Dear Readers:
I hope many of you are enraged and disgusted by this repeated injustice meted out to Orissa by the MHRD; especially now it seems that the MHRD has orchestrated hijacking of a good, sensible and extremely relevant idea proposed by our chief minister: the idea of tribal central university in the KBK region with the goal of catering to the 50% tribal population in that area and 38% tribal population across Orissa.
Often many have blamed the Orissa government for not taking timely initiatives or not coming up with innovative ideas, but this time it took the initiative, it suggested a great idea, followed up on it regularly, but the end result is same; the idea gets implemented in the home state of the minister of HRD Mr. Arjun Singh.
We must convey our displeasure, disgust, deep disappointment and anger to the central government. Please fax a letter to the PMO (fax numbers: 011-2301-8668, 2301-5470, 2301-5603, 2301-8939 ) and also fax a copy of that letter to the CMO (0674-2400100 ) and Mr. Chandrasekhar Sahu (011-23061695), the sole central minister from Orissa. After that we must follow-up with the CMO (cmo@ori.nic.in) by email and Mr. Sahu by phone (Personal Secy: 09868501233 off: 011-23792469, 23792470) and tell them to take our faxes and meet the PM and the national press with all our faxes and do a dharana until the two immediate injustices of moving an IIT in Orissa after it was announced and stealing the idea of a tribal university proposed for the KBK area are corrected. Following are some pointers and points which may help in writing your letter. I am making it short so that its easier for you to draft the letter.
Continue Reading June 18th, 2007
Balasore and Baripada people are earnestly pursuing govt. medical colleges in their areas through various means including district level dharanas and meetings, dharanas in Bhubaneswar, signature campaign and lobbying the government through their MLAs. They are doing it in the right way. A similar approach led them to success in both locations being able to land individual universities (North Orissa University in Baripada and Fakirmohan University in Balsore). Following are excerpts from two articles in the Daily Pioneer.
Continue Reading June 6th, 2007
From http://pib.nic.in/release/release.asp?relid=28365
The Union Cabinet today gave its approval for introduction of a new Central Sector Scholarship Scheme of Top Quality Higher Education to Students belonging to Scheduled Tribes, to be implemented from 2007-08.
Continue Reading May 31st, 2007
As mentioned in the PIB press release
2180 Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalayas (KGBVs) have been sanctioned upto March 2007, which includes 1000 new KGBVs in 2006-07. 88% of KGBVs have been operationalised. A major national evaluation conducted this year has shown that the scheme has received ‘high priority and political attention in all States and has been launched in record time with a clear commitment to reach out to out-of-school girls. The programme has been very well received by the community and has responded to diverse poverty situations including remote inaccessible locations’.
More details on this program is mentioned in another PIB release. In Orissa 49 such schools are being set up. Somehow Orissa seems to be lagging behind with respect to this scheme. Andhra Pradesh is leading in taking advantage of this scheme.
May 24th, 2007
May 13th, 2007
PIB reports about 667 fellowships annually for tribal (ST) students to pursue M.Phil and Ph.D. The avertisement for these fellowships and the application form are available at a UGC site. The deatils of this fellowship is available at another UGC site. There are fellowships under the same scheme for SC students also.
May 7th, 2007
New Indian Express reports that with seven more Ekalabya Schools of Orissa starting +2 science with 60 seats each, now all 10 Ekalabya Schools of Orissa will have +2 Science. I hope all 600 of these students each year get at least into 5 yr integrated MSc, Engineering or Medicine (and avail of ST quotas when necessary). That would be tremendous. Following is an excerpt from the New Indian Express article:
Continue Reading May 6th, 2007
A press release mentions that the UPA government has opened 72 Ekalavya Vidyalayas in tribal areas across India. 10 of those are in Orissa. Each is constructed using an one time allocation of 250 lakhs towards school building, hostels, teachers’ quarters, library, laboratory etc. An annual grant of 30 lakhs is then given to run the school.
March 14th, 2007
In separate news 9 more poytechnics will be established in various districts of Orissa during the 11th plan and 7 more Ekalabya vidyalas (residential schools in tribal regions) will be established with classes from VI-XII and XI-XII will be added to the exisiting three Ekalabya Vidyalayas.
Eight of the ITIs are reported to be established in the districts of Kalahandi, Koraput, Kandhamala, Nabarangpur, Boudh, Ganjam, Sambalpur and Balasore.
Continue Reading February 8th, 2007
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