My perspective on Vedanta University

November 8th, 2008

I have been watching and collecting various reports on Vedanta University since an MOU was signed about it with the Orissa government. (See my collection here and here and also Vedanta University’s web page.)

After reading about the forced stoppage of the initiation of the building of Vedanta University, I thought I would write about my perspective on Vedanta University.

May I request you to bear with me on my thoughts on Vedanta University and read till the end of this document, even if you partly or fully disagree with me.

I think Vedanta University is a unique opportunity for Orissa and if we mess it up we will regret for ever and our future generation will not forgive us for this.

 
Why do I say that?

First I would urge you to watch the following two short videos and an audio interview available in the web:

 
 I know many of you have a lot of concerns and red flags about this endeavor and some of these concerns have been expressed in various Orissa newspapers. Let me try to address some of them based on my knowledge.

 Q 1: If many top universities are built on much less land, such as Harvard University, which is built only on 380 acres, why does Vedanta University need so much land. (It has now come down from 8000 acres to 6270 acres, but that is still quite large. 6270 acres is 25.374 sq km)

 Answer 1: Let us look at the layout below.

 The whole thing is 8000 acres. With the airport part gone it is 6270 acres. The ellipse like main university  (see picture below) part looks to be about 2000 acres and comparable to the size of IIT Kharagpur which is of 2100 acres but has only 6625 students . Note that IIT Bhubaneswar is being given 890 acres. So Vedanta University’s 2000 acres for 100,000 students is a very good use of land. Please watch the youtube video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u3B7L1S_MAY&fmt8 to get an idea how the buildings are proposed to be quite close to each other with very creative landscaping.

 Note that Harvard University with 380 acres supports 19,955 students. So Vedanta University proposing 5 times Harvard’s land for 5 times Harvard’s acreage is not unreasonable.

 Q 2: So if the main part of the Vedanta university is only about 2000 acres, what happens to the remaining 6270-2000= 4270 acres.

Answer 2: As is evident from the picture in the previous page there are 8 townships planned for those.

Q 3: If only 2000 acres goes to the university and 4270 acres goes to the townships, why not just focus on the university and ignore the township?

Answer 3: The townships are very important for making Vedanta University a top university at the level of Stanford and Harvard. Following is the reasoning behind it.

From Harvard University book at http://www.provost.harvard.edu/institutional_research/factbook.php ,

its income and expenses are as follows:

Income (2006-07): 3.21 Billion USD

Expenses (2006-07): 3.17 Billion USD

Total Endowment (June 30, 2007): 34.912 Billion USD

From Stanford University annual report at

http://www.stanford.edu/dept/businessaffairs/cgi-bin/downloadpdf_v3.php?file=AnnualReport_2007.pdf

its income and expenses for 2006-07 are as follows.

Income (2006-07): 3.2 Billion

Expenses (2006-07): 2.9 Billion USD

Total endowment (Aug 31, 2007): 17.2 Billion USD

In India the operating expenses for IISc Bangalore, the maximum among the IITs and IISc, in the last budget (item 41 of the Higher education budget) is 130 (plan) + 91 (non-plan) = Rs 221 crores. Rs 70 crore of that is for enhancing the number of students to account for the OBC quota.

For operating Vedanta University at the world class level a lot of money will be required. My guess would be that it will be somewhere in between the expenses at Harvard-Stanford ($2.9-$3.17 Billion = about Rs 15,000 crores) and at IISc Bangalore (221 crores). A good guess is that it will be around Rs 1000-1500 crores.

Mr. Agarwal has only pledged 1 Billion USD and most of it will go into just construction. The student tuition fees will not be enough to cover the Rs 1000-1500 crores needed to run the university.

In case of Harvard only 20% comes from student tuition and the student tuition mostly ranges from 30,000 USD/year to 40,000 USD/year. (This is Rs. 15 lakh/year – Rs. 20 lakh/year)

Vedanta University will not be able to charge that outside of medical students.

So there has to be other sources of money beyond the student tuition.

Since Vedanta University does not have an endowment, where will the additional money come from?

My guess is that it will come from the townships in the remaining 4270 acres.

Thus, I consider the townships to be crucial in achieving the dream of making Vedanta University a top world class university. (However we need to make sure that the money earned from the townships is put into an endowment for Vedanta University.) 

If there was no township, I would be very suspicious of Vedanta University’s claim that it will be a top world class university, as then it is not clear where the money would come from. (In this regard one must note that the best private institute in India, BITS Pilani, is nowhere in the world rankings. For that matter the IITs are quite low in the world rankings. What Vedanta University is aspiring is way above any existing institute in India and the existing financial model in private institutes such as BITS Pilani will not achieve what Vedanta University is aiming for.)

Q 4: So you are saying township is a crucial aspect of Vedanta University and 4270 acres goes towards that and only 2000 acres goes towards Vedanta University. Why do not then the Vedanta University officials make the township part clear?
 
Answer 4: They have.

If one goes to their web page they clearly say: "The campus will be developed in a phased manner to nurture a vibrant university township with a population of more than 500,000."

Q 5: Is there a top university which is similar to Vedanta University + associated townships in terms of land requirements.

Answer 5: Yes. Stanford University is made of 8180 acres (33.1 sq km) and does host a research park and other developments (including a mall), but not all of the land is currently built up though.

Other universities with large acreage include University of Michigan (20,965 acres), Texas A & M University (5,200 acres), and Ohio State University (15,893 acres).

Q 6: Is Vedanta University’s goal of 100,000 students reasonable.

Answer 6: Following are some large universities in the USA and their student size in Autumn 2007 as obtained from http://www.osu.edu/osutoday/stuinfo.php#enroll_large .

 
 
Student size
Times rank
SJT Rank
The Ohio State University

52,568                

121
62
Arizona State University, Main Campus
51,481
260
93
University of Minnesota, Twin Cities
50,833
87
28
University of Florida
50,576
165
58
University of Texas, Austin
50,201
70
39
Texas A&M University, College Station
46,542
137
88
Michigan State University
46,045
203
83
Penn State University
43,232
105
42
University of Wisconsin, Madison
42,041
55
17
University of Illinois, Urbana
41,135
71
26
 

They are all pretty good universities, all of them ranked in the top 100 in the SJT ranking.

Q 7: How do we know that the University is not a ruse and Mr. Agarwal just wants the land?

Answer 7: Mr. Agarwal’s net worth in early 2008 was $6 Billion.(see http://www.forbes.com/lists/2008/10/billionaires08_Anil-Agarwal_WDNS.html )

 

His net worth in 2006 was $2.8 Billion. (see http://www.forbes.com/lists/2006/10/WDNS.html )

Now what is the most important asset of a rich man? His reputation in the eye of the world.

Mr. Agarwal has told the whole world about his university.

Articles praising his pledge to donate $1 Billion towards Vedanta University have appeared in major national and international venues such as:

Time, USA –  http://www.time.com/time/specials/2007/time100powergivers/article/0,28804,1616375_1615711_1615671,00.html

Economist – http://www.economist.com/people/displaystory.cfm?story_id=9539815

Independent, UK – http://news.independent.co.uk/education/higher/article3045374.ece

Forbes, USA – http://www.forbes.com/lists/2008/10/billionaires08_Anil-Agarwal_WDNS.html

Forbes Asia – http://www.forbes.com/lists/2008/56/biz_philanthropy08_Anil- Agarwal_WDNS.html

PBS TV USA – http://www.charlierose.com/guests/anil-agarwal

He has met the Prime Minister of India and told him about his pledge to donate $1 Billion for the university.

I do not believe that after so much publicity Mr. Agarwal will back out, as he will lose face and that is the most important thing for a person of his net worth. (It should be noted that many billionaires, especially in the US, do make huge donations. Bill Gates donation of tens of billions USD and Warren Buffet’s donation of about $30 Billion are exemplars. In higher education, Leland Stanford established Stanford University and Andrew Carnegie established Carnegie Mellon University; both top universities now. )

However, if the current opposition continues, it is very much possible that at some point Mr. Agarwal may get fed up with the hurdles created by some people of Orissa and will move Vedanta University to a state (such as Gujarat, Andhra or Karnataka) where he will be welcomed.

Q 8: How come Gujarat, Andhra and Karnataka did not woo him earlier.

Answer 8: I do not know why. May be at that time they did not take him seriously and Orissa did. But now after the design of the university and lot of other groundwork has been done, they will woo him like anything.

In my opinion, Orissa lucked out that it signed the MOU in 2006. It also helped that Mr. Agarwal has other business in Orissa. But then many other companies, private and public have business in Orissa. How much have they given to Orissa in comparison? A good example is 12 crores by Tata Steel for the Inst. of Math and application, and few other smaller donations. Compare that to $1 Billion which is now Rs 5000 crores.

Going back to Gujarat, Andhra and Karnataka, we know what Gujarat did with respect to Nano. If given a small opening they will do the same with respect to Vedanta University.

Andhra Pradesh is in the process of developing Odyssey Science city with an area of 65,000 acres. The first phase is of 10,000 acres. Few months back Andhra CM signed a deal whereby APIC will acquire the land.(See http://www.hindu.com/2008/01/09/stories/2008010958760800.htm )  Given a chance Andhra Pradesh will pick up Vedanta University in a heartbeat. I am told that they already contacted Vedanta officials regarding that.

In Karnataka, the SAC-PM Chairperson Prof. C N R Rao is jealous of Vedanta University and is exhorting the Bangalore based IT companies to make similar contributions. In an Outlook article (see http://www.outlookindia.com/full.asp?fodname=20071217&fname=Cover+Story+%28F%29&sid=2 ) he was quoted saying:

 

IT people have a responsibility that they are yet to fulfil. If they’re making so much money, why shouldn’t they create an outstanding private university equivalent to Stanford or Harvard? Had they done something like that they would have compensated for the other problems they have created. If IT people are making money, what do I get out of it, unless I am employed in Infosys with Narayana Murthy? The trouble is, we have given them a lot, but have got nothing in return.

 

Q 9: How does Vedanta University help Orissa and India?

Answer 9: Let consider the world ranking of universities. 

In the Times ranking at http://www.topuniversities.com/ the top ranked universities in the world and the top ranked universities in India and China are as follows:

 
1. Harvard, USA
2. Yale, USA
3. Cambridge, UK
4. Oxford, UK
 

154. IIT Delhi

174. IIT Bombay

242. IIT Kanpur

274. Delhi University

303. IIT Madras

50. Peking University, China
56. Tsinghua University, China
113. Fudan University, China
141. Univ of Sc. & Tech, China
143. Nanjing University, China
144. Shanghai Jiao Tong Univ, China

In the SJT ranking at http://www.arwu.org/rank2008/Top500_EN(by%20rank).pdf  the top ranked universities and the top ranked universities in India and China are as follows:

 
1. Harvard
2. Stanford
3. Berkeley
4. Cambridge
5. MIT

303-401 IISc Bangalore, IIT Kharagpur

201-302 Nanjing University, Peking University, Shanghai Jiao Tong Univ, Tsinghua University, Univ of Sc. & Tech, Zhejiang University

As the above shows, Indian Universities including IITs and IISc are way behind the top universities of the world. They are even much behind the top universities in China.

So what Vedanta is aspiring is to be a university ranked in the top 50 of these lists, if not in the top 25. If that is achieved it will have a huge impact on India, and not just Orissa.

There will be also a lot of impact on Orissa.

 

a. It will pull up the institutions near Vedanta University such as IIT Bhubaneswar, NISER

Bhubaneswar, the proposed world class central university (WCCU) in Bhubaneswar, IIIT Bhubaneswar, and even Utkal, Ravenshaw, OUAT, etc. The reason it will pull up the other universities is that many otherwise great professors, who will miss out getting a job at Vedanta, would like to be nearby Vedanta and thus would take a position in one of the above universities in the area. The reason they would like to be near Vedanta is that being nearby will allow them to collaborate with the faculty at Vedanta. For the same reason, many of the Ph.Ds coming out of Vedanta Universities would prefer to stay in the area universities.

Note that without Vedanta, IIT Bhubaneswar may end up among the bottom IITs, NISER Bhubaneswar may end up among the bottom IISER/NISERs and the WCCU Bhubaneswar may end up among the bottom WCCUs. This is evident from the admission numbers of IIT Bhubaneswar this year. In terms of student preferences it was only better than IIT Patna. See https://www.orissalinks.com/archives/1303 . This will not improve easily.

Moreover the existing IITs and central universities have been there for years and are established in terms of their infrastructure and they also get a lot of support (including cash donations) from their alumni. The new institutions in Bhubaneswar (IIT, NISER, WCCU) will normally take multiple decades to get to that level.

But with Vedanta University nearby, the situation would change; IIT Bhubaneswar could become among the top IITs; Same about NISER Bhubaneswar and WCCU Bhubaneswar. In other words, the establishment of Vedanta University has the possibility of turning the Puri-Bhuaneswar-Cuttack area a bigger knowledge hub than Pune and Bangalore.

b. With a top IIT, NISER and WCCU near Vedanta, the whole area from Cuttack-Puri will become a huge knowledge hub. Orissa will be able to go much beyond attracting WIPRO, TCS, Infosys, Satyam to attracting companies like Google, IBM, Microsoft etc. Currently such companies come mostly to Bangalore.

c. Recently Mr. Agarwal said that (see https://www.orissalinks.com/archives/1105 ) they will work towards giving 25% seats to the students from Orissa who will be taken on merit basis. This means besides Vedanta University, they will invest in schools so that the above happens. They already have started in that direction by enrolling children of the area in DAV schools and funding their educational cost.

d. Vedanta University is starting off with a hospital and medical college. This will definitely benefit the locals.

e. Another way to look at Vedanta University’s impact is as follows.

It has been said that 3 Billion USD will be spent in making Vedanta University out of which one Billion USD will given by Mr. Agarwal. One Billion USD is Rs. 5000 crores. Recently the central government has announced IITs, IISERs, world class central universities, etc. and    the budget for making each of them has been announced. See   http://pib.nic.in/release/release.asp?relid=37684 . The budget of a new IIT is 760 crores, new IISER is 500 crores, AIIMS is 332 crores, IIM is 210 crores, and world class central university is 720 crores. They add up to 2522 crores. In other words, with 5000 crores one can almost make 2 new IITs, 2 new IISERs, 2 new AIIMS, 2 new IIMs and 2 new world class central universities. And that is  what Orissa will lose out if it throws out Vedanta University.

 

Q 10. I am opposed to Vedanta’s mining activities. How can I support Vedanta University?

Answer 10: Even if one is opposed to Vedanta’s mining activities, he/she should not oppose having Vedanta University in Orissa as opposing Vedanta University for not liking its mining operation is like "cutting of the nose to spite the face."

 

Q 11. The MOU was signed in 2006. What has happened since then to indicate that Vedanta University is serious?

Answer 11: I do not know all that has happened, but let me elaborate on the design and architectural front. (In addition they have made progress in land acquisition, hired people in implementing R & R, hired architects and engineers etc.)

They have hired a top architecture company in the USA who has a track record of participating and shaping almost all major universities in the USA. The company is Ayers Saint Gross. Its web site is http://www.asg-architects.com/ . Following are some links to their web pages which refers to Vedanta University.

The design of the master plan of Vedanta University has been featured in many US architecture venues and it has also won some awards. Following are some links on that.

Some pictures of the designs are at http://chronicle.com/media/flash/v53/i45/vedanta/ and videos are at :

 

Besides the above architecture company, the other companies that Vedanta has hired include:

Most recently, they were ready to start construction but were turned away by about 500 people.

So that is part of their current status.

In summary, Vedanta University has the potential to turn the area from Cuttack-Puri into a bigger knowledge center than Bangalore and Pune and perhaps into the biggest knowledge center (with associate knowledge companies such as Google research, Microsoft Research, IBM research etc.) in India. As a result, it can completely change Orissa. (Imagine the impact if Bangalore was in Orissa.)

We should not play politics with it; otherwise like Tata Motors moving from Singur to Gujarat, Vedanta University will move to another state and for centuries our descendants will blame us for missing an opportunity that may come once in many centuries.

 

 

Entry Filed under: Bhubaneswar-Cuttack-Puri- Khurda area (1),Land Acquisition and Land Use (Why so much land?),Pictures, master plan layouts, Videos,Rally, petitions and articles in its support,Rebuttals to opposition arguments and unsubstantiated rumours,Vedanta University, Puri,What does $1 Billion buy? What is once in a century Opportunity?

14 Writeup

  • 1. Tarakanta  |  November 8th, 2008 at 11:27 am

    To start with, I am one of many who have been deeply impressed with your sincere association with the development (including NISER movement) of Odisha. Here is a fundamental issue on Vedanta and all ventures like it.
    What will happen to the villagers to be displaced, their land and lives? In the present state of things where GROWTH is assumed to be the
    irreversible ruining/conversion of forest, hills, rivers, Earth into money, consuming at the cost of everything including future,
    and prosperity means making money
    and happiness means gowing dependence on markets
    and talent means efficiency to exploit,
    hardly one can bear with mining in Niyamgiri, Dam on Narmada, POSCO in Jagatsinghpur ….and for that matter Vedanta in Odisha.

  • 2. Digambara Patra  |  November 8th, 2008 at 2:00 pm

    There is always a fudamental question when it comes to displaced person and environment, however, development has always been like that since at least past two centuries. At this moment no country has done well (in the sense of overcoming poverty and under development) in market dependent economy without following need of the hours for which one pays in the form of displacement and environment.

    If Orissa would not have displaced people from hunderds of villages for Hirkud dam in western Orissa, farmers of Bargarh, Sambalpur and Balangir would not be happy today and it would not have reduced the flood in Mahanadi in costal Orissa to the present level (saving thousands more lives in decades). In my personal experinece of meeting many intelectuals in Kalahandi region, except a group of people affilicated to certain NGO/political party and displaced people, most (if not all) of the local people in the region support Vedanta despite knowing environmental consequences. Where as Vedanta Alumina has limited benefits, the potential benefits from a world class University as proposed is for generations.

    There are four kinds of people who oppose such movement:
    (1) A knowledgable and genuine person who sympathaizes poor displaced people and their culture/environment/way of living
    (2) Displaced people
    (3) People who are affilciated to poltical party/NGO who have hidden perosnal interests
    (4) People who just wants to make political/social name by opposing it

    Unfortunately, (3) and (4) are often misusing (1) in India for which intelectual mass support for (1) is slowly detoriating among intelectuals.

    We need to know how to balance between fundamental ideology and development for future generation otherwise we will not only miss the development train for the whole state but also whom we are sympathasizing today will further slip down further in poverty in coming future.

  • 3. TRILOCHAN PATRA  |  November 8th, 2008 at 10:23 pm

    In any cost we need vedanta university

  • 4. Jagmohan Swain  |  November 8th, 2008 at 10:28 pm

    At the end of Tata Nano controversy at Singur we came to know that only a small fraction of those displaced were not happy with Tata’s rehabilitation programs , majority were happy.It’s very easy to see that these small minorities are aroused by vested interests be it political or Industrial. I would presume that in Vedanta’s case, considering the nature of the venture, the miscreants are mostly politically motivated.After all what does it take to mislead a poverty stricken 60 year old woman.For her future is present after all and any thing remotely appearing a threat would get her agitated for sure.But the state has a role to play in controlling these agitations and Media has a responsibility in not flashing these incidents on their front pages.

    There is no doubting the impact of Vedanta university on the state’s educational scene, it would surely be uplifting.Having a model university close by will raise the bar for everybody else
    in the region.Not doubting that either.

    I am also impressed by honorable Mr Naveen Pattnaiks commitment towards improving basic education through out Orissa. I read his interview and I feel that he means every word he says.That bodes well for the state.I am a firm believer that in the highly interlinked global village of 21st century , a well educated person will create and find opportunities for himself.Dr Baral himself, being born and raised in Orissa and now Chair of Computer science Department in ASU, USA is a strong testimonial to my belief.

  • 5. Digambara Patra  |  November 9th, 2008 at 4:03 pm

    Addtionally:
    Vendant selected Orissa among 11 states including Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka in a competitive basis. (Even some people says it was due to its mineral interest in Orissa, I do not think its wrong. There are many companies who are exploiting minerals from Orissa since decades but done very little to establish a world class institution in Orissa. Recenly Vedanata also proposed a 300 crore Cancer hospital in Chhattisgarh. Let us ask ourselves Orissa has abundant cromium, coal, aluminium, iron etc, any mining comanies other than Vednata has ever proposed an institution of 300 crore hospital/educational institution in Orissa?)

    We need to keep in mind that there are certain section of people in Orissa who are just opposed to Vedanta: whether it is in Kalahandi, or Jharsuguda or Puri without understanding the matter. And they might have definite reason for it, but am sure that reason exclude actual development of Orissa and may include some personal interest like the case was in Kalahandi.

  • 6. Abhishek Tripathy  |  November 10th, 2008 at 2:37 pm

    Politics sure should take a backseat when we talk of development of our state. Who would argue the proposition that
    even people in the area where VU is proposed would want it to come up in the same area when juxtaposed vis-a-vis the prospect of being catapulted into an orbit of growth and prosperity unparalled in our state ???
    I have my own doubts when one equates VU with Narmada Dam, POSCO and the likes. For one, Narmada has been opposed at not just from the displacemet perspetive but also hugely from the adverse impact on the environment it may have. Besides the utility of the dam itself as a superstructure to address the issue of flood control and irrigation has been questioned the world over (Re. please ‘Greater Common Good’, by Arundhati Roy).
    TATA Project in KalingaNagar was/is being argued from the perspective of tribals loosing their traditional land rights. Posco was because of fertile land being taken up for industry and that has come to be an issue with the very fiery Singur issue or the Nandigram Chemicals Hub issue (both in Bengal).
    The same is the story with almost every capital intensive industry related project coming up especially in India. But judging the Vedanta University Project from this angle will be plain and simple myopic.
    It is not just about the dollars pledged into this. It more about the goals that it seeks to deliver on. Such a venture in the academic realm comes very close to what can be truly termed as a dream project of any Government at any level.
    Therefore the politics of the game is plain transparent for us all to judge. Would such aspersions be cast on a project like this if say an IIT/IIM/IISc were to come up in the present area instead of the VU ???
    Its time to see the wheat from the shaff and judge the merits of the project on its substance rather than basing our apprehensions on only what is feared might come out of it. (read displacement, misery to the local populace, migration and similar telltale signs concerning resettlement and rehab issues.)
    Abhishek Tripathy,
    National Law School, Kolkata

  • 7. R. K. Ghosh  |  November 11th, 2008 at 2:56 am

    Dear Chitta

    I have some specific comments on your very cogently written piece on Vedanta.

    First is about question 6. If Vedanta’s plan in Orissa is final why would Andhra approach them? It only means there must be some thinking about reshaping of the plans which AP govt must have got wind of. Even after three years there is nothing in the ground that exhibits the seriousness of Sterling Group’s investment plans in Orissa.

    Your answer to question 7 looks very reasonable. I will tend to believe that it indeed is Vedanta’s plan. There is a rumor that some of the prime spots were allocated to them which may be developed as tourist amusement parks and resorts apart from mining. If that happens than I think it is not good for university or the state. I am also a bit puzzled to see that Orissa Govt is so hard pressed to find land for IIT BBSR, yet but it allocated so much land to Vedanta. The talking point is why Orissa Govt does not come out with a white paper detailing the reasons behind Vedanta’s land allocation? Are the contractual obligations voidable?

    About question 10, an elaboration would have helped. First of all, is there any mining area in the land allocated to Vedanta? If so, how exploitation of such areas are going to pollute and cause disintegration of eco-balance? What are the likely fallouts? An explanation of this would have provided more insight into the real problems which were in the back of the minds of people questioning such a large land allocation.

    Question 11 is the real bone of contention. It is hard to believe that even after 3 years from the date of the land allocation, Vedanta concept could not move out of drawing boards, however grand the plan may be. That makes people really suspicious of Sterling Group’s real intent.

    Rehab for people losing land is another issue which is hotly debated in India, as you might have learned by watching Singur and Nandigram agitations. But I think this could be handled in a humane approach through a joint plan by all the stake holders with Govt acting as the facilitator. However, I don’t know whether there is a Mamta among Orissa Opposition.

  • 8. Chitta Baral  |  November 11th, 2008 at 5:02 am

    Dear Ratanda:

    Let me answer some of your concerns.

    On why would Andhra approach them: Andhra is reading the papers. Similar to when there was trouble in Singur many other states, including Orissa, started approaching the TATAs, the same is happening here. However, Vedanta has not mentioned Andhra’s interest publicly. I heard it from one of their officials.

    On 7: As I tried to explain, the size of the land is very important for the success of the university. Orissa govt. should indeed come up with a white paper. I sent my perspective to them; they should feel free to use research data from there.

    10: I don’t know of any mine areas among those lands. Vedanta should indeed make sure to have a good eco-balance. They have told me that they are designing their campus to be fully handicap accessible, as is the case in most western countries.

    11. They have done some more. They hired a search form in US/UK to look for a CAO (Chief Academic Officer). They had a meeting of engineering Deans and professors in the US to give them advice. The delay is mostly due to land acquisition related hassles which include several court cases.

    R & R: Orissa govt. told them to acquire land on their own and they are doing that. It seems that they are being humane. I like that they have put kids of displaced families in DAV school Puri and funding their education and educational expenses. They have acquired 3500 acres of the needed 6270 acres and were starting the first phase of their construction when they were stopped last week by a mob of 500.

  • 9. Pradyumna Sahu  |  November 11th, 2008 at 6:28 pm

    If everthing goes fine as Plan for Vedanta University. Orissa will recognise for VU all over the world. Its is true that it will attract large Investments in IT and education in this area but while talking about displacement, local people should get benift out fit. Vedanta should educate them VU is and should employee in thire. Orissa govt should educate the people of orissa like what is VC and what will be impact of this to Orissa.

    Orissa need VU so all should support this and should not play politics.

  • 10. Ramakanta Shur  |  November 16th, 2008 at 2:46 pm

    Dear Chitta Sir,

    I always read your thoughts published on community .I would like thanks for doing all this for Orissa . It actually inspired us to think the way you and all like minded Oriya thinks . Sir would like to request you to tell us what the we can do for supporting the noble cause.

  • 11. Arun Patnaik  |  November 16th, 2008 at 10:04 pm

    Best of luck to Vedanta University Project in Orissa, the land issue should be handled carefully by the media, politicians and the Orissa Govt. as we have been seeing many bitter land issues are raised with political motives throughout India be it the communists or the Congree or the others. Also one should not forget the sincere attempt of Chitta babu and his friends in US for their contributions..

  • 12. Bibhuti Bhusan Parida  |  November 22nd, 2008 at 9:26 pm

    In view of Vedanta University (VU), I would like to say :

    1. As it is one of the International standard university, our state will be proud of having such kind of University to be established not only in Odisha but also first of its kind in India as well as in Asia.
    2. For the displaced people who will sacrifice a lot should be well compensated with proper valuation and much priority.
    3. Our state is always neglected (particularly in education & research field). So this in one of rare opportunity which is in our hand to grab it and should not loss it in any way. Our politicians should not play destructive role for giving a proper shape to the proposed university. There should be no opposition for establishment of educational institutions. We should learn from the recent loss in Singur(WB) with respect to TATA Nano plant. Politicians should play constructive role for success of the project irrespective of vote game. Because of lack of outlook, our state always back.
    4. As it is the educational institution so there is no environment pollution problem.

    People from all discipline and all political parties should think positively and should join hand for giving the healthy shape to the project and should not create a chance to other states to grab this kind of opportunity like that happened in West Bengal w.r t TATA Nano plant

    So, we the Odisha people need such kind of prestigious University in Odisha for knowledge and the development of the state.

    Regards,
    Bibhuti Bhusan Parida
    Research scholar,
    Indian Institute of Chemical Technology
    Hyderabad

  • 13. Siba Ram Baral  |  December 22nd, 2008 at 10:12 am

    It is quite painful to digest the delay in Vedanta University.

    We all need to unite and fight against the delay. I am surprised that few people are still there who just care for their personal interest rather that that of their motherland.

    Regards
    Siba Ram Baral
    Nillachakra Group
    http://nilachakra.50webs.com

  • 14. Purushotham C.  |  June 23rd, 2010 at 5:41 am

    Hi,

    can some one please update the status of vedanta uni?

    is orissa govt wokring on that?
    i hear that southern states are ready to welcome it?

    THanks

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