Odisha HRD

SOS from Vedanta University or Vedanta University’s Good Bye indication to Odisha??

Last month there was an article in Business Standard about the difficulty Vedanta University is facing and its consideration of shifting to the southern states. See https://www.orissalinks.com/archives/4767.

Today I was pointed to a new article in Business World. Following are some excerpts.

Agarwal’s other project in Orissa — Vedanta University — seems to be going nowhere. It appears it would take years before the first brick is laid on his most ambitious, and grandest, education project.

Agarwal, founder of London-based Vedanta Group, turned heads in 2006 when he said he would set up an 8,000-acre, $3-billion university under the aegis of Vedanta Foundation (which later changed its name to Anil Agarwal Foundation or AAF) in the state’s coastal town of Puri. He also offered $1 billion from his personal funds. Agarwal’s holding in his companies is worth more than $10 billion (as on 31 March 2010).

However, as with most projects requiring land acquisition, the university project, too, got mired in controversy. On 17 March, Orissa Lok Pal Justice P.K. Patra recommended a vigilance probe against AAF’s land deals. In May, the environment and forests ministry withheld clearance for the university, citing “irregularities, illegal, unethical and unlawful deeds”.

With the odds stacked against it, AAF is weighing other options. “Two states have extended an invitation; a decision is likely to be taken on a new site in two months,” says Ajit Kumar Samal, in-charge of the university project. He, however, refuses to divulge more details. Experts say the alternatives to Orissa could be Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh, which have good educational infrastructure. “Any place near Hyderabad or Chennai would be a good location,” says Narayanan Ramaswamy, head of education practice at consultancy firm KPMG.

The more important question, though, is: is a large university of this kind feasible in India?

Too Ambitious?
Vedanta’s justification for requiring so much land is simple — to build an institution on the lines of Stanford and Harvard. The 8,180-acre Stanford University was established in 1891. Harvard, set up in 1636, is the oldest institution of higher learning in the US, and has about 5,000 acres. But both were set up when land was not a precious commodity. Besides, the US is a far bigger country than India, and can afford to have universities of such scale.

I was also told that in a CNBC TV show (mentioned here, but no video there yet) Mr. Anil Agarwal said that they are looking for land for Vedanta University in some southern states.

10 comments July 25th, 2010

IIT Bhubaneswar gets its first Chair Professorship

MGM Minerals Ltd, Bhubaneswar has paid Rs 1.5 crores to create a Chair "Professor of Eminence" in Minerals and Metallurgical Engineering for 5 years. According the Director of IIT Bhubaneswar: "This is historic for IIT Bhubaneswar."

1 comment July 23rd, 2010

Draft Law on Innovation Universities under circulation

Following is an excerpt from a report in Hindu.

… As per the first draft of the Bill circulated by the Union Human Resource Development Ministry to the heads of all higher educational institutions like Central universities, Indian Institutes of Management and Indian Institutes of Technology, and members of the task force on the National Commission for Higher Education and Research, each University for Innovation will have to establish a University Endowment Fund but will have the freedom to receive donations, contributions from alumni and other incomes as long as 80 per cent of annual income is used for development of research infrastructure. Each university will be a not-for-profit legal entity and no part of the surplus revenue will be invested for any other purpose except growth and development of the university.

… The Innovation Universities are primarily intended to be private institutions. However, the HRD Ministry can also make grants to develop them, in which case the President would be the Visitor and the government would have a larger role to play in their functioning.

Each university will have an independent Board of Governors that will be empowered to discharge all functions by enacting statutes to provide for its administration, management and operations. The Board will delegate its powers to the Academic Board headed by the Vice-Chancellor that will perform financial, management and administrative functions including appointments and collaborations, the Board of Studies that will specify programmes of study to be offered, Faculty of Knowledge Manpower Assessment to study and assess through research trends in emerging fields of knowledge of relevance, and the Research Council that will interface with the research funding organisations, industry and civil society.

Intellectual property

In the case of a publicly-funded university, any new knowledge created from research that leads to an intellectual property will have to be reported to the government for retaining title. The Centre may refuse title on the grounds of public interest or exceptional circumstances, or national security. The Central government will protect, maintain and utilise the publicly funded intellectual property for which the title vests with it and it can give directions for prohibiting or restricting the publication of information to any person or entity which it considers necessary in the interest of the country. The income or royalties arising out of publicly funded intellectual property will be shared by the University for Innovation with the intellectual property creator in accordance with the provision.

The establishment of 14 Universities for Innovation is expected to set benchmarks for excellence for other institutions of higher learning through “path-breaking research and promoting synergies between teaching and research.” Each such university will stand for “humanism, tolerance, reason and adventure of ideas and search for truth.” It is expected to attempt to provide a path for humankind free from deprivation and seek to understand and appreciate nature and its laws for the well-being of the people. Further, these institutions will seek to “provide society with competent men and women to meet the knowledge needs of the country and perform service to the nation and to humanity and cultivating the right moral and intellectual values.”

I am trying to get hold of the draft law, but have not been successful yet.

1 comment July 22nd, 2010

Many 11th plan HRD initiatives including 20 new IIITs facing roadblocks; Minister Sibal seeks PM’s help

Following is an excerpt from a report in Indian Express.

… Sibal had written to the PM seeking his intervention on three stuck schemes including the proposal to set up 20 new IIITs (Indian Institutes of Information Technology) on PPP basis, which was shot down by the Finance Ministry earlier this month. Of the other two stuck projects, one is meant to finance state universities and colleges, and the second is a Rs 2,000-crore scheme to set up 2,500 vocational schools across the country.

The PMO has now asked the Planning Commission to re-examine the projects.

Sibal is learnt to have brought to the PM’s notice how these projects were key to increasing the Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) in higher education. India is looking at a GER target of 20 per cent by 2020 against a dismal 12 per cent at present.

… the ministry’s proposal — shared with all state governments last year — to incentivise states for setting up new universities and colleges has also hit a roadblock. The proposal is to provide Central assistance to state governments to the tune of 1/3rd of the capital cost for setting up of new universities and colleges and also for expansion of existing institutes. The state governments will be required to bear 2/3rd of the capital cost and recurring expenditure. In fact, states have already been asked to identify land and suitable locations for these new institutions and also prepare detailed project reports.

2 comments July 21st, 2010

S S Magic Academy in Bhubaneswar offers various magic related courses

The web page of this institute is http://ssmagicacademy.com/index.html. Following is an excerpt from a report in Telegraph which describes some of the offerings of this institute.

“I just picked up my bag and ran away from home. Santosh Sir helped me to settle here and trained me. Now, I am a residential magician with a city hotel and earn a very good salary. My parents now understand that this is a lucrative career,” says the undergraduate.

Another student of Santosh, Jiban Mishra, who holds a masters degree in chemistry, has a similar story. “I am addicted to magic and I am glad that I have made it a career,” said Mishra, who also performs at another city hotel.

The institute offers courses like professional close-up that has two batches, one for beginners and another for intermediates and is a four-month programme. Close-up magic for kids is a three-month course whereas Conjuring and Illusion is a two-month one. Many tricks taught here are based on playing cards, cups and balls, ropes and rings and so on. “Playing cards is a favourite for any magician. There are many permutations and combinations possible with it and the spectators too understand the props well, so they enjoy it more,” says Santosh.

8 comments July 20th, 2010

Heavy demand for M.Com at Utkal University; most graduates get placed before finishing

Following is an excerpt from a report in Telegraph.

The varsity has received 802 applications for 48 seats in commerce, implying that as many as 16 aspirants are vying for each seat.

… In the last academic session, the department had received 580 applications. The choice of course has got its own reasons. One of the most important and visible reasons has been the on-campus placement. Students are offered jobs even before they appear for their final examination.

Employers in the banking, insurance and other financial sectors are quite keen to take students, said senior officials in the department. …

… “We restructure the syllabus every three years, keeping up with the latest trends and demands in the market. “In fact, many of those who wish to pursue a course in cost accountancy and chartered accountancy can be seen attending commerce classes for they are significantly similar,” said A.K. Swain, a lecturer in the department.

An M.Com course currently includes in its syllabus, management concepts and practices, marketing managements, corporate financial accounting, financial management, accounting for decision making, statistical analysis, business environment, insurance management, organisation behaviour, and computer application in business.

It also includes managerial economics, corporate tax planning, entrepreneurship development, e-commerce, advance accounting, services marketing, advertising and sales management, financial institutions, markets and international accounting, strategic management, economic analysis of decision-making, and corporate legal framework.

2 comments July 20th, 2010

Several of the new Kendriya Vidyalayas start class immediately

Following three ads are from Samaja.

Following is an excerpt from a report in Telegraph.

… two have already started functioning from the Millennium City in Cuttack.

The admission process in the two schools will commence from the current academic session, the notification for which has already been published by the Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan (KVS).

The two schools will be operating from Munduli and Nuapatana.

The state government has allotted land for the construction of the two campuses, the work for which has already started.

Before the construction work is completed, the two schools will be operating from the CRPF campus, and from the Government Press.

“Students starting from standard I to V will be admitted now and soon the schools will be upgraded to standard X. Currently, both the schools will have 45 students each,”…

… the remaining nine schools at Kutra in Sundargarh, Bhanjanagar, Digapahandi and Aska in Ganjam, Murgabadi in Mayurbhanj, and one each at Sonepur, Deogarh, Jajpur and Nuapada will be set up soon.

Based on our bookkeeping in https://www.orissalinks.com/archives/4222 after the above schools are established the only two districts in Odisha that will lack a Central School will be: Kendrapada and Nayagarh.

1 comment July 19th, 2010

M.Tech programs offered by Engineering Colleges, other institutions and universities in Odisha

Following is extracted from multiple sources including http://www.aicte-india.org/excel/29jun/ORISSA.html. 

The * implies that I am not sure of the number. The number I have in that case may be a few years old. The above adds up to 1830+372* seats total. Out of which 1112+318* seats are in the greater Bhubaneswar (including Dhenkanal) area.

My guess is that majority of these M.Tech’s (at least 50-60%) would go into teaching. This should definitely help the faculty quality of the engineering colleges and programs in Odisha. In a few years IIT Bhubaneswar is going to start M.Tech. That would help the situation further.

3 comments July 16th, 2010

Bhubanswar to be the knowledge capital of Eastern India

Following report in Sambada talks about the meeting that the Odisha delegation had with Mr. Sam Pitroda in Chicago. I personally think the vision mentioned could be raised further. If the Bhubaneswar-Puri area makes the right move with respect to Vedanta University and several other initiatives that we later discussed in Stanford (we called it the Stanford Declaration) then the Bhubaneswar-Cuttack-Khurda-Puri area has the possibility of becoming the knowledge capital of all of India and not just Eastern India. We will not spell out the details here as we do not want to tip the other states now. But if anyone is genuinely interested in helping in achieving that vision (which if designed properly would also entail all round growth of Odisha) feel free to write me.

4 comments July 14th, 2010

Utkal University of Culture and other institutions under the Culture Department of Odisha

The Utkal University of Culture in Bhubaneswar has the following faculties:

	Faculty of Language and Literature
	(I)	Department of Socio Linguistics
	(II)	Department of Foreign Languages
			Japanese
			Germany
			Russian
			French
			Korean
			Thai
			Burmese
			Spanish
			Italian
	Faculty of Visual Arts
			Department of Painting
			Department of Applied Art and Design
			Department of Art History and Aesthetics
	Faculty of Performing Art
			Department of Vocal Music
			Department of Instrumental Music
			Department of Drama
			Department of Dance
	Faculty of Architecture and Archaeology
			Department of Cultural Heritage and Conservation (Self-financing courses)
	Faculty of Culture Studies
			Department of Culture Studies
	Faculty of Orissan Studies
			Department of South and South East Asian Studies
	Other
			Department of Tourism and Hospitality Services (self-financing course)

The Utkal University of Culture has four government affiliated colleges. They are:

In addition the Culture Department has several other sub-ordinate offices under it. They are:

• Orissa State Archives, Bhubaneswar
• Orissa Sahitya Academi, Bhubaneswar
• Orissa Sangeet Natak Academi, Bhubaneswar
• Orissa Lalit Kala Academi, Bhubaneswar
• Orissa Urdu Academi, Bhubaneswar
• Orissan Institute of Maritime and South-East Asian Studies
• S.V. Govt. School of Art and Craft, Jeypore
• Harekrushna Mahatab State Library & Bhubaneswar Public Library, Bhubaneswar
• Orissa State Archaeology, Bhubaneswar
• Orissa State Museum, Bhubaneswar

The private colleges currently affiliated with the Utkal University of Culture are:

In addition Odisha has some related centrally funded institutions. They are:

• Institute of Hotel Management, Bhubaneswar
• Foodcraft Institute, Balangir
• Indian Institute of Handloom Technology, Baragarh
• Bhubaneswar Center of IITTM
• NIFT (National Institute of fashion Technology) Bhubaneswar
• Apparel Training and Design Center (see also here)
  • An Eastern zone hub at Bhubaneswar
  • An Eastern zone center at Rourkela
  • Eastern zone satellite centers at Berhampur, Baripada and Cuttack

In regards to the centrally funded institutions Odisha should pursue the following (please suggest more):

• An Institute of Apparel Management similar to the one in Haryana.
• Upgradation of the Bhubaneswar Center of IITTM to the level of the Gwalior center
• Upgradation of FCI Balangir to an Institute of Hotel Management
• A campus of National School of Drama

In addition the Odisha government needs to:

• Establish some (at least one) government college(s) affiliated to Utkal University of Culture in Western Odisha. Branches of Utkal University of Culture would be even better.
• Establish some research centers in culture and dances of Western Odisha and Tribal Odisha. This includes centers on Sambalpuri dance and music and Mayurbhanj chhau and other tribal  dances and music.

In the culture front, as we mentioned in https://www.orissalinks.com/orissagrowth/archives/3624: "By looking at the web page of the Eastern Zonal Cultural Center in Kolkata, it seems like all of the infrastructure of this center is in West Bengal. … the system of zonal cultural center is not working. The GOI must expand it to all major states and establish a similar center in Odisha. Odisha CM must lobby for it and make sure it is included in the next five year plan starting from 2012."

Also the national convention of SPICMACAY will be in Ravenshaw College in 2011. The Odisha government should take advantage of that and establish a permanent center (or perhaps something bigger) of SPICMACAY in Odisha.

1 comment July 11th, 2010

13 more industries sign MOU with Odisha government for establishing ITCs

Earlier in https://www.orissalinks.com/archives/4700 we reported about 8 companies signing MOU with Odisha government to establish ITCs. Those companies were: Orissa Power Generation Corporation (Hemagiri), Tata Power Ltd (Banki), Emami Paper Mills (Balgopalpur), RSB Metaltech (P) Ltd (Kalyansinghpur), Surrendra Mining Industries Ltd (Bonei), Monnet Ispat and Energy Ltd (Teleibani), Uttam Utkal Steels (Jhumpura), Ind-Barath Energy (Utkal) Ltd (Lakhanpur).

New reports mention 13 additional companies signing similar MOUs. Following is an excerpt from a report in Economic Times.

The companies which signed MoUs on Friday include Action Ispat and Power Private Limited, Adhunik Metaliks Limited, Crackers India (Alloys) Limited, MGM Steels Limited, Posco India Limited, Rungta Mines Limited, SSL Energy Limited, CESC Limited, KVK Nilachal Power Limited, GMR Kamalanga Energy Limited, VISA Power Limited, Essar Steel Orissa Limited and Mahanadi Aban Power Co Limited.

Action Ispat will set up an ITC at Kirimira block of Jharsuguda district while Adhunik Metaliks will have its centre at Koida in Sundergarh district.

Similarly, Crackers India will establish its two ITCs at Kalampur in Kalahandi districts and Champua block in Keonjhar district.

MGM Steels has proposed to set up its ITC at Odapada in Dhenkanal district while Posco’s centre will come up at Erasama block of Jagatsinghpur district.

The Rungta Mines ITC will be set up at Dhenkanala, SSL ITC at Kholikote in Ganjam district, CESC ITC at Dampara in Cuttack district, KVK Nilachal ITC at Krushnaprasad in Puri district, GMR Kamalanga ITC at Bheden in Bargarh district, VISA Power ITC at Bhapur in Nayagarh district and ESSAR Steel at Telkoi in Keonjhar district.

Mahanadi Aban Power Co Limited would set up two ITCs at Binika in Sonepur district and Banarpal in Angul district.

July 10th, 2010

A Silicon Valley group to fund Silicon Institute to make it a university

The Silicon Institute of Technology in Bhubaneswar is one of the best private engineering college in Odisha. In Orissa JEE, after the government institutions in Burla and Bhubaneswar the next preferred college in recent years has been Silicon Institute (NIST Berhampur is a close second). A Silicon Valley group is planning to put Rs 150-300 crores on Silicon Institute of Technology in Bhubaneswar to upgrade it to a University. The group has already invested in SIlicon Institute resulting in the establishment of a branch in Sambalpur.

The new investment plan was announced in the Invest Bhubaneswar Symposium in Palo Alto on July 1st 2010. I was present during the announcement.

5 comments July 2nd, 2010

CM favors Xavier University: Tathya.in scrolling headline

Also heard it from other high ranking sources that the CM has approved Xavier University. So this should come up in the next cabinet meeting and hopefully in the next assembly session or possibly even in the next half of the current assembly session.

Genesis (from sources): The idea for making Xavier University was first mooted in June 2009. It has taken a year for it to get the CM’s official nod. I was told that the time in between was spent in convincing various officials and ministers in the government, drafting the bill and getting the proposal approved by the XIMB board.

June 28th, 2010

Some universities that are in the pipeline in Odisha

The above report mentions the following universities:

• Jagadguru Kripalu University, near Naraj in Banki tahsil
• Techno Global University
• Amrita University
• Open University for Skill Development

June 27th, 2010

Odisha government’s time line on Vedanta University land acquisition process

Following is from a report from tathya.in.

Replying the adjournment motion on Vedanta University in the Odisha Legislative Assembly (OLA) here on 26 June, Minister said that before acquiring the land for the proposed Vedanta varsity project at Puri, the Vedanta Foundation was turned to a Public Limited Company.

Before approving for land acquisition the Department of Higher Education asked Vedanta authorities to turn Anil Agarwal Foundation (AAF) as Public Limited Company.

On 6 November 2006, authorities of AAF applied to Government of India for conversion of Private Limited Company to Public one.

On 22 November, 2006 the Regional Director, Ministry of Company Affairs, Western Region, Mumbai ordered the conversion is granted subject to compliance of condition required for change of structure under various sections of the Company act.

On 23 November, 2006, Anil Agarwal Foundation held its extra ordinary General Body meeting and adopted resolution for compliance of the conditions and converted the Memorandum and Article of Association from a Private to Public Limited Company.

On 24 November, 2006 AAF informed the State Government in this regard.

Quoting the recent Supreme Court judgement, Minister said it is permissible under law.

On 29 November, 2006, the Department of Higher Education informed the Department of Revenue for acquiring the land in favour of AAF for the university project.

On 13 December, 2006, Department of Revenue notified the same for land acquisition.

So no wrong was done on the above matter, reiterated Mr.Mohanty.

See https://www.orissalinks.com/archives/4196 for our earlier discussion on this.

June 26th, 2010

IIT Bhubaneswar to take over the multi-lakh sq ft Toshali Bhawan?

Following is an excerpt from a 2005 report in Hindu.

Toshali Plaza mansion, constructed by the Orissa Housing Development Corporation in 1998 over an area of 3.19 lakh square feet at a cost of Rs 15.65 crore, resembles a deserted palace in a posh locality of Bhubaneswar. The unoccupied mansion has more than 2 lakh square feet of office space.

A page linked from the IIT Bhubaneswar home page (click on Facilities) mentions that some classes will be held in Toshali Plaza this year and the boys hostel will be 5 minutes from it.

The tender at http://www.iitbbs.ac.in/pdf/tender/RFP_Toshali_Satellite.pdf for installing networking and wi-fi in Toshali Bhawan (earlier called as Toshali Plaza) refers to it as a satellite campus. It also gives the floor diagram of the first four floors.

Finally the article https://www.orissalinks.com/archives/4801 on progress of the new IITs says the following:

IIT Bhubaneswar: .. claims to be the first IIT out of the eight new IITs to be operating on its own infrastructure. "This is partially our own campus and we are the only IIT to be operating out of our own campus. Even after we move out to our permanent campus at Arugul, this building will continue to be our city centre.

Does this mean that IIT Bhubaneswar has bought or taken a very long term lease on Toshali Bhawan? That is my guess.

I guess they are or will be renovating it and it will look much prettier than the above picture. However, the picture gives an idea on how big that complex is. 3.19 lakh sq feet is huge. That is 29,636 sq meter. As a comparison the size of the planned academic township of NISER Bhubaneswar is 65,000 sq meter. Similarly the size of the planned academic complex of IISER Pune is 34000 sq meters. Thus IIT Bhubaneswar will have plenty of space to grow and hire more faculty until its main campus is ready in Argul.

Toshali Bhawan is also located centrally in Bhubaneswar; only about 2 kms from the Bhubaneswar station. It is four hundred meters from the Forum mall (the first mall of Bhubaneswar; with a Pizza Hut and many other eating places) and fairly close (about 3 kms) to the SBI colony where some of the student and the faculty housing are.

If indeed IIT Bhubaneswar was able to buy this huge complex, besides the current Director (Prof. Chakraborty) and Registrar (Mr. Ray) one must also thank Prof. Damodar Acharya who most likely (my speculation) saved IIT Bhubaneswar tons of money by having the first year classes in Kharagpur at almost zero cost to IIT Bhubaneswar. Also, the second year classes were partly held in the IIT Kharagpur extension center in Bhubaneswar, possibly at a low rent.Those savings may have played a big role in this purchase. All those savings plus the projected rental cost until the main campus is ready probably covers the cost of buying and renovating Toshali Bhawan. Kudos to IIT Bhubaneswar Director and Registrar for this financial and real estate masterstroke.

Down the road, after IIT Bhubaneswar has its main campus ready, this satellite campus in the middle of the city would be very useful in being the venue for offering graduate courses and short courses.

June 26th, 2010