Pioneer: Center yet to decide on IIT in Orissa
December 5th, 2007
Following is an excerpt from a report in Pioneer.
Union Human Resource Development Minister Arjun Singh is yet to decide the fate of the proposed Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) in Orissa. Repeated reminders by the State Government and demands continuously raised by the intelligentsia seem to have no effect on the Centre.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, in his address to the nation on the Independence Day this year, had, inter-alia, announced the setting up of eight new Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) in the country during the Eleventh Five Year Plan.
On December 3, after five months of the Prime Minister’s announcement, Union Minister of State for Human Resource Development D Purandeswari told Rajya Sabha that no decision has been taken on Orissa and Uttar Pradesh in this matter. She said the Central Government has received requests from various State Governments, including Governments of Uttar Pradesh and Orissa, to set up new IITs in their States.
Based on the recommendation of the Scientific Advisory Council (SAC) to the Prime Minister, the Union Government has already decided to establish three new IITs, one each in Bihar in the East, Rajasthan in the West and Andhra Pradesh in the South, during the 11th Plan period, she said.
The SAC to the PM was set up under the chairmanship of Prof CNR Rao. The decision on the locations of the remaining institutes has not yet been taken, Purandeswari said.
Recently, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik had also written a letter along with a Vision Document asking for an IIT, IIM and IIIT for the State.
Entry Filed under: IIT Kharagpur branch in Bhubaneswar,IIT, oDishA