Girls Exempted from IITJEE 2012 Application Fee

To increase greater diversity by encouraging girl students participation in Indian Institutes of Technology, the application fee for JEE is exempted from 2012 for girls. However, the application fee for boys would be hiked by Rs. 800/- from the current Rs 1,000/-. Which means boys will have to pay Rs. 1800/- for the application fee for the prestigious Joint Entrance Examination conducted by IITs.

With the Right to Information act being stressed repeatedly by the supreme court, applicants of IITJEE-2012 will be able to take home a copy of the OMR (optic response sheet). The OMR carry will have the responses marked by the applicant, which will enable him to tally with the answer keys once the key is released. Other change announced is about the use of pen for marking responses on the OMR sheet.

A total of seventeen colleges use JEE as a sole criterion for admission to their undergraduate programs. The seventeen colleges include the seven old and eight new (2009) Indian Institutes of Technology, IT-BHU Varanasi, and ISM Dhanbad. Starting in 2007, newly established institutions such as the Indian Institutes of Science Education and Research at Kolkata, Pune, Bhopal & Thiruvananthapuram, Indian Maritime University and Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Petroleum Technology are also admitting students through the JEE (Extended Merit List). You can learn more about courses offered by each college here.

This year IIT Delhi will be conducting the exam (IIT-JEE), last year over 500,000 students appeared for IIT-JEE.

Team Anna, police close to agreement

Team Anna and the Delhi police were close to an agreement on the number of days for Anna Hazare's fast to push for a strong Lokpal Bill, police sources said late Wednesday.

According to Delhi police sources, as per a new agreement, Hazare has been given three weeks to stage the protest.

Earlier, the police had given him seven days, which was extendable, while Team Hazare was demanding a month.

"We want one month, but the government (is) giving us less number of days," Kiran Bedi, a key confidante of Hazare, had earlier told reporters outside Tihar Jail where Hazare is. The 74-year-old has refused to leave the jail even after being released till his demand for continuing his fast without conditions is met.

The original fast venue of JP Park had been ruled out due to lack of space and the Delhi Police had agreed to the protest at the Ramlila Ground.

The police have relaxed six of the sticking conditions, including its bar on the number of people and cars.