SAI International School is a joint venture of Shirdi SAI Education Society, Bhubaneswar and LaurelsGlobal, United Kingdom. They have joined hand to provide education at par with global standard in Bhubaneswar. Expertise of schools of UK, USA, Australia, Dubai and Singapore is made available to the SAI International School by the LaurelsGlobal.
The first day-boarding world school of Bhubaneswar, India’s fast growing infotech city that has attracted global Information Technology (IT) companies such as Tata, Wipro, Infosys, Gempack, Mindtree and Satyam to name a few. Spread on a 5.5 acre land, the school will start classes from April 2008 and would be completed in three phases. The school plans to admit children between the age of 3 and 17.
(Request to readers associate with Orissa: Please send a request to cmo@ori.nic.in with cc to hedsec@ori.nic.in, "indsec@ori.nic.in" <indsec@ori.nic.in>)
Fatmi said that the Central Government proposed to set up a Central University in Bihar as part of its plans for 30 new Universities. Though the University Grants Commission (UGC) suggested the upgradition of Patna University, the Government wanted to set up Central University, besides upgrading Patna University.
However, although we have sent several communications to the Orissa government on making a similar effort for a second central university for Orissa — beyond the automatic one presumably in the KBK region, the Orissa government has been silent. Tathya.in reports on our efforts and the resulting frustration.
Following are mails that we have sent to the CMO.
Dear Esteemed Chief Minister:
On August 15th the PM announced that there will be 30 new central universities, with 16 of them in states that do not have any. (That means Orissa will get one and since Orissa has been asking for a central university in KBK, it should go to KBK.)
Since India already has 23 central universities (none among them is in Orissa) and the new 30 ones will take the total to 53, Orissa deserves not just one but two central universities. (Note: Orissa is the 11th largest state of India in terms of population and 9th largest in terms of area.)
But as the PM clearly said, the 14 (30-16) central universities will be decided on a competitive basis. THUS, Orissa govt. must send a proposal on this to the HRD ministry and the PM. This needs to be done as soon as possible as the PM gave 2 months time to the planning commission for deciding on the locations and close to 3 weeks has already gone by.
I would like to propose that the Orissa govt., send a proposal immediately to upgrade Ravenshaw University as a central university.
This is because Ravenshaw matches the best with respect to all the conditions that the PM mentioned in his address to the planning commission. In particular:
Ravenshaw is a unitary university. i.e., Like world class universities such as most universities in the United States, and like most of the existing central universities in India (such as JNU, BHU etc.) Ravenshaw does not have any affiliated colleges.
Ravenshaw‘s location at the heart the millennium city of Cuttack and also in the middle of the Bhubaneswar-Cuttack metropolitan area makes it easy to access and the presence of top-notch educational and research institutions near it makes Ravenshaw a good candidate for becoming a world-class knowledge hub; i.e., a world class central university. (The PM mentioned this criteria explicitly.)
Ravenshaw had made plans for its expansion in directions that are in unison with the goal of a world class university that the PM talked about.
Among all universities in India that may be considered for an upgrade, Ravenshaw is in a unique position by virtue of its recent designation as a university. The existing faculty of Ravenshaw are Government of Orissa faculty and are not automatically entitled to be Ravenshaw faculty. So Ravenhsaw can be choosy in retaining only the ones that are qualified to be a faculty in a world class university. The others may revert back to the Government of Orissa to be posted to other colleges in Orissa.
Finally, Ravenshaw is one of the oldest higher education institutions of India with a glorious past. Its alumni is almost who’s who of Orissa.
In closing, I would urge you to not miss this opportunity for making a case for a second central university in Orissa. Otherwise we will continue to remain behind, while other states will have 2, 3 or more central universities.
… library now has a fullfledged computer lab with free access to the children. The lab with computer systems donated by international IT major SUN Microsystems would facilitate use of interactive multimedia resources for educational purposes. "It would be fun and learning for the children, making their visits more exciting," said Bakul Foundation (BakulFoundation@yahoogroups.com) secretary Sujit Mohapatra.
On the occasion, Krutibas Biswal of SUN Microsystems said, "It is the first time SUN has donated to an organisation in Orissa. The company is quite impressed with the work Bakul has been doing and decided to support it."
… Started as a small step towards getting a library done through individual contribution under "Donate Books: Build a Library" programme, Bakul has come a long way since inception in April this year.
Today, it is … with over 7,000 books including some of the most interesting educational resources of children available in the world. The library does not charge any money from the children.
Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik met the Union Health Minister Shri A. Ramdoss today and impressed upon him to start work on the AIIMS Bhubaneswar campus without further delay. The Government of Orissa has already made available land to Government of India for this purpose. The Union Health Minister assured the CM that work would begin latest by January 2008.
Discussion was also held on wide ranging issues in the Health Sector. The Chief Minister requested the Union Health Minister for opening of a Paediatric Centre at Berhampur for treatment of children affected by HIV/ AIDS. He also pursued the request made by the State Government for installation of CD-4 machines in the 3 Medical Colleges at Cuttack, Berhampur and Sambalpur for detection of HIV/ AIDS. The Chief Minister, Orissa requested the Union Health Minister to sanction state-of-the art machines such as Linear Accelerator for the Cancer Hospital at Cuttack. The Union Health Minister assured the CM that all support will be extended for this purpose.
The CM, Orissa pleaded for increase of intake capacity in Dental Surgery (BDS) from 20 to 50. He further suggested opening of MDS course for which necessary posts of doctors have been sanctioned by Government of Orissa. The Union Health Minister promised to consider the proposal favourably.
Discussions were also held for opening new Nursing Colleges in different parts of Orissa in PPP mode. Government of Orissa will take steps to open such colleges shortly.
In related news a Times of India report outlines the progress with respect to the AIIMS clone in Patna. The time line described in that report will most likely also hold for the one in Bhubaneswar.
The bidding for selection of consultant would be opened on October 3, 2007. "The project management committee had approved the expression of interest (EOI) for selection of project management consultants for construction of six AIIMS-like medical college and hospitals in the country," the affidavit stated.
The project management consultants would be selected by December, 2007, and detailed project report would be submitted by April-May, 2008. Civil construction of the hospital and medical college building may be started by early 2008 and completed by 2010. Simultaneously, the manpower requirement for the AIIMS-like institution is being assessed by a separate committee, the affidavit added.
Orissa Government on Saturday decided to allot nearly 200 acres of land at a concessional rate to Sri Sri Ravishankar Vidyamandir (SSRV) for setting up its proposed multi-disciplinary university in the state.
This was decided at the state cabinet’s meeting today, presided over by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik.
According to the government’s decision, the Bangalore-based trust will pay Rs 6 crore for 185.970 acre of land near Naraj barrage over river Mahanadi in Cuttack district.
Officials said while the actual price of the land sanctioned in favour of the trust would be Rs 30 crore, the government, on the basis of its Industrial Resolution Policy, decided to offer the land at a cheaper price.
"The government is prompted to give land on concessional price as the trust would be setting up a university of international standard in the state," said Chief Secretary Ajit Tripathy. …
Sources said that the government has demarcated land for the purpose in three villages in Cuttack sadar tehsil. "While 105.57 acres are demarcated in Vidyadharpur village, 48.21 acres in Arilo village and 32.19 acres in Govindpur village," he said.
The SSRV had signed MOU with the state government on December 12, 2006 for the university.
The decision came close on the heels of the government’s decision to allot nearly 6,200 acre of land to Vedanta group for setting up its university near Puri.
Tenders open in Oct for Rs 1,500 cr AIIMS-like hospitals in six cities
C.H. Unnikrishnan
An ambitious Rs 10,000 crore project, led by the Union ministry of health and family welfare, to set up over a dozen multi-speciality hospitals and medical education institutions across the country, under the so-called National Rural Health Mission, will kick off in the first week of October with the opening of architecture and design tenders for six hospital projects.
The six medical institutions —being modelled on New Delhi-based All India Institute of Medical Sciences—at Bhopal, Bhubaneswar, Jodhpur, Patna, Raipur and Rishikesh costing Rs1,500 crore are expected to be completed in 2009. Other phases of the National Rural Health Mission, including super-speciality hospitals and medical institutions in 11 states, will be finalized soon.
This is the first major government investment for health care infrastructure in the country, even as private players such as Fortis Healthcare Ltd, Max Helathcare Ltd, Hinduja Group, Apollo Hospitals Ltd, and Wockhardt Hospitals Ltd, among others, have earmarked between Rs10,000 crore and Rs15,000 crore for new hospitals and expansion of existing ones.
According to an official at the state-owned Hindustan Latex Ltd’s procurement and consultancy division, which has been appointed a consultant to the first phase of the project, the government has received 14 “expressions of interest for the design and architecture of the six AIIMS-like medical institutions proposed in the project.”
IVRCL Infrastructure & Projects Ltd, RITES Ltd, HSCC India Ltd, Hospitech Management Consultants Pvt. Ltd, Technicalia Consultants Ltd, Kotari Associates Ltd, and Borg Lor Associates Ltd are among those that have bid for architecture contracts.
The proposed institutes will be equipped to handle multiple diseases and disorders with 800 hospital beds along with intensive care units and trauma care centres. They will have medical colleges with annual intake of 100 students and will also offer doctoral courses.
The following phases of the National Rural Health Mission, which include upgradation of seven medical institutions in six other states, and setting up of super-speciality medical institutions and research centres in another five states through the public-private partnership model, are also being finalised. The government is also planning upgradation of about 700 hospitals in rural areas especially in underserved states.
The emphasis on health care infrastructure under the five-year, Rs40,000 crore National Rural Health Mission of the government comes in the wake of strong criticism from non-governmental organizations and national healthcare action groups.
