Following is an excerpt from a report in Pioneer.
December 17, 2010 11:59:31 AM
BIKASH KHEMKA | BHAWANIPATNA
Spiritualism pervaded the air here with Art of Living Guru Sri Sri Ravishankar’s visit and didactic discourse on Wednesday evening at the college field here thronged by the people of both Kalahandi and adjacent districts.
The backdrop of the dais was catchy with the images of Maa Manikeswari Temple, Chhatar Yatra and the primitive tribal groups depicting the true aura of this tribal district.
In the morning hour, Ravishankar laid a foundation stone at nearby Dharmagarh for an agriculture university and air-dashed here by chopper at around 2.30 pm.
Following is an excerpt from a report in orissadiary.com.
The founder of Art of Living , Spiritual Guru HH Sri Sri Ravishankarji meets Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik in the Orissa Secretariat on Thursday and discussed with the Chief Minister regarding progress of proposed Sri Sri University at Narah Bidyadharpur.
In course of Discussion, Ravisankarji has proposed to set up an Agriculture University at Kalahandi. Ravisankarji also expressed that besides Agriculture, training will be imparted on Medicinal Plants.
This is wonderful news. Earlier it was reported in kalahandia that about 100 acres has been identified for the above mentioned university.
December 17th, 2010
The following research was done by our regular commentator Stingidea.
Amity University, one of India’s largest private university seems to be looking at setting up a campus in Bhubaneswar. While it is has not officially announced any such plans it appears to be scouting around for land in the capital city as evidenced from this advertisement that one of it’s holding companies – AKC Group of Companies through its affiliate company Tegro India Private Limited (advertisement attached) – has put in the Oriya vernacular daily Dharitri.
A domain name search for the owner of tegroindia.com reveals that it is registered by AKC Group of Companies (http://whois.domaintools.com/tegroindia.com). Further research on the web reveals that AKC Group of Companies is the holding company for the Amity Group of Educational institutions.
December 15th, 2010
Following is an excerpt from a report in Telegraph.
The ministry of science and technology, under its promotion of university research and scientific excellence (Purse) programme, has selected the Utkal University for an incentive of Rs 9 crore for research and development as grant.
“The department started the Purse programme in 2009. Based on studies carried out by the National Institute of Science, Technology and Development Studies (NISTADS), New Delhi, the department will support 29 universities for the research and development grant under the Purse programme. The grant will be spread over three years,” said in-charge of research and development, Utkal University, S Jena.
“This is supposed to be the single biggest grant that the university has received in its history.
… In 2009, the grant was provided to 14 universities, based on their publications as per the Scopus international database for 1996-2006,” Jena said.
“Similar studies were being carried out by the NISTADS in the current year using the Scopus database on publications output for 1998-2008,” reads a letter from the ministry.
Based on the study, the department of science and technology will support 29 more universities for the research and development incentive grant under the Purse programme, it reads.
This is great news. I hope this provides a big boost to Science programs at Utkal University. We found a bit more about the PURSE grants from the site http://203.200.89.92/dst/scientific-programme/inspire/ser-inspire-speech.htm. Following are some excerpts from that site.
With a view to promote scientific research in our universities, the Ministry of Science and Technology has proposed a special scheme named Promotion of University Research and Scientific Excellence (PURSE). I am very happy to have launched this new scheme, which provides an incentive grant to performing universities based on scientific publications in Science Citation Indexed Journals. I sincerely hope that many more universities would enroll into scientific research and become qualified for such recognitions and incentive grants.
I am pleased and delighted that recent data shows that publications in Science Citation Journals of the world from India have been registering an annual growth of about 10% during the last few years. A total of 14 universities are among the 35 high productivity S&T institutions of the country whose contributions figure significantly in such publications during the last ten years.
For a country with our vast underlying scientific potential, these should be seen as rather modest gains. We should think big and act purposefully towards more ambitious goals.
Unlike other major scientific nations, India has a young population. If we can get our act together, this favourable demographic profile can be exploited enormously to make India a key knowledge supplier in the global economy in the next few decades.
December 14th, 2010
Following is an excerpt from a report in pagalguy.com.
Great Lakes business School, Chennai is all set to open a university in Orissa, besides another b-school in Delhi. This is after taking Mumbai Business School, Mumbai under its wings a few months ago. Disclosing this, Founder and Dean of Great Lakes, Dr Bala V. Balachandran told Pagalguy that the university in Bhubhaneshwar, Orissa will be modelled differnetly and not like the usual universities.
“This university will cater to different subjects like engineering, law, schools of art, science, economics, math,” said Dr Balachandran. This university may not be called Great Lakes but could be called the University of Corporate Excellence. When asked why, Dr Balachandran replied that Great Lakes already has an identity of a b-school. “Would be confusing to name the university with the same name.”
With regards to the b-school in Delhi, it would be called Great Lakes, like the one in Chennai. While the Great Lakes in Delhi is expected to come up in the next six months, the university is Bhubhaneshwar will come up in a year’s time.
Prof. Balachandran has already created the top notch business school, Great Lakes, in Chennai. Following is an excerpt from the page http://greatlakes.edu.in/Dr–Bala-V-Balachandran.html about his current and past associations.
Founder and Dean, Great Lakes Institute of Management, Chennai, India J L Kellogg Distinguished Professor of Accounting and Information Management (Emeritus in Service), Northwestern University, Illinois, USA Executive Professor & Strategy Advisor to the Dean, Bauer College, University of Houston, Texas, USA
December 12th, 2010
Following is an excerpt from a report in Telegraph.
Utkal University and the Central Institute of Plastic Engineering and Technology (Cipet) are all set to launch a collaborative course in material science engineering.
Billed as the only one of its kind in the country, the five-year integrated MSc technology course in material science engineering will be open for plus II science students.
“An all-India entrance test will be conducted by the Cipet corporate at Chennai. Twenty-five selected candidates will be taught by faculty members from the department of chemistry of Utkal University and Cipet, Bhubaneswar,” said S. Jena, the in-charge of research and development department of Utkal University.
… The new course will have everything, from faculty exchanges, joint tie-ups in inter-research programmes and collaborative funding to development of high-performance polymer blends and alloys in the future.
“Most importantly, the station will also help other science students of the university to explore various courses. The involvement of Cipet with the state’s oldest university will also help its students inculcate various entrepreneurship skills so that they can also start their own units if they want to,” he said.
I wonder if this is the first 5 yr intergated program in a science subject under Utkal university.
December 8th, 2010
(Thanks to Biswa for the pointer.)
Update: It looks like IGIT Sarang was the only one in the 25 government colleges that are eligible (under sub component 1.1) to submit an Institutional Developmental Proposal (IDP). VSSUT and CET are in the list of Ineligible (under sub componnet 1.1) Govt. funded/aided institutions (for which the state is ready to co-sponsor) that can submit again for compliance of eligibility conditions & then submit IDPs. There are no private institutions from Odisha under sub component 1.1.
There are no eleigible institutions from Odisha under sub-component 1.2. NIT Rourkela is in the list of Non-Eligible Institutions (for which State is ready to co-sponsor) shortlisted for compliance of eligibility conditions for participation in the Project under Sub-Component 1.2.
The following table lists the institutions that applied from Oidsha, their over all scores and the problems they had (if any).
| Institution |
Score (sub-component)
|
Problems |
| IGIT Sarang |
66 (1.1) |
None (found eligible) |
| VSSUT Burla |
73 (1.1) |
Faculty less than 50%; BOG not as per UGC |
| CET Bhubaneswar |
63 (1.1) |
Faculty less than 50%; BOG not as per UGC |
| NIT Rourkela |
57 (1.2) |
BOG not as per UGC |
| OSME Keonjhar |
25 (1.1) |
Number of courses less than 4 |
| Synergy, Dhenaknal |
39 (1.1) |
BOG not as per UGC |
| NIST, Berhampur |
35 (1.1) |
BOG not as per UGC |
| CEB, Bhubaneswar |
34 (1.1) |
BOG not as per UGC |
| DRIEMS, Cuttack |
36 (1.1) |
BOG not as per UGC |
| OEC, Bhubaneswar |
33 (1.1) |
BOG not as per UGC |
| KISD, Bhubaneswar |
37 (1.1) |
BOG not as per UGC |
| CV Raman, Bhubaneswar |
46 (1.2) |
BOG not as per UGC |
As per http://www.npiu.nic.in/faq.htm sub component 1.1 is about Strengthening institutions to improve learning outcomes and employability of graduates and Sub-component 1.2 is about Scaling-up postgraduate education and demand driven R&D and innovation.
One of the requirement for the BOG is that it be headed by an eminent industrialist/engineering academician with adequate representation from other stakeholders.
So it is not clear what the Telegraph article below is talking about.
As per the report in http://telegraphindia.com/1101207/jsp/orissa/story_13265662.jsp the five Colleges are:
- DRIEMS, Tangi, Cuttack
- NIST, Berhampur
- CEB, Bhubaneswar
- VSSUT, Burla
- IGIT, Sarang
The details of the program is at http://www.npiu.nic.in/faqi.htm. From a quick reading it seems that the government institutions will get about 10 crores each and the private ones about 4 crores each.
December 7th, 2010
(Thanks to a reader for the tip.)
The website of the Institute of Management Studies of Sri Sri University is http://ssuims.org/.
Their inaugural year will be 2011. For that year the programs offered are BBA and MBA. Following are excerpts from http://ssuims.org/introduction.html about their MBA program.
At Sri Sri University – Institute of Management Studies, we are looking for individuals who are eager to broaden their horizons and will make the Institute an inspiring place to learn. The following programs are being offered for the academic year 2011 – 2012:
1. Two Year Full Time Masters in Business Management – MBA General Management
2. Two Year Full Time Masters in Entrepreneurship Management – MBA Entrepreneurship
3. Two Year Full Time Masters in Agribusiness Management – MBA Agribusiness
… The size of the founding class will be 120 students for MBA General Management, 30 students for MBA Entrepreneurship and 30 students for MBA Agribusiness Management. The date of commencement of the programs will be 22nd July 2011.
They have assembled an excellent group of visiting faculty and corporate and academic mentors. One needs to wait and see the kind of permanent faculty they hire. That will really determine how good this institute and university will become.
Following is the message of the President of Sri Sri University as given in
http://ssuims.org/premsg.html.
" His Holiness Sri Sri Ravi Shankar has envisioned establishing Sri Sri University under the aegis of Sri Sri Ravishankar Vidya Mandir Trust – the educational arm of the Art of Living – to revive the pre-eminence of India as the centre of world education. The Orissa Government has enacted the Sri Sri University act for establishing the University, which has been notified in the official gazette. The 185-acre sprawling campus is situated near the city of Cuttack in Orissa, overlooking the Kathjodi River. The campus is proposed to be self-sustaining, environment friendly, pollution-free and green. At optimum capacity the fully residential University campus will cater to over 7,500 students and around 2,000 teaching and support staff.
Sri Sri University is envisaged to become a multi-disciplinary single campus, covering every faculty of human endeavour from traditional Vedic Studies, Ayurveda, etc. to Modern Medicine, Management Studies, Engineering and Pure Science Research. The University will combine traditional wisdom and modern technology to bring about a synthesis of human and technological development. In a modern world where there is an ever-increasing gap between man and nature, Sri Sri University will become a centre of re-integration of man and nature. A unique feature of Sri Sri University will be its value integrated and interactive classroom delivery mechanisms, wherein the student develops a sense of social responsibility along with expertise in the subject. It will be interspersed with the proven Art of Living self-development programmes and yoga techniques to bring about total development in the physical, mental, intellectual and spiritual faculties of the students.
Sri Sri University – Institute of Management Studies aims to become “A Global Centre of Learning that creates exceptional Business Leaders of Character”. The education and culture will have a strong focus on ethical leadership, resulting in responsible leaders with a vision to serve the larger society while achieving personal goals. We aim to create leaders who are trustworthy, enthusiastic, highly aware and resilient. Students will be moulded to become intrinsically motivated managers, thus leading to the creation of a committed workforce. The Institute will commence in July 2011 with programmes in MBA General Management,, MBA AgriBusiness and MBA Entrepreneurship. "
December 4th, 2010
(Thanks to kalahandia.blogspot.com to initially attracting our attention to this.)
December 4th, 2010
Following is from http://pib.nic.in/newsite/PrintRelease.aspx?relid=68058.
Tribal University Set Up in Amarkantak
The Indira Gandhi National Tribal University (IGNTU), Amarkantak became functional recently. In this regard the State Government of Madhya Pradesh handed over possession of 370 acres of land to the University. The University has since embarked upon construction of prefabricated Portal Frame Structure, with 87,000 square feet plinth area. The University is presently running 22 courses and programmes at undergraduate level. As on date the total number of students studying in the undergraduate courses at Amarkantak is 769, out of which 392 are Scheduled Tribe, 80 Scheduled Caste and 255 girl students.
The University has already established its Regional Campus at Manipur with a couple of programmes and the State Government has recently handed over possession of about 300 acres of land for establishment of a permanent campus. The IGNTU has also been approached by the State Governments of Andhra Pradesh, Orissa, Kerala and Gujarat to open its Regional Campuses in their respective States.
This information was given by the Minister of State for Human Resource Development, Smt. D. Purandeswari, in written reply to a question, in the Rajya Sabha today.
MV/SKS/Hb
December 4th, 2010
Following is from Section 2 of the report by the 2009 committee which reviewed the then deemed universities and divided them to three categories; the second category (which included KIIT University Bhubaneswar) of universities were found somewhat deficient and given time to correct the deficiency and the third category (which included SOA University Bhubaneswar) were found deficient and it was recommended that the deemed tag may be taken away from them.
The committee consisted of Prof. P. N. Tandon, Prof. Goverdhan Mehta, Prof. M. Anandakrishnan, Prof. Mrinal Miri and Shri Sunil Kumar (Convenor).
Universities are institutions that are meant to sustain human practices and activities of a very special kind. They are, of course, concerned centrally with higher education and research, but their concern in these fields is very different from that of other institutions of higher learning and research which are devoted to imparting knowledge and skills that are essential to competent and creative pursuit of what might be called ‘technical professions’. Examples of such professions are: different branches of engineering, various aspects of medicine and surgery, and, in our times – because of the rise of corporations and bureaucratic governance -management and control of humans. It may be suggested, without much fear of contradiction, that the primary value of the kind of knowledge and skills imparted by such institutions resides in their utility – utility in creating an infrastructure for the physical wellbeing of the general public, utility in sustaining good health of individuals and the community, utility in enhancing the profit margins of corporations, and of course utility in terms of their own marketability. However, the very best of such institutions have shown the capacity to transcend utility, and this often has the effect of transforming the very quality of education they impart.
While universities are not entirely free from utility-driven higher education and learning, their core aim – if one may be allowed to say so – is very different. Universities are meant to be places -which facilitate and promote critical intellectual engagement with: (a) different traditions of thought and its great variety of expression, (b) modes of understanding the human condition and predicament, (c) the incredibly diverse inanimate and non-human living world. Such engagement obviously has many utilitarian and extrinsic values; but it is its intrinsic value that marks it off as a very special sort of human practice. It requires the development of a form of attention that focuses -beyond the interests of the self and its preoccupations with itself – on the other whether the other is a tradition of thought, or a particular human collectivity and its specific way of being human, or the physical world and its amazing intricacies, or the magieal variety of non-human life.
Such attention is valuable in itself not only because it entails the exercise of virtues such as honesty, courage and fairness, but, more importantly because these virtues must find a unity within the overarching virtue of care (some might even say, love). Care such as this requires the presence of the person – the whole ‘person – to the other, to the object of care. To be wholly present to the other in this way, is for the person to become more as a person. It enhances the human person as a person. The intrinsic value of university education lies ultimately in its inherent capacity to induce such enhancement of the person in us.
This is the truth of the commonly held belief that a truly educated person is larger as a person than an uneducated person. It is of course also true that a person may have gone through the process of education, including university education, and remained uneducated. Education has failed to make the difference in the latter instance which it is meant to have made. Some of the natural outcomes of such caring and critical attention and engagement are: traditions of thought and research are carried forward, creativity finds a central place, new modes of understanding and explanation emerge, just as new objects of such attention begin to loom on the horizon. These indeed are the intrinsic rewards of the practices sustained by a University. Think of the humanities, (which, as a result of the practicalities of the division of academic labour are split into "disciplines" such as literature, the arts, philosophy, history etc.); the human sciences (economics, psychology, anthropology, sociology and so on); the physical sciences including mathematics, the life sciences and exciting new areas of enquiry in them – think of them and the role of the Universities in taking them forward, in devising new modes of enquiry and uncovering fresh objects of study and thought.
It is important at this point to remind ourselves of what the Radhakrishnan Commission of Education 1948 had to say on the question of setting up of new universities – "….There are certain fundamental characteristics which should be inherent in any institution which is to call itself a university …It should be a place for providing a student with opportunity for all round well proportioned education for effective living and for citizenship, in addition to preparation for a calling. It may occur that a university shall develop special strength in some particular field, as in engineering or industrial development or in teacher-training or inforestry or fisheries. In fact, since no institution can be excellent in everything, it is desirable that areas of special strength be developed at least in all but perhaps the largest of our universities. However, these areas of special strength should be in addition to facilities for all round higher educqtion, and should not be a substitute for such facilities. Unless an institution aims at providing such all round training it should continue as a technical institute and should not aspire to be a university… Institutions doing perfunctory or mediocre work should not be dignified by university status."
Thus, what is crucial is that universities must not, in their various pursuits, lose sight of this essential concept of a university. There is, sadly, much truth in the general belief that many of our universities have willy-nilly lost sight of this idea. This has resulted in a certain debasement of the very concept of a university allowing institutions with little claim to the status of a university to aspire for such status.
November 27th, 2010
November 27th, 2010
Following is an excerpt from a report in Expressbuzz.com.
The State Government has decided to elevate Khallikote Autonomous College here and Gangadhar Meher College at Sambalpur to unitary university status, said Higher Education Minister Debi Prasad Mishra here today.
A government appointed task force on higher education reforms had suggested upgrading these two premier autonomous colleges to university status, the Minister said while addressing a function of the Students’ Union of Khallikote College.
Mishra however stressed the need to develop necessary infrastructure facilities before the second oldest college of the State was declared a unitary university.
While at least 50 acre was required, Khallikote Autonomous College had only 16.74 acres of land in its possession.
“There is a proposal to get another 2.50 acres from transport departments garage adjoining the college”, he said.
The Minister asked the local MLAs to locate another 50 acres in the town for the college’s expansion. He also assured the students to fill up the vacant posts soon. Around 50 out of 90 posts of teaching staff are vacant in the 132-yearold college, where over 3,600 students are pursuing studies in 19 different departments, 15 of them having post-graduate departments.
November 20th, 2010
Following is an excerpt from a report in Telegraph.
The proposed institutions are: Vedanta University at Puri-Konark marine drive, Sri Sri Ravi Shankar University at Naraj in Cuttack, Institute of Charted Financial Analysts of India (Icfai) University in Bhubaneswar and Centurion University of Technology and Management at Parlakhemundi in Gajapati district.
According to agreement, the Vedanta University was to be given 6,000 acres and Sri Sri Ravi Shankar University 185 acres.
The Vedanta group has already been given 3,500 acres. The quantum of land for the other two universities is yet to be decided.
The proposed Sri Sri University will cater to the needs of 15,000 students with 1,500 faculty members.
While the Centurion University will concentrate, among other things, on distance education, the Icfai University will “provide instruction, teaching, training and research in specialised areas”.
According to sources, apart from the four varsities, the government has received 11 more proposals from the private sector.
These are Jagatguru Krupalu University (Jagatguru Krupalu Trust), Xavier University, Techno Global University (Calcutta-based Techno Indo group), Maa Anandamayai Viswavidyalaya (Maa Anandamayi Trust), Synergy University (Shivani Educational Charitable Trust from Orissa), Women’s University Technology (Sarala Foundation, Orissa), Private University of Rai Foundation (Rai Foundation), University of Corporate Excellence (Infotech Park Limited), Amity University, Silicon University (Silicon Valley investment, Orissa) and ASBM University (HRD group, Bhubaneswar).
State higher education secretary Madhu Sudan Padhi said the government had agreed “in principle” to the proposals of Xavier University and Maa Anandamayai University.
Padhi said that the NRIs were in touch with the state government to invest in the field of education.
“NRI Groups from San Francisco are interested in investing Rs 150 crore in higher education. Preliminary discussions have already been held and another round of talks will be held in December,” he said.
November 17th, 2010
The article starts as follows:
The Harvard-educated home minister P. Chidambaram could learn some valuable lessons at this campus located in the heart of the Naxalinfested tribal district of Gajapati in Orissa, bordering Andhra Pradesh. Centurion School of Rural Enterprise Management (csrem) is run by two management professors – Mukthi Mishra and D.N. Rao – who quit their jobs at Xavier Institute of Management Bhubaneswar (ximb) to set up their own B-school barely seven years ago. They have made a tremendous impact in this poor and restive region. “Over the past few years, we have managed to produce over 10,000 graduates in engineering and management, and vocational certificate holders in a range of trades from the region,” says Mishra, co-founder of csrem.
Following is a scan of the whole article.
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November 13th, 2010
Following are excerpts from the interview at http://www.livemint.com/richardlevin.htm.
Leading Indian institutes are good at teaching but they are not research-oriented. What should be the focus now?
The IITs and IIMs are basically good teaching institutions… The biggest contribution made by research universities is that they have advanced knowledge as well as educate quality students. The requisite for making that happen is, one, opening up the structure of faculty compensation so that you can actually attract world-class individuals.
The strong Indian nationals go to graduate schools in the US and they will not come back if they don’t get compensation close to what they get aboard. And right now, they would not unless there is some change in legislation.
The second is the state support—the need for quality laboratory, infrastructure and competitive research grant to advance their work. While there have been some advances in research grants in India, there is still by and large not the quality of the facility that you can have access to in the US, parts of Europe or indeed recently in China.
…
You had an interaction with Ratan Tata (chairman of Tata group). Is he sponsoring a chair?
There is nothing particular to announce now. We are talking to lots of leading Indian families who are interested in Yale getting more involved in India. I hope there will be some support for our relationship. There is a lot of philanthropic interest in higher education of India. I hope Parliament will open the market up to those philanthropists to build universities. They can give some money to Yale, but that will not have the impact.
India is very brand conscious and it seems it wants foreign universities to set up shop here. That will help, but that is not the answer. The answer is great Indian universities and Indian brands. You have done it with companies—you got Tata, Reliance (Reliance Industries Ltd and Reliance-Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group), Infosys (Technologies Ltd), you got Wipro (Ltd). These are great global brands now. You can do the same with Indian universities rather than co-branding like Yale-India Campus or Harvard-India Campus.
The impression here is Yale is interested in partnering one or more of the proposed innovation universities. Is that true?
We can have partnership in more than one area (but) not as co-brands. There will be some exchanges.
We may have some advisory role, having some of our faculty helping establish these universities. No joint investment. I think the real hope (for innovation university) is private sector support.
How do you see the growth of education in India vis-à-vis China?
… To compete successfully 20 years from now, India and China will need much stronger research universities. China is very aware of this and politically committed to it.
China is making big investments in research laboratories. They are putting lots of money in top universities to make them competitive with Harvard, Yale and Stanford. They are focusing more on a small number of top universities. Politically, that is very hard for India to do because of India’s democracy. It is very hard for America to do so. Solution is to allow the private sector to have a big role in higher education.
I believe you will succeed because India has built great companies in (the) last 20 years. I think a lot of people responsible for that want to give back to the Indian society. They are eager to do what Leland Stanford (founder of Stanford University) and John D. Rockefeller (founder of Chicago University and Rockefeller University) did in America over 100 years ago. If I am not mistaken, all Parliament needs to do is not to give the money away but pass legislation so that will happen.
The term Ivy League seems to have caught on. After China branded some of its university as C-9 or the Chinese Ivy League, India is set to designate at least nine top universities the Indian Ivy League. Does this help?
It reflected something really in China. Those are the universities that China is making disproportionate investment (in). In fact the government made those investments before naming them as Ivy League of China. I don’t know much about the Indian Ivy League. Unless there are much resources, I don’t think it will have that much of impact.
… prashant.n@livemint.com
I have underlined the part that I thought are important. President (of Yale) Levin is right in his answers. Under the current system Indian government can not pay large enough compensations that will attract a large number of top-quality Ph.Ds and faculty from abroad to populate proposed world class research and innovations universities in India. Only private universities backed by Billion dollar level endowment as well as a viable plan to have global level annual funding year after year (note: My university, Arizona State U, has an annual budget of $1.7 Billion plus; Harvard and Stanford annual budgets are about $3 Billion) have a chance to become world class. Fortunately Vedanta University is exactly such a plan. But unfortunately, the Indian government, instead of helping it and showcasing it such that other billionaires from India follow it, is creating hurdles.
November 13th, 2010
Following is from an article in tathay.in.
The proposed Xavier University in Odisha seems to be pushed inside the deep fridge.
Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik eagerly approved the proposed Xavier University in the state in July, 2009.
Thanks to the initiative of Fr.P T Joseph, Director XIMB who brought the issue to the authorities in the Odisha Government about the requirement of Xavier University in the state.
Ananga Udaya Singh Deo, Minister Planning & Coordination, who raised the issue in the State Cabinet in a strong way, impressed the Chief Minister.
With the green signal of the Chief Minister the authorities in XIMB moved ahead with accquiring land nearby the Capital City and a Detailed Plan for the proposed university was prepared.
Every thing is ready.
So every body expected that the much needed Xavier University Bill will come up in the Winter Session of the Odisha Legislative Assembly.
Now on 23 November, Winter Session of the OLA begins.
However there is no sign of the proposed bill on Xavier varsity, revealed an officer in the Department of Law.
Why is it so?
Officials in the Department of Higher Education reveal that though the Xavier University proposal has been approved by the Chief Minister, no separate bill for the proposed varsity will be presented in the Assembly.
An Umbrella Act is being prepared for all the private and professional universities, which is likely to be tabled in the House.
However legal pundits opine that such an Umbrella Act will not stand scrutiny of law.
That is why the Umbrella Act, which was posed to Department of Law during last August, is yet to be vetted by the legal experts.
Legal luminaries feel that “an Umbrella Act for Universities is bad in eyes of law”.
That is why such an Umbrella Act adopted by the Government of Chhatisgarh was set aside by the Apex Court in recent past.
Educationists feel that “If one does not have the right connections in the Corridors of Power in Odisha, it is impossible to move an inch”.
With no Godfather backing the Xavier Institute of Management, Bhubaneswar (XIMB), the Director Fr. Joseph is running from pillar to post to clear the Xavier University Bill.
However no body knows where the file is gathering dust in the State Secretariat.
This is really unfortunate.
November 11th, 2010
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