Odisha HRD

Srikant Jena (ex-central minister from Orissa)’s argument opposing Vedanta University; my rebuttal

I would now like to rebut the couple of points mentioned in the above writing.

(i) In regards to the size it is true that no world class university currently has 100,000 students. However, several of them have around 50,000 students. Please see Q6 of https://www.orissalinks.com/archives/1696. Some of them, especially Arizona State University, expects to reach a size of 85,000 by 2030. Moreover, one must note that Vedanta University aims to have 100,000 students at build out, which may be in 20-25 years or beyond.

(ii) On the issue of minerals, one just has to make sure that it is explicitly mentioned that any mineral from that land becomes state property and have a mechanism to monitor it.

(iii) On why in a rural location; the Vedanta University location is about 40 kms from the outer edges (Jatni) of the Bhubaneswar area. With plans to connect it by a 4-lane highway it will only take 25-45 minutes to get there from various points in Bhubaneswar. Also, most the new IITs that are coming up, especially IITs in Hyderabad, Punjab, Patna and Indore, are 25-50 kms from the airports or city center of their respective metropolitan areas.

3 comments January 20th, 2009

Misinformation and ignorant campaign by Congress leader Kanhu Charan Lenka in a Samaja Op-ed

Among the misinformation and ignorance in the following article are:

• The total acerage that is now earmarked is 6270 acres. (The article at one place says 18,000 acres and another place says 10,000 acres.)
• The quality of the land in terms of its agricultural potential is overstated.
• Ignorance about the existence of other top institutions with large land holdings.
• Ignorance about existence of other top universities with large student bodies.
• Ignorance about existence of research parks associated with universities.
• There is no conspiracy regarding real estate. Vedanta University in its web page clearly mentions their plan regarding building a  township around the university for 500,000 people. That is a good thing. Money made in that would create a large fund for the university and help make it an excellent high quality university.

Also, I have not seen any Orissa govt. claim or Vedanta statement regarding any plans to get SEZ status for the university. In any case, education institutions probably already have tax-free status on certain aspects.

6 comments September 27th, 2007

Vedanta University’s full page ad — A university looking for a city of 500,000

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