Patna`s Super 30 fulfills IIT dreams of poor students

National Geographic, Al-Jazeera to telecast film on Super-30

A film depicting the making of Super-30 will be telecast in the National Geographic Channel sometimes in December and by Al-Jazeera English later. This film has been produced by ORTV International, London, in association with Teamwork Films. The film will be screened at the main auditorium of the India International Centre in New Delhi on November 19.

The 75-minute film would cover right from the selection stage in the coaching for the IIT to seven months of study and examinations to the moment of joy after the publication of results. The Super-30 is run by Ramanujan School and students from underprivileged class are coached free of cost for India’s premier engineering entrance examination.

The assistant producer of ORTV in India, Rahul Sen, said the team had been following the Super-30 since 2005 when he saw a feature in British daily the Guardian. Sen said that the exact date of telecast was yet to be finalized.

Fighting flood to look for IIT seat

PATNA: The craze of ‘Super 30’ could be seen on Sunday, when around 10,000 aspiring IITians appeared at an entrance exam for selection in this group of economically under privileged students, which has a great success record, with most of them making it to the premier engineering institutes of the country. The size of the crowd at the St Michael’s High School here, appeared to have taken even its promoter, ADG (HQ) Abhyanand and mathematics wizard Anand Kumar by surprise, as police had to monitor the entry of candidates to the examination hall. "We had to hold the entrance examination in several batches, right from 7 am to 4 pm, each of two hours duration," said Anand Kumar apparently surprised by the response. "Despite the fact that we had not advertised the date and venue of entrance examination and just gave away application forms to students approaching us, the response was overwhelming," he said. Kumar said he was surprised to find students coming not only from all corners of Bihar but also from Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand and Rajasthan. "Students from Samastipur and other flood-hit districts had to virtually swim across to reach the venue," he added. He said the aspiring candidates had to answer 20 questions each from Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics, in two hours. "We had prepared five sets of question papers," he said. ADG Abhyanand himself spent quite sometime in invigilating at the centre. However, this year the ‘Super 30’ module will undergo a change. "This time we will select 100 to 150 candidates. We will bifurcate the successful candidates and prepare some for the IITs, some for the NITs and others for engineering colleges in Bihar," remarked Kumar. About five years back, Anand Kumar and Abhayanand (IPS), floated the concept of ‘Super 30’ picking up bright students from economically depressed sections making them undergo rigorous coaching for six months before the IIT-JEE exams. In 2003, 18 of the 30 made it to IIT. The success rate kept shooting and this year 28 of the 30 made it to the merit list. However, the success of Super 30 has been marred by controversies as other coaching institutes claimed that some of the successful candidates were actually theirs. A disgusted Abhyanand declared the winding up of ‘Super 30’ project, but protests from students and parents forced the promoters to review their decision.

Film Shoot on Super-30 Begins

A Japanese film team led by Japanese beauty and filmmaker Norika Fujiwara arrived in Patna on Friday to make a movie on Super-30, an institute founded by leading mathematician Anand and Additional Director General Abhayanand to prepare students for competitive exams.The beauty queen-turned-filmmaker Fujiwara said she was so impressed with the goals and success of the Super-30, she decided to make a documentary on it featuring Anand and Abhayanand and interviewing its current and former students.Efficiency, which is what Japanese are known for worldwide, the film crew, without wasting any more time, began shooting the film almost instantly at the institute and Dekuli village in Gaurichak from where Alok Kumar, one of the successful students, came from.Fujiwara also held talks with Alok's relatives at their humble hut in Gaurichak to gain insight into what motivated the youth to aim for Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), nation's premier technology school.Interviews were also held with Additional Director General Abhayanand and his former teacher and Patna Science College professor Devi Prasad Verma.Later at a press conference at Anand's residence, Fujimara said she was fascinated by the worldwide accomplishment of Indians in the field of Information and Technology and was interested in learning the secrets of their success.The filmmaker is also scheduled to visit Nalanda to gain an insight into Bihar's glorious past in the field of education.

Verdicts on 'bahubalis' of state any time now

PATNA: The day of reckoning for bahubalis (criminals-turned-politicians) is drawing closer. The Bihar police believes that they would be convicted "any moment". "I would not like to take names because there are many of them. But the trial in five cases are almost over. The judgments can be expected any moment," said ADG (HQ) Abhyanand while maintaining that speedy trials are on in several other cases. The bahubalis whose names figure in the police (HQ) cut across party lines. JD(U) MLA Sunil Pandey's trial in case related to opening fire at Aurangabad court premises is almost complete with the last witness deposing before the court. An assault case against LJP MP Surajbhan (one of the 18 criminal cases he is facing) is almost complete. Controversial RJD MP Md Shahabuddin faces 25 criminal cases in Siwan courts alone. The trial in at least one is in the final stage with the defence cross examining the last witness. Former MP Anand Mohan Singh, who grabbed media focus for allegedly disappearing from judicial custody and having a scuffle with the senior SP of Patna, is also likely to feel the heat. He is named accused in the murder of the then Gopalganj DM G Krishnaiya in the early 1990s. The trial in the case has reached a very advanced stage. The speedy trials and convictions in Bihar is finally turning the heat on bahubalis. JD(U) MLA Munna Shukla, MP Prabhunath Singh, ex-MLA Rajan Tiwari and several others may also face the music. "Its a great change. A few years ago these persons were so powerful that they never imagined they would face trial. But now the trials of cases involving them have reached an advanced stage", remarked another police officer in the headquarters. Abhyanand has promised to speed up the trial of all the criminal cases this year. "Within the first 16 days of the new year we have got life convictions of 100 criminals in various cases", he remarked insisting that the trials against 'Bahubalis' would go on smoothly. Incidentally, the year 2006 proved to be a happy year for the police as as far as convictions go. The police have managed to get as many as 6,839 criminals convicted in Bihar with 1,389 accused getting life sentense and 17 of them getting capital punishment. However, previously the bahubalis were considered untouchables as cases were transferred to the CID or any probe panel. The police HQ maintains that there has been no interference in the proceeding of cases against bahubalis so far. "If the trend continues, Bihar bahubalis will be removed from the political arena," said a police officer.