Archive for June, 2007
Orissatv.com in its report on this topic (video) also does not mince words. Following are some excerpts from their article.
After IIT and National Institute of Science, Orissa has been deprived of another reputed institute. This time it is the Tribal University. The Centre has decided to shift it to Madhya Pradesh. Chief Minister Naveen Pattnaik has termed it as yet another example of the Centre’s step-motherly attitude towards the state. … Time and again the state government had alleged center’s negligence towards the state. But there has been no perceptible change in centre’s attitude, rather it is worsening day by day.
June 19th, 2007
June 18th, 2007
Dear Readers:
I hope many of you are enraged and disgusted by this repeated injustice meted out to Orissa by the MHRD; especially now it seems that the MHRD has orchestrated hijacking of a good, sensible and extremely relevant idea proposed by our chief minister: the idea of tribal central university in the KBK region with the goal of catering to the 50% tribal population in that area and 38% tribal population across Orissa.
Often many have blamed the Orissa government for not taking timely initiatives or not coming up with innovative ideas, but this time it took the initiative, it suggested a great idea, followed up on it regularly, but the end result is same; the idea gets implemented in the home state of the minister of HRD Mr. Arjun Singh.
We must convey our displeasure, disgust, deep disappointment and anger to the central government. Please fax a letter to the PMO (fax numbers: 011-2301-8668, 2301-5470, 2301-5603, 2301-8939 ) and also fax a copy of that letter to the CMO (0674-2400100 ) and Mr. Chandrasekhar Sahu (011-23061695), the sole central minister from Orissa. After that we must follow-up with the CMO (cmo@ori.nic.in) by email and Mr. Sahu by phone (Personal Secy: 09868501233 off: 011-23792469, 23792470) and tell them to take our faxes and meet the PM and the national press with all our faxes and do a dharana until the two immediate injustices of moving an IIT in Orissa after it was announced and stealing the idea of a tribal university proposed for the KBK area are corrected. Following are some pointers and points which may help in writing your letter. I am making it short so that its easier for you to draft the letter.
Continue Reading June 18th, 2007
June 18th, 2007
Pioneer and Tathya.in don’t mince words when they have articles with headlines “Arjun hijacks plans for KBK varsity” and “Arjun hijacks Naveen’s plans.” With permission from the author I am including the full Pioneer article below.
[If you are outraged by this you may write to various people (PM etc.; Orissa MPs; national editors; accredited media in Delhi) and send a fax to Mr. Chandrasekhar Sahu ( Personal Secy: 09868501233 off: 011-23792469,23792470 Fax 011-23061695), the sole central minister from Orissa. May be he has a spine and he will take the letters to the PM and do a dharana there.]
Arjun hijacks plans for KBK varisty
Braja Kishore Mishra | Bhubaneswar
… Union Cabinet gives nod for setting up institution in MP
Union Minister for Human Resources and Development Arjun Singh has once again humiliated Orissa by hijacking its original plan to set up a Central Tribal University in the KBK region comprising the State’s undivided districts of Koaraput, Balangir and Kalahandi.
Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, while meeting the Minister in 2005 October (typo corrected), had mooted the idea of setting up a KBK central university. It was based on the theory of empowerment of tribals with higher education.
Patnaik had pleaded with the Central authorities that the concentration of tribals is the highest in KBK and their uplift hinged on education. He had pointed out that the literacy rate among the people of this region was much below 50 per cent.
He had argued that setting up a Central University in the region would go a long way in encouraging higher education among the tribal population. The university could also set up specialised centres for tribal development-related studies, as tribal development is one of the biggest challenges facing the country today.
While Arjun Singh had promised Patnaik in clear terms that his HRD Ministry would positively consider the proposal, the result is now otherwise. The Union Cabinet on Friday gave its approval for establishment of the Indira Gandhi National Tribal University at Amarkantak in Madhya Pradesh with Central Government funding.
It also approved introduction of the Indira Gandhi National Tribal University Bill, 2007 in Parliament. This will ensure establishment of a teaching and affiliating university for facilitating and promoting avenues of higher education and research facilities for the tribal population of the country.
Apart from affiliating the colleges, the university has the power to establish such number of its own regional centres in tribal areas as it may deem fit.
There will be at least one school in every regional centre to serve as a model school for the schools of the region, wherefrom the tribal students would be expected to join the local colleges, the off-campuses or the university. The objectives of the university include promoting studies and research in tribal art, culture, tradition, language, custom, medicinal systems, forest based economic activities, including special studies in the flora and fauna, and advancements in technologies relating to natural resources of the tribal areas.
Now, it is abundantly clear that Singh not only hijacked Patnaik’s idea but also saw to it that Orissa would never get a Central University in the KBK region on the lines of huge tribal concentration. Since the UPA is at the helm of affairs at the Centre, Singh is playing havoc with Orissa and the State is losing one after another national institutions to other States. While Minister of State of HRD MA Fatmi had announced a proposal to set up an IIT in Orissa, it was later shifted to Andhra Pradesh by Singh, on political considerations, said sources.
June 17th, 2007
UNI reports that Prof. Damodar Acharya, currently the Chairman of AICTE will become the director of IIT Kharagpur. Prior to being the AICTE Chairman he was the founding vice Chancellor of BPUT. At that time he had discussed with the Orissa government the importance of getting an IIT to Orissa and had led the development of Orissa government’s proposal for an IIT. Last year, while he was at AICTE, again with his help, the IIT Kharagpur branch campus in Bhubaneswar idea was made to a formal proposal. Now that he will be the director of IIT Kharagpur, lets hope that he takes some additional steps towards the fruition of a IIT Kharagpur branch in Bhubaneswar. Following is a biography from the AICTE pages.
Continue Reading June 16th, 2007
The PIB says the following:
The Union Cabinet today gave its approval for establishment of Indira Gandhi National Tribal University in Amarkantak, Madhya Pradesh with Central Government funding. It also approved introduction of the Indira Gandhi National Tribal University Bill, 2007 in the Parliament.
This would ensure establishment of a teaching and affiliating University for facilitating and promoting avenues of higher education and research facilities for the tribal population of the country.
The objects of the University include inter-alia, promoting studies and research in tribal art, culture, tradition, language, custom, medicinal systems, forest based economic activities, including special studies in the flora and fauna, and advancements in technologies relating to natural resources of the tribal areas.
Apart from affiliating the colleges, the University has the power to establish such number of its own regional centers in tribal areas as the University may deem fit.
There will be at least one school in every regional Centre, to serve as a model school for the schools of the region, where from the tribal students would be expected to join the local colleges, the off-campuses or the University.
Another news item mentions the financial parameters and objectives of this university. It says:
The initial financial requirement of the proposed varsity is estimated at Rs.600 million and a recurring expenditure of Rs.120 million annually.
‘The objects of the university include inter-alia, promoting studies and research in tribal art, culture, tradition, language, custom, medicinal systems, forest based economic activities, including special studies in the flora and fauna, and advancements in technologies relating to natural resources of the tribal areas,’ Information and Broadcasting Minister P.R. Dashmunsi said after a cabinet meeting.
The Rs 600 million number sounds too low. My guess is that it is a typo and the unit should be crores instead of millions.
**
A tribal central university, or central universities in tribal areas is a good idea about which I earlier wrote in Indian Express. However, a similar idea was suggested by Orissa, couple of years back, which the HRD minister had appreciated. Following is an excerpt from the press release issued by Orissa government at that time:
… In addition to this, Shri Patnaik also requested for establishment of a Central University for the KBK Region, which is one of the most backward regions in the country. He pointed out that there was a heavy concentration of the scheduled tribe and scheduled caste population in this region, which has a literacy rate below 50%. Shri Patnaik stated that setting up a Central University in the KBK region would go a long way in encouraging higher education among tribal population. He added that the university could also set up specialized centres for tribal development related studies, as tribal development was one of the biggest challenges facing the country today. Shri. Arjun Singh appreciated the rationale of having a Central University in the KBK region and sought a formal proposal in this regard from the State Government. He assured that this would receive high priority whenever the Central Government considers setting up of new central universities.
Orissa MPs also pursued it and we had sent detail proposal on it to the planning commission and HRD ministry and the PM. I hope the HRD minister did not just steal the idea to his home state. Such opportunistic behavior by the HRD ministry would discourage states with suggesting ideas.
However, a silver line is that the PM has mentioned recently that each state will have a central university. The question is when will that happen.
Moreover, regardless of that happening, central ministers should not steal ideas proposed by states to their own state. They are supposed to look out for the whole country not steal things to their states. To do things for their state they have the MPLAD.
June 15th, 2007
The Orissa JEE result is out. Following are some links that may come in handy.
June 15th, 2007
Foundation For Excellence (FFE) is a publicly supported non-profit organization that supports top students in India, who are from very low income families, with scholarships. Following is a blurb from their website:
FFE’s focus is to provide funds for higher education to students in India who are academically gifted and come from very low income families. Since inception, the foundation has provided over $4.35 million in over 20,900 scholarships to deserving students in the 25 states in India, over 40% of who are girls. The objective driving our programs is “No Scholar Left Behind”. We truly believe that these young people will be a significant part of a socially and economically stronger India in the near future.With the help of our donors and volunteers, we plan to keep on with our efforts until every deserving student in India gets the education that she or he deserves.
For 2006-07 they have given 264 scholarships to students from Orissa. The total worth of these scholarships is $58,000. The readers are requested to spread the word about FFE to students in need as well as to people who can volunteer or donate to FFE’s cause. Please go through FFE’s web page for more details. Few Oriyas who are very active in the three aspects of FFE (finding students, finding volunteers and finding donors) are Purna Mohanty from Northern California and Sandip Dasverma from Portland, Oregon.
One of the chief sponsors of FFE, Mr. Prabhu Goel, has recently taken steps to invest in Orissa.
June 15th, 2007
(Update on June 17 2008: For guidance on what you can get with your Orissa JEE rank in 2008, please see https://www.orissalinks.com/archives/1185 I do not have more information than that.)
June 11 edition of Outllook has rankings of engineering colleges, medical colleges, and some specialty colleges. Only two Orissa colleges appear in those rankings. In the ranking of govt. engineering colleges NIT Rourkela appears at number 28 with a total score of 1437. In the ranking of private engineering colleges KIIT Bhubaneswar appears at 37 with a total score of 1073. If one were to combine both rankings then NIT Rourkela would be 32 as four private coleges have a higher score than NIT Rourkela. In the 2006 Outlook ranking of top 100 engineering colleges NIT Rourkela was 34 and KIIT was ranked 100. So NIT Rourkela improved by two positions. To figure out if KIIT improved its ranking one has to count how many private colleges were there in the 2006 top 100 ranking. A quick count, which may be slightly inaccurate as it is not easy to identify all private colleges in a list, shows that in 2006 KIIT was 50 among the private colleges; so it seems to have improved its ranking by 13 positions.
June 14th, 2007
Business Standard reports,
“Chennai Business School (CBS) has opened its campus in Bhubaneswar. For the moment, CBS would be offering two post graduate programmes in retail management ( PGPRM) and in management and insurance (PGPMI).
The duration of the courses would be of one year with a course fee of Rs 2.5 lakh per annum for PGPRM and Rs 1.25 lakh for PGPMI.”
“With opportunities available in future, CBS plans to introduce courses also in telecom, information technology (IT) and human resource (HR) management. The PGPMI being introduced by CBS is a job-assured programme where tie-ups have been worked out with ICICI Prudential Life.”
It further says, P K Mohapatra, chairman of Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), southern region, said, “Insurance varsities may also be set up in future in Bhubaneswar, Bangalore and Mumbai“.
June 12th, 2007
Many may not know that there are two state government funded and one central government funded management-n-IT institutes in Orissa. (Here, we are not counting the management programs at the universities or the one proposed at NIT Rourkela.) The central govt funded management institute is Madhusudan institute of co-operative management. It offers MBA and DCA and many certificate courses. Following is a quote from its "About Us" pages.
The Madhusudan Institute of Co-operative Management (MICM) is one of the premier Management Institute of the state established in the year 1955-56. The MICM is functioning under the aegis of National Council for Co-operative Training (NCCT), New Delhi, being financed by the Ministry of Agriculture, (Department of Co-operation) Government of India. The basic objective of the Institute is to develop human resources for efficient management by organising various management training programmes.
The two state government funded management-n-IT institutes are:
- Center for IT Education (CITE), Bhubaneswar, a wing of Orissa State Electronics Development Corp. (govt.)
- Institute of Management & Information Technology, (Formerly College of Accountancy & Management), Cuttack – 753 007 Dist: Cuttack. (govt) (location)
June 11th, 2007
Update: I thought this was new to NIT Rourkela. Based on the reader’s comments it seems it has been there for some time and it is also there at UCE Burla.
NIT Rourkela now allows students to change their branches after first year based on their grades and possibly subject to some rules. The students who were able to change this year are listed here. The top three changed to Computer Science. Branch changes were allowed at IIT Kharagpur based on first year performance and subject to a cap of 10% extra seat in each branch. I assumed a similar cap may be operational at NIT Rourkela. NIT Rourkela has close ties with IIT Kharagpur in that its director, Professor Sunil Sarangi, was a longtime facuty at IIT Kharagpur. Its great that he is bringing in good ideas from IIT Kharagpur and implementing them in NIT Rourkela. One idea, which was somewhat unique to IIT Kharagpur, and which should be brought to NIT Rourkela, if not already done, is the notion of a student budgeted hostel library.
June 11th, 2007
The New Indian Express reported that the Minister of State for Health is considering following proposals.
(1) The proposal to set up a Health University is under the active consideration of the State Government. All the medical colleges in the State would be brought under the university for better management."
(2) In Khordha District: The proposal to upgrade the Capital Hospital into a medical college is also under the consideration of the Government.
(3) Appointment of homeopathic and ayurvedic doctors in place of MBBS doctors in vacant posts. More posts of homeopathic and ayurvedic doctors would be created keeping public welfare in mind.
(4) State Government has issued NOCs for establishment of three medical colleges in the private sector.
(i) In Koraput District: Nabadiganta Educational Trust will set up a hospital at Sunabeda. (Note: There was a report in Sambad earlier that one medical college is being established in Koraput district)
(ii) In Kalahandi District: Selvam Educational and Charitable Trust of Tamil Nadu will establish a college at Jaring in Kalahandi district.
(iii) In Balasore District: Shri Jagannath Educational and Health Trust will establish the third college at Balasore.
(iv) In Balangir District: Balaji Educational and Charitable Trust (BECT), Pudducherry, has signed an MoU with the WODC for establishment of a medical college at Balangir. The organisation has been given 25 acres free of cost. Construction of the college will start after BECT signed the lease agreement with the collector.
NOTE: Other private medical colleges in the state that have already received approval or are on drawing boards are:
(1) In Khordha District: Institute of Medical Sciences and Sum Hospital (approval received for MBBS course from 2007-08)
(2) In Khordha District: Kalinga Institute of Medical Science (approval received for MBBS course from 2007-08)
(3) In Cuttack District: Earlier the Oriya daily "The Samaja Group (Lok Sevak Mandal)" has shown interest to establish a medical college cum hospital in Cuttack district.
(4) In Sundergarh District: A private medical college is also proposed by WODC in Rourkela.
See http://www.baral.us/orissa/pdf/2005-nov25-statesman.pdf for an older list.
June 9th, 2007
Next Posts
Previous Posts
