Kota Diaries: Engineering Coaching in Kota

Engineering
121

An IIT degree is not worth dying for

The IIT JEE 2016 results were out on April 27, 2016.  While most  who didn't make it to the JEE Advanced exam,  fretted and fumed, one aspirant killed herself. And her score wasn't even so bad that she could not have  made it to a decent engineering school. Her death which came as a shocker inspired another round of the blame game - who Is responsible for her death?

PaGaLGuY spoke to  a cross section of  people, an aspirant like her closely deals with in the coaching years  - mainly parents, friends as in peer group and coaching institutes. Parents were quite sure that they do "not" pressurise their wards. "My son always wanted to become an engineer, so I only encouraged him," said one. Another said that the family constituted of engineers and academicians, so it is only natural the son  takes the same route. For another family, engineering is a basic degree to grab. "After the degree, let her do what she wants," said the mother adding "she is anyway good in Maths, make sense she does engineering."

It's a madhouse in places like Koa and Hyderabad where most engineering coaching institutes are located. Visit those places during admission time and  the mayhem is but to be witnessed. Parents, grandparents, agents, students thronging institute gates, the noise and commotion everywhere... The clamour to secure a seat is quite sickening, so to speak.

There are families who displace themselves during 'coaching years.' They travel bag, baggage, food, servant and pet to the coaching hubs. One doctor parent, started his practise in Kota, since she had shifted with her son there.

That's just the tip of pressure point.

Once admission is done, the coaching institutes begin to jiggle. Thankfully, a few admitted that  a 'competitive' environment is created in the institute to goad students to do better.  "The training we provide is intense and to the point. We expect students to match up because becoming an engineer is not easy," said one professor who teaches at one such coaching place.

Another said that if students study honestly and complete their weekly assignments, it does not seem like pressure at all. "Pressure gets created when students do not meet deadlines or expectations. Some set unreal expectations for themselves."

Engineering coaching years seem only a little less regimented than that of what the common man knows about the army. Students wake up before sunrise, and sleep after sunset. The day is strictly clocked - there is a time to eat, study, revise, homework, lunch, bathe, breakfast and everything else.

And so, the friends made during coaching years become a dear lot. Sadly, these friends have a bit of a play in the rigmarole  too.  A group of students who take coaching from the same institute and live in the same hostel  in Kota said that whilst there is no visible competition amongst them, at some point they want to do better than the other. "We study together and know each others' weaknesses and strengths. While we do hope that all of us do well, it is natural that some will fare better than the other. That is sometime pressurising," said a candidate.

So, there is the parent, the coaching institute and the friend/peer who have all washed his hands of death of this 17 year old who jumped to her death from her hostel building.  At the end, everyone will blame the education system and how rote learning, its mainstay,  is the genesis of it all.

But the fact is that it all play a part and not to forget the student, who finds himself torn between what he/she wants to do, can do and is made to do.  Today, it is  no more about passing or failing an exam - it is about doing well and really well.  Frankly, while an IIT degree is a coveted one, just not so coveted to give one's life for.

122

Career Point launches Squash Court at its Gurukul Campus

Career Point Institute in the coaching capital now boasts of a Squash Court on its Gurukul campus to provide world-class sports facilities to students and faculty members. Career Point Gurukul has a school and residential accommodation for its students and faculty members in Thegra area of Kota City.

The squash court is the first of the kind in Kota; the Army has one too, but it is not accessible to civilians. The court has been thrown open to students after its inauguration by renowned cardiologist Dr. Saket Goyal and Army Intelligence Unit's Colonel Nitin Koak.

Nilesh Gupta, Head of the Pre-Foundation Division of Career Point, Kota, told that international standards have been followed while constructing the squash court. "It has a maple wood flooring while the back door of the court has tough glass," he said.

Gupta, who has represented the Indian Air Force's squash team, is currently coaching the students and hunt is on for a full-time squash coach. He said that Rs 10 lakh had been spent on the construction of the court. "We are starting a sports camp for our students from this month onwards," he said.

Chief Executive Officer, Career Point, Kota, Pramod Maheshwari told that the Institute aims to provide quality fitness and recreation facility to its 1500-odd students, and the Squash Court is a step in that direction. "Not only a squash court but Gurukul also has a swimming pool. The campus also offers ample facilities for others sports such as basketball, volleyball, football, cricket, etc.," he said.

One student of Gurukul Amit Sharma said that although they like to play Cricket and Football more but Squash is a value addition and would love to play it.

Gupta said that as of now only Career Point Gurukul's students are using the squash court, but it would soon become open for all. "Career Point Gurukul administration will keep a nominal charge for outsiders," he said.

123

Motion Academy in Kota goes green to 

celebrate its success in JEE Mains 2016 

In a first of its kind, a coaching institute in Kota has celebrated its success in JEE Mains 2016 by going green. 

Motion Academy has planted 2,194 saplings to match the number of selections from its Institute this year.

The green celebration is a novel attempt to link its success in JEE Mains with the initiative of environment conservation. 

As a part of the green drive, the staff of the Institute planted saplings in the park situated in front of the campus. They were also administered an oath for conservation and protection of the saplings. 

Nitin Vijay, Director of Motion Academy, told that people should plant trees to celebrate and commemorate an event in their lives. "The plants will remind us of our success and motivate students and faculty members to strive hard to better our record," he said. 

Through this plantation drive, the Institute also aims to send a green message to its staff and students and highlight the importance of trees,  which are indispensable for our lives and healthy living. 

Three students from the Institute have secured more than 300 marks and six students have scored between 280 and 300 marks in JEE Mains this year.

124

Clash erupts between student groups in Kota. One dead, one gravely injured.

The coaching hub of the counter, Kota in Rajasthan is getting famous for all the notorious reasons. Yesterday, around 11 p.m. a clash erupted between two groups of students, allegedly over mess food, leaving one student dead and another student gravely injured.

Police from the Mahaveer Nagar Thana said that both the group of students hailed from Bihar and were preparing for the Medical Entrance Exam. "Both the group of students are from a very well known coaching class in the Mahaveer Nagar area. A trivial argument over the mess food caused the entire fight." said Bhim Singh, Police constable at Mahaveer Nagar Police Station. An FIR under the Section 302 (Punishment for murder.-Whoever commits murder shall be punished with death, or 1[imprisonment for life], and shall also be liable to fine) has been filed.

Prince Satyanarayan, 17, was allegedly stabbed in the back with a knife which led to excessive loss of blood. He was declared dead on arrival at the Hospital. His friend Sandip, also from the same coaching class, was gravely injured in the fight. The doctors claim he is in a critical state. 

"There were close to 100 students in the fight. We didn't even understand why all the ruckus happened. By the time the police arrived, the perpetrators had run away." said a worker at the Gupta Mess Center, Mahavir nagar.

125

Rajasthan varsities to instal Tricolour on its campuses


The winds of change are blowing wild and free across the Universities in Rajasthan. After replacing the convocation gowns and hats with Indian attire as the formal dress code, there are a couple of other significant changes that will soon be introduced in the state's varsities. 

Kalyan Singh, the Governor and Chancellor of Rajasthan University, who was in Kota to preside over the 9th Convocation Ceremony of the Vardhman Mahaveer Open University, said that the Government has taken three decisions regarding the state-run Universities. The Governor said, "The state varsities will need to install a permanent Tricolour on their campuses," adding, "The other changes include starting a centre in the University in the names of historical legends such as Chanakya, Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel, Maharana Pratap, among many others. It will be mandatory for the state varsities to prepare a Convocation Song (kula geet) to be played during the convocation ceremony."

The Governor informed that his office would soon issue a set of guidelines including the dimensions of the National Flag, the length of its pole and other aspects of the Tricolor for the Universities to follow in toto. However, he did not cite any reasons for installing the Tricolor in the Universities but emphasised that the Government's focus is on promoting nationalistic feelings in the educational institutions.

While addressing the Convocation Ceremony, the Governor said that Rajasthan has become the first state in the country to get rid of the convocation gowns and hats. "The traditional convocation gowns and hats are symbols of 'colonialism' and the change aims to get over the colonial hangover and promote Indian culture instead," he said. 

The Governor conferred the Degree of D.Lit. on Dr Dalveer Bhandari, the Justice of the International Court of Justice, and awarded Gold Medals and Degrees to 53 students on the occasion. Others who were present on the occasion included Vice-Chancellor Professor Ashok Sharma and Higher Education Minister, Rajasthan Kali Charan Sarraf. 

126

Police arrest 5 accused, 12 suspects in Kota student's death

Controversy has dogged the coaching capital in the last two months. Last week, Satyarth, a medical aspirant from Bihar was stabbed to death and his friend Sandip Kumar was seriously injured in an ugly brawl between two groups of students in Kota.

The students were returning from their dinner at a mess in Mahaveer Nagar area near Sabzi Mandi in Kota when some students attacked them. Eyewitnesses said a petty argument over a girl in the neighbourhood led to the clash. 

"My father and I were watching television when we heard students howling and crying. We went out and saw a boy bleeding profusely but still running; two guys on a motorcycle were chasing him," said Saurabh Chaudhary, an eyewitness.

The Police have registered an FIR and the investigation is in the process. Sawai Singh Godara, Superintendent of Police, Kota, said, "We have arrested five accused, and 12 suspects in this case. It's hard to arrest suspects in a situation like this; there were more than 150 people at the scene of the incident."

He continued, "Investigation is on, we are interrogating the suspects for leads."

According to a newspaper report, Deputy Chief Minister, Bihar, Tejaswi Yadav, wrote a letter to Vasundhra Raje, Chief Minister, Rajasthan, demanding quick action in this case.

127

Two Allen students to represent India at 10th Astronomy Olympiad

Two students of the Allen Career Institute in Kota have done the country proud. Lakshay Sharma and Yash Mehul have been selected to represent India at the 10th International Olympiad in Astronomy and Astrophysics to be held from December 9-19 at Bhubaneswar. 

Naveen Maheshwari, Director of Allen Career Institute, informed that 60 students from all over the country had participated in the second round of the Olympiad - Orientation Cum Selection Camp - held at Homi Bhabha Center for Science Education, Mumbai, from May 3-19. "Of the 10 students who were selected, two are from the Allen Career Institute Kota," he said.

The final round of the competition will see the participation of students from across 50 countries. In the Olympiad, 10% of the toppers get Gold Medals.

Maheshwari told that the Olympiad was held in three different rounds. The first round comprised written examination saw the participation of 25,000 students from Class 11 and 12 from all over the country. From this, 60 students were selected for the second round conducted at Mumbai. Only 10 students were chosen for the final round. Allen's Classroom Coaching student Lakshay Sharma, who hails from Lucknow, earlier won Gold medal for the nation in IJSO-2015. An NTSE scholar, Lakshya also got fellowship on AIR-13 in the Kishore Vaigyanik Protsahan Yojana (KVPY). Yash Mehul Mehta has also bagged KVPY fellowship and secured AIR 42. He was also a topper in the Technothlon held at IIT, Guwahati. 

Brajesh Maheshwari, Director of Allen Career Institute, told 47 students from the institutes have made it to five different Olympiad's selection camps. He added that 16 of its students have been selected in the International Junior Science Olympiad, 14 in Biology, eighth in Chemistry, five in Physics and four in the Astronomy Olympiad.

128

Another engineering aspirant hangs self in Kota

A 17-year-old engineering aspirant, and a student of the Resonance Coaching Institute, committed suicide by hanging himself from a ceiling fan in his rented room in Mahaveer Nagar area, Kota. It is the tenth suicide by an engineering aspirant reported from the coaching capital this year.

Nirmal Yogi, a student of Class 12 and a resident of Sawai Madhopur district, had enrolled himself for JEE coaching in Kota last year. He was found hanging from the fan using a towel, the police said. Since no suicide note was found, the police are uncertain about the cause of this extreme step.

"The student had gone home and returned only five days ago. No suicide note was found in the room. His parents are shocked at the untimely death of their son. They are unaware of the reason that forced him to take this drastic step," said Sawai Singh Godara, Superintendent of Police.

Last month, another student had ended her life in Kota. She was unhappy with her score in IIT-JEE Mains.

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https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=_oAPXGQlzdw&feature=share

Must Watch out this stuff on suicide......

130

Kota students prove their mettle in Science Olympiads

Once again, Kota students reign supreme at the Olympiads. Two students of Allen Career Institute in Kota have been selected to represent India in the final round of the 27th International Biology Olympiad (IBO) 2016, and another one has made it to the 47th International Physics Olympiad 2016. Two students from Kota, one each from Allen and Resonance PCCP, will also represent India at the 10th International Earth Science Olympiad 2016.

Rajesh Maheshwari, Director of Allen Career Institute, said, "Our students - Lajjaben Patel and Vidushi Varshney - are among the four who will represent India in the final round of IBO."

The 27th Edition of the Olympiad is being organised by the National University of Education, Hanoi, and supported by Vietnam's Education and Training Ministry. It will be held from July 17, 2016, to July 24, 2016, in Hanoi and will witness participation of 288 students from 72 countries. 

Apart from Patel and Varshney, two other Allen students have also witnessed success in other Science Olympiads recently. Allen's classroom student, Divyansh Garg has been selected in the team of five students to represent India at the 47th International Physics Olympiad to be held in Zurich, Switzerland from July 11-17, 2016 which will see teams from around 90 countries competing for the top slot. 

Allen's Amarjit Vikas Pande and Resonance PCCP student Divyansh Joshi have made it to the 10th International Earth Science 2016. The two are part of the Indian Team of four students who will compete in the third and the final round of the Earth Science Olympiad to be held in Mie, Japan, from August 20-27, 2016.

The International Geological Society conducts this exam in three rounds. 

131

It's raining cash awards for Kota coaching Toppers

Felicitations and cash awards worth lakhs were showered upon the toppers and successful aspirants of the coaching institutes of Kota in the JEE Advanced 2016 and AIIMS 2016. Over the last couple of days, most of the big coaching institutes of Kota have organised their felicitation ceremonies to felicitate their toppers. 

Allen Career Institute, at its annual prize distribution ceremony held on Sunday, felicitated their toppers of JEE Advanced 2016 and AIIMS 2016 amidst a gala ceremony with song and dance performances by students and faculties. Cash awards of a total of Rs 87.20 lakh were given out for success in JEE Advanced 2016, with All India Topper of JEE Advanced 2016, Aman Bansal receiving Rs 21 lakh along with a medal. All India Rank (AIR) 2 Bhavesh Dhingra and AIR 3 Kunal Goyal in JEE Advanced were awarded medals and Rs 11 lakh each, while AIR 9 Gaurav Didwana and AIR 18 Rohan Garg were given cash prizes of Rs 5 lakh and Rs 2 lakh respectively. Moreover, classroom students with ranks 21 to 100 were given Rs 1 lakh each. In Technical Study Scholarship, 25 students were awarded scholarships of Rs 1,500 each per month till they complete their B.Tech.

Allen also felicitated toppers of AIIMS 2016 with cash awards of Rs 49.05 lakhs. Naveen Maheshwari, Director, Allen Career Institute said that Nikhil Bajiya, AIR 2 in AIIMS 2016 was felicitated with a cash prize of Rs 3 lakh while other classroom students in Top 10 received cash prizes of 2 lakh each and Rs 21,000 each was awarded to the Distance Learning students in All India Top 10.

Vibrant Academy also felicitated its toppers with cash awards. Chief Guest Vishal Bansal, Inspector General of Police, Kota Range was the and Guest of Honor Dr Vijay Sardana, Superintendent of Maharao Bhim Singh Hospital, Kota gave away cash awards to the successful students at a felicitation ceremony. Narendra Awasthi of Vibrant said that while Rs 1.50 lakh was given to their student Rohit Chaudhary for grabbing All India Rank 14th in JEE Advanced 2016, Riya Singh was given Rs 51,000 for being the topper in the Girls category of JEE Advanced. Vibrant also gave away Rs 21,000 to its 5 students who bagged AIR Ranks in Top 50 Ranks and Rs 75,000 to one student who was ranked between Rank 50 and 100.

Resonance Eduventures Private Limited also gave cash awards of Rs 2 Lakh to their student, Utkarsh Gupta for scoring AIR Rank 17 in JEE Advanced 2016 and Rs 1 lakh each to Sarthak Vishnoi, Parth Shah and Meet Kathiria for grabbing AIR Rank 97, 91 and 60 respectively in JEE Advanced 2016. RK Verma, Managing Director, Resonance along with his parents CL Verma and Gulab bai, gave away cheques to the successful aspirants.

Bansal Classes, Kota felicitated its 5 Top Rankers, Sushant Rathi, Aakash Kapoor, Nikhil Kulkarni, Mankaran Singh and Mayanka with cash awards of Rs 51,000 each for achieving All India Rank 83, 95, 106, 157 and 512 respectively. VK Bansal, Chairman of Bansal Classes said that there is no shortcut to success and students should study without tension to achieve success.

132

Inspirational tale of siblings who cracked JEE defeating polio and poverty

In a fairy tale like, yet inspiring, story of courage and affection, two siblings from an impoverished Bihar farmer's family, younger brother, Basant Kumar Pandit (18) not only cracked the JEE himself but also carried his polio-afflicted elder brother, Krishna Kumar (20) on his back to success in JEE Advanced 2016.

Combating disability of legs following a childhood case of polio, Krishna has shown the world that courage can make you fly. However, Krishna's younger brother, Basant is credited equally for the success of Krishna, as he has been carrying the latter on his back since childhood when he was detected with polio and needed someone's support to go to school. Born to a farmer, Madan Pandit of Paroriya village in Samastipur region of Bihar, the duo have four other siblings of whom, the elder two Rajesh and Shrawan, work at a motor garage in Mumbai to support the education of their younger siblings. Krishna bagged All India Rank (AIR) 38 in Physically Challenged category (PwD) category of JEE Advanced 2016 while Basant has got AIR 3,675 in Other Backward Caste (OBC) Category. The journey to country's most premier institute - IIT - started for the siblings around 3 years ago in 2013 when they reached Kota from their village in Bihar for JEE coaching. Devendra Singh Parmar, Faculty, Mathematics at Allen Career Institute said that Basant deserves accolades for his service and dedication towards his elder brother Krishna to help him achieve his dream of seeking admission in IIT. "Everyday, Basant used to either carry his elder brother on his back or on his bicycle to the coaching institute. He also used to take Krishna along with their study bags to the classroom," he said. "Basant was always smiling while working with his elder brother while Krishna was encouraged by Basant's effort," he added. He said that both the brothers were sincere and good in their studies during coaching. Krishna also attributes his success to his younger brother. "It was Basant's efforts which enabled me to continue my studies and achieve my dream of seeking admission in IIT," he said. Basant wants to study mechanical engineering at IIT Kanpur and later become a civil servant, whereas Krishna wants to study computer science in IIT.

Basant has been a support system for Krishna since their childhood. He said that Krishna suffered from polio at a very early age and had difficulties in attending school. It was at this point that Basant decided to carry his elder brother to school. After studying in their village school till class 10th, the duo reached Kota three years ago.

Krishna and Basant cracked the JEE Mains last year but failed to crack JEE Advanced after which their families asked them to return to Bihar due to their financial condition. Their coaching institute, Allen Career Institute came to their rescue and provided 75% scholarship in their fees to help them stay for one more year in Kota give the JEE Advanced 2016. Naveen Maheshwari, Director, Allen Career Institute said, "Our institute always supports talented and underprivileged students. We will provide a scholarship of Rs 1500 per month to Krishna for his IIT studies." Allen has also awarded Krishna a cash award of Rs 21,000 for achieving 38 AIR Rank in PwD OBC category of JEE Advanced 2016.

The brothers are now concerned that their special bond might be broken as the vast gap in rank means that it is unlikely that they get admission into the same IIT. Krishna says that he has the option of filing for the same IIT institute to which younger brother Basant would apply to during the JEE Advanced counseling.

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After grabbing top ranks in JEE Advanced 2016, the coaching institutes of Kota have now scripted success in the JEE Main 2016 results as well. Kota-based coaching institutes had given over 41 All India ranks in Merit of First Top 100 All India Ranks in JEE Advanced and now the Kota coaching institutes have claimed ranks in the JEE Main results as well.


The best rank in JEE Mains Ranks results 2016 has come from Resonance Institute of Kota whose student Utkarsh Gupta has bagged All India Rank (AIR) 10 in JEE Main. RK Verma, Managing Director, Resonance Eduventures Pvt Ltd, Kota said that there are a total of 10 students of Resonance who are in first top 100 Ranks of JEE Main ranks including AIR 38, Sanchit Shrivastava and AIR 60, Vishal Jain.


The major performer of JEE Advanced 2016 was not far behind in JEE Main ranks as Allen Career Institute of Kota has 7 of its students in first top 100 merit ranks of JEE Main including Sayamantak Kumar with AIR 30, Mudit Sharma with AIR 45, Utkarsh Govind Patel with AIR 47, Bhavishya with AIR 57, Kapil Shobhnani with AIR 68, Aman Bansal with AIR 71 and A Ajinkya Ganesh Rao with AIR 90.


Career Point Institute of Kota also has several toppers in JEE Main ranks list. Pramod Maheshwari, Chairman and Executive Officer, Career Point Institute, Kota said that their distance learning students have grabbed top ranks in General category including AIR 38 Sanchit Shrivastava and AIR 70 Adarsh Sahu in General category. Maheshwari said, "AIR 25 Akshay Kumawat, AIR 26 Akhil Kataria, AIR 86 Aneet Kumar and AIR 94 Jitendra Singh have grabbed ranks in OBC category of JEE Main. In the SC Category, our students have grabbed AIR 59 Anoop Das, AIR 72 Mukul Verma and AIR 83 Aakash Chaudhary while in ST Category, our students have bagged AIR 14 Sushil Kumar, AIR 66 Raj Kumar Meena and AIR 90 Mukesh Meena AIR Ranks."


Motion IIT Academy, Kota has 4 its students in the Top 100 AIR Ranks including AIR 24 Preey Hiten Shah, AIR 41 Mayank Singhal and AIR 55 Aakansha Makkad, while Sampat Chaudhary has achieved AIR 84 in OBC Category. Nitin Vijay, Director, Motion Academy mentioned that 23 off its student have grabbed All India Ranks in the Top 1,000 while 1204 students have bagged All India Ranks in the Top 50,000.


Career Point Institute of Kota has also claimed several toppers in the JEE Main ranks list. Shailendra Maheshwari, Director of Career Point Institute, Kota explained that their distance learning students have grabbed top ranks in General category including AIR 38 Sanchit Shrivastava and AIR 70 Adarsh Sahu in General category. While AIR 25 Akshay Kumawat, AIR 26 Akhil Kataria, AIR 86 Aneet Kumar and AIR 94 Jitendra Singh have grabbed ranks in OBC category of JEE Mains Ranks list results, in the SC Category, their students are AIR 59 Anoop Das, AIR 72 Mukul Verma and AIR 83 Aakash Chaudhary while in ST Category, their students have bagged AIR 14 Sushil Kumar, AIR 66 Raj Kumar Meena and AIR 90 Mukesh Meena AIR Ranks.


Over 11.28 lakh JEE Main aspirants have taken the JEE Main Examination in the country.

134

Coaching capital of India, Kota flooded with billboards after JEE success




After students of Kota-based coaching institutes grabbed tops ranks in JEE Advanced, 2016, the town was covered with billboards of the toppers and their respective coaching institutes.



Allen Career Institute, which has remained one of the best performers of JEE Advanced 2016 with 4 of its students making it to the First Top 10 Merit list, has the most billboards. Usually, coaching institutes have one billboard in the heart of the city, at Aerodrome Circle, but this year, Allen with its aggressive marketing strategy has put up 3 billboards in a row featuring their AIR 1 Aman Bansal, AIR 2 Bhawesh Dhingra, AIR 3 Kunal Goyal and AIR 9 Gaurav Didwania. Allen has put up similar billboards around several other parts of Kota City like the road leading to the coaching zone of Kota city including Jhalawar Road in Kota City, Rajeev Gandhi Nagar and other places in the city.

When asked about the objective of flashing so many billboards, Naveen Maheshwari, Director, Allen Career Institute, Kota replies that it is a matter of celebration for the institute as its students have bagged the Top Ranks in the JEE Advanced 2016. "Its the same feeling as when a sports team wins any World cup for the country. How many times does one get the opportunity to witness such a mammoth triumph, so such moments need to be celebrated," he said. 

Similarly, Resonance Coaching Institute has put its billboards outside its institute and other places near the coaching zone. Resonance billboards show its claims of 4,700 selections in JEE Advanced with its top ranker, Utkarsh Gupta who achieved All India Rank 17 in the JEE Advanced. Along with Utkarsh, Resonance has displayed photos and ranks of its other top rankers on their billboards. 

Career Point Institute has also showcased it's JEE Advanced 2016 toppers along with AIIMS 2016 toppers on their billboard at the Aerodrome circle. Bansal Classes, which had last year's (JEE Advanced 2015) topper Satwat Jagwani, has flashed their claim of 200,000 selections in IIT-JEE since 1983, the year when Bansal classes opened in Kota. The Bansal Classes billboard also showcases their toppers of JEE Advanced 2016. Likewise, billboards of Motion, Aakash and other coaching institutes can be seen around different parts of the city.

Sources reveal that the billboards are erected every year after JEE Mains, JEE Advanced, AIIMS, and AIPMT exams as an advertising and marketing strategy.Vibrant Academy in its billboards is showcasing their All India Rank 14 Rohit Chaudhary to be best ranker in JEE Advanced from Kota. Apart from the Girls Topper, Riya Singh, there are billboards which feature photos of Chinmaye Awale of Vibrant, who is the topper of Scheduled caste category. Rakesh Sharma, Vice-President, Vibrant Academy said, "The billboards are usually up for several days, which works out better in terms of visibility instead of running newspaper advertisements. Billboards are also eye-catching, so most coaching institutes erect their billboards across the city."

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Arjuna Group suggests '4D' formula to coaching aspirants in Kota for success in IIT-JEE

The Arjuna Group recently organised a motivation seminar in Kota to share the '4D' Formula with coaching aspirants who are preparing for the IIT-JEE. At the 8th Motivational Seminar of the Arjuna group, titled 'Parivartan' organized at the Instrumentation Limited, Kota last Sunday night, the topic of Seminar was 'My Dream IIT... Making it Reality! Kaise kare sapne saakaar?'. Swapnil Kapse, Spokesperson of Arjuna and IIT Madras student said that the Arjuna Group wants to motivate and provide most essential principles of success and guidance to the coaching aspirants in Kota as over 1.50 lakh aspirants come to Kota every year with the dream of making it into IIT. "The seminar urges students to prepare for IIT JEE by keeping themselves away from several types of distractions which deviate students from their ultimate goal," he said. Students were also asked to learn and utilize meditation as an important tool to improve concentration and develop mental discipline.

Gokul Ramesh, the Vice President of the Arjuna Group and GATE AIR-1, 2011, an M.Tech from IIT Madras who is presently working at Cadence, Banglore, explained the impact of modern media and digital devices on the lives of students and how they pose one of the biggest distractions and how it is essential to overcome them to turn their dream into a reality.

The keynote speaker Amal M. Das, author of the book 'Art of Concentration in the Age of Distractions', who himself is an IIT Kharagpur graduate said that students must take responsibility for their actions and not blame situations and people around them, as this differentiates great people from others. He explained the 4D formula to turn any dream into reality. "The first D is - 'Desire' which is the greatest force in this world. Our desire must be so strong that no obstacle or failure can disturb us in pursuing our goal. The second D is 'Dedication'. The third D is Discipline which is nothing but control over your mind. Mind control can be achieved through meditation. The 4th D is Destiny. We must unleash our spiritual potential through meditation and by which, we will be empowered to overcome all obstacles and achieve our life's most cherished dreams," he said.

The Chairman and Managing Director of Instrumentation Limited, Kota, MP Eshwar presided over the event as the Chief Guest. Arjuna Group is a Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) for students which was founded in 2013 by a team of IITians. The group is led by its Director, Rahul Trivedi, a PhD from IIT Madras. The group has over 40 active members and several volunteers and has touched around 90,000 students across India including cities like Bengaluru,Chennai, Pune, Mumbai, Vijayawada, Delhi, Kota and others.

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Kota takes steps to address rising student stress levels

The recent string of suicides among engineering aspirants sent alarm bells ringing all over India's coaching capital. Experts and social organisations are hoping that meditation, music concerts, movies and counselling will help students cope with the high pressure of preparing for the Joint Entrance Exams (JEE), which opens the doors to India's premier engineering institutes, the IITs (Indian Institute of Technology).

Many have come forward to help students deal with the stress. The 'Art of Living', which is headed by spiritual guru, Shri Shri Ravi Shankar sent a team of 20 professionals from 'Art of Living' including graduates of IITs, AIIMS, Delhi University, Government Sawai Man Singh College of Jaipur and other famous educational institutions. They have been in Kota for the last three weeks to counsel and destress engineering aspirants.

Vivek Aggarwal, State Coordinator of Art of Living, Rajasthan informed that they have launched the 'Spreading Smiles' campaign for the coaching aspirants to help them live and study in a destressed manner. "A team has gone to around 60 hostels in Rajeev Gandhi Nagar area of Kota City where they have interacted with coaching students preparing for IIT-JEE and Medical entrance examinations," he said. "Aspirants were not only counselled but were also invited to attend the 'Happiness Program', a meditation programme in which they were taught Sudharshan Kriya. Around 400 aspirants attended the 5-day long Happiness Program, which was held from July 5th to 9th."

On the conclusion of the meditation program, a music concert by 'Rhythm Divine' of Art of Living was held at the Allen Career Institute which drew students from different hostels. The band played famous pop songs, Hindi film songs, devotional and patriotic songs which had the students singing and dancing as well.

One aspirant Shreyal Gupta, who attended Art of Living programme and music concert, said that the study schedule during coaching becomes monotonous, so meditation followed by a music concert was a welcome change. Another aspirant, Rakesh Sharma said that he also enjoyed the music concert since music reduces stress and that students were fond of music. The Art of Living authorities added that they will continue to organize music concerts and meditation sessions for students in the coming days.

Meanwhile, 'Childline', a project sponsored by the Government of India along with the support of Kota district administration and District Legal Service Authority are jointly running a campaign called 'Bas Ab Aur Nahi' to motivate students and counsel them. One such motivational programme was held at Ables Coaching Institute, Kota recently. Dr. LK Dadhich, environmentalist asked students to believe in themselves and not consider anything more important than life. Vimal Chand Jain, former Member of the Child Welfare Committee of Kota asked students to call on the student helpline service 'Hope' in times of stress. Students were also asked to share their inner feelings with their parents and friends. Short motivation films were also shown to the students.

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Kota's young researcher wins International Research award

Kota's Ankita Vijay (32) has won the 'Grignard Research Award 2015 in Photocatalysis' by International Agency for Standards and Ratings (IASR) for her research work. While the award was declared in 2015, Ankita only recently received the official certificate. She was also named among the World's 500 Most Influential Chemists for Year 2015 on Earth, out of a total of 4771 research works of International chemists who had presented their research work for the competition held last year. Ankita had sent her research work online for the competition of IASR in 2015. Ankita Vijay (32) is Lecturer in Chemistry at Maharishi Arvind International Institute of Technology, Kota and is also pursuing PhD in Chemistry from Mewar University, Gangrar, Chittorgarh under the supervision of Dr Shipra Bhardwaj. Dr Bhardwaj is a Lecturer in Chemistry at the Government P.G. Meera Girls College, Udaipur, Rajasthan.

Speaking about her research, Ankita said that textile mills are major consumers of water and consequently also cause intense water pollution with effluents containing a wide range of chemicals including dyes. "Treatment of dye waste in the textile industries is focused on the removal of colour for which several biological and other methods are available, but such methods have high operating cost and are of limited applicability," she said. Ankita explained that through her research, she had discovered Photocatalytic detoxification as an alternative method to clean up polluted water. Vijay said that her technique adopts the possibility of combining the heterogeneous catalysis (water insoluble catalysis) with solar light to achieve mineralisation of toxic pollutants present in textile wastewater. She said that removal of colour from wastewater is required otherwise it may cause disturbance to the environment.

Giving details of her research work she said that she has used the semiconducting properties of tungsten compounds which is proved to be an excellent catalyst in the photo-degradation of organic pollutants especially dyes and this technique appears to offer a great deal of hope in treating hazardous and toxic chemical wastes and converting them into harmless end-products using sunlight and a minimum amount of semiconductor which can be reused, which make the process cost effective too. "The treated water can be used for irrigation, washing, cooling, and other works but it cannot be used for drinking purposes," she said.

She said that the process is found beneficial for cleaning the hazardous textile wastewater from the environment in an eco-friendly manner.

Ankita's research also appeared the 'International Journal of Photocatalysis'. Ankita has forwarded her research work to the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) and Chief Minister's Office (CMO) office for its use in treatment of textile wastewater.

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Divyansh wins silver medal for the country in International Physics Olympiad 2016

Divyansh Garg bagged a silver medal for the country in the final round of the International Physics Olympiad held in Zurich, Switzerland on 11 July 17, 2016. Divyansh, who is taking coaching at the coaching capital of India, Kota, was selected as part of a 5 member team to represent India in the Final Round of the International Physics Olympiad. After a stiff competition, 35 students were selected from across the country for the Orientation cum Selection Camp held at the Homi Bhabha Centre for Science Education, Mumbai (HBCSE). Out of these, 5 students were selected for the International Round. Divyansh, who was amongst those 5 selected students, won a silver medal in the final round of the International Physics Olympiad held in Switzerland. The brightest students from across 90 countries participated in the final round. A total of 3 gold and 2 silver medals were bagged by the team that represented India. Divyansh is a student of Allen Career Institute of Kota.

According to Divyansh, he has been selected for the Tata Scholarship by Cornell University, America. He won a scholarship of USD 71,000 offered by the Tata Education & Development Trust for better research in the field of Computer Science. Also, Divyansh has bagged the prestigious KVPY Scholarship along with being an NTSE Scholar too. Earlier, Divyansh had also won a Gold medal in International Junior Science Olympiad (IJSO) 2013. In the recent results of BITS Pilani, he scored a total of 424 marks out of 450. His average score in Physics, Chemistry, and Mathematics in the 12th Boards has been 99.3% with a score of 302 in JEE Main this year.

The three students who won Gold Medals include Debaditya Pramanik from Kolkata, Preey Shah from Mumbai, and Gowtham Amirthya S.N. from Hyderabad, while Manan Bhatia from Lucknow along Divyansh won silver medals at the International Physics Olympiad, 2016.

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Kota girl overcomes challenge of 'Writer's cramp' disease to clear CA Exam

Charu Maheshwari of Kota overcame a rare disease called 'Writer's Cramp' to crack the Chartered Accountant (CA) final examination with the help of writers who wrote the answers for her.

The 24-year-old is not disabled but suffers from a rare disease due to which she faces problems in writing. However, except writing, Maheshwari leads a perfectly normal life and performs all everyday tasks. She scored 427 out of maximum of 800 marks to crack CA Final Examination 2016 whose results were recently declared. Maheshwari explained that she cracked the 3-year-long Integrated Professional Competence Course (IPCC) Course and article-ship under her Chartered Accountancy Examination in the year 2013 after which she suddenly started facing problems and pain while writing.

"The doctors told me that I was suffering from a rare disease called 'Writer's cramp' which occurs to one in a million people," she said. After initially going through despair and heartbreak due to the disease, Maheshwari consulted many doctors and finally was told to write with her left hand. "However, I developed the same condition in my left hand as well in 2014," said Maheshwari who is the daughter of Kishan Mohan Bordia, a well-known moulded plastic product manufacturer of Kota.

Speaking about Maheshwari's disease, Dr. Vijay Sardana, a Kota-based neurologist and Medical Superintendent of the Maharao Bhim Singh Hospital, Kota, said that Writer's cramp is a task-based disease in which the patient is not able to perform a particular task but can perform all other tasks perfectly.

Writer's Cramp is usually lifelong once detected and Botulinum Toxin injections are a limited remedy which provides relief for 3 months after which the injection needs to be repeated. This treatment also has side effects.

Maheshwari added that she sought a medical certificate of suffering from Writer's cramp from a government medical board of the neurologists which recommended that she seek a writer's assistance for writing examinations. "I then sought special permission from the organizing body of the CA Examinations, the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) for using a writer's assistance for taking the CA Final Examination," she said.

With the help of two First year undergraduate students of Commerce from Janaki Devi Bajaj Government College, I appeared thrice for CA Final examinations between May 2015 and May 2016. "In each of my attempts, an undergraduate commerce student wrote the examination for me while I dictated," Maheshwari disclosed. She took the examination in a separate room at the examination centre. She was also given an additional hour to complete the 3-hour-long CA Final Examination.

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Kota’s Dussehra Mela is a big attraction for coaching students during the Diwali vacation

The 123-year-old famous Dussehra Mela at Kota is not only popular among people of Kota and Rajasthan but it also attracts coaching students of Kota during the Diwali vacation. 

Read about the experience here: https://www.pagalguy.com/news/kotas-dussehra-mela-is-a-big-attraction-for-coaching-students-during-diwali-vacation-46943294