Takshila School to open in Bhubaneswar; advertises for teacher positions

The webpage http://www.takshilaschools.in/ mentioned in the ad below is not functional yet. However, a webapge with a similar logo is functional at http://www.takshila.net/. Following is the ad obtained from a report in breakingnewsonline.

2 comments May 12th, 2010

NALCO to set up a research and training facility in Bhubaneswar

Following is a from a report in RTT news.

State-run aluminium major Nalco is to set up a research and technology center on the outskirts of Bhubaneswar by mid- 2012, media reports said quoting company Chairman-cum-Managing Director A K Srivastava.

The Navratna PSU has acquired 18 acres of land at Gothapatna to build its world-class research and technology center that would help enhance growth of aluminium mining in India.

The company will initially invest Rs.88 crore on the center and once completed it would get technical support of foreign countries. Initially the center would work on alumina, aluminium and bauxite, which could be extended to other fields, Srivastava said.

He said the company had already undertaken at least 15 collaborative R&D projects with different research institutions.

May 12th, 2010

National Archive of India New Delhi; with centers in Jaipur, Bhopal, Puducherry and Bhubaneswar

The website of the National Archives is http://nationalarchives.nic.in/. The page for the Bhubaneswar record center is http://nationalarchives.nic.in/WebContent.aspx?id=8&type=homemore. Following is from that page:

The Eastern Zone Records Centre of National Archives of India was set up on 1 March 1996 in Bhubaneswar with a view to cater to the need of 12 states in eastern and north-east India and the Union Territory of Andaman and Nicobar Islands. The Centre at present is functioning in a rented building. The Government of Orissa has provided 2.29 acres of land on ex-gratia basis in Madhusudan Nagar, a prime location in the city for construction of its functional building. The construction of the building has already been assigned to CPWD.

The Centre at present houses approximately 40,000 files, registers, loose documents, bound volumes, copied and plam-leaf manuscripts, rare books and many other items. Its library also consists of more than 1,000 books, journals and Gazette of India. The details of record holding follows:

How to Reach: The Centre is functioning in a rented building in Shatabdi Nagar, Unit 8 which is five kilometers from Railway Station, three kilometers from Bhubaneswar Bus Terminus and four kilometers from the Biju Pattnaik Airport. It is located in a lane connecting the main road between Siripur Square and Delta Square. The list of records holdings of Records Center, Bhubaneswar follows:

a. Public Records

b. Private Papers

c. Library Holdings

The complete postal address is as follows:

For R.T.I. Telephone/Fax  0674-2560043

National Archives of India, Records Centre (Eastern Zone)
1078-79/ 3355-56, Shatabdi Nagar, Unit-8, P.O. – Baramundaa Colony
Bhubaneswar – 751 003
E-mail: nai@ori.nic.in

Following is an excerpt from a report in Times of India which suggests that the National Archive and its centers will be more accessible now. With the eastern zone record center in Bhubaneswar this will benefit people of Odisha a lot.

… The National Archives holds detailed administrative records from the time Akbar sat on the throne in Delhi in the 16th and 17th centuries to the present. In addition, there are thousands of private papers, such as letters written by stalwarts like Dadabhai Naoroji to Shrinivas Ramanujam, the great mathematician. There are also the so-called Oriental Records, which refer to revenue grants made by Mughal rulers and treatises maintained by their court historians.

Under the present laws, only a ‘research scholar’ can read anything kept in the National Archives. This too involves a considerable amount of red tape, as a person must fill up a form to show s/he is enrolled in a recognised university and doing genuine academic work related to the subject. Consequently, most people can’t view such historical records.

Now, a review panel constituted by the National Archives has suggested certain changes to the Public Records Act of 1993, which governs access to such records. Firstly, it has proposed that the term ‘research scholar’ be replaced with ‘user’, so that ordinary citizens too can ask to see documents kept in the archives. Secondly, people will be given readers’ tickets so that they can enter the premises of the National Archives. That documents as fascinating as the original court proceedings of Bhagat Singh’s trial or field reports filed by British military officers in 19th-century Aawadh may soon be in the public domain should bring special cheer to writers, scriptwriters, filmmakers and other professionals who would be able to get first-hand access to primary sources on which they may base their work.

Another change in the law suggests that government departments declassify documents and transfer them to the National Archives within 20 years of their creation, and not 25 as is the case now. This would also harmonise this particular law with the Right to Information Act, which says that even documents exempted from the public domain should be made available two decades after their creation. "It was observed that records from the post-Independence period were not being transferred to the National Archives by various government departments," said a culture ministry official.

2 comments May 12th, 2010

Excerpts from the revised concept note on Innovation Universities

The revised concept note is at the same location where the earlier concept note was: http://www.education.nic.in/uhe/Universitiesconceptnote.pdf. (We also have a local copy of it at http://www.public.asu.edu/~cbaral/concept2.pdf.) The earlier note was 21 pages and  the new note is 24 pages. (We have kept a copy of the earlier note at http://www.public.asu.edu/~cbaral/concept1.pdf.)  We gave excerpts from the earlier note at https://www.orissalinks.com/archives/3136. Following are some excerpts from the revised concept note that was absent in the earlier note.

Each University would focus on one area or problem of significance to India and build an ecosystem of research and teaching around different related disciplines and fields of study, which are relevant thereto, and search for solutions that are globally valid and in the process develop education at undergraduate and higher levels. For illustration such areas/problems of relevance could be the challenges of urbanization, environmental sustainability in relation to growth and progress of life on earth, public health.

…

MODE OF ESTABLISHMENT:

While Government is seen to be the prime mover in respect of these Universities, in terms of finances, innovation universities would also be set up in the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) mode using the MoU (Memorandum of Understanding) route with promoters having significant interest in higher education and a demonstrated capacity to deliver, either on their own or in collaboration with those who have such capacity, higher education of a high standard. Financial and academic/ research credentials of those promoting partnerships would be a determinant of their suitability. Alternatively, Universities of world-class standards elsewhere in the world may also be invited to set up its establishment and research programmes functioning under the broad parameters of the law governing such an initiative, while the teaching function of the University (except for the scholarships/fellowships sponsored by the Central Government) shall be fully funded by the promoting University. Corresponding modifications shall be made in the governing law to free such Innovation Universities from the oversight of Government which are related to funding of the operational aspect of the University namely its teaching function. However, accountability to Parliament shall extend to the research grants or Endowment funds provided to the University by Government.

Three distinct approaches are possible in establishing Innovation Universities – first, new green field Innovation Universities focused on distinct issues of national importance to India and building various disciplines and fields of research around such issues.

The second approach is that of identifying a few of the existing universities and other institutions of repute and with marginal top-up investment encouraging them to attain world class standards through innovation in chosen areas of knowledge. The advantages are obvious, the investment would be marginal, it would be an acknowledgment of our existing national assets, a recognition that several faculties within such institutions and universities are indeed world-class or near world-class, and that innovation in knowledge does take place, even if in a limited manner, in some of our institutions and universities. The attendant problems of such an approach are obviously that of managing the transition and change; of selecting through transparent and competitive modes those few institutions and universities from the existing ones, which could be invested in; of identifying those disciplines or areas of knowledge which need to be encouraged for transiting in to the sub-sets that would in aggregate overwhelm the other sectors so that those few deficiencies that remain in them do not come in the way of transition to Innovation Universities.

The third approach is that of identifying a few educational hubs (cities) in the country where a few institutions and universities of excellence by national standards are located, and creating the architecture of an Innovation University by building synergies for inter-disciplinarity and strong research and teaching among such institutions. The advantages of this geographical approach are again that of marginal investments maximizing returns, assured outcomes if it works, recognition that some of our specialized institutions are at par with globally reputed universities at least in respect of the disciplines within foreign universities that such institutions specialize in. The problems with the approach include the challenges of managing change and resistance to change, overcoming inter-personal issues and neutralizing ‘domain egos’, finding iconic personalities to head the super-structure or the ‘shell’ built over institutional and organizational pillars. It would be difficult to make different organizations and institutions volunteer to forego the legacy built over time, but in theory such a geographical approach is also feasible.

The "Mode of Establishment" section is completely new and was not there in the earlier concept note. The third approach mentioned above is similar to the idea mentioned in the TOI article by Prof. Devesh Kapur. Although the concept note mentions it, from the tone it seems they do not think that the idea is practical at this point of time. If and when the innovation universities become a brand it may become practical. Now the possible constituent units have their brand identity and coming together of several such units to form an unbranded entity may not pass muster.

With the above information, now one can guess a bit more about the intentions behind the report mentioned in https://www.orissalinks.com/archives/4441. My interpretation is that for innovation universities that will be made based on the second and third approach the government may be willing to shift the location inside the state to a location that is more suitable for the 2nd and third approach as they are location specific.

May 12th, 2010

Demand to upgrade BOSE to an engineering College: Dharitri

It may be a good idea to consider upgrading all the government diploma colleges to also include degree programs. See the list at https://www.orissalinks.com/archives/4122.

May 8th, 2010

List of recognized teacher education institutes in Odisha: From ERCNCTE site

The following is from the ERCNCTE (Eastern Region Committee, National Council of Teacher Education), Bhubaneswar site at http://www.ercncte.org/. (The head office of NCTE is in Delhi and its four regional centers are at Bhubaneswar, Bangalore, Bhopal and Jaipur.)

7 comments May 4th, 2010

IIPH Bhubaneswar starts with a 1 yr PG Diploma in Public Health Management

Note that currently this program (PG Diploma in Public Health Management) is not offered by AIPH Bhubaneswar. Currently AIPH offers a certificate in Public Health Management, PG Diploma in Public Health Informatics and MPH (in collaboration with Ravenshaw University).

May 4th, 2010

CIPET ad for M.Tech and Ph.D at its Bhubaneswar center: Samaja

May 3rd, 2010

DAV Colleges in Odisha

India has several DAV Colleges and Schools. A listing of them can be obtained from http://www.davcmcdircol.org/index2.aspx. Some of their top colleges in India are DAV  College Chandigarh and Hansraj College Delhi. They currently have 4 colleges in Odisha.

Based on the claims in their web page, the DAV School of Business Management seems to be doing very well. 

Currently there are four DAV Public Schools in the Bhubaneswar area. 

• DAV Chandrasekharpur
• DAV Unit 8
• DAV Pokhariput
• DAV Kalinganagar

There are many DAV Schools in rest of Odisha. This includes

• DAV School Berhampur
• Four DAV Schools in Cuttack city (Raja Bagicha, CDA, Gandharpur, Alisa Bazaar)
• DAV School, Basanti Colony Rourkela
• DAV School Sovarampur Balasore
• DAV School Paradeep
• DAV Talcher Thermal
• DAV MCL
• DAV Jharsuguda
• DAV Burla
• DAV Badambagarh, Cuttack
• DAV Brajarajnagar
• DAV Sundergarh

See http://www.adhyapak.com/schools/orissa/orissa_schools2.html for a bigger list.

May 3rd, 2010

Xavier University bill getting fine tuned; plans to offer undergraduate programs

Sources suggest that the Xavier University Bill is getting finalized and may be introduced in the Odisha assembly in the upcoming assembly session. There is plan that the proposed Xavier University (which will be established by the XIMB people) will have undergraduate programs including in Arts and Commerce.

This would be a Godsend. While Odisha now has top notch programs in Engineering (at IIT, NIT, VSSUT, CIPET), Science (NISER), Law (NLUO), Business (XIMB), Social Work (NISWASS), Public Health (AIPH, and soon IIPH) and Education (RIE), and soon will have a top notch program in fashion design (NIFT) and medicine (AIIMS-like Institute), it does not have top programs in Commerce and Arts. Thus the proposed Xavier University offering these programs will fill a huge lacuna. There are several reasons I believe that the Arts and Commerce programs at the proposed Xavier University will be top notch.

• They have track record in Odisha and India. Their XIMB is among the top ranked business schools in the country.
• The top ranked Arts and Commerce programs in the country include many other sister Jesuit institutions such as Loyola Colleges, St. Xavier’s colleges and St. Joseph’s colleges.
• Xavier University being a university will be able to modernize and revise its programs at will and thus will have advantage over other colleges that need to work with their universities. (Some of the top ranked colleges are now autonomous though.)
• Many of the other top ranked colleges are uni-disciplinary. Xavier University will be able to share faculty among multiple programs and thus able to create more multi-dimensional programs.

The proposed Xavier University offering top notch arts and commerce programs would help the other institutions to improve their arts and commerce programs and may even encourage other groups (such as KIIT and ITER) to establish good programs in Arts and commerce.

Thus the Odisha government should not delay and speed up the creation of Xavier University.

Following is from India Today’s 2009 list of top ranked Arts and Commerce programs in India.

May 2nd, 2010

NISWASS’s admission ad in Samaja

May 2nd, 2010

Post B.Engg/Diploma programs that prepares one for a job in the power sector

Thanks to tathya.in for the pointer.

OMS Power training and research institute in Bhubaneswar offers programs for people with B.engg, Diploma or ITI certificates to prepare them for jobs in the power industry. Considering the number of power plants coming uo in Odisha as well as India in general, this may be a career direction students may consider. The web page of the institute is http://omstraining.net/.Following is from its "About Us" page.

… was established in 2009 with an aim to align the talented young minds with the industrial world by equipping them with advanced technologies, enhancing their skills and in the process contribute to the qualitative growth of the power sector.

The Institute is recognized by Central Electricity Authority (CEA, www.cea.nic.in), Ministry of Power, Govt. of India as Category-I Institute for imparting Power Plant Training to Degree Engineers, Diploma Engineers and ITI students as well as working Power Sector professionals in Thermal, Hydro and Power Management.

The Institute provides training for everyone working in the power sector including customized training program for government and corporate clients. The Institute is committed to provide the highest quality of services to our clients and satisfy their needs.

Following information regarding the courses it provides is from its page http://omstraining.net/courses_offered.php.

 

Code	Course	Duration
OMSPTI-01	Thermal Power Plant Training – for Engineering Graduate/Diploma Holders (Self Sponsored/ Corporate Sponsored) (Classroom, In-plant and Simulator training)	26 Weeks
OMSPTI-02	Thermal Power Plant Refresher Course – for Power Plant Professionals (Corporate Sponsored)	2 Weeks / Customized as per the need
OMSPTI-03	Refresher Course on Indian Power Sector & Regulatory Affairs – for Power Plant Professionals (Corporate Sponsored)	3 Days / Customized as per the need
OMSPTI-04	Refresher Course on Power Plant Chemistry – for Power Plant Professionals (Corporate Sponsored)	1 week
OMSPTI-05	Vocational Training	4 Weeks
OMSPTI-06	Need based Power Plant training like construction management, Acts & Rules (Factory Act, Boiler Rules, and Electricity Act ) , including Training at customer’s Plant location etc.	As per the need.

ELIGIBILITY:

Course Code	Eligibility
OMSPTI-01	B.E. / B.Tech, Diploma in Mechanical, Electrical, Electronics and Instrumentation Engineering.
OMSPTI-02	Working Professionals with at least 2 years experience in Power Sector.
OMSPTI-03
OMSPTI-04
OMSPTI-05	Graduate Engineering and Diploma students.
OMSPTI-06	Degree & Diploma Holders in Mechanical, Electrical, Electronics, civil and Instrumentation Engineering.

May 2nd, 2010

Center mulling possible changes in world-class/innovation/national university sites?

Following is an excerpt from a report in Times of India.

The Prime Minister’s Office is having second thoughts on letting 14 world class innovation universities come up in places selected during Arjun Singh’s tenure.

Sources said the system of first selecting the sites and then building the universities will not work in case of these institutions since the concept is different than a usual university. Besides, there has been a major change in the concept of innovation universities from the time of Singh. The HRD ministry in its latest concept note has suggested that apart from the government even private educational be allowed to set up these universities.

On the places selected during Arjun Singh’s tenure, an official said, “Innovation universities should come up in places that can attract students and world class faculty. Some of the sites selected earlier will not be able to live up to the expectations from a world class university.”

But the twist in the tale is that many of the states have already finalized the sites for these institutions and will definitely protest in case the Centre changes its stand now.  In many cases, states have shortlisted sites away from what HRD had finalised. This could become a problem.

… Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh have selected sites in Sabarkantha and Sehore, respectively. But since these two places were not shortlisted by the HRD ministry, Gujarat has been asked to finalise a site near Ahmedabad or Gandhinagar and MP in an area near Bhopal.

I think, one may get a wrong interpretation of the above report until they read the last paragraph.  Also, Sehore is near Bhopal; it is only 38 kms from Bhopal. So something is missing; perhaps the reporter or his source did not do a proper fact-checking.

However, if the center indeed plans to change some of the sites that it had announced earlier, then the sites that may be in most danger may be the sites that are not near state capitals. But that itself will be very difficult after the series of announcements in the parliament and other venues.

• March 28 2008: http://pib.nic.in/release/release.asp?relid=36955
• April 21, 2008: http://pib.nic.in/release/release.asp?relid=37684
• Dec 16, 2008: http://pib.nic.in/release/release.asp?relid=45702
• Feb 12, 2009: http://pib.nic.in/release/release.asp?relid=47448
• July 21, 2009: http://pib.nic.in/release/release.asp?relid=50715

See http://www.orissa2020.org/appendix/location-of-proposed-national-universities for the comparison of the sites that were initially picked. Finally, the center would not dare to take away one of these universities from one state and give it to another state.

2 comments April 29th, 2010

More Ravenshaw news: New Program on Hospitality; Construction of Barrier-free Campus starts

The first article is from Samaja and the second is from Dharitri.

It is good that Ravenshaw is introducing many new programs; I wish and hope that it would also strengthen the traditional programs.

April 28th, 2010

IIT Bhubaneswar faculty list

Update on August 26 2010:

• N. Barik, School of Basic Sciences (Physics)
• Y. V. Rao, School of Basic Sciences (Mathematics)
• Animesh Mandal, School of Mechanical Sciences
• Anamitra Basu, School of Humanities and Social Sciences (In IIT Bhubaneswar 2010-11 brochure)
  • Bio: Ph: +91 9674498481 Email: anamitrabasu2@gmail.com
    Dr. Anamitra Basu is presently working as an Assistant Professor in the School of Humanities, Social Sciences and Management of the institute. She joined the institute as a faculty member in 2010, after serving tenure as an assistant professor for almost four years at the Indian Institute of Technology, Guwahati. Earlier she has also served the academia for two years as lecturer in a reputed institute. Her experience in hospital industry for more than four years inspired her to undertake field of Cognitive Neuroscience and Cognitive Psychology as the field of research. She was a Gold Medallist in Bachelors degree from the University of Calcutta. She obtained her Masters degree from the University of Calcutta in the year 1996. She obtained her doctorate from IIT Kharagpur and her post doctorate study from University Balise Pascal, France. She has two peer reviewed international journals in the field of Cognitive Psychology and three other
    international journals are awaiting. Her present research includes Emotion and facial expressions using electromyography (EMG) and producing a new database along with her earlier research fields. She has always been an active member in conferences, workshops. She is a life member of National Academy of Sciences (NAOP), Indian Science Congress Association (ISCA) and Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues (SPSSI).
• Sisir Kumar Nayak, School of Electrical Sciences (In IIT Bhubaneswar 2010-11 brochure)
  • Ph.D IISc Bangalore 2009. Postdoc at Royal Inst of Technology-KTH, Stockholm, Sweden.

With this the total faculty count is at 46: Basic Sciences (17), Electrical Sciences (6), Infrastructure (8), Mechanical Sciences (9), Humanities and Social Sciences (6)

Update on August 20 2010:

• Dukhabandhu Sahoo, School of Humanities and Social Sciences

Update on June 11 2010: Since the list below was made, some new faculty have joined. They are:

• Arindam Sarkar, Infrastructure
• Dipti Ranjan Sahoo, Infrastructure
• Tarakant Nayak, Mathematics

Merging the lists at http://www.iitbbs.ac.in/ver3/facultymember.html and http://www.iitbbs.ac.in/ver3/pdf/pic.pdf we get the following list of 37 faculty at IIT Bhubaneswar. (Our earlier list was at https://www.orissalinks.com/archives/3364.) The schoolwise break up is as follows:

• Basic Sciences (14: Chemistry -7; Math -3; Physics – 4)
• Electrical Sciences (5)
• Infrastructure (6)
• Mechanical Sciences (8)
• Humanities, Social Sciences & Management (4)

1 comment April 26th, 2010

Admission notice for the Masters in Public Health program run by Ravenshaw University in collaboration with AIPH

April 26th, 2010