Following is from the page http://www.northsouth.org/st/scholarships/scholarships.asp.
The North South Foundation provides scholarships to needy children who display academic excellence in India. The Foundation has distributed more than 2,000 scholarships to students who need financial support to pursue their quest for knowledge in engineering, medicine, polytechinc, science and other fields.
The scholarship is an annual award and not a one-time payment. The student is eligible for the scholarship until graduation as long as the high academic standards are maintained. The Foundation funds these scholarships by raising donations in the US. The local chapters located in various states in India do the commendable job of advertising to invite applications from students, screening these applications and selecting the most needy group of students who eventually become NSF scholarship recipients.
Currently there are nine chapters in the following cities: Bangalore, Bhavnagar, Bhubaneswar, Chennai, Guwahati, Hyderabad, Jodhpur, Kolkata and Pune.
The contacts are given in the page http://www.northsouth.org/st/scholarships/contacts_india.asp. The Odisha related contacts are a s follows:
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February 16th, 2010
Following is from the page http://www.sristi.org/cms/en/innovation_club.
Innovation Clubs
To facilitate and diffuse the philosophy of Honey Bee, 21 numbers of Inno-clubs (Innovate Orissa Clubs) are working in the state. Each inno-club is a satellite of Ama AkhaPakha and ultimately a micro satellite of Honey Bee. Most of the members of these clubs are sons and daughters of farmers and some are unemployed youth. Besides, 3 women inno-clubs and 106 students inno -clubs are established.
Making of an e-group:
One e-group has been formed called akhapakha@yahoogroups.com to diffuse the philosophy of Honey bee to its readers.
Making Poetry for students:
Poetry does the trick for students. Small episodes of innovations/TK written in poetic form with illustrations have been prepared and hung in school notice boards/literature board. This has created tremendous effect on school children and has become one of the best way to diffuse philosophy of Honey bee to TINY TOTS.
Research Programmes:
Ama Akhapakha in collaboration with the Patho lab of Kalinga hospital, Bhubaneswar undertakes research programme on herbal drugs. One research programme for validation of a herbal drug against mastitis of cows prepared by SEVA, Madurai during year 2003-04 with microbial sensitivity tests and antibiogram study.
NIF Award:
Sri lingaraj Pradhan of Jakeikala village of Bonaigarh subdivision in Sundargarh district of Orissa is awrded a consolation prize under agricultural practice category in 3rd national competition.
AMA AKHAPAKHA- The Oriya version of Honey Bee
Publisher: Malabika Sahu, On behalf of Innovate Orissa Initiative , Bhubaneswar
Editor: Dr Balaram Sahu
Address: Keshari Enclave,Block-B,FlatNo-401
Nayapalli, Bhubaneswar-751012,Orissa
Email: balaram_sahu@hotmail.com , balaram.sahu@gmail.com , akhapakha@yahoogroups.com
Tel: 0674-2562516 (Ressi.) , 09437290258 (M)
Publication ofAma AkhaPakh:
The first issue of Ama AkhaPakha was published on 26th April of 2002.Now it has come out with 15 issues in the last 4 years(from2002 to2005) .The next issue of 2006 is in print.Each issue contains 30-40 pages.
Diffusion of Honey Bee philosophy:
Ama AkhaPakha, the quarterly Oriya version of Honey Bee, has been working for scouting ,documenting and diffusing the grass root innovations and traditional knowledge of Orissa. Besides it also regularly features Innovations and ITK of other states which are already published in Honey Bee magazine.
Subscribers of Ama AkhaPakha:
There are a total no of 800 copies printed in each issue. Out of these, 439 are paid subscribers, spread in all over Orissa. They are supplied with the magazine by post. Most of the subscribers are from rural Orissa.The noted subscribers are:
- District administration of Kondhmal for its 106 schools as essential study materials.
- Self Help Groups: 26.
- Nirantar Sikshya Kendra: 113.
- Jana Sikhya Kendra: 4.
- NGO: 10.
Number of Readers of Ama AkhaPakha:
There are approximately 10,000 readers of Ama AkhaPakha .Most of these readers are school students, farmers, women in SHG and Nirantar Sikshya Kendras.
Scouting and Documentation of grass root Innovations and ITK:
Up to the year2005
- Total No Of Entries sent to NIF- 1325
- Students innovations-25
- Other 600 nos are in process of documentation and are ready be sent by end of Dec/2005.
Editor of Orissalinks: I am planning to get in touch with the above people and find out more about their current activities.
I chanced upon the above through the following pages:
February 14th, 2010
February 11th, 2010
Update: As per another report in tathya.in the Odisha ST & SC development department plans to also support SC and ST students joining Sainik School. Another great move by the department and its visionary secretary Ashok Tripathy.
Following is an excerpt from a report in Pioneer.
… The Department of ST & SC Development has set in motion a pioneering proposal to help out the bright students of the ST and SC categories.
… it is proposed to select at least 100 students from the ST and SC communities strictly on merit to reimburse their entire expenditures for studying in the best schools of the State from Classes-I to XII, said an official.
There are a number of residential schools of international standard in the State. Leading the list are Sai International, KIIT International, DPS, Phulnakhara, DPS, Damanjodi, DPS, Angul, DAV Public School at Unit VIII, Bhubaneswar.
… The students selected for admission will be provided tool kits and proper baggage so that they will not feel inferior to their affluent classmates. They will be provided to-and-fro journey expenses from the schools to their native places during holidays.
It should be noted that the RTE bill and its draft rules requires something similar. But kudos are due to the Odisha SC & ST department and its secretary Ashok Tripathy for taking proactive steps and having it implemented early in Odisha.
February 11th, 2010
Some of the institutions that offer Bachelors and/or Masters programs related to Biotechnology in the Bhubaneswar area are:
All of the above, except perhaps BJB College, are also engaged in research in Biotechnology. Some of the other institutes that are engaged in Biotech research in the Bhubaneswar area are:
- Institute of Life Sciences (ILS)
- Central Rice Research Institute (CRRI)
- Central Institute of Fresh Water Aquaculture (CIFA)
- Regional Plant Resource Center (RPRC)
- Regional Medical Research Center (RMRC)
Some of the institutions in other parts of Odisha that offer programs and/or pursue research in Biotechnology are:
- NIT Rourkela
- Sambalpur University
- Berhampur University
- MITS Rayagada
February 9th, 2010
There are 48 manuscript resource centres and 33 manuscript conservation centres in India. The list is given at http://pib.nic.in/release/release.asp?relid=57547. The ones in Odisha are as follows:
Two manuscript resource centers:
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Orissa State Museum Museum Building, BhubaneswarOrissa
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33
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Sanskrit Academy of Research for Advanced Society Through Vedic & Allied Tradition of India (SARASVATI),Sarasvati Vihar, Barpada, Bhadrak – 756 113 Orissa.
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Three manuscript conservation centers:
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INTACH ICI Orissa Art Conservation Centre, Orissa StateMuseum Premises Bhubaneswar – Orissa-751 014
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AITIHYA Plot No. 4/330, 1st Floor, Raghunathpur, P.O.Sisupala Gada (Near Gangua Bridge, Puri Road), Bhubaneswar-2 Orissa
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25
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Sambalpur University Library Sambalpur University Burla – 768001
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February 6th, 2010
Following is an excerpt from a PTI report.
… The proposed Corporation will give loans on easy terms which will be repaid by the borrowers only after getting jobs, he told a news conference here.
Sibal, …, said talks are on with the Planning Commission and "we hope the Corporation will be set-up during the 12th Five-Year Plan".
He said approximately 22 crore children go to schools in the country, of whom only an estimated 2.5 per cent pursue higher education in universities.
In developed countries, the percentage of students pursuing higher education stands at 40 per cent, he said.
I think this is a very good idea. This will enable more students to pursue higher education and pay for it; It will enable government colleges to be able to charge for reasonable tuition that can be used towards improving the college infrastructure (note: The infrastructure in most government colleges is in shambles, yet they don’t dare to increase the normal tuition; the only thing they do to raise some resources is to start some self-financed courses); it will enable the establishment of more private colleges, and in general it will improve the quality and quantity of higher education opportunities.
While in the past there has been concern about repayment of such loans, with the creation and usage of unique ID for everyone in India, the loans taken can be made part of everyone’s record and its repayment can be easily tracked.
The government can also use these loans and their repayment as a tool to achieve its goal. For example, it can have a policy of (partially) waiving the loans for people who teach for 5 years and thus encourage more people to go into teaching.
For the kind of scheme that is needed for India, it will help to look at the scheme used in Australia. That kind of a scheme adapted to the Indian context will work well for India.
February 1st, 2010
Thanks to kalahandia.blogspot.com for the pointer. Following is an excerpt from a report in indiaedunews.
… the country could soon have a new model of central universities that offer preferential admission to students from minority communities which is not followed by any central varsity until now.
The proposal forwarded to the law Ministry for inspection explores a central university model in public-private partnership mode (instead of total central funding), to come up on land donated by the Wakf Board in Rajasthan, Bihar and Karnataka.
Although offering admissions to both majority and minority students, the land for these universities will be given by the Musilm communities with the minorities getting the maximum share of seats.
They are expected to come up at Ajmer, Kishanganj and Mysore and are expected to get the maximum share of seats in these new varsities.
The Minister of Minority Affairs Salman Khursheed confirmed that the concept has been borrowed from Dr B.R Ambedkar University, which came up to educationally empower SC students.
Odisha must take a cue and push for PPP based central universities – in addition to branch(es) of IGNTU – for its tribals.
January 18th, 2010
January 5th, 2010
January 2nd, 2010
Following is an excerpt from the PIB http://pib.nic.in/release/release.asp?relid=56523.
Autonomous Institutions: There are seven existing autonomous institutions under Department of Biotechnology namely National Institute of Immunology (NII), New Delhi; Centre for DNA Fingerprinting and Diagnostics (CDFD), Hyderabad; National Centre for Cell Science (NCCS), Manesar; National Institute of Plant Genome Research (NIPGR), New Delhi; Institute of Bioresource and Sustainable Development (IBSD), Imphal; Institute of Life Sciences (ILS), Bhubaneswar. Recently, Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Biotechnology (RGCB), Thiruvananthapuram has been taken over from Government of Kerala. These institutes have generated 382 publications, 24 patents granted/filed, 9 patents in pipeline and 13 technologies were developed.
Establishment of new breed of institutions in critical areas has been one of the major strategies of 11th plan. Cabinet has approved setting up of institutions namely Institute for Stem Cell Science and Regenerative Medicine, Bangalore; National Agri-food Biotechnology Institute with bioprocessing plant Cluster in Knowledge city at Mohali; Translational Health Science and Technology Institute (THSTI); Regional Centre for Biotechnology Training and Education under the auspices of the UNESCO, Faridabad and Institute of Biomedical Genomics in Kolkata and efforts are being made to establish institutions. In other proposed new institutions, National Institute of Animal Biotechnology, Hyderabad has been approved by EFC.
Regional biotechnology clusters , around the new institutions are being planned to promote innovation and discovery. These are the Translational Health Cluster at Faridabad, the Agrifood Cluster at Mohali and the Innovation Cluster at Bangaloore. Together, it is hoped that these will become the technology and innovation gateways of India.
December 31st, 2009
Earlier I wrote about people getting together and offering land for a university, a branch campus, or a new institute in Orissa. This is exactly what has now transpired in Delhi. I hope people in various parts of Orissa learn from this. Following is an excerpt from a report about the Delhi farmer’s offer.
… A delegation from Delhi’s villages called on Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit on Monday and presented to her a resolution offering 540 bighas of land in the Ghumanhera village in Najafgarh for opening of a State university.
A memorandum seeking opening of a new general university under the Delhi government and naming it after former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi was submitted to Ms. Dikshit …
They said that opening of a new general university under the Delhi Government would benefit the farmers of Delhi as it would also help in implementation of the OBC reservation list under which the Jat community is covered.
Dr.Kumar had earlier also raised this issue with the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for inclusive development in the rural areas by asking to give a portion of the developed land to the farmers from whom it is acquired, said that the meeting was a historic landmark as the farmers have willfully offered to give the Gram Sabha land for a noble cause.
… Sibal had however given a green signal to the plea, in writing to Dikshit that, the government should consider the plan and avail the help of the Centre to set up a new state university providing incentives to the states during the 11th Plan since the Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University does not have seats in general higher education, in which a majority of students from the rural areas of Delhi are interested.
Following the interaction, Dr. Kumar said the Chief Minister declared that she would soon work on forming this new university and thanked the farmers for offering to give their land to Delhi Government for the purpose.
The underlined parts above are important points. (i) Returning part of the developed donated land to the farmers, which by then is multiple times worth the original land, is a win-win situation. (ii) General Universities are important and no matter the existence of NIT and BPUT, Rourkela, still the second largest metropolitan area of Orissa, must have a general university at the earliest.
December 23rd, 2009
Following is an excerpt from a report in http://www.kuenselonline.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=14230.
A Kolkata-based company Infinity infotech parks limited has proposed to invest a billion dollars or Nu 47 billion in creating an ‘Education/Knowledge City’ in Bhutan.
The project, by far the largest FDI investment proposal, aims to bring in the branches of around 15 to 30 top universities, along with 40,000 foreign students, into a 1000-acre education city.
The Infinity groups representative in Bhutan, Palden Tshering, the head of Chundu enterprises said, “The FDI project should provide employment for around 100,000 people, most of whom will be Bhutanese and eventually generate up to 500 million dollars a year in foreign exchange.”
“The education city, apart from universities, will have high quality schools for faculty members, labs, hotels, health care, cultural and entertainment centres, sport centres, libraries, stationery, cafes and others to service the student population, which will all vitalise the local economy and allow Bhutanese to invest in,” said Palden Tshering. He said even IT companies and corporations that would want to hire this talent pool could set up offices in the city.
… “What Infinity wants is 1,000 acres on lease or for sale, where 60 percent of the area can be built on,” said Palden.
… MoEA secretary Dasho Sonam Tshering said, “Since the investment proposal is of such a size and land intensive, the government will have too discuss, see what we want and do a feasibility study.”
… Palden said that Bhutan would be a good location for the project due to its pristine environment, political stability and because it can provide the same quality of education being charged at 50,000 to 60,000 dollars annually abroad at around 15,000 dollars in Bhutan. He said that Infinity was in discussion with many ivy-league universities in the U.S. and other countries and some of them had expressed interest.
I was told there is such a city in China. I don’t know which one it is. Will look for a link.
December 16th, 2009
December 15th, 2009
December 6th, 2009
Following is from the PIB http://pib.nic.in/release/release.asp?relid=54643.
RAJYA SABHA
The Government is in the process of working out an Implementation Plan for the recommendations of the National Knowledge Commission, which envisage, inter-alia, development of modern Libraries across the Country.
This was stated in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha today by the Minister of State for Planning and Parliamentary Affairs Shri V. Narayanasamy.
AD/DB
The National Knowledge Commission’s recommendation on development of modern Libraries across the Country is at http://www.knowledgecommission.gov.in/recommendations/libraries.asp and http://www.knowledgecommission.gov.in/downloads/recommendations/LibrariesLetterPM.pdf . The annexures in the later has details.
It is a good document and talks about the staffing level of various levels of libraries and what services they should offer, but it does not come out and clearly emphasize that libraries should be made at state level, district level, block level etc. and a funding scheme should be devised for that.
November 26th, 2009
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