MP Pyari Mohapatra’s question is in page 21 Q 1456 of http://164.100.47.5/EDAILYQUESTIONS/sessionno/219/830RS.pdf. See below for the question and the answer.
The above Q&A is referred to in the Pioneer report http://dailypioneer.com/246034/ESIC-issue-Labour-Minister-fumbles-at-Rourkela-meet.html. From the answer it is not clear what the IP situation really is. While the Bhubaneswar area may have very substantial number of IPs, there could still be more in the Rourkela area and the ESIC medical college should then be established in Rourkela. So saying "very substantial" is not meaningful. I could not find the annexure mentioned in the Rajya Sabha answer.
If someone has the real data, please publish it so that any manipulation will become clear.
(Note: The discussion in this thread will be restricted to exact IP numbers in Odisha and nothing else.)
April 1st, 2010
Following is an excerpt from a report in Expressbuzz.com.
The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT)-Bhubaneswar has proposed establishment of Innovative Centre for Climate Change (ICCC) here.
Director of IIT-Bhubaneswar Madhusudan Chakraborty who met Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik here at the Secretariat today along with a team of experts gave this proposal to him.
Chakraborty said school of earth, ocean and environment is being established in Bhubaneswar IIT.
The school will impart teaching on land, water, air and environment and proposed research in the subject.
The IIT is keen on establishment of research institute of this school on climate change, he said.
Prof Abhijit Gangopadhyay of the American University of Massachusetts, said the institute will conduct research on climate change, adding, information on climate will be availed from different sources for research.
Rise in sea level, extreme weather, changing eco-system, air quality and pollution, affect of the changes in the human health, shortage of drinking and energy needs will be dealt with in this advanced research centre, he said.
The institute will also conduct research on the impact of climate change on the ecosystem of Chilika lake. He requested the Chief Minister to provide land with necessary infrastructure for the institute.
A similar center proposed in 2007, called "Center for Climate Change Research" (CCCR), was established at the Institute of Tropical Meteorology in Pune last year. This center has 20 scientists positions.
March 31st, 2010
The deadline for the coming year is past. But one can get the details for future years from http://www.iitkgp.ac.in/downloads/mtech_new1.pdf. Following is information from that page.
The following two M. Tech programmes will be offered for faculty members of AICTE-recognized programmes of Engineering Colleges:
1. M. Tech in Electrical Engineering
2. M. Tech in Electronics & Communication Engineering
The programmes will be offered from January 2010.
Programme Features
The features of these programmes and the mode of delivery are elucidated below.
• Each programme will be of three-year duration.
• These programmes will be offered in the holidays and beyond office hours on weekdays to facilitate the teachers employed in the engineering colleges to attend the classes.
• The programme may be offered during summer vacation.
• Since the potential student base for these programmes exist in Kolkata and Bhubaneswar, these programmes will be offered in the Extension Centers of the Institute at Kolkata and Bhubaneswar.
• A mixed mode of teaching through video-conferencing and face-to-face interaction will be adopted in these programmes.
• A faculty will deliver a lecture at any of the locations (primarily Kharagpur) and the students at Kolkata and Bhubaneswar will be able to attend the lecture and interact with the faculty through video-conferencing.
• The tutorials, seminars, and comprehensive viva-voce examinations will be conducted also in the above-stated mode, as and when required.
• The recorded lectures, tutorials, and interactions will be recorded in the two Extension Centres and will be stored at the library of each extension center. They will be available to the students for study during specified hours.
• Students cannot copy these recorded lectures.
• The recorded lectures, tutorials, and interactions will not be used in subsequent semesters as a substitute for live presentations.
• Laboratory classes will be conducted in one weekend of every month at IIT Kharagpur campus at Kharagpur.
• Laboratory classes may also be conducted at the respective extension centers in virtual mode, depending on the availability of the required facilities.
• Projects and supervisors will be assigned to the students by the Programme Coordinator after the completion of first two semesters.
• Students will carry out their project work at their institutions and have to be in constant touch with their supervisors. The sponsoring organizations are required to provide laboratory facilities to the students to carry out their M.Tech project works.
• There will be two class tests in every subject. The class tests will be conducted at Kharagpur when the students come to the Institute during the last weekend of a month for the laboratory class.
• Mid-Semester and End-semester examinations will be conducted at the respective Extension Centers with faculty members as invigilators.
• Comprehensive Viva-Voce will be conducted through video-conferencing.
Number of Students to be Admitted
• Twenty-five in each programme at each Extension Center.
Programme Fee
• Fee for each programme is Rs.2 lakh for each student to be paid in two instalments – the first instalment of Rs.1 lakh to be paid at the time of admission and the second instalment of Rs.1 lakh to be paid one year after the admission. The programme fee includes the tuition fee and the examination fee.
Eligibility for Admission :
• Faculty members associated with the AICTE-recognized programmes of engineering colleges are eligible for admission into the programmes.
• An applicant must have passed B. Tech in appropriate branch with a minimum of 60% marks in the final qualifying examinations (for SC/ST candidates it is 55%).
Application Fee
• The Application Fee of Rs. 2,000.00 for general candidates and Rs. 1,000.00 for SC/ST candidates should be payable by Demand Draft drawn in favour of ‘IIT Kharagpur’ on any nationalized bank payable at Kharagpur.
Undertaking from the Sponsoring Institution
The sponsoring engineering college must give an undertaking that the college will upgrade its own facility (such as laboratories, computer facilities, and library) to enable the sponsored student to carry out his/her M. Tech thesis work in that college.
Selection of Candidates
The candidates will be asked to appear at a written test and an interview to be held at each Extension Center.
Some time back we had suggested something similar. See https://www.orissalinks.com/archives/501. Even with the IIT Kharagpur’s program there is need for more such programs. Perhaps IIIT Bhubaneswar and BPUT can make efforts in this direction.
March 29th, 2010
Following is an excerpt from a report in Deccan Herald.
… the Centre will spend Rs 1,300 cr in upgrading the infrastructure and student accommodation capacity of government medical colleges in state capitals and Rs 1,200 cr in setting up 250 nursing schools, Health Minister Ghulam Nabui Azad said here at a Planning Commission meeting on infrastructure development.
Nursing training will be a key constituent of the government’s health scheme. At the moment, more than nine lakh nurses are registered with the Nursing Council of India.
March 28th, 2010
Update2: Excerpts from Expressbuzz.
An MoU was signed between Ravenshaw University Vice- Chancellor Devdas Chotray and AIPH founder secretary Dr Pinaki Panigrahi for the launch of the Masters in Public Health (MPH) programme. Besides imparting comprehensive skills in public health, the course would turn students into experts on occupational and environmental health, public health informatics and clinical and behavioural sciences. With an extensive hands-on experience, they will pass out as professionals ready to shoulder the challenges of the rise of chronic, infectious, occupational and environmental health problems that are vital contributors to high infant and maternal mortality in the State.
The first of its kind programme in Orissa is accreditated by the Council of Education on Public Health (CEPH) under the USA Government. The students would also gain credit points that would facilitate pursuance of higher studies in the US if they so willed.
But, foremost, the programme would churn out the much needed manpower in the State. There are at least 10,000 jobs for public health professionals in the district and block level under the National Rural health Mission. This apart, public health professionals are much sought after by private health sector enterprises, national and international agencies.
Update: Dharitri’s take on this.
The Asian Institute of Public Health in Bhubaneswar has announced a PG Diploma program in Public Health Informatics. This course will start in September 2010. Some details on the course obtained from their page http://www.aiph.ac.in/academics.html is as follows:
Post Graduate Diploma in Public Health Informatics (24 Credits, 12 months course begins 1st September, 2010)
The objective of this course is to help individuals gain knowledge and skills in informatics concepts and applications and advance the use of informatics in risk assessment, disease monitoring and disease surveillance. The course provides an opportunity for the students to understand the information system architecture in public health, privacy, confidentiality and security issues related to health information systems. Graduate students from all disciplines are eligible for this course that will be offered online three times a year. The course consists of the following modules:
· Introduction to Public Health Informatics (IPHI) – Basics of public health informatics, core competencies of public health professionals, and systematic review of public health information systems.
· Foundation of Health Information Systems (FHIS) – This course is designed to help individuals gain knowledge and skills in public health standards, databases, privacy, confidentiality and security issues relevant to public health information systems.
· Applications of Public Health Informatics (APHI) – overview of clinical decision support systems, Geographic Information Systems, public health surveillance systems.
· Computer mediated Health Education and Health Promotion (CMHEHP) – Web based approaches to health education and health promotion, role of health literacy and varied learning needs of public health consumers and different stakeholders.
· A 12 credit informatics research project will be required to get the Post Graduate Diploma in Public Health Informatics.
The institute seems to have a strong faculty. See http://www.aiph.ac.in/Indian.html.
Surendra K. Mishra, MSc, PGDA, DCS
Health systems, behavioural sciences research and communication, reproductive health
Ashish Joshi, MD, MPH
Public health informatics, health outcomes research, design of multi-component interventions
Niharika Khanna, MD, DCH
HPV epidemiology, cervical cancer, cancer vaccines
Prasanna Nair, MD, MPH
Maternal and child health, epidemiology, HIV/AIDS
P N Padmanabhan, PhD, FAAASc
Nutrition, non-invasive methods for monitoring gastrointestinal health, cancer prevention
Seba Mohapatra, MD
Maternal health, health systems
Pinaki Panigrahi, MD, PhD
Epidemiology, field surveillance, human research protection, clinical trials
P. K. Senapati, MD
Health systems, health care delivery and administration
S. Ramanathan, MPhil
Health economics and finance, reproductive health, gender and equity
Preethy Nayar, MBBS, MPhil, PhD
Health services research & administration, program and policy evaluation
Shireen Rajaram, PhD
Social and behavioral sciences, access to health care, health care disparity
Pritish Nanda, PGDHM, MPH
Health communication, hospital management, social mobilization, program management
E. Venkata Rao, MD
Epidemiology, financial management
U.S.-based faculty teaching at AIPH, Bhubaneswar
Patrik Johansson, MD, MPH.
Health communication, community-based participatory research
Ayman El-Mohandes, MD, MPH
International health, program evaluation
J. Glenn Morris Jr, MD, MPH&TM
Infectious diseases, Cholera, emerging and re-emerging diseases
Ira H. Gewolb, MD
Newborn health, biostatistics
Judith A. Johnson, PhD
Infectious diseases, antibiotic resistance, clinical microbiology
Magda G. Peck, ScD
Leadership development and practice, childhood well being evaluation
Chandran Achutan, PhD
Occupational and environmental health
Hala Azzam, PhD, MPH
Workforce development and training, field assessments, HIV/AIDS
Hrishikesh Chakraborty, DrPH
Biostatistics, epidemiology, cluster randomized trials
James Sherry, MD,PhD
Health policy, international health
Jaime Gofin, MD, PhD
Program evaluation, community-oriented primary care
Li-Wu Chen, MHSA, PhD
Health economics, cost-effectiveness analysis, health care utilization by underserved population
KM Monirul Islam, MBBS, PhD
Epidemiology, international health, development of surveillance system and evaluation
Ge Lin, PhD
GIS and spatial statistics, statistic methods for defining and quantifying their spatial signals
This instiute will add to the public health offerings in India which include various IIPH offerings such as:
- IIPH Delhi: PG Diploma in (a) Clinical Research (b) Public Health Management and (c) Health Economics, Health Care Financing and Health Policy
- IIPH Hyderabad: PG Diploma in (a) Biostatistics and Data Management
- IIPH Gandhinagar: PG Diploma in (a) Public Health Management
The IIPH in Bhubaneswar (different from the AIPH) is also scheduled to start in July 2010. The AIPH and IIPH in Bhubaneswar will make Bhubaneswar a strong public health education destination. I hope both will spread their wings across Odisha so that some of the current public health issues of interior Odisha are adequately addressed. I am told AIPH is already doing that and has research projects involving interior and tribal Odisha.
Pioneer reports today that AIPH has signed an MOU with Ravenshaw University. This is a great partnership and beneficial to both.
March 27th, 2010
The web site of this event is http://www.almafiesta.com/. Their blog is at http://almafiesta.com/blog/. Following are some planned highlights of this festival.
We start with the most important one:
Alma Fiesta, IIT Bhubaneswar and Smt. Nandini Satpathy Memorial Trust Presents
Perspective: The Social Case Study Competition
Problem Statement:
Politics in India continues to be a murky and tabooed business which is being rarely taken up by the youth of present generation. Youth owns the key to dynamic thinking and action and thus are the indispensable part of a country’s politics. Present your views highlighting the current scenario of the youth participation in politics, the plan to increase this participation and also the plan to bring out the transparencies in the work of a politician.
Method of Submission: The participants are required to submit online their aforesaid visionary plan in form of a presentation in .pdf format by 25 March 2010 before 11.55 PM. The selected participants will present their plan before judge and audience on 27 March 2010. The presentations can be mailed to submissions@almafiesta.com before the deadline. No registration fees are required for submitting your presentations. So pen down your ideas and get the title of ‘SNSMT-IIT BBS Social Change maker of 2010’ along with various exciting prizes. For any queries contact: Mudit Sharma mudit@almafiesta.com +91 93385 75352.
Following are the rest of the events.
- Topsy Turvy : Inter College Group Dance Competition
Topsy Turvy, Put your best foot forward, because Topsy Turvy inter-college dance competition is sure to excite everyone to put on their dancing shoes. Be a part of our fiesta and drink in from the excitement.
- Face Off
Imagination is reality; dreams, thoughts and delusions are no less real than the "outside" world. Reality is a consensus, the same consensus the audience accepts when they enter a theatre to see a play and, for a time, pretend that what they are seeing is real. FACE OFF, an intercollegiate stage play event, is one of those platforms to experience the "reality”. So come, witness the reality on the stage and the director’s mind at work behind the scenes.
- N-Circled
Give the audience a hint of a scene, no more than that. Give them too much and they won’t contribute anything themselves. Give them just a suggestion and you get them working with you. That’s what gives the Street Play meaning: when it becomes a social cause. So be there to be a part of a social causes @ N-CIRCLED – an intercollegiate street play competition.
- EUPHONY
In the Iron Maiden edition of the Dream Theatre pluck the MetallicaStrings to elevate from the System of a Down and let the world Parikrama around you to attain Nirvana. If music is your passion and life then euphony, an inter college band competition for both eastern and western genres, is the right chance to test your ardor. The vim and vigour of music bands will be at its peak and the spirit of music is going to fill the entire ambience with a tone of mesmerisation.
- TRACK THE TRACK
Music is the harmony between melody, rhythm and expressions and thus for a song to touch the soul one needs to properly ‘Track the Track’. This sing-along karaoke event is a unique opportunity for the music enthusiasts to show up their talent. So hit the music loud and prove your mettle.
- ANTAKSHARI
A contest for the movie track fanatics who are experts in the lyrics. A common, Classic game yet can be mind-boggling at times. To triumph in the event means to be quick and sharp enough to get the right song. It is time to fine tune your musical knowledge and portray it to the world.
- Decoding Shakespeare
- Gone in 60 seconds
- Lit-Spree
- IIT Bhubaneswar Youth Quiz
A Quiz on Pan Youth Topics. Be it movies, music, gadgets, ads or IT-this quiz comes as a whole some package of fun entertainment.
- Heads or Tails: Citius, Altius, Fortius!
Bored of traditional quizzes of Tech, Biz, India…? Want a change? We could sense that. So here is an offbeat quiz purely dedicated to the Sports Turf. For all Sports Frenzied Junta Heads or Tails? Call it right!
- Youth Marathon
- Your Honour: The mock board room event.
Motion:
Ostracism, humiliation and mistreatment at the hands of family members, community and the medical fraternity are increasing in Orissa. Not only people living with HIV and AIDS but also their family members are equally suffering and facing the challenges in different setting. The question is whether we need to practice a differential treatment/approach to address the issue of people living with HIV-AIDS or not?
- PALETTE
With the brush in your hand swipe the fog out of the sky and give life to your imaginations. Let the world acknowledge your endless dreams. Colours being your mouthpiece tell the unspoken and leave the beholder standstill. Mismatch the colours on this palette and paint life.
- LEAF COLLAGE
Attention!!
Dare not miss this opportunity to expose your ingenious dexterity. Let the foliage mirror your imagination and creativity in your grey cells. Leaves are waiting to reflect your artistic thoughts. Share your ideas, feelings, no matter what you want to express, through leave collage. Give a shape to your imagination and let the clutters of leaves take the pride to represent the artist in you.
- Mahfile-E-Hansi: Dr. Kumar Vishwas
- Classical Reloaded: Pandit Vishwa Mohan Bhatt and Salil Bhatt; Akram Khan
- Leela: Orissa Dance Academy led by Aruna Mohanty
- Headbang: Kryptos
- Celebration of World Theater Day on 27th March in collaboration with Natya Chetana
- Commemoration of Earth hour on 27th March
One important aspect of this festival is that it is mainly organized by the students with some (minimal) guidance from the faculty and a very small percentage of funding from the IIT. The students find sponsors who cover most of the budget. They organize the events.
March 26th, 2010
Following is from http://pib.nic.in/release/release.asp?relid=59877.
Subject: Proposal for Setting up of National Knowledge Network (NKN)
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14:24 IST |
CCI Decision
Decision: Cabinet Committee on Infrastructure has approved the establishment of the National Knowledge Network (NKN) at an outlay of Rs.5990 crore to be implemented by NIC over a period of 10 years.
Point-wise details
1. Background:
1.1 One of the important recommendations of the National Knowledge Commission (NKC) is to inter-connect all knowledge institutions through high speed data communication network. This would encourage sharing of knowledge, specialized resources and collaborative research.
1.2 The Government’s decision to set up such a National Knowledge Network was announced by the Finance Minister in the Budget speech of 2008-09. An initial amount of Rs.100 crore for FY 2008-09 was allocated to the Department of Information Technology, Ministry of Communications and IT for establishing the National Knowledge Network. A high level committee was set up under the Chairmanship of Dr. R. Chidambaram, Principal Scientific Adviser to the Government of India, to coordinate and monitor the establishment of the NKN.
2. Implementation strategy and targets:
2.1 The architecture of the National Knowledge Network will be scalable and the network will consist of an ultra-high speed core (multiples of 10 Gbps and upwards). The core shall be complemented with a distribution layer at appropriate speeds. The participating institutions can connect to the NKN at speeds of 1 Gbps or to the distribution layer through a last mile connectivity bandwidth.
2.2 The NKN will provide nation-wide ultra high speed backbone/data-network highway. Various other networks in the country can take advantage of this ultra high speed backbone, with national and international reach to create independent and closed user groups.
2.3 The NKN will have about 25 core Point of Presence (PoPs) and 600 secondary PoPs. It will connect around 1500 institutions. The Physical Infrastructure (setting up of core network) is expected to be completed in a span of 24 months.
3. Major Impact:
3.1 NKN will enable scientists, researchers and students from diverse spheres across the country to work together for advancing human development in critical and emerging areas. NKN willcatalyse knowledge sharing and knowledge transfer between stakeholders seamlessly – that too across the nation and globally. NKN is expected to encourage a larger section of research and educational institutions to create intellectual property. NKN would enable use of specialized applications, which allow sharing of high performance computing facilities, e-libraries, virtual classrooms and very large databases.
3.2 Health, Education, Grid Computing, Agriculture and e-Governance are the main applications identified for implementation and delivery on NKN. Applications such as countrywide classrooms will address the issue of faculty shortage and ensure quality education delivery across the country. The crux of the success of the Knowledge Network is related to the education related applications, databases and delivery of services to the users on demand.
4. Current status of initial phase
In the initial phase, a core Backbone consisting of 15 Points of Presence (PoPs) have been established with 2.5 Gbps capacity. Around 40 institutions of higher learning and advanced research have already been connected to the network and 6 virtual classrooms set up.
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AD/LV
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March 26th, 2010
Following is an excerpt from a report in Business Standard.
… An official confirmed the ministry met these institutes almost two weeks ago to discuss these plans.
Yale’s talks with the HRD ministry involve mentoring all 14 universities through its leadership programme. Since none of these universities have been built, the Ivy League university’s role is to act as consultant and conceptualiser,
“Minister Sibal has agreed to work with us on the new innovation universities for references and conceptualising. We will be developing leadership programmes for the deans and vice chancellors of these universities,” George Joseph, assistant secretary, Yale University, told Business Standard.
“We don’t plan to set up an India campus anytime soon … but we would like to mentor the new innovation universities just like the Indian Institutes of Technology were mentored when they were established,” he added.
Each “innovation university” is expected to focus on one area or problem of significance to India, such as urbanisation, environmental sustainability and public health.
MIT has expressed interest in mentoring one university that is focused on the energy sector. …
Meanwhile, Yale also plans to use part of the funds from its Yale India initiative for the leadership programme for these new universities. The initiative began in November 2008 and now has almost $75 million (Rs 338 crore).
March 22nd, 2010
As per the report in http://pib.nic.in/release/release.asp?relid=59071 Grants Medical College, Mumbai is being upgraded to AIIMS level in the first phase and Govt. Medical College, Nagpur is scheduled to be upgraded to AIIMS level in the second phase. Following news item from Times of India mentions about a third proposal in the making with respect to BJ Medical College Pune.
Plans are afoot to upgrade the city’s B J Medical College and Sassoon hospital to the level of Delhi’s All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS).
… The joint director of medical education and research has directed the dean of B J Medical College to submit a plan to this effect. Confirming this, BJMC and Sassoon hospital dean Arun Jamkar said the plan would cost approximately Rs 350 crore on execution.
… "We have started framing the proposal as directed by the DMER and the blueprint will be submitted in a few days. We hope that it will be translated into reality," said Jamkar.
As we have mentioned several times earlier, the Odisha government should propose the upgrdataion of one of its existing state medical college to the AIIMS level.
March 20th, 2010
Following is from PIB http://pib.nic.in/release/release.asp?relid=59783.
Revised Cost Estimates for setting up of six AIIMS –like institutions and upgradation of 13 existing Government medical college institutions, in the first phase of Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Yojana
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15:24 IST |
| The Union Cabinet today approved the Revised Cost Estimates (RCE) for setting up of six new AIIMS like Institutions and upgradation of 13 existing Government Medical College Institutions under PMSSY (Phase I) for an outlay of Rs.9307.62 crore. The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs had earlier approved the Scheme for Rs.3975.99 crore. Due to substantial changes in the cost and scope of the works the requirement of funds has trebled necessitating a fresh Cabinet approval.
The allocation made for the PMSSY-Phase I projects for the XI Plan was Rs.3955 crore. Additional expenditure involved would be Rs.5535.62 crore. However, the allocation of XI Plan is sufficient to meet the expenditure in the remaining two years of the plan period
The new institutions/upgraded facilities in the existing medical colleges would provide tertiary health care facilities in and around the location and adjoining districts/States in the country.
The projects under Phase-I of PMSSY are spread over 19 locations in the 16 States of the country. The new AIIMS-like institutions are located at Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh), Bhubaneswar (Orissa), Jodhpur (Rajasthan), Patna (Bihar), Raipur (Chhattisgarh) and Rishikesh (Uttarakhand). The AIIMS-like institutions will be completed by the end of 2012. The upgradation components in Phase-I involves upgradation of Government Medical Colleges at Trivandrum, Salem, Bangalore, Kolkata, Jammu and Srinagar; NIMS, Hyderabad; SGPGIMS, Lucknow; B.J. Medical College, Ahmedabad; RIMS, Ranchi; IMS, BHU, Varanasi; SVIMS, Tirupati; and Grants Medical College, Mumbai.
Background :
The Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Yojana (PMSSY) was initially started in March, 2006 with the object of correcting regional imbalances in the availability of affordable/reliable tertiary healthcare services and also to augment facilities for quality medical education in the country. PMSSY has two components in its first phase – (i) setting up of six AIIMS-like institutions and (ii) upgradation of thirteen existing Government medical college institutions. CCE approved the proposal for setting up AIIMS-like institutions in March 2006 and upgrdation proposal in June 2006 |
March 20th, 2010
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 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
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 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
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