Technical Graduates made jokers in the Military

INDIAN ARMY
116th Technical Graduate Course (JAN 2013)
Last Date of Application: 14.06.2012
Application are invited from Engineering Graduates Married/ Unmarried Male including temporary Central/State Govt. serving personnel of the regular Army and Territorial Army (including officers of Territorial Army) and serving personnel of Navy and Air Force for grant of permanent commission in the Indian Army.
Qualification & Vacancies
Civil (including Mining/ Construction) : 27
Electrical (including Electrical & Electronics ) : 08
Mechanical (including Industrial/Industrial Engg & Management): 08
Automobile Engg/ Workshop Technology: 01
Production (Including Manufacturing/ Metallurgical /Metallurgy & Explosives): 02 Rubber Technology/ Plastic Technology/ Textiles: 01
Electronics (including Electronics & Instrumentation / Micro Electronics & Microwave/ Opto Electronics) : 04
Communication/ Telecommunication (Including ECE/ Electronics & Communication): 06
Architecture/ Building Construction Technology : 02
Computer Sciences & Engg/ Computer Sciences/ M.Sc (Computer): 01
Army Education Corps (Men): MA in English/ Economics/ History Music/ Geography/ Political Science/ M.Sc (Physics/ Maths)
Post Graduate Degree (MA/M.Sc) 1st or 2nd div: 08
Foreign Language (Post Graduate Degree MA)
Post Graduate Degree (MA) 1st or 2nd Div in following subjects Chinese, Tibetan, Burmese, Pushto, Dari and Arabic : 04
TGC (Military Farms)- Agriculture – 02 & Dairy: 02
Degree in Dairying or Degree in Agriculture : 04
Note : These vacancies are tentative and may be changed depending on availability of training slots.
AGE LIMIT:
For Engineering Graduates – 20 to 27 yrs ( Born between 02 Jan 86 and 01 Jan 93). For AEC- 23 to 27 yrs (Born between 02 Jan 86 and 01 Jan 90). For Military Farms – 20 to 27 yrs (Born not earlier than 02 Jan 86 and not latter than 01 Jan 93).
EDUCATIONAL QUALIFICATION

For Engineers: Candidates studying in the Final Year of Engineering Degree and who are qualified graduates of the Degree Course in Engineering will be eligible to apply. The qualified graduates of the Degree Course must possess Engineering Degree at the time of joining training. The candidates studying in the final year of Degree Course, if not already in possession of the Degree Certificate should be able to produce the Engineering Degree within 12 weeks from the date of commencement of training at IMA. Such candidates will be inducted for training at IMA on Additional Bond Basis for recovery of the cost of training as notified from time to time as well as stipend and pay & allowances paid, in case they fail to produce the requisite degree certificate.

For Army Education Corps. MA/M.Sc Degree in 1st or 2nd division from a university recognized by AIU in English/Economics/History/Music/ Geography/ Political Science / Physics & Math .

For Military Farm. A degree in dairying or a degree in Agriculture from a recognized university with dairying as one of the subjects or an equivalent foreign qualification in Agriculture (Preference will be given to those who hold M.Sc degree or have carried out research in Dairying of Fodder Crops) (AI 105/61)
CONDITIONS OF ELIGIBILITY
(a) Nationality: A candidate must either be (i) a citizen of India or (ii) a subject of Nepal or (iii) a subject of Bhutan or (iv) Tibetan origin but of Indian domicile, whose parents entered India as refugees prior to 1s t January 1962 with intention of Permanently settling in India. (v) a pers on of Indian or igin who migrated from Pakistan, Myanmar, Sri Lanka and East African countries like Kenya, Uganda, United Republic of Tanzania, Zambi, Malawai, Zaire, Ethopia and Vietnam with the intention of Permanently settling in India. Provided that a candidate belonging to categories (ii), (iii), (iv) and (v) above shall be a person in whose favour a certificate of eligibility has been issued by the Government of India. Certificate of eligibility will however not be necessary in the case of candidate who are Gorkhas subject of Nepal. (b) Candidates withdrawn fr om IMA/OTA/Naval Academy/Air Force Academy on disciplinary ground are not eligible to apply.
Cost to company (CTC). The CTC for a Lieutenant would be approximately Rs.65000/- per month. This includes Basic Pay, DA, Grade Pay Military Service Pay, Tech Pay, House Rent Allowance and Transport allowance. These rates are not statutory and are subject to change. Click here for the original Post
Comment: The Technical Pay is peanuts. In 1971 the Technical Pay for a Engineering Graduate (5 year Integrated Course) was Rs 75 pm whereas an NDA or IMA Graduate who completed some tactical cum technical refresher courses in MCTE or College of Combat were getting Rs 175 as Technical Pay. Literally the Military made Jokers of the Technical Graduates mocking the University Degree. Technical Graduate a Loser till he Retires!

Modern Engineering Marvels

Joyous Swiss celebrate longest-tunnel breakthrough

Swiss officials hug each other after a giant drilling machine beneath the Swiss Alps completed the world's longest tunnel Friday
By The Associated Press and Deutsche Presse-Agentur
SEDRUN, Switzerland — Workers hugged, cheered and set off fireworks as a massive drilling machine dubbed "Sissi" broke through the last stretch of rock deep in the Swiss Alps. There was delight at the end of the tunnel — the world's longest — when it was completed Friday.

The $10 billion, 35.4-mile tube will connect Europe's high-speed-rail network and is part of a larger effort to cut in half the number of trucks — now 1.2 million — that thunder through the Alps each year.

The pride felt throughout Switzerland over digging the Gotthard Base Tunnel reflected the one cause that unites the country's wealthy city dwellers with those living in traditional villages: Protecting the beauty of the mountains.

"Together, we risked a lot," said Swiss Transport Minister Moritz Leuenberger. "Together, we achieved a lot."

TV stations across Europe showed the event live. The embraces and cheers by the hard-hatted workers brought to mind the successful rescue of 33 miners this week in Chile.
Read More: Joyous Swiss celebrate longest-tunnel breakthrough

Soaring Hoover Dam bypass bridge finally complete

A soaring bridge that will let drivers bypass Hoover Dam - and steer clear of its security checkpoints and gawking tourists - is set to open after nearly eight years and $240 million worth of work. Julie Jacobson AP Photo

Dawna Robertson, of San Diego, Calif., takes a photo of Hoover Dam and the newly completed by-pass bridge from a Black Canyon River Adventures commercial raft on the Colorado River Tuesday, Oct. 12, 2010, near Boulder City, Nev. The bridge will be dedicated on Thursday and open to the public Saturday.

By OSKAR GARCIA; Associated Press Writer
Published: 10/14/1012:20 pm
BOULDER CITY, Nevada. A soaring bridge that will let drivers bypass Hoover Dam - and steer clear of its security checkpoints and gawking tourists - is set to open after nearly eight years and $240 million worth of work.

The 1,900-foot engineering wonder perched 890 feet above the Colorado River is expected to drastically cut travel time along the main route between Las Vegas and Phoenix, as motorists will no longer have to make their way across the dam's winding two-lane road at a snail's pace.

"I know that the Hoover Dam is one of the wonders of the world," U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said at a dedication ceremony Thursday. "I don't know who gives that designation, but I hope the bridge will become another wonder of the world."
Read more: Soaring Hoover Dam bypass bridge finally complete

How Indian Entrepreneurs have circumnavigated Government hurdles to IT Development

The innovation revolution livemint.com The Wall Street Journal
Emerging India has evolved from the world’s back office into a knowledge and innovation hub. In the next decade, expect benefits for not just the nation but the global economy by Vivek Wadhwa
The ability of Indian entrepreneurs to rise above all the hurdles the government and society throw at them. Just as India’s companies install their own power generators to deal with supply problems and purification plants to provide clean water, they have built their own surrogate education system. And herein lies India’s greatest innovation: Its companies have developed the ability to take the output of a weak education system and turn these workers into R&D specialists who can compete in the global arena.

Faced with severe talent shortages, escalating salaries and a lagging education system, Indian industry had to rethink the way it recruited, trained, developed and retained its workforce. It started by adapting the best practices of companies that were outsourcing R&D to India. Then, leading companies in diverse industries started improving on these techniques and methods; refining and integrating them into a unified system.

With the economic slowdown, Indian talent supply has been able to catch up with demand. And Western companies are more desperate than ever to cut costs.

To achieve the 30-40% cost savings that Indian outsourcers can offer, they are now outsourcing their most strategic internal systems. Additionally, thanks to a combination of the recession in the US and that country’s flawed immigration policies, there is a flood of highly educated and skilled talent returning home to India.

They see more opportunity in India than abroad, and want to be near family and friends. They are returning with the latest skills and an understanding of foreign markets.

So the stars are lining up for Indian outsourcing, and this industry is gaining a second wind.

Within a decade, India is likely to become the world’s second-largest R&D centre after the US. Its innovations will likely benefit not only India, but also the world.

Vivek Wadhwa is executive in residence/adjunct professor at the Pratt School of Engineering at Duke University and a senior research associate with the Labor and Worklife Program at Harvard Law School.
Read the full article on how Government hurdles have been bypassed:
The innovation revolution

Co-inventor of the bazooka dies at 92

Los Angeles Times
Edward G. Uhl dies at 92; co-inventor of the bazooka
The former aerospace executive helped create what was originally named the M1 Rocket Launcher during World War II. He went on to oversee the development of several missiles.

Edward G. Uhl, former president of Fairchild Industries who was co-inventor of the M1 bazooka during World War II, died Sunday of heart failure at an assisted living facility in Easton, Md. He was 92.

Uhl, pronounced "Yule," served as a regular officer in the Army's Ordnance Corps from 1941 until 1946. In 1942, while assigned to Ordnance Corps headquarters at the Pentagon in Washington, he helped develop the first U.S. shoulder-launched bazooka, which was originally named the M1 Rocket Launcher, with Col. Leslie A. Skinner.

"When I met with Skinner, he was working on rockets. We really had no anti-tank weapon. You can't believe how inept our military was at that point in time," Uhl said in a 2007 interview with Maryland Cracker Barrel Magazine.

"Skinner said, 'I'm going to be working on rockets to be located on aircraft, and I want you to take this rocket grenade. I think we can probably make a rocket out of this grenade and have it be an effective weapon, so that's your job,' " Uhl recalled. "The weapon that I was working on finally developed into what was known as the bazooka."

Uhl faced two immediate problems: How would a soldier aim the weapon and how would the burning powder be kept from coming into contact with his face?

"One day I was walking by this scrap pile, and there was a tube that was 5 feet long and 60 mm in diameter, which happened to be the same size as the grenade that we were turning into a rocket," Uhl said in the interview. "I said, 'That's the answer! Put the tube on a soldier's shoulder with the rocket inside and away it goes.' "

During field trials at the Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland, the M1 rocket launcher successfully blew the turret off a tank and its M6 rocket penetrated armor plate that was more than 4 inches thick.

Later during World War II, Uhl joined the staff of Gen. Douglas MacArthur in the Pacific. After resigning his commission in 1946 with the rank of lieutenant colonel, he went to work for the old Glenn L. Martin Co. in Middle River, Md., where he was a member of a team that was directing the company's move into the new field of rockets.

In 1949, he was named head of "pilotless aircraft" — or what is now known as guided missiles — and helped design the Viking high-altitude research rocket and the Air Force Matador.

Rising through the ranks, Uhl was named vice president of engineering in 1952 and later became vice president and general manager of Martin's plant in Orlando, Fla.

During his years in Orlando, Uhl oversaw the development and manufacture of the LaCrosse, Bullpup and Pershing missiles.

After leaving Martin in 1959, he was general manager and vice president of technical administration for two years at Ryan Aeronautical Co. in San Diego.

In 1961, he was named president of Fairchild Engine and Airplane Corp., later Fairchild Industries Inc., in Hagerstown, Md.

During Uhl's years at Fairchild, one of his great successes was the building of what was called a "close air support aircraft" — later the A-10 Warthog — which featured jet engines rather than turbo props. Beating out the competition, Fairchild got a $40-million contract from the Defense Department to build the new planes. Uhl retired in 1985.

Born in 1918 in Elizabeth, N.J., the son of a mechanic and a homemaker, Uhl earned a bachelor's degree in engineering physics in 1940 from Lehigh University, where he had been a member of Phi Beta Kappa.

Uhl's survivors include his wife of 44 years, the former Mary Stuart Brugh; two sons, a daughter, two stepsons, four grandchildren and five step-grandchildren.
Copyright © 2010, The Baltimore Sun
The making of the Bazooka

Gandhian Engineering is not just for the poor

CJ: Sheila Panickar Wed, Oct 14, 2009 10:06:15 IST

WHAT BRANCH of engineering would be the most crucial for the 21st century? Electrical Engineering? Aeronautical Engineering? Computer Engineering? Electronics Engineering? No. None of these. It will be ‘Gandhian engineering’. Dr RA Mashelkar, Chairman, National Innovation Foundation and President of Global Research Alliance in his lecture highlighted the emergence of Innovation and focus on Gandhian Engineering to a large gathering of NIT-W Alumni and students at the Golden Jubilee and Foundation Day of NIT-W Alumni meet at the campus.

Dr Mashelkar started the address at 11:45 am exactly at the same time and day 50 years ago Pundit Jawaharlal Nehru laid the foundation stone for the Institute. Dr. Mashelkar, Chairman of National Innovation said it gave him immense pleasure to be part of the NIT-W Golden Jubilee Celebration as it was a Mashelkar Committee in 1998/99 that had reviewed RECs and recommended that they be converted to National Institute of Technology (NIT).
Read the article: Gandhian Engineering's crucial role in 21st century
Read 37 pages of the innovative concept: Gandhian Engineering is not just for the poor

ISRO Chief spills the beans about Higher Education in India

Bangalore: ISRO chairman G. Madhavan Nair, who is to retire by this month-end after an illustrious career at the space agency, feels that the country’s higher education system is not up to the mark, churning out graduates only for routine jobs.

Mr. Nair, also Secretary in the Department of Space, called for improving quality to produce high-class technologists and scientists.

‘Not up to the mark’
“The level of education and knowledge being imparted by many colleges... they are not up to the mark. Instead of concentrating on quantity, these institutions should concentrate on quality,” Mr. Nair told PTI in an interview.

"I am not happy with the education system in the country. The bulk of applicants (who applied for scientific and engineering jobs at ISRO this year)... they are not able to get even 50 per cent marks in our entrance tests."

Nair said if the quality level is not up to the mark, then one would only get people for clerical or routine jobs. If real technologists for manufacturing and scientific research were to be produced, the quality had to be far better.

Appointed as ISRO chairman, Nair's tenure saw realisation of 27 space missions, of which 25 were successful, with India's maiden moon mission Chandrayaan-1 being the pinnacle of glory for the country's space agency. Nair got two extensions in 2005 and 2007.- PTI
ISRO chief to retire by month-end

Fake degrees
Compounding the problems of poor quality of Higher education is the Fake Degrees, where detection and conviction is almost negligible. The Courts and Judiciary which have pending and backlog cases for the next 450 years is likely to enhance rapidly Fake Degrees in India and its export to other nations. Are we producing Scientists, Technocrats, Engineers for research or Bureaucrats and clerks for routine white collar jobs?

Railway on the Roof of the World

Lhasa Railway Station
Key facts about Qinghai-Tibet Railway
China opened the world's most elevated railroad, the Qinghai-Tibet Railway, on Saturday 01 July 2006. Below are some facts about the Qinghai-Tibet Railway:

Qinghai-Tibet Railway is the first railroad linking Tibet with the rest of China.

China has solved three major difficulties, namely frozen tundra, high altitude and plateau environmental protection, to rewrite the world's history of railway construction with the completion of Qinghai-Tibet Railway.

Qinghai-Tibet Railway is the world's highest railway. Some 960 kilometers of its tracks are located 4,000 meters above sea level and the highest point is 5,072 meters, at least 200 meters higher than the Peruvian railway in the Andes, which was formerly the world's most elevated rail. The line has a capacity of eight pairs of passenger trains, and the carriages are specially built and have an oxygen supply for each passenger.

The railway is the world's longest plateau railroad, extending 1,956 kilometers from Qinghai's provincial capital Xining to Lhasa in Tibet. The Golmud-Lhasa section zigzags 1,142 kilometers across the Kunlun and Tanggula mountain ranges.

About 550 kilometers of the tracks run on frozen earth, the longest in any of the world's plateau railways.

Tanggula Railway Station, 5,068 meters above sea level, is the highest railway station in the world.

Fenghuoshan Tunnel, 4,905 meters above sea level, is the world's most elevated tunnel on frozen earth.

Kunlun Mountain Tunnel, running 1,686 meters, is the world's longest plateau tunnel built on frozen earth.

The maximum train speed is designed to reach 100 kilometers per hour in the frozen earth areas and 120 kilometers per hour on non-frozen earth.

About 29.46 billion yuan (3.68 billion U.S. dollars) had been spent on the Golmud-Lhasa section which runs 1,142 kilometers.

The basic coach ticket, called a hard seat, sells for 389 yuan (48.6 U.S. dollars) from Beijing to Lhasa, while the price for hard sleeper or bunk costs 813 yuan (101.6 dollars), and the price for a shared compartment or soft sleeper is 1,262 yuan (157. 75 dollars).
Train to Lhasa- fact sheet
Largest construction project built on permafrost since the Trans-Alaska Pipeline was completed in 1977

Army and Air Force assist in Rescue and Relief Mission in Bihar

Army Rescue and Relief Mission
PATNA: Army and airforce contingents continued to assist the state machinery in rescue and relief operations as the flood situation in Bihar remained grim, 12 days after river Kosi breached its embankment affecting over two million people in Supaul, Madhepura, Arari and Saharsa districts.

Three IAF helicopters and two army columns (two more on its way) equipped with motorboats, besides over 2000 personnel drawn from National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and various wings of state police, were deployed in the four districts to evacuate the marooned, Additional Commissioner of the Disaster Management department Pratyay Amrit said.
Bihar: Rescue operations on, situation grim