Search for the land for locating IIT Bhubaneswar: Current status
(Update: Telegraph also reports on this.)
The following is from Dharitri.
The following is from Samaja.
June 1st, 2008
New IITs (Bhubaneswar, Hyderabad, Patna, Rajasthan, Punjab and Gujarat): Train connectivity information on Bhubaneswar
Many JEE qualified students may be wondering about the new IITs. In a series of articles we will talk about the IIT in Bhubaneswar and the advantages of the Bhubaneswar area.
Bhubaneswar has excellent connectivity by train, road and air. It has multiple daily direct trains to/from Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, a daily train to/from Mumbai, and trains to/from all corners of India (Guwahati, Kerala, Goa, Gujarat, Jaipur, Punjab, Haradwar, Kanpur, Lucknow, Benras, Patna, Raipur, Bhopal, etc.) It has direct train connections to all the old IITs (Bombay, Delhi, Madras, Kanpur, Kharagpur, Roorkee, and Guwahati).
Following is a map of Bhubaneswar’s railway connectivity.
Continue Reading June 1st, 2008
IIT Bhubaneswar students will most likely stay in MMM Hostel
The students admitted to IIT Bhubaneswar will be taking their first year classes at IIT Kharagpur, the oldest IIT. Most likely they will stay in the MMM Hall at IIT Kharagpur. They will be staying with the IIT Kharagpur students.
This is an excellent idea as the students will bring with them some of the culture, tradition and history of IIT Kharagpur and the student life there. Some of the highlights are : (i) Illumination and Rangoli (ii) Spring Fest (iii) Techno-management festival caleld Kshitij (iv) Hall day (v) Hostel libraries (vi) Wing culture (vii) General championship (viii) Hall and Gymkhanna elections (ix) Hall GBMs and budgets and their spending (x) Scholars Avenue fortnightly newspaper (xi) Equal relationship between juniors and seniors – no calling seniors as Sir, bhai, bhaiyya, dada, etc.
In contrast, the IIT Gujarat students are reported to start their classes at the Vishwakarma Government Engineering College campus at Chandkheda in Gandhinagar district where IIT Bombay has the extension center. They will be more prone to bring with them the culture, tradition and history of that govt. college. IIT Hyderabad students will have to start from scratch, as it is reported that their classes will be held in Isnapur near SangaReddy in Medak district, near Hyderabad.About the arrangements in IIT Rajasthan, Times of India has this to say: "Apartments of IIT-K’s guest house would be converted into hostels for students of IIT-Rajasthan. Classes and labs would be held in shifts. If IIT-K classes are held in the morning shift, IIT-R students would have to attend classes in the evening and similar arrangement would be made for labs".
1 comment June 1st, 2008
Centrally funded IIIT for Chhatisgrah; Orissa should push for one in Berhampur
The recent recommendation of NASSCOM for 20 new IIITs did not include a location in Chhatisgarh. However, as per a recent report in Economic Times Minister of State Mr. Jairam Ramesh has announced the establishment of a IIIT in Chhatisgarh. Following is an excerpt from that report.
"The state government thanks Minister of State for Power and Commerce Jairam Ramesh for announcing at a function held Friday at Sipat in Bilaspur district to set up an IIIT in Chhattisgarh," a government press statement said.
"The state government will soon provide the location for the new IIIT as the announcement was made by the central minister as per the initiatives taken by Chief Minister Raman Singh April 20 when they had a meeting in Raipur," the statement read.
Officials said that the state government may offer a massive plot for the IIIT in Naya Raipur where the government is presently developing a new satellite town that will replace Raipur as the new state capital of Chhattisgarh, probably by 2011.
Naya Raipur, about 20 km east of here and located between national highways 6 and 43, will be spread out over 8,000 hectares.
Regardless of the NASSCOM recommendation the Orissa government and Minister of state Mr. Chandrasekhar Sahu must push for a IIIT in Berhampur, the third largest metropolitan area of Orissa. (The other two, Bhubaneswar and Rourkela, have other national institutions.)
June 1st, 2008
IIT Bhubaneswar to start classes this year in mechanical, electrical and civil engineering
Following is an excerpt from a report in dnaindia.com.
The proposed IITs and their mentor institutions are IIT Gujarat/Gandhinagar (IIT Bombay), Punjab (IIT Delhi), Patna (IIT Guwahati), Rajasthan (IIT Kanpur), Bhubaneswar (IIT Kharagpur), and Hyderabad (IIT Madras). While all will offer electrical and mechanical engineering, IIT Gandhinagar will offer chemical engineering, IIT Bhubaneswar will offer civil engineering, and the rest will offer computer science and engineering.
“The curriculum, syllabus, fee structure and other rules for the new IITs will broadly remain the same as in the respective mentor IITs,” the IIT-B official said.
The first-year classes for IIT Punjab, Rajasthan, and Bhubaneswar will be conducted at the campuses of the mentor IITs. The students will be shifted to the respective locations in the second year. Classes for the other new IITs will be conducted in the cities where the IITs are being located.
5 comments May 31st, 2008
IIT Orissa, Gujarat and Punjab likely to admit students this year
Update: A report in Telegraph has a more detailed story on how this happened.
Following is an excerpt from a report in Hindu.
“Consequent to the government of India issuing notification for the setting up of eight new IITs in the 11th Plan, admissions to three more new IITs in Punjab, Gujarat and Orissa, other than at Hyderabad, Patna and Rajasthan, for the academic session 2008-09 are likely to be made through JEE-2008,” said an official release.
… Counselling for admission begins on June 17 for the declared All-India rank holders. Courses allocated to the successful candidates will be declared on June 30.
“An extended merit list has also been drawn to facilitate admission to other government institutions. Students on the list might be counselled by the Indian Institute of Space-Science Technology, Indian Institutes of Science Education and Research and Rajeev Gandhi Institute of Petroleum Technology. The Indian Institute of Maritime Studies also offers admission based on JEE-2008 results,” said the release.
May 31st, 2008
Six new IITs (including the one in Orissa) to start classes this year
Following is an excerpt from a report in howrah.org.
The Union ministry of human resources development, it is learnt, has given the nod to another three IITs to begin functioning from 2008-09. These are the IITs which are to be located in Orissa, Gujarat and Punjab.
So instead of the initial three IITs that were slated to begin functioning from the forthcoming academic session, the government has now decided to launch another three. A decision to this effect is reported to have been taken earlier this week and conveyed to the existing IITs that will act as their mentor institutes.
The three IITs that were initially expected to begin functioning from 2008-09 are the ones in Bihar, Rajasthan and Andhra Pradesh.
… Punjab will have IIT-Delhi as its mentor institute while the one in Gujarat will have IIT Powai as its mentor. The one in Orissa will be mentored by IIT Kharagpur. As for the admissions to these three institutes, sources said no decision has been taken as yet on the numbers that will be admitted to each. However, they will be admitted on the basis of the joint entrance examination (JEE) that has already been held and whose results are yet to be announced, said ministry sources. In the case of the IITs in Bihar, Rajasthan and AP, each will be admitting 126 students for the 2008-09 session. No decision has been taken yet on the numbers that will be admitted to the IITs in Orissa, Punjab and Gujarat.
May 30th, 2008
News on the various new IITs
- IIT in Punjab to be in Ropar (45 kms from Chandigarh) and classes will start this year. IIT Delhi will be the mentor institution: Times of India.
- IIT Himachal will be mentored by IIT Roorkee. It is to be located in the Mandi district: myhimachal.com
- IIT in Gujarat to be mentored by IIT Bombay. Classes will start this year at the Vishwakarma Government Engineering College campus at Chandkheda in Gandhinagar district where IIT Bombay has the extension center. This year 120 students will be admitted in the disciplines of Mechanical, Electrical and Chemical. It will be located in the Gandhinagar-Ahmedabad Knowledge Corridor: Hindu , Indian Express.
- IT BHU on its way to get IIT tag. The is expected to take around a year with the government modifying the BHU Act 1915 in Parliament.: Business Standard.
- IIT in Orissa rumored to be located near Bhubaneswar. No formal announcement has been made but the IIT Kharagpur officials have discussed with the CM regarding their preferences and the CM has written to MHRD to allow classes to start this year.
- IIT in Rajasthan to be mentored by IIT Kanpur and classes will start this year. 120 students will be admitted in Electronics engineering, computer science and mechanical engineering. "Apartments of IIT-K’s guest house would be converted into hostels for students of IIT-Rajasthan. Classes and labs would be held in shifts. If IIT-K classes are held in the morning shift, IIT-R students would have to attend classes in the evening and similar arrangement would be made for labs"."Along with IIT-K, Prof Sanjay Govind Dhande would also be the director for IIT-R" : Times of India.
- IIT Hyderabad would be mentored by IIT Chennai. : Times of India.
- IIT Patna would be mentored by IIT Guwahati. : Times of India.
May 29th, 2008
Talabasta near Banki a likely site for the world class central university: Samaja
Update June 11, 2009:Tathya.in reports that the Education Minister Debi Mishra mentioned this in the OLA. Following is an excerpt.
The Orissa Government has identified a patch of 700 acre plus land at Talabasta in Banki Sub-division of Cuttack district for the proposed World Class University.
Debi Prasad Mishra, Minister Higher Education has revealed in the Orissa House on 11 June here.
Replaying to a question Mr.Mishra said that the State Government has informed the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) in this regard.
The land is free from litigations and it was also near to the Capital.
The River Mahanadi at the backdrop, makes the place a picturesque one, said he.
“We have asked MHRD to send their site selection team to finalize the site”, said Mr.Mishra.
1 comment May 28th, 2008
Some plans for the proposed world-class universities
Following is an excerpt from a report in Telegraph.
India has asked Britain for financial and technical assistance to set up a new “world class” university (WCU) …
Sources said Purandeswari told Rammell at a meeting in Delhi yesterday that India needed assistance in modernising teacher-training programmes in higher education.
Faculty support — a euphemism for greater participation of guest lecturers from the foreign country — was another request put forward by Purandeswari, the sources said, adding that she also dwelt on skill development — educating students for the job market — as a “key issue”.
Rammell is learnt to have told the minister that the UK was in the process of restructuring its own skill development process, and was willing to share its experiences.
The two ministers are expected to meet again in London on July 18 or 19.
… the universities are set to come up in Bengal (Calcutta), Assam, Orissa, Bihar, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Kerala, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh.
The universities will be controlled by the Centre but kept distinct from existing central universities, and will be nurtured to compete with institutions like Harvard and Cambridge.
May 28th, 2008
Naveen writes to MHRD to start classes in IIT Orissa in 2008-09
Following is an excerpt from http://howrah.org/india_news/13592.html.
In the meantime, Orissa chief minister Naveen Patnaik too has written to the Centre requesting that the IIT which is to come up in his state should begin functioning from the 2008-09 academic session itself.
Following are more excerpts from that article about new IIT locations across India.
… the Union ministry of human resources development has written to the state government suggesting three cities. And none among the three is the location favoured by the Rajasthan government, Kota. Instead, the ministry has suggested that the IIT be located in either Jaipur, Jodhpur or Udaipur. The logic behind the ministry’s suggestion, said sources, is that it wants the IIT located in a city which has an airport or is at least in close proximity to an airport. While all the three cities suggested by the HRD ministry have an airport, Kota doesn’t have one. The closest airport is in Jaipur, some 240 km away.
… both the other two new IITs — in Bihar and Andhra Pradesh — fulfil this HRD ministry criteria. The one in Andhra Pradesh will be located in Isnapur near Sanga Reddy in Medak district and won’t be too far away from the twin-cities of Hyderabad-Secunderabad. … the new IIT which will come up in Bihar is located some 40 kilometres away from state capital Patna, which has an airport. These three IITs will begin admissions from the 2008-09 academic session itself, though they will be functioning from the already-established IITs.
4 comments May 27th, 2008
National textile university planned
Following is an excerpt from a report in Financial express.
A National Textile University is on the cards to churn out skilled manpower pool to meet the demand for human resource for the diversified products in the export and domestic market. The proposed institute will be set up under the public-private partnership mode and the ministries of rural development, textiles and the state governments would chip in Rs 500 crore, Rs 250 crore and Rs 500 crore each respectively.
… the institute will have a revamped syllabus, an independent certification and accreditation system which will help meet the supply-demand gap for skilled workforce. The syllabus will mainly focus on latest technology, software designing and CAD structure. Intellectual property rights, development of managerial skill at the middle and lower level in marketing, fabric development and creating an understanding of global trends in the apparel industry have been identified as other areas demanding urgent attention, a senior official in textile ministry told FE . The institute is the outcome of recommendations made by an expert group set up by the Prime Minister to identify areas where skills are needed to be developed to conform to changing scenario in view of the increased demand for new range of products in the textile industry.
… Under the programme, three centres of excellence to meet requirements at managerial and technical level will also be created at Mumbai, Delhi and Chennai. These centres will be set up on the lines of IITs. The University will finance the capital expenditure on textile and apparel training centres. Operating cost of these centres will be met by self-generated income. The initiative is part of the government strategy to train 65 lakh persons with sound understanding of fashion lifestyle. Business integrated design, technology and management in diverse areas during the 11 th Plan period. The institute would also have 365 training centres called Neighborhood Apparel and Textiles Training Institutes for Job Assurance for semi skilled and skilled persons. These centers will impart training to 20 lakh persons at grass root level also. For this a pyramid structure will be incorporated for looking at the needs of human resource development. It will have a council for policy formation which will work as a nodal agency and have at least 10 resource centres spread region wise for coordination of activities.
Similarly, the capacity of managerial and technical level at National Institutes of Fashion Technology (NIFT) and other such types of fashion institutes will be increased significantly.
A council will work as a nodal agency and have 10 national resource centres spread region wise for coordinating and control of activities. The council will finance the activities of textile and apparel training centres. Operating cost of these centres will be met through internally generated income.
1 comment May 24th, 2008
Kerala’s HRD goodies
Following is extracted from a report in New Indian Express.
- Prime Minister Manmohan Singh would lay the foundation stone of the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) and Indian Institute of Space Technology (IIST).
- The Central University sanctioned by the IHRD Ministry will be started in Kasargod district.
- The Centre has also sanctioned another Central university with world class standards.
- An Indian Institute of Information Technology (IIIT)
- Upgradation of CUSAT into Indian Institute of Engineering Science and Technology (IIEST).
- A sub centre of Aligarh Muslim University will be established in Malappuram
- A sub centre of Central Institute of English and Foreign Languages University will be started at Kollam.
- A proposal for establishing a Centre of Engineering Research in Engineering to coordinate research in engineering.
May 23rd, 2008
NASSCOM list of locations and recommendations for the 20 IIITs
Following is an excerpt from a report in Hindu. (NASSCOM’s press release is here.)
The National Association of Software and Service Companies (Nasscom) on Thursday suggested the 20 cities for setting up new Indian Institute of Information Technology (IIIT).
Delhi, Chennai, Thiruvananthapuram, Bangalore and Jammu are among the cities suggested.
… In its model detailed project report (DPR) presented to the Ministry of Human Resource Development, Nasscom, the trade body representing the Indian information technology and business process outsourcing (IT-BPO) industry, has also included the names of Chandigarh, Dehradun, Lucknow, Patna, Shillong, Kolkata, Ahmedabad, Indore, Nagpur, Bhubaneshwar, Pune, Visakhapatanam, Mysore, Mangalore and Coimbatore for establishing new IIITs. PPP model
In its model DPR that will serve as a template for the preparation of the DPR for each individual IIIT, Nasscom has proposed that the new IIITs be set up as a fully autonomous institutions, through a public-private partnership (PPP) model. The partners in setting up the IIITs should be the Ministry, the respective State governments and industry members.
National importance
According to Nasscom president Som Mittal, each IIIT has been envisioned to become a world-class academic institute and evolve into technology and functional ‘Centres of Excellence’ through a strong focus on research in frontier technology areas.
To achieve this, it is imperative to attract best-in-class faculty, and students; develop sustainable linkages with industry; and provide an environment conducive for research excellence.
To justify the large investments being made in the IIITs, it is important that they provide a sufficient scale at undergraduate, post-graduate and doctoral research levels, he added. …
Autonomy
“The model for the new IIITs proposed in the DPR focuses on both academic and research excellence through innovative governance and operational approaches and a strong and sustained participation from the IT industry.
“However, achieving this will not be easy and it is important that each institute is supported, especially in the initial years, and is also allowed complete autonomy to define its roadmap and implement it,” Mr. Mittal added.
Following are some excerpts from a report in Business Standard.
While required investment into the IIITs could vary depending on the city, close to Rs 100 crore has been estimated for each IIIT. …
The locations of IIITs have been arrived at on the basis of how well connected they are in terms of transport and facilities and their prominence to industrial hubs. Considering the dire faculty crunch in the country, Nasscom has made it clear that faculty members must be be given salaries prevalent in the market.
It has been suggested that each IIIT must have the autonomy to decide its own salary structure to compete with private educational institutes. Collaborating private organisations would be requested to send their experienced employees as visiting faculty members. A higher number of visiting faculty and faculty-exchange programmes with universities in India and abroad have been suggested.
…
The report says all programmes in an IIIT should be given equal importance, having noted that generally it is the undergraduate programme in institutes that receives most of the attention. It has been suggested that other post-graduate programmes, especially the PhD programmes, should not be compromised with.
The development of the PhD programme, according to one of the suggestions, is vital to the growth of IIITs as these doctoral students could be groomed for teaching positions in IIITs, creating a strong pool of candidates for top academic positions.
It has been recommended that the undergraduate programme of IIITs could be scaled up to 600 students, the post-graduate programme could take about 400 students and the PhD programme could have an intake of 100 students.
A faculty-student ratio of 1:14 has been suggested. The report has suggested an integrated campus model and a hub-and-spoke campus model, depending on the IIIT.
The Orissa government has to figure out a way to have this IIIT in Berhampur and if not then convince the central govt. to establish one of the proposed 10 NITs in Berhampur.
1 comment May 23rd, 2008
Potential locations of the IIT in Orissa: Tathya and Samaja
Following is an excerpt from a report in Tathya.in.
Now the Orissa Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation (IDCO) has been asked to identify the land. IDCO has identified 3 spots for the proposed IIT.
Interestingly last week only, the MHRD sent a letter to identify a land measuring 600 acres for the proposed IIT in the vicinity of Bhubaneswar, which will be directly accessible to the airport, railway and national highway.
Nearest to Bhubaneswar is a temple land near Jatni is available which is only 25 km from the capital city. This is approachable with railway and national highway. But snag is that only 400 acres of government land is available, so it may not be acceptable for IIT.
Second place is near Banki-Cuttack Road, which is around 65 km from Bhubaneswar. There is a patch of more than 2000 acres of government land. However the place is not directly connected with national highway, but it lies the side of a state highway.
Third one is in Tangi of Bhusandpur near Chilka. More than 4000 acres of land is available in the low lying areas of Chilka. It will be more than 70 km from Bhubaneswar. The place is picturesque and its scenic beauty is enchanting. The NH-
65 is passing nearby the place.Out of these 3 places, one will be chosen.
Experts are visiting the places and it will take much time to reach a final decision. How ever nothing prevents MHRD to declare IIT Kharagpur as the ‘mentor institution’ of IIT Orissa and start the classes from this education year. IIT Kharagpur needs 3-4 acre of land as it is having an extension centre at Bhubaneswar. Only 70,000 square feet is needed to begin the classes.
4 comments May 23rd, 2008