The online admission process of the Indian Institutes of Managements may have brought along its share of glitches but has scored in terms of going green.
Taking the admission process online in has saved 50 tonnes of paper, to produce which about 1,000 trees would have to be felled.
“This is the first time a test of this magnitude has been paperless. The online CAT is eco-friendly,” said Satish Deodhar, convener, CAT 2009, and economics professor at IIM, Ahmedabad.
Printing prospectus, application forms and other bulletins requires 25 tonnes of paper, admit cards, examination booklets and score cards account for a similar amount.
But with online forms, question papers and score cards, the process did not require paper except for vouchers that the applicants bought from banks.
“It is a welcome step that should be replicated elsewhere,” said Kartikeya Sarabhai, director, Centre for Environment Education, an autonomous body working with the support of the Union ministry of environment and forests.
“We suffered setbacks. But they are common when a test of this size is taking place in this format for the first time,” Deodhar said.