ITBHUGlobal.org: The Chronicle: Making a trend in the popularity- "Chhoti Bahu" TV serial

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(By Yogesh K. Upadhyaya, Chemical 1977. Email: yogesh@optonline.net.)

Chhoti Bahu - Sindoor Bin Suhagan is a Hindi language Indian soap opera that airs on Zee TV channel. The first episode was aired on December 8, 2008. As the name suggests, the concept focuses on the youngest daughter-in-law of the family.

Chhoti Bahu is the story of Radhika, a simple girl living in the pious city of Vrindavan, Uttar Pradesh, India. A dutiful daughter, a loving sister, and above all an ardent worshipper of Lord Krishna, is adopted by a revered priest Pandit Brij Mohan Shastri. However, she is nothing more than a glorified servant, despite the fact being that she is an adopted daughter. Many problems begin when Dev and Radhika fall in love. Dev does get married to Radhika, but now thinks it was an illusion. Vishaka goes into Dev's house as the Chhoti Bahu, in place of Radhika. Her goal is to become an actress, and she wants to use Dev's family's money to complete her goal. The story revolves around Radhika's sacrifices to keep her family happy, twisting her from one troublesome situation to another. The only refuge that she has is her only friend – Lord Krishna.

The producer of the show, DJ's Creations, have also produced shows like Jassi Jaisi Koi Nah aired on Sony TV, Left Right Left aired on SAB TV and Jab Love Hua aired on Zee TV. 

Chhoti Bahu is aired on Zee TV Monday to Friday at 7:30 pm in India (Sunday to Thursday in USA).

The success of the TV serial

The Chhoti Bahu serial is an excellent example of how a TV serial can be successful with right ingredients. Although the story is stereo type (and somewhat slow moving) revolving around love-affairs within a close family, still it has occupied number one TV rating among all Zee TV serials, and number five overall all Hindi TV serials. It is destined to become number one among all the TV serials in the short time ahead. This is despite the fact that it is not aired during Prime-Time (8 – 11 PM, when everyone is at home and watching TV during dinner time). This has prompted many new serials to try for 7.30 PM time slot.

What is the success formula for this serial? Well, the producer is clueless and calls it a grace of God. However, the real reason appears to be the extremely talented star-cast. Particular noteworthy is 21 year old Rubina Dalaik, who is playing the role of shy and dutiful Radhika. In real life she is winner of Miss India (North India zone) contest. She has several Bollywood offers but cannot work as she is under contract with Zee TV for the life of serial. Twenty-five yr old Avinash Sachdev (plays as Dev) and 21 yr old Priyanka Mishra (plays as Vishakha or Chhoti Bahu) are also highly talented.

Apart from talented star-cast, the serial has good dialogues, film type settings and dream sequences, majestic set (for haveli of Purohit family in New Delhi), and melodrama to make it highly popular.

Storyline:

Shashtriji and Devki in Brindawan have two daughters; Radhika (who is adopted) and Vishakha. Radhika is unselfish and dutiful. It is the love and faith in her dear Lord Krishna that provides Radhika the solace and strength to survive.

On the other hand is Vishakha who wants to be an actress and aspires to make big in Bollywood. She is headstrong and selfish. Vishakha and Radhika share a great bond.

The Purohits, who are from Delhi but having their ancestral house in Brindawan, have two sons, Vivek and Dev. The Purohits have huge expectations from their younger son, Dev who falls for Radhika. But destiny has something else in store and he gets married to Vishakha. The story takes a massive turn when Radhika enters Dev's house.

The stage is set for a rather unusual triangle, each character grappling with peculiar dilemmas!

Cast

Real name-Character played

Rubina - Radhika

Avinash Sachdev – Dev

Priyanka Mishra-Visakha

Rajeev Verma - Shastriji

Prabha Sinha – Vaishali

Samtha Sagar - Devki (Shastriji's wife)

Rita Bhadhuri - Dadima (Dev's grand-mother)

Gopiji Dadi - (Shastri’s mother)

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Additional Links:

Chhoti Bahu-a serial of Zee TV-official website

http://www.zeetv.com/shows/chhoti-bahusindoor-bin-suhagan.html

Chhoti Bahu in Wikipedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chhoti_Bahu

Chhoti Bahu in mypopkorn.com

http://www.mypopkorn.com/tv/soaps/chhoti-bahusindoor-bin-suhagan/

CHHOTI BAHU-On the Sets with Radhika Dev and Vishakha

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9cJNID9CMQg

Vishaka-Priyanka Mishra

http://www.india-forums.com/tellybuzz/article.asp?id=3644

Radhika-Rubina Dalaik

http://www.indya.com/news/newsDetails.aspx?xfile=2008/December/News_20081205_32

http://www.india-forums.com/tellybuzz/article.asp?id=4326

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ITBHUGlobal.org: The Chronicle: 2009 Rankings of Engineering Colleges in India

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This year, three magazines have published their rankings for engineering colleges in India. Surprisingly, all magazines have awarded # 8 ranks to our college.

 Please note that all rankings are subjective and subject to interpretation.

 Here is the summary of all rankings by magazines for the past 4 years:

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1) Outlook India Rankings

a) Cover page- June 22 issue

http://www.outlookindia.com/archivecontents.asp?fnt=20090622

b) Essay

http://www.outlookindia.com/full.asp?fodname=20090622&fname=ALead+Essay+(F)&sid=1

It's been a terrible year, professionally speaking, and one that has dulled the sheen of the India Story. Even if the economic slowdown currently looks like a figment of the Sensex's imagination, there's no denying the harsh realities: the jobs market has swung from irrational exuberance to an irrational freeze. While the pendulum will swing back, it'll be a while before we see 40 per cent annual pay hikes again. More worryingly, manufacturing and exports remain in the dumps. While much of the attention has been on the middle class' bewilderment at this dramatic turn of events, it is the armies of skilled and semi-skilled workers who have been hit the most. They continue to have reason to worry.

In these stormy times, Outlook's annual ranking of India's top professional colleges—in its fourth edition, this time with GfK-Mode—is an island of reassuring calm. That's because there are many familiar top-ranked institutions in the perceptual listings—an indication, if any was needed, of mind over glitzy matter. Given the advertising barrage by institutes of all types claiming "cent per cent placements" and promising a "good college life", this is a crucial need. Interestingly, industry professionals who participated in the survey gave more importance to academic excellence and the selection process—and lower weightage to an institute's infrastructure and placement track record. There is a lesson here somewhere for prospective students.

Then, we have a brand new minister for HRD, with plans to radically transform higher education. Actually there's no better time than now to fix the mess. Outlook interviewed Kapil Sibal to get a sense of his game plan for higher education. We have also sought views on two issues that will dominate headlines in the months to come: the future of many deemed universities and the move to allow foreign universities into India. A scarier, and more immediate, concern is the horrible reality of capitation fees and ragging. Our report on the measures to tackle ragging highlights the lack of any action on the ground. It also paints a disturbing picture about our society's value systems.

Last year, we had said that it was a wonderful time to be a young student in India. Happily, that fundamental reality remains—students have more choices than ever before, which is mirrored in the new streams we have added to this year's ranking. As always, choose wisely.

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c) Rankings

http://www.outlookindia.com/full.asp?fodname=20090622&fname=ALead+Essay+(F)&sid=2

TOP PROFESSIONAL COLLEGES: RANKINGS

Top 75 Engineering Colleges (only top 25 shown here)

d) Other parameters

http://www.outlookindia.com/full.asp?fodname=20090622&fname=ALead+Essay+(F)&sid=7

ITBHUGlobal.org: The Chronicle: INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY REMAINS THE SECTOR OF CHOICE FOR ENGINEERING GRADUATES: NIELSEN

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http://in.nielsen.com/news/20090609.shtml

2009 Nielsen Campus Track T-Schools study

Nanotechnology, IT Services, and Power sector seen as Student's 'Industries of Future'

9 June 2009

Mumbai, India

 With 43 percent of the votes, the Information Technology (IT) industry has once again emerged as the most desirable sector for a career for India’s engineering graduates of the class of 2010, according to the seventh round of Nielsen Campus Track T-Schools study. However, the sector has experienced a seven percent drop compared to last year. IT is followed by Automobile/Automobile Ancillary, Telecom, Energy-Oil & Gas, Infrastructure/ Real Estate and Power sectors.

The global economic crisis has decreased overall students’ preference for Management Consultancies, Financial Sector followed by the IT Sector. However, the Financial Sector and Management Consultancies remain quite popular among IT students. Sectors less affected by the downturn are Infrastructure, and Automobile/Automobile Ancillary. 

Ratan Tata leads the ‘Role Model’ list for 2010 batch of engineering graduates.

“The charm of the IT sector has not faded. Students prefer IT for its MNC culture, opportunities to work with technically sound professionals with in cutting edge technology, training & growth opportunities,    among others. The fact that many of the top companies with huge turnovers hail from the IT sector furthers their choice,” said Vatsala Pant, Associate Director, Consumer Research, The Nielsen Company. 

Nielsen Campus Track T-Schools ’09 surveyed the attitudes of students towards companies as prospective employers. The findings are designed to help companies develop personnel strategies to attract the best talent from engineering campuses. Nielsen Campus Track T-Schools analyses the various employment dimensions students look for to evaluate prospective employers. Each company is evaluated on the employment dimensions, which are aggregated to compute a Nielsen Campus Recruiter Index 2009 providing the overall standing of the company in the eyes of students.

Some of the leading companies that engineering students would consider applying to are Accenture, Bosch, Google, Infosys Technologies, Indian Oil Corporation Ltd, Larsen & Toubro, Microsoft India, Mahindra & Mahindra, Tata Consultancy Services, and Wipro.

Future Industries

Students perceive Nanotechnology (12%), IT Services (11%), and Power (9%), Energy – Oil & Gas (8%), and Telecom (6%) as the top five ‘industries of the future’.  IIT students consider Energy – Oil & Gas as the industry of future, followed by Nanotechnology and Finance sector.

“Though Management Consultancies and the Financial sector figured on the list of ‘industry of future’ last year, the economic crisis has changed the preference and new industries have taken their place,” continued Pant.

Influencers of choice and reasons for leaving an employer

The soon-to-be engineers want to work for a technically sound company when they pass out, ranking it the highest on the list of drivers that influence choice of an employer. They want to work on sophisticated and state of the art technology, where there is good learning on the job and want to work in a growing industry, where they get ‘hands on’ exposure to projects.

“Graduates today are looking at honing their skills in their first job. They want to practice what they learnt theoretically in their course. You have to be a master of your skill to succeed in today’s competitive environment and this sends students in search of advanced technology that provides good learning on the job,” said Pant.

Half of the batch of 2010 plan to move out of their first job in three years or less, with 51 percent citing higher studies as a reason for leaving. Better career opportunities, better salary, better designation, and job satisfaction are some other reasons for moving out of the first job. Among those keen to pursue higher studies, 69 percent intend to do an MBA.

Students are willing to stay back if the employer pays them well (39%), if they are satisfied with their job (34%), if their job provides a good work environment (32%), and if the employer is willing to sponsor their higher education (31%).

“Salary emerges as the most attractive option to stub attrition rates, provided the employee is satisfied with his/her job profile and gets a conducive work environment. It is also interesting to note that people are willing to stay on a job if the employer pays for their higher education, a fall out of the primary reason for them leaving their first job,” said Pant.

Source of information

60 percent respondents relied on Pre Placement Talks (PPT) by companies for their source of information on recruiting companies. According to the students a good PPT is one that details on job description, growth path & opportunities, training & development aspects, and work environment that the company provides. 56 percent relied on information from Faculty/ Alumni/ Family/ Relatives/ Friends, and 36 percent got their information by the experience gained doing project work. Information on company websites, internet, other media and job portals are other areas that act as source of information on a company.

Sponsorship to cultural events, student development workshop and awards are the two most liked activities of companies on campus by students. TCS, Infosys Technologies, and Wipro are the top three companies in terms of the activities undertaken by them on campuses.

Periodic emails from HR post placement, access to company intranet, blog, and sharing of HR manual are some of the activities that make students feel part of the company, keep them engaged and feel connected to the company.

About Nielsen Campus Track T-Schools

Nielsen Campus Track T-Schools is a nationwide syndicated study conducted by The Nielsen Company, which collects and interprets information about perceptions regarding recruiters and preference for them, amongst the final year engineering students within the top Indian engineering colleges and institutes. Traditionally, this study has covered the top 20 premier engineering institutes of the country, but this year it has covered the top 151 engineering colleges and institutes (including all the IITs and the NITs) for its report.

About The Nielsen Company

The Nielsen Company is a global information and media company with leading market positions in marketing and consumer information, television and other media measurement, online intelligence, mobile measurement, trade shows and business publications (Billboard, The Hollywood Reporter, Adweek). The privately held company is active in more than 100 countries, with headquarters in New York, USA. For more information, please visit, www.nielsen.com

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ITBHUGlobal.org: The Chronicle: Rankings of Public Universities in India (2008)

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(Linked via www.nanopolitan.blogspot.com)

a) NISCAIR ranking of research performance of Indian universities

http://www.ias.ac.in/currsci/jun252009/1560a.pdf

Gangan Prathap (National Institute of Science Communication and Information Resources, New Delhi) is the author of this preliminary study (pdf) ranking Indian universities based on papers listed in the Web of Science database. In order to do a fair comparison so that universities are compared only with similar institutions, he has wisely left out the institutions of national importance

Here's the list of the top 20 research universities in India (based on their publications in the year 2008):

1. Delhi

2. Banaras Hindu University

3. Jadavpur

4. Anna

5. Panjab

6. Annamalai

7. Madras

8. Aligarh Muslim

9. Calcutta

10. CMC, Vellore

11. Hyderabad

12. Jawaharlal Nehru

13. Poona

14. CUSAT

15. Allahabad

16. Rajasthan

17. Sri Venkateswara

18. Guru Nanak Dev

19. Mysore

20. Mangalore

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b) List of top 40 India Universities (2004-2006)

Prof. Giridhar Madras has compiled a list of top 40 Indian universities based not just on their publications, but also on citations and the h-index. The Banaras Hindu University is Ranked 3^rd according to the criteria.

Prof. Giridhar is professor in the Chemical Engineering Department at IISc, Bangalore. He runs a blog “Life in IISc”

http://giridharmadras.blogspot.com

He can be reached at: giridharmadras@gmail.com

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