(Thanks to Abi for the pointer.)
Following is excerpted from a report in India Today.
… The academic-turned prime minister chose to call them ‘World Class Universities’, sexing up the comeget-me factor. “These universities should focus on international standards of excellence and be rated among the top institutions in the world. They must become the launching pads for our entry into the knowledge economy,” Manmohan said at a function held to celebrate 150 years of the University of Mumbai in June 2007.
… The chances of missing the February deadline to pass the bill in the short session of Parliament are high and the Government is looking at the possibility of pushing it through an ordinance.
…The UGC is of the view that the universities should be run by the government and wants to underplay the role of private players and corporates.
The ministry on its part is ready to open it up to “creditable private organisations” and offer them public land. The Knowledge Commission has a different take.
“Since public finance is an integral constituent of universities worldwide, most of the new universities shall need significant initial financial support from the Government. Each university may be endowed with a substantial allocation of public land, in excess of its spatial requirements,” says Sam Pitroda, chairman, NKC.
The excess land can be a subsequent source of income generation, he says. Exceptions need to be made in existing income tax laws to encourage large endowments.
… The NKC in its letter to the UGC chairman has also suggested that the syllabi should be revised every year to keep up with the changes and current developments in various disciplines. “Departments that do not update their syllabi for two consecutive years shall be asked to provide justifications,” says the letter. Another contentious issue is that of fixing fees and granting autonomy to the proposed universities.
The commission had envisaged that these universities shall have the autonomy to set student fee levels and tap other sources for generating funds such as industry collaborations and overseas operations. The autonomy of fees and greater autonomy for each university is a strict no-no for both the ministry as well as the UGC. Prompted by incisive memos from the Prime Minister’s Office, which is attuned with the views of the NKC, the ministry is planning to prepare a bill with critical minimum provisions, thereby enabling autonomy and innovation without going through a parliamentary process at a later stage. Otherwise, it will have to resort to the ordinance route, bypassing Parliament.
… As a first step, the ministry has decided to do away with the tag of World Class University, an idea which has won it the NKC’s applause . The Act will now be termed the National Universities System Act instead of the World Class University System Act.
Hope the people who wonder about Vedanta University’s land requirement will get a better understanding of it from the NKC’s suggestion regarding providing excess land to the proposed National Universities.
January 26th, 2009
Following is an excerpt from a report in Telegraph.
New Delhi, Jan. 16: President Pratibha Patil has promulgated an ordinance allowing the government to establish 15 new central universities despite last-minute objections by the National Knowledge Commission that the ordinance would hurt higher education.
The President signed the ordinance late last night even as the commission headed by Sam Pitroda tried to convince the Prime Minister and senior government officials against the move.
Patil’s signature triggered a chain of events today that saw the human resource development ministry launch a process of selection of vice-chancellors within hours.
It has also set off fireworks between the commission and the ministry, which the commission believes is keen to retain control over universities while officially calling them autonomous.
… The government is keen to start classes at the universities in the 2009 academic session, said the ministry note to the President.
The ministry, a top HRD official said, will bring the ordinance before both Houses when Parliament meets briefly in February. “We want the ordinance to be cleared by both Houses in the narrow slot for which the Parliament is meeting so that we can start classes from 2009,” the official said.
An ordinance needs parliamentary ratification within six months.
One of the above mentioned 15 universities will be in Orissa; Earlier the Orissa government recommended the Koraput area as the site of this university. As per the bill, available here, the one in Orissa will be called Central University of Orissa.
An earlier copy of the bill (before Goa University was taken out) is available here. There was last minute criticism of the bill and request to not promulgate it as an ordinance by the National Knowledge Commission. See news reports on this here and here. But the President promulgated the ordinance anyway.
January 18th, 2009
Now that Koraput has been announced by the CM as well as in the assembly as the location for a central university, lets be happy about it. I know some of the other districts who wanted the central university to be there may have reasons to be unhappy. My suggestion to them, especially for people (and my friends) from Kalahandi, is to continue their efforts for a new central university and pursue other avenues such as a state university and a BPIET.
Now celebrating Koraput, following are some good aspects of Koraput.
- Koraput area is a cluster of several towns which could become a sizeable metropolitan area in the near future. As per the population numbers in this site and this site the towns around Koraput and their population are: Jeypore: 84,136 (20 km from Koraput); Koraput: 39,523; Sunabeda: 62,706 (20 km from Koraput); and Damanjodi: 8,475. The total may now surpass 200,000.
- The Kolab resorvoir is a picturesque area for a central university. The university is proposed to be between Koraput at Sunabeda on the bank of this resorvoir.
December 19th, 2008
Following is from http://pib.nic.in/release/release.asp?relid=45702.
The Government proposes to establish 14 National Universities aiming towards world-class standards the 11th Plan period. A State- wise list of cities identified or locating these universities is annexed. A preliminary draft of the Concept Paper on setting up of these universities was prepared by an Expert Committee constituted by the University Grants Commission. The Expert Committee has held extensive consultations with eminent educationists, academics and policy makers. The relevant recommendations of the National Knowledge Commission have also been taken into consideration by the Expert Committee while revising the draft Concept Paper. The Concept Paper is, however, yet to be finalized by the Committee.
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SI.No.
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Name of the State
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Name of the City
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1
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Andhra Pradesh
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Visakhapatnam
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|
2
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Assam
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Guwahati
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|
3
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Bihar
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Patna
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|
4
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Gujarat
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Gandhinagar
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|
5
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Karnataka
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Mysore
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|
6
|
Kerala
|
Kochi
|
|
7
|
Madhya Pradesh
|
Bhopal
|
|
8
|
Maharashtra
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Pune
|
|
9
|
Orissa
|
Bhubaneswar
|
|
10
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Punjab
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Amritsar
|
|
11
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Rajasthan
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Jaipur
|
|
12
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Tamil Nadu
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Coimbatore
|
|
13
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Uttar Pradesh
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Greater Noida
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|
14
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West Bengal
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Kolkata
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This information was given by Shri Arjun Singh, the Minister of Human Resource Development in a written reply to a question in the Lok Sabha today.
December 16th, 2008
The Indian government has announced to have 16 central universities in states that do not have any. Following are the states and the locations in those states that are being championed by those states. In some states existing universities will be upgraded to central university status:
- Bihar – Near Motihari, East Champaran District
- Chhatisgarh – Guru Ghasidas University, Bilaspur will be upgraded (approved by cabinet)
-
- Gujarat – Gandhinagar
- Haryana – Mirzapur Bachhor Village In Mahendergarh District
- Himachal Pradesh – Kangra
- Jharkhand – Khunti (near Ranchi)
- J & K – Dual Campus in Jammu & Srinagar
- Karnataka – Suntanur-Kadaganchi on the Aland Road , Gulbarga
- Kerala – Kasaragod
- Madhya Pradesh – Dr. Hari Singh Gaur University, Sagar will be upgraded (approved by cabinet)
- Orissa – Koraput
- Punjab – Bathinda
- Rajasthan – Bikaner
- Tamil Nadu – Tiruvarur
- Uttarakhand – Hemwati Nandan Bahuguna Garhwal University will be upgraded (approved by cabinet)
The location of the new IITs are (the existing ones are at Bombay, Delhi, Kharagpur, Kanpur, Madras, Guwahati and Roorkee and IT BHU is to be upgraded):
- Andhra Pradesh – Hyderabad
- Bihar – Patna
- Gujarat – Gandhinagar
- Himachal Pradesh – Mandi
- Madhya Pradesh – Indore
- Orissa – Bhubaneswar
- Punjab – Rupnagar
- Rajasthan – Jodhpur
The location of the new IIMs are (the existing ones are at Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Kolkata, Indore, Kozhikode and Lucknow) :
- Uttarakhand – Dehradun
- J & K – Srinagar
- Chhatisgarh – Raipur
- Haryana – Rohtak
- Jharkhand – Kanke, Ranchi
- Tamil Nadu – Tiruchi
- Meghalaya – Shillong
November 22nd, 2008
Update: See also this article in Times of India.
Following are excerpts from a report in Telegraph.
The Prime Minister’s plans of setting up a new class of universities to specifically compete with global institutions are being held up by differences between key government arms.
The HRD ministry has proposed a category of “Navratna” institutes comprising 14 new universities and existing top state varsities, government officials have said.
These institutes would be on a par with “world-class” universities but would be known by the new name because some people are against the earlier nomenclature.
The universities of Calcutta, Mumbai and Chennai are being considered for Navratna status.
However, the University Grants Commission has opposed starting institutes with the specific mandate of competing with the world’s best, sources said.
… The UPA government had promised 14 new world-class universities, including one in Calcutta, under the eleventh five-year plan. But the differences have led to an impasse and the plans, though not yet shelved, are headed for the backburner, the sources said.
… At meetings with universities in July, September and last week, HRD ministry officials were questioned on how a new university stood a better chance of becoming “world-class” compared with established institutions.
So, the ministry — through higher education secretary R.P. Agrawal — suggested that instead of having just 14 new world-class universities, a new category could be created.
This could be called the Navratna category and it could include top state universities apart from the 14 new ones aspiring to world-class standards.
But UGC chairman Sukhdeo Thorat apparently said that creating another category would introduce a new Brahmin into an already layered “caste system” in higher education.
Under the “caste system”, central universities receive maximum attention from policy makers, followed by state universities. Deemed-to-be universities are a rung lower.
… Officials have also questioned the basis on which state universities would be given Navratna status.
“For instance, if Calcutta University is given the status, how can we refuse Jadavpur University?” an official asked.
The concept of “world class universities” is a part of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s plans to make India a “knowledge economy” — a global hub of myriad branches of education and learning.
The initial plan sees them as unified centres of excellence in engineering, the sciences, humanities, management and medicine — on a par with the IITs, IIMs and the AIIMS.
November 19th, 2008
The Bhubaneswar-Cuttack-Puri area will have 25 universities. Following is a slide on it from my presentation at the Invest India Symposium.
The color coding in the above slides is as follows:
- Red – Central govt funded universities/institutes
- Navy Blue: State govt. funded universities
- Light blue: PPP
- Green: Privately created universities and deemed universities
- Orange: Mention about colleges that are part of various universities
To compare this with the universities in the major metropolitan areas of the US and the state of California, please see:
- Boston: 18 four year colleges and universities in the city and 24 in the surrounding areas, some listed twice as they have campuses in the city as well as in the surrounding areas.
- New York:83 colleges and universities in New York City, not counting the 22 individual colleges of CUNY.
- Los Angeles:
- Chicago: 43 colleges and universities
- California
The reason we use California as a reference point is that the population of California (34,600,463 in 2001) is close to the population of Orissa (2001: 36,804,660).
November 8th, 2008
Following is the PIB report on this from http://pib.nic.in/release/release.asp?relid=43391.
The Government today gave its approval for establishment of 12 new Central Universities in 12 States and taking over and conversion of 4 existing State Universities.
A new Central University is to be established in each of the twelve States, namely, Bihar, Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Kerala, Orissa, Punjab, Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu, with Central Government funding, at such location within each State as may be notified by the Central Government.
Further, the Cabinet also approved the proposal for taking over and conversion of Dr. Harisingh Gour Vishwavidyalaya, Sagar in the State of Madhya Pradesh, Guru Ghasidas Vishwavidyalaya, Bilaspur in the State of Chhattisgarh, Hemvati Nandan Bahuguna Garhwal University, Srinagar in the State of Uttarakhand, and Goa University, Goa into Central Universities, with Central Government funding.
The Government proposes to introduce the Central Universities Bill, 2008, in Parliament during the forthcoming session.
In Orissa, the state government has proposed that this university be established in Koraput.
October 3rd, 2008
The following excerpt from a news item from the statesman is confusing. It talks about MHRD starting 6 central universities. It is not clear what is happening with the other 24 proposed central universities.
The Human Resources Development (HRD) ministry has decided to allot Rs 6,200 crore to six states including West Bengal, for setting up Central universities.
The funds would be disbursed to the respective states after the plots are identified. Funds will be provided under the eleventh five-year plan, HRD ministry officials said. …
Other than West Bengal, universities will be set up in Karnataka, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Punjab and Uttaranchal. These states have already identified lands for the proposed institute and have accordingly informed the HRD ministry. A senior official of the ministry said the universities are supposed to come up on 700 to 1,000 acre of land, which are easily accessible.
… The proposed residential university will lay more emphasis on courses in foreign languages such as Chinese, Japanese, French, German, Spanish and Italian. Subjects like engineering, medical science, computer science, arts and management will also be taught in the university. Students from Bangladesh, China, Nepal, Tibet and Singapore are expected to seek admission to the university. The university will also offer courses in Buddhist philosophy, Chinese philosophy and Tibetan philosophy.
September 20th, 2008
Update: See http://knowledgecommission.gov.in/downloads/documents/Letter_World_Class_Universities.pdf for National Knowledge Commission’s take on this.
Following is an excerpt from a report in Indian Express.
An all-India common entrance examination, a student-count not exceeding 12,000, the best of faculty with incentives over and above regular pay, a curriculum revised every three years, a semester system, private sector funding, vice-chancellors with at least decade-long teaching experience, collaboration with universities and institutes in India and abroad, academic creativity free from red tapism — all this and more will go into the making of 14 World Class Universities (WCUs) very shortly.
And these sweeping changes are also likely to be applied to all existing universities and 16 Central universities that have recently been approved by the Cabinet. What will change, however, is the nomenclature for the 14 WCUs. Officials say these are now likely to be christened National Universities and the related legislation will be called the National Universities Act.
The basic blueprint for the WCUs has been formulated by the University Grants Commission (UGC) and the first round of discussions, held in New Delhi today, involved academicians, experts, officials from the Human Resource Development Ministry, UGC and Planning Commission.
“There was a very interactive discussion on the WCUs and a major viewpoint emerged. Participants felt there should be a similar legislation for all Central universities, including the 16 which just got Cabinet approval, and all existing universities. The view was that there should be no hierarchy or disparity in standards amongst universities and the reforms and changes suggested for WCUs should be applied to all universities,” an official who attended the meeting told The Indian Express.
“There were strong reservations against the term ‘world class’ and it was decided they will be called National Universities instead,” the official said.
While more discussions will follow, sources said that the UGC and HRD Ministry hope to be ready with a legislation in time for the Parliament session. …
The WCUs are envisaged as unitary universities, like JNU, without any affiliation and multi-facility based, offering subjects ranging from natural sciences, social sciences and humanities to engineering, technology and medicine among others.
Promised autonomy in matters of admission of students and standards for selection, introduction and revision of contextual and innovative curricula, opening of new campuses and new programmes, intake of students, examinations and evaluation systems, faculty recruitment and national and international collaborations, the WCUs are planned as model institutes that will stand apart from existing universities.
That getting the best of faculty is high on the agenda for these new universities is apparent as the concept paper suggest that individuals with high quality research/training experience could be invited to join the faculty even if they have not applied for the job — as is also done in JNU. The universities, the paper says, should also be allowed to develop own hiring policies and pay higher emoluments and non-salary incentives over and above regular pay scales. The blueprint also recommends that private sector funding be permitted as long as it does not compromise academic integrity and autonomy of the university.
While the UGC’s earlier draft on WCUs did not quite impress the Prime Minister’s Office — it is keenly following the ambitious project — the new concept paper is said to have been found to be more “forward looking”. The legislation will also be so worded that it does not lead to rigid bureaucratic controls that stifle quality and creativity and spell out only “what to do” instead of “how to do”.
August 24th, 2008
Update: As per http://pib.nic.in/release/release.asp?relid=41316&kwd= possible location of 9 of the 10 NITs are:
? … Manipur, Mizoram, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Uttrakhand, Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh.
ï‚· The NIT at Goa may also cater to the needs of Daman & Diu, Dadra & Nagar Haveli and Lakshadweep.
ï‚· Pudducherry or Andaman & Nicobar may have one common NIT, which will cater the needs of each.
Following are excerpts from the PIB release http://pib.nic.in/release/release.asp?relid=41190.
… The initiative to set up eight new Indian Institutes of Technology is on course with the first academic sessions starting in 2008 in six of the new IITs in Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Rajasthan, Orissa, Punjab and Gujarat . The session for IIT Orissa has already been started at lIT Kharagpur in July 2008 and classes will begin for IIT Punjab at lIT Delhi in Sept 2008. And the academic session for the other 4 new IITs, will begin during August 2008.
Out of the 7 new Indian Institutes of Management proposed the IIM at Shillong has already commenced its first academic session from July 2008. The remaining six IIMs will be established in Jharkhand, Chattisgarh, Uttarakhand, Jammu & Kashmir, Tamil Nadu and Haryana.
The government proposal to set up five Indian Institutes of Science Education and Research is on schedule. Of these two IISERs at Pune and Kolkata were inaugurated in 2006-07 and are now fully functional, and the IISER Mohali started its first academic session in 2007-08. Two more IISERs at Bhopal and Thiruvanthapuram will commence their first academic sessions in August, 2008.
Two Schools of Planning & Architecture (SPAs) are being set up at Bhopal and Vijayawada . Classes in both the new SPAs will begin with the academic session of 2008 through temporary campuses. The SPA Bhopal will be mentored by NIT Bhopal while the SPA at Vijayawada will be mentored by SPA, Delhi .
The strengthening of Polytechnics is under way with steps being taken to set up 1000 polytechnics (300 in Government Sector, 300 through PPP mode and 400 private polytechnics); Further 500 existing polytechnics are being expanded and the Community Polytechnics scheme being revamped and their number being increased from 669 to 1000.
Steps are being taken establish 10 new National Institutes of Technology. The likely location of these NITs will be in States/UTs which at present don’t have an NIT.
Sixteen Central Universities are being set up under the initiative seeking to established a Central University in states not having a Central University . Four existing universities; Sagar University in Madhya Pradesh, Bilaspur University in Chhatisgarh, Garhwal University in Uttrakhand and Goa University, are proposed to be taken over and upgraded as Central Universities. The remaining 12 new universities are to be set up in Bihar, Jharkhand, Orissa, Gujarat, Haryana, Punjab , Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh, J&K, Kamataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu.
14 World Class Central Universities (WCCU), are proposed with the locations being firmed up in consultation with the Planning Commission. The State Governments have been requested to identify suitable land.
A total of 373 degree colleges will be set up in the districts having GER lower than the national average as identified by the UGC. Out of these districts, about 90 districts have been shortlisted which have less than 6% GER, have less than 4 colleges per lakh of population and are also minority concentration districts. It is proposed to fast-track the starting of the degree colleges in these shortlisted districts this year.
Twenty Indian Institutes of Information Technology are planned with NAASCOM having submitted a project report. The setting up of the IIITs under the PPP mode has been discussed with the States and most of the States agreed to tap not-for-profit private investment, while ensuring that PPP should not lead to any erosion of access to the poor sections of society.
Scholarships for College and University students, based on merit, to non-creamy layer students numbering about 2% of the. student population will be given to those who pass out from various intermediate boards. The scholarship will be Rs.l,000 per month for the first 2 years after which it will be of Rs.2000 per month for the balance period of the professional or other courses in Higher Education. Every year about 41,000 boys and 41,000 girls will benefit from the scheme.
The government is working on an Education Loan Interest Subsidy Scheme. It will be a Central Sector scheme for providing interest subsidy during the moratorium period on the educational loans taken by students belonging to "non-creamy" layer for pursuing professional education in India.
All the Central Educational Institutions are implementing OBC reservations as per the Central Educational Institutions (Reservation in Admission) Act, 2006 from this year onward on a staggered basis and the necessary funds have been released to all of them, after holding the meetings of the Empowered Committees. All the IITs, IIMs and the Central Universities that are covered under the Act have started giving reservations to OBCs in a staggered manner. As a result of the implementation of OBC reservations in this academic year, there is an increase of over 20500 in the intake capacity in the Central Educational Institutions.
The states and union territories that do not have NITs are:
- Delhi
- Uttarakhand
- Goa
- Dadra and nagar haveli
- Pondicherry
- Andaman and Nicobar islands
- Lakshadweep
- Meghalaya
- Mizoram
- Manipur
- Nagaland
- Arunachal Pradesh
- Sikkim
So, I guess the majority of the 10 new NITs will be in these states. My guess would be 2, 3, 5, 8-13. (I skipped 1 because I wonder if there is any space left in proper Delhi for an NIT. The rest that I skipped, 4,6 and 7, are very remote as well as hard to reach places.) That makes 9 NITs. It would be interesting to see where the 10th NIT will be located.
August 8th, 2008
Following is from a news report in Statesman.
Chief minister Mr Naveen Patnaik suggested the establishment of the proposed Central university might be at Koraput and demanded for setting up IIT near Bhubaneswar to start as soon as possible.
In two separate missives to Union minister for human resources development Mr Arjun Singh today, the chief minister noted the establishment of proposed Central university at Koraput would reduce the existing disparity in education in the state. Maintaining that Koraput has been a backward region as far as education is concerned, Mr Patnaik said that besides 500 acres of land, the proposed site has water, power, road and rail connectivity.
"The Jeypore airstrip is just 30 km away from Koraput," the CM pointed out. "The Union government should send a technical team and start the university work soon," Mr Patnaik suggested.
He also put emphasis on the early set up of the IIT. The state government has identified 500 acres of land for this purpose and can make available more land. Assuring that the state government would provide all sorts of required support, the chief minister urged for early start of construction work.
August 6th, 2008
Following is an excerpt from a report in Telegraph.
The Centre is set to approve a proposal soon to start 14 world-class central universities across the country, … , in an ambitious bid to catch up with the West’s higher education standards.
The proposal for the universities, enunciated in the Eleventh Five Year Plan, will be placed before the cabinet on Thursday and is expected to be cleared soon, top government officials said.
Cabinet recognition is required to formally begin work on the proposal.
The universities will, like other central universities, be funded by New Delhi, but will have the additional mandate of competing in standards with globally renowned varsities like Harvard, Oxford or Cambridge, sources said.
“We expect the cabinet to clear the proposal soon, ideally in one sitting itself. We do not anticipate any opposition,” a senior official at the human resource development ministry said.
Pune, Calcutta, Coimbatore, Mysore, Visakhapatnam, Gandhinagar, Jaipur, Patna, Bhopal, Kochi, Amritsar, Bhubaneswar, Guwahati and Greater Noida have been selected as places where the universities will come up.
“Each of the state governments concerned have identified 700 acres of land. But they cannot begin land acquisition till the cabinet clears the plan,” a source said.
The HRD ministry expects each university to cost over Rs 720 crore, putting the total price tag for the venture at a minimum of Rs 10,080 crore.
Once the cabinet clears the proposal, the HRD ministry plans to hurry through the construction of infrastructure in a bid to try and start academic sessions for “most” of the institutes by 2009, sources said.
“We have been given a clear political indication to get things ready for the launch of the universities by the next academic session,” a source said.
Each campus will have four schools — of engineering, medicine, humanities and sciences — sources said.
Each of the four schools will be built along the lines of India’s best institutions in their field. Unlike existing central varsities, the new centres will focus more on cutting-edge research across streams than on teaching, sources said.
July 30th, 2008
Following is an excerpt from a report in Business Standard.
A draft Ordinance for 12 new universities and upgrading four Bilaspur University (Chattisgarh), Garhwal University (Uttarakhand), Goa University and Sagar University (Madhya Pradesh) is expected to be put up for Union Cabinet approval. This will take the number of central universities to 37.
An Ordinance for the new IITs is also being considered to implement the initiatives that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had formally announced in his Independence Day address in 2007.
The department of higher education had earlier sought Cabinet approval to amend the Institutes of Technology Act, 1961, to include the eight new IITs and to form a society under the Societies Act, 1861, to set them up. The plan to form a society is being shelved to hasten the process. With the Banaras Hindu University’s Institute of Technology also slated to be upgraded to an IIT, the number of IITs will increase to 16.
For the new IITs, the government has provided for Rs 2,000 crore in the 11th Plan and, to start with, Rs 50 crore has been allocated in Budget 2008. For the 16 central universities, Rs 2,725 crore has been provided for in the Planm, with Rs 50 crore allocated in the Budget.
July 14th, 2008
Following is an excerpt from a report in Times of India.
Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda on Saturday said an Indian Institute of Management (IIM) would be set up at Garnawathi in Rohtak district.
… The chief minister said a Central University would be set up in Mahendergarh district with the help of Central Government and it would be named after Lord Krishna.
The Centre has also sanctioned the setting up of a Defence University in the state.
July 12th, 2008
Following are excerpts from a report in The Hindu.
The Central University, Tiruvarur, will begin functioning from this year.
Since the Centre has come forward to commence the operations of the university, the government will identify temporary buildings to locate the university.
This was one of the decisions taken on the first day of the two-day annual District Collectors and police officers’ conference, chaired by Chief Minister M.Karunanidhi here on Thursday.
Mr. Karunanidhi advised Collectors of Perambalur, Villupuram, Tiruvarur and Sivaganga to expedite identification of land for setting up government medical colleges. He wanted them to hand over the lands at the earliest.
At the end of the first day of the conference, in which all the major schemes came up for elaborate discussion in the morning, it was decided that expeditious action would be taken to identify and allot land to the Central University in Coimbatore and the Indian Institute of Management in Tiruchi.
Following is an excerpt from a report in expressindia.com.
With the state government giving its nod to set up the Central university in Dehra sub-division of Kangra district, …
The university would include engineering, medical and other educational institutions to be opened under the umbrella of the Central University.
The Centre would bear the cost of the entire infrastructure. The state government has to provide the land and fulfill other formalities.
Sources said about 800 acres of land is available near Dehra town where the Himachal Road Transport Corporation workshop is situated. Sources said all revenue papers, along with the proposals, have been sent to the HRD Ministry. A team of the HRD Ministry has already visited the site and approved it.
July 2nd, 2008