In ornet, Purna Mishra, who is visiting Orissa, observes the following:
Good news from Orissa. Vedanta University is for real. It will be unlike any other university in India.
The land acquisition is going smoothly. Unlike POSCO and others, the state government is out of the process. Most of the land is state government and/or belong to Lord Jagannath. Not much private land. They have opened an office in Puri to acquire land. It seems their latest offer is to acquire paddy cultivated land at Rs. 2 lakh /acre. Before the Vedanta University offer, the land was available at Rs. 60,000/acre.
May 5th, 2007
On behalf of the Orissa Today Network Mr. Manoj Padhi sent a letter to Vedanta University CEO. Following is the reply from Vedanta’s CEO.
Dear Mr. Manoj Padhi and OTN,
Thank you for your mail dated 8th April regarding Vedanta University (VU). We are happy to know that OTN, an intellectual Group of Overseas and local Oriya have appreciated the communication on the developments pertaining to the proposed Vedanta University in the State of Orissa.
Continue Reading May 2nd, 2007
Following Vedanta’s purchase of a huge stake in Sesa Goa there have been a few profile articles on its Chairman Mr. Anil Agarwal (230 in Forbes list of 2007).
- Rediff: How a small trader became a metal king
- Daily News India: A long journey from Bihar’s badlands to London’s Mayfair
The second article has a brief paragraph on Vedanta University. Following is an excerpt.
Struck by the munificence that created Carnegie Mellon, Harvard, and Stanford, Agarwal wants to do something similar in India. So, he is making an endowment of up to $1 billion (Rs4,435 crore) to establish a “world-class, multi-disciplinary universityâ€. His dream project is called Vedanta University and will be set up in the state of Orissa. AT Kearney is the consultant for the project. Agarwal had told DNA Money: “We (the family) have decided to give our wealth back to society,†he said.
Forbes profile of Anil Agarwal says the following about Vedanta University:
“Plans to build Vedanta University, India’s answer to Stanford, in eastern India; has pledged $1 billion.”
In this regard one may read how Stanford University was founded and the history of Carnegie Mellon University(CMU). The rag-to-riches story of Andrew Carnegie, the founder of Carnegie Tech (that later merged with Mellon Institute to become CMU), has some similarity with that of Mr. Anil Agarwal’s life story so far.
April 29th, 2007
SIS (Security and Intelligent Services), a private company, will open its 5th academy (after Dehradun, Gurgaon, Garwa and Bangalore) near Cuttack in Chouduar at a cost of 5 crores. For that it is reported (in Samaja – Oriya) to have acquired 10,000 acres of land. It is reported that it will train 3000 secrurity personnels every year, out of which 80% will be from Orissa. I wonder if the 10,000 acres number is a typo. If it is not a typo, its kind of puzzling that lots of people are opposed to the Vedanta University, to be made with an investment of 15,000 crores, which asked for 8000 acres to educate 100,000 students and employ 20,000 faculty and staff, while not a peep has been heard about the 10,000 acres for SIS.
April 21st, 2007
Sambada (in Oriya) reports that Vedanta university has reduced its requirement to 7500 acres.
April 18th, 2007
The Statesman reports that Mr. Anil Agrawal, head of Sterlite and Vedanta group of industries met the CM today and agreed to establish a superspeciality hospital with 1000 beds with a research institute focussed on cancer and cardiology in the first phase of Vedanta University. The news item also says that Mr. Agrawal will try to tighten the land requirement.
April 17th, 2007
Dear Friend,
We are pleased to share with you, as well wishers of the proposed Vedanta University in Orissa, the developments to-date and our objectives in the project. The Vedanta University will be established in the state of Orissa, along the Puri-Konark highway.
We recall with pride the glorious past when Orissa had Ratnagiri University, known around the world. With the active support, encouragement and good wishes from all of you through your
constructive communication in the various blogs, e-mails and internet communications, we are confident of making Orissa once again a globally recognised center for higher learning.
Anil Agarwal Foundation, a “not for profit†institution, has been founded by Mr. Anil Agarwal, Chairman, Vedanta Resources Plc, London, for making a significant contribution to a core requirement of India viz. Education.
Continue Reading March 30th, 2007
The webpage was unveiled on March 26th 2007. It has details on what they plan to do.
(Thanks to Prof. Sanjoy Das for the pointer.)
March 29th, 2007
Vedanta University has unveiled a new web page since March 1 2007. It has a nice picture of the location of the university. I am told that the architects of the university have come up with a detailed design of the initial buildings. Also, the CAO search is going well and an announcement in this regard may be made in May 2007.
March 13th, 2007
For some time there has been discussion that Orissa government should formulate a policy of going from mineral resources to human resources. I.e., it must cajole the various mineral based industries (steel plants, aluminium plants, coal fields etc.) in Orissa to invest in the human resource development of Orissa. So far except the announced Vedanta University, and 13 crores donated by the Tatas towards the Institute of Mathematics, the others have at most contributed small amounts towards ITI type trade schools. In this regards the GOI public sectors in Orissa have not done much.
Now Orissa must take a quick lesson from Jharkhand. Today’s Telegraph reports that Bokaro steel plant has agreed to establish an engineering college as well as a medical college in Bokaro.
Continue Reading February 26th, 2007
Financial express reports that Vedanta University is after some nobel laurates. It also mentions the proposed scale of the Vedanta University: 100,000 students; 10,000 faculty; 40,000 other employess; 10,000 acres; 15000 crore investment etc.
February 19th, 2007
I am told that Vedanta University is after some top-notch people. Until their names are formally announced we can not name them here. All we can say at this point is that the people whose names are doing the round have top-notch credentials and one of them is known Inida wide.
February 18th, 2007
Pioneer reports that referring to Vedanta University’s land requirement union minister of state for HRD Mr. Fatmi said:
He commented that at a time when the Orissa Government is unable to provide only 500 acres of land for establishment of a new Indian Institute of Technology in the State, it is going ahead with a proposal for setting up of a university on 8,000 acres of land.
When exactly did the central government asked Orissa for 500 acres and Orissa said No? In contrast the news items regarding the CM writing to PM about IITs suggest that the state voluntered land for the IIT extension campus and I am sure they would volunteer land for a greenfield IIT.
But more importantly, one should note that Mr. Fatmi did not say that he was misquoted in the Times of India. That means, indeed on Aug 28 2006, Orissa was one of the locations for a greenfield IIT as well as for a branch campus of IIT Kharagpur. Mr. Fatmi being a union minister, his pronouncement on this issue, makes it a formal announcement. Backing away from a formal announcement is cheating and discriminatory.
February 2nd, 2007
In today’s Samaja there is a full page ad by Vedanta University where it talks about the vision of Vedanta University.
While some people in Orissa are questioning the need of 8000 acres by Vedanta, a more enlightened Andhra Pradesh is actually spending its own money to create a similar city. In comparison, Orissa is getting $1 billion from Anil Agarwal foundation which they will use to establish the Vedanta University and the surrounding city. (Note that the land that is being acquitred for this purpose is not for free; Vedanta University is paying for it, not the Orissa state government.)
February 1st, 2007
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