Odisha HRD

6 Writeup

• 1. Natabara Prusty  |  September 4th, 2008 at 11:25 am

  6000 acres of land is too much. I doubt if the world’s biggest Uni such as Oxford,Cambridge,Havard have a bigger campus than this. On another note, can I just add that emphsis should be given to primary education in Odisha.Vast majority of young people do not go to school due to economic conditions. Something must be done to address this issue.Given the fact that lots of industries are coming up in Odisha , skills based institutes (similar to ITI) are needed in our state.On another subject, there has been mushrooming of private colleges in Oisha in recently. I doubt their quality of education. Intense regulation is needed to scrutinise their intention, quality of education and to ensure students are not exploited.

• 2. Jagmohan Swain  |  September 4th, 2008 at 9:10 pm

  I agree with the above post.Basic education is the primary tool that we can equip one human being with.Education makes or breaks peoples lives.No question about that.My personal experience tells me that absence of Govt help still can’t stop people from pursuing their dreams provided they are educated.Most times one can find a way.Orissa has many problems, lack of schools and primary education for the poor being the most most important one.The vicious cycle of poverty can be removed once and for all if every citizen is given appropriate education.While I don’t disagree with the above post regarding quality of education, I must say that I tend to beleive that bad schools are better than no schools at all.Most times people, meritious one, can help themselves where their schools fail.

  Progress must be made from all fronts.Basic education for masses, Higher education for ambitious ones, better health care for masses, promotion of manufacturing sector to provide employment to wide mass of unskilled workers to move them from unproductive farming into Industrial sectors.

  Promotion of rail, road, air and sea connectivity will allow the state to tap it’s huge mineral resources, in the light of ongoing bull market in commodity.Building of ports will allow the state to tap it’s geographical proximity to booming ASEAN countries and it’s large coast lines.

  Better education will allow Orissa’s skilled workers to find job elsewhere in todays global labor markets and will allow the creation of elites for the society , who can provide the state and it’s people the direction.Our history tells us that our misery began, after the British systematically destroyed the oriya elites ( The high achievers, guiding lights for any society ). Our best and brightest must leave abroad to the developed world to bridge the gap in knowledge that exists between First world and Third world.

• 3. Sanjoy Das  |  September 5th, 2008 at 9:50 am

  I completely disagree with the above posts.

  Major American universities such as Stanford, Dartmouth, or Duke have huge tracts of land larger than Vedanta University.

  Other reputed American land grant universities such as Texas A&M, Arizona State, Penn State, or Ohio State universities also own bigger tracts of land than what is planned for Vedanta university.

  All the above American universities have significantly smaller student populations than what is envisaged for Vedanta university.

  Let us take Stanford specifically for comparison. The real estate prices in the densely populated city of Palo Alto where the university is located, is sky high. It is probably more expensive than the middle of Delhi or Mumbai. Agriculture notwithstanding, Balighai is practically uninhabited.

  Furthermore, Vedanta University plans to be one of the largest universities in the world, probably several fold bigger than Stanford.

  However, in spite of less students and much higher real estate prices, Stanford university owns more land than Vedanta university would.

  In India, the only institutions that we can compare Vedanta to, are the IITs. Unlike these IITs (which are at least 10 or 20 times smaller), Vedanta University would eventually produce spin off companies from its R&D. There must be room for expansion to accommodate them.

  Again, unlike IITs, Vedanta university aims to attract enough foreign students. The campus must be attractive enough by international standards. The IITs are good institutions, but frankly, the campuses look really shabby by international standards. Some American university campuses are breathtakingly beautiful. The Duke University gardens is prettier than any garden I have seen. In fact I heard that there are helicopter tours of Duke’s campus. If Vedanta becomes truly world class, it must have surroundings to match.

  Some non-engineering disciplines (horticulture, landscape architecture, agriculture, aquatic studies etc.), and a world class sports complex, require large tracts of land for R&D related activities. Indian universities do not emphasize similar activities in these fields.

  If the government of Orissa were not so willing to provide enough land for the upcoming university, the Balighai location might not have been competitive with other locations – say near Hyderabad or Pune (which are bigger cities than BBSR). This after all is a private university the source of whose endowment is a personal donation.

• 4. Sanjoy Das  |  September 5th, 2008 at 10:19 pm

  On the other issue raised, that emphasis should be given to primary education, my view is this.

  I wholeheartedly support the idea of improving Odisha’s primary education standards. We are lagging behind other states, and to fully tap our human resources, improving the quality of our schools, and eventually achieving 100% literacy is a must.

  All things said, the underlying assumption appears to be that Vedanta University is somehow being set up as a trade-off for primary education. That is not a valid assumption. Agrawal will not provide the same donation towards Odisha’s primary education in lieu of Vedanta University. The same money would simply go to another state!

  (As a side note, the benefits of Vedanta university are many. Commercial, technological and other benefits would accrue from Vedanta university, not just an improvement in Odisha’s quality of education.)

• 5. Anuj Patra  |  September 6th, 2008 at 2:36 pm

  Only half of the land have been acquired of total 6000 acres.All the support should be provided either from Government or local body to provide the required land and implement this project asap.
  This world class University will bring Orissa in the limelight
  Posco and other project got delayed due to land acquisition.We all should try to make these project successful which are there in the pipeline, then Orissa can become developed state in India in 5years

• 6. Natabara Prusty  |  September 9th, 2008 at 10:15 pm

  Nobody is opposing Vedanta University. Infact, this will cater to the needs of many aspiring odia students . Due to lack of quality educational institutes such as IIT/IIM/AIIMS our students are migrating to other states for higher education and are often subjected to bullying/racism. Vedanta univeristy will bring education closer to our home.Therefore, we should welcome with open arms. Education system in India is more theoritical than practical. They do not prepare our students to face real life situations. Education system in Odisha will need to change. Our secondary education system (BSE) should be updated to include vocational training, computers courses etc…Remember , an educated system can bring prosperity to all.