Odisha HRD

Odisha has sent a proposal for an Urban Management Institute

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

National Centre on Wetlands and Marine Biodiversity in Bhubaneswar and National Centre on Olive Ridley and Marine Biodiversity at Gahirmatha; Jardin de Lorixa

Following is from a PIB dated June 1 2011.

The Chief Minister of Odisha, Shri Naveen Patnaik has inaugurated a Museum Gallery on North East Biodiversity in the Regional Museum of Natural History (RMNH) Bhubaneswar today. The Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Environment & Forests, MoEF Shri Jairam Ramesh, was also present on the occasion.  This Museum Gallery depicts the natural heritage of North-Eastern India which includes two of the 34 Biodiversity hotspots in the World: Himalayas and Indo-Burma. 

On the occasion, Shri Jairam Ramesh, said that his Ministry would establish two institutions, the National Centre on Wetlands and Marine Biodiversity in Bhubaneswar, and National Centre on Olive Ridley and Marine Biodiversity at Gahirmatha in Odisha.

On the sidelines of the programme the Minster also inaugurated the Fragrance Garden at the Regional office of the Ministry of Environment and Forests. He announced that this would be developed into a Biocultural park. He also announced that the Ministry would make efforts to get a digital copy of Jardin de Lorixa, considered to be the earliest scientific documentation of traditional/ indigenous knowledge about plants of Orissa, of which only one manuscript is available in Natural History Museum Paris (France).

During this occasion brochures on North East Biodiversity Gallery was released by Shri Naveen Patnaik, and on the Museum by Shri Jairam Ramesh. .

… This new gallery on North East Biodiversity is having exhibits depicting Different eco-regions of North East, the course of the mighty river Brahmaputra, Kaziranga –The habitat of one horned Indian rhinoceros, the endemic and endangered avifauna, rich diversity of non human primates, Orchids and rhododendron of North East, New species discoveries from Eastern Himalayas, the hills, waterfalls, sacred groves of Meghalaya and the Loktak lake – a unique habitat of Sangai etc.

Following are excerpts on the Jardin de Lorixa.

• From http://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=12120: "Jardin de Lorixa ("Flora of Orissa") authored by a certain L’Empereur, an outstanding work consisting of 725 double-folio paintings of 722 plant species"
• From http://www.circulatingknowledge.ugent.be/index.php?id=16&type=file: " *Jardin de Lorixa* a lesser known herbal commissioned by a French surgeon in Bengal in the early 18th century."
• From http://www.conservationandsociety.org: "a long forgotten herbal known as Le Jardin de Lorixa ( The garden of Orissa ) and credited to a surgeon named Nicolas L’Empereur in the employ of the French Compagnie des Indes"
•  The book "Relocating Modern Science Circulation and the Construction of Scientific Knowledge in South Asia and Europe : Seventeenth to Nineteenth Centuries" by Kapil Raj (Maître de conférences at the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales in Paris) has one of its six sections dedicated to this. This section is titled: "I. SURGEONS, FAKIRS, MERCHANTS, AND CRAFTSMEN : MAKING L’EMPEREUR’S JARDIN IN EARLY MODERN South Asia" and has the following chapters.
  • 1. From a Forgotten Codex in a Paris Archive
  • 2. To Eastern India in the Seventeenth Century
  • 3. The Origins of the Jardin de Lorixa
  • 4. Making the Jardin de Lorixa
  • 5. The Jardin de Lorixa and the Hortus MaLibaricus
  • 6. L’Empereur’s Jardin Comes to Paris
  • 7. And Gets Anonymized in the Jardin du Roi

June 1st, 2011

Regional Plant Resources Center Bhubaneswar advertises for 13 Scientist positions (to be paid at UGC scale)

Its web page is http://www.rprcbbsr.com/. Following is from its web page.

Regional Plant Resource Centre was established in 1985 as a recreational garden and with an aim to provide a green lung for the inhabitants of Bhubaneswar – the capital city of Orissa. Gradually it became a dynamic and vibrant research organization of the State Government with a focus on the conservation of plant biodiversity. Over the year, it has made significant contributions in the field of ex situ and in situ conservation and assessment of genetic diversity of various groups of plants and its related aspects. With strengthening of scientific manpower and laboratory facilities, it expanded its areas of research which witnessed large outputs in terms of analysis of genetic assessment of plant groups through cyto-taxonomic and molecular techniques.

Following is its organizational set up.

Following is its recent ad. for 13 principal scientist, senior scientist and scientist positions.

1 comment May 19th, 2011

Center to set up two national institutes for specialised studies on coastal eco-system and turtles and a technical institute on plumbing and coir industries

Following is from a PTI report in ibnlive.com.

Union Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh today said the Centre would set up two national institutes for specialised studies on coastal eco-system and turtles in Orissa at an investment of Rs 50 crore. The Ministry of Environment and Forest (MoEF) would help set up these two institutes which would include a National Centre for Wetland and Coastal Eco-system Studies at a cost of Rs 40 crore, Ramesh told reporters here. The amount would be spent over the next five years and the centres would operate from Bhubaneswar and Chilika. Similarly a Centre for Turtles and Bio-diversity Studies would be established at an investment of Rs 10 crore and the state government would decide on its location, the environment minister said. …  The announcement came a day after the Union Minister said that a technical institute would be set up in Bhitarkanika National Park area in Kendrapara district to train local youths in plumbing and coir industries.

Thanks to Minister Ramesh for these. But they don’t compensate the harm that Ramesh and his ministry have done by stopping the construction of Vedanta University.

May 1st, 2011

Naveen asks Kamal Nath for an Institute of Urban Management & Governance in Odisha

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.

1 comment April 11th, 2011

NRIADD Bhubaneswar advertises in Samaja for a Senior Research Fellow

This institute is among one of the many institutes under the Central Council for Research in Ayurveda and Siddha. The current details about the institute in Bhubaneswar is as follows:

National Research Institute of Ayurvedic Drug Development, Bhubneshwar

December 17th, 2010

NALCO to set up a research and training facility in Bhubaneswar

Following is a from a report in RTT news.

State-run aluminium major Nalco is to set up a research and technology center on the outskirts of Bhubaneswar by mid- 2012, media reports said quoting company Chairman-cum-Managing Director A K Srivastava.

The Navratna PSU has acquired 18 acres of land at Gothapatna to build its world-class research and technology center that would help enhance growth of aluminium mining in India.

The company will initially invest Rs.88 crore on the center and once completed it would get technical support of foreign countries. Initially the center would work on alumina, aluminium and bauxite, which could be extended to other fields, Srivastava said.

He said the company had already undertaken at least 15 collaborative R&D projects with different research institutions.

May 12th, 2010

News compilations: Sericulture R & D institute to come up in Odisha; Pan-IIT plans for faculty mentorship; Mumbai, Pune & Nagpur Univ to be split

1. From a Times of India Report.

Targeting a production of about 500 tons of silk by 2020, Orissa government decided to set up a State Sericulture Research and Development Institute (SSRDI) for speedy growth of the sector.

2. From a Business Standard report:

Indo-US Collaboration for Engineering Education (IUCEE) — an initiative by the Pan IIT Alumni Association — has taken up a US co-guide PhD initiative wherein faculty members of Indian engineering institutes would be able to obtain PhDs in a four-year period, with the mentoring of distinguished US faculty.

… Under the arrangement, interested PhD candidates in India, who are currently teaching in engineering colleges, will identify and register with a PhD guide at an Indian PhD granting institution. The PhD candidate will identify his area of research interest.

If there appears to be matching of interests between an Indian PhD candidate and a US faculty, IUCEE will facilitate the process forward.

Also, the PhD candidate will make a trip to the US institution of the co-guide to ensure exposure to high quality research culture. The co-guide will also visit the Indian institution, to ensure adequate mentoring of the candidate.

… IUCEE is also exploring various avenues for requesting government of India to provide schemes for this purpose.

3. From a Times of India report:

Three of Maharashtra’s premier universities—Mumbai, Pune and Nagpur—will be split to create new universities.

…Spelling out some details, Tope said the University of Mumbai would be split into two campuses, with a pro vice-chancellor becoming the head of the new campus. The name, though, would not be altered, given Mumbai university’s iconic status, he added. He was replying to a discussion on the supplementary demands of his department.

… Maharashtra has also revived the plan to bring private universities into the state. Tope said that plans were afoot to help the corporate sector play a key role in the field of education. The Private University Act is being finalised in this connection, he pointed out.

April 16th, 2010

National Research Institute for Management of Wetlands and Coastal Ecosystems to come up in Odisha in two campuses; Wetland research at Chilika and Coastal Eco-Managment research in Bhubaneswar

Following is an excerpt from a report in tathya.

… The Union Minister for Forest & Environment has approved the first ever National Research Institute for Management of Wetlands and Coastal Ecosystems to be set up in the state. 

Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik last year requested for the same. 

… Minister Mr.Ramesh has favored an investment of Rs.30 crore for the project. 

Upendra Nath Behera, Principal Secretary Forest & Environment was informed by V N Kaul, Director Environment in the Ministry of Forest & Environment (MOEF) about the decision of the Union Government here on 26 March. 

Mr.Kaul said the Union Minister recently has green signaled not only for the project, but also funding for the same. 

Rs.10 crore recurring grant will be available for the institute for research and development of eco-system of coastal zones and wet lands. 

… Located 100 km from state capital Bhubaneswar, Chilika is known to support the largest concentration of migratory waterfowl in India. 

At least a million birds are seen at the lake every winter. 

They belong to 165 species, of which 93 are migratory and 72 are residential.

The Institute will have one campus at Chilika and another at Capital City, said sources. While Chilika Campus will look after wetland research, the Bhubaneswar Campus will be dedicated for Costal Eco-Managment researches, said an official.

March 27th, 2010

New dynamic VCs lead the Sambalpur region towards a knowledge hub

UCE Burla becoming VSSUT and the hiring of dynamic vice Chancellors at VSSUT (Prof. D K Tripathy from IIT Kharagpur) as well as at Sambalpur University (Prof. Arun Pujari from the University of Hyderabad) has given a huge momentum in making the Sambalpur area a knowledge hub and together with similar progress at Rourkela a western knowledge corridor is now in the making. In this write-up we will focus on the greater Sambalpur area ranging from Bargarh in the west of Sambalpur to Jharsuguda and Sundergarh in the north and north east.

• Universities: Two exists; 2 more in the making
  • There are two universities with dynamic leadership at their helm: VSSUT and Sambalpur University
  • Sambalpur University has received approval and funding for a SU-IIT (Sambalpur University Institute of Information Technology) and is pursuing a sports institute.
  • VSSUT has significant expansion plans.
  • There is a proposal to upgrade GM college to a unitary university.
  • The health minister had announced to upgrade VSS Medical College to a university.
  • Branch of OUAT in Chipilima.
• Engineering Colleges: Besides VSSUT, there are five more engineering colleges in the area. 2 in Baragarh, 1 in Jharsuguda, 1 in Sundergarh and 1 in Sason (Silicon West).
• Management Institute: XIMB plans a campus in this area.
• Centrally funded Institutes: IIHT (Indian Institute of Handloom Technology) in Baragarh.
• Research Institute: CIFT Burla.
• Other Colleges: Panchayat College Baragarh, NSCB College Sambalpur, Govt. Womens College Sambalpur, Govt. College Sundergarh and Govt. Womens College Sundergarh.
• Demography: See https://www.orissalinks.com/orissagrowth/archives/2715
• Infrastructure:
  • Rail Connectivity: See https://www.orissalinks.com/orissagrowth/archives/2005
  • Airport: Jharsuguda airport is under construction.

The above gives the current status of this area. In addition to the efforts mentioned above, following should also be pursued.

• The VSSUT must be upgraded to a national level institute such as an IIEST (Indian Institute of Engineering Science & Technology)
• An STP must be established in Sambalpur.
• Operationalization of Jharsuguda airport must be expedited.
• One of the central government departments such as CSIR, DAE, Sc & Tech, etc. needs to open a research center here.
• The Orissa government should push to upgrade the VSS Medical College to the AIIMS level.
• Establishment of private medical colleges in this area must be encouraged.
• The OUAT college in Chipilima needs to upgraded and expanded
• A regional university (similar to the old regional engineering colleges, with 50-50 partnership between the state and the central govt.) should be established in Jharsuguda. (This could be part of the 12th five year plan starting from 2012.)
• A state university should be established in Jharsuguda during the 13th plan. (by 2020)
• A state university should be established in Baragarh during the 13th plan. (by 2020)
• Considering the rapid industrialization of the area, the Govt. Engineering School in Jharsuguda should be upgraded to an engineering college, perhaps as a constituent college of VSSUT.

NOTE on Comments: Only constructive comments will be allowed. Please do not submit comments that advocate separatism, conspiracy theories, shifting, badmouthing, etc.

March 14th, 2010

Odisha plans a research center for Olive Ridley Turtles: Dharitri

January 6th, 2010

Institute of Social Sciences New Delhi has a regional center in Bhubaneswar

The website of Institute of Social Sciences, New Delhi is http://www.issin.org/. Its home page says the following:

The Institute of Social Sciences, the result of an intellectual quest to provide socially relevant and activism-oriented research, aims to study contemporary social, political and economic issues, with an inter-disciplinary perspective. The Institute makes its research findings and recommendations available to government bodies, policy makers, social scientists and workers’ organizations so as to widen their options for action. Advocacy in the area of local governance is another main concern of the Institute. It monitors public policy, takes up relevant research and engages in consistent advocacy. The Institute has since its inception in 1985 sought to bring to the centre stage the issue of participatory local self-government, people centric development and democratic governance.

Thrust Areas

Governance

Governance is a major area of research of the Institute. It has pioneered research and advocacy on local bodies which have been constitutionally designated as "institutions of self-government."

Local Democracy

The main focus of our study includes grassroots democracy, functional, financial and administrative autonomy of local governments, theory and practice of local finance and best practices in local governance.

Urban Studies

The Urban Studies department focuses its research on issues related to urban governance and the interface between citizens’ organisations and local government in urban development.

Women Studies

The Institute has been working for the last several years in the field of political empowerment of women, gender justice and the role of women in participatory democracy.

Globalisation

Globalisation, particularly its impact on local democracy, has been a major focus of our study. The Institute is engaged in studies on various aspects of globalisation and its social impact since early 1990’s. Results of studies and research on this subject have attracted worldwide attention.

Global Network on Local Governance

Promoting a sound understanding of local democracy at the regional and global levels, dissemination of values of local democracy, participative governance, documentation and exchange of experience in local governance and widening the scope for people’s participation in governance are the primary objectives of the Global Network on Local Governance.
For More Information Please Visit : http://www.gnlg.org

Legal Aid System on Local Governance

The Legal Aid Centre has been set up by Institute of Social Sciences (ISS) to provide various legal services for local government institutions (LGIs) in India. To enable the local governments (the panchayats and municipalities) aware of their constitutional and legal rights, and Institute of Social Sciences also take up legal interventions on their behalf.
(www.laslg.org)

Database on Local Government

Institute has been maintaining a web-enabled database on various aspects of local government in India. It covers national, state and district level data. .
(www.localgovernmentindia.org)

Human Rights

Impact of decentralization on human rights, human rights initiatives in India and South Asia, police training and reforms and prison reforms are our main areas of research.

South Asia Studies

South Asia is a focal area of study, research and action of the Institute.

International /National Conferences

The Institute has held a number of international conferences on Poverty, Basic Services and Environment : the Asian Experience (1994), Kerala’s Development Experience (!996), Europe and South Asia: 500 years (1999).

Internship, Exchange Programmes

The Institute encourages graduate and research students to spend time at the Institute as interns. Field studies will be facilitated from here. The Institute also welcomes professors/scholars from Advanced Social Science Research Institute and University Departments to spend a tenure here as Visiting Fellows, Visiting Professors.
For affiliation to the Institute and other details, write to the Foreign Scholars Department, Director’s Office, Institute of Social Sciences.

International Partnerships

The Institute works closely with the Forum of Federations (Ottawa), National Endowment for Democracy (Washington), World Movement for Democracy (Washington), South Asia Partnership (Colombo) and European Institute on Asian Studies (Brussles). We have regular exchange visits of scholars and researchers. We also have internship programmes for foreign students. We provide the young scholars our library facilities, faculty guidance and all other help in facilitating their field work.

The institute has a faculty of 23 and 8 researchers. From its web page it is not clear where it gets its funding from. (The page http://www.sasnet.lu.se/jour07iss.html says that it is not government funded but gets outside funding.)  It has four regional centers and one state office. One of the regional centers is in Bhubaneswar. Some information about the regional center in Bhubaneswar is as follows:

Regional Coordinator: K.K. Patnaik; Research Officers: Pramila P.Patnaik
Address: Plot No. 75/A, BJB Nagar, Bhubaneswar 751014
Email: issbbsr@sancharnet.in
Telephone: 0674-2310292
The Bhubaneswar Centre coordinates activities in the Eastern Region, and brings out the Oriya language edition of the Panchayati Raj Update

December 25th, 2009

National Institutes functioning under ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment

Following is from http://pib.nic.in/release/release.asp?relid=55608.

(a) The seven National Institutes functioning under the Ministry are:

i.  National Institute for the Visually Handicapped (NIVH), Dehradun, Uttrakhand.

ii. National Institute for the Mentally Handicapped (NIMH), Secunderabad, Andhra Pradesh.

iii. Ali Yavar Jung National Institute for the Hearing Handicapped (AYJNIHH), Mumbai, Maharashtra.

iv. National Institute for the Orthopaedically Handicapped (NIOH), Kolkata, West Bengal.

v. Swami Vivekanand National Institute for Rehabilitation Training and Research (SVNIRTAR), Cuttack, Orissa.

vi.  Pt. Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Institute for Physically Handicapped (PDUIPH),New Delhi.

vii. National Institute for Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities (NIEPMD), Chennai, Tamil Nadu.

December 10th, 2009

Institute of Material Sciences Bhubaneswar gets more promises on its 9th board meeting

Following is from Dharitri.

October 21st, 2009

Orissa CM proposes ‘National Research Institute for Management of Wetlands and Coastal Ecosystems’ at Chilika and a ‘National Mangrove Research Institute’ in Orissa

Following is an excerpt from a press release by Orissa’s Resident Commissioner in New Delhi.

He suggested to establish ‘National Research Institute for Management of Wetlands and Coastal Ecosystems’ at Chilika as there is no dedicated research centre in this environmentally important subject. Chief Minister pointed out that the infrastructure created at Chandraput and the expertise available with Chilika Development Authority (CDA) could be extremely useful in starting such a national institute. The Union Minister welcomed the proposal and asked the Ministry officials to jointly work with the State government officials to formulate the plan.

Chief Minister also highlighted the need for a National Mangrove Research Institute in Orissa and mangroves along the coast help in preventing the damage brought by tsunami, cyclones and super cyclones. The National Mangrove Research Center could also monitor the impact of the sea level rise, cyclone associated tidal surges and other anthropogenic pressures on mangroves, he suggested.

September 26th, 2009

Orissa CM Naveen Patnaik pushes for NID in Bhubaneswar and several coast related research centers

Following is an excerpt from a press release of the Resident Commissioner of Orissa. (See also a thaiindian newsreport on this.)

PRESS RELEASE

New Delhi

August 19, 2009

Shri Naveen Patnaik, Chief Minister, Orissa met Shri Anand Sharma, Union Minister for Commerce and Industry at New Delhi and discussed various issues pertaining to development of Industry Clusters and handicrafts in Orissa.

 

Chief Minister requested for establishment of a National Institute of Design (NID) at Bhubaneswar for which the Govt. of Orissa has offered to provide necessary infrastructure including land.  As the new National Design Policy of GoI envisages to set-up four new design Institutes on the pattern of NID, Ahmedabad during the 11^th Five Year Plan and three locations have already been identified to cover Central, Southern and North-Eastern regions of the country, CM emphasised that an NID focusing on handlooms and handicrafts could be ideally located in Orissa which could serve tribal regions of not only Orissa but also Jharkhand, Chattisgarh and the entire Eastern region. The Union Minister has agreed to consider the proposal.

Following is from another press release of the Resident Commissioner of Orissa. (See also this report in Expressbuzz.com)

Considering the largest diversity of Mangrove forests in Orissa,  Chief Minister  suggested that a National Institute of Mangrove Research be established in the State which may  provide required data base for management of mangrove and coastal vegetation and also  develop models for conservation and propagation of mangroves and coastal shelter belt plantations. He also urged  the Union Government to consider setting up  a National Institute of Wetlands and Coastal Ecosystems in Orissa for which the nucleus is already available at Chandraput.

3 comments August 19th, 2009