Ashoka University

About 1.5 mn deaths a year during 2009-2019 linked to air pollution: Study

About a million and a half deaths every year from 2009 to 2019 is potentially linked with a long-term exposure to PM2.5 pollution, according to a study published in The Lancet Planetary Health journal. Researchers, including those at Ashoka University, Haryana, and Centre for Chronic Disease Control, New Delhi, said that the entire 1.4 billion population of India live in areas having PM2.5 levels higher than World Health Organization-recommended five micrograms per cubic metre yearly average. The team also found that nearly 82 per cent of India's population, or 1.1 billion, lived in areas with yearly average PM2.5 levels exceeding those recommended by the Indian National Ambient Air Quality Standards (40 microns per cubic metre). Fine particulate matter, or PM2.5, pollution is caused by particles sized under 2.5 microns in diameter. A yearly increase in PM2.5 pollution of 10 microns per cubic metre was associated with 8.6 per cent higher annual mortality, the researchers found. Fo

New GDP and CPI series likely to kick in from February 2026: Mospi

Saurabh Garg further added that the ministry is also looking for ways to tap alternative data sources, like night lights data and e-commerce prices, for its surveys

Policymaking is nothing if not about trade-offs: CEA V Anantha Nageswaran

During his speech on policymaking at the launch of the Isaac Centre for Public Policy (ICPP) by Ashoka University in Bengaluru, Nageswaran emphasised the role of researchers

Entry barriers

Workplaces still fall short on women's safety

Ashoka University students ask VC to cut ties with Tel Aviv University

Students at Ashoka University have joined the chorus of protests against the ongoing war in Gaza and have urged the vice-chancellor to end all academic and research collaborations with Israel-based Tel Aviv University. Ashoka University student government, an elected student body, said in a letter to the vice chancellor that the university's collaboration with institutions involved in human rights violations undermines its commitment to justice and human rights. "We are deeply concerned about the ongoing genocide in Palestine in which at least 34,596 Palestinians have lost their lives and 77,816 have been injured due to the Israeli war on Gaza. As the Israeli military's brutality persists...students across universities are now actively calling on their institutions to boycott Israeli universities and exchange programmes, to have open dialogue about the war on Gaza. "The spirit and the results of ongoing protests in the universities in the form of encampments -- embarked on by the ..

Low-cost higher education

A paradigm shift in mindset is necessary to ensure more options for those who face a choice between low-cost college education and none at all

Two Ashoka Univ founders among 3 held by ED for alleged money laundering

The Enforcement Directorate on Saturday arrested two promoters of Chandigarh-based pharma company Parabolic Drugs and a company CA in a money laundering investigation linked to an alleged bank fraud, official sources said. Parabolic promoters Vineet Gupta and Pranav Gupta and Chartered Accountant S K Bansal were taken into custody under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), they said. The Guptas are the co-founders of Sonepat-based Ashoka University but had stepped down from their posts in 2022 at the educational institution after the CBI registered a case against them and the company in 2021. The three are expected to be produced before a special PMLA court in Chandigarh where the ED will seek their custody. The money laundering case stems from a CBI FIR in which the promoters and the pharma company were booked for allegedly defrauding a consortium led by Central Bank of India of Rs 1626.74 crore.

A 'search' for Ashoka

Olivelle has written a thought-provoking book. He has scrupulously avoided the hagiographic sources about Ashoka because he feels they contain too many uncertainties

'Micro-firms' could be holding back women from finding employment: Study

Research finds that increasing company size directly increases female participation in the workforce and amending labour laws and policies can help improve gender inclusivity

Drug delivery by drones? Informal economy of substance abuse on campuses

Students across campuses in and around Delhi speak of fellow students who consume substances such as marijuana; the more forthright ones admit to doing it themselves

Ashoka row: Another resignation, professors threatens exodus over Das

Days after Sabyasachi Das, an assistant professor at Ashoka University, resigned following a controversy over his research paper, Pulapre Balakrishnan, another professor in the economics department, has put in his papers. Das' colleagues have written to the Governing Body threatening a faculty exodus if he is not offered reinstatement. The English and Creative Writing departments have also extended their support to the demand. The university had earlier distanced itself from the paper, "Democratic Backsliding in the World's Largest Democracy", in which Das argued that the BJP won a disproportionate share of closely contested parliamentary seats in 2019 Lok Sabha polls, especially in states where it was the ruling party at the time. The research was published on the Social Science Research Network on July 25 There was no reaction available from the university on the faculty members' demand and Balakrishnan's resignation. Swaraj India founder and political activist Yogendra Yadav lau

Mphasis extends grant to Ashoka University with Rs 18 crore in funds

Makerspace will be a collaborative workspace for making, learning, exploring, and sharing using high-tech to no-tech tools, which will enable the ideation of tech-enabled solution-centric startups

Haryana govt alleges 'financial embezzlement' by Ashoka University

In the notice, Haryana's higher education dept alleged that 'there is fudging of figures, making it a blatant case of maladministration and misinformation, causing financial embezzlement'

Ashoka University launches long-term study on zoonotic disease outbreaks

Is setting up field stations to study cohabitation and pathogen sharing of animals and humans

Ashoka University develops Daily Food Price Index to track food inflation

Ashoka University has developed a first-of-its kind Daily Food Price Index (DFPI) to track inflation in retail and wholesale food markets on a real time basis, officials said on Thursday. The existing Consumer Price Index (CPI) and Wholesale Price Index (WPI) are released on a monthly and yearly basis. "The recent surge in food prices due to factors like the COVID-19 pandemic and ongoing conflict in Ukraine reflect the rapidity with which situations that affect the economy can develop. In this context, having access to more real-time data can facilitate timely market interventions and decisions related to price regulation," said Ashwini Deshpande, Director, Centre for Economic Data & Analysis (CEDA) at Ashoka University. "A delay in publication of data, and subsequent delay in policymaking, often carries a cost. Thus, the DFPI developed by CEDA would be a great public resource for policymakers, researchers and journalists," she added. Deshpande explained that CEDA's Daily Food ...

India's intellectuals lay down strategy for the decade ahead

A group of the country's most reputed strategists, historians have identified most important threats, opportunities before India in a report titled 'India's Path to Power: Strategy in a World Adrift'

Manufacturing employment nearly half of what it was five years ago

Manufacturing accounts for nearly 17% of India's GDP, but the sector has seen employment decline sharply in last 5 years - from employing 51 million Indians in 2016-17 to reach 27.3 million in 2020-21

Ashoka students call off strike, vow to fight injustice across India

The students of Ashoka University have ended the strike started after the resignation of Pratap Bhanu Mehta

Ashoka University to appoint Ombudsperson to encourage free expression

Founders of Ashoka University, which has been at the centre of an academic freedom debate following two high profile resignations, on Monday said they respect the autonomy of the institution

Plaksha University aims to challenge IITs, reimagines engineering education

The upcoming Plaksha University reimagines engineering education and prepares students for a digitally powered future