Update on August 22, 2015: IIM Indore has made a tentative web page for IIM Sambalpur.
Update on June 24, 2015: The Indian Cabinet has finalized Sambalpur as one of the 6 new IIMs. On other fronts: (i) the state government has proposed the center to upgrade VSSUT Burla to an IIEST and there are pronouncements by a central minister that the central government is positively inclined, and (ii) the upgradation of GM College to an university is progressing well (its new web page is functional and advertisement for admission to GM University has come out).
Update on March 2, 2015: With center inclined to relax some of the conditions on IIM locations that it apparently had suggested earlier, the state government has now recommended Sambalpur as the location for IIM. Sambalpur is the second largest knowledge hub of Odisha with 3 existing state universities and two new ones in works. The existing universities in Sambalpur are: Sambalpur University, Veer Surendra Sai University of Technology, Veer Surandra Sai Institute of Medical Sciences. The two new planned ones are the upgradation of GM College to a unitary university and an Open University.
Old message:
Since it will take some time before IIM Bhubaneswar has its own web page prospective IIM Bhubaneswar students may check the following pages for why they should chose IIM Bhubaneswar and Bhubaneswar. We will try to add some links and information there.
IIM Bhubaneswar link 1.
IIM Bhubaneswar link 2.
Bhubaneswar – a hub of and for Knowledge institutions and companies.
February 1st, 2015
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:
In the 2011-12 budget there was mention of the following *new* initiatives:
- Rajiv Gandhi National Institute of Youth Development in Tamil Nadu: With a 2011-12 budget allocation of 10.8 crores (2010-11: 9.9 crores)
- Laxmibai National Institute of Physical Education – NE area and Sikkim Initiative: With a 2011-12 budget allocation of 15 crores (2010-11: 3 crores)
In the 2012-13 budget (
http://indiabudget.nic.in/ub2012-13/eb/sbe106.pdf ) there was the mention of the following *new* initiatives:
- 7. Rajiv Gandhi National Institute of Youth Developmentin Tamil Nadu has a budget of 18.9 crores.
- 28. National Institute of Sports Science and Sports Medicine 5 crores
- 29. National Institute of Coaching Education 5 crores
Note that none of the above are in the eastern part of India and none are in the traditional tribal areas of India.
The 12th plan has a working group on Sports and Physical Education. They have a report at http://planningcommission.nic.in/aboutus/committee/wrkgrp12/hrd/wg_repsports.pdf . In that report the following is mentioned.
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.
May 1st, 2012
Our first posting in this site was on November 28th, 2006. It is at https://www.orissalinks.com/archives/7. It was about a central university in KBK. We succeeded in our mission and a central university in KBK was announced in March 2008, and it has now been established in Koraput district.
Earlier this year (On May 22nd 2011) I wrote to the planning commission to establish a central agricultural university in Odisha as part of the 12th plan. Following are excerpts of my mail.
I propose that the 12th plan staring from 2012 include several Central Agricultural Universities in backward district clusters of India that have potential for agriculture.
Sirs and and Madams: One of the biggest achievement of the 11th plan was that the new institutions (16 central universities, 8 new IITs, 7 new IIMs, proposed 20 new IIITs, proposed 14 innovation universities) were located across India, in states ruled by UPA, in states not ruled by UPA, and so on. It was an inclusive distribution and less driven by political connections.
I request that similar distribution be made with respect to the institutions that are proposed for the 12th plan, starting with several central agricultural universities with various colleges (Agriculture, Horticulture, Veterinary, etc.).
The initial wave of creation of agricultural universities across India (in the 1960s) were an important factor in the initial Green revolution of India. However, as has been noted in the last two budgets (2010-11 and 2011-12) there is a need for another such revolution, especially taking into account factors such as (i) further mechanization (ii) urbanization (iii) looking east and (iv) developing backward and tribal areas.
In the 2010-11 budget speech ( http://indiabudget.nic.in/ub2010-11/bs/speecha.htm ) the Finance Minister had said the following:
44. The agriculture sector occupies centre-stage in our resolve to promote inclusive growth, enhance rural incomes and sustain food security. To spur the growth in this sector, the Government intends to follow a four-pronged strategy covering (a) agricultural production; (b) reduction in wastage of produce;
(c) credit support to farmers; and (d) a thrust to the food processing sector.
45. The first element of the strategy is to extend the green revolution to the eastern region of the country comprising Bihar, Chattisgarh, Jharkhand, Eastern UP, West Bengal and Orissa,…
In the 2011-12 budget speech ( http://indiabudget.nic.in/bspeecha.asp ) he said the following:
Bringing Green Revolution to Eastern Region
52. The Green Revolution in Eastern Region is waiting to happen. To realize the potential of the region, last year’s initiative will be continued in 2011-12 with a further allocation of `400 crore. The program would target the improvement in the rice based cropping system of Assam, West Bengal, Orissa, Bihar, Jharkhand, Eastern Uttar Pradesh and Chhattisgarh
.
Both speech say the green revolution needs to be extended to the eastern region. The allocation of a total of 400 crores to 7 states is miniscule for the purpose and does very little.
Hence, I request that this aspect of extending the green revolution to the eastern region be taken seriously and in the 12th plan Central Agricultural Universities be established in appropriate locations in these states and some of the other states of the country.
Somewhat of a start in this direction has been made via the allocation of 30 crores for a Central Agricultural University in Bundelkhand in the 2011-12 budget.
It was reported by the press that Mr. Rahul Gandhi lobbied for this.
I would like to thank him for his vision and initiative and humbly request the planning commission that they need to also think of the other backward areas of the country.
Taking all the above into account, it would be a win-win to include the establishment of several Central Agricultural Universities in the country located in backward districts with agriculture potential. The win-win aspects are:
(i) They will help higher education and GER, but will not stress the MHRD budget or its management. The majority of the funding could come from the Ministry of Agriculture with some required contributions from the state governments.
(ii) They will help bring in a new green revolution in some areas and extend the green revolution to the eastern region.
(iii) Since there have not been many new agricultural universities across the country, it will be comparatively easier to recruit faculty for these new institutions.
(iv) By locating them in the backward district clusters, they will bring Bharat and India closer.
I had sent copies of my mail to the MPs of Odisha as well as the Chief Minister’s officer. I talked to the secretary of agriculture Ranglal Jamunda by email at agrsec.or@nic.in as well as by phone and urged him that the Odisha government must push for a central agricultural university in Odisha, especially in the KBK regions (in particular, Kalahandi, as Kalahandi is known to be one of the rice bowl of Odisha; and Kalahandi was skipped over when deciding on the location of the central university in Koraput).
My emails and phone calls has had no visible impact on Odisha government, Odisha officials or Odisha MPs as so far I have not read any news regarding Odisha pursuing a central agricultural university. However, the news of the West Bengal government pursuing a central agricultural university came out after a few days of my writing to the planning commission. It is possible that may mail to the planning commission somehow got forwarded to the right people in West Bengal or it may just be a pure coincidence. Following is from a Telegraph article on 13th July 2011.
I think there is still time to pursue to get this included in the 12th plan. I request all readers to write to the Chief Minister’s office at cmo@ori.nic.in regarding this.
Sincerely,
Chitta Baral
November 29th, 2011
Following is their ad.
The complete list of 11 colleges is available via http://www.imu.tn.nic.in/List%20imu%20institutes/list%20imu%20institutes.html. Following are screen copies.
Note that the Indian Maritime University now has a new campus in Kandla, Gujarat. The initial campuses were in Chennai, Mumbai, Kolkata, Visakhapatnam and Kochi. The Odisha government should push for a campus in Odisha; perhaps by taking over or in adjacent to the existing Orissa maritime academy in Paradeep.
November 27th, 2011
Earlier in April Naveen Patnaik had mentioned this to the Urban development minister Mr. Kamal Nath. Following is an excerpt from a report in Times of India regarding its latest status.
To train the urban managers on growing challenges of urbanization, the state government is mulling to set up a dedicated institute on urban management and governance (UMANG) in Bhubaneswar.
The state housing and urban development (H&UD) department has sent a proposal to the Centre for approval of funds for the institute. The state has identified 10 acres of land in Raghunathpur area for the project, sources said.
"We are waiting for approval from the Centre. The institute can come handy in training officials of the urban local bodies (ULB) and development authorities on urban challenges," the H&UD secretary Saurabh Garg told TOI.
August 29th, 2011
Following is an excerpt from a report in tathya.in.
The Chief Minister proposed that the Centre should invest in capacity building and establish an Institute of Urban Management & Governance in Odisha for the purpose.
Minister Urban Development appreciated the suggestions and assured that the Ministry would favorably consider the proposal of one-time grant to large villages.
He also assured that the proposal of the State for setting up of the Institute would be dealt with favorably and that alternatively he would look into opening of a branch of the National Institute of Urban Affairs in Odisha.
April 11th, 2011
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.
February 21st, 2011
(Thanks to Kalahandia for the pointer.)
Apparently the second campus of RGIPT in Assam was announced by the PM in August 2008. Somehow we missed it. Following is an excerpt from a report in Times of India.
Prime minister Manmohan Singh on Saturday laid the foundations of the National Institute of Design (NID) and Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Petroleum Technology (Assam centre) in Jorhat and Sivasagar districts respectively.
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).
February 20th, 2011
Going back to April 2010, there are several news regarding establishment of a tribal university in Andhra Pradesh. The early news reports talked about it being a state initiative. However, the recent news reports mention experts from outside being involved in evaluating locations and in reporting to the center, which suggests that the center may also be involved in the making of this university. We now give several excerpts.
From Hindu (April 26, 2010):
Dogged by the question of a dismal State of higher learning among tribals in the State, the government is ‘seriously’ contemplating establishment of a Tribal University. “A strong demand from tribal groups and other concerned sections of society in the recent past has made the government to sit up and think on the ways and means to establish a university,” divulges a top-level source in the Tribal Welfare Department.
“The government had initially explored the possibility of converting Srikakulam’s MG University into a Tribal University. This idea was dropped due to certain practical difficulties,” recalls the officer about the efforts made by the government so far.
The government has also rejected an offer from the Tribal University at Amarkantak in Madhya Pradesh for affiliating some of the colleges here with it.
From Hindu (Jan 23, 2011):
Andhra Pradesh Tribal University is all set to come up on a 300-acre site in Chintapalle.
A study team of senior professors led by Samaresh Bandopadhyay (Kolkata) with Sudarshan Nadu (Bhubaneswar), Joseph Bara (JNU) and Registrar of Indira Gandhi National Tribal University from Amarkantak in Madhya Pradesh, Ashok Singh, which inspected the site on Friday, will be submitting feasibility report to the Centre.
“We are absolutely happy that a lot of land is available with facilities like power, water and connectivity. In fact, this place is more accessible than Amarkantak where there is already a university,” Prof. Bandopadhyay told The Hindu at the Visakhapatnam airport after returning from Chintapalle on Saturday noon. The tribal university would provide avenues of education, particularly higher education and research facilities primarily for the tribal population of the country, he said. If everything went on well, the new university at Chintapalle could be started by June, he added.
From TOI (Feb 3, 2011):
While the Centre is mulling to set up the campus at Chintapalle in Visakhapatnam Agency, …
IGNTU, located in the small pilgrim town of Amarkantak in Anuppur district in Madhya Pradesh, became functional some time ago and has already established its regional campus in Manipur after the state government handed over 370 acres of land for establishment of a permanent campus. Sources said IGNTU was also approached by Andhra Pradesh, Orissa, Kerala and Gujarat to open its regional campuses in the respective states.
The government had initially explored the possibility of converting Srikakulam’s Mahatma Gandhi University into a tribal university.
"But the idea was dropped due to practical difficulties and logistical problems. Visakhapatnam became a potential site for the campus as it has basic amenities like power, water and better connectivity," a senior official said.
… After visiting some sites here, the team of senior professors led by registrar of IGNTU Ashok Singh said they would be submitting a report to the Centre soon.
Note that the idea for a central tribal university was suggested by Orissa CM, on 24th October 2005, which the HRD minister had appreciated. See our earlier posting at https://www.orissalinks.com/archives/1087 for more details.
February 3rd, 2011
Following is from a report in Gujarat Money.
Gujarat’s Kandla port will have a centre of Chennai based Marine University.
The centre has been approved by central shipping ministry, and it will start functioning in February 2011.
The centre will have Post Graduate Diploma in Marine Engineering, Diploma in Nautical Science, and BSc in Ship Repairing courses.
Kandla Port Trust will set up classrooms, hostel, laboratory and other facilities for proposed centre.
December 10th, 2010
Following is from the PIB release http://pib.nic.in/release/release.asp?relid=66858.
A proposal was received from the Ministry of Youth Affairs & Sports to convert Rajiv Gandhi National Institute for Youth Development, an institution deemed to be university, at Sriperumbudur into Rajiv Gandhi Central University/National Institute of Youth and Sports. In order to examine the proposal and to make suitable recommendations, the Government has constituted a Committee …
In the past we have suggested a similar institution in Rourkela, the cradle of Hockey in Odisha and India.
Following is from another PIB release http://www.pib.nic.in/release/release.asp?relid=66771. (Thanks to kalahandia.blogspot.com for the pointer.)
The Union Cabinet today approved the establishment of a National Centre for Molecular Materials (NCMM) at Thiruvananthapuram in Kerala as an autonomous institute of the Government of India (GOI) under the Department of Science & Technology (DST) at a total cost of ` 76.7 crore for five years with an outlay of ` 14.55 crore for the Eleventh Plan Period.
The Centre will be located on 40 acres of land provided by the State Government, free of cost.
The Centre will be the first of its kind in the country and will pursue high-end science and develop technology in niche areas like sensors for biomedical devices, materials for solar energy harvesting and space electronics. Through the Centre, the Government attempts to create a national innovation infrastructure that channels knowledge systems to wealth creation in the long run.
The Centre will collaborate with other academic institutions and actively interact with industry and user groups. It will generate human resources in the form of well-qualified researchers, technicians and entrepreneurs who can help develop the use of such materials for technological applications and exploit the market potential in this area.
For long Odisha has been trying for a research center on materials along similar lines, but without much success.
November 9th, 2010
Following is from http://pib.nic.in/release/release.asp?relid=66338.
A meeting was held today under the Chairmanship of Human Resources Minister, Shri Kapil Sibal with the Chairpersons and Directors of IIMS on the future vision of the IIMs and the necessary steps to be taken to achieve them. Shri Sibal informed the members that in the last one and half year a number of steps have been taken by the Ministry to provide autonomy to the IIMs. Some of these include full powers to the Boards of IIMs to create posts within the approved norms, freedom to open centres in India and abroad, amend Rules of the IIM within the framework of Memorandum of Association and Rules, power to acquire and dispose property not fully or partially funded by the Ministry of HRD, powers to approve their own Budget, and also to manage the funds generated by the IIMs on their own. However, he said that autonomy should go hand in hand with accountability; in that the faculty, the director and the Board should take steps to prepare annual action plans and key performance indicators at each level and be fully accountable and transparent.
The meeting considered the reports of Committees constituted in the last meeting in Bangalore on certain key issues. Discussions were held on the report of the Committee constituted to recommend a new Governance Structure for IIMs (chaired by Shri R.C. Bhargav, Chairman BOG- IIM, Ranchi). It was decided that the number of Board Members of IIMs would be reduced to 14. It also discussed the composition and selection of the Boards of governors with adequate membership to the Society of the IIM, the government, the faculty and the alumni. It was also decided that the IIM societies should have long term members who take continuous interest in the running of the IIMs. It was also decided, in principle, that Directors of IIMs will now be appointed through a process wherein the Board of Governors of the IIMs suggests three names to the Government from which the Government chooses one.
On the second report of the Committee on Faculty and Research at the IIMs, chaired by Shri Ajit Balakrishnan, Chairman, IIM, Calcutta. It was decided that the IIMs can top up the salaries of their Directors also in addition to the Faculty from the funds generated by them on their own. It was also decided that the Faculty members would give individual work plans at the start of the year. The recommendations of the Committee regarding use of technology in IIMs were accepted and the Minister directed that old and new IIMs sit together to streamline the use of technology for class scheduling, attendance, mark compilation etc.
On the recommendations of the Committee on Fund Raising by IIMs (chaired by Shri Hari S. Bhatia, Chairman of IIM, Raipur), it was decided that the IIMs have a development office especially for the purpose, each IIM have a fund raising policy and thereafter to have road shows. A two-day workshop will be conducted on the subject of collecting endowments for institutes.
MV/GK
The Odisha government should pursue with IIM Calcutta for a branch in Odisha.
October 13th, 2010
Following is from http://pib.nic.in/release/release.asp?relid=66290.
The Union Cabinet today approved the proposal for taking over of Bengal Engineering and Science University (BESU), Shibpur and converting it to Indian Institute of Engineering Science and Technology (IIEST), with a total five years’ project cost of Rs.592.20 crore (Rs. 300.30 Crore as non-recurring cost towards capital expenditure and Rs.291.90 Crore as recurring expenditure).
BESU will be converted to IIEST by suitably amending the NIT Act, with special clauses, which should reflect its exclusive character. IIEST will be an ‘Institute of National Importance’ covered under NIT Act and its organizational and governing structure will be on the lines of National Institutes of Technology (NITs).
IIEST will integrate under-graduate education, post graduate education and research in engineering and science under the same umbrella. IIEST will be an Institution of international standard and will produce quality manpower for the strategic sector of the country, research laboratories and quality teachers for the institutions of engineering and science education.
Background:
The Government had constituted an Expert Committee in 2005 to evaluate and suggest a plan of action for upgrading seven Institutes, including BESU, which had earlier been identified by Prof. S K Joshi Committee. The Expert Committee recommended the establishment of a new system of ‘Indian Institutes of Engineering Science and Technology (IIESTs) as Institutes of National Importance through an Act of Parliament. The Committee recommended upgradation of five Institutes including BESU, to become an IIEST.
The admissions to IIEST will be through national level entrance exam namely, All India Engineering Entrance Examination (AIEEE).
***AKT/HS/SM
The Odisha government should push for the upgradation of VSSUT to an IIEST.
October 13th, 2010
I think the best possibility is to work on upgrading VSSUT, Burla (formerly, UCE Burla) to an IIEST. UCE Burla alumni is fully supportive of this. In general, such a proposal has and will continue to have support from all circles of Odisha. Also, the CM has in the past written to Delhi about upgrading this.
To do this first the state government needs to be pushed to give a one time allocation of a significant amount (say 100 crores) to improve the infrastructure. In addition the faculty size needs to be increased to be at the level of the colleges mentioned below. Simultaneously there should be a campaign to convince the central government to upgrade it to an IIEST.
The Congress MP from Sambalpur should do all he can for this.
For some background on IIESTs see http://164.100.47.132/LssNew/psearch/QResult15.aspx?qref=89897. Following are screen capture of that page.
August 18th, 2010
Its web page is at http://www.iwai.gov.in/niniweb.htm. It offers the following courses. (See http://www.iwai.gov.in/niniweb_files/Page771.htm.)
A. Two months duration Course
B. Four months duration Course
With a big part of NW-5 passing through Odisha, a branch of the above institute should be located in Odisha and it should offer similar courses. The following map is from http://www.iwai.gov.in/.
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June 4th, 2010
Update: As per a sify report, the location in the North will be in Haryana.
Since we last reported on the NIDs, some of the new locations have been firmed up and a new controversy has started. Hyderabad and Jorhat have been announced among the new locations. There is no decision on the Northern India location yet. Controversy has arisen because the central government recently told the Madhya Pradesh government, that the NID will be in Gwalior (from where the state minister of Commerce and Industry, Mr. Jyotiraditya Scindia, comes from) instead of Bhopal which was announced earlier and the state had already allocated land there. This has led to a big controversy.
In any case, from Odihsa’s perspective the chance of getting an NID during the 11th plan is bleak. Of course, nothing is impossible; but I don’t see any effort to push the issue. The previous central minister of commerce and Industry (Mr. Kamal Nath) had almost promised (see here and here) that one NID would be in Odisha. So Odisha could and should make an issue of it and the CM should pursue it. If efforts continue, then if not during the 11th plan, Odisha could get one during the 12th plan, which begins only 2 years away. Moreover one can argue that Jorhat is in the north east and there needs to be an NID in the east; in Odisha.
March 27th, 2010
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