• Minister Parthasarathi asks for changes in Intermediate
• AIEEE 2012 Examination Notification
• IIT-JEE Notification 2012
• NEET UG 2012 Core Syllabus
• NEET UG & PG Information Booklet
• Five States not ready to participate in NEET-UG in 2012
• NEET UG 2012 Admission Test on May 13, 2012
• NEET-UG (MBBS) scores will apply for Dental (BDS) admission also
• Separate Cet for medicine.
• Adult literacy will lead to better employment opportunities.
• IIT aspirant files lawsuit over cancellation of admission.
• 52 candidates admitted to IIT by mistake - Kapil Sibal.
• Separate body for conducting CAT soon - IIMs.
• Single exam to replace multiple Engineering entrances.
• Online entrance test planned for budding engineers.
• Alternate admission procedure for engineering schools soon.

IIT-JEE 2012 Notification

Examination Schedule
Examination schedule: 8th April, 2012 Paper 1: 09.00 – 12.00 hrs
(Sunday) Paper 2: 14.00 – 17.00 hrs Paper 1 and Paper 2 each will have separate sections in Chemistry, Physics and Mathematics
Both papers will be of objective type, designed to test comprehension, reasoning and analytical ability of candidates
Last date for receipt of completed application forms (Offline or printed copy of Online) at IITs: 15th December, 2011

ELIGIBILITY FOR IIT JEE 2012
You must make sure that you satisfy all the eligibility conditions given below for appearing in JEE-2012
Date of birth: Candidate belonging to GE, OBC and DS categories must be born on or after October 01, 1987 and those belonging to SC, ST and PD categories must be born on or after October 01, 1982

Year of passing qualifying examination (QE): To appear in IIT-JEE 2012, a candidate must have either passed the QE for the first time, on or after October 1, 2010 or appearing for the first time in 2012. Those who are going to appear in the QE later than September 30, 2012 are not eligible to appear in IIT-JEE 2012.

The year of passing the QE will be determined based on the examination he/she passed the earliest out of the qualifying examinations listed below. In case the applicant passed more than one QE or attempted successfully same QE more than once, the year of the first successful QE/attempt will be used to determine the eligibility for IIT-JEE 2012.
The qualifying examinations are listed below:

The final examination of the 10+2 system, conducted by any recognized central/ state Board, such as Central Board of Secondary Education, New Delhi; Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations, New Delhi; etc.

Intermediate or two-year Pre-University examination conducted by a recognized Board/ University.

Final examination of the two-year course of the Joint Services Wing of the National Defence Academy.

General Certificate Education (GCE) examination (London / Cambridge / Sri Lanka) at the Advanced (A) level.

High School Certificate Examination of the Cambridge University or International Baccalaureate Diploma of the International Baccalaureate Office, Geneva.

H.S.C. vocational examination.

Senior Secondary School Examination conducted by the National Institute of Open Schooling with a minimum of five subjects.

A Diploma recognized by AICTE or a state board of technical education of at least 3 year duration.

Any Public School/Board/University examination in India or in any foreign country recognized as equivalent to the 10+2 system by the Association of Indian Universities (AIU).

Minimum percentage :Candidates belonging to GE and OBC categories must secure at least 60% marks in aggregate in QE. SC, ST and PD candidates must secure at least 55% marks in aggregate in QE.

The percentage of marks awarded by the Board will be treated as final. If the Board does not award the percentage of marks, it will be calculated based on the marks obtained in all subjects listed in the mark sheet. If any Board awards only letter grades without providing an equivalent percentage of marks on the grade sheet, the candidate should obtain a certificate from the Board specifying the equivalent marks, and submit it at the time of counselling / admission. In case such a certificate is not provided the decision taken by the Joint Implementation Committee (JIC) of IIT-JEE 2012 will be final.

Number of JEE Attempts

A candidate can attempt JEE maximum two times in consecutive years irrespective of whether or not he/she passed QE. Those who have attempted JEE in 2010 or earlier are NOT ELIGIBLE to appear in IIT-JEE 2012.

Candidates who have taken admission (irrespective of whether or not they continued in any of the programmes) or accepted the admission by paying the registration fee at any of the IITs, IT-BHU Varanasi or ISM Dhanbad, are NOT ELIGIBLE to appear in IIT-JEE 2012.

IIT JEE Important Dates

Start of Online application process	Monday	October 31, 2011
Closing of Online application process	Saturday	December 10, 2011
Start of Offline OMR Application Forms	Friday	November 11, 2011
Close of Offline OMR Application Forms sale	Monday	December 5, 2011
Last date of receipt completed IIT-JEE 2012 Application Form	Thursday	December 15, 2011
IIT-JEE 2012 examination day	Sunday	April 8, 2012
Declaration of IIT JEE 2012 Results	Friday	May 18, 2012
Online filling of CHOICES open to ALL the qualified candidates	Saturday to Sunday	May 19-June 10, 2012
Last date for receiving category certificates	Friday	June 1, 2012
Architecture/Design Aptitude Test	Sunday	June 3, 2012
Medical examination and counselling for qualified PD Candidates (the schedule will be announced on the IIT websites)	Monday to Wednesday	June 4-6, 2012
Last date for receiving admission form and medical certificate at zonal IITs	Friday	June 8, 2012
Web Release of First Course Allotment	Thursday	June 14, 2012
Web Release of Second Course Allotment	Monday	June 25, 2012
Web Release of Third Course Allotment	Friday	July 6, 2012

How to Apply for IIT Joint Entrance Examination ?

The Information given below is based on IIT-JEE 2012 Exam Notification. Details regarding the application process will be published in leading national dailies and employment news/rozgar samachar on Saturday, 22nd October, 2011

Application procedure: A candidate can submit application either on-line through internet or off-line through prescribed (OMR) application form.

(a)Online: For online submission of applications, visit any of the websites given below and carefully follow the instructions given therein. Candidates can pay the application fee through NEFT or through challan of selected banks. The application fee for online mode is ____for SC/ST/PD/Female candidates and ____ for all other candidates. Online Application process will start on 31st October, 2011

(b)Offline:

A candidate can register Offline using the prescribed Optical Machine Readable (OMR) Application Form which can be obtained by cash purchase from bank branches given below with effect from 11 November, 2011.

OMR Application form cost including processing charges of 200/-

Form for GE/OBC Male candidates	1800
Form for SC/ST/PD Male candidates	1000
Form for All Female candidates	200

(c) Help-line (only in IIT Madras zone): Those who do not have access to computers and internet can also apply on-line with reduced examination fees by visiting any of the forty approved ‘CMC help-line’ centres distributed all over the IIT Madras zone. For details visit JEE website or contact CMC office tele – 044-22504500

All India list of designated branches of banks for purchase of application material is also given in websites of all IITs.

Institute – website
IIT Bombay – http://www.jee.iitb.ac.in

IIT Delhi – http://jee.iitd.ac.in

IIT Guwahati – http://www.iitg.ac.in/jee

IIT Kanpur – http://www.jee.iitk.ac.in

IIT Kharagpur – http://www.iitkgp.ernet.in/jee

IIT Madras – http://jee.iitm.ac.in

IIT Roorkee – http://www.iitr.ac.in/jee

All India helplines from 8 am to 8 pm – 044-42925020 and 21

Five States not ready to participate in NEET-UG in 2012.

Gujarat, West Bengal, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh - Tamilnadu and Andhra Pradesh taken stay from Court, Maharashtra to move SC, Gujarat and West Bengal want NEET in vernacular languages

NEET-UG 2012 Notification is expected to be announced any day, at least five states saying they are not ready for participation in it, reports IBN LIVE

While Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh have already obtained a stay from the court, Maharashtra has now moved the Supreme Court seeking a stay on the plea of differences in syllabi. West Bengal and Gujarat have not yet indicated their affirmation to join the test. Sources say if the big five states are left out of the National Entrance-cum-Eligibility Test (NEE) a majority of the medical colleges across the country would be out of NEET purview, as almost 50 to 60 per cent of the medical colleges in the country are concentrated in Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and Karnataka alone.

The Medical Council of India (MCI) has already finalised the syllabus for National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET-UG) for admission to MBBS courses and fixed May 13 for holding the exam next year. Earlier during discussions with various states, Gujarat, Karnataka and West Bengal had demanded the holding of the proposed NEET in vernacular languages, which is now ruled out owing to shortage of time in holding the exam.

NEET UG 2012 for admission MBBS in 335 medical Colleges on May 13, 2012.

The National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET-UG) for admission of students to undergraduate courses in 335 medical colleges of the country is scheduled to be held on May 13 in 2012.The core syllabus has been finalised. The Council also released on its website the final syllabus for CET, also known as National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET), for MBBS courses. Check out NEET-2012 Final Core syllabus

The MCI announced date for the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET-UG) even though the Ministry of Health is yet to issue a notification.

The notification has been pending in the ministry for long, with some states like West Bengal, Gujarat, Goa and Andhra Pradesh seeking that the test be held in the local vernacular languages as well. However, Medical Council of India sources said today that the CBSE had the wherewithal to conduct test in Hindi and English only. Efforts were being made to see if the request of the four states could be met.

Final Nod from the Health Minister awaited.Sources informed the media that there was still a long way to hold the CET successfully, as Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad is yet to clear the file to approve the new pattern of examination to be based on percentile system. Moreover, the move might get stuck in a legal muddle if a private college manages to get a stay in the case.

National Eligibility Entrance Test NEET-UG (MBBS) scores will apply for Dental (BDS) admission also.

National Eligibility Entrance Test (NEET) MBBS Scores will now be used for Dental College Admissions also, This has been confirmed by the President of Dental Council of India Dr Dibyendu Mazumdar. He Confirmed to news agencies that that the Dental Council of India and MCI have decided that the common entrance test will be used for admission in both medical and dental colleges in India, reports TOI.

Dr Mazumdar was in Ahmedabad to to participate in the three-day national conference of the Indian Society of Periodontology being hosted by the Ahmedabad Dental College and Hospital.

The DCI president said that when the MCI proposed National Eligibility Entrance Test (NEET) for medical admissions, there was ambiguity about whether the test will apply to the admission in dental courses as well. Both the councils decided that it would be a burden on the students if a separate test is introduced for dental admissions. Hence it has been decided to have the common NEET for both medical and dental admissions. He said the test will be based on the CBSE syllabus and the merit list will be declared with statewise rankings.

DCI president said students of dental colleges will have to do a one-year internship, of which three months will have to be compulsorily spent in rural areas. "Students need to be aware of the unique health problems of rural India. Also, there are certain states like Kerela and Uttarakhand and armed forces hospitals where internship is mandatory," Dr Mazumdar said.

Separate Cet for medicine.
The state government is planning to radically reform Eamcet by deputing two universities to conduct separate engineering and medical entrance exams on different days from this year. It proposes to hand over the responsibility of conducting the medical entrance test to NTR University of Health Sciences, Vijayawada, which regulates all the medical and dental colleges in the state. The proposals will be placed for approval before the Eamcet committee meeting to be held in the first week of December.
At present, the engineering and medical entrance exams are jointly conducted under ‘Eamcet’ by one university on a single day in morning and afternoon sessions respectively. This system has been in force since Eamcet was introduced in the state in 1985 for admissions into engineering, pharmacy, medical, dental and agriculture courses.
The JNTU-Hyderabad has been holding Eamcet in this format for over a decade. Though JNTU has been conducting medical entrance test for the last few years, the admissions counselling is being done by the NTRUHS.
source : DC-November 26th, 2010.

Adult literacy will lead to better employment opportunities - Purandeswari
New Delhi: An interactive meeting with State Literacy Mission Authority and Zila Lok Shiksha Samities on implementation of Saakshar Bharat was inaugurated by Minister of State for Human Resource Development D. Purandeswari here today.
Speaking on the occasion, Purandeswari underlined the importance of "Saakshar Bharat" keeping in context the fact that India is among the countries with the largest number of illiterates. "Adult literacy will empower the beneficiaries towards better employment opportunities," she said.
She further added that literacy is the most significant element in empowerment of people with skills and knowledge and giving them access to productive employment. "At the local Government/ Panchayat level, with 33 per cent reservation for women, the importance of literacy among women as a means to empower them when they hold these electoral posts must also be appreciated," she stated.
Purandeswari said that an important point is how to bring convergence between the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan and The Saakshar Bharat. Adding that using common infrastructure can be looked at, she also sought the support of Gram Panchayats in the implementation of the programme especially with regard to proper listing of beneficiaries.
The goal of Saakshar Bharat Programme is to impart functional literacy and numeracy to non-literate and non-numerate adults in 15+ age group and enable them to continue their learning beyond basic literacy and acquire equivalency to formal education system.
The Saakshar Bharat flagship programme of the government of India is to provide an opportunity for literacy and further learning to people deprived of school education. The programme is an opportunity for formal education for excluded population, deprived sections of society and minorities, especially women.
The Saakshar Bharat programme is rolled out in 167 districts covering 19 states and additional 118 districts have been sanctioned this year.
The two plenary sessions in the conference were on "Towards Effective Convergence" (chaired by D. Purandeswari), and the second session on "Centrality of Literacy and Women to Development".

IIT aspirant files lawsuit over cancellation of admission.
19-year-old Nidhi Singla, who lost an opportunity this year to pursue engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology or any other good engineering institute due to what the IITs have passed off as a "mere inadvertent mistake" has now filed a lawsuit to join the premier institute even though she had cleared the entrance examination.
In April this year, Nidhi had appeared for the IIT entrance examination and had achieved a rank of 6,767. She had been allotted a seat at IIT-Roorkee and was also asked to deposit a fee of Rs.40,000.
However, when Singla tried to access the examination letter online, she had been shocked to find that the IIT had cancelled her admission. The IIT failed to present a reason for Nidhi's admission being cancelled.
Along with Nidhi, 50 more candidates had suffered the same fate when they had been sent confirmations of admission at one of the IITs but were later informed that their admissions had been cancelled.
The candidates were only told that they had been unable to clear the aptitude test and were declared passed only because of an alleged "mistake in data processing".
Nidhi's lawyer Vinay Kumar told the court that what was only a "mere inadvertent mistake" for the IITs had resulted in Nidhi losing out on opportunity to pursue engineering at not only the IITs but also other engineering institutes as well.
He further argued that once the IITs have allotted a seat to a candidate, they cannot cancel the admission without giving any prior notice or justification for the decision.
In it's defense, the IITs have alleged that Nidhi had been given a second chance to secure admission at one of the premier institutes but due to lack of choices that she had intimated, she had been unable to secure a seat in any of the available courses.
Nidhi argued that she had filled in 97 choices and yet she had not been granted admission.

52 candidates admitted to IIT by mistake - Kapil Sibal
Clarifying the withdrawal of offer of admission to 52 candidates from IITs, the human resource development ministry on Friday said that the offers were made "erroneously" to the candidates.
In a written reply to the Rajya Sabha, Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal said that according to the Joint Admission Board, 52 candidates in the general category were offered admission to IIT though they had not qualified in the test.
"Some candidates who wrote the JEE 2010 were erroneously offered admission. The inadvertent error in course allocation pertained to candidates who had not qualified in the architecture/design aptitude test, were offered admission," Sibal said quoting information from the Joint Admission Board.
"Their admission was later withdrawn and the places were filled by eligible candidates," he said.
According to the ministry, 41 of the candidates were provided admission in the second list while the rest 11 could not be taken as "they had not filled a large number of choices even though they has been advised to do so during their counseling".
The minister also said that two of the candidates had gone to court.
"The JEE system has introduced additional checks in their procedure so that such an error does not recur," Sibal added.

Separate body for conducting CAT soon - IIMs
For the better conduction and management of the Common Admission Test (CAT) in future, the Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) have planned to establish a separate body for the purpose.
IIM Lucknow Director Devi Singh was in Delhi on Thursday and said that the IIMs intend to set up a distinct body within the IIM structure for CAT. This body will be run and managed by professionals and would be solely responsible for the conduction of the management entrance test.
He further added that the organization could be established under Section 25 of the Companies Act and that the details for the same are being worked out. "We have definite plans in this direction for setting up the body," he said.
Another major plan by the IIMs involves CAT, which has more than two lakh takers every year, to be made similar to the Graduate Record Examination (GRE) or the Graduate Management Admission Test (GMAT) so that it can be conducted more than once a year.
The CAT Convener this year was IIM Lucknow professor Himanshu Rai. Over 2.04 lakh candidates appeared for the CAT tests this year which were conducted over a window period of 20 days from October 27 to November 24.
Last year, the CAT had been made a computer based examination instead of a paper-pen test format but had witnessed several teething problems in the form of technical glitches and errors. However, this year, the online CAT was conducted successfully and no glitches or errors were reported.
Prof. Himanshu Rai informed that along with Prometric, the organization that was responsible for the online conduction of the test in 2009 and 2010, the IIMs were also considering modifications in the CAT format from 2011.
These changes would include making the CAT vouchers available for sale online and reduction of time period between reporting at the test centre and commencement of the test, which was 90 minutes this year.
Prof. Rai further added that there would always be scope of improvement in the conduction of CAT. "We are working towards making the test as candidate friendly as possible," he said.

Single exam to replace multiple Engineering entrances
In order to reform the present system of multiple entrance examinations, a committee has been constituted to explore the possibility of having a single exam in place of the Indian Institute of Technology - Joint Entrance Exam (IIT-JEE), All India Engineering Entrance Examination (AIEEE) and other state entrance examinations.
This was stated by Minister of State for Human Resource Development D. Purandeswari in a written reply to a question in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday.
According to Purandeswari, the Acharya Committee headed by IIT Kharagpur Director Damodar Acharya, which had been constituted for the purpose, has already given several recommendations.
One of the main recommendations of the committee is that the scores of Class 12 qualifying examinations should be normalized appropriately across all Boards. They should also be used to capture the School Science Performance (SSP).
Another recommendation is the introduction of a National Aptitude Test (NAT) that would be used to capture parameters of interest in a student such as raw intelligence, aptitude general awareness, comprehension and written communication skills.
The committee has also suggested that a Composite Weighted Performance (CWP) score, that will be a summation of the Class XII as well as the NAT scores, should be computed for screening purposes.

Online entrance test planned for budding engineers.
The All India Engineering Entrance Examination (AIEEE) will be conducted online on a limited scale next year for admission to technology institutes and deemed universities, the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) said on Monday.
The exam conducted by the CBSE will have the option for around one lakh candidates to appear in the exam online on a first-come-first-served basis.
While the usual written exam will be held on April 24, 2011, the online exams will be held from May 1-15 for about one lakh candidates.
"For the first time, the board has also made a facility available for appearing in online examination for one lakh candidates on first-come-first-served basis in select 20 cities, with a maximum of 5,000 per city," a CBSE official said.
Information on the exam next year will be available at various banks, educational institutions and regional offices of the board from December 15.
The facility for submission of online application will be available from November 23 on the AIEEE website [^] .
The AIEEE exam is held for admission to the National Institutes of Technology, Indian Institutes of Information Technology, several deemed universities and some state institutions.
Many private colleges also accept AIEEE ranks for admission.
More than 11 lakh candidates are expected to appear for AIEEE examination in its 10th edition next year seeking admission to engineering courses.

Alternate admission procedure for engineering schools soon.
A decision on an alternate examination procedure to reduce the pressure on students aiming to enter the elite Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) or other engineering schools will be taken soon, Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal said recently.
"There is a crying need for examination reforms. We will reduce the pressure on our students who have to sit for 20 entrance examinations," Sibal told media persons on the sidelines of the 56th annual convocation of IIT Kharagpur.
A panel of directors, headed by IIT Kharagpur chief Damodar Acharya, was set up by Sibal earlier this year to examine the viability of an alternate examination procedure. "The panel will submit its report by the end of this month. Once we get the report we will act upon it at the earliest," Sibal said.
The minister said urgent steps were needed to lessen the pressure and reduce the dependence on coaching centres. "Coaching institutes in the country are for the rich and the privileged. The coaching institutes are not the best way to get into best of the institutes like [^] IITs in the country," said Sibal.
In 2010, about 4.7 lakh students appeared for the IIT examination for admission to 10,000 seats spread over 15 IITs across the country.