Can Udupi's Santhosh be Karnataka's Yogi?

Education sector is set to witness one of the biggest changes in its history in the coming future in India. Emerging trends will help shift the curriculum from strictly marks based to one which takes into account a student’s overall development. Efforts are being made to make education more industry based as most of what students currently study is not something which they use when they join companies. 

The New Education policy aims to provide free education to girls, develop world class industrial workforce that is at par with global standards and provide spiritual learning for sound mental health. With the help of technological tools teachers will be able to instill and home more creative and independent thinking, problem solving and soft skills among children which have a direct impact on their ability to find good jobs in the corporate world.

Technology has already been the catalyst in overcoming some of these challenges and is now all set to underpin the emerging trends in education which will cater to the demand of individuals, learners, institutions and the industry in general. Some of the education trends powered by technology will be Augmented Reality and Gamification, Interest based learning, social and emotional learning, self paced learning, Internet of things (IoT), Block chain and the use of LTE chrome books. 

Here are the views of some of our education experts on the future of education industry in 2020 and beyond:

Dr. Narendra Shyamsukha, Founder & Chairman, ICA Edu Skills

Vocational training in India is all set to see a rise with many virtual and augmented reality simulations helping students learn and practice job skills that will result in direct employment. Vocational training courses will not only enable students to acquire different techniques but will come in handy if students want to get that extra skill which gives them an upper hand over other candidates while appearing for job interviews. Vocational training in institutes and schools will help reduce the burden on regular curriculum as education itself will become more diversified with students focusing not only on theoretical study but also on the other aspects. This will help those students in particular who have not completed primary or secondary education and have entered workforce age without these credentials.  Vocational courses require no particular experience and can be completed in a short duration and with greater use of technology in the coming years it will be way easier to impart the teachings that will enable students to get industry based jobs. 

Dr. RL Raina, Vice Chancellor, JK Lakshmipat University, Jaipur

The overall education system in India is all set to undergo a massive change in 2020 and beyond as both government-based and private educational institutions like schools and colleges will embrace technology to provide new methods of learning to students. Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Internet of Things (IoT), among others will equip students with skill sets and competencies that they can employ on the job and in the industries that they choose to work with. It is not news that India has an acute shortage of teachers at elementary, secondary and even at the higher levels of education. Ministry of Human Resource Development (HRD) of the Government of India states that there is a shortage of over a million teachers across the country. And, the usage of these new technologies in Indian classrooms is the need of the hour. The growing penetration of mobile phones in the country has helped students learn anywhere and at any time, which has prompted institutions to use digital tools for teaching as they help students learn at their own pace without feeling the pressure to match their peers. This will help every student form a basic understanding of the main concept which is crucial to the subject. The new trending technologies of today will also play a massive role in breaking down difficult concepts to students with the help of live examples, the details of which they can pay close attention to, thanks to unprecedented developments in Information and Communication Technology (ICT).  

Mr.Rachit Jain, Founder & CEO,Youth4Work

The New Year will be considered as a silver lining for the Indian job market. About 41% of respondents said the job market will be positive in the Year 2020. The major hiring trends for 2019 were automation, artificial intelligence and were more driven by niche skills, new-age positions and roles. Though the initial quarter of 2020 looks little gloomy since the GDP growth has gone down and the organisations are being cautious for their expansions or new initiatives, the second half of the year looks promising in terms of job opportunities of the companies resume looking at business expansion and new initiatives. In terms of salary and increments, various HR firms and experts believe the year 2020 will see a muted activity. According to the latest Q3 2019 Salary Budget Planning Report released by Willis Towers Watson, salaries in India are projected to rise 10 per cent in 2020, marginally higher than the actual increase (9.9 per cent) in 2019.

With the steep hike in excise duty in the past couple of months, an average consumer of petrol now pays over 275% in taxes to centre and states on a litre of the fuel.  The base price of petrol is just about Rs 18. The taxes are close to Rs 50 and the pump price is over Rs 72.

India imports 85% of all its crude oil demand.  After a steep hike in excise duty in the past two months despite a hold on daily price revisions by the oil public sector undertakings (PSUs), Indian consumers now pay 275% collectively in excise duty to state and centre. 

The central government hiked excise on petrol and diesel by Rs 10 and Rs 13 respectively last month. The excise duty on petrol is taxed around Rs 33-a-litre while the same on diesel it is Rs 32.

The Value-Added Tax (VAT) on both petrol and diesel is Rs 16.44 and Rs 16.26 respectively. Both the taxes together are around Rs 49 while it is sold at petrol pumps at 73-per-litre.

These two taxes cumulatively account for 69% of tax which is higher than anywhere else in the world. The same is taxed at 19% in the US, 47% in Japan, UK 62% and 63% in France. The government does not pass on the benefit of lower crude oil prices to the customer.

It is to be noted that Indian consumers continued to pay Rs 70-a-litre even when crude oil prices hit a paltry US $ 20-a-barrel on April 12.

Former finance minister and Congress leader recently took a jab at the Centre over rising prices stating, “Fuel selling prices raised twice in two days, following tax hikes two weeks ago. This time to benefit oil companies. Government is poor, it needs more taxes. Oil companies are poor, they need better prices. Only the poor and middle class are not poor, so they will pay”.

Bengaluru, June 24: City-based I Monetary Advisory (IMA), which duped thousands of families, mostly Muslims, in the name of halal investment, has become a bitter reality of "we were robbed by our own people". All the accused except its CEO Mohammad Mansoor Khan have been released on bail in this ponzi scam worth thousands of crores of rupees.

The scam has not only been investigated by SIT and CBI, but it has reverberated many times in the Assembly, corridors of power, and in the courts.

Around 80,000 investors are in trouble after the Monetary Advisory (IMA) scam came to light. Many investors have left this world, many families have split, many marriages have broken down and many have become unemployed, homeless, helpless and hapless. One of the senior IAS office, who had faced arrest in the scam, reportedly killed himself just a day ago.

It has been more than a year since this multi-billion scam came to light. But the affected families still do not see any ray of hope. The government, led by senior IAS officer Harsh Gupta, has set up a special competent authority to address investor grievances in the matter.

According to information provided by Harsh Gupta, investors have to be paid Rs 2,900 crore. But the value of the company's assets seized so far could be around Rs 450 crore. The process of auctioning the assets has not started yet. The authority has developed an online portal for submission of claim forms from investors. But the process of taking applications has not started yet. Syed Gulab, a social worker overseeing the case, says that after all the claim forms have been submitted, we will get a clear picture about the exact number of investors and the total amount of arrears. But this process may take a few more months to complete.

Senior journalist Maqbool Ahmed Siraj says that IMA has systematically deceived people in the name of halal investment through capital scheme. In 2006, Muhammad Mansoor Khan, a one-time small businessman, set up a company. He began to attract large number of investors by creating the greed for more profit among middle class and poor people.

By 2015, the company had received money from more than 12,000 investors and continued to pay monthly profits. By the time the company closed in 2019, 80,000 people had invested their hard-earned money here. In Bengaluru, the company expanded its reach by investing in two major gold showrooms, hospitals, schools, several medical stores, a publishing center, a supermarket, and real estate firm.

Mr Siraj says that Mansoor Khan and his team not only lured the poor and middle class to pursue their own interests but also created a favourable atmosphere for their so called business by winning the hearts of politicians, government officials, clerics, religious institutions and media.

Unsuspecting people invested their money in a bid to make more profit in less time. When the company stopped making profits and Mansoor Khan suddenly fled on June 9, 2019, the investors woke up the to the reality.

Apart from residents of Bengaluru and other parts of Karnataka, people from Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Maharashtra other states also have invested their money.