Following is from a report in Hindu.
Southern Railway is to start a medical college with private participation by making use of the existing medical facilities available at its hospital in Perambur here.
The Chief Medical Director of Southern Railway on Friday called for expression of interest from resourceful medical institutions in the country for establishing and running the college at the cost of institutions as per the Medical Council of India regulations. The institutions should have at least 10 years’ experience in running a medical college and attached hospital as per the MCI norms. Foreign institutions can also participate in the bid, provided they comply with respective foreign medical regulatory authority norms.
Southern Railway is now running a 500-bed hospital on a 15-acre site in Perambur and the same is to be shifted soon to new premises. The existing hospital premises and the proposed new hospital complex will be available for establishing the medical college.
According to the Medical Director, the Perambur railway hospital has basic specialities in 15 disciplines and super-specialities in three disciplines.
The hospital has been recognised by the National Board of Examinations for recognition in postgraduate training. International institutions such as Royal College of Surgeons had also accredited the hospital for imparting training in PG courses.
ECOR has a central hospital in Mancheswar. It was inaugurated in Nov 27, 2007. Following is an excerpt from the press release.
Sri K. C. Jena, Chairman, Railway Board and Ex-officio Principal Secretary, Govt. of India inaugurated the Central Hospital of East Coast Railway at Mancheswar today. The hospital which started as a Health Unit in 1982 under Mancheswar Workshop was declared to be converted to 100 bedded Central Hospital for ECoR on 09.10.2005. In the first phase, construction has been completed with 60 beds, 4 bedded ICU and OT complex with a sanctioned cost of Rs. 1.88 crores.
The second phase expansion of the Central Hospital with 40 beds with maternity and pediatric wards and 8 Nos. of Special Cabins at a cost of Rs. 1.98 crores will be taken up shortly.
This hospital which has tied up with Kalinga Hospital Ltd., Bhubaneswar, Yoshada Hospital, Secunderabad and Seven Hills Hospital, Visakhapatnam is presently catering to the medical and health care needs of almost 36000 employees of Mancheswar Workshop, East Coast Railway Headquarters, Construction Organisation, Railway Recruitment Board (RRB), Railway Electrification (RE), Railway Claims Tribunal (RCT) and retired railway employees residing at Bhubaneswar and their family members.
We should watch out how this hospital grows and may be in 5 years, ECOR could be pushed to follow the path of Southern railway and have a medical college attached to this hospital.
March 21st, 2009
Following is excerpted from a report in Telegraph.
The Centre has approved a request by the Manipur government to set up a campus of the new Indira Gandhi National Tribal University in the state and asked the chief minister to allocate land for it.
The human resource development ministry has authorised the IGNTU, India’s first university dedicated to tribal studies, to open a campus in the hills of Manipur, The Telegraph has learnt.
… Manipur, sources said, was told of the approval just before the announcement of elections. But the formal sanction from the IGNTU governing body — critical for setting up a new campus — came only earlier this week.
The IGNTU was started last year at Amarkantak in Madhya Pradesh but its planned campus there is tangled in controversy with forest officials and some religious leaders opposed to chopping of trees to build the university.
Manipur is the first state whose request for an IGNTU campus has been accepted. Several other states with a significant tribal population had also asked for a campus.
The Congress rules both at the Centre and in Manipur.
With the Centre’s approval, the state may now actually develop the first fully operational campus of the IGNTU unless the dispute over Amarkantak is resolved, sources said. The headquarters of the IGNTU will however remain in MP, the sources said.
The government, through the IGNTU vice-chancellor, has written to chief minister Okram Ibobi Singh asking him to allocate 300 acres of land in the state for the campus, officials said. The state government is likely to offer land for the campus in Senapati, it is learnt.
…The tribal university is expected to offer, in the coming years, the country’s best academic opportunities in tribal literature, culture, language, music, arts and scriptures.
The idea behind the university is to provide students from a tribal background an education that they can identify with and which can train them in helping safeguard and develop their culture.
Classes in select subjects started last year from a temporary campus at Amarkantak.
March 20th, 2009
Following is an excerpt from a report in the Telegraph.
The Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) in West Bengal is set to become the first such institute in the country to offer an integrated masters degree in earth science.
There are five IISERs in the country, set up on the lines of the Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore.
The earth science course will be introduced in the next session and will cover subjects such as palaeontology, geo-chemistry, seismology, climatology and space science.
“Geo-chemistry will be a topical subject in Bengal. It will cover arsenic contamination, which is a major problem in the state. Space science, too, is neglected in Bengal,” said Dibyendu Nandi, an assistant professor at the IISER in Nadia.
… The institute will also offer an integrated PhD programme from August 2009 that will be open to graduates. The course duration will be five-seven years.
“The first two years will be for a masters course. A doctorate usually takes three to four years but may take longer in the field of science. Students will have up to five years to complete their PhD,” said Nandi.
In 2009, the PhD aspirants will be selected on the basis of their applications and interviews but from the next year there will be an all-India entrance test.
Both courses will be offered on the IISER’s new campus in Mohanpur in Nadia. “The 200-acre campus should be ready by the end of 2010,” said Nandi.
In keeping with its objective of making education and careers in basic sciences more attractive, the institute is also reaching out to students in schools and colleges.
… The institute is also planning to visit colleges across Bengal to spread awareness about science and research.
March 6th, 2009
Following is an excerpt from a report in the Times of India.
A typographical error, it seems, has become a boon for the state. The Centre on Wednesday assured the state of an IIM, which was announced earlier, but termed as a “typographical mistake” made by the union HRD ministry.
“The HRD ministry has rectified the mistake. As announced, we will now take action to set up an IIM in Rajasthan also,” acting finance minister Pranab Mukherjee said in Rajya Sabha on Wednesday. In the recent budget speech, Mukherjee had said that the new Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) were to come up in Haryana, Rajasthan, Jharkhand and Tamil Nadu.
However, Mukherjee later said he was informed that there was a typographical mistake made by the HRD ministry and these institutions were to come up in Haryana, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Tamil Nadu.
This, however, led to strong protests in Rajasthan and MPs from the state raised the issue in the ongoing session of Parliament.
Mukherjee’s latest announcement has now put to rest the controversy over the IIM as the main opposition BJP was in a mood to make it a poll issue in the state. In fact, after the recent victory in assembly polls, the Congress high command has been heavily banking on Rajasthan and the party didn’t want to antagonise the voters of the state on the eve of Lok Sabha polls.
February 26th, 2009
Following is from PIB http://pib.nic.in/release/release.asp?relid=47087.
The Union Cabinet has approved the establishment of a new institute “National Institute ofAbiotic Stress Management” costing Rs. 73.50 crores in the 11th Plan.
Abiotic stresses like drought, temperature extremes, flood, salinity, mineral toxicity and nutritive deficiency are threatening agriculture production globally. India being a tropical country faces such abiotic stresses to a significant degree which has implications for maintaining national food security.
The National Institute of Abiotic Stress Management shall have a comprehensive mandate of characterization of the occurrence of various abiotic stresses in the country impacting agriculture on a continuous basis and carry out basic and strategic research that will lead to development of technologies for mitigation and adoptation of crops, livestock, horticulture, fisheries and micro organisms to such stresses. The important research programs would be in a matrix mode. Organizationally it is proposed that the institute shall conduct its research programmes through four schools viz; schools of drought stress management, atmospheric stress management, edaphic stress management and policy support research.
The institute, which will be located at Malegaon ( Baramati) in Maharashtra will have a deemed to be university status.
February 1st, 2009
Following is an excerpt from a report in Indopia.
Domestic steel producer Jindal Steel and Power has invested about Rs 300 crore to set a law school as part of its O P Jindal Global University project and will also approach corporate houses like Tatas and Ambanis to pump in more funds in the form of endowments.
The college, envisioned by JSPL Executive Vice-Chairman and Managing Director Navin Jindal, has been at the university campus in Sonepat, Haryana. The first session of the college, is expected to start in September this year.
" Jindal Global Law School will be the first phase of our endevour to promote excellence in higher education by setting up O P Jindal Global University. We have infused up to Rs 300 crore at the moment and expect more investment in form of endowments and donations," O P Jindal Global University Professor and CEO C Raj Kumar told media.
…The law college would function in collaboration with the top institutes worldwide like Harvard Law School among others and would offer a three-year post-graduate LLB programme. The institute is also planning to commence a five-year undergraduate programme in law.
Kumar said school would have competitive fee structure of Rs six lakh per annum and would offer scholarship and easy loan schemes to them.
The Orissa government should push JSPL for setting up similar higher education institutions in Orissa where they have existing operations (such as an iron ore mine in Tensa, Keonjhar) and where they are expanding some operations. In particular:
January 9th, 2009
Following is from http://pib.nic.in/release/release.asp?relid=46293.
DEPTT. OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
Department of Science & Technology initiated several easy to access programmes for people. Following are some of the highlights:
Innovation in Science Pursuit for Inspire Research (INSPIRE)
INSPIRE is a programme by the Department of Science & Technology for attraction of talent to study science and careers with research. The Scheme includes three sub-components namely a) Scheme for Early Attraction of Talents for Science (SEATS), b) Scholarship for Higher Education (SHE) and c) Assured Opportunity for Research Careers (AORC).
Scheme for Early Attraction of Talent (SEATS) aims to attract talented youth to study science through INSPIRE award of Rs 5000 to each awardee. About one million young learners of the age group 10-15 years will be selected fro INSPIRE Award from the toppers who constitute approximately one percent in the Class X Board examinations in the country. Summer camps for about 50,000 youth will be organised in which students will interact with global science leaders..
Scholarship for Higher Education (SHE) aims to enhance rates of attachment of talented youth to higher education in science intensive programmes. The scheme offers 10,000 scholarship and mentorship every year @ Rs 0.80 lakh per year for undertaking Bachelor and Masters level education in natural sciences. A main feature of the scheme is in mentorship support for every scholar through INSPIRE scholarship.
Assured Opportunity for Research Careers (AORC) aims to attract, attach, retain and nourish talented young scientific Human Resource for strengthening the R&D foundation and base by offering doctoral INSPIRE fellowship in the age group of 22-27 in the both basic and applied sciences including engineering and medicine and assured opportunity for post doctoral researchers in the age group of 27-32 years through contractual and tenure track positions for 5 years in both basic and applied sciences areas through an INSPIRE faculty scheme.
Science & Engineering Research Board (SERB)
SERB is an autonomous empowered Board to be established through an Act of Parliament. It will promote excellence in research through established groups pursuing advanced research and gaining global competitiveness for Indian Science and strive to de-bureaucratize the funding support system. The Parliament has passed the bill on the formation of SERB.
Nano Mission
India has mounted a national nano mission in 2007 with an objective of promoting basic and applied research in nano science with an outlay of Rs 1000 crores over 5 years. Under this mission, a new Institute of nano science and technology at Mohali and centers of Banglore and Kolkata are being established. Projects and centres of excellence in basic and applied research have been supported with an outlay of over Rs 150 crores during 2007-08. More than 500 students are currently carrying out doctoral research in nano science in the country.
Initiative for Technologies for Safe Drinking Water
The department has mounted a national initiative to assess technologies and products available for providing safe drinking water for decentralized use and create a data base of technologies after the evaluation of field performance of products and technologies.
Recent Success Stories of the incubated companies promoted by NSTEDB, DSTsupported Technology Business Incubator (TBI).
Torque 360 Degree Solutions is an incubated company of Technopark, Trivandrum which specializes in providing wireless messaging solutions enabling direct communication with targeted audiences and service them through various messaging products and tools. One of its spin off, MobME , Mobile Media and Entertainment Start-up is valued at US $ 7 Million and is listed on top 100 IT Innovators 2007 by NASSCOM.
Laurus Laboratories nurtured in ICICI Knowledge Park, Hyderabad, life science Incubator functions in the area of pharmaceutical process development which provides integrated services, technologies and manufacturing capabilities spanning the entire drug development life cycle, have had an iconic growth with over USD 100 million valuation and a strategic partnership with Aptuit Inc. in less than two years and created 425 scientist level jobs and around 100 support level jobs.
SooryaKiran Bioinformatics (P) Ltd is a university incubated, new generation bioinformatics company functioning from Technopark, Trivandrum provides reliable, cost effective, world-class customized solutions that bridge the gap between information analysis and knowledge management. The company is poised to establish itself as a world renowned organization, striving to set benchmarks in Computational Biology and Bioinformatic.
National Mission on Bamboo Applications
National Mission on Bamboo Applications focused attention on value addition of bamboo materials through applications of technology and product development in area of structural materials and energy generation. Several housing and structural applications related technologies have been commercialized.
DRUGS AND PHARMACEUTICAL RESEARCH PROGRAM
The programme has established a number of Public Private Partnerships (PPP) in drug development. Total of 85 collaborative R&D projects with leading industries, 31 national facilities and 37 Pharma Industry loan projects have been supported.
The programme has resulted in filing 15 product patents and 13 process patents. Industrial leads on Psoriasis, Migraine, Malaria, Anti-Glaucoma, Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease, Diabetes, aging, Pancreatic Cancer, Osteoporosis are under different phases (Phase I, II, III) clinical trials.
Science Express – an innovative science exhibition on-wheels
Science Express’, an innovative Indo-German Pathway to Discovery, is a unique science exhibition-on-wheels. It was flagged off by Hon’ble Prime Minister of India Dr. Manmohan Singh and Federal Chancellor of Germany Dr. Angela Merkel from Delhi Safdarjung on 30 October 2007. It is a joint venture between the Max Planck Society Germany (MPS), a Noble laureate powerhouse and Department of Science & Technology (DST), Government of India, with the support of Germany’s Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) and the German corporate giant BASF and its Indian arm, among others. The exhibition comprising of over 350 interactive displays, large format modules, video clips and voice-overs strived to provide insights into some most pressing questions about evolution besides state-of-the-art of several scientific pursuits. It also hosted world famous Kids’ Lab of BASF and over 15,000 students performed interesting experiments in Chemistry.
During its incredible tour of India to 57 locations in 217 days covering over 15,000 kms during, this first-of-its kind exhibition received overwhelming response at each halt as it attracted over 22.5 lakhs visitors. Buoyed by its success, a modified version called ‘sciencexpress’ having more indigenous content has been launched on 30 November 2008 to another 50 destinations not covered earlier.
International S&T Cooperation
The Department of Science and Technology on behalf of the Government of India has enlarged the Scope and strength of S&T cooperation with many countries during the year 2008-09. Stepped cooperation with European Union, United Kingdom, Germany, Japan, Australia, Canada, Israel, Russia, SAARC, brazil, South Africa formed special focus during 2008-09. Indian beam line in Japan, Science express with Germany, Industrial R&D fund support with Israel and Canada, science bridges with UK, Joint Biomedical center with Russia, coordinated call for research on computational material science with EU are some indications of stepped up S&T cooperation registered during 2008-09.
PRA/SKK
January 2nd, 2009
Following is an excerpt from a report in Telegraph.
… The human resource development ministry has decided to open nine new NITs instead of 10, replacing the tenth with an institute to be named after A.B.A. Ghani Khan Choudhury.
The Union cabinet approved the Ghani Khan Choudhary Institute of Engineering and Technology on November 20, allocating Rs 97 crore for the project.
The institute will be based in Malda, the late Congress leader’s bastion.
… a cash-strapped government has quietly decided to scrap one NIT to accommodate the institute named after Choudhury without spending more.
… Unlike the NITs, which have a national character and admit students from across the country, the Ghani Khan Choudhary Institute will primarily cater to local students, sources said.
“It will not be an NIT and will not even be run like one. The idea, pushed by the late Congress leader’s family, was not to have a national institution but a memorial to Choudhury. And that’s what this institute will be,” a source close to HRD minister Arjun Singh said.
… The Ghani Khan Choudhary Institute will not be run by a central law.
Choudhury’s family members, it is learnt, have met Arjun at least twice to urge him to start the institute. A source in the Prime Minister’s Office confirmed that it, too, had been petitioned by the family.
…But the HRD ministry, the sources said, decided instead to propose the Ghani Khan Choudhary Institute in place of one NIT.
In 2009 if there is a friendly government in the Center Orissa should try for Biju Patnaik Instutute of Engineering and Technology along the above lines.
December 17th, 2008
Following is from the PIB report http://pib.nic.in/release/release.asp?relid=44917.
The Union Cabinet today gave its approval for establishment of the UNESCO Regional Centre for Training and Education in Biotechnology at Faridabad, Haryana as a Category-II Institution of UNESCO with the revised budget of Rs. 99.55 crores.
The proposed Centre would act as the focal point for cooperation amongst the Members countries of the Asian Region in Biotechnology.
The Centre would be a regional hub for interdisciplinary education and training in biotechnology with emphasis on novel education programmes relevant to industry, including bio-drug discovery science, nano-science & medicine, imaging techniques, designer crops, bioengineering and biomaterials, intellectual property, technology transfer and regulation to fulfill and overcome the acute shortage of skilled human resources in India.
The Centre will be governed by a Board of Governors with representations from India, UNESCO and the member countries. Collaboration with UNESCO will ensure gateways to international institutions such as European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO), International Union of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology (IUBMB) etc. and usher in skill acquisition in the global context.
The Centre will be the first every inter-disciplinary institution in life sciences and biotechnology in India with unique international character to offer novel educational & training courses in the interdisciplinary and related areas of biotechnology. It would also be a place of designing of new and novel programmes for education & training which could be then assimilated by the existing universities in India and the Region.
November 20th, 2008
Besides IITs and NITs some centrally funded engineering colleges are being established by the central govt. in various states. This includes the Sant Longowal Institute of Engineering and Technology in Punjab and Central Institute of Technology, Kokrajhar, Assam.
Following is a PIB report on a similar institute being established in Malda, West Bengal.
The Union Cabinet today gave its approval for establishment of Ghani Khan Choudhary Institute of Engineering & Technology, as a Centrally funded institution in Malda, West Bengal on the modular pattern of teaching as adopted by Sant Longowal Institute of Engineering & Technology (SLIET), Longowal, Punjab. The Institution will offer courses in Engineering and Technology to cater to the various manpower requirements of the region, with special emphasis on courses relevant to the local population such as in food technology & sericulture.
Initially, the Institution would start with Certificate level courses leading to Diploma, Degree and Post-graduate levels later.
The total project outlay of the Institute will be around Rs. 97 crores.
Orissa should ask for a similar engineering college to cater to the backward KBK+ districts and located in Kalahandi.
Koraput will have the central university; Branch of IGNTU is being pursued in Kandhamala. So an engineering college like SLIET should be located in Kalahandi. The institute can be called KBK institute of Engineering and Technology (KBKIET).
November 20th, 2008
Following is from Business Standard.
After getting the approval from top-notch private institutes — including BITS Pilani, XLRI and Symbiosis — Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Rajasekhar Reddy has spoken to the managements of IIM Ahmedabad, IIM Bangalore, and the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore, to set up campuses in Hyderabad. It has also sent a proposal to the HRD ministry in this regard.
Reddy is understood to have spoken to the Chairman of IIM Bangalore’s governing council, Mukesh Ambani, to set up institute’s second campus in Hyderabad. Madireddy Pratap, Additional Secretary to the chief minister visited IIM Bangalore campus early this month and met the institute director Pankaj Chandra. The AP government is learnt to be gifting 100 acres of land towards this end.
“We have already got the approval of several top-ranked institutes in the country and are keen on bringing IIM-Ahmedabad and IIM-Bangalore in Andhra Pradesh. We have also spoken with the director of IISc Bangalore to set up their second campus here,” Pratap told Business Standard.
When contacted, Director of IIM-Bangalore Pankaj Chandra confirmed that officials from the Andhra Pradesh government had held discussions with him on establishing a campus in Hyderabad. “The Andhra Pradesh government has already sent a proposal for the same to the HRD ministry and is awaiting a response from them,” said Chandra.
Pratap further said the Andhra Pradesh government is working on offering 200 acres of land each to BITS and Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR), 40 acres to Symbiosis, 65 acres to Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), 90 acres to Narsee Monjee and 30 acres for IMT Ghaziabad to set up campuses in the state. He added the state would contribute in offering land, while the expense of setting up the campus would be borne by the institute.
The proposal assumes significance in the wake of the RC Bhargava committee’s observation that the IIMs should concentrate on expanding their presence within the country rather than abroad. It may be recalled that IIM Bangalore’s proposal to set up a campus in Singapore was shot down by the HRD ministry who asked them to change their Memorandum of Association (MoA). This might prompt IIM Bangalore to look at expanding within the country.
Institutes like IIM require an investment of around Rs 250-300 crore for a full-fledged campus. Similar is the case with private institutes. The BITS campus in Hyderabad, for instance, is being set up in an area of 200 acres and involves an investment of Rs 270 crore. Initially, the Hyderabad campus would induct 600 students but the intake is likely to go up to 2,500 in the next four years.
TIFR is planning to invest Rs 2,500 crore in the next 15 years in its proposed campus, which will come up at University of Hyderabad. Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) has been granted land in Ranga Reddy district in Andhra Pradesh.
October 29th, 2008
Following are excerpts from http://164.100.24.209/newls/textofdebatedetail.aspx?sdate=10/21/2008.
INDIAN MARITIME UNIVERSITY BILL
1729 hours
THE MINISTER OF SHIPPING, ROAD TRANSPORT AND HIGHWAYS (SHRI T.R. BAALU): Sir, I beg to move:
“That the Bill to establish and incorporate a teaching and affiliating University at the national level to facilitate and promote maritime studies and research and to achieve excellence in areas of marine science and technology, marine environment and other related fields, and to provide for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto, be taken into consideration.”
India has had a long maritime tradition and is the 20th largest maritime country in the world. The single largest contributing factor to this glorious tradition is the presence of a strong, dedicated, efficient and reliable reservoir of officer and ratings of the Merchant Navy in India. Presently, 27,000 officers and 55,000 ratings are employed on Indian and foreign flag vessels. The ever-increasing demand of Indian seafarers worldwide is a testament of the quality of education and training received in India. However, of late, India has been facing a stiff challenge to her position in this regard from countries like Phillippines, China and Bangladesh. Hence, there is a need to further upgrade our training capacity and capabilities so that India stays ahead of the other nations in this sector and is able to meet the projected global shortage of 27,000 officers by the year 2015. There is also a need to augment the share of India in the world maritime manpower fleet from the present level of around 6 per cent to at least 20 per cent.
(d3/1730/rbn/sb)
Further, the 29 per cent share of Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development countries is dwindling rapidly due to lack of interest of their youth in this career and this presents an opportunity that we should exploit to our advantage. With the growth of the maritime sector in the country such as the port, shipping, ship-building, inland water transport and offshore exploration sectors, the need for development of manpower in new disciplines such as maritime security, maritime law, oceanography, marine insurance, ocean engineering, ship-building and other relevant areas has become imperative.
To meet the requirement of trained manpower in the merchant maritime fleet under the Indian flag as also foreign flag vessels, the Directorate General of Shipping, Department of Shipping imparts pre-sea and post-sea training in engineering and in the nautical discipline through the Lal Bahadur Shastri College of Advanced Maritime Studies and Research, Mumbai, Training Ship Chanakya, Navi Mumbai and the Marine Engineering and Research Institute, Kolkata and Mumbai. For further strengthening the institutional framework for imparting maritime training in India, the Government decided to establish a Society namely the Indian Institute of Maritime Studies on 6th June, 2002 placing these four Government-run Maritime Institutions within the domain of this Society. The Government also set up the National Institute of Port Management now renamed as National Maritime Academy, Chennai and Indian Institute of Port Management, Kolkata as registered Societies for capacity building of personnel of port and shipping industry.
In order to encourage private sector participation in maritime training, the Government of India announced liberalised guidelines in 1997 and as a result, around 125 training institutes have come up in the Government and in the private sector, which impart both pre-sea and post-sea training. The Directorate General of Shipping, Mumbai, recognises the private institutes.
It has been seen that the present maritime training set up in the country does not ensure uniform standards and is inadequate in terms of its span of academic coverage, and thus it cannot cope with the future growth opportunities. Hence, there is a need to strengthen its training infrastructure including setting up a university immediately.
The Committee on Maritime Education and Training set up by the Government in 1991, had recommended the establishment of an autonomous body under an Act of Parliament, to be designated as the Indian Maritime University, to manage, control, supervise, direct and monitor the maritime training institutions, currently running under the Government control. An Expert Committee was constituted by this Ministry, which inter alia included representatives of the University Grants Commission, to look into the feasibility of the formation of an Indian Maritime University by an Act of Parliament under the aegis of this Ministry, which also strongly recommended the formation of Indian Maritime University. The Expenditure Reforms Commission in its Ninth Report had also recommended that the IIMS should be given the status of a deemed university or of an Indian Institute of Technology and should become totally autonomous.
Formation of the IMU will facilitate and promote maritime studies, research and extension work with focus on emerging areas of studies including marine science and technology, marine environment, socio-economic, legal and other related fields, and also to achieve excellence in these and connected fields. It will promote advanced knowledge by providing institutional and research facilities in such branches of learning as it may deem fit, make provisions for integrated courses in science and other key areas of marine technology and allied disciplines. As we have a sizeable number of private institutions imparting maritime education and training, the University will standardise the quality of such education and training through affiliation and academic supervision.
The Government had introduced the Indian Maritime University Bill, 2007 on 13th March, 2007 in the Lok Sabha. The Bill was referred to the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Transport, Tourism and Culture on 19th March, 2007 for examination and report. The Committee examined the Bill and presented its 132nd Report on IMU Bill, 2007, on 17th April, 2008. The Government has considered the Report of the hon. Committee and has accepted 24 of their recommendations.
One of the recommendations of the Committee is that there must be one Maritime University each in Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Visakhapatnam and Kochi. The Government is of the view that, to begin with, establishment of several Universities at the same time would create difficulties. It would require far greater skilled, human and financial resources than are available and would carry the danger of dilution of input
It would also deny the investment of learning and experience gained from setting up the first University into subsequent Universities. It would also be administratively premature, as the demand, location and jurisdiction issues would first need to be adequately studied to enable rational investment decisions. Further, much of the spadework for establishing the Indian Maritime University at Chennai has since been done. Based on the experience gained, the Government will review, at an appropriate stage, the requirement of more Universities and a decision would be taken keeping in view the enabling factors like availability of land, resources, presence of maritime institutes in the region, etc.
We, therefore, propose to establish the Indian Maritime University in Chennai with campuses in Kolkata, Mumbai and Visakhapatnam by an Act of Parliament.
The existing seven Government and Government-aided maritime training and research institutes, viz. Marine Engineering and Research Institute (MERI), Kolkata, Marine Engineering and Research Institute (MERI), Mumbai, Lal Bahadur Shastri College of Advanced Maritime Studies and Research, Mumbai, T.S. Chanakya, Navi Mumbai, National Maritime Academy (NMA), Chennai, Indian Institute of Port Management (IIPM), Kolkata and the National Ship Design and Research Centre (NSDRC), Visakhapatnam will be merged with the IMU. The employees of the four training institutes under IIMS who will stand transferred to the IMU will have the option to continue on deemed deputation in the IMU on Government terms and conditions and also continue to retain/to be allotted Government residential accommodation on turn and avail of the Central Government Health Scheme (CGHS) facilities till their retirement. The employees of the NMA, IIPM and NSDRC shall have the option to continue in the IMU on the existing terms and conditions of respective institutes, till their retirement. All the employees shall also have the alternative option to join the IMU as per the service conditions of the University.
Sir, with these words, I now move the Indian Maritime University Bill, 2007 for consideration.
…
1834 hours
SHRI B. MAHTAB (CUTTACK): At the outset, I should say that I welcome the Bill. The Standing Committee has already discussed this and has recommended it to the Government for consideration. I hope that the Minister will reply — while giving his explanation — as to why certain recommendations have not been adhered to. In course of time we will also get the Action Taken Report that the Committee had submitted to the Government. Hence, we will know why certain recommendations have not been accepted. …
There is a need to have a regulator who could look after the standards. The Indian Maritime University in Chennai will have campuses, as has been mentioned in the Bill, in Mumbai, Kolkata and in Vizag. Orissa has been left in between.
(q3/1840/kmr/mm)
We have an Academy at Paradip for the last 25 years. You can extend a campus to Paradip. Our contention would be, as has been mentioned by my previous speakers, that the attempt should be to build up new universities in this aspect. This is a forward-looking Bill. A Central University may be a light post, a guideline. But attempt should be made by the Government to set up more such universities so that the trainers can also be trained and better faculty members can come in from outside and train our people. Autonomous institutions also should come up.
…
1843 hours
SHRI KHARABELA SWAIN (BALASORE): Mr. Chairman, Sir, I appreciate the requirement of setting up of a maritime training set up to develop a strong, dedicated, efficient and reliable reservoir of officers, . I also appreciate the need to bring in maritime technology, environment, legal and other related issues and to facilitate maritime studies and research. …
Lastly, I will appeal to the hon. Minister. Orissa is having a vast coastline; it is having a long maritime tradition. People went right up to Indonesia, Cambodia, and such other countries. So, in future, when he goes in for more and more campuses, will he consider opening up of another campus in Orissa? Thank you very much.
October 23rd, 2008