Couples who have premarital sex to be considered 'married', says HC

The Madras High Court on Tuesday said a couple in a consensual sexual relationship will be considered 'married'. The judgement came during an alimony hearing. The mother of two, Aysha, was left by the man, who fathered her children. A court in Coimbatore had directed the man to pay maintenance for the children. However, the woman was denied alimony as she did not have valid documents of a marriage.

The Madras High Court granted her alimony, saying,

"Physical consummation between a man above 21 and a woman above 18, arising out of sexual cravings would be considered a valid marriage. Even if the girl does not become pregnant after having a sexual relationship with a man but if there is strong documentary evidence to show such existence of such a relationship, then also the couple involved in such acts would be termed as wife and husband. If both decide to separate, the husband cannot marry without getting a decree of divorce from the court."

It is true that sexual relations are the ultimate fulfillment of a couple becoming “one flesh”. But the high court hearing undermines the social aspect of marriage. It’s not just a means of sexual satisfaction but of understanding, commitment, respect and most importantly love. Apart from social aspect it has a legal status along with lots of responsibilities and bindings, which sexual intercourse does not deal with.

Seen through different perspective the judgement is significant as it gives an altogether new definition of marriage. A marriage will no longer to be considered a ritual but an act of substance. In essence it is a way of regulating the ‘live- in’ relationships and where there is a presumption of marriage.  Thus, recognizes the rights of a woman and offer her adequate legal protection.

Society may find it difficult to digest the ruling. Also it is difficult to produce the documentary proof of the sexual intercourse. Thus, both negative and positive effects need to be considered. 

 In my view a more comprehensive view needs to be taken.

Search for love or self confidence

The recent suicide by Bollywood actress Jiah Khan, gave vent to discussions about the prevailing depression and pressure in Bollywood. But is it a matter of Bollywood or our normal lives too? We all as human beings have wanted to be loved apart from the basic need for food, clothing and shelter.

As she wrote in her letter that devoid of love from her boyfriend she started to lose her confidence. Here is the thing that became reason for her suicide attempt. She didn’t have any role offers after the movie ‘Housefull’. Faced on with criticism she wanted someone to believe in her. But her boyfriend could not give her love or the self assurance. Faced on with disapproval on both career and love life she decided to end her life.

Love and money are the foremost important things to our existence as human beings. But these become so important to our lives that instead of being controlled by us. These start overpowering our thoughts and actions. As teenagers, love plays an important part of our existence. Falling in love, experiencing heartbreak and at last ending up eating dozen of chocolates and tubs of ice cream. Romantic movies with mushy songs always make huge profits on box office. We always try to find our perfect lives in these motion pictures and try to visualize our lives as same. But these all are aimed at making profits and do not show the reality.

There is need to understand the love and not to be carried away its by mawkish definition. If you lack self confidence don’t look or someone to make you feel important rather make yourself feel important. Draw a distinction between what you want it to be or what really is.

HIGHER STUDIES IN ECONOMICS-4

INDAIN STATISTICAL INSTITUTE (ISI)

The Economics and Planning Unit offers a two-year program in Master of Science in Quantitative Economics (M.S.Q.E.). Offered in Delhi and Kolkata. 

Course Structure: Courses are taught in four semesters over two years. Students take about four to five courses each semester. There are ten compulsory courses, nine of which are taken in the first two semesters. In addition, students take about ten optional courses.The compulsory courses include

• ·         sequences in Microeconomics,
• ·         Macroeconomics,
• ·         Statistics and Econometrics,
• ·         Game Theory,
• ·         Mathematics for Economists, and
• ·         Economic Development.

     Among the many optional courses, the following have been offered by the Unit in the recent past:

• ·         Advanced Game Theory,
• ·         Macro Dynamics,
• ·         International Economics,
• ·         Finance,
• ·         Industrial Organization,
• ·         Dynamic Programming,
• ·         Applied Econometrics,
• ·         Time
• ·         Series Econometrics,
• ·         Social Choice and
• ·         Political Economy,
• ·         Economics,
• ·         Intertemporal Economics, and
• ·         Environmental Economics.

Admission: Students with a 3-year Bachelor's degree with Honours in Economics, Mathematics, Statistics, Engineering or Physics, are eligible to apply for the M.S.Q.E. program.

Ø      Selection of students is based on past academic record, and performance in entrance tests (in Economics and Mathematics) and in an interview.

Information regarding the admission process is advertised in major Indian newspapers and on our website in February of each year.

The entrance tests are held in early May, and interviews are held in early July. Detailed information about this is mailed to candidates who apply for the program. A new session starts in late July. 

Some sample question papers with syllabus can be found here: Click here.

Placement: Our M.S.Q.E. students get placed in industry in India and abrorad. Some of the companies which recruited M.S.Q.E. students last year are D.E. Shaw, Genpact, Indian School of Business, ICICI Bank, HP Analytics.

Some of our M.S.Q.E. students go abroad for doctoral studies. Over the last two years, our students have got scholarships from Princeton, U. Pennsylvania, NYU, Wisconsin, U. Minnesota, Columbia, Cornell, U. of British Columbia, U. of Texas at Austin, and other US universities for their doctoral studies. 

M.A. ECONOMICS ENTRANCE-3

Gokhale Institute of Politics and Economics (GIPE)


About the Programmes : 

The Gokhale Institute of Politics and Economics (Deemed to be University), Pune, offers two year Masters Programmes in
(1) Economics, 
(2) Financial Economics, and 
(3) Agribusiness Economics.

The Entrance Examination will have the following three components: (a) Analytical Ability, (b) Knowledge of Elementary Economics, and (c) Aptitude for Statistics and Mathematics. For sample questions of Entrance Examination, please refer to the website of the Institute (www.gipe.ac.in).    Students desirous of seeking accommodation at the time of Entrance Examination(at Pune only) should send their request for accommodation well in advance and the same will be provided in the hostels of the Institute at the rate of Rs. 150/- per day per person, subject to the availability.     Admission Rules and Procedures for Masters Programmes

(a) Eligibility Condition   All the three programmes are open for all the graduates. Students desirous of admission to any of the above-mentioned programmes should have at least 50.00 per cent marks in the aggregate (45.00 per cent for the reserved category candidates)at the graduate level.    (b) Procedure   Admission for all the three Masters Programmes will be given strictly on the basis of marks scored in the Entrance Examination. Students desirous of admission to the above-mentioned Programmes are required to fill the prescribed application form for the entrance examination.   The prescribed online application form is available on website www.gipe.ac.in . The application form fee is Rs. 1,750.   In the application form, students should clearly mention their preferences for the programmes at the specified place. For example, suppose a student wants to give first preference to Masters in Economics, second to Masters in Financial Economics and third to Masters in Agribusiness Economics. Allocation of Seats for Admission in Masters in Economics   The total number of students admitted into this Programme will be 40. The allocation of seats is as per Government of Maharashtra guidelines with 50% of the seats in the open category and the rest in the reserved category subject to certain performance criteria in the entrance examination relating to admission. The reserved category seats are allotted to SC/ST/DTNT/VJNT/NT (31%) and OBCs (19%).   Allocation of Seats for Admission in Masters in Financial Economics and Agribusiness Economics   The total number of students to be admitted in these two Programmes will be 40 each. The allocation of seats is as per Government of India guidelines with 50.5% of the seats in the open merit category and the rest in the reserved category subject to certain performance criteria in the Entrance Examination relating to admission. The reserved category seats are allotted to SC (15%), ST (7.5 %) and OBCs (27%). Au Revoir !

M.A. ECONOMICS ENTRANCE- 2

JAWAHARLAL NEHRU UNIVERSITY (JNU)

The next college in the list is JNU.

ECONOMICS

(M.A Economics, Center for Economic Studies and Planning “CESP”): 

The pattern of entrance examination for M.A Economics from CESP had slight changes time by time. 

In the new pattern, there are 100 multiple choice questions with 5 choices and with the weight-age of one (1) mark each. The negative marking of (-1/2) per each wrong answer is also part of the new pattern introduced.

Note: Before appearing for the examination, please look carefully the latest prospectus for any announcement reading the changes in the pattern of exam, decided by the university.

The entrance exam would majorly include questions from 4 main economics papers and general knowledge, which are briefly explained below:

1) Statistics: The average graduation level knowledge of this paper would suffice to solve its questions in the exam. The main focus should be on Probability, Averages and Dispersion. The preferable books to be consulted for Statistics are:

a. Basic Statistics by: Nagar and Das.

b. Mathematical Statistics with Applications by: John E. Fraeund.

c. Schaum's Outline of Statistics by: Murray R. Spiegel and Larry J. Stephens.

2) Microeconomics: The principle focus should be on utility maximization, special cases of perfect substitutes and compliments, different productions and cost functions with emphasis on their minimization exercise and profit maximization problems, different forms of competition encompassing perfect competition, monopoly, basic theory of general equilibrium, and questions of allocation and Pareto optimality. The requirement is of the nature of an average graduation curriculum.

The reference that should be followed: 

a. Intermediate Microeconomics by: Hal. E. Varian

b. Exercise book of intermediate Microeconomics by: Hal. E. Varian (Questions to be solved carefully).

3) Macroeconomics: Basic knowledge of average graduation level should be sufficient. Emphasis on growth models, e.g., Harrod-Domar, Solow-Swan model should be laid. Also, focus should be directed towards Keynsian macroeconomics pertaining to multipliers of closed and open economy, IS-LM etc. 

The references that need to be consulted are as follows: 

a. Macroeconomics by: M.C. Vaish (for growth models). 

b. Macroeconomics by: Dornbush and Fischer.

c. Or any other standard Macroeconomics text book. 

d. Development economics by: Debraj Ray (for growth models).

4) Mathematical Economics: Stressed should be laid on series, sequences, functions and relations, sets, basic calculus such as integration and differentiation. Incorporate notions of implications, quantifiers etc. in Logic.

The references are: 

a. Mathematical Economics by: Sydsaeter and Hammond. Or

b. Mathematics for Economists: Simon and Blume. 

c. Refer to the appendix of any standard book of mathematics for the Logic section.

5) General Knowledge: Preliminary knowledge of national and international economy and regular surfing of newspapers will be enough. Comprehension: Any passage from famous economists’ work will be quoted as a comprehension question. Analytical understanding of basic economics should suffice the purpose.

Note: It has been observed that previous years’ questions are frequently repeated, therefore, suggestion is to solve previous years’ questions, available in JNU, at the time of application process. Questions should be solved preferably in a group as it helps built better understanding and to correct solutions of the questions.

Some other books: 1. Hal R Varian, 2.Hendarson & Quandit 3. Mankiw

For more information refer to:

http://www.jnueeqp.com/

MA Economics Entrance

Delhi School of Economics                                                                                                                 

Firstly, the paper has two options. Candidates need to specify at the time of filling the form which option they would be attempting in the paper. You need to attempt either of the two and NOT both.

·        Part A (Economics): This option is recommended for people from Economics, Statistics, Engineering and other fields.  The subjects that students are expected to be well versed with are: Microeconomics, Macroeconomics, Statistics (and some Econometrics which came by surprise in the last 2009-10 paper) and Mathematics. Although there is no subject-wise allocation of marks, but past trends show that all the four subjects get equal weight age in the paper.

·        Part B (Maths): Starting with Part B first. Frankly, never having seen its paper, we only have limited knowledge of the same. This is for people who have done Bachelors in Mathematics. It contains theoretical (fairly advanced) question relating to Functions, Matrices, Metric Spaces, and Real Analysis etc. (This is not a comprehensive list of what all is covered). This section itself contains two sections. One section is for Objective type questions and the other is a descriptive type (there is usually choice given for the descriptive type questions). There is negative marking for the objective type questions section.

NOTE: Mathematics part is tough. So, opt for it if you are confident enough about theoretical mathematics.

‘Part A’ contains two sections both containing Objective type questions from all subjects:

1.     Twenty questions of 1mark each (20marks)

2.     Forty questions of 2marks each (80marks)

There is negative marking of 1/3marks for the 1mark questions and 2/3marks for 2marks questions.

Mathematics:

The primary references are:

·        Fundamental Methods of Mathematical Economics by A. Chiang and

·        Further Mathematics for Economic Analysis by Sydsater and Hammond.

Statistics and Econometrics:

Go through DU BA Economics syllabus for Statistics and follow up all the readings. You can refer to Mathematical Statistics by SC Gupta and VK Kapoor for the probability section. For Econometrics, you may refer to Essentials of Econometrics by Gujarati, first 11 chapters. Last year, there were 3-4 questions from Econometrics. So, if you do not wish to take chances, you may decide to do it as well.

Macroeconomics:

Get hold of Macroeconomics by William Branson.

NOTE: Get hold of differentiation concepts. These are a must.

Books to be referred:

1.     Macroeconomics by Dornbusch and Fisher

2.     Macroeconomic Theory and Policy by William Branson

3.     Macroeconomics, Schaum Series (little elementary)

4.     Macroeconomics by Oliver Blanchard

5.     Macroeconomics by Mankiw

You may go through these books and decide for yourself which one is good for which topic. Schaum series Macroeconomics are a little elementary and if you are content with the other books then you may skip this one.

Microeconomics

Start with Intermediate Microeconomics (7th edition) by Hal Varian and complement it by doing exercises from Varian Workbook. Both are necessary to get the concepts clear. Microeconomics section in DSE would not ask you to do simple maximization, in fact the question might appear to be very simple to you but it will have a certain relatively tougher concept being tested. Thus, most of the times, it will be asking you about complement, substitutes, quasilinear etc. preferences.

You may also go through the following website and browse different topics in Microeconomics, their lecture notes and assignments.

http://ocw.mit.edu/OcwWeb/Economics/index.htm

Cut off: We think that the cutoff would usually be around 50.

Wait for other college information.

Thanks!

Economics: Tough/ Interesting

When I meet new people and they come to know about my course. Their first reaction is that I am doing a tough course. I know economics is a theoretical subject. But on the other side the working of the whole world is based on economics. "Invisible hand" of Adam Smith to "In the long run we all are dead" of Keynes, fascinates me. The ‘Great Depression’ of the United States is also an economic phenomenon. The housing crises resulted from bursting of “Credit bubble”. These all are working of supply and demand. The crisis and Marx theory related to it very intriguing. The business cycle relating to how there is a boom, followed by stagnation and then recession. This is the cycle abide by all the business firms in the world. This is what determines our lives by creating ‘Reserve Army’- creating employment and unemployment. Science subject is based on an initial set of rule but in economics new rules and new dimensions are created every now and then. Every subject has its own enthralling element that needs to be searched.