In our previous issue we had published an interview with the incumbent Vice President, Gymkhana, Mr. Shubham Matah. The student body, Communique raised some objections to some of the comments made by the VP in that interview. The following is the disputed part of the interview followed by Communique’s response.

TSA: Another of your proposals was to form an “Alternate Careers Group” under the TSG. How did that turn out?

VP: The idea remained the same but the methodology changed. Communiqué governors met me in July. They knew about this proposal. They mentioned that they had already conducted one workshop on Actuarial Science and on IAS and they were willing to take up FRM and CFA as well this year.

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The following article was contributed by Prof. Debasis Mishra of the Indian Statistical Institute, New Delhi as part of a campus recruitment initiative for an Master of Science programme in Quantitative Economics. For a very well written paper on the subject by Prof. Mishra with illustrative examples from the real world, click here.

What is Quantitative Economics?

Quantitative economics is a field of study where mathematics, in particular optimization, statistics, algorithms and complexity theory is used as a tool for analyzing and designing economic systems.

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A Bangalore based start up, Capillary provides mobile based customer management solutions, meaning it helps businesses understand the needs of and effectively communicate with their customers through mobile services. One of the co-founders of Capillary, Krishna Mehra (06, RK, CS) shares his experience with us.
TSA: Firstly, a hearty congratulations on winning the Qualcomm Business Plan Competition. We, at The Scholars’ Avenue are indeed very proud of your achievements and would like to narrate your success story to our readers.

Krishna Mehra: Thanks for the chance to interact with people through The Scholars’ Avenue. It really feels privileged, especially since The Scholars’ Avenue was actually started right in front of our eyes, and it’s great to see it moulding public opinion in the institute.

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Don’t let the IIT faculty strikes fool you. For the academically inclined, IIXs are still the best.

T. A. Abinandanan is a Professor in the Department of Materials Engineering at the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore. He writes extensively on a wide range of topics concerning higher education in India, particularly the IITs, IIMs, IISc and such other institutes. His writings can be found at http://nanopolitan.blogspot.com .The Scholars’ Avenue thanks Dr.Abinandanan for contributing this article.

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The stalwart of the Department of Electrical Engineering, Professor T K Basu retired recently leaving behind a rich legacy from his time here at Kgp, first as a student and then as a professor. Professor Basu also taught at IIT Bombay and later served as the head of the Center of Educational Technology which was instrumental in developing the video courses for Kgp students. Now busy in another professional sphere at Kolkata, The Scholars’ Avenue managed to catch up with Prof. Basu on his farewell visit to the Institute, unearthing some candid moments and a lot of nostalgia.

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Professor Ikhlaq Sidhu, founding director of UC Berkeley’s Center for
Entrepreneurship & Technology and an authority on the process of innovation and technology management, visited our campus recently. In this exclusive interview, he shares his insights on entrepreneurship in India and abroad, why enterpreneurship should be taught in companies and a lot more. ,

TSA: Do you believe entrepreneurship can be taught, or is it something one is born with?

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(For pictures, quotes and a more comprehensive insight, download a pdf of our issue here)

As our faculty moans about the seemingly insulting pay scales, who really stands to lose?
Is it our teachers, who can always leave for greener pastures?
Or the MHRD coffers?
Or much worse, a system called IIT?

He is a B.Tech in Computer Science from IIT Madras, obtained a doctorate from the University of Maryland, and is presently an Associate professor at IIT Kanpur. With several years of teaching experience, quality research publications in prestigious journals like Euro physics and a book to his credit, Dr Mahendra Verma’s resume seemingly boasts of an impeccable record. Well, apparently the Government of India seems to think otherwise.

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