Monday, February 27, 2017

World Architecture Festival Awards 2017 open for entries

Entries are open for the 2017 World Architecture Festival (WAF) Awards. Practices and practitioners around the world are invited to submit projects across 30 categories ranging from residential to urban. The categories are further grouped into building, landscape and future projects.
Winners from each category will compete for the festival’s highest award of World Building of the Year, presided by an international jury of esteemed architects.
WAF will also mark its 10th anniversary this year with a manifesto identifying the key challenges that architects will need to address: climate, energy and carbon, water, ageing and health, reuse, smart city technology, building technology, cultural identity, ethics and values, power and justice and virtual worlds.
WAF program director Paul Finch said, “In a period of profound change across the world, architects will play an important part in creating building, cities, public places and landscapes that respond to the challenges we have identified. There are immense amounts of research being undertaken across the profession which we hope we can draw attention to, and which we intend to support through publication, exhibition and funding initiatives.
“These are big-picture initiatives which concern architects both individually and collectively, and we want WAF to play a part in promoting initiatives which are aimed at making life better.”
WAF will recognize projects entered into the award that address the manifesto issues with a special award, the WAF 10 Prize. WAF 10 Prize winners will also be exhibited alongside key winning projects from the past decade as part of a tenth anniversary exhibition.
Early bird entries close on 27 April and the final deadline for entries is 18 May. The shortlist will be announced in July. Finalists will be invited to present to the juries at the World Architecture Festival in Berlin from 15 to 17 November. To enter and for more information- https://www.worldarchitecturefestival.com/

Wednesday, February 22, 2017

New app claims to look inside all objects


The app developed by engineers in Germany gives information about any objec or food item just by scanning it with a smartphone camera
A German engineering firm has recently announced that it has developed an app that looks directly inside objects and displays specific constituents. The app named `HawkSpex mobile' will have applications across a wide range of areas and uses the front facing camera.
One of the case scenarios the app developers provide is how one can use the app to find if an apple labelled organic is really organic. One can use the app to find if the apple contains any pesticide residues.
Even though it is not a new idea and Even though it is not a new there are several systems that can perform such scans today, users need to use exter na l ha rdware attachments such as a prism. That can be costly, impractical and interferes with a smartphone's design.
“What makes our app special is that users don't need anything for a scan other than the camera already integrated into their smartphones,“ says Prof Udo Seiffert, expert group manager at the engineering firm.
Generally, these kind of scans are performed with a special hyper spectral camera. The hyperspectral camera adjusts to a different coloured light each time and deter mines how much of a colour's light is reflected by an object, thus generating a complete spectral fingerprint of the object. However, the `HawkSpex mobile' app uses a mathematical model to extract any information on an object.
Instead of an expensive spectral camera measuring the intensity of light reflected by different colours, the app uses the phone's display.It successively and illuminates the object with a series of different colours for fractions of a second.
This way, if the display illuminates only red light on the object, the object can only ref lect red light ­ and the camera can only measure red light. The app's intelligent analysis algorithms enable and compensate a smartphone's limited computing performance as well as the limited performance of the camera and display.
The app is expected to be launched officially by the end of this year .


Source: THE ECONOMIC TIMES -16th February,2017

Monday, February 20, 2017

Louis Kahn Biography Architect (1901–1974)

Image result for louis kahn

Born20 February 1901, Pärnu, Estonia

With designs that combined timeless forms and modern techniques, Louis Kahn became known as one of the leading American architects of the 20th century.

Synopsis
Louis Kahn was born in Pärnu, Estonia, on February 20, 1901. His family emigrated to the United States when Kahn was a child; he later studied architecture at the University of Pennsylvania and opened his own firm in 1935. His major works include the Yale University Art Gallery, the Kimbell Art Museum and the capitol complex in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Kahn died in New York City on March 17, 1974.

Early Years and Education
Louis Kahn was born Itze-Leib Schmuilowsky in Pärnu, Estonia, on February 20, 1901. His Jewish parents, Leib Schmuilowsky and Beila-Rebecka Mendelowitsch, soon decided to emigrate from Estonia. Leib traveled to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1904; his family followed two years later.
As part of their assimilation, the family adopted the last name of Kahn in 1912. Leib and Beila-Rebecka took the names of Leopold and Bertha, and their son became Louis Isadore Kahn.
Kahn attended Philadephia’s Central High School and the Public Industrial Art School. He later studied architecture at the University of Pennsylvania, where he was mentored by the French-born architect Paul Cret. Kahn received his degree in architecture in 1924.
Career Beginnings
After working as a chief of design for Philadelphia’s 1926 Sesquicentennial buildings, Kahn traveled throughout Europe in 1928-29. Returning home, he married Esther Israeli in 1930, and found work at various Philadelphia-based architectural firms.
Kahn opened his own architectural practice in 1935. From the start, he was interested in architecture’s role in social change. He created housing for factory workers during World War II, and later in the 1940s worked on buildings for labor unions. After the war, Kahn also designed several private homes in the Pennsylvania suburbs, working in a modernist style.
Kahn began teaching architecture at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, in 1947. It was the start of an influential teaching career—he would remain at Yale for ten years before becoming a professor of architecture at the University of Pennsylvania.
"An architect is part of the treasury of architecture in which the Parthenon belongs, the Pantheon belongs, in which the great lyceums during the Renaissance belong. All these things belong to architecture and make it richer."
In 1950-51, Kahn was the architect in residence at the American Academy in Rome. During this period, he also was able to visit Greece and Egypt. Inspired by the ancient ruins and Renaissance buildings he had seen, Kahn would use classical architecture’s solid forms and durable materials in his own work, combining these timeless forms with modern techniques.
Major Works and Projects
Kahn’s first major architectural project was the Yale University Art Gallery, completed in 1953. His other significant projects of the 1950s and '60s include the Richards Medical Research Building for the University of Pennsylvania (1957-65), the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in La Jolla, California (1959-65), and a library for New Hampshire's Phillips Exeter Academy (1965-72).
The Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth, Texas (1966-72) is considered one of Kahn's masterpieces. Many of its galleries are massive vaulted spaces with ceiling slits that let in natural light.
"Architecture is the thoughtful making of spaces. It is the creating of spaces that evoke a feeling of appropriate use."
Kahn also worked internationally, and was commissioned to design two major projects on the Indian subcontinent: the Indian Institute of Management in Ahmedabad (1962-74) and the national capital of Bangladesh (1962-83). The National Assembly in Dhaka, Bangladesh, is one of Kahn's most admired works.
Personal Life
At the age of 73, Kahn died of a heart attack on March 17, 1974, in New York City’s Pennsylvania Station. He was on his way home from Ahmedabad, India.
Kahn's death revealed his complicated personal life: In addition to the daughter, Sue Ann, he shared with wife Esther, Kahn had a daughter, Alexandra, with his architectural associate Anne Tyng, as well as a son, Nathaniel, with landscape architect Harriet Pattison. The secrets and complexities of this situation were examined in the 2003 documentary film My Architect, directed by Nathaniel Kahn.
·  A great building must begin with the unmeasurable, must go through measurable means when it is being designed and in the end must be unmeasurable.
·    Design is not making beauty, beauty emerges from selection, affinities, integration, love.
·    Architecture is the reaching out for the truth.

Source: http://www.biography.com/people/louis-kahn-37884#synopsis

Friday, February 17, 2017

Isro set for historic century today


If Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) successfully launches 104 satellites at one go on Wednesday , the country's nearly halfa-century-old space programme will create a new world record and take a giant leap in space technology.
The much-awaited historic launch which has attracted not only interest within the country , but abroad as well, is scheduled for 9.28am at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota. The rocket for the record-breaking mission is the advanced version of the four-stage Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle designated PSLV-Xl.
An Isro official told TOI that the mission called for a considerable amount of precision as the challenge lay in deploying the satellites in a way they do not collide. “After lift-off, the first satellite to go into orbit will be the indigenous Cartosat-2 series followed by two Isro nano satellites,“ he said.
Following this, 101 international nano satellites will be deployed in `quadpacks'.“Essentially , these quadpacks are like boxes and each of them will contain three or four satellites. Once the quadpacks leave the fourth stage of the rocket, the tiny nano and macro satellites will move out of the quadpacks and enter orbit,'' he explained, emphasising that it will be a an extremely precise manoeuvre. All 104 satellites will be deployed in a 505km polar sun synchronous orbit at rapid intervals in a span of 28 minutes.
Isro officials have all along maintained that Wednesday's mission was not to break any record, but merely to utilise the additional capacity of PSLV . “The success of this mission will go a long way in increasing India's share in the global satellite market,'' an official said. The final countdown for the mission kicked off at 5.28am on Tuesday, following the green signal by Isro's mission readiness review and the launch authorisation.
Apart from the record the mission is significant for unique collaborations among countries as well.


Source: THE TIMES OF INDIA-15th February,2017

6 apps to secure your smartphone better


Worried that your handset is exposed to malware or hackers? Here are the apps that can help
For many of us, our smartphones carry our whole world -contacts, messages, payment information, eclectic music collection among other things. So, it's hard to understate the importance of keeping everything secure. Certain apps can make a big difference -protecting data and securing your communications.Here are six worth installing:
For handling all your passwords -LastPass (iOS and Android)
In these password-heavy times, having an app to manage all your login details can make a significant difference to your productivity and security.Enter LastPass, which can safely store passwords, shopping profiles, sensitive personal data, and more besides. and more besides.All you need to remember is one LastPass password, and if you're stuck for new combinations for new sites, there's even a password generator included for you.
For securing all your IMs -Signal (iOS and Android)
Signal takes security more seriously than some of its better-known rivals. It brings to the table all the essential IM features you are going to need: group chats, VoIP phone calls, read receipts and more.
There's also end-to-end encryption, which means the only people who can read your missives are those receiving them. So would-be snoopers can't take a look at your chats, even employees of Signal itself.
For snoop-free browsing -Orbot (Android)
You have your reasons for browsing the websites you browse, and maybe you'd like to keep those to yourself. Orbot brings the power of anonymous browsing and messaging to your Android device, tapping into the open source Tor network to make sure all data is encrypted, anonymised and bounced around various locations worldwide.Orbot sits underneath your other apps, like Facebook or the phone's browser, and anonymises the data being transmitted.
For snoop-free browsing -Onion Browser (iOS)
Apple fans aren't bereft of Tor browsing options either. For those of you on iPads and iPhones, one of the best Torpowered options is the Onion Browser. What it lacks in the aesthetics of its design, it makes up for in the extra layers of security it offers versus the built in iOS browser.
The Onion Browser also keeps your browsing encrypted, anonymous, and difficult to track, though in this case the connection is limited to this browser rather than being applied system-wide.
For securing your phone on coffee house WiFi ­ Opera VPN (iOS and Android)
If you want to secure more than just the browser and specific apps on your phone then you'll need a VPN (Virtual Private Network). It keeps people from snooping or breaking in. Some mobile VPN apps are unreliable and difficult to work, but not Opera VPN, which also happens to be free to use. The app not only helps keep you safe online, it can block ad trackers (and report on their actions) and allows you to spoof your location too.
For securely deleting files -CCleaner (Android)
CCleaner, one of the popular computer cleaning applications, is now available for Android devices, so you have got no excuse for having junk data hanging around on your phone.In terms of staying safe and protected on your phone, CCleaner's main benefit is going to be tidying up cached files, browsing histories, and downloaded files that you might not want other people peeking at.


 Source: THE ECONOMIC TIMES-14th February,2017

Student develops software to decrypt ancient Indian math texts

Important works of ancient Indian mathematicians on topics like obliquity of earth or the value of ‘pi' can now be deciphered from classical texts using a new software application, researchers have claimed.
R Anusha, student of Sastra University in Thanjavur, tweaked modules of an engineering software, used for signal processing and circuit testing, to decrypt ancient numerical systems used in classical texts authored by Indian philosophers of yore. Their findings have been published in the science journal Current Science.
In ancient times, astronomers and mathematicians represented digits using linguistic phrases, a common practice in civilisations across globe that time. Speaking to PTI, V Ramanathan, one of the authors of the paper and a faculty at the Chemistry Department of the University, explained that in ancient literature and bodies of knowledge, numerals are embedded as words. In India, philosophers, astronomers and mathematicians used three systems - Katapaydi, Aryabhata and Bhutasankhya which used linguistic phrases to represent numbers.
In Bhutasankhya system, words for earth and moon were used to depict ‘1' while those for eyes, ears were used to denote ‘2'. Katapaydi and Aryabhata's system use Devnagri consonants and vowels in a complex manner to depict numerals. Giving an example of such numerical values in ancient scriptures, he said in Aryabhatiya, penned by Aryabhata, there is a verse “Bha Apakramo Grihaamsha”. Ramanathan, Fulbright fellow and member of INYAS, said the letter ‘bha' represents number 24 and this completes the meaning of the sentence which reads as earth's obliquity is 24 degrees. “It is very important to know the coding procedure to correctly decode the number. The software helps in decoding the numbers from words in an error free and fast manner,” he said. The Indian National Young Academy of Science is an Initiative of Indian National Science Academy.


Source: DNA-14th February,2017

Scientists estimate new timeline for solar system

Hernan Canellas/MIT Astronomers have estimated the new lifetime of the solar nebula which suggests that the gas giant planets Jupiter and Saturn formed within the first four million years of our solar system's formation.
About 4.6 billion years ago, an enormous cloud of hydrogen gas and dust collapsed under its own weight, eventually flattening into a disk called the solar nebula.
Most of this interstellar material contracted at the disk's centre to form the Sun, and part of the solar nebula's remaining gas and dust condensed to form the planets and the rest of our solar system.
Now, scientists from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the US and their colleagues have estimated the lifetime of the solar nebula - a key stage during which much of the solar system evolution took shape.
This new estimate suggests that the gas giants Jupiter and Saturn must have formed within the first four million years of the solar system's formation.
Furthermore, they must have completed gas-driven migration of their orbital positions by this time. Benjamin Weiss, a professor at MIT and Huapei Wang, the first author of the research, studied the magnetic orientations in pristine samples of ancient meteorites that formed 4.653 billion years ago, determining that the solar nebula lasted around three to four million years.
This is a more precise figure than previous estimates, which placed the solar nebula's lifetime at somewhere between one and 10 million years.
The team came to its conclusion after carefully analysing angrites, which are some of the oldest and most pristine of planetary rocks. Scientists view angrites as exceptional recorders of the early solar system, particularly as the rocks also contain high amounts of uranium, which they can use to precisely determine their age.
Now that the scientists have a better idea of how long the solar nebula persisted, they can also narrow in on how giant planets such as Jupiter and Saturn formed. 

Source: DNA-14th February,2017
India.com


Wednesday, February 15, 2017

Unlocked: Mystery for a better malaria vaccine

Menace Malaria
Mumbai: Scientists in the UK have discovered how a promising malaria vaccine target - the protein RH5 - helps parasites to invade human red blood cells, anadvance that could help develop a more effective vaccine for thedisease.
Researchers at the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute found that a previously mysterious protein on the surface of the parasite called P113 anchors the RH5 protein, and provides a molecular bridge between the parasite and a red blood cell. Previous research by teams at the Sanger Institute discovered that to invade human red blood cells, Plasmodium parasites need RH5 to bind to a receptor called basigin on the surface of the blood cells. However, it was not known how RH5 was attached to the surface of the parasite.
In this latest study, researchers discovered that when the Plasmodium RH5 protein is released, it is immediately caught by another parasite protein called P113.
Thousands of P113 molecules on the surface of each parasite act like a velcro chain, capturing RH5 at the surface of the parasite.
The tethered RH5 then binds to the basigin receptor on the human red blood cell, bridging the gap just long enough to let the parasite invade the blood cell.
“We knew both proteins were essential for invasion but this is the first time anyone has seen the interaction between RH5 and P113 and showed that they work together,” said Julian Rayner, from the Sanger Institute.
In theory, an antibody that blocked P113 could stop RH5 binding, and prevent the parasite from gaining entry to red blood cells. This makes the P113 protein another good vaccine target,” said Rayner. Two more proteins - CyRPA and RIPR - were already known to be essential to the parasite and to form a complex with RH5.
Researchers uncovered the details of how these three proteins bound to each other and that only one small part of the RH5 protein was needed to bind P113. This small region could become an easy-to-produce and cost-effective part of a multicomponent malaria vaccine.
“RH5 is an excellent vaccine target because it is essential for invasion by all strains of Plasmodium falciparum, the species of parasite that causes the most severe disease in humans,” Dr Francis Galway, from the Sanger Institute.


Source: DNA-13th February,2017

Govt delinks medical devices from pharma sector

New Delhi: In a bid to foster ‘Make in India' program, Centre has delinked the medical devices sector from pharmaceuticals sector. The medical devices vertical will now have separate policies and incentive support, Ananth Kumar, Minister for Chemicals and Fertilizers said on Sunday.
The government has also decided to bear the cost of effluent treatment plant and provide some basic facilities free of cost at the upcoming medical device parks in states such as Andhra Pradesh, Haryana, Gujarat and Maharashtra, to make it globally competitive, and to lower the cost of production.
Experts said that government's decision to bear the cost of effluent treatment plant may bring down the cost of medical device manufacturing in India by as much as 30 per cent.
“We are also working towards having a separate ministry of pharmaceutical and medical devices. I have recommended this to the Prime Minister and this request is under active consideration by PMO,” said Kumar.
Currently, India imports over 70 per cent of its medical device requirements and the total annual market size is estimated at over USD 10 billion. Till now, the medical device sector has been governed by the “Drugs & Cosmetics Act, 1940” which was primarily meant for regulating the pharmaceutical industry. Globally, the medical device industry is separate from pharma sector, and is governed by separate set of legislations and regulatory framework.
 The Indian medical devices industry has for a very long time been urging that this inconsistency has been one of the chief bottlenecks for the growth of the industry and hampered its development as a globally competitive on the lines of Indian pharma sector.
The medical device industry was also urging the government to have strict ethical marketing regime code and disincentivization of such importers who are passing over as manufacturers by just labeling imported products.

Source: DNA-13th February,2017


Top three fastest supercomputers available now

When it comes to computers, it's all about the FLOPS or floating-point operations per second. It's basically a unit or measure of processing performance. At present, the best commercial computers have outputs of about 10 teraflops. With that kind of power you'd be able to run some serious high-end programmes or play the latest games in the highest 4K resolution and 3D rendering without any degradation in performance. Although that may be the most an average consumer can hope for, it still dwarfs in comparison with some of the mightiest supercomputers in the world. Let's take a look at them. Sunway TaihuLight This supercomputer - the planet's most powerful computer at the moment - was developed in China with the computing power of a colossal (93 petaflops) 93,014.6 tflops/s or 93 trillion teraflops on the LINPACK benchmark. The supercomputer was created by the National Research Centre of Parallel Computer Engineering and Technology (NRCPC) and is located in the National Supercomputing Centre in Wuxi, China. With an efficiency of 6,051.30 MFLOPS/W, this juggernaut is also the fourth most energy-efficient supercomputer.

Tianhe-2 The Tianhe-2 - also known as MilkyWay-2 - holds the second place in this regard. Another hard-hitter from China, this supercomputer is capable of 33.8 petaflop/s, although the Tianhe-2 could theoretically reach 54.9 petaflop/s. Using Intel technology, this computer has 3.1 million cores and 1,024,000 GB of internal memory. The Tianhe-2 is located at the National Super Computer Centre in Guangzhou, China. It was built with the combined effort of China's National University of Defense Technology (NUDT) and an IT firm called Inspur. Titan Located in Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee, US, Titan holds the third place. Developed by Cray Inc, this supercomputer has 5,60,640 cores, with a computing capacity of 17.5 petaflop/s, and 7,10,144 GB memory. The US Department of Energy footed the $60 million (Rs 401 crore approximately) development price tag.

Source: DNA-12th February,2017

Low-cost material that acts as air conditioner

Scientists have developed a thin, inexpensive material with extraordinary properties not found in nature - to act as a kind of air conditioning system for structures with the ability to cool objects even under direct sunlight with zero energy and water consumption.
When applied to a surface, the metamaterial film cools the object underneath by efficiently reflecting incoming solar energy back into the space while simultaneously allowing the surface to shed its own heat in the form of infrared thermal radiation.
The new material could provide an eco-friendly means of supplementary cooling for thermoelectric power plants, which currently require large amounts of water and electricity to maintain the operating temperatures of their machinery.
The material takes advantage of passive radiative cooling, the process by which objects naturally shed heat in the form of infrared radiation, without consuming energy. Thermal radiation provides natural night-time cooling and is used for residential cooling in some areas, but daytime cooling has historically been more of a challenge.
For a structure exposed to sunlight, even a small amount of directly-absorbed solar energy is enough to negate passive radiation. The challenge for the researchers was to create a material that could provide a one-two punch: reflect any incoming solar rays back into the atmosphere while still providing a means of escape for infrared radiation.
To solve this, they embedded visibly-scattering but infrared-radiant glass microspheres into a polymer film. They then added a thin silver coating underneath in order to achieve maximum spectral reflectance.
The research was published in the journal Science. 


 Source: DNA-13th February,2017

Communication aid


A group of students at IIT-Bombay recently developed an app that helps children with cerebral palsy, autism and down syndrome communicate
Students of IDC School of Design, IIT Bombay recent ly developed an app that aids communication in children and adults who are learning to speak or have speech difficulties. The app, Jellow communicator, uses icons to speak and read, and can be used by anyone with cerebral palsy, autism spectrum disorder, down syndrome and a brain injury.
“Children with cerebral palsy often have speech difficulties. This can significantly limit their ability to communicate with their peers while impacting their social and cognitive development. Jellow was envisioned to help these children communicate with their surrounding world,“ says Sudha Srinivasan, post-doctoral fellow, IDC School of Design, IIT Bombay.
The groundwork for the app, for which the team conceived a novel visual emotional language protocol, began in 2004 during a project under Microsoft Design Expo. It is composed of nine central category buttons and six expressive side buttons. The content of the category buttons has been developed to include common activities and objects people encounter in their daily lives. The expressive buttons comprise expressions such as like don't like, yes want, no don't want, more and less. To speak using the app, a user needs to press a category button followed by any of the expressive side-buttons.For example, by selecting the `eating' category and then the `like' option (happy face), the app will say, `I like to eat'.
The app has over 8,200 lines of pre-programmed sentences in English and Hindi each. In addition, using the keyboard feature, users can make the app speak customtyped sentences.
“The user studies we conducted provided us with insights and guidelines in terms of content, visual design and information architecture. The biggest challenge in this process was to ensure that the app is compatible with devices with varying screen sizes and resolutions,“ adds Srinivasan.
The app is available for free on Google playstore and has been downloaded by over 900 users since its launch in January this year.


Source: TIMES OF INDIA-13th February,2017

IT in depth

Advanced courses in engineering are updated in light of the changing IT landscape by striking a balance between emerging technologies and maintaining a strong hold on the basics
Technology education today integrates the understanding of technology with a focus on innovation. To maintain their relevance, engineering programmes are frequently updated in light of the ever-changing IT ILLU STR landscape by striking ATIO N a balance between emerging technologies and maintaining a strong hold on the basics. While there has always been a broad bifurcation into hardware and software in advanced studies, institutions offer several specialisations that students can choose from. This is partly driven by the need to align themselves to new demands for combined skills by industry and partly driven by a marketing strategy. One has AR to be careful to read the fine print before choosing an option.
Most Indian institutions use generic titles for the MTech discipline. The course provides students with an understanding of fundamental concepts and the ability and skills to apply the knowledge. It also exposes them to the research process. Re search brings to stu dents the ability to dis cover solutions by ap plying knowledge to specific problems. This ability, once acquired, can be used in many ways.That is why technology product and software companies the world over look for professionals with good fundamental training and fair project exposure.
Ultimately, it is not just the name of the degree, but what the student has actually done during the course of study that counts. An advanced stu dent is often defined by his or her thesis area.
For example, computing technology now branch es into every aspect of life, with research thesis in areas such as compu tational biology, bioin formatics, medical ro botics, computational linguistics, cyber securi ty and more.
(The author is director, IIIT Hyderabad) g -As told to Dipal Gala .st > For the complete story, visit s http:www.educationtimes.com

Source: TIMES OF INDIA-13th February,2017


Single entrance test for engg, architecture seats from 2018

But Nat'l Exam Won't Include IIT Admissions
The Centre has approved a proposal for a single entrance examination for engineering and architecture at the undergraduate level from 2018. It will be on the lines of the national eligibility and entrance test (NEET) for medical colleges.
The human resource development ministry has asked the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) to issue a “suitable regulation“ for the implementation of the proposal from the academic year 2018-19. The test will be conducted multiple times a year, as is the case with college admission tests like SAT in the US, and is intended to bring uniformity in academic standards and reduce the influence of donations.
The test will, however, not include admission to IITs, wh ich will continue to hold their own entrance exams. IITs, unlike private and state colleges, are not seen to be affected by fluctuating standards and admission processes.
According to a senior HRD ministry official, “Admission for IITs will continue as per the present scheme.IITs will conduct the joint entrance examination (advanced). Students who qualify after JEE (mains) can appear for the JEE (advanced) exam. Approximately , 2 lakh engineering aspirants qualify to appear for JEE (advanced) exam.“ The proposal on holding only one entrance exam for engineering admissions is seen to be in “accordance with the policy of the government to improve standards and the quality of engineering education“. At present, many states conduct their own engineering exams or admissions are done on the basis of Class XII marks. Engineering colleges in five states use the score obtained in JEE (mains) as the basis for admission. There are 3,288 engineering colleges across 27 states, with most of them in Tamil Nadu (527), followed by Maharashtra (372), Andhra Pradesh (328), Uttar Pradesh (295) and Madhya Pradesh (211). The HRD ministry has asked AICTE to ensure that the testing process is standardized, keeping “in view the linguistic diversity of the country“. According to AICTE sources, the exam is to be conducted in multiple languages like NEET, which will be conducted in 10 languages this year.
The ministry has requested all state governmentsdeemed universities “to communicate their constructive suggestions for the smooth implementation of the regulation“.It has also said it would help if as many institutions as possible come under a joint seat-allocation system for a more efficient seat-allocation process.

Source: TIMES OF INDIA-11th February,2017