Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Tuesday announced that state government jobs will be reserved only for local residents, for which his government is going to take necessary steps.
Chouhan told reporters that the state government has taken a key decision that government jobs in Madhya Pradesh will now be given only to the residents of the state. “For this, we are making necessary legal provisions. Madhya Pradesh’s resources are for the children of the state,” he said.
Children with intellectual disabilities will now find it easy to learn English as the English Language Teaching Institute (ELTI) is preparing to roll out books that have been specially designed for such students in primary classes.
The move comes after directions from the State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT).
The State Institute of Education and State Hindi Institute in Varanasi are also working on similar books.
The team that has worked on these books includes academicians, doctors working in the field of intellectual disability, and teachers experienced in teaching children with special needs.
ELTI Principal Skand Shukla said, “Such children usually have limitations in two areas. The first is intellectual functioning – the ability to learn- reason, make decisions, and solve problems. The second is adaptive behavior which involves skills necessary to communicate and taking care of oneself. These children might also be diagnosed with other learning disabilities like dyslexia, dysgraphia, dyscalculia, and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.”
The books have been designed differently to focus on the special needs of such children.
For instance, the pictures are colorful, while the text is in bigger fonts. Topics are presented in a way that they invoke a students’ curiosity. These books also have formats to document a child’s case history into an individualized education program.
Shukla said that intellectual disability is a condition when one’s IQ level is less than 70 and the mental growth is slower than the person’s physical growth.
“A child with an IQ over 50 can be educated by using special methods. Autism, attention deficit disorder, and Down’s syndrome are some of the conditions related to intellectual disability,” he explained.
Vowing not to rest till he had put the state’s economy back on the track of growth, Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Saturday announced a slew of welfare measures for the people, including facilitation of another 6 lakh jobs for the youth over the next two years, of which one lakh will be in the government sector.
In his Independence Day address here, the Chief Minister announced that 50,000 government jobs will be provided to the youth in FY2021 and another 50,000 in FY2022.
He also announced a virtual mega job mela next month with the target of placement of 50,000 youth in the private sector.
He pointed out that his government had already helped 13.60 lakh youth get gainful employment and self-employment under its flagship the ‘Ghar Ghar Rozgar’ scheme.
While reiterating his government’s commitment to incentives for the industry to attract more investment to the state, he said Rs 63,000 crore investment had already been realized on the ground with the potential of 2 lakh jobs.
Over the next few months, his government will also give debt relief to the tune of Rs 520 crore to landless farmers and workers, said the Chief Minister, pointing out Rs 4,700 crore had already been disbursed to 5.62 lakh farmers under the debt waiver scheme of the government.
He also announced that his government will soon enact a new land leasing law, to secure the land ownership of the farmers and the rights of tenants on agriculture land.
Amarinder Singh further said with the launch soon of the Smart Ration Card scheme, 1.41 crore beneficiaries will become eligible to get rations from fair price shops.
To further boost the infrastructure of the state, the Chief Minister announced the construction of 1,300 km of state and national highways with an investment of over Rs 12,000 crore in the next two years.
Underlining the need to take Punjab back to its lost glory in sports, the Chief Minister announced the construction of 750 rural sports stadiums across the state in the next two years.
Citing the importance of online Education, Amarinder Singh said 1.74 lakh Class XII students of government schools were being given smartphones this year to facilitate their education.
As restrictions in lockdown slowly lift, the confidence of the Indian workforce, be it towards finances or individual confidence, is steadily rising, a LinkedIn survey said on Tuesday.
The composite score in the latest LinkedIn Workforce Confidence Index went up to over 53 – from over 50 in the fortnight of June 15-28, said the report.
The findings are based on survey responses of over 5,500 professionals in India during the weeks of June 1- July 26.
The results showed that nearly one in three professionals is anticipating their personal savings to increase, while two in five expect their personal spending to stay the same in the next six months.
Small business employees are witnessing a lift in their overall individual confidence levels — up from +49 to +58 since June 15-28 — as well as confidence towards finances — up from +35 to +51.
However, this optimism fades when it comes to job security, as the report showed that employees in small and medium-sized businesses are less confident about holding on to their jobs than workers in large enterprises with 10,000 or more employees.
With low cash reserves and on-off lockdowns across several cities, business sustenance for SMBs continues to be a challenging affair.
Findings from the survey underscored a pronounced difference in how professionals from different industries feel about returning to the physical workplace.
The results showed that 46 percent of professionals from recreation and travel, and 39 percent of professionals from the consumer goods industry will return to work as soon as they are allowed to.
However, 50 percent of software & IT employees said they will continue working remotely for now.
This could be due to the fact they have transitioned to working remotely in a smooth manner, among other reasons.
Joining them in their cautious approach, professionals from transportation & logistics, and media & communications were seen wary about returning to the physical workplace.
Risk of exposure, poor sanitation, and lack of workplace policies worry most professionals who are reluctant to return to the physical workplace, showed the survey.
Only 33 percent of parents support the reopening of schools from September 1, according to a survey by LocalCircles.
Risk and unknowns of Covid-19, and hard to implement social distancing norms in schools pose risk to seniors in the family are among the top reasons why parents don’t want schools starting from September 1.
Many schools started online sessions for the children to ensure that learning does not stop. As per the latest media reports, the central government is now considering opening schools from September 1 as part of its final unlocking measures starting with Classes 10-12 and Classes 6-9 with a 15-day gap.
As a reaction to the media reports, many parents raised the issue of schools restarting on September 1, and subsequently, LocalCircles decided to conduct a survey to get the collective parent pulse on how they feel about reopening of schools in less than a month.
The survey received over 25,000 responses from parents and grandparents in different parts of India.
With a total number of Covid-19 cases at 2.2 million and a daily caseload of approximately 65,000, India now has the highest number of daily cases in the world.
The infection is spreading so fast in the country that it took only 20 days for the number of infected to increase from 1 million to 2 million and as per the WHO guidelines, children fall in the high-risk category.
Children if infected can be carriers of the virus and spread it to other members of the family with grandparents being the most vulnerable as many families in India have a joint family structure.
Parents were asked if they approve of the reported Government plan of restarting schools from September 1 for Classes 10-12 and for Classes 6-10 after 15 days. In response, 58 percent said ‘no’ while only 33 percent answered ‘yes’.
With the majority of the parents opposing the reopening of schools from September 1, parents were also asked for the reason as to why they are opposed to schools in India starting from September 1, 2020.
In response, 13 percent said they cannot afford to take chances with children given the risk and unknowns related to Covid-19, while 1 percent said there is a serious risk with seniors in the family in case a child in the family gets infected. A 9 percent said social distancing will not be possible in schools, 5 percent said the Coronavirus spread will increase even faster if schools were reopened, and 2 percent said they believe online education is a good substitute given the situation.
47 percent said all of the above were valid reasons for them as 23 percent said they are not opposed to the opening of schools from September 1.
As schools in America begin reopening, dozens of students and school staff have started testing positive for Covid-19, while hundreds have been ordered home quarantine.
In early May, Israel became the first country to restart schools and within a few days, hundreds of students and teachers got infected. Kenya has decided to cancel the entire school year to protect the kids from the infection.
Like the earlier Unlock guidelines, the states may be given the authority to decide if they want to reopen schools in different districts, depending on the prevailing caseload. Whatever decision is taken, the majority of parents are against the restarting of schools.
The issue with children in villages and schools is that they do not have an online education facility. Parents strongly feel that the Government via radio, television, and financial support should enable online classes in such schools.
The idea of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) funds being deployed via a centralized mission into online school education was also discussed. Some parents even suggested these funds being utilized to furnish low-cost computing devices in schools. A combination of such enablement along with a channel for each class on television and radio can play a role in educating children while schools stay shut.
To the majority of the parents, while it is important that children don’t fall behind on their education, it is critical that their health doesn’t take a hit, especially at a time when the long-term impact of COVID-19 is still unknown.
The number of initial unemployment claims in the US fell to 1.186 million last week, following an increase for two consecutive weeks, the Labour Department.
In the week ending August 1, the number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits dropped by 249,000 from an upwardly revised 1,435,000 in the prior week, Xinhua news agency quoted the Department as saying in a report on Thursday.
Initial unemployment claims peaked at a record 6.87 million in the week ending March 28 amid theCOVID-19 shutdowns, with figures declining for 15 weeks consecutively, before the trend was reversed in the week ending July 18 amid a resurgence in COVID-19 cases.
With the latest numbers, more than 55 million initial jobless claims have been filed over the past 20 weeks, indicating a mounting economic fallout related to the pandemic.
The report also showed that the four-week moving average, a method to iron out data volatility, decreased by 31,000 to 1.34 million.
The data comes one day before the Labour Department releases its monthly jobs report.
The Delhi High Court on Friday gave its nod for the conduct of online Open Book Examinations (OBE) for final-year students of Delhi University.
Justice Prathiba M Singh, while giving the go-ahead, passed certain directions to be followed by the DU and the University Grants Commission (UGC).
The court directed that the questions should be posted on the online portal as well as emailed to all the candidates.
“Students are to be given two hours for attempting the question papers. One extra hour shall be granted for uploading of the answer sheets on the portal,” the court said.
It directed that an auto-generated email shall be sent to the students to acknowledge that their answer sheets have been accepted.
The bench also directed the CSC Academy — whose Common Service Centres will be used by the students lacking in requisite infrastructure to sit in the exams — to notify all its centers to be used for the conduct of OBE.
“DU Grievances Officer shall redress the emailed complaints of students regarding the process within 48 hours. If not, the matter shall automatically be referred to the Grievances Redressal Committee,” the High Court added.
The court had on Wednesday reserved orders on a batch of pleas that challenged the university decided to conduct online Open Book Examinations for final-year students.
Initially, the varsity announced that the exams would commence from July 1, but later postponed the same to July 10 and again till August 15 without giving a specific date for examinations.
Former Andhra Pradesh chief minister N. Chandrababu Naidu on Thursday hailed the New Education Policy announced by the Centre to usher in educational reforms in accordance with the changing times globally.
The Telugu Desam Party (TDP) chief welcomed the decision in favor of the mother tongue as the medium of instruction to the students up to 5th class. He further said that the new policy was in the nature of making the students well-prepared to take on the emerging competition in the world.
The Leader of Opposition in Andhra Pradesh Assembly said the new education policy would bring about significant changes in the country’s education sector. “It is necessary to mold the students into a highly motivated and competitive youth in today’s competitive world,” Naidu said.
The new policy is in conflict with the YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) government’s efforts to introduce English as the medium of instruction in government schools in Andhra Pradesh.
The TDP, other opposition parties, and civil society strongly objected to the state government’s move to introduce English as the medium of instruction but the government has decided to go ahead.
The Jaganmohan Reddy-led government plans to introduce English as a medium of instruction from classes 1 to 6 from the 2020-21 academic year, while 7th to 10th would be added gradually in the next four years.
In April, the Andhra Pradesh High Court set aside the government order saying that children and parents should be given the choice in the language of learning.
The state government has challenged the High Court order in the Supreme Court.
Chief Minister Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy stated recently that the government will go ahead with the decision of introducing the English medium for Class 1 to 6.
He said some vested interests have tried to block the decision. “We moved the Supreme Court and our resolve is firm and we will go ahead with the reforms,” he said.
The chief minister said two surveys have found that parents want English medium education for their children.
There has been a modest rise in the overall confidence among professionals in India as retaining a job has itself become a strong booster for many in these tough times, LinkedIn said on Tuesday.
Based on the survey responses of 1,303 professionals in India, the LinkedIn ‘Workforce Confidence Index’ revealed rising optimism towards job security as businesses slowly reopened last month in the country.
“Many people are willing to take up to 50 percent cut in their salaries for an assured job. This means that whoever retains a job today, clearly knows that his/her role matters to the organization even in the new reality,” explained HR expert Prabir Jha.
The findings showed that about two in three professionals will increase their time spent searching for (66 percent) and applying to (64 percent) jobs in the next two weeks.
The active job seekers aim to upskill today for a safer tomorrow as 68 percent said they will increase their time spent on online learning to harbor long-term job security and career progression.
However, only one in four senior professionals said they would increase their time spent on searching for jobs in comparison to almost half (45 percent) of the junior workforce.
The showed that only 16 percent of decision makers would increase the number of jobs they apply to when compared to 48 percent of the junior workforce.
“More experienced workers may have savings to support them in the long run,” said Jha, explaining why senior professionals are not as inclined towards increasing their time spent on searching for jobs.
The Delhi government on Monday launched a web portal to make job opportunities available to those who lost employment due to the coronavirus-induced lockdown, a move aimed at reviving the capital’s economy.
The web portal — http://jobs.delhi.gov.in – can be used by those looking for jobs and also for employers looking to recruit people. It will be called a ‘Rozgar Bazar’, said Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal during a digital press conference.
“Those who are looking to recruit people for jobs can go to the website and update their requirements. Job seekers can also go there and update their qualifications, experience, and requirement,” the Chief Minister added.
He said that the move will immensely help businesses, construction companies, professionals, and shopkeepers in the capital city. “It is a big step towards bridging the gap between job seekers and providers.”
Kejriwal also requested the laborers who had migrated to their states during the lockdown to come back and resume their jobs. “A lot of migrant laborers have now started coming back. I request the rest to come back as the situation is stable in Delhi.”
The Labour and Employment Minister Gopal Rai said that the service is free and warned middlemen not to seek money from people. “Businessmen, construction companies, and skill centers are also requested to register.”
Rai also asked people to help those who do not know how to operate the website. The Delhi government also showed a procedural video to help people understand how to apply.
A person can first Google the website, select one of the two options – if you are on the lookout for jobs then select ‘I want a job’ or else click on ‘I want to hire’, enter the mobile number, put the OTP, select job category, build a profile and submit.
“Select the job you like and connect to the employer with the help of a call or WhatsApp,” the video showed.
Meanwhile, Delhi CM also asserted that a special order will be taken out on Monday to allow hawkers to resume their work.
A teachers union in Florida, which has become a global coronavirus epicenter, sued the state’s Governor and education officials, in order to prevent schools from reopening next month as the pandemic was raging.
The lawsuit, filed on Monday by the Florida Education Association (FEA) in a state circuit court in Miami, sought to challenge Governor Ron DeSantis’ order requesting all schools in the state to open for in-person learning five days a week starting from August, reports Xinhua news agency.
The lawsuit intends to stop the reckless and unsafe reopening of public school campuses as coronavirus infections surge statewide, according to the FEA.
It is supported by the affiliates of the American Federation of Teachers and the National Education Association.
In addition to the Republican Governor, the suit also listed Florida Commissioner of Education Richard Corcoran, Florida Department of Education, Florida Board of Education, and Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos Gimenez as defendants.
With cases – now more than 355,000 in total – increasing by over 10,000 daily for the last six consecutive days and death toll topping 5,000, Florida has emerged as a new global epicenter of the contagion.
It is against this backdrop that DeSantis, on July 6, ordered schools to reopen, doubling down on his request in the following days.
“Governor DeSantis needs a reality check, and we are attempting to provide one,” FEA President Fedrick Ingram said.
“The governor needs to accept the reality of the situation here in Florida, where the virus is surging out of control,” Ingram said, adding that while reopening schools is a common aspiration, Florida teachers “don’t want to begin in-person teaching, face an explosion of cases and sickness, then be forced to return to distance learning”.
Hong Kong’s unemployment rate remained the highest in more than 15 years during the past three months as the economy was still struggling against double blows from the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and months of social unrest.
The unemployment rate rose further from 5.9 percent during the March-May period to 6.2 percent in the April-June period, Xinhua news agency quoted data from the city government as saying on Monday.
Over the same period, the underemployment rate also increased from 3.5 percent to 3.7 percent.
“The labor market continued to deteriorate for the second quarter of 2020 as a whole,” Secretary for Labour and Welfare Law Chi-Kwong said, stressing the two figures stayed at the highest levels in over 15 years and nearly 17 years, respectively.
The consumption and tourism-related sectors saw a combined jobless rate of 10.7 percent from April to June, much higher than the average level and marking the highest since the SARS outbreak in 2003.
The unemployment rate of food and beverage service stood at 14.7 percent.
“The still serious epidemic situations in certain parts of the world, and the renewed surge in local cases lately serve as a timely reminder that the economic outlook is still subject to huge uncertainties,” Law said.
Hong Kong’s labor market situation will depend very much on how the global and local pandemic situations evolve, he added.
There was a resurgence of new COVID-19 cases in Hong Kong over the past weeks.
The Center for Health Protection on Monday reported 73 new cases, including 66 local infections.
The government has rolled out relief measures of unprecedented scale in the face of the worsening unemployment, including a series of measures to create jobs and help keep workers in employment.
Law said the government will start to provide the elderly and middle-aged workers an allowance in September to encourage them to participate in on-the-job training and will also increase the subsidy to employers hiring the elderly and middle-aged.
The number of initial jobless claims in the US fell slightly to 1.3 million last week but remained elevated, the Labor Department reported.
In the week ending July 11, the number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits decreased by 10,000 from 1.31 million in the prior week, the Department was quoted as saying on Thursday by Xinhua news agency.
With the latest numbers, a staggering 51.3 million initial jobless claims have been filed over the past 17 weeks, according to Joseph Brusuelas, the chief economist at accounting and consulting firm RSM US LLP.
“It is the 17th straight week that initial claims have increased by more than 1 million. Once one accounts for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance, claims increased by 2.2 million,” Brusuelas wrote in a blog post on Thursday.
“It is highly likely that various forms of unemployment insurance will expire in the coming days, so forward-looking investors should anticipate sustained initial claims data, with more than 30 million Americans remaining on some form of aid in the near term,” Brusuelas noted.
“Although initial claims have come down significantly from the record 6.87 million that was filed in late March, they remain frustratingly elevated in a historical context,” echoed Jay H. Bryson, the chief economist at Wells Fargo Securities.
Federal Reserve Governor Lael Brainard said on Tuesday that it was “unclear” whether the pace of the recent labor-market recovery will be sustained as weekly COVID-19 cases in the US have been rising and some states are ramping up restrictions.
“The pace of improvement may slow if a large portion of the easiest gains from the lifting of mandated closures and easing of capacity constraints has already occurred,” she said.
Chinese smartphone manufacturer Vivo on Thursday launched X50 and Vivo X50 Pro under X-series in India that comes with cutting-edge Gimbal stabilisation technology along with 5G connectivity.
The Vivo X50 price has been set at Rs 34,990 for the 128GB storage variant, while the 256GB storage option carries a price tag of Rs 37,990.
The Vivo X50 Pro price is set at Rs. 49,990 for the lone 256GB storage variant. The devices will be available for pre-booking starting from Thursday and the sale would begin on July 24, said the company.
“Featuring cutting-edge Gimbal Stabilization Technology, Superb Night Camera, 60X Zoom and X-Class Design, the X50 series smartphones enable users to capture stable and high-quality images and videos in a wide range of scenarios, making every shot a masterpiece,” said Nipun Marya, Director-Brand Strategy, Vivo India.
The company last week announced its entry into the premium smartphone segment with the new X-series in India which will be manufactured at the company’s Greater Noida facility. In the first quarter this year, Vivo captured 21 percent market share, grabbing the second spot after Xiaomi.
Vivo X50 Pro features a 6.56-inch full-HD+ (1,080×2,376 pixels) 3D Curved Ultra O AMOLED Screen with HDR 10+ support, 90Hz refresh rate, and 180Hz touch response rate.
It is powered by octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 765G SoC, paired with 8GB of LPDDR4x RAM and up to 256GB of UFS2.1 storage that doesn’t support expansion via microSD card.
The smartphone comes with a quad rear camera that includes a 48MP customized Sony IMX598 primary sensor with Gimbal Camera System, an 8MP super-wide-angle shooter with a 120-degree FoV, 13MP bokeh shooter and an 8MP telescopic shooter that enables 60x hybrid zoom. There is also a 32MP selfie camera at the front.
The smartphone runs Android 10 and houses a 4315mAh battery that supports 33W Flash Charge.
Vivo X50 features a 6.56-inch full-HD+ Flat Ultra O AMOLED Screen with HDR 10+ support, 90Hz refresh rate, and 180Hz touch response rate.
The phone has octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 730 SoC, coupled with 8GB of RAM, up to 256GB of onboard storage that doesn’t support any expansion via a microSD card.
The smartphone houses a quad-camera setup including a 48MP customized Sony IMX598 primary sensor with optical image stabilization (OIS), an 8MP secondary sensor with a super-wide-angle lens that has a 120-degree field of view (FoV), along with a 5MP macro shooter and a 13-megapixel bokeh shooter. There is also a 32MP selfie camera at the front.
Vivo X50 runs on Android 10 and houses a 4,200mAh battery that supports 33W Flash Charge fast charging technology.
Vivo also launched TWS earbuds for Rs 5,990. It is said to feature a 14.2mm driver in each earbud, Qualcomm aptX Adaptive feature that saves 1.5x more audio data and DeepX stereo sound effects for better output.
Seventeen US states and the District of Columbia sued the administration of President Donald Trump to reject the federal government’s recent rule stripping foreign students of their visas if the institution they are enrolled in only offers online teaching this fall due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Led by the Massachusetts attorney general’s office, the lawsuit came exactly one week after the US Department of Homeland Security and the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) released guidelines vowing to invalidate foreign students’ F-1 and M-1 visas if the educational institution they are enrolled in switches to online-only courses, possibly depriving them of their legal status of stay in the United States, Xinhua news agency reported on Monday.
“The Trump Administration didn’t even attempt to explain the basis for this senseless rule, which forces schools to choose between keeping their international students enrolled and protecting the health and safety of their campuses,” Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey said in a statement.
The lawsuit, filed in the US District Court in Boston, sought an injunction to stop the entire rule from going into effect, accusing the federal government of engaging in a “cruel, abrupt, and unlawful action to expel international students amidst the pandemic that has wrought death and disruption across the United States.”
Joining Massachusetts in the lawsuit are the attorneys general from Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Illinois, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, and Wisconsin.
The lawsuit alleged that the administration’s “actions are arbitrary, capricious, and an abuse of discretion because they reverse previous guidance without explanation, input, or rationale,” adding that the new guidelines violated “the Administrative Procedure Act – and fail to consider the need to protect public health and safety amidst the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.”
“The lawsuit includes a request for immediate preliminary relief blocking the rule from going into effect while the case is litigated, and the attorneys general has requested a hearing as soon as possible,” the Massachusetts attorney general’s office said in a press release.
Announced on July 6, the ICE’s controversial order said that international students who are only offered online courses in the upcoming semester “must depart the country or take other measures, such as transferring to a school with in-person instruction to remain in lawful status.”
Those who violate the rules “may face immigration consequences including, but not limited to, the initiation of removal proceedings,” the ICE said.
Google on Monday announced a new Google Career Certificates that will help Americans get qualifications in high-paying high-growth job fields — no college degree required.
The company said it would fund 100,000 need-based scholarships and consider new career certificates as the equivalent of a four-year degree for related roles.
“We’re also committing $10 million in job training Google.org grants for communities across America, working with partners like YWCA, NPower, and JFF,” said Kent Walker, SVP of Global Affairs at Google.
Nearly two-thirds of all new jobs created since 2010 require either high-level or medium-level digital skills.
This presents a challenge for many job seekers, as well as to America’s long-term economic security. People need good jobs, and the broader economy needs their energy and skills to support our future growth.
The company announced 3 new Google Career Certificates in the high-paying, high-growth career fields of Data Analytics, Project Management, and User Experience (UX) Design.
The programs equip participants with the essential skills they need to get a job. No degree or prior experience is required to take the courses.
Since 2017, Google has helped 5 million Americans learn digital skills through Grow with Google.
Rate of applications per job has now increased by 48 percent in India compared to average applications per job in the pre-COVID period, said a report by online hiring platform QuikrJobs on Friday.
The situation is worse in metro cities as QuikrJobs saw a greater increase in the rate of applications per job in these areas, compared to job applications in non-metro areas, according to the report titled “Impact of Covid-19 on the Blue-Collar Industry in India”.
There was a significant increase in applications per job as compared to pre-COVID for roles like a data entry/back office (115 percent), delivery executives (139 percent), driver (122 percent), teacher (108 percent), marketing (179 percent) and sales (187 percent), said the report.
Owing to international flight cancellations and restriction on entry/exit of people by many countries, “Work Abroad” jobs saw a 65 percent dip in applications from job-seekers.
This report analyzed job listings by recruiters and job applications by job-seekers as seen on the QuikrJobs platform from January till March 15 as pre-COVID period and March 16 till the end of May 2020 as COVID lockdown period.
The data showed that the availability of a blue-collar workforce has increased significantly as compared to the availability of jobs.
QuikrJobs witnessed a dip in both jobs and applicants during the lockdown, especially in April.
However, the overall applications for blue-collar job roles saw a 108 percent growth in applications and a 36 percent increase in the availability of jobs in May as compared to April.
Roles that can be classified as “Work from Home” is currently the most preferred option for many job-seekers saw an increase in the salary offered, said the report.
To help develop the next generation of Cloud professionals, seven higher education institutions in India will adopt Cloud computing curricula from the Amazon Web Services (AWS) Educate global initiative into their mainstream college syllabus, the Cloud arm of e-commerce giant Amazon said on Friday.
The Cloud computing content will be offered as part of an undergraduate degree and postgraduate diploma programs starting in September this year.
Cloud computing is a top workforce skill sought by companies, as reported by a LinkedIn study conducted annually over the last five years.
This new effort is aimed at providing students with the knowledge and competency-based credentials in skills such as Cloud architecture, data analytics, cybersecurity, Machine Learning, and software development.
“Building a cloud-ready workforce is key to enabling technology-led growth in India that will drive innovation at speed and create impact at scale,” Rahul Sharma, President, India, and South Asia Public Sector, Amazon Internet Services Private Limited, said in a statement.
“Integrating cloud curricula as part of mainstream college education represents a shift in the way the industry and academia can come together to build the next generation of highly-skilled Cloud professionals.”
The education institutions offering the newly-designed Bachelor of Technology degree programs in Information Technology (IT) and Computer Science are — Chitkara University, Punjab; Galgotias University, Uttar Pradesh; Manav Rachna University, Delhi and NCR; Noida Institute of Engineering and Technology, Uttar Pradesh; Sharda University, Delhi and NCR; and SRM Institute of Science and Technology, Tamil Nadu.
The ASM Institute of Management and Computer Studies in Maharashtra will offer syllabus combined with the AWS Educate Cloud curricula for its Post Graduate Diploma in Management — Emerging Technology.
All students participating in the degree and diploma programs will be enrolled in AWS Educate, Amazon’s global initiative to provide students comprehensive resources for building skills in the Cloud, and provided with AWS Promotional Credits to gain real-world, hands-on experience using AWS Cloud technology.
Supporting this effort is IT industry body Nasscom which will facilitate greater industry participation by engaging key employers in information technology (IT) and information technology-enabled services (ITES) segments in India, to build a talent pipeline equipped with cloud skills.
ICT Academy, a not-for-profit society that collaborates with state governments and industry to train higher education teachers and industry-ready students, will also assist the educational institutions with faculty development and curriculum alignment, AWS said.
The Delhi High Court on Thursday granted more time to the Delhi University to draw up a plan for conducting examinations for final year students studying in the varsity.
A division bench of the High Court presided by Justices Hima Kohli and Subramonium Prasad granted the time after senior advocate Sachin Dutta appearing for the varsity informed the court that a new plan has to be formulated in accordance with the latest UGC guidelines.
“Chart out a course and be clear on where you want to go,” said the court while asking the varsity to file an affidavit regarding the same by July 13 i.e. Monday and the matter has been posted for further hearing on July 14.
On Wednesday, a single-judge bench of the High Court was informed by the Delhi University that it has postponed the online Open Book Examination (OBE) till August 15. The exams were slated to commence from July 10.
The Delhi University during the hearing informed the court that it has decided to postpone the exams after August 15 and the decision of the same, which was taken after a meeting of the High Powered Committee, was also placed before the bench.
Following which a single-judge bench of the High Court presided by Justice Pratibha M. Singh transferred the said batch of petitions after observing that the issue concerning the postponement of exams is already pending before a division bench of the court.
The said division bench headed by Justice Hima Kohli, to which the matters have been transferred, had last week held that contempt proceedings should be initiated against the Delhi University and its officials for “misleading” the court by “withholding material information” over the issue of postponement of the said examination.
Parenting could be hard during a pandemic, especially when your child’s physical classes are on hold. If you are helping your child learn from home or home-schooling them, a few tips can make it a positive experience.
Priyam Saharia, a parenting blogger/expert at Momspresso suggests these home-schooling tips if you are feeling overwhelmed that your home is now a school.
Knowing what to expect will relieve anxiety and help to set boundaries. Break the day into blocks like academic, exercise, play, chores, TV. Within each time block, give children the flexibility to choose things like what games they want to play during playtime or where they want to sit during coloring time.
Step out of traditional learning and help your child dive deep into a subject they love e.g. if your child likes trains, encourage her to spend some time every day making a scrapbook about trains. Helping children learn the process of identifying their passions will help them in choosing their career paths later in life.
You may not get another opportunity like this one to involve children in chores and teach them life-skills like doing laundry, cooking, and cleaning up after themselves. Make it fun by giving them some incentive at the end of the week for jobs well-
performed.
Whether its watching animation movie, cooking or playing board games together, schedule activities just to have fun with your children. These memories of laughter and fun together will bond you for a lifetime.
Remember children are not only homeschooling but are also facing total isolation. Don’t be hard on them on days when things don’t go as planned. Allow them the space to do things they love and try to build routine again the next day.
Embrace this precious time that you get to spend with a them-the emotional connection you build with them now will give them a firmer footing in life than any academic result ever will.
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