Odisha HRD

Committee constructed to develop the initial programs and syllabi for the Central University of Orissa: Samaja

April 7th, 2009

The 12 new central universities will start with only research programs

Following is excerpted from a report in Telegraph.

Twelve new central universities that India is launching will start by offering only research programmes — MPhil and PhD — unlike existing varsities that are controlled by the Centre.

The new universities will focus exclusively on research, at least initially, though they can later expand and offer undergraduate and postgraduate courses not involving research as well, top government officials have said.

… But the 12 new universities will initially offer only research programmes, human resource development (HRD) ministry sources said.

“We will leave it open to each university to decide what research programmes they want to start with. At least one university wants to start with only MPhil courses. That is fine,” a source said.

The 12 new universities are to come up in Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka, Orissa, Rajasthan, Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Gujarat, Jharkhand and Bihar.

At least three of the 12 are expected to start offering courses from the 2009 academic session itself, though more may begin.

The strategy to focus only on research initially at the new universities is based on three major considerations, sources said.

One, it will allow the universities to initially “find their feet” without the pressure of a large number of students, officials argue.

April 5th, 2009

Central University of Orissa classes to start in June from a temporary location; VC Prof. Banerjee will be tested on her ability get one of the 5 medical and engineering colleges to her university

Update: The news item in Samaja.

Tathya writes about this. Following are some excerpts.

Central University of Orissa (CUO) will begin classes from June. … While CUO will have its campus in Koraput, to begin with a temporary campus near Bhubaneswar is being looked out to start classes from next Educational Year.

That is why Professor Banerjee has requested the Government of Orissa in Higher Education department to provide a rented accommodation.

Mr.Padhi has agreed to provide all out support for the institution.

Professor Banerjee is interested to make it a different institution and is inclined to start at least 30-35 departments in the newly carved out Centre of Learning.

However to start with the CUO will have 5 subjects and later it will go on including further, said sources.

… Those CUs, which has not identified land for the institution in the designated place, those can start it from the Capital City of the state, said sources.

So Professor Banerjee is busy in organizing things for facilitating classes from next June. Faculty hiring is the foremost in her mind and as she is eager to make it a top class university, the VC wants to rope in best of the talents from the country.

She is also interested to open Medical College in the University, but it will take time. 

… Professor Baral of Arizona State University said only five of the 15 new central universities will have a medical college in the first phase (i.e.,during the 11th plan).

So the ability of the VC Professor Banerjee will be tested in whether she is able to get a medical and engineering college to the Central University of Orissa, feel the educationist.

Considering that the CUO is to be located in Koraput, in the most backward area, KBK, of India, Prof. Banerjee must do her best to make the right arguments at the earliest and get a medical and engineering college to this university, argued Professor Baral.

Page 522 of the document at http://planningcommission.nic.in/plans/planrel/fiveyr/11th/11_v3/11th_vol3.pdf given below shows that only 5 of the new central universities will have medical and engineering colleges in the first phase, I.e., during the 11th plan.

March 25th, 2009

Prof. Surabhi Banerjee named as the VC of Central University of Orissa proposed to be in Koraput

Following is from a report in indiaeducationdiary.

Union HRD Ministry on Saturday named Surabhi Banerjee as Vice Chancellor of the proposed Orissa Central University. The Centre appointed Banerjee, who was the VC of Netaji Subhas Open University, Kolkata, along with  14 other VCs of the 15 new Central Universities in the country.

Noted academician Abdul Wahid has been appointed as the first Vice Chancellor of Central University of Jammu and Kashmir while DT Khathing has been appointed in that post at the Central University in Jharkhand.

A PTI report names the VC of all the new central universities. Following is an excerpt.

Noted academician Abdul Wahid has been appointed the first Vice Chancellor of Central University of Jammu and Kashmir while D T Khathing has been appointed in that post at the Central University in Jharkhand.

The other Vice Chancellors appointed are Jancy George- University of Kerala, A M Pathan – University of Karnataka, M M Salunkhe – University of Rajasthan, Jairup Singh – University of Punjab, Surabhi Banerjee – University of Orissa, B P Sanjay – University of Tamil Nadu, R C Sobti – University of Himachal Pradesh, Mool Chand Sharma – University of Haryana, R K Kale – University of Gujarat and Janak Pandey – University of Bihar.

While N S Gajbhiye has been appointed Vice Chancellor of Harisingh Gour Vishwavidyalaya in Sagar (Madhya Pradesh), S K Singh will occupy that post in Hemvati Nandan Bahuguna University in Uttarakhand and Lakshman Chaturvedi in Guru Ghasidas Vishwavidyalaya in Chhattisgarh.

13 comments March 1st, 2009

Central Universities bill passed in the Parliament

The Central Universities bill establishing 12 new central universities from scratch and upgrading three universities was passed in the Rajya Sabha on 24th Feb 2009. It was earlier introduced in the Lok Sabha on 17th Feb 2009 and passed in the Lok Sabha on 19th Feb 2009. Together with that the earlier ordinance was withdrawn.

February 25th, 2009

Orissa Gazette notification issued for the creation of Vir Surendra Sai University of Technology in Burla

(Update: The act is here.)

Following is an excerpt from a report in the Statesman.

The 50 year-old elite technical institute of the state was named Veer Surendra Sai University of Technology (VSSUT) on the eve of the golden jubilee valedictory celebrations today.

It may be mentioned here that the change was effected through a gazette notification on 12 February.

Students, staff and general mass at large have been demanding unitary university status to this oldest technical institution of the state and that got materialised today in the presence of the chief minister Mr Naveen Patnaik, Sambalpur MP Mr Prasanna Acharya, state industries minister Mr BB Harichandan, commerce and transport minister Mr Jayanarayan Mishra, secretary of the Alumni Association Mr Ashes Padhy, convener Prof. SK Sar and principal, Prof CR Tripathy.

… Dedicating VSSUT to the nation and unveiling the logo, the chief minister Mr Patnaik lauded in high words the commendable work of VSSUT, in spreading quality technical education in the country and producing technocrats of name and fame.

“The state is to witness a perceptible change soon due to investment of Rs 6 lakh crore in steel, aluminium, power and IT sectors. Globalisation and liberalisation has generated unprecedented demand for high quality technical people all over the world. VSSUT will take this challenge in catering the present demand,” Mr Patnaik said and appealed students and staff to be at par with international standards.

The CM also assured to fulfil all the demands of the students including allotment of 400 acres of land adjacent to it. “Young engineers will transform Orissa as the richest state of the country. At the same time, I hope, students here will uphold the great tradition and image of this institute,” Mr Patnaik said.

"There would be two more government engineering colleges at Bhawanipatna and Berhampur soon," he added.

… On this occasion, chief minister Mr Patnaik inaugurated a mammoth memorial gate erected by old students of VSSUT and at present working at Nalco in Angul. He also inaugurated a ladies hostel meant for the SC students of the university.

1 comment February 16th, 2009

Foundation Stone laid for IIT Bhubaneswar

Following is from the PIB report http://pib.nic.in/release/release.asp?relid=47448.

Foundation Stone of the Indian Institute of Technology ( IIT ), Bhubaneswar, was laid in Orissa today. Shri Arjun Singh, Union Minister of Human Resource Development, was to lay the Foundation Stone, but due to unavoidable reasons he couldn’t go to Orissa and the ceremony was held in his absentia at KANSAPADA ( Khudupur-Taraboi Road ) near Jatni Block Office, Khordha.

This new IIT at Bhubaneswar is part of the 8 new IITs that have been established in the country by the Union Ministry of Human Resource Ministry. Orissa is also to get a new Central University under The Central Universities Ordinance, 2009 which was promulgated by the President of India on 15.01.2009.

Following is the full text of the speech of Shri Arjun Singh, delivered on his behalf :

“ IITs are our national pride and owe their existence to the scientific temper and disposition of our First Prime Minister Pt. Jawahar Lal Nehru. Making India, the knowledge hub of the world was a cherished dream of our first Prime Minister Pt. Jawahar Lal Nehru. Way back in 1951, the Government of India, under the leadership of Panditji, planned to have four such institutes of excellence in the field of Engineering and Technology. The first amongst four such institutes (one for each zone) came up at Kharagpur in eastern region.

During the Eleventh Plan Period, the Government of India has decided to have eight new IITs, including IIT Bhubaneswar. IIT Bhubaneswar was one of the new IITs to become operational with 120 students in July, 2008. It is also heartening to note that the mother of the IIT system, IIT Kharagpur, is mentoring this new IIT. I would like to compliment Prof. Damodar Acharyaji, Director, IIT, Kharagpur who has made all possible efforts to mentor this IIT. The necessary facilities are being created in IIT Kharagpur Extension Campus at Bhubaneswar so that the students of IIT Bhubaneswar could have their education from Bhubaneswar itself from the forthcoming academic session starting from July 2009. IIT Bhubaneswar will offer science based engineering graduate, postgraduate and doctoral programmes of international standard in various disciplines.

The State of Orissa is a resource-rich state and we expect that IIT, Bhubaneswar will act as a catalyst for the rapid industrialization of the State. Indian Institutes of Technology are known the world over for imparting quality and relevant education to students. I am confident that this new IIT also carry forward the great tradition of IITs.

I am happy to note that the Government of Orissa has allotted 935 acres of land for this IIT. The State Government has also agreed to provide adequate facilities of water, electricity and road connectivity. I appreciate the support of the Government of Orissa to have this IIT in Bhubaneswar and would like to specially thank Shri Naveen Patnaikji for his support for the venture.

I take this opportunity to mention that we had made an assessment of various States about availability of degree and diploma level courses per lakh population in the field of technical education. We find that the availability of degree and diploma level courses per lakh population in Orissa is much below the national average. This obviously means that the regional imbalance in respect of technical education needs to be corrected. It is in this context that the setting up of an IIT in Bhubaneswar is a right and timely step. I am sure the Government of Orissa will derive maximum benefits from the Central Government schemes for educational advancement of this State.

The Government of India in its Eleventh Plan has given a major thrust to education. The Central Government has taken several initiatives in respect of new institution building. These include setting up of 30 new Central Universities, Indira Gandhi National Tribal University, eight new IITs, seven new Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs), five new Indian Institutes of Science Education and Research (IISERs), two new Schools of Planning & Architecture (SPAs), 10 new National Institutes of Technology (NITs) and 20 new IIITs. For this unprecedented expansion, the credit goes to the Hon’ble Prime Minister, who has been kind enough to accord very high priority to the education sector and provided a nine fold increase in the budgetary outlays for the higher education during the XIth Plan as compared to Xth Plan.

Capacity building in the diverse fields of basic science, engineering and technology, architecture, management will empower besides providing opportunities to the youth. It has been decided to launch a massive National Initiative for Skill Development under which it is proposed to give assistance for the establishment of 1000 new polytechnics. It is also proposed to upgrade infrastructure facilities of existing diploma level Government and Government aided polytechnics. In order to attract women in polytechnic education, we are proposing to provide financial assistance for the construction of women’s hostels in 500 polytechnics.

The Government is also going to incentivise the States for starting new Universities, besides giving a one time grant to the States on a matching basis to develop the infrastructure of State technical institutions. With these initiatives, we hope to increase access (by 5% GER during XI Plan) with equity and excellence.

8. I am happy to say that the State of Orissa is also getting its due share. We have decided in this Plan Period to have in Orissa State, one Central University, one National University aiming for world class standards, one IIIT, and several Polytechnics in those districts which currently do not have a Polytechnic. The Government and Private Engineering Colleges will also be getting opportunity to upgrade their facilities through TEQIP. This will provide our youth in the State with vocational and professional educational opportunities to realize their full potential.”

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KKP/ska

February 12th, 2009

President of India issues ordinance establishing 15 central universities; one in Orissa to be called “Central University of Orissa”

Following is an excerpt from a report in Telegraph.

New Delhi, Jan. 16: President Pratibha Patil has promulgated an ordinance allowing the government to establish 15 new central universities despite last-minute objections by the National Knowledge Commission that the ordinance would hurt higher education.

The President signed the ordinance late last night even as the commission headed by Sam Pitroda tried to convince the Prime Minister and senior government officials against the move.

Patil’s signature triggered a chain of events today that saw the human resource development ministry launch a process of selection of vice-chancellors within hours.

It has also set off fireworks between the commission and the ministry, which the commission believes is keen to retain control over universities while officially calling them autonomous.

… The government is keen to start classes at the universities in the 2009 academic session, said the ministry note to the President.

The ministry, a top HRD official said, will bring the ordinance before both Houses when Parliament meets briefly in February. “We want the ordinance to be cleared by both Houses in the narrow slot for which the Parliament is meeting so that we can start classes from 2009,” the official said.

An ordinance needs parliamentary ratification within six months.

One of the above mentioned 15 universities will be in Orissa; Earlier the Orissa government recommended the Koraput area as the site of this university. As per the bill, available here, the one in Orissa will be called Central University of Orissa.

An earlier copy of the bill (before Goa University was taken out) is available here. There was last minute criticism of the bill and request to not promulgate it as an ordinance by the National Knowledge Commission. See news reports on this here and here. But the President promulgated the ordinance anyway.

4 comments January 18th, 2009

Efforts on to make Khallikote a unitary university

Following are excerpts from a report in tathya.in.

With UCE Burla granted the Unitary State University (USU) status, lawmakers of southern Orissa have urged the Chief Minister to declare the century-old Khallikote Autonomous College (KAC) in Berhampur, an USU. 

The KAC has been the Center of Learning and intellectual pursuits in Orissa since long. 

Lawmakers including Sugyani Kumari Deo, R CC Patnaik, Bikram Kesari Arukh, Usha Devi, Ladu Kishore Swain, Bharat Paik, Niranjan Pradhan and Saroj Kumar Padhi have requested the Chief Minister to take up the matter to the next Cabinet. 

All of them have appealed Naveen Patnaik to upgrade the institution from autonomous status to USU. 

The Chief Minister has asked the Higher Education department to take up the case. 

Accordingly Madhu Sudan Padhi, Commissioner-cum-Secretary Higher Education has processed the file, said sources. 

A Cabinet Note is being prepared for the purpose, revealed an official. 

Most likely the proposal will be accepted, thanks to the elections round the corner. 

Than Orissa will have 3 unitary universities with Ravenshaw and UCE Burla (VSS) Unitary University earlier given the status. 

The KAC which started in 1856 as a Zilla School is now a full fledged Post Graduate College having autonomous status since 1990.

6 comments December 23rd, 2008

Berhampur University to collaboarte with BARC to study impact of radiation on plants

Following is an excerpt from a report in Hindu.

Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) and Berhampur University have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to study positive impacts of radiation on plants.

… The BARC has chosen four centres in the country to take up reasearch on impact of ionizing radiation on non-human biota, especially on plants of human benefit. The four centres are IARI, New Delhi, Agricultural University, Hyderabad, BARC Mumbai and Botany department of Berhampur University.

… The BARC has already released Rs. 40 lakh for installation of a ‘Gamma Irradiater’ in a ‘Gamma Chamber’ to be established on the university campus.

… Prof Brahma Bihari Panda, coordinator of the project, said under the project they would experiment on bringing in positive mutational changes in different plant breeds beneficial to humans. Both ultra violent rays and gamma radiation affect plants. But here mutational changes would be brought in through controlled use of ionizing gamma radiation.

These experiments may bring in genetic mutant changes in major crop breeds to make them more productive, pest resistant and environment friendly. It would also provide ways to preservation capacity of different plant products, including food grains and vegetables through peaceful use of radiation.

The Gamma Chamber of the project could also be used for sterilisation of medical waste and other hazardous bio-waste. Prof. Sahu felt the Gamma unit could also be an income generator for the university as this unit could also be used by other organisations for a service charge.

4 comments December 22nd, 2008

Koraput as a location for a central university

Now that Koraput has been announced by the CM as well as in the assembly as the location for a central university, lets be happy about it. I know some of the other districts who wanted the central university to be there may have reasons to be unhappy. My suggestion to them, especially for people (and my friends) from Kalahandi, is to continue their efforts for a new central university and pursue other avenues such as a state university and a BPIET. 

Now celebrating Koraput, following are some good aspects of Koraput.

• Koraput area is a cluster of several towns which could become a sizeable metropolitan area in the near future. As per the population numbers in this site and this site the towns around Koraput and their population are: Jeypore: 84,136 (20 km from Koraput); Koraput: 39,523; Sunabeda: 62,706 (20 km from Koraput); and Damanjodi: 8,475. The total may now surpass 200,000.
• The Kolab resorvoir is a picturesque area for a central university. The university is proposed to be between Koraput at Sunabeda on the bank of this resorvoir.

December 19th, 2008

Land identified in Koraput for Central University; Branch of IGNTU proposed for Phulbani

The following is from Samaja.

It is high time people of Kalahandi go to the CM for higher education institutes in Kalahandi. In particular they should demand a state university and a centrally funded BPIET (Biju Patnaik Inst of Engineering and Technology) in the line of SLIET and ABA Ghani Khan Choudhury IET.  The people of Kalahandi need to be strategic in terms of what they can get at this time. For example, UCE Burla supporters initially, for several years, were going after a deemed university status. It was going very slowly. Once they switched to demanding for state unitary university status, things happened fast. Similarly, people of Kalahandi should realize that they should not put all their egg in one basket.  IMHO, shifting of the location from Koraput to Kalahandi after the location is announced by the CM and mentioned in the assembly is unlikely, and I hope I am wrong, but a new central university in Kalahandi has a low chance of happening soon. So as a practical matter people of Kalahandi should, for now, ask for a state university and a BPIET. They don’t have to retract their demand for a central university; that can continue.

16 comments December 19th, 2008

UCE becomes Vir Surendra Sai University of Technology

Following from a report in Pioneer.

The Burla Engineering College has been accorded with a Unitary University status. A Bill to this effect on Wednesday got the nod of the State Assembly. After passing of the Bill, the university is now known as Vir Surendra Sai University of Technology.

As per the provision of the bill, a Management Committee, Academic Council of Studies, Finance Committee and other necessary committee, which is deemed to be necessary for the functioning of the university, would be set up.

One Vice-Chancellor, Registrar, Controller of Finance, Controller of Examination, Students’ Welfare Dean would be appointed. However, the Vice-Chancellor would be appointed on the recommendation of the Chancellor.

6 comments December 18th, 2008

UCE Burla becomes a unitary university – a live report from the assembly

Ashesh Padhy

1 comment December 17th, 2008

UCE Burla unitary university bill to be presented in assembly later this week

It is through the Orissa Cabinet. See http://www.tathya.in/2008/story.asp?sno=2413 and http://www.tathya.in/2008/story.asp?sno=2411. Many thanks to the industries department and especially the unsung SM, who I think did the bulk of the work in the government in such a speedy manner.

Following is a report on the subject.

Continue Reading 15 comments December 9th, 2008

Prof. Arun Pujari is joining as the new vice chancellor of Sambalpur University

Following is from a report in Kalinga Times.

Odisha Governor Murlidhar Chandrakant Bhandare on Tuesday appointed Arun Kumar Pujari as the new Vice-Chancellor of Sambalpur University. The post was lying vacant since the resignation of U.C. Biswal.

Pujari, who has wide experience as an academician and academic administration, is at present serving in L.N. Mittal IIT, Jaipur as Professor of Computer Science.

Born in 1954, Pujari completed his post-graduation in Mathematics in 1974 from Sambalpur University and got his PhD from IIT, Kanpur in 1980.

He had written two books such as `Data Mining Techniques’ and `Database Management System’. At least 20 scholars have already or their PhDs under his guidance.

2 comments November 5th, 2008