Odisha HRD

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

Sambalpur University starts M.Tech in Food science & technology; ad for the other post graduate programs

Update:SUIIT now has a web page at http://suniv.ac.in/SUIIT.html. Thanks to kddf for the pointer.

1 comment April 30th, 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

Current and planned schools and centers of CUO Koraput

The following is extracted from the latest CUO prospectus available at http://cuorissa.org/Central-University-of-Orissa-koraput-india/files/2032010KprospectusCUOdraft%5B1%5D.pdf.

The current schools and centers are:

1. School of Languages
   • Center for Odia language and literature
   • Center for English language and literature
2. School of Social Sciences
   • Center for Anthropological Studies
   • Center for Sociological Studies
   • Center for Media Studies

It proposes the following schools and centers.

1. School of Basic Sciences : (a) Mathematics
2. School of Health Sciences: (a) Nursing, Public Health and Community Health
3. School of Development Studies: (a) Economics
4. School of Biodiversity and Conservation
5. School of Education technology
6. Center for Indigenous Studies

April 27th, 2010

CUO Koraput entrance exam to be on May 22nd and 23rd 2010

From the prospectus cover:

The logo of Central University of Orissa symbolizes the pride of the Nation and stands for search of knowledge. The wheel inside the symbol signifies progress, prosperity and betterment of the human being and has been inscribed in the famous Sun Temple of Konark, Orissa. The textbook inside the symbol denotes the wisdom and source of knowledge. The flame crated in front of the textbook reflects a ray of hope, source of light to overcome ignorance and darkness through the enlightenment. This design represents the universal brotherhood, unity and integrity which is closely associated with the State of Orissa.

The last date for submitting application was April 19th 2010. This year it offers the following courses:

• MA in Odia
• MA in English
• MA in Anthropology
• MA in Sociology
• MA in Journalism and Mass Communication

Its prospectus available at http://cuorissa.org/Central-University-of-Orissa-koraput-india/files/2032010KprospectusCUOdraft%5B1%5D.pdf has a lot of materials regarding the plan of the university. We will write about them in a later posting.

On related news Central Universities of Kashmir, Jharkhand, Bihar, Rajasthan, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu are planning a common entrance test this year. The CU Tamil Nadu will be conducting the test. However, I could not find information about this in its web page. I guess their plan came too late for other central universities, such as CU Orissa, to participate in it.

April 26th, 2010

MCL Medical College foundation laying on April 30th; MCL to spend 300-400 crores for this college at Talcher: Samaja

April 26th, 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

CSIR Post Graduate Research Program in Engineering – 10 seats at IMMT Bhubaneswar

April 26th, 2010

National Institute of Open Schooling

Its webs site is http://www.nios.ac.in/. Following is information from that page.

The National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS) formerly known as National Open School (NOS) was established in November,1989 as an autonomous organisation in pursuance of National Policy on Education 1986 by the Ministry of Human Resource Development(MHRD), Government of India. NIOS is providing a number of Vocational, Life Enrichment and community oriented courses besides General and Academic Courses at Secondary and Senior Secondary level. It also offers Elementary level Courses for 14+ age group through its Open Basic Education Programmes (OBE).Government of India through a gazette notification vested NIOS with the authority to examine and certify learners registered with it upto pre degree level courses.

Academic programs it offers are given in the page http://www.nios.ac.in/AcadPC.htm. They are:

Open Basic Education: Open Basic Education (OBE) Programme providing a elementary education at three levels, for school drop-outs and neo-literates, out of              school learners through Accredited Agencies.

– Secondary Course equivalent to Class X
 

– Senior Secondary Course equivalent to class XII

– Vocational Education

NIOS has established an International Centre for Training in Open Schooling (ICTOS)

Training Packages for ODL functionaries

 NIOS HQ is in NOIDA. It has regional centers in Delhi, Hyderabad, Guwahati, Pune, Chandigarh, Kolkata (with a subcenter in Bhubaneswar), Patna, Kochi, Jaipur, Bhopal, Allahabad (with a sub-center in Dehradun).

It has study centers across the country and across Orissa. The list is available at http://www.nos.org/nosresults/nos/searchai.html.

Odisha should push for having a regional center.

April 25th, 2010

Ali Yavar Jung National Institute For The Hearing Handicapped (AYJNIHH) has a Training Center for Teachers of the Deaf near Bhubaneswar

The page http://www.ayjnihh.nic.in/aw/centers.html lists the 5 centers of this institute with HQ in Mumbai. Besides Bhubaneswar, the other centers are at New Delhi, Kolkata, Secunderabad, Bhopal. The whereabouts of the Bhubaneswar center is:

At – Ogalapada, Post – Janla                    
Dist. Khurda, Orissa  – 752 054
Telephone: 0674 – 2460641
Telefax : -0674-2460641
E-mail : tctdbbsr@yahoo.com

It offers the following two diploma programs in Bhubaneswar. More details are available at the page http://www.ayjnihh.nic.in/aw/manpower1.html.

1 comment April 25th, 2010

Why scoff at a cancer hospital built near Raipur by Vedanta, the aluminum corporate, or the proposed Vedanta University in coastal Orissa?

The Outlook article http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?265171 by B. G. Verghese counters well the Arundhati Roy type viewpoints. Following are some excerpts.

… Why scoff at a cancer hospital built near Raipur by Vedanta, the aluminum corporate, or the proposed Vedanta University in coastal Orissa? Are these by definition all wicked enterprises? Arundhati extols the joys of sleeping in her private open-air jungle suite in a “thousand-star hotel”. And then she meets the doctor, obviously a dedicated soul, who serves this tribal area. The health conditions in Dandakaranya he describes make her “blood run cold”. It’s a terrible tale of chronic anaemia, TB, kwashiorkor (extreme malnutrition), malaria, severe eye and ear infections…. “There are no clinics, no doctors, no medicines” in this beautiful place for these beautiful people. (The word “beautiful” appears like a recurring decimal). So where do we begin? By burning down the Vedanta hospital?

Are these corporate social responsibility (CSR) actions merely to be seen as bribes to fulfil Arundhati’s prophecy that tribal people will be moved to make way for steel plants, aluminum refineries, mines and dams. Yes, there will be land acquisition and displacement—that is the story of civilisation; but there will also be resettlement, compensation and training for new vocations. Admittedly, this has not always been done wisely or well. But times are changing. New legal frameworks, better norms, closer monitoring, improved R&R and livelihood packages have continuously been put in place.  

… The country needs to lift itself out of poverty and create 12 million additional jobs every year to cope with the population bulge. This requires wherewithal—financial, human, natural resources, managerial, marketing and technological. The vast bulk of the country’s mineral resources and headwaters of major rivers are located in Fifth Schedule areas, where tribal people live. Are these not to be exploited? The corporate world, both public and private, has been dubbed predator—the Maoists have repeatedly attacked the National Mineral Development Corporation in Chhattisgarh. However, the tribals themselves are incapable of working the minerals, apart from scratching the surface. Yet they have a vital stake in the land, forests and environment and must be made stakeholders and partners and trained for ever higher levels of participation. Unfortunately, every effort has been made to stall any kind of development.

There is much virtue in translating Gandhi’s concept of trusteeship in a new and evolving idiom of CSR to which corporates, the state and courts have variously given expression. The new deals being worked out by the POSCOs, Vedantas, Tatas, Mittals and others are greatly in advance of what was on offer even five years ago. These packages and the legal framework around them will keep improving too. India’s diversity defies “one size fits all” solutions; it is in variety and experimentation that best practices will keep emerging.

The corporates may have something to answer for too. Fly-by-night operators are part of the problem but the more responsible entities are becoming part of the solution as huge long-term stakeholders in the enterprises, people and environment they work in. They command the resources, manpower, technology and organisation to deliver. Various partnerships involving community and area development can be forged. This is happening. ‘People’s Tribunals’ keep mouthing yesterday’s tired slogans. They do not see tomorrow; may be they even fear it.

April 25th, 2010

What really happened at Silicon Institute of Technology in Bhubaneswar on Thursday night?

Update: Apparently a student’s version is at http://whackedoutbrain.blogspot.com/2010/04/neglected-by-college-raped-by-media.html.

We have no way of verifying if the poster is a Silicon student or not. His account seems believable and the comments there suggests that other students agree with the poster.

In recent years, especially after KIIT and ITER became deemed universities, Silicon Institute of Technology in Bhubaneswar has been the top choice of students among the private engineering colleges of Odisha. 

On Thursday night 22nd of April a student of Silicon died. This incident resulted in a conflict between Silicon authorities and the media and there are multiple versions of the story.

The media versions of the story can be read in:

• http://dailypioneer.com/251317/College-director-detained-after-students-attack-media.html
• http://www.telegraphindia.com/1100424/jsp/nation/story_12374940.jsp
• http://sify.com/news/three-held-for-attacking-scribes-in-bhubaneswar-news-national-kexuEebgiic.html
• http://www.orissadiary.com/CurrentNews.asp?id=18014
• http://orissadiary.com/CurrentNews.asp?id=18035
• http://www.tathya.in/news/story.asp?sno=4006
• http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/bhubaneswar/Staff-members-of-silicon-tech-institute-arrested-/articleshow/5854011.cms

On the other hand the Orissa Private Engineering College Association has put the advertisement given below in various newspapers. I do not know who to believe. I hope some of the students who were present during the event can shed light on what really happened.

16 comments April 24th, 2010

Govt. Dr. AC Homoeopathy Medical College Bhubaneswar to be taken over by the center and upgraded

Following is an excerpt from the PIB http://pib.nic.in/release/release.asp?relid=60830.

List of the Colleges, Institutions, Research Centres

 proposed to be established

 

ï‚·        The Central Government has approved following 3 new Institutions for establishment:

1.      All India Institute of Ayurveda, New Delhi

2.      North Eastern Institute of Folk Medicine, Pasighat, Arunachal Pradesh

3.      North Eastern Institute of Ayurved& Homoeopathy, Shillong, Meghalaya

ï‚·        The Central Government has proposed to take over and upgrade following 9 State Government colleges:

1.      Institute of Post Graduate Teaching & Research in Ayurveda, Jamnagar (Gujarat).

2.      Government Ayurvedic College, Thiruvananthapuram (Kerala).

3.      Govt. R.A. Poddar Ayurvedic College, Worli, Mumbai.

4.      Government Ayurvedic College, Patna (Bihar).

5.      Rajiv Gandhi Govt. PG Ayurveda College, Paprola (Himachal Pradesh).

6.      Government Ayurvedic College, Guwahati (Assam).

7.      Govt. Ayurveda & Unani Tibbiya College, Karol Bagh, New Delhi.

8.      Govt. Dr. AC Homoeopathy Medical College, Bhubaneshwar (Orrisa).

9.      Govt. Nizamia Tibbi College, Hyderabad (Andhra Pradesh).

ï‚·        Establishment of 3 Central Research Institutes (Y&N) in Karnataka, Haryana and Manipur is in progress, after taking over free land from the State Governments

2 comments April 23rd, 2010