sauni network and treated waste-water infrastructure, the PMO said. 

"It will be an important milestone for sustainable and affordable water resource harvesting in the country. Nearly 8 lakh people across the regions of Mundra, Lakhpat, Abdasa and Nakhatrana talukas will receive desalinated water from this plant, which will also help in sharing the surplus to upstream districts of Bhachau, Rapar and Gandhidham. 

It is one of the five upcoming desalination plants in Gujarat besides those at Dahej (100 MLD), Dwarka (70 MLD), Ghogha Bhavnagar (70 MLD) and Gir Somnath (30 MLD)," read the release.

The Hybrid Renewable Energy Park near Vighakot village in the district of Kutch in Gujarat will be the country's largest renewable energy generation park. It will lead to the generation of renewable energy to the tune of 30 GW. 
Spread over 72,600 hectares of land, the park will have a dedicated hybrid park zone for wind and solar energy storage, as well as an exclusive zone for wind park activities.

The Prime Minister will also lay the foundation stone of a fully automated milk processing and packing plant at Sarhad Dairy Anjar, Kutch. The plant will cost Rs 121 crores and will have the capacity to process 2 lakh litres of milk per day.

PM modi comes kutch on 15,dec,2020

 

Breaking news live: PM Modi to visit Kutch on 15th December

Kutch has made a mark for its development trajectory, especially in sectors like agriculture. Tomorrow, 15th December, I will be in Kutch to lay the foundation stone for various development works that will benefit the region.