Odisha HRD

New NIDs (National Institutes of Design) at Hyderabad, Jorhat, Gwalior/Bhopal and a location in North India

March 27th, 2010

Update: As per a sify report, the location in the North will be in Haryana.

Since we last reported on the NIDs, some of the new locations have been firmed up and a new controversy has started. Hyderabad and Jorhat have been announced among the new locations. There is no decision on the Northern India location yet. Controversy has arisen because the central government recently told the Madhya Pradesh government, that the NID will be in Gwalior (from where the state minister of Commerce and Industry, Mr. Jyotiraditya Scindia, comes from) instead of Bhopal which was announced earlier and the state had already allocated land there. This has led to a big controversy.

In any case, from Odihsa’s perspective the chance of getting an NID during the 11th plan is bleak. Of course, nothing is impossible; but I don’t see any effort to push the issue. The previous central minister of commerce and Industry (Mr. Kamal Nath) had almost promised (see here and here)  that one NID would be in Odisha. So Odisha could and should make an issue of it and the CM should pursue it. If efforts continue, then if not during  the 11th plan, Odisha could get one during the 12th plan, which begins only 2 years away. Moreover one can argue that Jorhat is in the north east and there needs to be an NID in the east; in Odisha.

Entry Filed under: NID, Odisha (missed opportunity)