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For more information on this historic university, originally established as a college in 1868, please see http://www.ravenshawuniversity.com/. The university has a total of 144 faculty positions available in all departments and at all levels. For all the positions, Ph.D is a requirement. If you are interested, please send your bio-data to:
Devdas Chhotray,
Vice-Chancellor
Ravenshaw University
Cuttack 753003
Orissa,
India
March 5th, 2008
Following are excerpts from a news report in tathya.in.
So the Governor of Orissa has lent his voice for setting up an Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) in the state.
While entire Orissa is aggrieved over Central apathy towards the state by not announcing an IIT, Mr.Bhandare has also expressed his surprise over the issue.
While the Governor was addressing the gathering of students and teachers in Krupajal Engineering College here, he said that he is sad over the issue.
Entire audience present on the occasion was overwhelmed by the response of the First Citizen of the State, said a senior professor.
March 4th, 2008
Following is from http://pib.nic.in/release/release.asp?relid=35889.
The Committee on National Defence University has recommended establishment of an Indian National Defence University. This will include existing institutes namely National Defence College (Delhi), National Defence Academy (Khadakwasia), Institute of Defence Management (Secunderabad) and Defence Service Staff College (Wellington) and new institutes namely National Institute of Strategic Studies, College of National Security Policy, Institute for Advanced Technology Studies (Bangalore). No final decision on location of the proposed university has been taken as yet.
The courses conducted at the tri-Services training institutions, training institutions of the three Services and the National Defence College are recognized for award of diplomas/ degrees by various universities across the country and All India Council for Technical Education. Details are given below:-
National Defence College:
All officers undergoing the NDC Course and possessing a Masters’ degree are eligible for admission to the M. Phil programme of the University of Madras.
Tri-services training institutions:
|
Sl. No.
|
Name of the institution
|
Degree
|
University
|
|
1.
|
National Defence Academy, Khadakwasla
|
B.A./B.Sc.
|
Jawaharlal Nehru
University
|
|
2.
|
Defence Services Staff College, Wellington
|
M.Sc.
|
University of
Mumbai
|
|
3.
|
College of Defence Management, Secunderabad
|
M.M.S.
|
Osmania University
|
Higher Command Course:
|
Sl. No.
|
Name of the institution
|
Degree
|
University
|
|
1.
|
Army War College, Mhow
|
M.Phil
|
Indore University
|
|
2.
|
College of Naval Warfare,
Mumbai
|
M.Phil
|
University of
Mumbai
|
|
3.
|
College of Air Warfare
|
M.Phil
|
Osmania University
|
(iv) All technical courses being conducted at various training institutions of the three services are also recognized for award of diploma/degree by All Council for Technical Education, Jawahar Lal Nehru University, New Delhi and by various other Universities across the country.
This information was given by Defence Minister Shri A K Antony in a written reply to Dr. K.S. Manoj in Lok Sabha today.
March 3rd, 2008
See http://www.telegraphindia.com/1080302/jsp/frontpage/story_8971000.jsp.
It mentions Kerala and Himachal Pradesh. In the context of https://www.orissalinks.com/?p=951, https://www.orissalinks.com/?p=947, and https://www.orissalinks.com/?p=946. One may note that in the last few years an IISER and an IIST (Indian Institute of Space Sc. & Technology) are being established in Kerala and CUSAT is in line to become an IIEST (Indian Institute of Engineering Science and Technology).
March 2nd, 2008
The Koustuv group which currently has a diploma college (Koustuv School of Engineering) and two operating engineering colleges (CoEB and KISD) has several more engineering colleges in the pipeline. They are Koustuv Institute of Technology (KIT), Khurda in Orissa and KITs in Ranchi and Kolkata. It also operates a plus two science college, Koustuv Institute of Science. It has plans for a medical college to be called Koustuv Research Institute of Medical Science (KRIMS). In regards to the medical college, there is a report in Telegraph regarding Koustuv’s success in its bid for a 400+ acres of land previously occupied by OTM. Following are some excerpts:
Koustuv Group, which recently got clearance from State Level Single Window Clearance Authority for a tin smelting plant at Khurda, has apparently emerged as front-runner in the auction of Orissa Textile Mills (OTM).
The state-owned composite cotton mill winded up in 2002.
Prabhat Ranjan Mallik, the chairman of Bhubaneswar-based Koustuv Group, was the foremost bidder with a fresh offer of Rs 43 crore for the OTM property and assets, including 422 acres of prime industrial land at Choudwar, in the final round of bidding in Orissa High Court yesterday.
The bidding vehicle set up afresh by Koustuv Group before the company affairs bench of Justice I.M. Quddusi plans to use the OTM factory complex for setting up a tin modulation unit.
“Moreover, a medical research centre comprising a state-of-the-art hospital and a medical college have been planned for the future,” said Koustuv Group counsel P. Mukherjee, while making a verbal bidding before the court. Mallik was also present in the company affairs court.
March 2nd, 2008
St. Xavier’s high school group has established and is currently establishing many schools across Orissa and neighboring states. As per http://www.stxavierschools.org/aboutgroup.htm they have schools in Berhampur, Bhanjanagar, Cuttack, Balangir, Jagatsinghpur, Puri, Balasore, Rayagada, Jajpur Rd and Keonjhar. They are establishing schools in Cuttack-Bhubaneswar and Sunabeda. The Cuttack school is affiliated to CBSE board. The affiliation of the other schools is not clear.
March 1st, 2008
Following is an excerpt from an article in Forbes Asia. (Hindustan Times reports on this.)
Pledged $1 billion in 2006 from his Anil Agarwal Foundation to set up Vedanta University. Envisions the school as an elite institution modeled on Stanford University and targeting the young Indians who now leave the country in droves to study overseas. Hopes it will boost the lagging economy of Orissa State, in eastern India, where it will be built on a 6,000-acre campus that will ultimately accommodate 100,000 students. Some 1,000 acres have been acquired so far—despite the opposition of locals—and the first batch of students is expected next year.
March 1st, 2008
Following is an excerpt from a report in Telegraph.
Chief minister Naveen Patnaik, on the other hand, described the budget as “disappointing” for a backward state like Orissa.
… Alleging that the sanction of an IIT was made on political considerations, Orissa’s “genuine” demand was ignored.
Following is from a report in the Statesman.
Orissa has once again been deprived of an IIT as political considerations seem to have governed such decisions remarked ruling BJD-BJP circles here today while reacting to the budget.
… State finance minister Mr Prafulla Chandra Ghadei was also critical of the budget and said "it may cause further inflation" adding "the loan waiver is a pre-poll populist measure which does not make economic sense at all". Mr Ghadei said "the state was not only denied an IIT but was also deprived of additional funds and coverage of the Backward Region Grant Fund scheme".
Following is from a report in Pioneer.
Launching a scathing attack on the Centre for neglecting the cause of Orissa, Patnaik said IIT seems to have done with political consideration. "There has been no scheme for the welfare of the tribal people," he said. Orissa had earlier demanded an IIT for the State and the Chief Minister wrote a number of letters to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Union Human Resources Development Minister Arjun Singh. But without conceding to the demands of the Orissa Government, the Centre announced setting up of IITs in Bihar, Rajasthan and Andhra Pradesh.
…. Industry Minister BB Harichandan said this Budget was made keeping elections in mind. The Union Government has adopted a stepmotherly attitude towards the State while announcing setting up a number of IITs.
Following is from one New Indian Express report.
NCP convenor Bijay Mohapatra described the Budget as pro-farmer. The relief given to the farmers is a bold step, he said. The extension of NREGS to all districts and increased allocation under the BRGF will benefit the underdeveloped district. Except for not announcing an IIT for Orissa, the Finance Minister has catered to all sections.
He, however, said the Centre should have considered the demand for the establishment of an IIT in Orissa.
Following is from another New Indian Express report.
Even as Finance Minister P. Chidambaram dished out a populist Budget in an election year, Orissa missed out on several key announcements as usual.
What has hurt it most is that the Centre has once again ignored its demand for establishment of Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) even as Chidambaram announced three IITs to be set up in Bihar, Rajasthan and Andhra Pradesh
See also the story in Tathya.in.
March 1st, 2008
Following is from Volume 2 of the expenditure of Budget 2008-09.
- NISER/IOP: The IOP+NISER budget (item 9.04 of the DAE budget) is 69 crores in plan + 9 crores in non-plan = 78 crores. The nornal IOP budget is about 20 crores. Hence, 50-58 crores is the budget for NISER in 2008-09. (Note that in 2007-08 IOP was allocated 32.75+7 crores and it spent 27.6+8 = 35.6 crores. I..e, Probably 15-18 crores were spent for NISER. )
- IISER: There is a budget of 150 crores (item 61 of the Higher education budget) for the five IISERs. (The budget for three of them was 125 crores in 2007-08, out of which only 60 crores was spent.)
- new IITs: There is a budget of 50 crores (item 60 of the Higher education budget) for the establishment of three new IITs. (The budget for them was 80 crores in 2007-08, out of which only 0.01 crores was spent.)
- new IIITs: There is a budget of 21.4 crores (item 57 of the Higher education budget) for the establishment of new IIITs.
- AIIMS-like: There is a total budget of 490 crores (item 26 of the Health ministry budget) for the establishment of 6 new AIIMS-like institutes and upgradation of 10 other institutes. In 2007-08 the budget for this was 150 crores out of which only 90 crores was spent; most of it went to the upgradation part.
- NITs: The budget for the NITs (item 69 of the Higher education budget) is 808 (plan) + 285 (non-plan) = 1093 crores. Rs 608 crores of that is for enhancing the number of students to account for the OBC quota.
- IITs: The budget for the IITs (item 38 of the Higher education budget) is 1171 (plan) + 525 (non-plan) = 1696 crores. Rs 771 crores of that is for enhancing the number of students to account for the OBC quota.
- IISc Bangalore: The budget for the IISc (item 41 of the Higher education budget) is 130 (plan) + 91 (non-plan) = 221 crores. Rs 70 crores of that is for enhancing the number of students to account for the OBC quota.
- UGC: The budget for UGC (item 3 of the Higher education budget) is 3095.5 (plan) + 2009.4 (non-plan) = 5104.9 crores. Rs 875 crores of that is for enhancing the number of students to account for the OBC quota.
- NIRTAR and other 6 institutes for blind, deaf, mentally retarded and orthopaedically handicapped: The budget for them (item 21 of Ministry of Social Justice budget) is 47+27.05 crores.
- IIST (Indian Inst. of Space Sc. & Tech): Its budget (item 12 of ministry of space) is 65.25 crores. 25 crores out of a budgeted 75 crores was spent in 2007-08.
- ISIs: Its budget (item 4 of ministry of statistics) is 22.5 + 51.96 crores.
- NIFT: Its budget (item 11.01 of ministry of Textile) is 31.75 + 10 crores.
- Tourism: Its budget for training (item 5 of Tourism ministry) is 71 + 0.8 crores. It includes 26 Institutes of Hotel management, 7 Foodcraft institutes, IITTM, and NIWS (National Institute of Water Sports).
- CIPET: Its budget (item 2 of Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers) for the 15 centers is 31 crores.
- NIPER, Mohali: Its budget (item 7 of Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers) is 75+15 crores.
- National Institute of design: Its budget for (item 3 of ministry of commerce) is only 0.25 crores. It was 20.25 crores in 2007-08. It seems the funding pattern has been changed. There is now 50 crores (item 7 of ministry of commerce) for project based support to autonomous institutions which includes NID and several other institutions.
February 29th, 2008
I am told that Prof. T. K. Chandrashekar is the Director designate of NISER, Bhubaneswar. He is currently the director of National Institute for Interdisciplinary Science & Technology (formerly RRL) Trivendrum. Following is from his profile.
| Educational Qualification |
| |
| B.Sc. |
: |
1976, Mysore University, Karnataka |
| M.Sc. |
: |
1978 Mysore University, Karnataka |
| Ph.D. |
: |
1982 Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore (Supervisor: Prof. V. Krishnan) |
| Post-Doctoral |
: |
University of Massachusetts, Boston, USA 1982-1984 |
| Res. Associate |
: |
Michigan State University, East Lansing, USA 1984-1986 |
| |
|
| ———————————————————————— |
| Positions Held |
| |
- 1986 July – 1987 March Lecturer, Department of Chemistry, I.I.T.Kanpur
- 1987 April – 1991 February Assistant Professor, Department of Chemistry, I.I.T. Kanpur
- 1991 March – 1995 November Associate Professor, Department of Chemistry, I.I.T.Kanpur
- 1995 November – 2003 Nov Professor, Department of Chemistry, I.I.T. Kanpur
- 2003 December onwards Director, RRL, Trivandrum
|
February 29th, 2008
Following is an excerpt from a report in New Indian Express.
The proposed Vedanta University is aiming to roll out its first course in 2009, if everything falls into place.
The varsity project, which envisages a whopping 100,000 students and 10,000 faculty members in a multi-disciplinary research-driven campus, has moved slower than expected but things now seem to be moving in the right direction.
Land acquisition has picked up and it has launched its rehabilitation and benefits plan.
“We plan to start the first course in engineering research in 2009. It will be a symbolic beginning and would be followed up by programmes in arts, science and medicine in the first phase,” Vedanta University Project CEO CV Krishnan told this paper on Thursday.
The varsity has started working on how to launch the engineering education. In this connection, a two-day workshop was organised at University of Pennsylvania where top deans and professors from across North America took part. According to Krishnan, the University will admit research students since research only can drive the varsity to ‘a different level altogether.’ The identified research areas will be wireless communication, material science, biotechnology, energy and infrastructure. By 2010, the University aims at admitting students into the entire gamut of disciplines. The varsity has already acquired 1,200 acre. The Phase I of the project could entail an investment of Rs 4,000 crore.
February 29th, 2008
See http://www.kalingatimes.com/orissa_news/news2/20080227-vedanta.htm for Kalinga Times’ report on this. Following are some excerpts:
Vice-president of the varsity project Ajit Kumar Samal announced that Vedanta would provide employment to all graduates of the area by the end of 2009 and run public schools to educate the students living in the villages coming under the project area.
Besides, it would operate door-to-door medical service for humans and for the livestocks in the area, he said.
Samal said job cards would be issued to all landless farmers who make out their livelihood by cultivating other’s land. This apart, scholarships would be granted to the meritorious students with special care to the girl students, he added.
A number of schools and colleges would be established for capacity building of the students of the area and all primary schools would have the mid-day meal service, Samal said.
… A special survey of the temple land measuring over a thousand acres under the acquisition process for the project would be conducted within 10 days to ascertain the status, Sarangi instructed the revenue officers present in the meeting.
… The District Rehabilitation and Periphery Development Advisory Committee meeting would be held on March 4 to settle the outlines and modalities for rehabilitation of the villagers likely to be displaced from their villages coming under the project area, the RDC announced.
Following is an excerpt from the report in the New Indian Express.
As per the package, an affected person would get ex gratia of Rs 1 lakh besides the government valuation of his land. That apart, he/she too will be entitled to a minimum compensation of Rs 2 lakh per acre. Besides, occupiers of Jagannath land would be given Rs 1 lakh per acre while compensation for encroachers of government land would be as per the Orissa Government’s new R&R Policy.
February 28th, 2008
From http://pib.nic.in/release/release.asp?relid=35622.
Continue Reading February 26th, 2008
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