Following are excerpts from a report in expressbuzz.
IIT Bhubaneswar will have four more schools with inter-disciplinary approach by 2011-end.
While the first one would be on mines, minerals and material technology, the other three would include school of chemicals, school of design and creative arts and earth and ocean sciences.
While the campus construction will start by the year-end, within 10- 15 days the contract would be ready for awarding the architectural and design side of the new campus, said IIT-B Director Prof. Madhusudan Chakraborty.
… Prof. Chakraborty said, however, the institute plans to have a marine campus on the coastline for research on rise in sea-level, effects of climate change, extreme weather conditions, changing ecosystems, air quality and pollution and human health.
… The marine campus will be called Centre for Climate Change and would be established on the lines of marine centres of University of Massachusetts and University of California, he said adding even the varsities have expressed their desire to have future collaborations in research and exchange of faculties and students.
As the marine campus will be very close to the sea, the State Government would be requested at an appropriate time to provide adequate land, he said adding it would have specialists in geology, geophysics, atmospheric and ocean sciences, he added.
Following are some excerpts from a report in Telegraph.
IIT, Bhubaneswar, is planning a marine campus as part of its upcoming School of Earth, Ocean and Environment Science.
The campus, probably be the first marine campus in the country, will study climate, sea level rise, extreme weather events, changing ecosystem, fishery development and wildlife, air quality and pollution, water shortage, human health and hydrological cycles.
Such a campus exists for schools in the University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth, and University of California, Santa Cruz, said IIT, Bhubaneswar, director M. Chakraborty.
Expected to come up by 2011, the school will be “interdisciplinary”, conducting research focusing on geology, geophysics, marine sciences, ocean science, atmospheric science, atmospheric change, disaster mitigation and management, he said.
… The IIT also plans to open three other schools — school of mineral, metallurgy and material engineering, school of chemical sciences and school of design and creative art,” he said.
… “IIT, Bhubaneswar, believes in a border-less academic environment. We do not have departments like other IITs. We are trying to break the barrier so that people from various disciplines come together and work in tandem,” Chakraborty said.
The above plan of IIT Bhubaneswar opens up opportunities for the South Odisha people who wanted the IIT to be located there. If they co-ordinate intelligently (and even offer their own land) they could now have a piece of the IIT. Other parts of coastal Odisha may also go after this.
I think similar opportunities will open up with respect to NISER and AIIMS. In particular, a branch of either in Gandhamardan hill foothills of Balangir/Baragarh in Western Odisha focusing on medicinal plants could be a possibility. (Dr. Sanjib Karmee was championing for an institute like that in that area.)
Water and rain forests are big attractors.
Other locations (such as next to Hirakud or Mandira Dam) could vie for a pie of these national institutes by coming up with an idea about an appropriate research center and approaching the leadership of these institutes.
March 20th, 2010
(Thanks to http://www.rourkelacity.com/rdf/showthread.php?p=41#post41 for the pointer.) Following is an excerpt from a report in Ranchi Express.
State Health Minister Baithnath Ram on Monday informed the Assembly that approval letters have been sent to HEC, Ranchi and SAIL, Bokaro to start medical colleges at Ranchi and Bokaro respectively. About 250 students will be admitted in each medical college, Minister said.
Note that HEC Ranchi is a Government of India enterprise.
We have said this earlier but is worth repeating. Odisha must push the central public sectors that have large operations in Odisha, especially the ones that either use Odisha minerals, pollute Odisha or both to establish medical colleges in Odisha. So far they have pursued this strategy with MCL which has promised a medical college in Talcher.
Odisha government should immediately pursue with the other such public sectors.
- SAIL Rourkela should be pushed for a medical college in Rourkela.
- NALCO should be pushed for a medical college in one of the places it operates in Odisha.
- NTPC should be pushed for a medical college.
They should also do that with respect to some of the private sectors that have been using Odisha minerals. This includes:
- Tatas in the Kalinganagar area.
- Birlas in the Barbil area.
Some of our earlier articles on this topic:
March 17th, 2010
See https://www.orissalinks.com/orissagrowth/archives/3365; in particular https://www.orissalinks.com/orissagrowth/wp-content/uploads/image/20100315%20budget.JPG. The later shows that the 2010 budget has 32.5 crores for making the building and the foundation for the proposed medical college associated with the Capital Hospital. This was proposed and announced several years back. Good to see this in the budget. This is a good and inexpensive way to make a medical college as the hospital, beds, doctors and patients are already there. Adding a few more as required by MCI would lead to a medical college and at least 100 more students per year would then be able to pursue medicine in a government facility at an affordabale cost. These students and the future PG students would be beneficial to the patients. This is a win-win situation at comparatively small additional cost. (The total budget for this was earlier mentioned as 100 crores.)
This approach should be immediately replicated in all the other larger size hospitals in the state; if necessary in a PPP mode, as is being done in Karnataka. (There was a recent news that a team from Odisha was planing to visit Karnataka to find more about how it is being done there.)
In addition as mentioned before SAIL should do the same with respect to IGH in Rourkela.
March 16th, 2010
(Thanks to the Suryanarayanan’s comment number 147 in https://www.orissalinks.com/archives/285).
The IISER admission site at http://www.iiser-admissions.in/ says that there will be three ways to get admission in the IISERs: (i) KVPY (ii) IIT JEE and (iii) Direct.
But by "Direct" they mean through an aptitude test that will be held on July 18 2010. They say:
Direct Admission is open to applicants who have Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics and/or Biology in their class 12 board examination. Aptitude Assessment consists of a written test. It will have multiple choice questions on Physics Chemistry, Mathematics and Biology based on CBSE syllabus up to class 12.
The NISER NEST exam will be on June 6th. Details at http://www.nestexam.in/index1.php.
IISERs and NISER should have co-ordinated to have a single test. It does not make sense to have separate tests for admission into similar programs. Such lack of co-ordination and foresight is what encourages the government to interfere and issue diktats.
March 15th, 2010
UCE Burla becoming VSSUT and the hiring of dynamic vice Chancellors at VSSUT (Prof. D K Tripathy from IIT Kharagpur) as well as at Sambalpur University (Prof. Arun Pujari from the University of Hyderabad) has given a huge momentum in making the Sambalpur area a knowledge hub and together with similar progress at Rourkela a western knowledge corridor is now in the making. In this write-up we will focus on the greater Sambalpur area ranging from Bargarh in the west of Sambalpur to Jharsuguda and Sundergarh in the north and north east.
- Universities: Two exists; 2 more in the making
- There are two universities with dynamic leadership at their helm: VSSUT and Sambalpur University
- Sambalpur University has received approval and funding for a SU-IIT (Sambalpur University Institute of Information Technology) and is pursuing a sports institute.
- VSSUT has significant expansion plans.
- There is a proposal to upgrade GM college to a unitary university.
- The health minister had announced to upgrade VSS Medical College to a university.
- Branch of OUAT in Chipilima.
- Engineering Colleges: Besides VSSUT, there are five more engineering colleges in the area. 2 in Baragarh, 1 in Jharsuguda, 1 in Sundergarh and 1 in Sason (Silicon West).
- Management Institute: XIMB plans a campus in this area.
- Centrally funded Institutes: IIHT (Indian Institute of Handloom Technology) in Baragarh.
- Research Institute: CIFT Burla.
- Other Colleges: Panchayat College Baragarh, NSCB College Sambalpur, Govt. Womens College Sambalpur, Govt. College Sundergarh and Govt. Womens College Sundergarh.
- Demography: See https://www.orissalinks.com/orissagrowth/archives/2715
- Infrastructure:
The above gives the current status of this area. In addition to the efforts mentioned above, following should also be pursued.
- The VSSUT must be upgraded to a national level institute such as an IIEST (Indian Institute of Engineering Science & Technology)
- An STP must be established in Sambalpur.
- Operationalization of Jharsuguda airport must be expedited.
- One of the central government departments such as CSIR, DAE, Sc & Tech, etc. needs to open a research center here.
- The Orissa government should push to upgrade the VSS Medical College to the AIIMS level.
- Establishment of private medical colleges in this area must be encouraged.
- The OUAT college in Chipilima needs to upgraded and expanded
- A regional university (similar to the old regional engineering colleges, with 50-50 partnership between the state and the central govt.) should be established in Jharsuguda. (This could be part of the 12th five year plan starting from 2012.)
- A state university should be established in Jharsuguda during the 13th plan. (by 2020)
- A state university should be established in Baragarh during the 13th plan. (by 2020)
- Considering the rapid industrialization of the area, the Govt. Engineering School in Jharsuguda should be upgraded to an engineering college, perhaps as a constituent college of VSSUT.
NOTE on Comments: Only constructive comments will be allowed. Please do not submit comments that advocate separatism, conspiracy theories, shifting, badmouthing, etc.
March 14th, 2010
Tathya.in reports that this time nice debates are going on in the Odisha assembly.Following are some Samaja reports on debates relevant to education.
March 14th, 2010
Kudos to the people at Sambalpur University (The VC and the others) for organizing this program. After this they should pursue the establishment of a UM-DAE CBS (Center for Excellence in Basic Sciences) type of institute associated with Sambalpur University. The current VC has the vision and ability to make it happen. Note that the VC has initiated and obtained approval and promise for funding for a IIIT type of institute at Sambalpur University and he is also pursuing a sports institute at Sambalpur University. Having these institutes will pave the way for Sambalpur University to become an elite university in the country. In this regard, there is a recent proposal to create an IVY-league type of elite league of central universities in India. Following is an excerpt from a report in Times of India on that.
An Ivy League similar to the ones in countries like US and Germany comprising topmost universities of the country will be formed within two years, announced Kapil Sibal, Union human resource development minister here on Saturday.
… Addressing the media after the VCs’ meet, Sibal said the universities in the Ivy League will be given complete autonomy without any government control in developing the staff, faculty, students and research and development.
… Sibal said that central universities will be allowed to decide on their faculty and staff strength from the coming academic year. “Based on their budgetary allocations, the universities will be allowed to decide the number of faculty positions they need,” he said.
He also said that credit transfer system will be in place from the coming academic year so that the students from one university will be allowed to attend the courses of other universities.
March 14th, 2010
Following is an excerpt from http://www.rourkelacity.com/top-news/naveen-patnaik-assured-and-indicates-green-signal-for-esic-medical-college-at-rourkela/.
Today under the leadership of Dr. Prafulla Majhi ( MLA , Talsara Constituency, Sundargarh ) about 6 MLAs from Sundargarh, Jharsuguda, Keonjhar met the Chief Minister Shri Naveen Patnaik and appraised him about the discontent among the civil society and people at Rourkela and Sundargarh on the on going issue of locating the ESIC Medical College. After giving a calm hearing to the MLAs , Naveen Patnaik said, being ESIC Medical College is a central Govt. project, the State Govt. doesn’t have any problem if the ESIC Corporation decides this to be at Rourkela. The state will facilitate accordingly and allocate the land. He further assured about checking the status of the project and do his best for Rourkela and its people. At the same time 20 representatives of people from the above districts, also handed over a memorandum for setting up ESIC Medical College and Hospital at Rourkela to the Chief Minister which he gladly accepted.
I hope this solves all the technical issues and the ESIC hospital and medical college is quickly established in Rourkela.
Assuming the above happens Rourkela would have a very good momentum towards becoming a Tier II city in India. Some of the other things that are happening in parallel are: (i) Faster progress with respect to BPUT (ii) Good progress on Hi-Tech Medical college (iii) Proposal for a metropolitan university in Rourkela and much more. In terms of knowledge infrastructure Rourkela would then have:
- One institute of National importance: NIT
- Two Universities: BPUT and Metropolitan University
- Two medical Colleges: Hi-Tech and ESI
- Two existing engineering colleges (Padmanava and Purushottam) and one more in pipeline (Rourkela Institute of Technology)
- Good management institutes in RIMS Rourkela and IIPM Kansbahal.
I hope now Rourkela will have the momentum and its people will take their own initiatives so that steps such as the ones we earlier mentioned in https://www.orissalinks.com/archives/3480 will be taken and Rourkela will march towards becoming a Tier II city of India.
Among people driven initiatives the first one to be taken is to push SAIL to create a medical college and an engineering college in Rourkela and approaching top institutions in Odisha and India to open a campus in Rourkela.
March 13th, 2010
Following is an excerpt from http://www.bharattextile.com/newsitems/2010539.
Ministry of Textiles has received a proposal from the State Government of Orissa for establishment of a NIFT Centre at Bhubaneswar. State Government has also conveyed its commitment for providing land free of cost and funds for creating necessary infrastructure. The approximate cost of establishing NIFT centre would be Rs.58.65 crore. This information was given by the Minister of State for Textiles, Smt. Panabaaka Lakshmi in the Rajya Sabha, in a written reply to a question by Smt. Renubala Pradhan.
March 12th, 2010
Following is an excerpt from a report in expressbuzz.com.
Koraput will soon be connected to the nationwide network of Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) laboratories as it is chosen as an extension centre to have a pool of master trainers to train grassroots-level people in applied technologies in various fields.
The extension centre would be presently promoted by the State Government with an initial investment or Rs 30-40 lakh on a 25-acre land. However, it would soon have a full-fledged CSIR centre of Rs 40-50 crore investment with master trainers in agriculture, food and rural technologies, environment, biodiversity and food processing and for this a detailed proposal had already been submitted to the central authorities.
It would have active support from Institute of Minerals and Materials Technology (IMMT), Bhubaneswar, Central Foodcraft Technology Research Institute, Mysore, Central Institute of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants, Lucknow, North East Institute of Science and Technology, Jorhat, and Central Salt and Marine Research Institute, Bhavnagar.
According to IMMT Director Prof. Barada Kanta Mishra, the centre, to be built under `CSIR-800 Programme’ would also help in creating employment opportunity for the backward region in the southern part of Orissa which has seen a series of extremist activities recently.
It would also work as an interface to transfer laboratory-based knowledge to the rural people.
March 10th, 2010
Following is an excerpt from a report in Business Standard.
… Reddy mooted a proposal to IIM-A and IIM-B in 2008, requesting them to set up an “extended campus” in the state. IIM-A is learnt to have been offered nearly 150 acres at a nominal cost and a Rs 100-crore interest-free loan.
… Meanwhile, the Bangalore-located Indian Institute of Science (IISc) is said to be considering over a similar invitation from Andhra Pradesh.
We have received the proposal from the Andhra Pradesh government and we are in talks for the next step forward,” IISc Registrar Mohan Das said. According to sources, the institute has been shown four or five land parcels and is keen on a 1,000-acre plot that is on the Karnataka-Andhra Pradesh border.
IMT’s plans on track
Incidentally, the Ghaziabad-based Institute of Management Technology (IMT) has accepted the state government’s invitation and is in an advanced stage of setting up its campus in Hyderabad — its third in the country. “We are about to begin construction on a 30-acre plot in Hyderabad. It has been over a year since the state government offered us the land. We hope the new campus will be operational by 2011,” IMT Ghaziabad Director Anwar Ali said.
Odisha should take similar proactive steps and invite campuses of IIM Calcutta, ISI Calcutta, ISB Hyderabad, BITS Pilani and other premiere institutions. Similarly, residents of particular locations in Odisha should take proactive steps such as getting together and offering land for establishment of branch campuses of existing successful institutions inside and outside Odisha.
March 9th, 2010
Update:Following is from PIB http://pib.nic.in/release/release.asp?relid=59525.
LOK SABHA
The Government has approved setting up of six AIIMS-like institutions in the States of Bihar (Patna), Chhattisgarh (Raipur), Madhya Pradesh (Bhopal), Orissa (Bhubaneswar), Rajasthan (Jodhpur) and Uttarakhand (Rishikesh) under the first phase of Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Yojana (PMSSY). It is also proposed to set up two more institutions, one each in the State of Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal in the second phase of PMSSY.
Each institution will have a 960 bedded hospital (500 beds for the medial college hospital; 300 beds for Specialty/Super Specialty; 100 beds for ICU/Accident trauma; 30 beds for Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation and 30 beds for Ayush ) intended to provide healthcare facilities in 42 specialty/super-specialty disciplines.
Bids for construction of hospital and medical college complex for the six AIIMS-like institutions in the first phase are under process. The timeline for completion of these works is the second half of 2012.
This information was given by Minister for Health & Family Welfare, Shri Ghulam Nabi Azad in written reply to a question raised in Lok Sabha today.
Following are excerpts from a report in Indian Express.
… The AIIMS at Bhopal is likely to cost Rs 849.46 crore, Bhubaneswar Rs 820.49 crore, Jodhpur Rs 777.64 crore, Patna Rs 858.43 crore, Raipur Rs 803.84 crore and Rishikesh Rs 820.15 crore.
… the officials suggested that certain operations of these new institutes should be outsourced through Public Private Partnership (PPP). Such operations include outsourcing routine/housekeeping services, hospital information system to a professionally managed agency and outsourcing of nursing orderlies and ward boys and other staff. “This strategy the health ministry officials argued would ensure minimal Group C & D employees,” a Plan panel source said. Nearly 95 per cent of the construction work for residential complexes for Jodhpur and Raipur Institutes has been completed, 45 per cent work has been completed for Patna and Rishikesh, while the construction for Bhopal and Bhubaneswar is gradually picking up,” he said. So far about 152 bids have been received including 57 for hospitals and 95 for medical colleges and hostels. “The technical and financial evaluation would be completed by March 30 and work is likely to commence by June 10,” the source said, quoting health ministry officials.
March 9th, 2010
March 7th, 2010
Following is from the PIB release http://pib.nic.in/release/release.asp?relid=59071.
Setting up of AIIMS like Institutes
|
| |
17:24 IST |
The States identified for setting up of AIIMS-like institutions are based on criteria of various socio-economic indicators like human development index, literacy rate, population below poverty line and per capita income and health indicators like population to bed ratio, prevalence rate of serious communicable diseases, infant mortality rate etc.
Details of the proposed Institutes are as follows:-
Annexure-I
I. SETTING UP OF AIIMS-LIKE INSTITUTIONS
Ist Phase
1. Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh)
2. Bhubaneswar (Orissa)
3. Jodhpur (Rajasthan)
4. Patna (Bihar)
5. Raipur (Chattisgarh)
6. Rishikesh (Uttarakhand)
2nd phase
1. Uttar Pradesh
2. West Bengal.
II. Upgradation of medical college institutions
|
S.No
|
State
|
Name of institution
|
|
Ist phase
|
|
|
1.
|
Andhra Pradesh
|
Nizam Institute of Medical Sciences, Hyderabad.
|
|
Sri Venkateswara Institute of Medical Sciences,Tirupati
|
|
2.
|
Gujarat
|
B.J. Medical College, Ahmedabad
|
|
3.
|
Jammu & Kashmir
|
Govt. Medical College, Jammu
Govt. Medical College, Srinagar
|
|
4.
|
Jharkhand
|
Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences, Ranchi
|
|
5.
|
Karnataka
|
Govt. Medical College, Bangalore
|
|
6.
|
Kerala
|
Govt. Medical College, Thiruvananthapuram
|
|
7.
|
Maharashtra
|
Grants Medical College, Mumbai
|
|
8.
|
Tamil Nadu
|
Govt. Mohan Kumaramangalam Medical College,Salem
|
|
9.
|
Uttar Pradesh
|
Sanjay Gandhi Postgraduate Institute of Medical Science, Lucknow
Institute of Medical Sciences, Banaras HinduUniversity, Varanasi
|
|
10.
|
West Bengal
|
Kolkata Medical College, Kolkata.
|
|
2nd Phase
|
|
|
1.
|
Haryana
|
Pandit B.D. Sharma Postgraduate Institute of Medical Sciences, Rohtak
|
|
2.
|
Himachal Pradesh
|
Dr. Rajendra Prasad Govt. Medical College, Tanda
|
|
3.
|
Maharashtra
|
Govt. Medical College, Nagpur
|
|
4.
|
Punjab
|
Govt. Medical College, Amritsar
|
|
5.
|
Tamil Nadu
|
Govt. Medical College, Madurai
|
|
6.
|
Uttar Pradesh
|
Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College of AMU, Aligarh
|
Annexure-II.
I. Setting up of six AIIMS-like institutions in the Phase-I of PMSSY
(a) Medical College & Hospital Complex
Bids have been invited and are under evaluation. Bids are likely to be finalized by April, 2010. Work for Medical College and Hospital Complex is likely to start by June, 2010 and complete by June, 2012.
(b) Residential Complex
(Rs. in Crore)
|
S.
No
|
Site
|
Current Status
(% of work completed)
|
Funds released
(upto 03.03.2010)
|
|
1.
|
Jodhpur
|
95
|
25.95
|
|
2.
|
Patna
|
50
|
18.76
|
|
3.
|
Rishikesh
|
50
|
43.11
|
|
4.
|
Bhubaneswar
|
15
|
19.93
|
|
5.
|
Raipur
|
95
|
28.99
|
|
6.
|
Bhopal
|
20
|
4.39
|
|
|
|
|
|
II. Two new AIIMS-like institutions being set up under Phase-II
. Location of AIIMS-like institutions proposed to be set up in Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal is being finalized in consultation with the respective State Governments.
III. Upgradation of medical college institutions
(Rs. in Crore)
|
S.
No
|
Name of the institution
|
Current Status
(% of work completed)
|
Funds released
(upto 03.03.2010)
|
|
Civil work
|
Procurement of medical equipments
|
|
1st Phase of PMSSY
|
|
|
|
|
1
|
ThiruvananthapuramMedical College
|
99.5
|
44.66
|
33.86
|
|
2
|
Salem Medical College
|
94
|
54.47
|
–
|
|
3
|
Bangalore MedicalCollege
|
89
|
45.00
|
34.99
|
|
4
|
Kolkata MedicalCollege
|
60
|
30.23
|
9.31
|
|
5
|
SGPGIMS, Lucknow
|
67
|
45.76
|
27.03
|
|
6
|
NIMS, Hyderabad
|
78
|
74.23
|
–
|
|
7
|
Jammu MedicalCollege
|
89
|
45.21
|
21.37
|
|
8
|
Srinagar MedicalCollege
|
39
|
20.76
|
34.60
|
|
9
|
IMS, BHU, Varanasi
|
37
|
34.35
|
22.05
|
|
10
|
RIMS, Ranchi
|
15
|
21.20
|
23.85
|
|
11
|
BJ Med. College,Ahmedabad
|
50
|
7.00
|
37.23
|
|
12
|
SVIMS, Tirupati
|
70
|
–
|
39.55
|
|
13
|
Grants Med. College, Mumbai
|
65
|
–
|
57.83
|
|
2nd Phase of PMSSY
|
|
|
|
|
14.
|
Government MedicalCollege, Nagpur
|
10
|
–
|
40.00
|
|
15.
|
Government MedicalCollege, Amritsar
|
Tender process initiated
|
–
|
–
|
|
16.
|
Pandit B.D. Sharma Postgraduate Institute of Medical Sciences,Rohtak
|
Upgradationplans of all these four medical colleges are under finalization
|
–
|
–
|
|
17
|
Dr. Rajendra Prasad Govt. Medical College,Tanda
|
–
|
–
|
|
18
|
Govt. Medical College,Madurai
|
–
|
–
|
|
19
|
Jawaharlal NehruMedical College of AMU, Aligarh
|
–
|
–
|
This information was given by Minister for Health & Family Welfare, Shri Ghulam NabiAzad in written reply to a question raised in Lok Sabha today.
DS/GK
|
March 5th, 2010
The ad says they are expecting it to start in 2010-11. Perhaps someone from Rourkela can tell us how far the construction has progressed. Any photos would be appreciated.
March 3rd, 2010
March 1st, 2010
Next Posts
Previous Posts