NIRF rankings

Most institutes in Maharashtra slipped in the higher education national rankings, but Mumbai University managed to claw back into the top 100 this year, listing at 95. It ranked 65 among universities, bettering its 2019 performance of 81st position.

IIT-Bombay was again the state’s highest ranked institute, figuring at number 4 on the national list. When it comes to engineering, it is India’s third best college. Among the large state universities, Savitribai Phule Pune University ranked 9th in the university category but slipped two places to 19 on the overall list from last year.

A total of 320 institutes from Maharashtra participated in the National Institutional Ranking Framework 2020 under various categories. Apart from the overall list, its institutes figured in the top 100 for specialised areas like engineering (22), management (10), pharmacy (18), universities (13), medicine (3), colleges (3), dental (3) and law (1).

Three undergraduate colleges --- Fergusson College (42; 27 in 2019), College of Social Work Nirmala Niketan (62) and St Xavier’s College (90; 96 in 2019) --- made it to the top 100.

Pandemic: India now # 4

India’s Covid-19 cases climbed to the fourth highest in the world, overtaking the UK on Thursday, even as the country reported another highest single-day rise in new infections and deaths. The number of fresh cases crossed 11,000 for the first time while deaths were close to 400, having gone past 8,000 in all a day earlier. By Thursday night, India had 2,98,191 cases, as per data from state governments.

The country added a record 11,442 cases during the day.

Only the US, Brazil and Russia have recorded higher numbers of total Covid-19 cases than India. The country’s case count has seen a major spike in June, with 1,06,594 cases and 3,097 deaths reported in the first 11 days of the month, the third highest after Brazil and the US. Cases reported in June already account for more than a third of all Covid-19 infections reported in India since January 30. Fatalities reported in June (which may have taken place earlier) comprise 38% of India’s total Covid-19 toll till date of 8,105.

Thursday’s surge in cases as well as deaths was mainly on account of a big spurt in the three worst-hit states of Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Delhi. Both Maharashtra and Delhi reported their highest single-day count of fresh cases as well as deaths, while Tamil Nadu reported its second-highest jump in infections and the highest deaths in a day. In Delhi, the death toll due to Covid-19 crossed the 1,000 mark to reach 1,085 on Thursday with 101 more fatalities being confirmed by the state health authorities.

Tamil Nadu reported 23 deaths on Thursday, its highest single-day toll.Gujarat reported 38 deaths while the number of new cases zoomed to the state’s single-day highest of 513.

Mumbai: HR, KC colleges now under new HSNC University

Students seeking admissions to HR and KC colleges this year will have to apply to HSNC (Hyderabad Sind National Collegiate Board) State University, as they are no longer part of Mumbai University from this academic session. On Thursday, the university was virtually launched by governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari, who is also the chancellor of the university. HSC pass-outs will have more courses to choose from at HSNC University. The fees for some of the courses will go up by 10%, said the provost of the university, Niranjan Hiranandani.

HSNC State University is the first in the city to be managed by a private trust. The university will offer niche courses, such as BSc in Yoga and Bachelors in Performing Arts. It will start operations in the coming week, said KC college principal Hemlata Bagla.

Chhatisgarh: 3 elephants found dead in 3 days

One more wild elephant was found dead in the forest of Surguja division in Chhattisgarh on Thursday, taking their death toll to three in as many days.

The latest fatality was reported from Rajpur forest range of Balrampur district, while two elephants, one of them a pregnant female, were found dead on June 9 and 10 in adjoining Pratappur forest range of Surajpur district,.

All the three dead jumbos were females and probably belonged to the same herd. The cause of their deaths also seems to be the same,” Additional Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (Wildlife) Arun Kumar Pandey said.

Prima facie, the post-mortem reports of the first two pachyderms and symptoms of the third one suggest they died of toxicity.

“They might have overeaten mahua flowers or consumed urea (fertilizer) stocked by villagers in their houses that led to toxicity,” Pandey said.

The forest personnel have launched a probe in the villages, from where the herd had crossed, to trace what they had consumed.

Meanwhile, forest officials have also collected samples from water bodies in the area to check if it was poisoned. 

Going Vocal for Local....

Worst global recession in nearly a century: OECD

The global economy faces the most severe recession in nearly a century and could see 6% contraction in 2020 and rebound to 5.2% growth in 2021, provided the second wave of Covid-19 infections is avoided, OECD said in its outlook, adding that China’s and India’s GDPs will be relatively less affected, with a decrease of 3.7% and 7.3% respectively in case of a double hit, and 2.6% and 3.7% in case of a single hit.

Several economists, banks and multilateral agencies have forecast a contraction for India’s economy in 2020-21 and a feeble recovery in 2021-22 as the impact of the lockdown to prevent the spread of Covid-19 deeply hurts several key sectors of the economy.

The body presented two scenarios for global growth and jobs. It said if a second outbreak occurs triggering a return to lockdowns, world economic output is forecast to plummet 7.6% this year, before climbing back 2.8% in 2021. At its peak, unemployment in the OECD economies would be more than double the rate prior to the outbreaks, with little recovery in jobs next year. In both scenarios, the recovery, after an initial, rapid resumption of activity, will take a long time to bring output back to pre-Covid levels.

Forex Reserves Closing in on $500-B Mark

India’s foreign exchange reserves are likely to touch the magic half-a-trillion mark for the first time in the next few weeks as robust foreign fund flows amid a raging pandemic drives the country towards a momentous milestone.

India has already leapfrogged Russia and South Korea to become the third-biggest holder of reserves after China and Japan, and will consolidate its position further when it reaches the $500 billion mark. The rise caps a remarkable journey for a country which in 1991 came close to defaulting on foreign debt and was forced to pledge gold reserves to raise money. More recently, in 2012/13 with reserves at $259 billion, and enough to fund only seven months of imports, India was battered by the global financial market turmoil and was part of the group of ‘Fragile Five’ countries that suffered most from the panic. Current reserves at $493 billion is enough to fund 17 months of imports.

The expansion in reserves comes amid the global pandemic that has caused both financial market and economic turmoil. India’s case has been helped by a pickup in foreign fund flows after the sharp drop-off in March and foreign direct investment.

Share sales by Kotak Mahindra Bank and Bharti Airtel have also helped. Reliance Industries’ massive rights issue and its sale of stake in Jio Platforms to a slew of foreign investors that raised nearly ₹1 lakh crore is expected to further boost flows.

S&P’s decision not to change India’s rating and outlook is also expected to improve global fund flows into the country.

During major financial crises, such as the 1997 Asian crisis or the 2013 taper tantrum, India had to come up with special deposit schemes to lure US dollars. This time round, dollar reserves are comfortable enough for the central bank to act on its own to defend the currency. India’s foreign exchange reserves touched $493 billion on May 29, up $18 billion since March. With foreign investors pouring in ₹19,239 crore ($2.55 billion) so far in June, it is poised to touch $500 billion soon. India has come a long way since its twin deficit crisis in 2013. Its current account deficit, the excess of imports over exports, in April-December 2019 was 1% of GDP. During the worst period of 2012/13, it was 4.82% of the GDP.