(Thanks to Kalahandia for the pointer.)
Following is from http://expressbuzz.com/states/orissa/medical-college-to-see-light-of-the-day/253254.html.
The last one year has rekindled hopes for Kalahandi waiting since long for a medical college as promised by the State Government. Sardar Raja Medical College at Jaring is expected to start functioning from 2012 academic year, the chief executive officer of the college Tarun Mishra announced at a press meet here.
The project got clearance from the State Government in 2004 after an MoU was signed with a private educational institute Salvam Educational and Charitable Trust, Tamil Nadu. The Revenue Department provided 25 acres at Jaring and Western Orissa Development Council released Rs10 crore for infrastructure development. Work soon picked up on the 300-bed hospital, college and hostel buildings.
However, the project suffered a setback with the chairman of the trust entangled in a legal battle in Tamil Nadu. The long court battle had raised doubts about the future of the project. Last year, the college also failed to get a nod from the Medical Council of India mostly due to lack of adequate number of doctors, staff and some basic infrastructure. This had led to resentment among the locals.
With the charges against the chairman of the trust dropped, the project witnessed some positive development this year.
Mishra said that the infrastructure as pointed out by MCI has been put in place. The Health and Family Welfare Department has already issued essentiality certificate and Sambalpur University given consent for affiliation. MCI permission has already been sought and the team is expected to be here soon. Pending works have been taken up on a war-footing to meet the MCI stipulations, he added.
The chairman of the Salvam Educational and Charitable Trust SA Raja, in a press release, said that the commitment for establishment of a medical college and super speciality hospital will be fulfilled and he thanked people for their cooperation for success of the project despite undue delay.
It would be interesting to see whether this one becomes operational first or the AIIMS-like institute in Bhubaneswar gets operational first. Looks like both are scheduled to take in students in 2012. The foundation stone of the AIIMS-like institution was laid in 2003, a year earlier than the medical college in Kalahandi.
March 4th, 2011
Following is from http://www.pib.nic.in/newsite/erelease.aspx?relid=70461.
The scheme of ‘Centres of Excellence in Polymer Technology’ aims at setting up of Centers of Excellence (COE) in existing educational and research institutions working in the field of polymers. It is expected that each Centre of Excellence (COE) will emerge as an internationally recognized Centre for the analysis and dissemination of existing global knowledge in the chosen fields. Detailed proposals received from the Institutions have been evaluated by an expert Panel for finalizing the names of institutions as Centres of Excellence during the 11th Plan period. Two fully functional Centres of Excellences (COEs) are to be established over a period of three years.
The campaign against plastic is restricted to plastic carry bags and their indiscriminate littering. The aim of setting up Centres of Excellence, inter alia, includes developing bio-polymers and bio-degradable polymers and innovative recycling process technology which may ultimately result in developing strategies to address such issues.
This information was given by the Minister of State for Chemicals and Fertilizers Shri Srikant Kumar Jena in a written reply in the Lok Sabha today.
DNM/PKM/SB
Perhaps one of these centers of excellence will be in Odisha as the CIPET campuses in Odisha have good research programs in polymer technology and it has the LARPM (Laboratory for advanced research in polymeric materials).
March 4th, 2011
Following are excerpts from an article in Frontline.
THE Siksha ‘O’ Anusandhan University in Bhubaneswar, a deemed university under Section 3 of the University Grants Commission Act, 1956, is fast developing as one of Orissa’s foremost educational hub. It started as a small venture in 1996 when the visionary educationist Dr Manojranjan Nayak set up the Institute of Technical Education and Research (ITER) with 118 students. Gradually, institutes offering courses such as management, medicine, dental sciences, nursing, pharmaceutical science, biotechnology, hotel management and law were set up.
With over 7,000 students, the ITER is today one of the highly-ranked engineering colleges in the eastern region. The university has been awarded ‘A’ grade by the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) for five years from September 2009. All its institutes are housed on four campuses spread across 120-odd acres.
… The Institute of Medical Sciences has a 750-bed state-of-the-art hospital attached to it, which does not charge any consultation fee and has been endeavouring to provide quality health care facilities.
The latest addition to the university is the SOA National Institute of Law. The institute will start functioning from the academic year 2011-12 and offer a five-year integrated course in law in three different streams: BA LLB; BSc LLB; and BBA LLB. There will also be LLM and PhD programmes….
I am appreciative of SOA University’s contribution to education in Odisha, but the above article sounds too much like an ad and for that reason may not impress its readers.
February 22nd, 2011
Update:
Following is from a report in sify.com.
Kolkata, Feb 17 (IANS) The central government has approved the plan to set up an Indian Institute of Information Technology (IIIT) in West Bengal, the state’s Information Technology Minister Debesh Das said here Thursday.
Following is from a report in dnaindia.com.
The Himachal Pradesh government today said an Indian Institute of Information Technology will soon be set up in the state.
"We have been demanding an IIIT for last one year and are satisfied with the Centre’s response. The union government had asked whether the state could provide the land and funding for the project, and we gave an affirmative reply."
"I will meet HRD minister Kapil Sibal on February 17 in Delhi and put forth our claim for the allotment," state technical education minister Narendra Bragta said.
Following is from a report in prlog.com.
The Indian government has decided to set up an advanced institute to combat cybercrime. The proposed Indian Institute of Information Technology (IIIT) will groom IT professionals. The proposed institute will also develop advanced technologies to tackle cybercrime. The institute will be set up at a cost of INR100 crore on a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) model. The cost will be jointly borne by the Central government, concerned state government depending upon the location of the institute and the industry The Indian Institute of Information Technology, Allahabad (IIIT-A) will finalize the concept and details of the proposed institute.
So far there is no recent news on the proposed IIIT in Berhampur, Odisha.
February 18th, 2011
NIFT (National Institute of Fashion Technology) currently has 15 campuses across the country in Bangalore, Bhopal, Bhubaneswar, Chennai, Delhi, Gandhinagar, Hyderabad, Jodhpur, Kangra, Kannur, Kolkata, Mumbai, Patna, Raebareli and Shillong. It opened its Bhubaneswar campus in 2010. Its Bhubaneswar campus home page is at http://www.nift.ac.in/bhubaneswar/index.html. Following is from that page.
The Bhubaneswar center is one of the latest additions to the existing countrywide gamut of NIFT. IT started functioning from June 2010 from its transit campus situated in Centurion Institute of Technology, near HP Gas Plant, Bhubaneswar.
The present campus is located within 1.5 KM from Khurdha railway station, 20 KM from Bhubaneswar railway station and 18 KM from Bhubaneswar airport. It is well connected to every part of the city through city bus and autorikshaws. Security is of prime importance in the institute, which is also a strictly non smoking zone.
The course being offered at the institute at present, include specialization in two disciplines, Bachelor of Design in Textile Design and Master of Fashion Management Studies. The institute boasts of eminent and experienced faculty to facilitate quality education from the very commencement of the center.
February 15th, 2011
Update: Following is an excerpt from a Business Standard article dated Dec 13 2010.
Bala V Balachandran, founder & dean of Great Lakes Institute of Management in Chennai, is in talks with Tata Foundation and Pirojsha Godrej Foundation to sell nearly 51 per cent stake in his institute.
“I have 90 per cent stake in my institute. I have decided to give the ownership to somebody who can give me some money to expand. I may offload as much as 51 per cent. The valuation of the institute would be around Rs 220 crore,” Balachandran told Business Standard on the sidelines of an event in Mumbai.
… Great Lakes also plans to open campuses in Gurgaon and Bhubaneswar. While it has bought some land in Gurgaon, the Orissa government has leased it 100 acres of land for 99 years.
The Gurgaon campus will require around 50 crore to set up and the Orissa campus would be set up at a cost of Rs 100 crore.
Following is from a report in http://www.tathya.in/news/story.asp?sno=4966.
… Mr.Patnaik met Padmashree Prof. Balachandran , Professor of the Kellogg Institute of Management, USA here on 7 February.
After setting up the Indian School of Business, Hyderabad, along with some like-minded people, he started his Great Lakes Institute of Management, Chennai.
Now Prof. Balachandran has expressed his interest to set up UoCE near the Capital City.
… Hara Prasad Das, State President of the Infinity Education Foundation (IEF), Prasanta Kumar Mishra and Priyadarshi Mishra were present in the meeting.
IEF has given the proposal and has requested the Collector Khurda to provide land measuring an area of 88 acres for the university, which needs at least 100 acres.
Prof. Balachandran said that the UoCE would endeavour to create a well- rounded corporate manager, who will have solid foundation in basic disciplines such as Economics, Mathematics, Social Science and Business Communications.
The University will have School of Technology, School of Business, School of Law and School of Advanced Studies.
Chief Minister asked Mr.Mishra, Minister Higher Education to study the proposal and he promised to extend all out support for the same, said an official.
UoCE will have top collaborative universities including Carnegie Mellon University, MIT, IIT, Harvard Business School, Kellogg School of Management, Harvard Law School, Yale Law School and several others.
IEF has also planned for setting up of a Knowledge City to optimise high quality world class infrastructure and facilities for multiple universities located in a cluster within one campus.
They require 1000 acres of land for the purpose and investment will go up to Rs.10,000 crore, said Mr.Mishra, Minister Higher Education.
Some behind the scenes story and lesson: Dr. Prasanta Mishra mentioned above has played a significant role in partnering with Prof. Balachandran. Dr. Prasanta Mishra himself is one of the cofounders of KIIT and one of the founders of Temple City Institute of Technology and Engineering. The lesson for others, especially from other areas of Odisha who would like similar institutions/universities in their area, is to start with an institute near your preferred area, and use that experience to bring in well reputed and experienced people to your team and then make proposals to the Odisha government for bigger things. Alternatively one may invite reputed trusts with deep pockets to set up institutions/universities in one’s preferred area. If these reputed trusts with deep pockets go to Odisha government and say that they would like to open an institute in XYZ area, then, I am sure, the government would be happy to support them. Moreover, if the XYZ area lacks opportunities then the government may even chip in a few crores as they are doing with the proposed Xavier campus in Balangir and with various private medical college proposals in several backward districts and western Odisha districts.
February 8th, 2011
Following is from the tathya.in report at http://www.tathya.in/news/story.asp?sno=4965.
It seems that the long awaited proposal for the Xavier University will take a concrete shape, thanks to the initiative of B K Patnaik, Chief Secretary.
Mr.Patnaik is pursuing the proposed private university initiated by the Xavier Institute of Management, Bhubaneswar (XIMB), said sources.
Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik cleared the proposal of the XIMB for an university after A U Singh Deo, Minister Planning & Coordination brought to his notice about the long pending case
Once the Chief Minister cleared it, Debi Prasad Mishra, Minister Higher Education asked the authorities in DOHE to frame the bill.
In the meantime XIMB authorities have identified the place near Pipili in Puri district to set up the University Campus.
However the Xavier varsity bill got delayed because of the proposed Umbrella Act for all universities.
With the Supreme Court of India rejecting the idea, the State Government in the Department of Law (DOL) has favoured the proposal for that each private University shall be established by a separate State Act and shall conform to the relevant provisions of the UGC Act, 1956.
So Chandra Sekhar Kumar, Commissioner-cum-Secretary, DOHE has sent the draft Xavier University bill to the Department of Law for vetting the same.
Debabrata Dash, Principal Secretary DOL has discussed the issue with his officers and they are busy in finalizing the provision of the bill, said sources.
Once cleared by the DOL, the proposed bill will be presented to the State Cabinet.
With the approval of the Cabinet, bill will be placed in the Odisha Legislative Assembly (OLA) to be cleared.
Sources said that Xavier University bill will be placed in the OLA in the coming Budget Session.
I hope this really happens. A lot of expansion plan is dependent on this. In particular there have been reports about plan for a Rural Management school in Balangir, a campus in Sambalpur that will offer Business program as well as general courses (arts, commerce, etc.), a campus in Bhubaneswar that will offer general courses (arts, commerce, etc.), a new institute run together with XLRI that will offer courses on HR, etc. There was earlier plans to offer B.Ed courses. All these will become easy to implement once the university happens.
February 8th, 2011
Update: As reported the NKN was launched. Its web page http://www.nkn.in/ was unveiled. As per the web page currently 104 institutions are connected to it, two of which are from Odisha. They are:
- IIT Bhubaneswar
- Institute of Physics, Bhubaneswar
Following is from http://pib.nic.in/release/release.asp?relid=69608.
Backgrounder on the eve of launch of NKN
National Knowledge Network (NKN) is a revolutionary step towards creating a knowledge society without boundaries. Launch of the website and logo of NKN tomorrow will open the NKN to the community at large. It will provide unprecedented benefits to the knowledge community and mankind at large. The purpose of such a knowledge network goes to the very core of the country’s quest for building quality institutions with requisite research facilities and creates a pool of highly trained professionals. The NKN is a state-of-the-art Pan-India network. It will facilitate the development of India’s information infrastructure, stimulate research, and create next generation applications and services. NKN is designed to provide high availability, Quality of Service, security and reliability
National Knowledge Network (NKN) project is aimed at establishing a strong and robust internal Indian network which will be capable of providing secure and reliable connectivity. bring together all the stakeholders from science, technology, higher education, healthcare, agriculture and governance to a common platform.
Using NKN, all vibrant institutions with vision and passion will be able to transcend space and time limitations in accessing information and knowledge and derive the associated benefits for themselves and for the society. Establishing NKN is a significant step towards ushering in a knowledge revolution in the country with connectivity to 1500+ institutions. NKN is intended to connect all the knowledge and research institutions in the country using high bandwidth / low latency network.
Globally, frontier research and innovation are shifting towards multidisciplinary and collaborative paradigm and require substantial communication and computational power. In India, NKN with its multi-gigabit capability aims to connect all universities, research institutions, libraries, laboratories, healthcare and agricultural institutions across the country to address such paradigm shift. The leading mission oriented agencies in the fields of nuclear, space and defence research are also part of NKN. By facilitating the flow of information and knowledge, the network addresses the critical issue of access and create a new paradigm of collaboration to enrich the research efforts in the country. The network design is based on a proactive approach that takes into account the future requirements and new possibilities that this infrastructure may unfold, both in terms of usage and perceived benefits. This will bring about a knowledge revolution that will be instrumental in transforming society and promoting inclusive growth.
Background
The idea of setting up the NKN was deliberated & finalised at the office of Principal Scientific Advisor (PSA) to the Government of India (GoI) and the National Knowledge Commission (NKC) after a collaborative engagement with the key stakeholders including experts, potential users, telecom service providers, educational and research institutions. The discussions resulted in a consensus for an optimal approach to be adopted for setting up such a network, to provide a unified backbone for all the sectors.
Government of India has constituted a High Level Committee (HLC) for establishment of NKN, under the Chairmanship of the PSA to GoI. National Informatics Centre has been designated as implementing agency for NKN. The vision of NKN has been translated into an action plan by the Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) set up by the HLC.
NKN was approved in March 2010 by the Cabinet with an outlay of Rs 5990 Crores. As a forerunner of NKN Initial phase has been successfully executed by National Informatics Centre (NIC).
Highlights
The architecture of NKN has been designed for reliability, availability & scalability. The network consists of an ultra-high speed core, starting with multiple 2.5/10 G and progressively moving towards 40/100 Gigabits per Second (Gbps). The core is complimented with a distribution layer covering all districts at appropriate speeds.
The participating institutions at the edge would seamlessly connect to NKN at gigabit speed. The NKN shall be a critical information infrastructure for India to evolve as a knowledge society. NKN is a significant step which will enable scientists, researchers and students from across the country to work together for advancing human development in critical and emerging areas.
– Establishing a high-speed backbone connectivity which will enable knowledge and information sharing.
– Enabling collaborative research, development and Innovation
– Facilitating advanced distance education in specialized fields such as engineering, science, medicine etc.
– Facilitating an ultra high speed backbone for e-Governance
– Facilitating integration of different sectoral networks in the field of research, education, health, commerce and governance.
Connectivity
The backbone of the network starts from 2.5 Gbps and progressively moves onto 10 Gbps connectivity between 7 Supercore (fully meshed) locations pan India. The network is further spread out through 26 Core locations with multiple of 2.5/10 Gbps partially meshed connectivity with Supercore locations. The distribution layer connects entire country to the core of the network using multiple links at speeds of 2.5/10 Gbps. The end users are being connected upto a speed of 1 Gbps.
The network architecture and governance structure allows users with options to connect to the distribution layer as well.NKN enables creation of Virtual Private Networks (VPN) as well for special interest groups.
NKN provides international connectivity to its users for global collaborative research. Presently, NKN is connected to Trans Eurasia Information Network (TEIN3). Similar connectivity to GLORIAD network is in the pipeline.
Applications
Countrywide Virtual Classroom
The NKN is a platform for delivering effective distance education where teachers and students can interact in real time. This is especially significant in a country like India where access to education is limited by factors such as geography, lack of infrastructure facilities etc. The network enables co-sharing of information such as classroom lectures, presentations and handouts among different institutions.
Collaborative Research
The NKN enables collaboration among researchers from different entities like GLORIAD, TEIN3, GARUDA, CERN etc. NKN also enables sharing of scientific databases and remote access to advanced research facilities.
Virtual Library
The Virtual Library involving sharing of journals, books and research papers across different institutions, is a natural application for NKN.
Sharing of Computing Resources
High-performance computing is critical for national security, industrial productivity, and advances in science and engineering. The network enables a large number of institutions to access high-performance computing to conduct advanced research in areas such as weather monitoring, earthquake engineering and other computationally intensive fields.
Grid Computing
The NKN has the capability to handle high bandwidth with low latency and provision to overlay grid computing. Some of the grid based applications are climate change/global warming, science projects like Large Hadron Collider (LHC) and ITER. The NKN can be the platform to realize many such innovative applications. The Garuda Grid has enhanced its power and stability by migrating to NKN.
Network Technology Test-bed
NKN provides test-bed for testing and validation of services before they are made available to the production network. NKN also provides an opportunity to test new hardware & software, vendor interoperability etc.
click here to see details
AT
February 4th, 2011
Following is an excerpt from a report in tathya.in.
Prof. Gopabandhu Behera and Dr. A. K. Nanda, who are also the Governing Body member of Vedanta Science College were also present.
Mr.C Joseph, in-charge of the Vedanta Science College, Nabakrushna Panda, Principal, Government Autonomous College, Bhawanipatna, S P Nanda, Principal, Government, Women’s College, Bhawanipatna, Sudershan Rath, Principal, Bisamcuttack College and Bharat Rath, Principal Rayagada Government College also graced the conference.
The objective of the conference was to make the people conscious about the value of science education at degree level as well as to discuss about the proposed Vedanta Science College at Lanjigarh.
Dr. Kumar, President and COO, VAL, said, “Vedanta Science College was a long pending demand of the people of Western Ordisha.
He said that Vedanta is committed to create a state of art Science College that will promote quality science education in Western Odisha.
Quality Science education can help in developing technical manpower for industrialization in the state, he added.
The proposed Vedanta Science College will start its academic session from 2011.
The institution will provide education in subjects of Physics, Chemistry, Botany, Mathematics, Zoology, and Environmental Science.
It should be noted that there are very few (could be zero) fully private (i.e., without depending on state grants) science colleges in Odisha. Even the government ones and private ones that depend on state grants do not have good infrastructure and do not have adequate quality faculty. The more well known private higher education institutions of the state focus on trade oriented disciplines like engineering, management, medicine, pharmacy, biotechnology etc. so that they can charge adequate amount of student tuition. This includes deemed universities like KIIT and SOA and the private state university Centurion. None have science programs at the Bachelors level.
So if the Vedanta Science college in Lanjigarh becomes a good quality science college, then it would be a big boon to Kalahandi and Rayagada districts and hopefully it will also encourage other private groups to establish similar colleges.
January 31st, 2011
The report is at http://bit.ly/vu-report .
Current Members of “Odisha World-Class Universities Support Group” that are listed in that report are:
Academics
- Dr. Abani Patra, Professor, University at Buffalo, State University of New York, USA
- Dr. Amiya Kumar Rath, Professor and Director, College of Engineering (CEB), Bhubaneswar
- Dr. Arun Pujari, Professor, University of Hyderabad (Currently Vice Chancellor, Sambalpur University, Odisha)
- Dr. Chitta Baral, Professor, Arizona State University, USA
- Dr. Chitta Ray, Professor, University of Hawaii, USA
- Dr. Dhanada Mishra, Chairman, Human Development Foundation, Bhubaneswar
- Dr. Durga Mishra, Professor, New Jersey Institute of Technology, USA
- Dr. Gautam Das, Professor, University of Texas at Arlington, USA
- Dr. Manmohan Mohanti, Retired Professor (Emeritus), Geology, Utkal University (Currently at Nimapara near Bhubaneswar)
- Dr. Nihar Ranjan Das, Research Fellow at the Indian Council of World Affairs, New Delhi
- Nitai Dhal, Trustee, Silicon Institute of Technology, Bhubaneswar
- Dr. Pranay Swain, UNICEF-OPEPA, ex-faculty IIM Calcutta (Currently at Bhubaneswar)
- Dr. Prasant Mohapatra, Professor, University of California at Davis, USA
- Dr. Rabi Mahapatra, Professor, Texas A & M University, USA
- Dr. Rabi Nayak, Professor, Indian Institute of Science Bangalore (retired), Currently at NISER Bhubaneswar
- Dr. Ramakrushna Pradhan, Research Scholar, School of International Studies, JNU, New Delhi
- Sahadeva Sahoo, Ex-Vice Chancellor OUAT, Ex-Chief Secretary Government of Odisha (Currently at Bhubaneswar)
- Sanjeev Nayak, Trustee, Silicon Institute of Technology, Bhubaneswar
- Dr. Sumanta Swain, Senior Research Officer, International Institute of Health Management Research New Delhi
- Dr. Siba P. Misra, Retired Professor and Director, Institute of Physics Bhubaneswar, Ex-President Orissa Bigyan Academy, Ex-President Orissa Information Technology Society (Resides in Bhubaneswar)
- Dr. Sunil Sarangi, Professor, IIT Kharagpur, Ex-Director, NIT Rourkela, Odisha
- Dr. Supriti Mishra, Fullbright Scholar, Professor, HDF Business School, Bhubaneswar
- Dr. Trailokya Nath Naik, Ex-Deputy Director, National Institute of Cholera & Enteric Diseases, Kolkata, Currently at Bhubaneswar after a stint at NISER, Bhubaneswar.
Others (some associated with academia)
- Basant Barik, Credit Suisse, Singapore
- Devasis Sarangi, Invest Bhubaneswar and the upcoming TIE Odisha Chapter, Bhubaneswar
- Dhirendra Kar, Entrepreneur, North Carolina USA and Bhubaneswar
- Nirakar Sahoo, NRO in Maryland, USA (VSSUT Graduate)
- Pradosh Sahoo, Student at an IIT, Bhubaneswar
- Priyadarshi Mishra, Chairperson, Skill Odisha Initiative, Bhubaneswar
- Purna Mohanty, Technology Entrepreneur and SEED Investor, Silicon Valley, CA, USA, Member, TiE Silicon Valley, Member, Invest Bhubaneswar Silicon Valley
- Sujeet Jena, Financial Controller, University of New South Wales Foundation, Australia
- Surya Rath, Editor of Artfair, Bhubaneswar/Puri
- Tejeswar Parida, President, Delhi Odisha Students Association (DOSA), Delhi
- Umashankar Das, Entrepreneur Hyderabad/Bangalore
(Note: A facebook site in support of Vedanta University has about 1200 “likes” and its companion facebook account has about 500 “friends”; about 300 of them are common. The site is http://www.facebook.com/vedantau and the account is http://www.facebook.com/vedantauniv.)
January 29th, 2011
Following is an excerpt from a report in Economic Times.
The Supreme Court on Friday admitted petitions of Anil Agarwal Foundation and the Orissa government challenging the Orissa High Court , which ruled acquisition of over 6,000 hectares for an international university in Puri was illegal. …
The state government and Anil Agarwal Foundation, in separate special leave petitions told the apex court that the appellant foundation is a public limited company under the Companies Act.
The state government argued that the land acquired for the mega university was not illegal. The high court had held that land acquisition was not permissible under Section 40(1)( a) of the Land Acquisition Act. Earlier, two different benches of the apex court refused to hear the case as one judge, each, was linked to the adjudication of the issue earlier. The petitions were admitted by a bench comprising Justice DK Jain and Justice HL Dattu.
… Chief minister Naveen Patnaik had made a statement in the assembly denying that an ordinance was passed to build the university. "The reference to the ordinance is baffling. The fact is that no ordinance has ever been promulgated by the government for establishing the proposed Vedanta University. Under the UGC Regulations , 2003, a university can be set up by an Act of Parliament or state legislature by a Section 25 company or a trust or a registered society. The promoter of the proposed university, the foundation is a "not for profit" company registered under Section 25 of the Companies Act" .
Following is an excerpt from a report in Indian Express.
The Supreme Court on Friday ordered the Orissa government to maintain status quo on acquisition of 6,000 hectares of land for setting up an international university by UK-based Vedanta group in the holy city of Puri.
A Bench of Justices D K Jain and H L Dattu passed the order on appeals filed by the Orissa government and the Anil Agarwal Foundation against an Orissa High Court decision that land acquisition procedures for the proposed university project was illegal.
This has been widely reported in various media but most have not analysed the ruling properly. The best analysis is done in the Odia paper Sambada. Following are screen copies from its site.
January 29th, 2011
