Orissa cabinet approves 298.8 acres of free land for NISER
See http://tathya.in/story.asp?sno=1619.
February 13th, 2008
Updates on NISER Bhubaneswar
During my visit to Bhubaneswar, I met various people involved with NISER. Following is a quick update.
- Apparently the cabinet approval of NISER had a condition that said "subject to finance ministry clearance." Apparently that clearance has not come yet and its delay is guessed to be due to the difference between the IISER and NISER budget amounts. Its expected any day. But that clearance has some role in NISER not being able to hire a director and hire regular faculty. On the other hand DAE has its plate full with the atomic energy agreement and negotiation between India and US, so perhaps it is not moving at the speed as it should. I think Orissa government and people of Orissa should push DAE on this.
- The first batch just finished their first semester. I was given the impression that the professors are teaching very diligently, have made the syllabus quite tough and are driving the students quite hard.
- The land has not yet been handed over to NISER by the Orissa government. I am told there is no big problem but it is just moving slow. The NISER folks are a bit unhappy at this tardy pace because they would like the full campus to be built as soon as possible. I hope the ad means that there has been some movement, since I met them.
- Several new buildings have been made and are being made in IOP campus to accommodate NISER classes until its own campus is done. The construction of these buildings have been quite fast.
- Currently, in the absence of a director of NISER, the director of IOP is in charge. The main persons helping him are Prof. Jnana Maharana, Prof. D. P. Mohapatra and Prof. P. C. Das. Prof. Das is in charge of the M.Sc integrated program. Prof. Mohapatra is making sure that the buildings are made in time, the labs are equipped in time, etc. so that the classes can go on in time.
- Following are some of the temporary teachers who are teaching the stduents.
- Biology: Prof Rabi Nayak of IISc Bangalore is on leave from Bangalore and is the leading person. He has a new laboratory for his research and teaching at IOP. Other names that were mentioned to me were Prof. Anita Roy , Prof. K. M. Das and Prof. Chaini. I am told Prof. Santosh Kar will be teaching for a month in 2008 and some faculty from Institute of Life Sciences, Bhubaneswar will also teach.
- Chemistry: Prof. Anadi Das (retired, Utkal) is in charge and is helped by Prof. Chandrasekhar Panda (retired Berhampur U, Ph.D IIT Kanpur) and Prof. M. Mohanty
- Physics: Prof. N. Barik (formerly from Utkal University), Prof. Ansari (retired from IOP), Prof. Minaketan Panda (formerly at NEHU) and Professor Pathak (from IOP)
- Mathematics: Prof. Padhee (formerly from Berhampur University, PhD IIT Kanpur) and Prof. P. C. Das.
January 22nd, 2008
Some progress on NISER land acquisition and transfer; Samaja ad for security agencies to guard the periphery
Update: See also http://www.iopb.res.in/niser/NISER-EOI-security.pdf.
January 21st, 2008
Prof. R. Nayak’s mail about faculty positions in Biology and Life Sciences at NISER, Bhubaneswar
Govt of India has started several institutions modeled after IISC except that these Institute would also have an integrated MSc program. These Institutes go by the name Indian Institute of Science Education and Research.(IISER). The NISER is a similar Institution which is being funded by DAE rather than MHRD.In that sense it a sister institution of TIFR, Mumbai, and NCBS, Bangalore, etc.The sanctioned faculty strength in the first phase is 200 of which at least 50 will be for the School of Biology. I seek your help to locate suitable faculty in all branches of biology through your network. We wish to make the new Institution one of the best in India and in the world. DAE is good organization so far financial support is concerned. Please contact Dr R. Nayak at rnayak@iopb.res.in for further information.
1 comment December 27th, 2007
Business World 2007 B-School rankings
As per MBA Universe following is the top 15.
# 1 Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad
# 2 Indian Institute of Management, Kolkata
# 3 Xavier Labour Relations Institute, Jamshedpur
# 4 Indian Institute of Management, Kozhikode
# 5 Management Development Institute, Gurgaon
# 6 Faculty of Management Studies, Delhi
# 7 Indian Institute of Management, Lucknow
# 8 National Institute of Industrial Engineering, Mumbai
# 9 SP Jain Institute of Management & Research, Mumbai
# 10 Indian Institute of Management, Indore
# 11 Indian Institute of Foreign Trade, Delhi
# 12 Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies, Mumbai
# 13 Institute of Management Technology, Ghaziabad
# 14 Xavier Institute of Management, Bhubneshwar
# 15 Alliance Business Academy, Bangalore
7 comments December 19th, 2007
NISER Bhubaneswar (the DAE funded institute at par with the IISERs) admission test for 2008
The important dates are:
- Last date for request of application forms by post: January 25, 2008
- Last date of receipt of completed application forms along with application fee: February 9, 2008.
- NEST 2008: April 20, 2008
- NEST results declaration date: May 10, 2008
- Classes start: August 1, 2008
(Note: For the claim of equivalence between NISER and IISERs see the PM’s speech at http://www.iopb.res.in/pmspeech.html. An exact quote is: "NISER will be at par with the IISER being established in other places but will operate under the umbrella of DAE".)
Following is from http://www.iopb.res.in/niser/admission.php.
Admission procedure for Five Year Integrated M.Sc. programme will consist of two components:
- Students seeking admission to NISER will first appear for National Entrance Screening Test (NEST) to be conducted on April 20, 2008 at a number of centres in India. Please see NEST 2008 brochure for more information on NEST.
- Based on the NEST score a limited number of students will be called for interview at Bhubaneswar. The interview dates will NOT clash with UM-DAE CBS interview dates, so that application to both institutes is permitted.
Final selection for admission will be made only on the basis of performance in the interview.
Eligibility
(i) Qualification : 60% marks for general category and 55% for SC/ST/PD category in aggregate (or equivalent grade) in Class XII (or equivalent) examination, from any recognized Board in India. Students who have passed the qualifying examination in 2007 or are appearing in 2008 are eligible to apply. Where only Letter grade is available, a certificate from the Board specifying equivalent percentage marks will be required. In the absence of such a certificate the decision of the NISER Admission Committee will be final.
(ii) Age_Limit : Candidates born on or after 01 Oct. 1983 are eligible to apply; this limit is relaxable by 5 years for SC/ST/PD candidates.
Number of Seats and Reservation.
There will be 40 seats in the academic year starting Aug. 2008, with reservation of 15% for SC and 7.5% for ST Categories. An overall reservation of 3% will be applicable for Persons with Disability (PD), as per Government of India norms. The admission will be very selective and only those students who are highly motivated to pursue higher education and research in science and its applications are encouraged to apply.
Obtaining Application forms for admission to NISER.
Application Form and information brochure can be downloaded from http://www.umdaecbs.in or here.
Information Brochure of NEST(2008) : 
pdf | 
doc
Information Brochure of NISER : pdf | doc
Application Form + Admit Card : pdf | doc
Newpaper advertisement : pdf | doc
 |
Application Form (A) and Admit Card (B) together with information brochure can be downloaded from the website: www.iopb.res.in/niser. Alternatively, they can be obtained FREE by sending a self-addressed envelope of size 30cm x 24cm to The Chief Coordinator – NEST-2008, Annabhau Sathe Bhavan, University of Mumbai (Kalina campus), Vidyanagari, Santacruz (E), Mumbai-400 098.
Application Fee
There is a single application fee (even if you are applying to admission to both NISER, Bhubaneswar and UM-DAE CBS, Mumbai) of Rs.500/- (all general category male candidates) and Rs. 250/- (SC/ST/PD and ALL female candidates), to be sent as Demand Draft in favour of "CBS-NEST", payable at Mumbai.
1 comment December 17th, 2007
Orissa government prepares for the infrastructure development around the upcoming AIIMS like institute
Following is an excerpt from a news report in New Indian Express.
The Government is required to acquire 1.42 acres of private land for construction of the proposed 200-foot wide road that will connect the AIIMS site to the National Highway No. 5.
… Another 2.25 acres of land of the State Police Academy in Patrapada village will be acquired for the project.
The Chief Secretary directed the Home Department to take necessary action and report compliance.
He also directed the General Administration Department to identify the private land falling under the site earmarked for AIIMS under emergency clause.
The meeting was informed that the Orissa State Cashew Development Corporation had already handed over the required land, coming under its area and construction work of a 40-foot wide alternative road along the AIIMS boundary wall to Patrapada village, to Roads and Buildings Division of the Works Department.
The Khurda Collector further reported that the process had been initiated to dereserve 0.803 acre of gochar land coming under the project site.
The Public Health Department in coordination with the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation will supply water for the construction works.
A 132-KV double circuit tower existing within the site will be shifted for which the Energy Department will deposit Rs 1.34 crore to the Orissa Power Transmission corporation Limited.
The meeting also decided to take the public-private partnership route for construction of a bus stand, market complex, yatri nivas and other facilities for public convenience.
December 11th, 2007
Concerns about NISER, Bhubaneswar; DAE should pay urgent attention to NISER
tathya.in first published this. Pioneer has also published a version of it, which is given below.
December 1st, 2007
Both Orissa govt. as well as Orissa Congress minister in Orissa neglect in pursuing NIFT
In https://www.orissalinks.com/?p=304 and https://www.orissalinks.com/?p=178 we mentioned reports regarding Orissa Congress central minister Mr. Chandrasekhar Sahu pursuing NIFT and getting assurance to get one for Orissa. However, today’s PIB below tells us that Orissa might miss the bus with respect to NIFT. See http://pib.nic.in/release/release.asp?relid=33181.
The Union Government proposes to open new Fashion and Textile Technology Institutes during the Eleventh Plan period. New Centres of National Institute of Fashion Technology are being set up subject to the conditions that the State Government is willing to provide land and financial support and fulfillment of feasibility conditions. Decisions about the new centres are taken by NIFT Board, a Statutory body under Ministry of Textiles, as and when the proposals from State governments are received. This information was given by the Minister of State for Textiles, Shri E.V.K.S. Elangovan, in the Lok Sabha today, in a written reply to a question by Shri N.N. Krishnadas and Shri Tathagata Satpathy.
The Minister further informed that proposals have been received from Government of Bihar and Government of Kerala for setting up NIFT Centre in their states. No formal proposal has been received from Government of Orissa.
He further stated that proposal for setting up of NIFT Centre in Bihar has been approved by NIFT Board and the matter has been taken up with State Government for allotment of land and funding support. Proposal for setting up of NIFT Centre in Kannur, Kerala will be placed for consideration of the Board in its next meeting.
2 comments November 26th, 2007
NISER, Bhubaneswar ad for fixed term faculty
[The following ad is from http://www.iopb.res.in/niser/NISER-fixedterm-faculty.pdf. Thanks to Nrusingh for the mail on this to the NIS-IISER list. This is indeed a cause for concern as other IISERs have advertised and even hired regular faculty. This delay is probably because NISER still does not have a director. It was expected by many that DAE would move fatser than MHRD. However, taht does not seem to be the case here and further delay in recruiting regular faculty will make it harder for NISEr to get top-notch faculty; it will then only get the left overs.]
NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE EDUCATION AND RESEARCH
(NISER)
BHUBANESWAR – 751005
INDIA
ADVERTISEMENT FOR FIXED TERM FACULTY APPOINTMENTS
The National Institute of Science Education and Research (NISER) has been established for the advancement of science education and research at the national level and is functioning from the campus of Institute of Physics at Bhubaneswar. NISER is funded by the Department of Atomic energy of the Government of India. The Institute has started an integrated M.Sc. programme in Biology, Chemistry, Mathematics and Physics from the academic year 2007 – 2008. As an immediate measure NISER invites applications for fixed term appointment in all the above mentioned areas for teaching assignments beginning August, 2008. The remuneration and period of appointment will be based on academic qualifications and experiences.
Research infrastructure at Institute of Physics campus consists of a 3MV pelletron accelerator with several beam lines and excellent microscopy facility including 200 KeV TEM with various attachments. General purpose equipments for research in Chemistry and Biology are also being procured.
Interested scientists with a strong track record in teaching and research are requested to send their CV with a list of publications and resume of their teaching experiences to the Director, Institute of Physics, Bhubaneswar – 751 005. The above document may also be submitted as a pdf file by email to niser@iopb.res.in. The completed application should reach by January 31, 2008.
Faculty members serving in other academic institutions who would like to spend one or two semesters on sabbatical leave are encouraged to apply. Retired faculty members are also eligible for fixed term appointments. They may be provided suitable honoraria for teaching.
November 26th, 2007
HSCC in charge of building the housing complex of AIIMS (like institute in) Bhubaneswar
Following is a PIB on this.
Lok Sabha
AIIMS like institutions are to be set up at six places in different parts of the country. For the construction of medical college and hospital complex, the Design Detailed Project Report (DPR) consultants have been selected for all the six sites. DPR would be available by May-June, 2008.
In so far as construction of housing complex is concerned, the bid process for selecting the turnkey developer was carried out for all sites. However, only 2 bids were received, of which one was found responsive. The work has been awarded to developer (M/s. Rajasthan State Road Development Corporation) for Jodhpur. The work relating to construction of housing complex at Rishikesh and Patna has been entrusted to HLL and for Bhubaneswar and Raipur to HSCC, on nomination basis. For Bhopal site, housing complex work would be awarded alongside with the hospital-medical college work.
The state-wise progress regarding construction of AIIMS like institutions can be seen at Annexure.
This information was given by the Minister for Health & Family Welfare, Dr. Anbumani Ramadoss in a reply to a question in the Lok Sabha.
KR/SK/166 – LS
ANNEXURE
|
S. No. |
AIIMS like Institutions |
Likely date for starting construction work |
Likely date for completion of construction work |
|
1. |
Jodhpur |
December, 2007 |
End 2010 |
|
2. |
Bhubaneswar |
February, 2008 |
End 2010 |
|
3. |
Rishikesh |
February, 2008 |
End 2010 |
|
4. |
Patna |
February, 2008 |
End 2010 |
|
5. |
Raipur |
February, 2008 |
End 2010 |
|
6. |
Bhopal |
July, 2008 |
End 2010 |
November 21st, 2007
Three HRD issues (AIIMS, IIT, KBK University) to be raised by the ruling coalition in the current assembly (from Dharitri)
November 19th, 2007
NISER course structure for Years 1-3 is in their web site
NISER course structure for Years 1-3 is in their web site at http://www.iopb.res.in/niser/NISER-Course_Structure.pdf. One thing that is missing in the course structure is Computer Science and programming courses; it does have numerical analysis and Bioinformatics though. If I were making the course structure I would at least add the following Computer Science courses, each with a programming lab.
- Data Structures and programming
- Theory of automata and languages
- Design and analysis of algorithms
2 comments November 16th, 2007
Block grant scheme of funding for new NIFTs; New NIFT center in Rae Bareli, UP
The following is from the PIB http://pib.nic.in/release/release.asp?relid=32492.
The Union Cabinet today gave its approval for introduction of the Block Grant Scheme of funding on the lines of IITs, IIMs, etc., for NIFT.
This will provide further functional / financial autonomy to the institute and will encourage it to generate more internal resources, promote innovation and result in an overall improvement in the standard of education and research.
The base year for the Block Grant Scheme shall be 2006-07 and the scheme will come into effect from 2007-08.
Currently there are NIFTs centers at New Delhi, Bangalore, Chennai, Gandhinagar, Hyderabad, Kolkata and Mumbai and a new one has just been announced for Rae Bareli. Earlier, the central minister from Orissa had said that he had requested and received positive indication regarding an NIFT in Orissa. See https://www.orissalinks.com/?p=304 and https://www.orissalinks.com/?p=178. I wonder what happened to that.
November 8th, 2007
