Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be unveiling the Action Plan of the 'Start-up India'

To boost entrepreneurship in the country, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be unveiling the Action Plan of the 'Start-up India, Stand-up India' initiative on Saturday.

When we spoke to the entrepreneurs in the education sector about their expectations from the plans, here's what they said.

UpGrad

UpGrad is an online higher education platform providing rigorous industry relevant programmes designed and delivered in collaboration with world-class faculty and industry.

India needs many more entrepreneurs in order to achieve its growth targets, Mayank Kumar, co-founder & MD of UpGrad told dna.

"The first thing that the government should look at is encouraging entrepreneurship— it in the form of simplifying regulations around setting up a company, registering a company, raising funds, offering ESOPs etc," he added.

According to Kumar, the taxation structure needs to be simplified, especially for payment to any foreign service providers in the form of withholding tax. Though the government does not need to be in the business of funding startups, they should facilitate it by creating a seamless ecosystem for funding, he said.

"Lastly, there needs to be a concerted effort towards training and equipping entrepreneurs with the right skill sets that provides them with the clarity of thought for their entrepreneurial journey", Kumar said.

Edureka

Edureka offers technology and business courses to professionals and students across the globe on a differentiated real-time instructor-led tutorial platform.

"We would like to recommend to the Government, support to the startup ecosystem in the form of more lenient regulations around setting up start-up companies, and increased visibility into requisite processes and guidelines. Additionally, assistance in the form of tax rebates and simplified processes would be a great boon," Lovleen Bhatia, Co-founder & CEO told dna.

"Support around infrastructure for startups from the government would go a long way in minimising capital risks around sustenance and human capital growth. Special incubator programmes to cater to the specific needs of the startup community will ensure quality business outcomes that will eventually help startups graduate to larger companies with global visions," Bhatia said.

Funtoot

Funtoot is a digital tutor for Mathematics and Science subjects for students of class 2-9.

"It is imperative that this initiative introduce an ecosystem which encourages growth. Thanks to the policies and clearances required, it takes an average of nine days to start a business as compared with six days in the US and 3 days in Singapore", said Rajeev Pathak, Founder & CEO of Funtoot.

"If international investment needs to be attracted (which should be the way; government need not act as an angel investor but just as a guardian facilitating the proceedings), new rules have to be brought it. We also hope for a favourable tax regime. We are the only country where if a start-up raises money more than its fair value (which is in most cases negative because start-ups don’t have robust balance sheets and are mostly in losses for the first few years), it has to pay taxes against the money raised", Pathak said.

According to Pathak, start-ups cannot give stock options to attract better talent as they are taxable upon vesting for the employees even before the company turns profitable and they really earn something on that. "If we need India to become a start-up nation, we need resources that are employable and productive for start-ups right after college," he added.

Hugefly Technologies

Hugefly provides search and recommendation technology solutions that help e-commerce buying experience user-relevant.

"Start Up India, Stand Up India will undoubtedly boost entrepreneurship, job creation and promote technological innovation at a large scale," Dhruv Chaudhari, founder & CTO of Hugefly Technologies told dna.

"Youth will get exposure to work on and develop new technologies. This will not only create jobs, but quality skill sets. Hence, jobs created by start-ups will have a long-lasting socio-economic impact as well", Chaudhari added.

icustommadeit.com

Icustommadeit is a marketplace to buy and sell exceptional products across a myriad of product categories.

"We feel grateful that the Government of India is taking such brilliant initiatives to build foundational support for the springing start-ups in the country," said Raj Iyer, founder & CMD of icustommadeit.com told dna.

"‘Start Up India, Stand Up India’ seems to be of immense magnitude for the Indian start-up ecosystem. With this initiative, we envisage a train of opportunities in the offering; some of them being job creation, mobilising technological talent and nurturing future entrepreneurs", Iyer said.

Talentedge

Talentedge is a digital innovative learning solutions provider.

We are anticipating clarity and assurance on the subjects of taxation policies, regulatory approvals, technological and infrastructural support along with knowledge enhancement, said Aditya Malik, CEO & MD of Talentedge to dna.

"We are hoping the stance and policies that will come to the fore from this campaign will propel India into the big league of celebrated startup nations, globally. We expect the policies to propel economic growth, empower entrepreneurs across domains while opening avenues of job creation for our large talent pool, leveraging our democratic dividend,” Malik said.

http://www.dnaindia.com/money/report-start-up-india-action-plan-here-s-what-education-sector-demands-2166233

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First-Generation Immigrant Youth and Parents About Education

The opportunity to convene an intimate meeting at the Department of Education (ED) with a group of first-generation immigrant students and parents for a conversation with former Education Secretary Arne Duncan and Acting Secretary John King to discuss their experiences as they try to assimilate to their new country and education system. As a first-generation American whose own family emigrated from Brazil sixteen years ago, I was thrilled to have the opportunity to shine a light on stories of other immigrant families. While their personal experiences and perspectives differed, they all shared a common thread: the desire to achieve the American Dream through obtaining a good education.

Immigrant students and their families face numerous hurdles in our nation’s schools including integration, English language acquisition and access, and cultivating quality parent/teacher relationships. Although ED has worked to ensure that all students have equal access to school resources and that all parents, regardless of the language they speak, are equipped with the information necessary for their children to fully participate in and benefit from their educational programs, some families still face hurdles in their quest to thrive within the education system.

Zoila Fajardo shared a story that was not much different than what my mother experienced when trying to matriculate my siblings and me into school. When she first arrived in the United States, Zoila attempted to enroll her kids in school. Her limited fluency in English, however, caused communication issues with school administrators. They told her that they could not understand her and therefore could not enroll her kids. Zoila was able to turn to her community for support and they directed her to a new school, where her kids were welcomed with opened arms. They not only provided Zoila and her family with all the information she needed to ensure her kids were successful in school, but they also continued to keep her engaged in her children’s learning.

During the meeting, former Secretary Duncan and Acting Secretary King also heard from local high school students, who, in addition to navigating the system with limited to no English proficiency, had to adapt to different social norms. Despite the challenges they faced while trying to assimilate to a whole new culture, the students said they understood that their education was the foundation of their bright future.

Supporting immigrant families is crucial to ensuring our country’s long-term prosperity and is a key part of ED’s mission to ensure equity and opportunity for all of our nation’s children. We will continue to encourage students and their families to share their ideas on how to increase dialogue and the visibility of their experiences through future meetings, like Student Voices sessions, webinars and conversations with advocacy groups. These ongoing conversations have been the foundation of many resources, including the EL Toolkit, which we released with the Department of Justice in September, 2015.

This session was a part of the ongoing “Student Voices” series at the Department through which students engage with senior staff members to help develop recommendations on current and future education programs and policies.

Melina Kiper is a confidential assistant in the Office of Planning, Evaluation, and Policy Development at the U.S. Department of Education.

http://blog.ed.gov/2016/01/hearing-from-first-generation-immigrant-youth-and-parents-about-education/

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Experts deliberated on the idea and execution of sustainable development, especially in India

Experts deliberated on the idea and execution of sustainable development, especially in a country like India, at a panel discussion held at Indian School of Business, Mohali, on Friday.

At Shaping Davos – A Glocal approach to Sustainable Development, the focus was in a world that is grappling with fundamental issues of hunger and poverty, where clean water and sanitation is the desperate need of the hour, where gender equality, health and education are missing in action, will the United Nations member states and their governments and civil societies ever meet the targets of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development?

For the uninitiated, the 17 sustainable development goals (SDGs), as undertaken by the UN member countries, is aimed at ending poverty, fighting inequality, protecting the planet, tackling climate change and ensuring prosperity for all through 169 targets to be achieved in the next 15 years.

Organised by Learning Paths School and ISB Big Leap, and hosted by Global Shapers Chandigarh, panelists, including Dr Arunabha Ghosh, CEO, Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW); Ishteyaque Amjad, VP, public affairs and communication for Coca Cola, India and South Asia Region; Sarika Panda Bhatt, manager, Cities and Transport with WRI India and Devinder Sharma, food and trade policy analyst; journalist Jyoti Kamal and moderator Venkat Matoory of Junior Achievement Worldwide delved over the issues of sustainability facing India.

Concerned about the widening gap between haves and have-nots, Sharma raised valid points on surplus food, crazy growth and alarming hunger in the world. “We are obsessed with growth, yet we are facing disparity. In a world of 7.2 billion people, 800 million go to bed hungry every night. We produce double of what is needed. In 2014, the food produced could feed 14 billion. Where is it all going? The problem that needs to be addressed is that of wastage and of ineffective distribution systems,” he said, stressing equitable distribution.

When it comes to energy conservation, Ghosh felt it is about how you manage your common resources. “It is also about involving citizens, the civil society in sustainable development projects because a common man may not understand the economics of it, but he understands his household expenditure and we need to respect that,” Ghosh said.

This is where Bhatt’s brainchild, the car-free Raahgiri concept, has been a hit in Gurgaon. “Any change offers resistance. We faced ours too, but for any sustainable project to stick people’s participation is a must,” said Bhatt, stressing on education, enforcement and engagement.

The core issue, felt the panelists, was to comprehend the stakeholders’ mindset and problems. “One of the biggest problems is of the mindset and their snobbish attitude,” said Amjad.

For instance riding a bicycle is considered low standard. “It’s when riding a bike is become cool, can we reduce pollution and traffic. We can’t be building highways and roads, we need to reduce the vehicular traffic,” said Bhatt.

From striking a balance between capitalism and socialism, respecting economics as a driving force for any change, pricing resources smartly so that there is a sense of equality, empowering the cities to focuses on the trade-off viz what will the developed nations do or give up for the developing, observing the demand, the problem on the horizon and working in advance, transforming into ‘presumers’ (producer and consumer), the panelists took the discussion through various motions.

“Like UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said ‘we need a radical overhaul of the economic system, the market ideology has to undergo a huge change, only then will we witness change’. We are too worried of being marginalised, too concerned with local politics, but it is time to question, to stand up and speak up for change,” said Sharma.

http://indianexpress.com/article/cities/chandigarh/experts-focus-on-education-enforcement-and-engagement-for-sustainable-development/

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Digithon at Uppal Zilla Parishad School by TITA-NNRG Leaders in Telagana State

Nalla Narsimha Reddy Engineering College - TITA Student Chapter team organized Digithon at Uppal Zilla Parishad School.

TITA True Innovation at Nalla Narsimha Reddy Group of Institute. Session by Mr. Sridhar Tirumala, CEO, Trupik

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