Odisha HRD

Making Rourkela a Tier II city of India – HRD and other development of Rourkela (work in progress)

Update: See also https://www.orissalinks.com/orissagrowth/archives/4308.

Rourkela is the second largest metropolitan area of Orissa with an official metropolitan population of 550,668 but perhaps much more (at least 700 K) if one takes into account nearby places like Biramitrapur and Rajgangpur. It is probably the most cosmopolitan area of Orissa. Because of its steel plant it has world-wide name recognition. It has a lot of young talents; I am told that Rourkela youngsters have done much better in entrance exams like IIT JEE than from other parts of Orissa. Rourkela and the Sundergarh district have produced many national hockey players (both male and female), some of whom have gone on to captain the Indian national side.

Being an important station in the Mumbai-Howrah line, Rourkela is very well connected to both. The National Institute of Technology at Rourkela is often ranked among the top 5 NITs of the country; in recent years it has done much better and is in the process of starting a business program. Rourkela also has two private engineering colleges and at least one more is in the works. Rourkela has at least two good magament schools: Rourkela Institute of Management Studies (sometimes ranked nationally) and Indian Institute of Production Management, Kansbahal.  

Overall, Rourkela has the potential to be a Tier II city of India at the level of Vizag, Chandigarh, etc. But unfortunately, that has not happened so far and active organized efforts need to  be made to achieve that.

So here I will list some of the things that should be pursued so that Rourkela becomes a Tier II city of India.

Knowledge and HRD aspects:

• Metropolitan University: Rourkela is perhaps the largest metropolitan area of the country, or may be the whole world which does not have a general university. This needs to be rectified at the earliest. IMHO, the best model to follow would be of Delhi University. So a Rourkela Metropolitan University should be established  with graduate programs as well as with a few constituent colleges spread (offering Bachelors as well as Masters degrees) across the metropolitan area, but with no affiliated colleges. The exisiting government colleges in Rourkela (Govt. College, Rourkela; SG Women’s, Rourkela and Rourkela College) would be made constituents of this university.
• Medical College: Although a WODC sponsored PPP-based medical college is in the works, we must continue pursuing an ESIC medical college here. SAIL, which is making a medical college in Bokaro, should also be pushed to establish a medical college here.
• BPUT: BPUT must become fully operational from Rourkela.It  needs to have real departments and centers and offer its own courses. It should be expanded to have programs in Science and Humanities.
• Research Centers: The state should pursue one of the central government departments such as CSIR, DAE, Sc & Tech, etc. to open a research center in Rourkela.
• Centrally funded University: At some point a centrally funded university should be pursued for Rourkela.
• More private institutions: Rourkela has the population base and the amenities that metropolitan areas offer to have more private institutions such as engineering colleges, management institutions etc. A multi-pronged apporoach should be taken.
  • Local big industries should be cajoled to participate in this. For example, SAIL is also planning an engineering college in Bokaro. They should be pushed to have one in Rourkela.
  • Local people should also open private institutions on their own.
  • Educational foundations inside and outside state that have developed good private institutions should be approached and invited to open institutions in Rourkela. Inside Orissa, institutions like Silicon and NIST should be approached. 
• STP: The STP at Rourkela should be expanded.
• IT/BPO: Because of the cosmopolitan nature of Rourkela, it would be a good place for BPO and call center operations. This should be pursued.
• Sports Institute/University: Sundergrah district is considered by many to be the Hockey cradle of India, both in men’s and women’s hockey. It has produced both Men’s and Women’s hockey team captains in Dilip Tirkey and Jyoti Sunita Kullu. Orissa government should pursue to establish a National Sports Institute (of the kind in Patiala) in Rourkela. It should include programs in physical training, coach training, official training etc. This would specially contribute  in the enhancing the employment opportunities for Adivasis who constitute 50.74% of Sundergarh’s population.

Connectivity Aspects:

• Rail Connectivity -Trains: While the connectivity to Mumbai and Kolkata is marvelous, connectivity to other places needs improvement. Dilip has a good list of new trains needed for Rourkela at http://rourkelarail.wetpaint.com/page/DEMANDS. This list is:
  • Rourkela-Bhubaneswar Intercity Express( Day Time)
  • Rourkela-Berhampur Gajapati Express
  • Rourkela-Secundarabad/Hyderabad Express
  • Trains to New Delhi from Bhubaneswar via Rourkela OR Rourkela-Nizamuddin/New Delhi Express (Any extension of Ranchi-Hatia or Tatanagar trains will also work)
  • Trains to Patna and Eastern U.P.
• Rail Connectivity-Others: The Talcher-Bimlagarh line must be fast-tracked.
• Roads: The 4-laning of the state highway 10 connecting Sambalpur and Rourkela must be expedited.
• Air Connectivity: Rourkela airport must be made functional with commercial flights at the earliest.

Metro area:

• A larger metropolitan area for Rourkela that includes Kansbahal and Rajgangpur in the west and Biramitrapur in the North must be formally established.
• The state government should pursue Rourkela to be included in JNNURM.

(The above is from Google Maps.)

(The above is from "sarini: Occasional papers, No. 4, Adivasis of Rourkela")

Work in Progress…

43 comments November 15th, 2009

From Dharitri: Call for Tenders for the hospital and medical college complex of the AIIMS-like institutions

Update: Tathya has an article and pictures on the current status of the construction of AIIMS Bhubaneswar. One of the pictures is given below. Tathya.in says: "Kolkota based Unit Construction has taken up the construction job, while the PSU, Hospital Services Consultation Corporation (HSCC) is the civil consultant for this projects."

More details on the tender is at http://mohfw.nic.in/Index6aiims.htm:

• Notice Inviting Tender for Six AIIMS Projects under PMSSY Scheme (as published in News Papers on 2^nd Nov 2009).
• Notice Inviting Tenders and instruction to tenderers.
• Contact Officials for each AIIMS Site

The above tender is about the hospital and medical college. Earlier in May 2008, tenders were floated for the housing complex. See https://www.orissalinks.com/archives/1121.  (Even older links related to tenders for the AIIMS-like institution in Bhubaneswar are at https://www.orissalinks.com/?p=970.) In June 2009 it was reported that:

• Out of the 14 blocks of the AIIMS, the roof works of eight blocks have already been completed.
• An alternative road has already been constructed for the Sijua village and 90 per cent work has already been completed.
• Steps have been taken to remove the high-voltage transmission line.

I hope additional progress has been made with respect to the housing construction.

1 comment November 2nd, 2009

Latest status of the AIIMS-like institutions

Following is from PIB release http://pib.nic.in/release/release.asp?relid=53747.

Government of India has launched the Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Yojana (PMSSY) with the objective of correcting regional imbalances in the availability of affordable/reliable tertiary healthcare services and also to augment facilities for quality medical education and research in the country. Under the Ist phase of this scheme, six new AIIMS-like institutions are being set up, one each in the States of Bihar (Patna), Chattisgarh (Raipur), Madhya Pradesh (Bhopal), Orissa (Bhubaneshwar), Rajasthan (Jodhpur) and Uttarakhand (Rishikesh) at an estimated cost of approximately Rs 820 Crores per institution. Each of these institution will have a 960 bedded hospital (500 beds for the medical college hospital; 300 beds for Specialty/Super Speciality departments; 100 beds for ICU/Accident and trauma. In addition 30 beds for Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation (PMR) and 30 beds for Ayush have been kept. This would be full fledged multi-disiciplinary healthcare institution offering facilities in 42 speciality/super-speciality disciplines. Medical College will have an annual intake of 100 UG intake besides imparting PG/doctoral courses in various disciplines. Nursing College will also have 100 UG intake and 25 PG intake annually.

The respective State Governments have provided 100 acre land free of cost. The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Govt. of India engaged eminent architectural firms to prepare the designs and drawings. The architectural/DPR Consultants were selected on global competitive basis. The Project Consultants have also been selected for each site on the basis of open competitive bids. Project Cell at the sites comprising engineering, finance and administrative set up has been constituted and posts are being filled up on deputation basis from other Central Govt./State Govt. organizations.

The construction work has been split into 7 different packages, depending on the functional /sequential requirement and core specialization needs. Tenders/NITs for the main civil packages viz. (i) Civil works for Medical College, Nursing College, AYUSH and Hostels, (Patna, Raipur, Bhopal); and (ii) Civil works for Hospitals – OPD Complex including all internal services and specialized works are being invited. The total cost of these two packages is between Rs.250 – 300 Crore for each site, totaling Rs. 1908 Cr. for all six sites.

The salient features of the tenders /NITs issued on 2nd Nov. are as follows:-

(i) All detailed engineering drawings have been prepared.

(ii) Environmental clearance has been obtained for 5 out of 6 sites and is being obtained for the remaining site (Bhopal).

(iii) Medical College Complex will be built in 15 months time.

(iv) The Hospital – OPD complex is to be built in 24 months.

(iv) Apart from ensuring timely payment, there are very strong incentive clause for early completion with a bonus of 1% of the tendered value per month computed on per day basis, subject to maximum of 5%.

(v) Like-wise there is a strong disincentive clause/penalty if the project is delayed.

Pre-bid Conference is scheduled for 16th November, 2009. Last date of receipt of bids would be 3 Dec 2009

October 30th, 2009

IIT Bhubaneswar has a new web page

IIT Bhubaneswar has unveiled a new web page. It looks very good. Based on the information there it currently has 16 regular faculty in its five schools including the Director. They are:

• School of Basic Sciences
  • Sujit Roy, Professor & Head, Chemistry, PhD, 1987, IIT Kanpur
  • Srikanta Patra, Assistant Professor, Chemistry, PhD, 2005, IIT Bombay
  • Sabyasachi Pani, Assistant Professor, Mathematics, PhD, 2004, IIT Kharagpur
  • Rajan Jha, Assistant Professor, Physics, PhD, 2007, IIT Delhi
  • Snehasis Chowdhuri, Assistant Professor, Chemistry, PhD, 2005, IIT Kanpur
  • Akshay Kumar Ojha, Assistant Professor, Mathematics, PhD 1997, Utkal University
• School of Electrical Sciences
  • Ganapati Panda, Professor & Head, PhD, 1982, IIT Kharagpur
  • Prasant Sahu, Assistant Professor, PhD 2009, IIT Kharagpur
  • Debalina Ghosh, Assistant Professor, PhD 2008, Syracuse University
• School of Infrastructure
  • Sekhar Dutta, Professor & Head, PhD, 1982, IIT Kharagpur
  • P. Dinakar, Assistant Professor, PhD, 2008, IIT Madras
  • Puspendu Bhunia, Assistant Professor, PhD, 2008, IIT Kharagpur
  • Sumanta Haldar, Assistant Professor, PhD, 2008, IISc Bangalore
• School of Mechanical Sciences
  • Madhusudan Chakraborty, Director and Professor, PhD, 1978, IIT Kharagpur
  • Swarup Mahapatra, Associate Professor & Head, PhD 2000, Jadavpur University
  • Prasenjit Rath, Assistant Professor, PhD 2007, NTU Singapore
  • Satyanarayan Panigrahi, Assistant Professor, PhD 2007, IISc Bangalore
• School of Social Sciences & Humanities
  • No regular faculty yet

October 24th, 2009

XIM plans a branch in Sambalpur

Following is from a report in tathya.in.

… Mr.Patnaik (the CM) has asked Country’s one of the topmost B-School, Xavier Institute of Management Bhubaneswar(XIMB) to open another campus in Sambalpur. 

A U Singhdeo, Minister Planning & Coordination and Public Enterprises also urged XIMB authorities to expand their empire. 

So with the blessings of the Chief Minister and his government XIMB soon will open another campus in Sambalpur district of Western Orissa. 

On being invited by Government of Orissa, XIMB opened its first Institute here in 1987. 

That time 20 acres of land and Rs.5 crores were given to the institution to open a campus in Orissa. 

During these 22 years, XIMB brought Bhubaneswar on the national B-School map and earned a good name for being in list of top ten Management Institute of the country. 

It is run by Jesuit Society on no profit, no loss basis. 

In fact XIMB has the most reasonable fee structure among the top institutes. 

It has also produced about 1500 students in the last 20 years who have reached to the top post of private sector in the various parts of the country. 

Many of them have returned back to the state and started their own enterprise. 

Many successful entrepreneurs of the state can trace back their relation with XIM one way or other. 

Vijay Arora, Secretary PPP, known for his dynamism and original thinking knowing the strength of the XIMB, conceived the idea of opening another campus in the state preferably in Samblapur. 

He discussed the concept with P T Joseph SJ, Director XIMB who agreed to the idea in case the Government provides the necessary support.

This was to allow the Western Orissa benefit of quality educational Institution. 

Matter was discussed with the Government in the Department of Planning & Coordination. 

Satya Prakash Nanda, Development Commissioner is favorably disposed off towards a new campus of XIMB in Sambalpur, said sources.

 After arriving at a mutual understanding, a report was submitted by the Director XIM Professor Joseph to the Government outlining the project and the support required. 

Along with Management XIMB proposes to run courses in Agri-Business Management and Rural Management etc. 

This is a great move from all aspects.

30 comments October 17th, 2009

NISER Bhubaneswar advertises for its Ph.D program that will start in Decemebr 2009

Following is from Samaja.

October 8th, 2009

Knowledge Commission has recommended 50 national universities; Orissa must plan ahead and be prepared for it

Update: The following was written before I saw this article in Pioneer.

Tathya.in has a report on Dr. Digamabara Patra’s request for a national or central university in Bhawanipatna, Kalahandi. A lot of the arguments made there make sense. Many of the recent central universities have been established in rural and semi-urban areas and indeed there is no reason why one should not be established in Bhawanipatna; especially since its citizens have been asking for one for more than 2 decades.

However, as mentioned in the article https://www.orissalinks.com/archives/3229 adequate infrastructure seems to have been an important factor in determining the locations of the new IITs, IIMs and National universities. 

For Orissa to have them in locations ouside of Bhubaneswar, there are two ways to go about it.

1. Argue that adequate infrastructure should not be a requirement or they will automatically come once the institutions are established.
2. Develop areas outside Bhubaneswar to have adequate infrastructure.

To me pursuing (2) has a higher chance of success than pursuing (1) and even if (1) is successful the institutes/universities in locations without appropriate infrastructure will struggle until the infrastructure eventually catches up which may take a long time if just left to fate. (Such a struggle may result in Orissa not being given in appropriate numbers additional central/national institutes.) 

[In India people sometime point out that IIT Kharagpur was established in a rural location. First, Kharagpur is only 116 kms from Howrah. Second it has been a major railway junction for a long time. Third it was the first IIT and for a long time only one of 5 IITs. Similarly Roorkee was the oldest engineering college and is close to Haridwar and Dehradun. There are a few top universities and institutions in the US that are in rural areas, but these are exceptions, and the infrastructure in rural areas of US are quite good compared to rural areas of India. For example, Univ of Illinois at Urbana Champaign and Penn State University in State College, PA are often mentioned in that context. But both do have small airports with commercial flights.]

Before we suggest what needs to be done regarding developing areas outside Bhubaneswar to have adequate infrastructure, let us address what may be coming in the future and why Orissa needs to do this urgently so as to not risk missing future allocations of national institutions.

The National Knowledge Commission (NKC) in its December 2006 note on higher education has explicitly suggested 50 national universities in India. It says:

We recommend the creation of up to 50 National Universities that can provide education of the highest standard. As exemplars for the rest of the nation, these universities shall train students in a variety of disciplines, including  humanities, social sciences, basic sciences, commerce and professional subjects, at both the undergraduate and post-graduate levels. The number 50 is a long term objective. In the short run, it is important to begin with at least 10 such universities in the next 3 years. It is worth noting that the National Universities need not all be new universities. Some of the existing universities could also be converted into National Universities, on the basis of rigorous selection criteria, to act as exemplars. We recognise that there could be a human resource constraint if faculty members are not available in adequate numbers to establish these universities.

The current government has implemented most of the recommendations of the NKC and exceeded some of them. For example, instead of the recommendation of 10 national universities in the three years following the report (2007-2010), establishment of 14 have been announced. Moreover, the higher education budget has been increasing drastically from one five year plan to the next. The 12th five year plan starts in 2012 and it is expected that it will take up on the long range objectives of the knowledge commission. In other words there could and should be more central and national universities in the 12th plan.

[My impression is that how soon additional national universities are established will depend on the success of the first 14. It seems to me that the locations of the first 14 have been greatly influenced by the consideration of, where in each of the states selecetd,  does it have the best chance to succeed.]

Unless Orissa is prepared for it, Orissa may lose out pieces of those plans on lack of infrastructure grounds. Other states with multiple locations with adequate infrastructure will get preference and Orissa may lose out.

However, 2012 is still 3 years away and if adequate steps are taken very soon, Orissa should be able to get its fair share. 

The pity is there are areas in Orissa which are on the verge of having the necessary infrastructure, mostly through private investment, but because of non-constructive opposition, blind suspicion towards industrialization and the relcucatnce of many to speak out in favour of development and industrialization, the development and associated infrastructure building has been greatly hampered. The governments (state and center) are also at fault for their sluggishness on some aspects.

Following are some suggestions:

1. The state government should push for the completion of the airport in Jharsuguda within a year.
2. It should make an all-out effort to have commercial flights operating out of the existing airport in Rourkela. In general, the people of the area need to recognize the existing infrastructure and potential of Rourkela and take advantage of it. Currently, as a friend of mine would say, Rourkela is an orphan. This is a pity. It is a big asset to Orissa, especially to the western parts of Orissa; but is severely underutilized and undermined.
3. Coming back to Jharsuguda, the people there should follow a smarter approach in not opposing and rather facilitating industries coming up there, and at the same time being vigilant about environmental and land acquisition related R & R issues. If these industries and investment are allowed to materialize there soon, then Sambalpur-Jharsuguda area would become a large metro with adequate infrastructure to have and support any and all kinds of institutes and universities. But will the people do that? Or will they continue to be controlled by or scared of the anti-industry activists.
4. Similarly, both Bhawanipatna (Lanjigarh to be precise) and Rayagada areas have industrial investors who have been senselessly opposed. If the people would take a smarter approach that mixes development with being vigilant about environmental and land acquisition related R & R then both these areas would be able to get infrastructure where a central university (and possibly more) would flourish. But will the people do that? Or will they continue to be controlled by or scared of anti-industry activists. In Lanjigarh, Kalahandi, the local MP has recently taken a more sensible approach. I hope there is a quick resolution as this area desperately needs development and the resulting infrastructure.
5. The state government should push for the rail infrastructure, particularly, the Khurda-Balangir line, the Talcher-Bimlagarh line and connectivity to Kalahandi, to be completed at the earliest.

The above is extremely important for the development of the western parts of Orissa where there is often a feeling of neglect. If the people there do not follow a smarter approach and only follow the strange approach that many (not all) seem to be following (such as opposing industrialization and thus infrastructure building but wanting things that need infrastructure) the places that follow a smarter approach (inside and outside Orissa) would be gainers. The same is happening in some other places in Orissa too  – Paradeep and Kalinganagar come to mind, but these places are in closer proximity to Bhubaneswar and because of that they may be less harmed.

October 4th, 2009

Some National Institutions/Universities and their locations; planning for the future in Orissa

Update on 27th April 2011: The Central University location has been changed to Bander Sindri near Ajmer and only 80 kms from Jaipur. The Innovation University (previsouly referred to as National University) aiming for world class is now pushed for Jaipur. [Times of India].

Tathya.in has a report that mentions some official saying that because of the lack of an airport in Rourkela central government will not agree to have ESIC medical college in Rourkela. I think this is a completely frivolous argument; I don’t see much connection between an ESIC medical college and an airport. (Often airport is a codeword for adequate infrastructure. If that is the case Rourkela indeed has the infrastructure for an ESIC medical college.)

However, in regards to certain centrally funded institutions, such a requirement is in the background and mentioned by journalists, even if they may not be spelled out explicitly. So while pushing for an ESIC medical college in Rourkela, we should set our target to push for more functioning airports as a next action item. Following is a more detailed analysis.

Given below are the locations of some national institutions and some related attributes. It is easy to see that for the locations of IITs, IIMs and National Universities being near (say within 120 kms or 2 hrs) an operational airport has been an important factor. For national universities, in addition being in a large (1 million plus metropolitan area) area with other research institutes has also been spelled out as an important criteria and it is reflected in the locations that are picked.  

On the other hand, the newly established central universities are in towns of all sizes and the locations of the NITs are mixed. The next level centrally funded but locally focused technological institutes, SLIET, Longowal, ABAGKC IET, Malda and Central Institute of Technology, Kokrajhar are on purpose established in rural areas and smaller towns. Unlike the NITs these institutions take only local students and also have programs focused on local needs. Nevertheless, their quality need not be bad. For example, SLIET is considered quite good.

Looking to the future following are some points relevant to Orissa.

• For Orissa to have future central institutions like IIM, SPA, etc. to be in a location outside of Bhubaneswar, Orissa must push for the quick establishment of airports and other infrastructure in other parts of the state. For example, the airports in Jharsuguda and Rourkela are the closest to be operational and they should  have scheduled flights at the earliest. Otherwise new centrally funded institutions may again be established near Bhubaneswar and crying hoarse after the fact may not be productive.
• Similarly the knowledge commission has proposed the establishment of 50 national universities in the long run. Considering that the education budget significantly increases from one 5 yr plan to the next, I would not be surprised if there is another set of them made during the 12th plan. Orissa must be prepared for that and by that time (there is a short window) have other areas in Orissa with adequate infrastructure that are being deemed necessary for a national university.
• Orissa must take advantage of the industrial and investment interests in Orissa, mostly due to its minerals, and develop metropolitan areas with larger population base. Currently the local people are creating roadblocks rather than helping in such development.
• In 2010 we should do our best to convince the planning commission, the PM and MHRD that the 12th plan (starting 2012) should include more centrally funded institutions of the kind that can be located in rural or semi-urban areas. In particular,
  • A centrally funded but locally focused technological institute (like SLIET) in all states. The one in Orissa could be located in Kalahandi or Balangir, the other two KBK districts that lack centrally funded institutions.
  • Two regional universities in each major states that are funded 50-50 by the state and the center. (This would be better than one centrally funded institute.)
  • Multiple branches of Indira Gandhi National Tribal University in districts with high tribal population.
     

The NITs.

The IITs. 

National Universities

New Central Universities

IIMs

October 4th, 2009

20 new IIITs wait for the approval of the finance committee and the union cabinet

Following is an excerpt from a report in dnaindia.com.

Jayalakshmi Venugopal / DNA, Thursday, September 10, 2009 9:03 IST

The Planning Commission approved "in principle" plans of the Union ministry of human resources development to establish 20 new Indian Institutes of Information Technology (IIITs) under the 11th Five Year Plan across various locations in India.

The National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM), the trade body of the IT and BPO sector, was entrusted with the task of preparing a detailed project report (DPR) which would incorporate a model of private-public partnership in the setting up of these new institutes.

This plan, prepared by NASSCOM, was submitted in May 2008, and has now been granted the Planning Commission’s go-ahead.

However, it is still awaiting the green signal from the finance committee of the Union government and the central cabinet.

3 comments October 3rd, 2009

NIT Rourkela must follow NIT Warangal and go for a medical school and law school

Following is an excerpt from an IANS story by Prashant Nanda that we found in a report in thaiinidan.com.

… “We will retain our original name (NIT-Warangal) but it will become an integrated university with both medical and legal education among other programmes beyond engineering and technology.

“We will also provide postgraduate courses in humanities, business economics, biotechnology and many others. The focus will gradually shift to from under-graduation to post-graduation and research,” Rao explained.

NIT Warangal is the first among the NITs. It was dedicated to the nation by the first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru way back in 1959. Then it was known a regional engineering college. The institute is older than many IITs, including IIT-Delhi.

… The director said the institute, which started its journey with a little over 100 students from a temporary campus, now boasts of 4,200 students. In 2006, the institute had 2,000 students of which 1,600 were pursuing B.Tech courses and the rest M.Tech.

“While all the central government institutes are implementing the OBC (Other Backward Classes) quota in three years, we did it at one go. With an increase in the number of seats, we have shifted our focus to post-graduation and research. Out of 4,200 students, currently 1,400 are M.Tech students and 300 are PhD scholars,” Rao added.

Like the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the US, NIT-Warangal will become an integrated university and provide all kinds of courses to students to help the country move forward in the field of higher education, he said.

“The process of becoming a university will start from the coming academic session but it may take a few years to become a full-fledged one. We are targeting 5,000 students by 2011 and 15,000 by 2015,” Rao said, elaborating on his mega plan.

“We are planning to have the school of medical science next year. We are going to give emphasis on biotechnology and microbiology and here the school of medical science will help us grow in both research and innovation.”

NIT Roukela has recently started a program in Biotechnology and is about to start MBA. But it must go beyond and pursue a medical school. 

3 comments September 29th, 2009

Coimbatore’s textile institute to be upgraded to Indian Institute of Textiles

Following is an excerpt from a report in thaiindian.com.

The Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Institute of Textile Management in Coimbatore will be upgraded and renamed Indian School of Textiles, the government announced Thursday.

“The school will engage itself in research and will also undertake comprehensive consultancy services for the industry,” Textiles Minister Dayanidhi Maran told reporters here.

Orissa should keep a watch on similar upgradations and make a case for upgradation of similar institutes  in Orissa. Some of the institutes that come into mind are:

• Food Craft Institute Balangir – Should be upgraded to Indian Institute of Hotel Management
• Biju Patnaik National Steel Institute, Puri – Should be upgraded to Indian Institute of Steel
• IIMC Dhenakanal branch – Should be upgraded to an independent IIMC
• IITTM Bhubaneswar branch – Should be upgraded to an independent IITTM

If I am missing something, please add in the comments.

September 10th, 2009

Four new IIMCs (Indian Institute of Mass Communication) in the offing; Hope the one in Dhenkanal is upgraded

Following is an excerpt from a report in Business Standard.

Four more Indian Institutes of Mass Communication (IIMC) will soon be set up in different parts of the country to meet growing demand for media professionals, taking the number of IIMCs to six.

The new IIMCs will come up in Jammu and Kashmir and Mizoram, besides in the southern and western regions, Minister for Information and Broadcasting Ambika Soni today said.

…  She said the ministry will firm up proposals for setting up of IIMCs and the work will start soon.

Currently, there are two IIMCs in Delhi and Dhenkanal (Orissa).

Soni also said that her ministry is working out the modalities of upgrading IIMC as a world class university to provide undergraduate courses, offer MPhil and PhD degrees and serve as a think tank for media.

Currently IIMC (both Delhi and Dhenkanal campus included) has a total full-time faculty of 14, with only one mentioned in the context of Dhenkanal.  I hope by upgrading IIMC both Delhi and Dhenkanal, especially Dhenkanal will have more faculty. The Orissa government should be proactive on this and try to find out if more land is needed at IIMC Dhenkanal.

1 comment September 9th, 2009

Ranking of Indian Engineering and Technical Institutes based on research: NIT Rourkela at number 20

The following table is from the current science article at http://www.ias.ac.in/currsci/aug102009/304.pdf titled “Ranking of Indian Engineering and Technological Institutes for their Research Performance during 1999-2008” by G. Prathap and B. M. Gupta. It appears in Current Science, Vol. 97(3), 2009.  It gives the top 30 engineering and technical institutes based on publications from those institutes during 1999-2008. Based on this ranking NIT Rourkela is at number 20.

In the table below: P is the number of papers published, C is the number of citations obtained, ICP is the number of papers through international collaboration, h is the H-index and p is a newly proposed index.

There has been some discussin on these ranking in several blogs. Following are some links to those blog entries.

• http://giridharmadras.blogspot.com/2009/08/rankings-of-iitiisc.html.
• http://nanopolitan.blogspot.com/2009/08/pratap-and-guptas-paper-on-research.html.
• http://donutbekaswami.blogspot.com/2009/08/is-nitk-really-top-engineering-school.html.
• http://donutbekaswami.blogspot.com/2009/08/research-at-nits-can-we-solve-it.html.
• http://rainbow-science.blogspot.com/2009/08/fight-for-rankof-best-indian-institute.html.

20 comments August 23rd, 2009

IIT Bhubaneswar issues global invitation for Expression of Interest in building its campus

The details are at:

* Global Invitation for Expression of Interest (EOI)
* Drawing of IIT Bhubaneswar plan

Following are some excerpts from the invitation.

GLOBAL INVITATION FOR EXPRESSION OF INTEREST (EOI)

EOI to participate in selection of Campus Architect and Project Management Consultant For Design and Project Management of a State of the Art Academic cum Residential Campus

IIT Bhubaneswar invites Expression of Interest (EOI) for consultancy services from qualified, experienced, competent, financially sound and internationally acclaimed Architectural/Engineering Project Management Consultants (PMCs) including overseas firms for the planning and designing of Architectural, civil, public health, electrical, air conditioning, acoustics and other services for the works: “Construction of Indian Institute of Technology Bhubaneswar complex and residential township along with necessary infrastructure facilities” in 936 acres of land at Argul, which is about 25 km from Bhubaneswar airport. While the work will be completed in phases, the estimated cost for the first phase is approximately INR 400 Crores.

The scope of the work, other applicable terms and conditions including site related information are available at institute website www.iitbbs.ac.in.

The EOI documents can be either downloaded from the institute website or can be collected from the office of Registrar, IIT Bhubaneswar, Samantapuri, Bhubaneswar-751013 from 24th August 2009 to 23rd September 2009 between 1100 hrs to 1600 hrs on all working days on payment of INR 1,000/- through a bank draft drawn on any schedule bank in favour of “IIT BHUBANESWAR” and made payable at Bhubaneswar.

The EOI shall be submitted in duplicate in a sealed cover, superscribing; “EOI for Architectural/Engineering Project Management Consultant (PMC)” either in person or by post addressed to the Registrar. along with a Bank Draft of Rs.1,00,000/- drawn on any schedule bank in favour of “IIT BHUBANESWAR” and made payable at Bhubaneswar towards EMD which would be refunded to unsuccessful bidders. Further, those who have downloaded EOI document from the website of the Institute should also enclose another demand draft for Rs.1,000/- drawn in favour of IIT BHUBANESWAR along with EOI document. The last date for receipt of EOI document is 24 September 2009 upto 1500 hrs B. K. RAY Registrar

No.F.15-2/2009-Estate-A

Continue Reading 6 comments August 21st, 2009

IIT Bhubaneswar notification on Ph.D admission

IIT Bhubaneswar has isued notification for Ph.D admission. The details are at:

• Notification for Ph.D. Admission
• Application form for Ph.D Admission

Following are some excerpts from the notification:

Indian Institute of Technology Bhubaneswar, one of the newest IITs set up in 2008 by the Govt. of India, Ministry of Human Resource Development (Department of Higher Education) invites application for admission to full time Ph.D. Programmes in the following fields of research.

Schools and fields of Research

1) School of Infrastructure :   Structural Engineering, Structural Dynamics, Earthquake Engineering, Disaster Mitigation Engineering, Concrete Technology, Durability of Concrete Composites, Corrosion of steel in concrete, Environmental Engineering, Wastewater Treatment and sludge management, Greenhouse gases and global warming, Geotechnical Risk and Reliability, Earthquake Geotechnical Engineering, Numerical Modelling, Mitigation of Geohazards, Offshore
Geotechnics, Experimental Geotechnics.

2) School of Electrical Sciences : – Digital Signal Processing, Soft and Evolutionary Computing, Sensor Network, Intelligent Instrumentation, Digital/Image/Distributed Signal Processing, Opto Electronics and Optical Communication, Computational Electromagnetics and Antenna Design, Metamaterials, RFID, Satellite Communication.

3) School of Mechanical Sciences : – Conjugate Heat Transfer, Thermal Engineering, Radiation Modelling, CFD/HT, Transport Phenomena in Material Processing, Ultrafast Radiation Heat Transfer, Technical Acoustics, Noise and Vibration, Industrial Noise control.

4) School of Basic Sciences :

– Theoretical high energy particle physics, Quark model studies, decay and scattering phenomena of heavy flavored mesons, parton distributions in proton and proton spin structure, optical fiber sensors, plasmonics, nanowires, photonic crystal fiber, computational condensed matter physics, nano materials, thin films, deposition and characterization for BEO and environmental sensors application.

– Organometallic Chemistry and Catalysis, Coordination Chemistry, Material Chemistry, Sensor, Theoretical Chemistry.

– Functional Analysis, Artificial Neural Network, Geometric Programming.

5) School of Humanities and Social Sciences :  – Indian English Literature, Commonwealth studies, Indian Diaspora Literature, Autobiographical Travel Literature and Memoirs, international and interregional trade, Rural development and planning, Banking and Finance, Labour economics.

Eligibility: M.E./M.Tech. in relevant discipline with at least 6.5 CGPA (or 60% marks in aggregate) at both B.Tech. and M.Tech. levels OR B.E./ B.Tech./ M.Sc.(Basic Science) in relevant discipline with minimum CGPA 7.0 in a 10 point scale (or 65% marks in aggregate) with a valid GATE score OR M.A. in the relevant field with 6.5 CGPA ( or 60% marks) with NET fellowship.

Admission to reserved-category candidates will be done as per Government of India guidelines.

How to Apply: Application form, downloadable from www.iitbbs.ac.in, should be sent to The Registrar, IIT Bhubaneswar, Samantapuri, Bhubaneswar, Orissa – 751013 along with a Demand Draft of Rs.300/- (Rs.150/- for SC/ST candidates) drawn in favour of "IIT Bhubaneswar" on any nationalized bank payable at Bhubaneswar. Application form may also be obtained from the Academic Section, IIT Bhubaneswar against a demand draft on every working day.

Important Dates:

Application form available from: 12 August 2009
Last date for submitting completed application form: 28 August 2009
Date of Interview (for short listed candidates): 7-8 September 2009
Joining Date: 16 September 2009

 

1 comment August 21st, 2009

NIFT (National Institute of Fashion Technology) to start in a temporary campus in Bhubaneswar in 3 months

Following is an excerpt from a release from the Resident Commissioner of Orissa.

Shri Naveen Patnaik, Chief Minister, Orissa met Thiru. Dayanidhi Maran, Union Minister for Textiles at New Delhi and discussed various issues relating to development of Handicrafts  and Textile sector in Orissa. Chief Minister requested for establishment of National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT) at Bhubaneswar  for which Govt. of Orissa has already committed to provide necessary infrastructure including land. The Union Minister welcomed the proposal and assured that NIFT will start functioning  at Bhubaneswar  in a temporary campus within next three months  offering a few certificate courses  and the regular courses will  commence  from the next academic year  i.e. 2010-11.

Pushing for an NIFT in Orissa is good. But the CM has to create a balance. Not everything that he asks for should be about Bhubaneswar. Please write to the CMO cmo@ori.nic.in pointing this out and have some constructive suggestion regarding what he should ask for outside Bhubaneswar and where. In this regard, I just sent the following email:

Dear Esteemed Chief Minister:

I read about your request to the central minister for an NID in Bhubaneswar. Asking for an NID is a good step, but with an IIT, NISER, AIIMS and a National University (all centrally funded) in works in the Bhubaneswar area, there is a big need for balance across the state and people across the state are now becoming more and more critical that adequate efforts are not being made about the rest of the state.

As a constructive suggestion, following is a request voiced to me by one of the vice chancellors of Orissa.

Currently India has a Laxmi Bai National Institute of Physical Education ( http://lnipe.nic.in/default.html ) at Gwalior. Considering the recent success of athletes from Orissa in various sports and events (including Hockey and Football), especially from the Adivasi regions, it would be great if you could push for a similar  National Institute of Physical Education to be established in or near an Adivasi area of Orissa.  Such an institute will go a long way in not only training adivasi athletes but also in providing them jobs across the country.

11 comments August 20th, 2009