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Niraj Pandit

Articles by Niraj Pandit

Over 600,000 chose to study abroad in 2022

According to the data shared by the ministry, the number of students who went to study abroad showed a significant rise from 4,54,009 in 2017 to 5,86,337 in 2019. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the number fell by half, reaching 2,59,655 in 2020

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Published on Dec 27, 2022 12:37 AM IST

ByNiraj Pandit

Beloved kiddie mag Thak Thak back after eight years in a new form

The story of Thak Thak began in 1987 when Anand and Nita Toraskar, a Mahim-based couple, created the comic with city children in mind.

Anand Toraskar passed away during the Covid pandemic. After recovering from the grief, Nita Toraskar decided to again take charge of the comic book the two had created together with much love. “Thak Thak has been re-launched,” she said. “All the old beloved characters like Dipu The Great will once again appear in new adventures.” (HT PHOTO)

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Published on Dec 26, 2022 12:29 AM IST

ByNiraj Pandit

Work on Mumbai-Goa highway incomplete since 12 years

Of the many construction projects that have been fast-tracked lately, an important connector between Mumbai and Goa – NH 66 -- which started 12 years ago, has been forgotten. Approximately 2442 residents of Konkan have lost their lives in accidents between January 2010 and April 2021, while many more are suffering permanent disabilities

Approximately 2442 residents of Konkan have lost their lives in accidents between January 2010 and April 2021. (HT Photo)

cities

Published on Dec 25, 2022 12:04 AM IST

ByNiraj Pandit

Sewri-Worli corridor: Affected people worry about relocation, compensation

Over the last six months, MMRDA has shifted nearly 800 project-affected people (PAP) from Sewri. While they welcome urban development, they are uncomfortable with what’s on offer – monetary compensation and physical displacement, which will affect steady businesses.

Mumbai: Projected affected people demand satisfactory compensation as 386 properties including shops and houses in Parel and Prabhadevi area will have to be demolished for the Sewree Nava Sheva Connector Project, in Mumbai.(Satish Bate/Hindustan Times)

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Updated on Dec 24, 2022 12:46 AM IST

ByNiraj Pandit and Jeet Mashru

Koli women find new timings of Marol market fishy

Tension prevailed at the 93-year-old Marol Adhwada Bazar, a fish market in Andheri (East), on Thursday when the Koli women reached there at 4 am to start their daily business but found that the gate was locked

Mumbai, India - December 22, 2022: A general view of Marol Fish Market, at Andheri (East), in Mumbai, India, on Wednesday, December 22, 2022. (Photo by Vijay Bate/HT Photo) (HT PHOTO)

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Published on Dec 23, 2022 12:53 AM IST

ByNiraj Pandit, Mumbai

MU asks student to pay ₹55,000 to obtain his final year marksheet

The imposition of the penalty by the university is contrary to a 2018 university circular which states that the fine should be collected from the college and not from students.

Prasad Karande, director of the Board of Examination and Evaluation (BoEE), said, “There is a rule to impose the fine on colleges and it is being implemented. Imposing this fine on students when they are not at fault is a mistake. But the number of such students is small and they will be given relief.” (HT PHOTO)

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Published on Dec 21, 2022 12:24 AM IST

ByNiraj Pandit

State plans to hire retired teachers to run schools with low enrolments

As many as 14,985 schools, facing closure on account of low enrolments, have got a new lease of life after the state government decided to hire retired teachers to run these institutions

Students watch the live telecast of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's speech at a Mumbai school. (Kalpak Pathak/HT photo)

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Published on Dec 20, 2022 12:43 AM IST

ByNiraj Pandit, Mumbai

3,000 students remain absent from Bandra municipal school

The Khernagar school complex houses a total of 10 primary and secondary schools of English, Marathi, Kannada languages. The two buildings comprise 120 classrooms that accommodate 4928 students.

The rest of the floors are under construction in this building as a result classes are not held. Students have to sit in densely-packed classrooms. This is the main reason that around 3,000 students have stopped attending school. (HT PHOTO)

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Published on Dec 19, 2022 01:36 AM IST

ByNiraj Pandit

Techfest at IIT-B: NASA set to put first woman, first person of colour on moon in 2025

American space agency NASA’s Artemis program is scheduled in a phased manner. In the first phase, the unmanned Moon mission Artemis-I successfully lifted off on November 16. “Artemis-II will be a 10-day mission with two orbits of the Earth before going 4,600 miles beyond the far side of the Moon,” said Lueders in her talk. After Artemis-II, the next phase of the Moon mission called Artemis-III is scheduled in 2025.

7-year-old Eric Samuel take part in the remote control car racing at the annual science and technology festival of Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay. (Satish Bate/HT PHOTO)

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Published on Dec 17, 2022 12:44 AM IST

ByNiraj Pandit

State can have no truck with book that promotes naxalism: Kesarkar

Mumbai: A day after a controversy erupted over the withdrawal of a government award to Anagha Lele for her Marathi translation of alleged Maoist ideologue Kobad Ghandy’s memoir, the state government justified its decision, saying it could not endorse glorification of ‘Naxal’ literature

Mumbai, India - July 25, 2017: Shiv Sena MLA Deepak Kesarkar arrive at Vidhan Bhavan on Day 2 of Monsoon Assembly session in Mumbai, India, on Tuesday, July 25, 2017. (Photo by Kunal Patil/Hindustan Times) (Kunal Patil/HT Photo)

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Published on Dec 15, 2022 12:09 AM IST

BySurendra Gangan, Prachi Bari and Niraj Pandit

Maha govt withdraws award to Kobad Ghandy memoir translator, literary world stands by her

STRAP: Anand Karandikar returns govt award, Neeraja resigns from govt committee Marathi author Anand Karandikar on Tuesday announced that he was returning his award to protest against the Maharashtra government’s withdrawal of an award to Anagha Lele for her Marathi translation of alleged Maoist ideologue Kobad Ghandy’s memoir

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Published on Dec 14, 2022 01:10 AM IST

ByNiraj Pandit, Mumbai

‘Baal Veer’ actor part of 8-member dearMoon crew

The dearMoon enterprise is a mix of a lunar tourism mission and an art project, conceived and financed by Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa. It will use Elon Musk’s SpaceX Starship on a private spaceflight flying a single circumlunar trajectory around the moon.

The first lot of selections from the one million applications received from 249 countries were done in 2021. (HT PHOTO)

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Published on Dec 13, 2022 12:54 AM IST

ByNiraj Pandit

Why Maha kids on the border are forced to study in Kannada

After the formation of Maharashtra in 1960, since there were Kannada speaking people in the border areas, Maharahtra government started around 1000 government and aided Kannada schools with the aim of holding them back in our state,” said Pandurang Patil, a trustee of an educational institute in Jath

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Published on Dec 09, 2022 12:20 AM IST

ByNiraj Pandit

In post-pandemic classroom, schools search for ‘missing’ students

Many students are still stuck in their hometowns while some have either dropped out or are considering it When the pandemic struck and his school switched to online mode of teaching, it was not easy for eight-year-old Srikant (name changed) to stay away from the classroom ambience

cities

Published on Dec 08, 2022 12:54 AM IST

ByNiraj Pandit, Mumbai

Digitisation takes a toll on city civic schools

Six ‘interactive panels’ in the Colaba municipal school have been shut and several times the school authorities have complained, sources said. However, the mechanic did not come to repair it.

Rajesh Kankal, municipal education officer said, “BMC buys 1,300 ‘interactive panels’ every year for students at a cost of <span class='webrupee'>₹</span>2,42,000. This includes the cost of providing educational content and after-sales service etc. The company is providing services to schools. If there are any complaints, they will be redressed.” (HT PHOTO)

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Published on Dec 08, 2022 12:45 AM IST

ByNiraj Pandit

Now, progress of students a mouse-click away

The Maharasthra Shikshan Samruddhe Kendra will work on a technology-driven model of data analysis to enhance the standard of education in government and aided schools. The aim is to get 60% of students at the ‘advanced’ and ‘proficiency’ levels based on National Achievement Survey (NAS) parameters.

In May, the results of NAS 2021 threw up some shocking results for Maharashtra. According to the survey, 27% of children in class 8 and 33% of students in class 10 scored ‘below basic’ levels across subjects. The survey further showed that more than 50% of students in classes 3 and 5 could perform at basic or below the basic level in the assessment of various subjects for the survey. The number of such students went up to over 70% in classes 8 and 10. (HT PHOTO)

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Updated on Dec 03, 2022 12:37 AM IST

ByNiraj Pandit

In a first, pre-primary children to come under formal school system

The state government is currently in the process of merging around 55,000 government anganwadi (pre-primary) centres with the nearest school. The remaining 45,000 anganwadis will merge in a step-by-step manner, said Kailash Pagare, state project director, Samagra Shiksha, Maharashtra.

At present, about 1,00,000 anganwadis provide pre-primary education in the state. Of the 55,000 that will be merged in the first phase, 40,000 currently run on the premises of primary schools. The remaining 15,000 have been identified and will be moved to the nearest primary school. The departments of Women and Child Development and School Education have collaborated to realise this exercise. (UNICEF)

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Updated on Dec 02, 2022 12:13 AM IST

ByNiraj Pandit

These uniforms do not fit BMC school students

There has been an issue with size. We will try to fix it by exchanging the ill-fitting uniforms. If the issue is not resolved even then, we will have to take it up with the contractor and ask them to fix it. Many schools have not received the uniforms yet, said headmaster

Most parents have shared that the snug clothes are making it difficult for the children to sit comfort (HT Photo)

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Published on Nov 29, 2022 12:34 AM IST

ByNiraj Pandit and Jeet Mashru

Over 19 lakh students without Aadhaar card in State

Mumbai: A report by the state education department on the student registration process known as Systematic Administrative Reforms for Achieving and Learning by Students (SARAL) for government, aided and non-aided schools has revealed that nearly 59 lakh students are facing issues related to Aadhaar card

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Published on Nov 28, 2022 12:14 AM IST

ByNiraj Pandit

Art index to tell buyers where to put their money

This has been a collaborative effort between IIMA and Mumbai-based Aura Art Development Pvt Ltd, an art infrastructure solutions provider and specialist in art transactions. The joint endeavour is titled IIMA-AuraArt Indian Art Index (IAIAI)

Professor Prashant Das, IIMA faculty and Mr Rishiraj Sethi, Director, Aura Art Development Pvt Ltd at the launch event (HT Photo)

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Published on Nov 25, 2022 12:21 AM IST

ByNiraj Pandit

Exam dept hit as MU axes jobs of 250 contract employees

More than 250 contractual employees’ contracts were not renewed by University of Mumbai (MU) three months ago. This has had a domino effect on the functioning of the varsity’s various departments, especially the examination department which has been fielding complaints of delays in declaring results to errors in mark-sheets, lately

Mumbai...20th January 2011... Mumbai University - HT Photo by Hemant Padalkar (Hindustan Times)

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Published on Nov 24, 2022 12:27 AM IST

ByNiraj Pandit

4 yrs on, 15,00,000 candidates in state await exams

Shoulder: Govt yet to fill 36,389 job vacancies Mumbai: Last month, the state government promised employment to 75,000 youth, in an effort to tackle unemployment

cities

Updated on Nov 19, 2022 11:14 PM IST

ByNiraj Pandit

Sir JJ School of Art faces the heat as students continue to protest

In 2010, the hostel building was declared dangerous following which the hostel administration stopped taking in students. In 2014, the hostel was shut down and did not reopen.

Students have decided to continue protesting till they get a written assurance that their demands will be met. Professor Vishwanath Sabale, dean of Sir JJ School of Art and director of the Directorate of Art said, “We are working on students’ demands. The Directorate has asked the government to fill all 159 vacant positions. The Maharashtra Public Service Commission (MPSC) will begin the process very soon.” (Anshuman Poyrekar/HT PHOTO)

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Published on Nov 19, 2022 12:01 AM IST

ByNiraj Pandit

UGC rep essential in VC selection committee, says cabinet

Mumbai: The wait for a new vice-chancellor (VC) at Mumbai and Pune universities is likely to get longer with the state cabinet’s decision to amend the mechanism of appointing vice-chancellors to state universities

cities

Published on Nov 18, 2022 12:45 AM IST

ByNiraj Pandit

Open defence mandatory for PhD: UGC chairperson

An open defence is an invitation to experts from outside the university who are permitted to question the researcher on the subject of his or her work.

UGC scrapped the mandatory requirement of getting research papers published in peer-reviewed journals before the final submission of a PhD thesis. (HT PHOTO)

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Published on Nov 18, 2022 12:43 AM IST

ByNiraj Pandit

Lights, camera, Shivaji as history meets politics in Maharashtra

At least 12 films on the life of the 17th century Maratha hero, Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, are in the works in several of Mumbai’s dream factories. Marathi film trade experts assess that over ₹120 crore is riding on the warrior king.

As the state politics gets increasingly fragmented, Shivaji remains the lodestar with all parties claiming allegiance to his legacy (HT PHOTO)

india news

Updated on Nov 15, 2022 11:57 AM IST

ByNiraj Pandit, Mumbai

No new colleges in state sans NAAC compliance

Mumbai: The state government will not approve any new college that promises to offer only traditional courses such as BA, B

cities

Published on Nov 12, 2022 12:50 AM IST

ByNiraj Pandit

HT Impact: Aarey School gets clean toilets, water taps

Mumbai: On the first day after the Diwali break, students of the Aarey Municipal School Complex (AMSC) were delighted to find clean toilets and water supply in the washrooms

cities

Published on Nov 10, 2022 12:50 AM IST

ByNiraj Pandit

College charges defaulting students money to regularise attendance

Mumbai: Around 371 students from Semesters 3 and 5 at the Institute of Hotel Management, Catering Technology and Applied Nutrition, Dadar (IHMCTAN) – popularly known as Dadar Catering College – are being fined anywhere between ₹1,000 and ₹60,000 for regularising their attendance, which will allow them to appear for their exams starting November 18

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Published on Nov 08, 2022 12:46 AM IST

ByNiraj Pandit

MU lost ₹30 lakh rent in 3 months: RTI

When HT contacted MU, it accepted that they have not received rent for the last three months from M/s Siddesh Enterprises. “We have sent them three reminders but have not received any response,” said the MU official. He said that they will look for further action if the company does not pay the rent at the earliest.

In 2021, the university rented out the land for eight months for <span class='webrupee'>₹</span>75 lakh. (HT PHOTO)

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Published on Nov 06, 2022 08:03 PM IST

ByNiraj Pandit

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Niraj Pandit

According to the data shared by the ministry, the number of students who went to study abroad showed a significant rise from 4,54,009 in 2017 to 5,86,337 in 2019. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the number fell by half, reaching 2,59,655 in 2020

The story of Thak Thak began in 1987 when Anand and Nita Toraskar, a Mahim-based couple, created the comic with city children in mind.

Over the last six months, MMRDA has shifted nearly 800 project-affected people (PAP) from Sewri. While they welcome urban development, they are uncomfortable with what’s on offer – monetary compensation and physical displacement, which will affect steady businesses.

Tension prevailed at the 93-year-old Marol Adhwada Bazar, a fish market in Andheri (East), on Thursday when the Koli women reached there at 4 am to start their daily business but found that the gate was locked

The imposition of the penalty by the university is contrary to a 2018 university circular which states that the fine should be collected from the college and not from students.

As many as 14,985 schools, facing closure on account of low enrolments, have got a new lease of life after the state government decided to hire retired teachers to run these institutions

The Khernagar school complex houses a total of 10 primary and secondary schools of English, Marathi, Kannada languages. The two buildings comprise 120 classrooms that accommodate 4928 students.

Mumbai: A day after a controversy erupted over the withdrawal of a government award to Anagha Lele for her Marathi translation of alleged Maoist ideologue Kobad Ghandy’s memoir, the state government justified its decision, saying it could not endorse glorification of ‘Naxal’ literature

The dearMoon enterprise is a mix of a lunar tourism mission and an art project, conceived and financed by Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa. It will use Elon Musk’s SpaceX Starship on a private spaceflight flying a single circumlunar trajectory around the moon.

Many students are still stuck in their hometowns while some have either dropped out or are considering it When the pandemic struck and his school switched to online mode of teaching, it was not easy for eight-year-old Srikant (name changed) to stay away from the classroom ambience

Six ‘interactive panels’ in the Colaba municipal school have been shut and several times the school authorities have complained, sources said. However, the mechanic did not come to repair it.

The state government is currently in the process of merging around 55,000 government anganwadi (pre-primary) centres with the nearest school. The remaining 45,000 anganwadis will merge in a step-by-step manner, said Kailash Pagare, state project director, Samagra Shiksha, Maharashtra.

There has been an issue with size. We will try to fix it by exchanging the ill-fitting uniforms. If the issue is not resolved even then, we will have to take it up with the contractor and ask them to fix it. Many schools have not received the uniforms yet, said headmaster

This has been a collaborative effort between IIMA and Mumbai-based Aura Art Development Pvt Ltd, an art infrastructure solutions provider and specialist in art transactions. The joint endeavour is titled IIMA-AuraArt Indian Art Index (IAIAI)

Shoulder: Govt yet to fill 36,389 job vacancies Mumbai: Last month, the state government promised employment to 75,000 youth, in an effort to tackle unemployment

In 2010, the hostel building was declared dangerous following which the hostel administration stopped taking in students. In 2014, the hostel was shut down and did not reopen.

Mumbai: The wait for a new vice-chancellor (VC) at Mumbai and Pune universities is likely to get longer with the state cabinet’s decision to amend the mechanism of appointing vice-chancellors to state universities

An open defence is an invitation to experts from outside the university who are permitted to question the researcher on the subject of his or her work.

At least 12 films on the life of the 17th century Maratha hero, Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, are in the works in several of Mumbai’s dream factories. Marathi film trade experts assess that over ₹120 crore is riding on the warrior king.

Mumbai: The state government will not approve any new college that promises to offer only traditional courses such as BA, B

Mumbai: On the first day after the Diwali break, students of the Aarey Municipal School Complex (AMSC) were delighted to find clean toilets and water supply in the washrooms

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