Financial express reports that Vedanta University is after some nobel laurates. It also mentions the proposed scale of the Vedanta University: 100,000 students; 10,000 faculty; 40,000 other employess; 10,000 acres; 15000 crore investment etc.
February 19th, 2007
The CM’s letter to the PM on the IIT issue is at http://iitorissa.org. If the CM, busy amidst elections, could send a letter within 2-3 days of the news coverage of the IIT shifting, we should not delay further.
We must strengthen the cause of IIT for Orissa and the hand of the CM, by each one of us at least writing to the PM and planning commission.
Continue Reading 1 comment February 18th, 2007
New indian Express reports that National Institute of Design at Ahmedabad will help Orissa in the creation of a SIDC (State Initiative Design Center).
February 18th, 2007
New Indian Express reports that the site sleection for NISER is down to two sites. Just based on the description of the two sites it is clear that one of them is not suitable as it is only 185 acres (not 300 acres as needed) and that site has some disputes. So the Orissa government should not delay any further and get done with the paperwork necessary to handover the only suitable site in the short-list to NISER at the earliest so that they can start an architectural competition for the campus.
February 18th, 2007
I am told that Vedanta University is after some top-notch people. Until their names are formally announced we can not name them here. All we can say at this point is that the people whose names are doing the round have top-notch credentials and one of them is known Inida wide.
February 18th, 2007
Pioneer reports that six new National Schools of Drama-NSD (or similar institutes) will be established in the coming years. Orissa should make efforts to have one of these new NSDs in Orissa. Currently the only NSD is in New Delhi.
February 18th, 2007
New Indian Express and Samaja (page1, page2) have reported that classes of IIIT Bhubaneswar will start from August 2007. The classes will initially start in the top floor of the CITE (Center for IT Excellence) building in the Rasulgarh area. Once the IIIT campus is built in Gothapatna the classes will move there.
1 comment February 18th, 2007
Tathya.in has an article titled “Kalahandi Crying for Center of Higher Learning” which reports on Dr. Digambara Patra’s concerns. Following are some paragraphs from Dr. Patra’s recent mail to a newsgroup.
… Instead of looking at 30 districts, first the state government should focus on 13 undivided districts as there are still imbalances (I had made a table earlier on this
Continue Reading February 8th, 2007
Purna Mishra has created a 19 page document on the dismal status of technical education in Orissa. Commenting on that Dr. Sri Gopal Mohanty discusses below the dismal state of state funded education in Orissa. This is what he has to say:
Continue Reading February 8th, 2007
In separate news 9 more poytechnics will be established in various districts of Orissa during the 11th plan and 7 more Ekalabya vidyalas (residential schools in tribal regions) will be established with classes from VI-XII and XI-XII will be added to the exisiting three Ekalabya Vidyalayas.
Eight of the ITIs are reported to be established in the districts of Kalahandi, Koraput, Kandhamala, Nabarangpur, Boudh, Ganjam, Sambalpur and Balasore.
Continue Reading February 8th, 2007
Dharitri (pdf: page1, page2, page3) covers the main story on “Center Does not Need Orissa” where it exposes how Orissa is being sidelined with respect to the national institutes being proposed in 11th five year plan. Odisha.com reports on Government of India’s betrayal towards Orissa and its people while establishing new IIT across India. (Based on Dr. Digambara Patra’s sentences.)
1 comment February 6th, 2007
Dear Esteemed Prime minister of India:
The Times of India national edition [1] reported on 29th of August 2006 that the day before, in Patna, Union minister of state for Human resource development Mr. Fatmi had said: “The proposal for one IIT for Bihar and two for Orissa and one Western Indian state besides one IIIT to Bihar will be included in 11th Five Year Plan.”
This news was very positively received by the people of Orissa, as having an IIT has been a long standing demand of the people of Orissa. Its importance has dramatically increased in the current context as many industries of various kinds (Steel, Aluminium, ports, Power, Refineries, IT etc.) have recently come to Orissa or are in the process of coming to Orissa; Orissa is among the bottom 3 with respect to per capita MHRD funding of higher education institutions [8,9] and has no IITs, IIMs,IISc, IISERs, central universities, or any institutions of national importance; and Orissa desperately needs an IIT type engineering college granting post graduate degrees so that its 40+ engineering colleges [10] can improve their faculty quality by sending these faculty to pursue part-time M.Tech and Ph.D degrees at a nearby IIT. Moreover, Orissa is one of the most backward states of the country with respect to various indices.
Continue Reading 2 comments February 4th, 2007
On 28th August 2006 PM Manmohan Singh visited Orissa and announced the establishment of NISER (National Institute of Science Education and Research), which now has a budget of Rs. 750 crores. The same day Union minister of State of Human Resources of Development Mr. Fatmi announced in Patna that one of the greenfield IITs will be in Orissa. The budgets of the greenfield IITs are Rs 4000 crores each. It seems some officials at MHRD used the NISER in Bhubaneswar announcement as an excuse to remove Orissa from the list of IITs. Thus the Prime minister’s visit to Orissa has cost Orissa Rs 3250 crores.
February 2nd, 2007
Pioneer reports that referring to Vedanta University’s land requirement union minister of state for HRD Mr. Fatmi said:
He commented that at a time when the Orissa Government is unable to provide only 500 acres of land for establishment of a new Indian Institute of Technology in the State, it is going ahead with a proposal for setting up of a university on 8,000 acres of land.
When exactly did the central government asked Orissa for 500 acres and Orissa said No? In contrast the news items regarding the CM writing to PM about IITs suggest that the state voluntered land for the IIT extension campus and I am sure they would volunteer land for a greenfield IIT.
But more importantly, one should note that Mr. Fatmi did not say that he was misquoted in the Times of India. That means, indeed on Aug 28 2006, Orissa was one of the locations for a greenfield IIT as well as for a branch campus of IIT Kharagpur. Mr. Fatmi being a union minister, his pronouncement on this issue, makes it a formal announcement. Backing away from a formal announcement is cheating and discriminatory.
February 2nd, 2007
In today’s Samaja there is a full page ad by Vedanta University where it talks about the vision of Vedanta University.
While some people in Orissa are questioning the need of 8000 acres by Vedanta, a more enlightened Andhra Pradesh is actually spending its own money to create a similar city. In comparison, Orissa is getting $1 billion from Anil Agarwal foundation which they will use to establish the Vedanta University and the surrounding city. (Note that the land that is being acquitred for this purpose is not for free; Vedanta University is paying for it, not the Orissa state government.)
February 1st, 2007
CNN-IBN collaborated on a piece at ibnlive.com which talks about multiple protests in AP by various political parties regarding the location of IIT in Andhra and in that context also talks about shifting of IIT from Orissa to AP, and the CM of Orissa writing a letter to the PM about it.
This news is also carried by moneycontrol.com.
February 1st, 2007
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