Jais Tv

No higher degree without having basic ones, says SC

NEW DELHI: In the age of the open university system of distance education where one can get a higher degree without having basic ones, this ruling from the Supreme Court has come as a dampner. To the question — whether a candidate, who has got a post-graduate degree from an open university without completing his graduation, be eligible to be admitted to the LLB course requiring graduation as an educational qualification — the apex court's answer was an emphatic 'no'. Upholding Guru Nanak Dev University's contention and setting aside a Punjab and Haryana High Court verdict, a Bench comprising Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan and R V Raveendran said once the minimum eligibility criterion was a regular graduation degree, the stipulation could not be side-stepped by a post-graduation degree from an open university. Appealing against the HC order directing it to admit Sanjay Kumar Katwal to the LLB course on the basis of his post-graduation degree through the distance education from Annamalai University, GNDU said it recognised the regular and correspondence course degrees conferred by Annamalai University but not the ones obtained through the open university system. Counntering GNDU's stand, Katwal argued before the Bench that the distance education system included correspondence courses and therefore post-graduation through correspondence was equivalent to the regular MA degree.

Takes a quick look at what it takes to be a successful company secretary

Behind every successful man there is a woman. This saying can be twisted a little to suit our purpose - ‘Behind ever successful company is a dedicated company secretary’. This does describe the all-encompassing role played by a company secretary from behind the curtains to make the show a success. A company secretary is the one who corresponds with the public and hence is also termed as the ‘spokesperson’ of the company. So lets embark on a journey to unveil about the happenings in the life and making of a company secretary: Who is a company secretary? A company secretary is a person who ensures compliance of all laws, which relate to the working of a company. Hence, knowledge about corporate laws and the rules related to it are mandatory to formalise business deals. Apart from being responsible to the shareholders and directors of the company, a company secretary also communicates with the outside world on behalf of the company. Hence, he/she is the ‘face of the company’. These are some of the duties of a company secretary: Advising on good governance practices and compliance of corporate governance norms as prescribed under the Companies Act, listing agreement with stock exchanges and various other laws, rules and regulations. Promotion, formation and incorporation of companies and other matters related to it Filing, registering documents including forms, returns and applications on behalf of the company as an authorised representative
Maintenance of secretarial records, statutory books and registers Arranging board and general meetings and preparing minutes of the meeting Secretarial audit/compliance audit Compliance certificate for companies not required to employ a whole-time secretary
Signing of annual reports Advising companies on compliance of legal and procedural aspects, particularly under various acts like SEBI Act, Intellectual Property Rights, Labour and Industrial Laws, setting up of subsidiary boards, drafting of legal documents, etc. Representing the company or other persons before the Company Law Board, National Company Tribunal, etc. K G Saraf, Fellow of Company Secretary and a senior most practicing company secretary, outlines, “A company secretary would have to maintain the records of the company properly, record in the basic minutes book, call meetings like the board meetings or the general body meetings, handle matters related to initial public offerings (IPOs) and public issues. He would also have to handle matters related to making contracts, attend to queries from the Income Tax department, look after investor grievances, etc.” Eligibility A student can pursue a course with The Institute of Company Secretaries of India to become a qualified company secretary. The institute is a premier professional body instituted under an Act of Parliament, namely, the Company Secretaries Act, 1980 (Act No 56 of 1980) to develop and regulate the profession of company secretaries in India. Course details The course is primarily a distance-learning course, comprising three stages - foundation, intermediate and final. A student with a 10+2 qualification can apply for the foundation course. Meanwhile, graduates from any stream or candidates who have passed the foundation course are eligible to enroll for the intermediate course. And finally, the students who have passed the intermediate course are eligible to apply for the final year course. One can enroll for the course with the centres of the institute, which are in different cities of the country. The fees for the course would be approximately Rs 15,000 to Rs 20,000. The duration of the course is three year (including the foundation course). Each stage consists of different groups, which contain subjects related to law, management, accounting, and financial disciplines, etc. Students can either appear for the examination for one group or a combination of the groups. The institute provides postal/oral coaching which enables students to prepare for the exams. The institute arranges for training for students who pass the intermediate/final stages of the course. They would have to practice either with companies or with practicing company secretaries empanelled with the institute for the purpose. The students are required to undergo training for a period of 15 months or more depending on the rules of the institute. Under certain cases, where a candidate possesses experience related to the field, which is in accordance to the Companies Secretaries Regulations may be partially exempted from undergoing practical training. To be a good company secretary one needs to possess good analytical and communication skills, and should have a good command over English. Public relation skills would be an added advantage. The student should be patient in nature, able to multi-task and persevere. Above all, the knowledge of corporate laws, income tax laws, and other types of laws is a requirement. Scope M Tikare, a practicing company secretary, says, “The demand for trained company secretaries in huge and anyone who is well equipped can carve a beautiful future for himself. What sets the course apart is that it is a beautiful blend of many streams namely law, finance, management, etc which is what sets it apart from the other courses and prepares students for a better future.”
A company secretary is governed by the Code of Conduct contained in the Company Secretaries Act, 1980. The educational background, knowledge, training and exposure that a student acquires enable him/her to render a wide range of services to companies of all sizes, cooperatives, and other corporate bodies, firms, etc both as part of the management team as well as an independent practicing professional. A freshly qualified candidate may be employed as a company secretary, assistant company secretary or at an intermediate level, administrative position depending upon the size of the organisation. Then due to his skills and hard-work, the student can become the member of a board or a governing body of any organisation. A member of the institute may also practice as a practicing company secretary on an individual basis after obtaining a certificate of practice from the institute. He may also obtain employment with certain academic institutions as a lecturer. The institute also appoints company secretaries as part-time examiners to evaluate the papers of students, or as part-time lecturers, or to prepare assignments, revision or review matter, etc for postal coaching.

Working professionals are today realising the worth of upgrading their qualifications via executive education, finds Ashima Sekhri

In today’s world when the buzz across the world is about ‘emerging markets’, which primarily refer to India, China and Brazil; it is a boon to be living and working in one of the fastest growing economies of the world. Although slightly in a slow down phase, India still promises among the highest growth among businesses and industries across the world. A young economy, domestically-driven towards explosive growth, Indians saw salary hikes unheard of in the last couple of years, drawing more and more people to established industries and saw the emergence of new industrial houses and new industries altogether. All this has contributed to a fight among companies for the best people and the HRDs across companies always on the lookout for new and upgraded talent. Considering this situation, all working professionals, that are those who haven’t already attained adequate qualifications, understand the merit of upgrading their qualifications and begin to look out for and attain higher education, thus upgrading their skill sets thus enhancing their chances of being ‘poached’ by better paying companies. Working professionals often find it hard to take a sabbatical and pursue a management degree for two years. To cater to this segment of the workforce, several management institutions have launched courses called the Executive Development Programme or Management Development Programme, where, they hold courses aimed at those already working. These courses might be for the duration of week to a couple of weeks. Sometimes, companies, too, wish to up-skill employees and approach institutes to hold customized courses for groups of employees. There are several institutes offering a plethora of courses to cater to this growing demand. For instance, the Exec-PGP programme at XLRI, Jamshedpur provides executives with an opportunity to earn a Postgraduate Diploma in Business Management without interrupting their career. The curriculum is similar to that of the business management programme and offers the students the opportunity to learn basic concepts in the areas of economics, finance, general management, human resource management, information systems, marketing, organisational behaviour, production and operations management and strategic management. All the top institutes of the country, including the IIMs, have executive training programmes that focus on executive training. The Advanced Management Programme (AMP) of MDI, Gurgaon, is aimed at enhancing the skill-sets of top managers of Indian organisations, for the rapidly-changing business world of tomorrow. The focus is on examining strategic issues - both functional as well as cross-functional - that leaders need to deal with in their quest for creating successful, globalised organizations. Across institutes in the country, the objective of executive education programmes is to provide the opportunity for top managers to reflect, introspect and examine objectives and strategies that are critical to their organisations. Executive education is undoubtedly a focus area of most large corporations nowadays. But why are the institutes focusing on these courses? The biggest reason is the differential and much higher fee they can charge, per participant, as opposed to the fees they charge students participating in full-time programmes. This emerging trend is here to stay. Says Mrinal, an alumnus of one of the IIMs, “The IIMs, for instance, hold many small executive development workshops, which are called the Management Development Programmes. These programmes train middle-level executives across industries in the skills required to become higher level and higher-thinking managers. These often have participants who are sponsored from their companies who are more than willing to shell out high amounts for getting their resources trained at the IIMs. It also becomes a matter of prestige for these companies to have their employees trained at the IIMs. In turn, the IIMs charge high for these courses. The revenues from these often help subsidise the students studying in the regular MBA programmes.” There are many institutes like Symbiosis Institute of Management in Pune and Institute of Management Technology (IMT) in Ghaziabad offer three year and two year long correspondence programmes for completing your MBA. This allows an individual to complete their management degree while working. The participants have to attend once-a-quarter classes and that too over weekends. Assignments and projects are submitted online allowing participants to work at times of the day and weekends when they’re not working Besides the short-duration Executive Development Programmes and the correspondence MBA programmes, there is another option for executive education called e-learning programmes, wherein many e-learning institutions offer courses where the medium of imparting educational instructions is a hybrid of Internet and video-conferencing. In these times, where good resources are beginning to get more and more recognized by good companies, the sky is the limit for someone who wishes to study along side. They often end up getting more support and encouragement than they anticipate.

India moves to set up South Asian University

NEW DELHI: In what has been described as the "largest visible sign of transformation of SAARC", the Indian government has approved the tabling of a bill in parliament to create a South Asian University (SAU) here. "The establishment of the SAU in India would be the largest visible sign of transformation of SAARC from declaratory to implementation," Finance Minister P. Chidambram said while briefing reporters on Friday on the decisions taken at a cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh late Thursday evening. "It will also be the first international university to be set up in India and would have branches of learning in other SAARC member states," he added. The SAU, whose jurisdiction will extend to the whole of India and to campuses and centres established outside India in the SAARC region and “would have full and functional autonomy,” the finance minister said. The university is expected to commence functioning in the second half of 2010 with 5,000 students and a postgraduate academic programme. "The SAU shall grant the necessary diplomas, certificates and degrees, as it determines," Chidambaram said. At the request of the external affairs ministry, the Delhi Development Authority will be allotting 100 acres of land for the SAU at Maidan Garhi near the Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU). The cost of the land, approximately Rs.750 million, would be borne by the external affairs ministry. "Contribution on other expenditure would be decided by the SAARC member states at the necessary intergovernmental mechanisms based on the existing participatory approach," an official statement said. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had proposed SAU's establishment at the 13th SAARC Summit held in Dhaka in November 2005 to provide world-class facilities and professional faculty to students and researchers from SAARC countries. An Inter-Governmental Agreement for establishing the university was signed at the 14th SAARC Summit in April 2007. The SAARC member states also decided that the university would be established in India. The SAARC member states have already set up a Project Office for the university that India is funding for two years. "The Project Office will be tasked to acquire land for the university, oversee its construction, draw up charter, byelaws, business plan, governance structure and course curricula," the statement said. "The realization of this prestigious project on schedule would be a visible manifestation of India's asymmetric commitment to SAARC contributing to SAARC's transformation to the implementation phase," the statement added