At poll rally, Yogi calls Indian Army 'Modi ji ki sena'

London, Feb 19: Indian universities had a good performance year within the emerging economies of the world as a record 11 made it to the top 100 Times Higher Education's (THE) Emerging Economies University Rankings 2020.

Only China has more universities than India in the top 100 at 30 from a total of 47 countries and territories included in the analysis released in London on Tuesday evening.

A total of 56 Indian universities appear in the full ranking of a total of 533 universities across emerging economies of the world.

The Indian Institute of Science (IISc), ranked 16th, is India’s top-ranked institution followed by the Indian Institute of Technologies (IITs).

"There has long been a debate about the success of Indian universities in world rankings, and for too long they have been seen as underperforming on the global stage," notes Phil Baty, Chief Knowledge Officer for the THE.

"The Emerging Economies University Rankings 2020 suggests that real progress is being made by a number of institutions in a number of metrics across our robust methodology, and could mark an exciting turning point for Indian higher education, enabled in part by the Institutes of Eminence scheme," he said.

The Indian government’s Institutes of Eminence scheme was established in 2017 and one of its participating universities, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, has entered the top 100 for the first time, moving up a huge 51 places from joint 141st in 2019.

The other universities included in the Institutes of Eminence scheme that appear in the top 100 mark the biggest improvers in the ranking with IIT Kharagpur moving up 23 places to 32nd, IIT Delhi improving by 28 places to joint 38th and IIT Madras climbing 12 places to joint 63rd.

The Institutes of Eminence scheme provides participating universities with government funding and greater autonomy with the aim of moving them into the top 100 of the world university rankings, including Times Higher Education’s World University Ranking, over time.

The expectation is that this will be achieved through a number of changes including an increase in foreign students and staff, offering online courses and encouraging academic collaboration with other top universities around the world.

This year marks only the second time that 11 Indian institutions have held top 100 positions since the ranking began in 2014, when much fewer universities took part in the ranking globally.

New Delhi, Jan 16: United Forum of Bank Unions has decided to observe a two-day strike on January 31 and February 1, demanding early wage revision settlement which has been due since November 1, 2017, said the All India Bank Employees Association.

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will present her second Union Budget on February 1.

Banks will also hold a strike on March 11, 12 and 13. Also, an indefinite strike will be held from April 1.

General Secretary, All India Bank Officers' Confederation West Bengal Sanjay Das has stated that the nationwide strike has been called over several demands.

"The demands include--wage revision settlement at 20 per cent hike on payslip components with adequate loading thereof and scrapping off New Pension Scheme (NPS)," said Das.

There are several demands to hold the strike including the merger of special allowance with basic pay, updation of pension, improvement in the family pension system, five-day banking, allocation of staff welfare fund based on operating profits and exemption from income tax on retiral benefits without a ceiling.

"Other demands include-- a uniform definition of business hours, lunch hour etc in the branches, introduction of leave bank, defined working hours for the officers and equal wage for equal work for the contract employee," said Das.

New Delhi, Jun 10: Delhi recorded 1,366 fresh cases of COVID-19 on Tuesday, taking the tally to 31,309, while the death toll mounted to 905, authorities said on Wednesday.

According to a health bulletin issued by the Delhi government's health department, there are 18,543 active cases, while 11,861 patients have either recovered, been discharged or migrated.

No health bulletin was issued on Tuesday.