The 12th plan working group report on Sports and Physical Education recommends the establishment of four regional centres of LNUPE and 5 new sports and physical education universities or physical education colleges. Odisha must vigorously pursue the central government and the planning commission to get one of the proposed 5 sports and physical education universities.
In this regard, please send an email to the Odisha CM at cmo@ori.nic.in with content such as given below:
Dear Esteemed CM:
The 12th plan working group on Sports and Physical Education has recommended in their report at http://planningcommission.nic.in/aboutus/committee/wrkgrp12/hrd/wg_repsports.pdf that "for meeting the increasing demand of Physical Education Teachers and producing quality PETs, at least four regional centres of LNUPE and 5 new sports and physical education universities or physical education colleges should be opened during 12th
Plan. "
Kindly pursue with the central government regarding having one of these universities in Odisha.
Sincerely,
Following are some rationale behind pursuing a Sports and Physical Education University. Please have a look at it at your leisure.
While promoting sports, besides providing good facilities (hostels, stadiums, turfs), what is most important is that the athletes are provided with opportunities to pursue some recognized degree/diploma/certificate of study so that they have alternate avenues of employment. For example, consider the story in http://www.indiablooms.com/SportsVideoDetails/sportsVideoDetails180312f.php.
Following is an excerpt from that story.
Renowned national woman footballer Jhilli Munda, who has represented India at international and national events in several tournaments, is bearing the brunt of acute poverty and she is forced to roll beedis to earn her bread and butter.
It is well known that among the athletes that join the sports hostels, only a few make it to the state and national teams and of them only a few get appropriate jobs. What happens to the rest? It is sad to read about Jhili Munda’s story above. The point is until and unless we make sure that kids pursuing a career as an athlete have a way to make a living we can not significantly improve the sports scenario in Odisha and India. Now how do we make sure that *all* kids pursuing a career as an athlete have a way to make a living.
The way to do that is to provide them with some *relevant education* in parallel with their athletics training such that even if they do not make it to the top in sports, they can get a good job and make a living. What are some of the relevant educational avenues and programs?
Some of them are:
Physical training
Coaching in various sports
Physiotherapy
Sports medicine
Exercise Physiology
Sports Psychology
Sports Biomechanics
Sports Management and Mass Communication
Health Sciences & Yoga
Sports Massage
Grounds Management
Health and fitness management
Sports journalism
Sports photography and
Sports commentary.
Some of these courses are offered at the three established institutions in India:
5.15 It has been recommended that for meeting the increasing demand of Physical Education Teachers and producing quality PETs, at least four regional centres of LNUPE and 5 new sports and physical education universities or physical education colleges should be opened during 12th Plan. An outlay of Rs. 900 crore on this account during 12th Plan is projected.
Thus we should vigorously pursue the establishment of a National Sports Institute/University in Odisha that not only offers training in the sports Odisha excels in (Hockey – mens and womens, Football, Rowing, etc.) but also offers the above mentioned programs so that every athlete of Odisha is able to simultaneously pursue a certificate/diploma/degree in one of the above disciplines and is able to make a decent living.
Considering that Sundergarh and Rourkela area is the hotbed of Odisha athletics (mainly Hockey) and it is a tribal district, it would be good to locate the proposed National Sports Institute/University in Sundergarh/Rourkela. It may have branches in Kendrapada and Bhubaneswar to cater to the women footballers of Kendrapada and other sports persons in Bhubaneswar/Cuttack. Moreover the university in Sundergarh/Rourkela can also cater to athletes in Jharkhand.
The recent election of Mr. Dilip Tirkey as a Rajya Sabha MP can be seen/argued as an indication that the Odisha government is serious about promoting sports in a wholesome way, with particular attention to adivasis.
To recreate their own experience of learning at US universities, a group of professionals have come together to set up a new university of liberal arts in India. Well known names in Delhi and Mumbai circles — Ashish Dhawan (ChrysCapital), Sanjeev Bikhchandani (Naukri.com), Pramath Sinha (9.9 Mediaworx), NV “Tiger” Tyagarajan and Vineet Gupta (Jamboree), among others, are part of the International Foundation for Research and Education.
To be located in the Rajiv Gandhi Education City in Kundli, Sonepat, across 25 acres, Ashoka University has sought “private university” status from the Haryana government and will be not-for-profit. A total of Rs 50 crore has been paid for the land, and the first phase is expected to cost about Rs 200 crore. The seed capital has been put up by the trustees, apart from donations from individuals.
Dhawan, senior managing director, ChrysCapital — who recently announced he was stepping down — plans to get into school education in a big way. However, with Ashoka University, the “idea is to offer a greater focus on languages, humanities and social sciences and to offer breadth rather than just depth as in the British system. Instead of studying one subject in depth for 3-4 years, the idea is to study many subjects across disciplines,” says Dhawan. He says it will offer courses and areas of study on the lines of universities such as Yale, Princeton and Amherst.
… Pramath Sinha, founder of 9.9 Mediaworx, brings his experience of the Indian School of Business (ISB), Hyderabad, to the new venture. Some of the IFRE founders were keen to set up a quality engineering institute, while others wanted “more holistic” liberal arts courses. “We decided to marry the two and brought everyone together to set up a more ambitious project,” Sinha says.
Says an advisor in the Planning Commission: “Given the paucity of public funds, we need many such initiatives to bridge the demand between quantity and quality in higher education.” The founders, he says, can raise funds through various means. Given the founders’ past experience, raising capital should be the least of their problems.
3. Shiv Nadar University: The Shiv Nadar University is up and running in Delhi area. See http://snu.edu.in/.
4. Reliance University: There have been several news item regarding Nita Ambani heading the establishment of a Reliance University through the Reliance Foundation. See the announcement here.
Following is an excerpt from a report in Economic Times.
The Reliance Group is setting up a ‘world-class’ university as it seeks to promote education and research in sectors ranging from liberal arts to technology .
Reliance Foundation, which will spearhead the project, is expected to start the university either in Mumbai or Delhi. Nita Ambani, the wife of RIL chairman Mukesh Ambani, will head the new project.
India’s largest business conglomerate has started the process of identifying land for the proposed university , according to persons familiar with the development.
The university, modelled on the lines of American universities such as The University of Pennsylvania, will tie up with foreign universities. "It will be international in scale and in best practices, but with an Indian soul," said Mukesh Ambani, chairman, Reliance Group.
Nita Ambani told ET that the proposed university would be located either outside Mumbai or Delhi. "We are looking for sufficient land to set up a world-class university," she said.
Mr Ambani made this announcement while making the acceptance speech at Mumbai’s Tident Hotel after receiving the Dean’s medal from the University of Pennsylvania’s engineering school. His father Dhirubhai Ambani was earlier conferred Dean’s medal from Wharton School of Management.
The university will initially offer undergraduate courses. It will later offer postgraduate and doctoral courses, Ms Ambani said. India’s big business houses are strengthening their focus on education as it is poised to become a $80-billion opportunity by 2012. Indian spend $50 billion on private education annually, according to a research report by IDFC. It is expected to grow at a CAGR of 16%, said a CLSA Pacific study.
Q: So could we possibly see a Bharti University being setup anytime soon? And now you can also bring in foreign partners and collaborate with them.
Mittal: For us education will never be a business and therefore whatever we do will have to be done through grants and contribution from the group and friends. And I don’t know whether foreign universities would want to come in for the philanthropy part of it. But we will bring them in at our cost and price but they will not be a foreign university, it should be a Bharti University funded endowed by the contributions that we have made.
The Government has decided to set up a centre of excellence in animation through the public-private partnership mode for providing skilled workforce for the industry.
The centre would offer graduate and post graduate level programmes in animation with specialisation in subjects such as visual effects and game design.
Mohali was selected over other identified cities such as Mumbai, Pune, Hyderabad and Bangalore because of the proactive role of the Punjab government in providing land, I&B Ministry sources said.
The upfront infrastructure cost for the Government is estimated at Rs 51.20 crore. As per a detailed project report prepared by a consultant engaged by the I&B Ministry, the first batch is expected to start from 2013-14 academic year.
Note that the I & B ministry is headed by Mrs. Ambika Soni an MP from Punjab.
The list below is culled from mutiple sources: Institutes of National Importance, Central Universities, State Universities, Private Universities, Deemed Universities and news items regarding upcoming universities. The color code below is red for centrally funded institutions, orange for state funded institutions, green for deemed universities, blue for private universities created by the state and black for unclear status. One exception is the "South Asian University" which is created by multiple countries; but inside India it is centrally funded.
Mumbai
Delhi-NOIDA-Gurgaon
Kolkata
Chennai
1
IIT Bombay
IIT Delhi
IISER Kolkata
IIT Madras
2
Mumbai University (state)
Delhi University (central)
ISI Kolkata
Anna University (state)
3
HBNI (deemed)
JNU (central)
IIM Calcutta
Madras University (state)
4
TIFR (deemed)
South Asian University
IIEST Shibpur (prev. BESU)
AMET University (deemed)
5
TISS (deemed)
IIIT Delhi (state)
West Bengal National University of Juridical Sciences (state)
The Tamil Nadu Dr. M.G.R. Medical University (state)
6
Mahatma Gandhi Antarrashtriya Hindi Vishwavidyalaya (central)
Indian Agricultural Research Institute (deemed)
Calcutta University (state)
Tamil Nadu Dr. Ambedkar Law University (state)
7
DY Patil Vidyapeeth, Navi Mumbai (deemed Univ)
Indian Institute of Foreign Trade (deemed)
Jadavpur University (state)
Tamil Nadu open University (state)
8
SNDT Womens University (state)
Indian Law Institute (deemed)
Rabindra Bharati University (state)
Tamil Nadu Veterinary and Animal Sciences University (state)
9
Central Institute of Fisheries Education (deemed)
Jamia Hamdard (deemed)
Presidency University (state)
Bharath University (deemed)
10
Indira Gandhi Institute of Developmental Research (deemed)
National Museum Institute of History of Art, Conservation and Musicology, National Museum (deemed)
West Bengal Univ. of Technology (state)
Dr. M.G.R. University (deemed)
11
International Institute for Population Sciences (deemed)
National School of Drama, Bahawalpur House (deemed)
West Bengal Univ. of Health Sc. (state)
Sathyabama University (deemed)
12
MGM Institute of Health Sciences, Navi Mumbai (deemed)
National University of Educational Planning & Administration (deemed)
West Bengal Univ. of Animal & Fishery Sciences. (state)
Sri Ramachandra Medical College and Research Institute (deemed)
13
Narsee Munjee Institute of Management Studies (deemed)
Union Human Resource Development Ministry (HRD) has asked the Minority Affairs Ministry to make available land and additional resources if its proposal for establishing three universities — in Bihar, Rajasthan and Karnataka — was to be pushed in the Twelfth Five Year Plan. The HRD Ministry has already given in-principle approval to these universities meant to address the “very high deficit as far as Muslim participation in higher education was concerned.”
The Minority Affairs Ministry proposes to set up three universities on Wakf land at Bangalore, Ajmer and Kishanganj — to be known as Tipu Sultan University of Science and Technology (Karnataka), Khwaja Gareeb Nawaz University of Professional, Technology, and Vocational Education (Rajasthan) and Rafi Ahmed Kidwai University of Health and Medical Sciences (Bihar).
While conveying its in-principle approval, the HRD Ministry had pointed out that the proposed universities could not be accommodated in 11th Plan unless additional financial resources were made available as plan outlays are being used up in the 16 new Central universities already established by it and it was the fag-end of the plan period.
During inter-ministerial consultations on the proposed universities, the Minority Affairs Ministry had three options of either starting the universities by the minority community itself on Wakf land and declared as deemed university under the University Grants Commission Act, or to be established under an Act of Parliament declaring them as minority institutions such as the Aligarh Muslim University (AMU), where the Act was amended in 1981 to define the university as established by the Muslims. The third option was to set up the universities as collaboration between the government and the Wakf Board where the latter could contribute by way of land while financing would be done by the government, and Wakf Board representatives would be included in the Senate and managing bodies of the universities.
In the last named collaborative model, one option was that while the universities would be set up under an Act of Parliament, they will not have any explicit minority character; however as provided in Article 46 of the Constitution, a special dispensation could be made for preference to candidates of economically weaker sections.
Another option in the third model was to examine if it was legally permissible to admit Muslim minority students in recognition of the contribution of Wakf land for the purpose.
The expert committee ruled out the option of deemed university; the Ministry of Law and Justice ruled out the second option as it would have been inconsistent with the Aziz Basha judgment of Supreme Court and the Ministry of Minority Affairs is left with the third option.
The HRD Ministry is willing for setting up these institutions in any of the modes …
The HRD Ministry had also suggested an alternative of accommodating the three universities within the AMU as part of ongoing expansion of instead of setting up new universities. The suggestion to establish campuses of AMU at the three places was not agreed to on the ground that the ongoing expansion of AMU has serious misgivings amongst the alumni who feel that off-campuses would dilute the residential character of AMU.
Institute of Management Technology, Ghaziabad is setting up its campus in Hyderabad. …
This apart, Narsi Monjee Institute of Management Studies (NMIMS), rated among the best business schools in India, too will start its new campus at Jadcherla, Mahabubnagar district.
This is all set to come up with an excellent infrastructure in two years involving an investment of approximately Rs 35 crores in the first phase. …
The GMR group is associating with SCHULICH School of Business, one of the top business schools in the world and is a part of York University, Toronto, Canada.
It is setting up an international business school in Hyderabad, which will make efforts to promote business education with a global perspective.
… Hyderabad is already home to ISB, IIIT, IIT, BITS Pilani, Nalsar Law University, ICICI Knowledge Park, Genome Valley, University of Hyderabad. It also boasts of Institutes of excellence, research and development establishments and a large number of universities.
… Last year, Andhra Pradesh also invited IIM- Ahmedabad (IIMA) to set up a satellite campus near Hyderabad. This was supposed to be a seamless campus for which the IIMA will make the admissions for it. The faculty will be part of the IIMA.
The state earlier had also invited Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, CMC Vellore, Birla Institute of Technology (Pilani) and others to set up centres in the state.
After all this background study, and a lot of discussions, IIIT-Delhi finally decided to take the lead and shift to requiring only Maths as a necessary pre-requisite for applying for admission to BTech(IT). Of course, the Institute still will have an aptitude test for selection.
However, this seems to be only useful for students from Delhi. (Please double-check at the IIIT Delhi website.) I.e., Delhi Plus 2 arts students with Maths will be eligible to the BTech(IT) program of IIIT Delhi.
Although there are 15% seats for out-side Delhi students, these students have to take AIEEE.
Himachal Government has raised the demand for setting up of Indian Institute of Management (IIM) and Indian Institute of Information Technology (IIIT) in the State with the Government of India. …
Chief Minister said that Himachal Pradesh was poised to emerge a ‘Knowledge Hub’ where best of the vocational educational facilities would be available to the students from all over the world. He said that the IIT classes had already started at Mandi, NIFT classes at Chheb in district Kangra besides the Central University and soon ESI Medical College would start admission at Ner Chowk in district Mandi, Hotel Management Institute at Hamirpur and Food Craft Institute at Dharamshala.
… He said that vocational education was being given added priority since the State had 17 engineering colleges, one in Government and 16 in private sector; 30 polytechnics, nine in government and 21 in private sector and 81 industrial training institutes. He said that additionally 3 major nursing colleges had also been started in the State to give strength to the vocational education system.
Prof. Dhumal said that the State was encouraging private participation in imparting quality education to the students … He said that apart from 3 universities in the government sector 11 private universities had been set up in the state in addition to the one Technical University which too had started functioning. … He said that Rs. 62 crore were being spent over setting up of five polytechnics in Kinnaur, Sirmour, Bilaspur, Kullu, Lahaul and Spiti districts while Hydro Engineering College had been proposed to be opened at Bilaspur under joint venture of National Hydro Power Corporation and National Thermal Power Corporation. He added that the Institute of Engineering and Technology had also been set up at Pragatinagar with the assistance of Satluj Jal Vidyut Nigam. … He said that Himachal Pradesh happens to be the first State, which was spending 18 percent of its budgetary provisions on education, highest in the country and similarly 12 percent of the budget had been earmarked for agriculture related activities. … He said that Bilaspur, Mandi, Chamba and Kullu districts would be new destinations for setting up of future universities in private sector.
The Azim Premji Foundation (APF) … has decided to set up new institutes in Orissa. "The Institute of Learning and Development will be set up in the state under Azim Premji University. We also have plans to set up low-cost model demonstration schools in the districts. The projects will begin in the next couple of years," said the chief executive officer of APF, Dileep Ranjekar.
… He announced the launch of three post-graduate courses at the university, starting from the next academic session. "The absence of a large number of committed, qualified and trained professionals is one of the major constraints in the fields of education and development. The courses we have designed in our university will definitely help prepare outstanding professionals in the education sector," said Ranjekar. The courses offered are: masters degrees in education, development and teacher education.
"There is a huge dearth of experts in the fields of education and development. Teachers’ education in the country is of very poor quality and there has been no concerted effort to improve the curriculum and pedagogy," Ranjekar said.
Those interested in studying in the university will also be provided facilities like scholarships, loans, partial or full tuition fees and living expenses. "We will ensure that no student misses out on opportunities to study in the university due to financial constraints," he maintained. Ranjekar added that the foundation also has plans to set up an institute for assessment and accreditation of educational institutes.
Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) was established in 1936, as the Sir Dorabji Tata Graduate School of Social Work— a post-graduate school of social work of national stature to meet the emerging need for trained human service professionals. It was accorded the status of a deemed university in 1964 and has been funded by the University Grants Commission (UGC), Government of India (GoI), since then.
TISS offers post graduate education and research in inter-disciplinary areas of Social Work, Social Sciences, Public Health, Management, Labour Studies, and Habitat Studies through 6 Schools and 4 Independent Centres in three campuses located in Mumbai and Tuljapur. TISS has nearly 200 full-time faculty engaged in teaching, research, field action projects, training and consultancy. TISS faculty work very closely with Government, Industry, civil society, international organizations for human resources development, evidence based policy and program evolution, and development demonstration and support.
In recognition of its academic excellence and social contribution, it was awarded a 5-Star rating by National Assessment and Accreditation Council (an Independent body of University Grants Commission, Government of India) in 2002. The re-accreditation process completed on 1st January 2010 gave ‘A’ to TISS with a score of 3.88 out of 4.
About TISS – Hyderabad:
TISS is establishing campuses in Guwahati (in North-East India) and Hyderabad to spread high quality higher education and research in the inter-disciplinary areas of Social Sciences, Health, Education and Management.
While physical infrastructure is being developed for full-fledged permanent campus in Kothur Mandal, Mehboobnagar district, Hyderabad, the Government of Andhra Pradesh has given temporary campus in the institutional areas of Rajendra Nagar, Hyderabad to start teaching and research programs.
TISS Hyderabad campus is developing teaching, research, training, field demonstration projects areas around 6 academic centres:
1.Centre for Livelihoods Development
2.Centre for Education
3.Centre for Public Health
4.Centre for Social Entrepreneurship
5.Centre for Human Resources Development & Labour Studies
6.Centre for Studies in Social Conflicts
TISS Hyderabad campus will offer a 5-year integrated program in Social Sciences with students specializing in a number of disciplinary and inter-disciplinary subjects in the 4th and 5th year:
Social Work
Education
Rural Development and Governance
Social Entrepreneurship
Human Resources Management
Climate Change, Livelihoods and Natural Resources Management
Public Policy, Planning and Development and other areas to be added
In addition, the Hyderabad campus will offer teacher educators program – Three year integrated M. Ed. Program (Bachelor’s in Education & Master’s in Education).
An equal opportunities school from pre-school to higher secondary class will also be established to provide quality value based education to children from neighbouring villages and faculty and staff of the Hyderabad campus and other educational campuses in the area.
Mumbai-based Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) and Azim Premji Foundation signed a Memorandum of Understanding to set up an Azim Premji School of Education at TISS, Hyderabad. The school at TISS Hyderabad is going to offer degrees and continuing education programmes as well as conduct research in education. The collaboration will extend to significant joint work on curriculum, teaching and field work.
The school at TISS Hyderabad will get to be fully operational in about two years from now. It will leverage significantly from the work at the other campuses of TISS, as well from the Azim Premji University, set up by the Foundation.
TISS Hyderabad is being set up at the invitation of the Government of Andhra Pradesh. There are plans to make it a full-fledged campus offering teaching programmes and research activities across social sciences, humanities, development, social work and education. Established in Mumbai in 1936, today TISS, one of India’s premier institutes, has campuses in Tuljapur and Guwahati as well.
… The Xavier Labour Relations Institute, Jamshedpur has decided to set up its second campus in Hyderabad. An XLRI delegation had met Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister in this regard. The government has agreed to allot 75 acre for the project near Jawahar Nagar, on the outskirts of the city and near the BITS Pilani campus.
The AP government had extended an invitation to the management institute to set up its campus in the state three years ago. The Chief Minister renewed the efforts by writing to XLRI. The XLRI governing board took the decision on September 4, 2010.
Nearly 1,00,000 students appear for the entrance examination of XLRI, which has just 240 seats to offer. With the proposed Hyderabad campus, the institute would augment the intake of students.
XLRI’s expansion in Hyderabad will be its first move toward expansion in India. Internationally, the institute already has a presence in Dubai and Singapore.
… IMT Hyderabad, the new B-school under the IMT umbrella, is all set to commence its first academic session in June 2011. This is the third B-school of the IMT Group in the country. The other B-schools under the IMT Group of Institutions are IMT Ghaziabad, IMT Nagpur, and IMT Dubai.
…Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies (NMIMS), Mumbai is counted amongst the top B-schools of the country. NMIMS is now setting up its new campus in Hyderabad on a 90-acre plot at Jadcherla by 2013. The institute is expected to build the first of its campus structures covering over 50,000 sq ft with 14 classrooms, library, computer and communication labs by mid 2013. The full time management, engineering and pharmacy programmes of the institute will start from the campus in the academic year 2014-15.
NMIMS has already laid the foundation stone of its Chandigarh Campus on October 12, 2009. The planned infrastructure would be taking shape at Saranpur Institutional Area, near Chandigarh.
… Ms. Savita Mahajan, Chief Executive, ISB Mohali, informed MBAUniverse.com that the work on the physical infrastructure of upcoming ISB Mohali is in progress. “The work on the new campus is in full force and we are expecting the campus to be ready by April 2012.”
Punjab Chief Minister, Sardar Parkash Singh Badal had laid the foundation stone for the new campus of the ISB in Mohali (Punjab) on August 11, 2010 marking the start of construction of the ISBs’ first campus outside Hyderabad.
The ISB campus at Mohali will house four institutes focusing on areas critical to India’s development, viz. Max India Institute of Healthcare Management, Bharti Institute of Public Policy, BML Munjal Hero Honda Institute of Manufacturing Excellence and Innovation, and Punj Lloyd Institute of Physical Infrastructure Management.
… Both IMI Kolkata & IMI Bhubaneswar campuses are ready. And if all goes well the IMI authorities expect to be in a position to run regular PGDM programme from July 2011 after formal approval from the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), which is expected in May 2011.
… Birla Institute of Management Technology (BIMTECH), a leading B-school under the management of the B K Birla Group, has started construction work for setting up its new campus at Bhubaneswar. The Foundation Stone Laying ceremony for the new campus was organized on 5 April, 2011 at the IDCO institutional site at Gothapatna Area where institutions like IIIT, IMI and Nalco R&D Centre are already established. The new campus will become operational by June 2012 and will cater to the manpower needs of entire eastern India.
It can be clearly seen that the B-schools of the country are having a renewed focus on the emerging cities of the country, which includes Bhubaneswar, Mohali, Chandigarh, Hyderabad etc.
Following up on our earlier article, Odisha must push for an ISMU branch. The logic behind Assam getting an RGIPT branch is that Assam has a lot of petroleum related oil wells and refineries. By the same logic, Odisha tops the states in India with respect to its mineral output. Following is from a report in Business Standard.
With minerals produced in the state in 2009-10 valued at Rs 15,317 crore, Orissa has 13.10 percent share of the total value of minerals produced by major states in the country, followed by Madhya Pradesh (7.70 percent), Andhra Pradesh (7.21 percent), Maharashtra (4.92 percent), Gujarat (4.65 percent), Karnataka (3.96 percent), Tamil Nadu (3.21 percent), Rajasthan (2.99 percent), Assam (2.96 percent), West Bengal (2.78 percent).
According to the Economic Survey report (2010-11), the value of minerals extracted in Orissa has gone up by more than four times from Rs 3694 crore to Rs 15,317 crore between 2002-03 and 2009-10 coinciding with the boom in the mineral market during this period.
Orissa boasts of 95 percent of country’s chromite deposit, 92 percent of nickel ore, 55 percent of bauxite and 33 percent of iron ore. Besides, the state has substantial quantity of other minerals and ores like coal, manganese, dolomite, graphite and limestone.
With the iron ore prices spiraling, this commodity naturally leads the pack of minerals in terms of production and value. The state produced 79.7 million tonnes of iron ore in 2009-10 valued at Rs 7976 crore. This is followed by coal (105.5 million tonnes valued at Rs 5548 crore and chromite (3.4 million tonne valued at Rs 1167 crore).
Similarly, iron ore constituted 95.4 percent of the total exports of minerals from the state. About 15 million tonnes of iron ore was exported in 2009-10 valued at Rs 4224 core compared to exports of 0.46 million tonnes of chrome ore valued at Rs 464 crore and 0.25 million tonnes of mineral sand valued at Rs 72.32 crore.
One of the disturbing factors highlighted by the report is that with mining and quarrying sector gradually shifting to labour saving and capital-intensive technology, the total employment in the sector has been decreasing over the years. As a result, the number of direct employment in the mineral sector in Orissa has come down from 55764 in 2005-06 to 43705 in 2009-10.
It may be noted, with mineral deposits mostly occurring in the tribal belt of the state, this sector employs substantial number of tribals.
When ISM was made in Dhanbad, that region was perhaps the leader in mineral output (mainly coal) in the country. Odisha with a variety of minerals needs an ISM branch and we must push for it hard.
Related to that recently the Chief Minister has been concerned about the coal block allocation in Odisha. Following is an excerpt from a report in Economic Times on that.
Orissa government has taken strong exception to the coal ministry’s unilateral decision to allot coal blocks without consulting the state.
Chief minister Naveen Patnaik has shot off a letter to Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh urging him to review the allocation of coal blocks in Orissa. The coal ministry has allotted 32 coal blocks with an estimated reserve of about 15,000 million tons to 56 private and government agencies.
Mr Patnaik made it clear that a comprehensive regional master plan should have been prepared prior to allotment of huge number of coal mines in inhabited and environmentally sensitive areas in the state. Focus has to be given for infrastructure development, logistic planning, land requirements, rehabilitation and resettlement, environment impact studies and mitigation measures, the letter said.
Expressing serious concerns over the adverse environmental impact in post operationalisation of such a large number of coal blocks, Mr Patnaik pointed out that coal mining would cause deforestation and air pollution. Sources close to CM’s officer said, the letter also had pointed out that it might not be possible for the state to accommodate new coal mines by jeopardizing its environmental stability. The coal ministry needs to be advised to take a pragmatic and planned approach, keeping the interests and concerns of all stake holders including the state government in mind, the letter said.
For making the 32 coal blocks functional, 325 sq km shall have to be acquired within few years and another equivalent amount of land would be needed for allied activities like coal handling plants, siding, workshop, and residential colonies for project affected people, compensatory afforestation and other infrastructural facilities including roads.
This would lead to massive displacement and consequent socio-economic and environmental crisis, the chief minister is understood to have stated in his missive to the PM. However, such large-scale land acquisition and displacement could be avoided if coal blocks are allotted and developed in a planned and phased manner, Naveen added.
Incidentally, Orissa is already on the throes of severe climate change due to setting up of huge number of coal fired power plants threatening the livelihood of farmers and fishermen who form 70 % of the state’s population shall be severely hit due to irregular monsoons and erratic rainfall patterns.
Most of the power produced shall be transmitted to other states while the people of the state shall be the unwilling victims of the effects on climate change and pollution caused by the huge quantities of green house gases (GHGs) and fly ash generated.
“Coal mining is done either underground or open cast. In Orissa mostly open cast mining is done. When coal surfaces are exposed, pyrite (iron sulfide), comes in contact with water and air forming sulfuric acid. As water drains from the mine, the acid moves into the waterways, and as long as rain falls on the mine tailings the sulfuric acid production continues, whether the mine is still operating or not. Proper and holistic environmental protection measures are not taken by the owners of coal mines”, former director general of Council of Scientific and Industrial Research [CSIR] and currently, chairman, Institute of Advance Technology and Environmental Studies (IATES), P. K. Jena on Thursday told “The ET”.
This reinforces our thought that the civil society andthe government of Odisha must together push for an ISMU campus in Odisha that will specialize in all the issues mentioned above.
Please add aditional pointers in the comment section. As soon as the Malkangiri sutiation gets resolved we will start a movement to get an ISMU campus to Odisha.
Addressing a gathering in Sivasagar, Singh said, "It is befitting that the institute has been named after the late Rajiv Gandhi, our beloved leader and former Prime Minister of India. His contribution to modernization and development of our country was immense. He believed that the application of science and technology was critical to our development process."
He added that the institute, which will be a world class establishment in the petro-chemical sector, will be constructed at a cost of Rs 148 crore from central funds. "The place will offer degree, diploma and certificate courses to unemployed youths of the state. It will also provide special research on a particular subject," he said.
The Prime Minister added that the institute’s academic year will start from August this year. He said it was a centre of the main institute at Rae Barelly and its main objective was to promote capacity building in competency related to the domain of hydro carbon sector.
Using the same logic Odisha should push for a second campus of the Indian School of Mines University in one of the mining hubs of Odisha.
As far as NID is concerned the previous Commerce minister Kamal Nath had many times mentioned Odisha as a possibility; however because of our mistakes (see here, here and here) we lost it. I hope we learn from our mistakes.
In general there are several institutions we should target for the 12th plan. See https://www.orissalinks.com/archives/5859 for an initial list. However, if one were to prioritize, a campus of ISMU will have the highest monetary value; as these days ISMU is almost as good as an IIT and has most of the disciplines that an IIT has. ISMU Dhanbad currently has a faculty size of 170. Its budget for 2009-2010 was 128 crores (= 85 plan + 43 non-plan) and for 2010-2011 was 122.47 (=89 plan + 33.47 non-plan) crores. In comparison, the 2010-11 budget for the 7 old IITs were a total of 1600 (= 774 plan+ 826 non-plan ) crores and the 2010-11 budget for the 20 old NITs were a total of 1317.51 (= 810 plan + 507.51 non-plan) crores. So ISM’s budget (122.47 crores) lies between the average NIT budget (65 crores appx) and average IIT budget (228.5 crores).
Note that the Indian Maritime University now has a new campus in Kandla, Gujarat.