Odisha HRD

Math Olympiad Orissa – last date of receiving applications is 15th Nov 2009

1 comment October 25th, 2009

IIT Bhubaneswar has a new web page

IIT Bhubaneswar has unveiled a new web page. It looks very good. Based on the information there it currently has 16 regular faculty in its five schools including the Director. They are:

• School of Basic Sciences
  • Sujit Roy, Professor & Head, Chemistry, PhD, 1987, IIT Kanpur
  • Srikanta Patra, Assistant Professor, Chemistry, PhD, 2005, IIT Bombay
  • Sabyasachi Pani, Assistant Professor, Mathematics, PhD, 2004, IIT Kharagpur
  • Rajan Jha, Assistant Professor, Physics, PhD, 2007, IIT Delhi
  • Snehasis Chowdhuri, Assistant Professor, Chemistry, PhD, 2005, IIT Kanpur
  • Akshay Kumar Ojha, Assistant Professor, Mathematics, PhD 1997, Utkal University
• School of Electrical Sciences
  • Ganapati Panda, Professor & Head, PhD, 1982, IIT Kharagpur
  • Prasant Sahu, Assistant Professor, PhD 2009, IIT Kharagpur
  • Debalina Ghosh, Assistant Professor, PhD 2008, Syracuse University
• School of Infrastructure
  • Sekhar Dutta, Professor & Head, PhD, 1982, IIT Kharagpur
  • P. Dinakar, Assistant Professor, PhD, 2008, IIT Madras
  • Puspendu Bhunia, Assistant Professor, PhD, 2008, IIT Kharagpur
  • Sumanta Haldar, Assistant Professor, PhD, 2008, IISc Bangalore
• School of Mechanical Sciences
  • Madhusudan Chakraborty, Director and Professor, PhD, 1978, IIT Kharagpur
  • Swarup Mahapatra, Associate Professor & Head, PhD 2000, Jadavpur University
  • Prasenjit Rath, Assistant Professor, PhD 2007, NTU Singapore
  • Satyanarayan Panigrahi, Assistant Professor, PhD 2007, IISc Bangalore
• School of Social Sciences & Humanities
  • No regular faculty yet

October 24th, 2009

ICFAI identifies 53 acres near SUM Hospital for its University in Bhubaneswar

Following is an excerpt from a report in Business Standard.

Hyderabad-based Institute of Chartered Financial Analysts of India (Icfai), which is aiming to set up a multi-disciplinary university in Orissa at an investment of Rs 150-200 crore, has identified 53 acres of land for the university.

The land has been identified close to Sum Hospital on the outskirts of the city. Out of the total land area of 53 acres, Icfai has got 11 acres of land registered for the university project.

… The university project in Orissa has been marred by delay as the Icfai Private University Bill is yet to be introduced in the state legislative assembly.

The Icfai Private University Bill would be introduced soon in the forthcoming session of the Orissa legislative assembly, claimed Noorus.

Icfai had earlier announced that its proposed university in Orissa would be functional eighteen months after the Icfai Private University Bill became an Act.

The Icfai University in Orissa would have no management quota, NRI quota or capitation fee. The university would have strength of about 1,500 students and offer courses in various disciplines like engineering, management, law, science and humanities.

Apart from Orissa, Icfai is also setting up universities in other states across the country. States like Uttaranchal, Tripura, Sikkim, Mizoram, Meghalaya, Nagaland and Jharkhand have passed the legislations facilitating the establishment of Icfai universities.

The proposed Icfai universities in Uttaranchal and Tripura have received the approval of the University Grants Commission (UGC) under Section 2 (f) of the UGC Act.

Other states like Chhattisgarh, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh and Rajasthan have already issued letters of intent to Icfai for setting up universities.

The Orissa government needs to be careful with respect to ICFAI. Earlier this year there have been controversies regarding  its operation in Hyderbad and in Bangalore.

1 comment October 24th, 2009

Effort continues for ESIC medical college in Rourkela

The following two reports from Dharitri and Samaja are obtained from http://www.odiasamaja.org/more-media-coverage-esic-medical-college/.

From Dharitri:

From Samaja:

2 comments October 23rd, 2009

Plans afoot for Rural areas: rural universities in each backward and tribal clusters across India

Following is an excerpt from a report in India Journal.

The government of India is planning to establish 10,000 Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) in rural areas across the country for imparting technical training to youths.

Minister of State for Planning V Narayanasamy announced this while inaugurating the first national convention of rural institutes, organized by the National Council of Rural Institutes, here Oct 19.

“We have opened the flood gates for foreign investment in the education sector. Our thrust is on expanding the educational infrastructure in the rural areas by opening more institutes and universities,” the minister said.

He said plans were afoot to set up one rural university in each backward and tribal clusters across the country. Besides, 25,000 schools would also be set up in rural areas under the Public-Private Partnership mode.

Some of the existing Rural Universities in India are:

• Gandhigram Rural University: Its about us page mentions that: "Today, it has become a nationally and internationally recognised Institute for its contribution to rural education, so much so that the New Education Policy of the Nation reflects the principles evolved here in developing the rural university concept. "
• Mahatma Gandhi Chitrakoot University, Chitrakoot, MP

Looking for the "New Education Policy of the Nation reflects the principles evolved here in developing the rural university concept " I came across the document at http://www.ncri.in/html/english%20finacial%20guidlines.pdf which mentions this policy, but this policy was made in 1986 and revised in 1992. There is no mention of "Rural Universities" in the 11th plan. I guess the minster’s staement above may be referring to the upcoming 12th plan. If that is the case, it is a great idea to pursue it now.

If indeed as the minsiter says, a rural university is established in each backward and tribal clusters across the country Orissa could go after at least 3 such universities: one in the KBK district cluster, one in the Gajapati-Kandhamal district cluster and one in Sundergarh-Mayurbhanj-Keonjhar district cluster. In this regard we must watch out the pages of the National Council of Rural Institutes.

October 23rd, 2009

Update on Central University of Orissa Koraput

Following is an excerpt from a report in Business Standard.

The newly established Central University of Orissa at Koraput aims to set up five new schools in the academic session of 2010.

The proposed new schools include the School of Basic Sciences, School of Health Sciences, School of Development Studies, School of Indigenous Studies and School of Biodiversity Studies.

… The new schools would offer courses in subjects like mathematics, economics, nursing, pharmacy and community health.”For starting the School of Health Sciences, the Central University of Orissa is mulling tie-ups with Jamia Hamdard, New Delhi and for School of Community and Public Health with the University of Minnesota, US.

The Central University of Orissa will set up a Centre for Peace and Sustainable Development next year. The University also intends to run joint research projects and programmes with the Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Education for Peace and Sustainable Development, New Delhi. The Central University plans to offer PHD in five subjects- English, Hindi, sociology, anthropology as well as journalism and mass communication from 2010.

“We are going to sign a MoU (Memorandum of Understanding) with the British Council for holding English language teaching workshops once in every three months. Our university will also enter into a MoU with the Chennai Mathematical Institute University (CMIU) and under this MoU, the faculty from CMIU will visit our campus from the 2010 academic session”, said Banerjee.

At present, the Central University of Orissa has two schools- School of Languages and School of Social Sciences. While the School of Languages offers post graduate programmes in English and Hindi; the School of Social Sciences offers post graduate courses in sociology, anthropology as well as journalism and mass communication.

Now the following is from Dharitri.

One needs to take note of the underlined sentence. I think in future when we have central institutions in "remote" areas, we should at least let it start for a year in a less remote location so that when they are depending on visiting faculty they are able to attract them. Once they hire permanent faculty the remoteness of the location will become less relevant.

4 comments October 23rd, 2009

Two great feedback to the Higher Education Task Force

Earlier in https://www.orissalinks.com/archives/3327 I mentioned the mechanism to provide formal feedback to the Higher Education Task Force. I have received some feedback. Among them I highlight two of them below as they are good examples of feedback that has a good chance of having an impact.

The first one is about the Paradeep region. The complete feedback is at http://www.orissa2020.org/paradeep-area. Following is an excerpt from that feedback.

1. To develop and upgrade the Orissa Maritime Institute, Paradeep excellence at par with a world class institute. 
2. To start a National Institute of Port Management at Paradeep on the lines of Fire institute, Nagpur well equipped for port engineering and designing,  keeping the new upcoming port in the state and the country. 
3. To  start a National Marine Research Institute specifically keeping the Olive ridley, mangroves, and marine ecology in the surrounding area.
4. …

This feedback is extremely valuable as I had no idea that there was a Orissa Maritime Institute in Paradeep. It proposes institute that are very specific to Paradeep and it is obvious how Paradeep is the right location for these institutes. I would request others to consider giving feedback in a similar style: specific to a particular location. If one has ideas and knowledge about multiple locations, then please consider giving them separately. One can of course give feedback in whatever style they want. But my gut instinct is that feedback in the above style has a higher chance of having an impact. The task force just has to look at the bullet points and if convinced add it to the specific plans for that region.

Here is another example of a good feedback. It is about the Hinjilicut region and the complete feedback is at http://www.orissa2020.org/hinjlicut-area. Following is an excerpt.

A. Science College, Hinjilicut (Established in 1963) is the 2nd best College in the district after Khallikote College, Berhampur. There is a long demand for opening PG Stream Courses with MBA and MCA!!! Hope you would take care by converting its Status to an Autonomous College as a best regard to this district.

B. Women’s College: In memory to Late Gyan Patnaik, request to open a Women’s college (at least a State level institute) at Hinjilicut as you can notice towns like Bhanjanagar / Aska / Chatrapur / Digapahandi are having Women’s college, but we are yet to start a Women’s college in this Town.

The complete list of areas that I hope to be able to push for is at http://www.orissa2020.org/home/area-wise-plan. Based on my knowledge I have made some initial bullet points for some of those areas. I would appreciate your feedback on specific areas in that list.

4 comments October 22nd, 2009

Samaja op-ed in support of Vedanta University

1 comment October 22nd, 2009

Orissa Maritime Academy in Paradip offers 6-month courses for class X pass students

The web page of this institute is http://www.orissamaritime.com/. Following is an excerpt from its page http://www.orissamaritime.com/course.htm

The curriculum has been designed to impart an integrated and comprehensive training as per the standard of International Maritime Organization and guidelines issued by the Director General of Shipping, Government of India. The course has covered all aspects of seafaring profession to Deck and Engine Ratings. Apart from the theory and in-house practical classes, the trainees are exposed to extensive practical training onboard Port crafts, Marine Workshop, Electrical Workshop of Paradip Port Trust as per convenience of Paradip Port Authority. The trainees are also given physical, parade and swimming training. The Academy organizes a number of ships’ visit to different types of ships berthed at Paradip Port.  The medium of instruction is in English only. The trainees have to undergo the following STCW (Standard of Training Certification and Watch-keeping) courses during the training period at their own cost. Personal Survival Techniques (PST) Fire Prevention and Fire Fighting (FPFF) Elementary First Aid (EFA) Personal Safety and Social Responsibility (PSSR) Oil Tanker Familiarization Course (OTFC) optional

Course offered: Pre-sea General Purpose Rating Training.(Ship’s crew) Duration: 6(six) months, compulsory residential.   Educational qualification: Pass in 10th standard from a recognized Board with Science, Mathematics and English as subjects. Candidates should have 40% in aggregate in 10th standard and (40% in English either in 10th or in +2 levels.) Age: Must have completed 17½ years and must be below 25 years of age as on date of commencement of course. Medical standard: All the candidates should be physically fit for the sea service as per Merchant Shipping Act (Medical Examination for Seafarers) Rules, 2000. Eyesight should be 6/6 with normal vision – no colour blindness and height – 158 cm, weight – 48 kgs. How to apply: Application forms and prospectus are to be downloaded from our website www.orissamaritime.com and completed application forms should be submitted to the Academy along with a demand draft of Rs.100/-(one hundred) and attested xerox copy of relevant documents. Selection procedure: The intake capacity of the Academy is 40(forty) per batch. In case eligible candidates do not receive any call letter prior 10 days before commencement of the course, they should contact the Academy over telephone to inquire about the status of their application form. The training commences on 1st of January and 1st of July every year. The short listed (eligible) candidates will be called to the Academy for selection. In the selection procedure, the candidate has to undergo a medical test. In order to ascertain the merit of the candidates, the Academy may conduct a written and viva-voce test in English. The applicant will have to attend the above tests at their own expenses at Paradip. The selection will be on strictly merit basis. There will be a reservation of 15% of seats for SC/ST candidates and 10% for the children of Paradip Port Trust employees. However, if the number of required candidates in the above categories is not available, the vacancy will be offered to the general candidates. Course fees: The course fees is Rs.50,000/- (Rupees fifty thousand only). The entire fee is payable in one installment in shape of a demand draft drawn in favour of “Orissa Maritime Academy” payable at Paradip on the date of admission. The course fee includes tuition fees, uniform, boarding and lodging during the stay in the academy. No stipend is payable during the training period. As per D.G Shipping orders, 50% discount in course fees will be given to female candidates. The candidate has to deposit caution money of Rs.5000/- (Rupees five thousand only), which will be refunded to him/her without any interest after adjusting the claim of the Academy towards any loss/damage/fine for any indiscipline act. The course fees for five STCW courses are extra to be borne by candidates. Hostel facility: The Academy has got its own hostel inside the premises, which provides lodging and boarding. Each trainee will be provided with a cot, cupboard, bed sheet, mosquito net, pillow with cover, mattress, utensils etc. … ISSUE OF CDC After completing the Pre-Sea Training (G.P.) and STCW’95 Basic Safety Courses, the successful trainees are eligible to obtain the Continuous Discharge Certificate (CDC) from the Shipping Master, Government of India. The Academy will provide required assistance to the individual candidates to obtain the CDC.

32 comments October 22nd, 2009

Orissa Education and HRD related headlines from our sister site in Twitter (August 20 – October 20 2009)

Our sister site in Twitter is http://twitter.com/orissalinks. (Often when we are busy or do not feel like writing a full posting here, we post a micro-blog in our Twitter sister site. The Twitter sister site also automatically adds the headline from this site and the orissagrowth site. Once in a  while we will collect those headlines here. But readers wanting a broader and more immediate coverage should consider following our Twitter site at http://twitter.com/orissalinks.) Following are some selected items from that site between August 20th and October 20th 2009.

• IGNOU to start 5 vocational training and educational programs in Kandhamal, Orissa. http://bit.ly/1LLrpt
• http://bit.ly/YDZyS IIIT Bhubaneswar inaugurated. Article mentions an Entrepreneurship Development Inst. having been established. Where?
• Max Phd prod in US between 99 & 03: Berkeley 2175, Seoul nanl U 1655, Nanl Taiwan U 1190, & Beijing Univ 1153. http://bit.ly/noV2h
• Indian Inst of Legal Metrology (IILM) at Ranchi, Ahmedabad, Bhubaneswar, Bangalore & Faridabad have microbalance m/c. http://bit.ly/bMcVT The microbalance m/cs can be used to detect forged signatures. They can detect exact wt of objects of relatively small mass like a signature.
• India needs more civil engineers. http://bit.ly/T574W IIT Bhubaneswar only new IIT to offer it. Kudos to Prof. Acharya for his foresight.
• 2009 World Bank Rept: Secondary education in India : universalizing opportunity. pdf Vol 1 http://bit.ly/167vcJ Vol 2 http://bit.ly/3ItjpQ
• Ravenshaw University, Cuttack, Orissa to have a department and programs in disability studies. http://bit.ly/1sSUt3
• RT @betwasharma Rugby in Orissa http://bit.ly/2ceJhD Nice article about Rugby in KISS, Bhubaneswar.
• Orissa CM asks for more SAI Centres in tribal districts like Koraput, Malkangiri, Keonjhar, Sundergarh and Mayurbhanj. http://bit.ly/3ryYWF
• Prof. Anil Gupta, of National Innovation Foundation mentions about a herbal fruit ripener from Orissa to ripen bananas. http://bit.ly/2isPSM
• Kapil Sibal: Will set up 1,000 polytechs, and make them quality institutions; community colleges that give diplomas. http://bit.ly/ZDYC7
• The recent (Sept 10) AIIMS Bhubaneswar tender document is at http://bit.ly/SqlEb  
• Orissa govt’s plan for PPP based medical colleges in Balasore, Rayagada and Naraj may be related to GOI initiatives. http://bit.ly/1NNNeY
• Health Ministry: PPP to upgrade district hospitals to medical colleges will be allowed in NE states, hilly states and backward states.
• Health Ministry: New medical colleges in metros to go vertical. Min required land reduced from 25 to 10 acres. http://bit.ly/5PTiJ
• Health ministry: Out of the 6 AIIMS-like institutes, 4 in Bhubaneswar, Jodhpur, Patna and Rishikesh have got clearance. http://bit.ly/5PTiJ
• HRD minister Kapil Sibal proposes a National Higher Education Finance Corporation (NHEFC) to finance higher education. http://bit.ly/t7R9x
• CRRI Cuttack ( #Orissa ) scientists have crossed soft rice (komal saul ) with high yielding rice and obtained a hybrid. http://bit.ly/6JFNS
• North Orissa University, Baripada awards 368 PG, 26 M.Phil and 6 Ph.D degrees this yr. More such univs needed. #Orissa http://bit.ly/3gAPqx
• Qualcomm & Premji Fndn to provide wireless broadbnd to schools. Pilot: 40 in Gujarat, Karnataka, #Orissa & Rajasthan. http://bit.ly/1P0vW7
• NIFT will have a 10 acre campus in Chandrasekharpur, Bhubaneswar. Classes to start in temporary digs in Jan-Feb. http://bit.ly/zW2SM
• Nice op-ed by IIMA Prof. T T Ram Mohan on why IITs and IIMs need not immediately broaden to full-fledged universities. http://bit.ly/L33Bz
• Kapil Sibal while inaugurating CUO Koraput http://bit.ly/OP4ej Centre keen to setup international standard educational institutions via PPP
• Kapil Sibal http://bit.ly/OP4ej Companies shd setup such institutes to help students pursue higher studies in India instead of going abroad
• Sam Pitroda in http://bit.ly/19mv2B : we need to expand more colleges, more universities, more research programs, more teachers, …
• Sam Pitroda in http://bit.ly/19mv2B : Overall expansion requires not only participation from government, but also from the private sector.
• Prince dance group plan to open a dance academy in #Berhampur #Orissa. http://bit.ly/SQLbw Samaja reports that CM will give 1 cr for that.
• In Lanjigarh, Kalahandi (Orissa) Vedanta Resources runs a public school in partnership with DAV. http://bit.ly/hrKxS
• Vedanta University Project adds 139 to take the total number of students it sponsors for studying in DAV school to 414. http://bit.ly/v4zVS
• Central MOS Srikant Jena unsuccessful in convincing central gov. for a medical college in Balasore. At least he tried. http://bit.ly/3Kfwlu

October 22nd, 2009

Institute of Material Sciences Bhubaneswar gets more promises on its 9th board meeting

Following is from Dharitri.

October 21st, 2009

Srikant Jena tries to bring PHFI center to Orissa; Is that an IIPH? Will he succeed?

Although MOS from Orissa, Srikant Jena gets high marks for trying, but based on his past record (unsuccessful in getting Army to make a medical college in Balasore; no progress on a NIPER in Orissa) one has to wait for other indications before one can conclude that an IIPH (Indian Institute of Public Health) is being established in Orissa. But any way, here is the latest from Samaja.

October 20th, 2009

Official Orissa higher education task force web site and feedback mechanism

Notifications 

• Sign of MOU for Secretarial Assistance to the Task Force on Higher Education constituted for the purpose of perspective Plan. 
• Constitution of Task Fore by Govt. of Orissa in Higher Education 
• Dates for Regional Workshop for the Task Force 
• News
• Feedback

This is a perfect time to give feedback about higher education in Orissa. I think feedback given through the official feedback mechanism has a high chance of being read and by the right people. In general, it helps if the feedback is short, to the point, and based on logic. Some of my initial thoughts are at http://www.orissa2020.org/ . Any feedback on that is most welcome.

2 comments October 20th, 2009

From Mineral Resources to Human Resources in Orissa – Part 2 (Work in progress)

Continuing on our previous article at https://www.orissalinks.com/archives/3103 following is a table of the mega projects that are stuck. The delay costs the companies 100s of crores per year. If the various companies sincerely contribute to the human resource development of the state something similar to what is suggested by Kalahandi MP Bhakta Das (Expressbuzz Oct 17) in the context of Vedanta and the activists/opposers in the various places take a sensible approach then  that will be a win-win situation for every body.

(However, one has to be careful in what they demand and how they demand. For example, laws should not be broken when demanding. Also, what is demanded should pass the common-sense test as making outrageous demands does not help. Nor does it help when it is not clear who the company is dealing with. The demands should be in tune with the size of the mineral resources to be used by the company and the environmental impact of the company.)

Public Sector companies that use Orissa’s mines and/or pollute Orissa otherwise:

Big Miners from Orissa:

1 comment October 18th, 2009

XIM plans a branch in Sambalpur

Following is from a report in tathya.in.

… Mr.Patnaik (the CM) has asked Country’s one of the topmost B-School, Xavier Institute of Management Bhubaneswar(XIMB) to open another campus in Sambalpur. 

A U Singhdeo, Minister Planning & Coordination and Public Enterprises also urged XIMB authorities to expand their empire. 

So with the blessings of the Chief Minister and his government XIMB soon will open another campus in Sambalpur district of Western Orissa. 

On being invited by Government of Orissa, XIMB opened its first Institute here in 1987. 

That time 20 acres of land and Rs.5 crores were given to the institution to open a campus in Orissa. 

During these 22 years, XIMB brought Bhubaneswar on the national B-School map and earned a good name for being in list of top ten Management Institute of the country. 

It is run by Jesuit Society on no profit, no loss basis. 

In fact XIMB has the most reasonable fee structure among the top institutes. 

It has also produced about 1500 students in the last 20 years who have reached to the top post of private sector in the various parts of the country. 

Many of them have returned back to the state and started their own enterprise. 

Many successful entrepreneurs of the state can trace back their relation with XIM one way or other. 

Vijay Arora, Secretary PPP, known for his dynamism and original thinking knowing the strength of the XIMB, conceived the idea of opening another campus in the state preferably in Samblapur. 

He discussed the concept with P T Joseph SJ, Director XIMB who agreed to the idea in case the Government provides the necessary support.

This was to allow the Western Orissa benefit of quality educational Institution. 

Matter was discussed with the Government in the Department of Planning & Coordination. 

Satya Prakash Nanda, Development Commissioner is favorably disposed off towards a new campus of XIMB in Sambalpur, said sources.

 After arriving at a mutual understanding, a report was submitted by the Director XIM Professor Joseph to the Government outlining the project and the support required. 

Along with Management XIMB proposes to run courses in Agri-Business Management and Rural Management etc. 

This is a great move from all aspects.

30 comments October 17th, 2009

Progress in the right direction on the ESIC Rourkela front; but things need to move fast

The following is from Samaja e-paper. (Sambada also reports on this.)

I think the situation is clear. All the biggies from Rourkela, including MLA and minister from Rourkela Mr. Sarada Nayak, are now publicly united on this. The Orissa government does not seem to have any opposition except that they don’t want to lose it out of Orissa. So what is needed is an indication from the center that they do not mind having it in Rourkela. However, such an indication needs to come very soon as other reports still mention about progress with respect to the Bhubaneswar location. (See also this report in expressbuzz.com.)

1 comment October 14th, 2009