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the writer is director caring career information & guidance new delhi.e-mail: caring@theoffice.net or write to : editor, education times, toi, (3rd floor) 7, bahadur shah zafar marg, new delhi-110002 join an it course i have done b com (h) and i am now in ca final. i am terribly bored of audit and accounts. i would rather join the it industry, or go in for mis or management instead.please advice a suitable course. sumit bhatia if you are interested in management jobs, of which mis is one type, the obvious route to take is a good b-school. with a top-rated mba under your belt, you can get jobs in various industries, including it. on the other hand, if you are interested in becoming a software professional you will have to follow an entirely different route: starting with a good specialist course — perhaps an mca, plus a course on contemporary application software. however that may be a long haul, considering that you will have to start from scratch. i am not clear from what you asked, which of the above options you have in mind. in any event, i would urge you to complete your ca, considering how close you are to doing so. it is a good stand-alone professional qualification with multiple possibilities to build on. make silk i am a farmer keen on investing in sericulture. could you please tell me more about this industry? naman ahuja sericulture, which involves rearing of silk worms for manufacture of silk, is labour-intensive and provides gainful occupation to the rural masses. the plantation and gathering of mulberry leaves constitute an important part of work in the industry. the rearing part comes next, consisting of two-thirds of the activity, followed by reeling, spinning, throwing and manufacturing of the silk fabric. about four million people are occupied in sericulture activities in india, besides, about one-and-a half lakh in silk weaving and its connected ancillaries. the handloom sector alone consumes about 80 per cent of the total production of silk, the rest 20 per cent is used by about 6,000 powerlooms in the silk-rich states. the essential conditions for the development of the industry are: a suitable climate abundant growth of hosts and plants, and availability of agricultural and semi-agricultural labour. in many parts, farmers go in for sericulture as a side or part-time occupation that is pursued when the family is free from agricultural activities, so also is silk weaving, barring in certain places, where it is a full-time occupation. sericulture has several advantages: it requires least investment and capital, and fetches a regular source of earning. three or four crops can be harvested in a year without interference with regular agricultural activities. the following institutions offer courses in sericulture: bsc (sericulture), from: university of agricultural sciences, bangalore, gandhi krishi vignana kendra, bangalore. duration: four years. eligibility: class xii with pcm/b or any three of the following: physics, chemistry, maths, botany, zoology, home science, agriculture (50 per cent aggregate). gulbarga university, 'jnana ganga', gulbarga 585106 (karnataka). university of chennai, centenary buildings chepauk, triplicane po, chennai 600005. manipur university, canchipur, imphal 795003, manipur. university of mysore, crawford hall, mysore 570005. sri padmavati mahila visvavidyalayam, tirupati 517502, chittoor distt, a.p. eligibility: class xii with biology (50 per cent aggregate). vikram university, kothi road, ujjain 456010, mp courses in sericulture are also offered at msc and diploma levels. in delhi, acharya narendra dev college, govindpuri, kalkaji, new delhi-19, offers bsc (gen) (sericulture). for further information, you may contact the central silk board, b-36, pusa road, delhi. fission science i am student of b sc chemistry, ii year. i would be very grateful if you could tell me where msc in nuclear chemistry is taught in india and what are its prospects? arjun lamba nuclear chemistry deals with research, development, and application of nuclear technologies in industry, environmental protection, medicine like radiation, sterilisation of equipment, organ transplant and in agriculture. future prospects are bright in the field. for more information you could log on to the website of the nuclear chemistry group, indiana university, usa: www.nuchem.iucf.indiana.edu. similarly, do also check out the website of the institute of nuclear chemistry & technology, poland: www.ichtj.waw.pl. in india, i only know of andhra university, visakhapatnam, 530003, (ap), which offers msc (nuclear chemistry). the duration of the course is three years and the eligibility is bsc.