Odisha HRD

Some Budget numbers relevant to Orissa HRD (NISER, AIIMS-like, etc.)

Following is from Volume 2 of the expenditure of Budget 2008-09.

• NISER/IOP: The IOP+NISER budget (item 9.04 of the DAE budget) is 69 crores in plan + 9 crores in non-plan  = 78 crores. The nornal IOP budget is about 20 crores. Hence, 50-58 crores is the budget for NISER in 2008-09.  (Note that in 2007-08  IOP was allocated 32.75+7 crores and it spent 27.6+8 = 35.6 crores. I..e, Probably 15-18 crores were spent for NISER. )
• IISER: There is a budget of 150 crores (item 61 of the Higher education budget) for the five IISERs. (The budget for three of  them was 125 crores in 2007-08, out of which only 60 crores was spent.)
• new IITs: There is a budget of 50 crores (item 60 of the Higher education budget) for the establishment of three new IITs. (The budget for them was 80 crores in 2007-08, out of which only 0.01 crores was spent.)
• new IIITs: There is a budget of 21.4 crores (item 57 of the Higher education budget) for the establishment of new IIITs.
• AIIMS-like: There is a total budget of 490 crores (item 26 of the Health ministry budget) for the establishment of 6 new AIIMS-like institutes and upgradation of 10 other institutes. In 2007-08 the budget for this was 150 crores out of which only 90 crores was spent; most of it went to the upgradation part.
• NITs: The budget for the NITs (item 69 of the Higher education budget) is 808 (plan) + 285 (non-plan) = 1093 crores. Rs 608 crores of that is for enhancing the number of students to account for the OBC quota.
• IITs: The budget for the IITs (item 38 of the Higher education budget) is 1171 (plan) + 525 (non-plan) = 1696 crores. Rs 771 crores of that is for enhancing the number of students to account for the OBC quota.
• IISc Bangalore: The budget for the IISc (item 41 of the Higher education budget) is 130 (plan) + 91 (non-plan) = 221 crores. Rs 70 crores of that is for enhancing the number of students to account for the OBC quota.
• UGC: The budget for UGC (item 3 of the Higher education budget) is 3095.5 (plan) + 2009.4 (non-plan) = 5104.9 crores. Rs 875 crores of that is for enhancing the number of students to account for the OBC quota.
• NIRTAR and other 6 institutes for blind, deaf, mentally retarded and orthopaedically handicapped: The budget for them (item 21 of Ministry of Social Justice budget) is 47+27.05 crores.
• IIST (Indian Inst. of Space Sc. & Tech): Its budget (item 12 of ministry of space) is 65.25 crores. 25 crores out of a budgeted 75 crores was spent in 2007-08.
• ISIs: Its budget (item 4 of ministry of statistics) is 22.5 + 51.96 crores.
• NIFT: Its budget (item 11.01 of ministry of Textile) is 31.75 + 10 crores.
• Tourism: Its budget for training (item 5 of Tourism ministry) is 71 + 0.8 crores. It includes 26 Institutes of Hotel management, 7 Foodcraft institutes, IITTM, and NIWS (National Institute of Water Sports).
• CIPET: Its budget (item 2 of Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers) for the 15 centers is 31 crores.
• NIPER, Mohali: Its budget (item 7 of Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers) is 75+15 crores.
• National Institute of design: Its budget for (item 3 of ministry of commerce) is only 0.25 crores. It was 20.25 crores in 2007-08. It seems the funding pattern has been changed. There is now 50 crores (item 7 of ministry of commerce) for project based support to autonomous institutions which includes NID and several other institutions.

February 29th, 2008

Prof. T. K. Chandrashekar is the Director designate of NISER, Bhubaneswar

I am told that Prof. T. K. Chandrashekar is the Director designate of NISER, Bhubaneswar. He is currently the director of National Institute for Interdisciplinary Science & Technology (formerly RRL) Trivendrum. Following is from his profile.

February 29th, 2008

Vedanta university aims to start in 2009 with research programs

Following is an excerpt from a report in New Indian Express.

The proposed Vedanta University is aiming to roll out its first course in 2009, if everything falls into place.

The varsity project, which envisages a whopping 100,000 students and 10,000 faculty members in a multi-disciplinary research-driven campus, has moved slower than expected but things now seem to be moving in the right direction.

Land acquisition has picked up and it has launched its rehabilitation and benefits plan.

“We plan to start the first course in engineering research in 2009. It will be a symbolic beginning and would be followed up by programmes in arts, science and medicine in the first phase,” Vedanta University Project CEO CV Krishnan told this paper on Thursday.

The varsity has started working on how to launch the engineering education. In this connection, a two-day workshop was organised at University of Pennsylvania where top deans and professors from across North America took part. According to Krishnan, the University will admit research students since research only can drive the varsity to ‘a different level altogether.’ The identified research areas will be wireless communication, material science, biotechnology, energy and infrastructure. By 2010, the University aims at admitting students into the entire gamut of disciplines. The varsity has already acquired 1,200 acre. The Phase I of the project could entail an investment of Rs 4,000 crore.

February 29th, 2008

Vedanta University officials talk with the locals regarding land acquisition: Kalinga Times and New Indian Express

See http://www.kalingatimes.com/orissa_news/news2/20080227-vedanta.htm for Kalinga Times’ report on this. Following are some excerpts:

Vice-president of the varsity project Ajit Kumar Samal announced that Vedanta would provide employment to all graduates of the area by the end of 2009 and run public schools to educate the students living in the villages coming under the project area.

Besides, it would operate door-to-door medical service for humans and for the livestocks in the area, he said.

Samal said job cards would be issued to all landless farmers who make out their livelihood by cultivating other’s land. This apart, scholarships would be granted to the meritorious students with special care to the girl students, he added.

A number of schools and colleges would be established for capacity building of the students of the area and all primary schools would have the mid-day meal service, Samal said.

… A special survey of the temple land measuring over a thousand acres under the acquisition process for the project would be conducted within 10 days to ascertain the status, Sarangi instructed the revenue officers present in the meeting.

… The District Rehabilitation and Periphery Development Advisory Committee meeting would be held on March 4 to settle the outlines and modalities for rehabilitation of the villagers likely to be displaced from their villages coming under the project area, the RDC announced.

Following is an excerpt from the report in the New Indian Express.

As per the package, an affected person would get ex gratia of Rs 1 lakh besides the government valuation of his land. That apart, he/she too will be entitled to a minimum compensation of Rs 2 lakh per acre. Besides, occupiers of Jagannath land would be given Rs 1 lakh per acre while compensation for encroachers of government land would be as per the Orissa Government’s new R&R Policy.

February 28th, 2008

State wise details of Universities, Colleges and Institutions as on 31st December, 2007

From http://pib.nic.in/release/release.asp?relid=35622.

Continue Reading February 26th, 2008

Faculty Size Comparison

• IIT Delhi has a sanctioned faculty of 583, with 130 vacancies
• IIT Bombay has a faculty strength of 420, with 100 vacancies
• IIT Kharagpur has a faculty size of 460
• IISc Bangalore has a faculty size of 400
• NISER (New Indian Express, Kalinga Times) would have 250 faculty
• Arizona State University: 2525 faculty (of which 1808 are tenured or tenure track)
• MIT: 992 (in 2006)
• Harvard University: 2000+
• Utkal University: 169
• Ravenshaw University: 129
• Sambalpur University: 121
• Berhampur University: 111
• North Orissa University: 48
• Fakirmohan University: 26

2 comments February 26th, 2008

DST Ad for Colleges and Universities : From Samaja

February 26th, 2008

Little progress in Culture University – no permanent faculty : Samaja

1 comment February 24th, 2008

Engineering College Proposals received by AICTE by Dec 31st 2007

Following up on our earlier post, following is a list of engineering college proposals from Orissa that the AICTE received by Dec 31st 2007. The list is from http://www.aicte.ernet.in/download/establish/academic%20year%202008.doc.

5 comments February 24th, 2008

Charlie Rose interviews Anil Agarwal (includes Mr. Agarwal talking about Vedanta University)

From http://www.charlierose.com/guests/anil-agarwal a interview by a New York area PBS station. (He talks about Vedanta University at 3:20.)

February 24th, 2008

Vedanta University masterplan wins one of the 15 2008 Charter Awards of the Congress for the New Urbanism

Following is an excerpt from http://www.cnu.org/node/1875.

The Congress for the New Urbanism announces the recipients of its 2008 Charter Awards, the annual prize honoring the best of the New Urbanism. The 14 winning professional submissions and one student/faculty submission were chosen by a seven-member jury of leading urbanists last month, with Andrés Duany serving as chair. In fulfilling and advancing the principles of the Charter of the New Urbanism, the projects reveal the power of well-executed urbanism to strengthen communities, achieve broader sustainability and create places worthy of respect and admiration.

The awarded projects are found in the U.S. and four other countries: the Bahamas, India, Saudi Arabia, and Scotland. Among US regions, the Southeast again had a strong showing, followed by the Midwest. All but one of the awarded neighborhood- and block-scale projects in the USA are built or under construction, and none are on true greenfield sites. Several projects directly address quality affordable housing design, including one HOPE VI development from Chicago and a national pattern book for affordable houses. Several projects bring well-executed, innovative housing types to unexpected locations, like small Southern cities.

Duany and other jurors said winning projects demonstrated excellence, often in the face of difficult contexts or other challenges requiring ingenuity to overcome. The awards will be presented on April 5, 2008 in conjunction with the 16th Congress for the New Urbanism in Austin. See images and descriptions of all awardees.

Following are some details from the page http://www.cnu.org/node/1760.

Location: Orissa, India. University

Charter Award Winner:

In India today there is only one seat for every 10,000 university applicants, and those lucky enough to find a seat have limited choices of single disciplinary universities. To meet this unprecedented demand, the project’s design sought to create a multi-disciplinary University for 10,000 students.

As designers their aspiration was to create a campus master plan which would reflect not only the goals and philosophies of this new University, but would be Indian in spirit. The result of these intentions led to a simple ‘parti’ of two overlapping circles inscribed within an oval. The circles represent the balance between the two major areas of discipline, Arts & Humanities and Science & Technology. Intersecting these circles in a spoke are areas for housing and student life, and surrounding these forms are professional schools, a medical school, and hospital. At the core is a crescent open space which is the heart of the University, demonstrating a strong focus on the creation of a sustainable, pedestrian-oriented campus that fully embraces the principles of responsible development.

A total of approximately 500 buildings on 280 sites are identified within the university precinct to accommodate the anticipated student population, all of which will be no more than 5 stories, and have green roofs. Several localized sewer treatment plants will provide grey water for irrigation and toilet flushing and several utility pad sites for water storage, electrical transformers, pumps and cooling towers have been identified to maximize efficiency of utility services.

Transect Zone(s): T6 core.
Status: Plan Approved
Guiding Charter Principle(s): Principle 1, Principle 3, Principle 5, Principle 6, Principle 7, Principle 8
Project or Plan’s Scale: Region
Features: Affordable/subsidized housing, Civic buildings & parks, Green buildings, Live/work, Transit oriented development.
Land area (in acres): 8700
Total built area (in sq. ft.):
Total project cost (in local currency):
Retail area (in sq. ft.):
Office area (in sq. ft.):
Industrial area (in sq. ft.):
Number of hotel units:
Number of residential units (include live/work):
Civic uses (type and size): University, Townships, Exhibition Ground, Airport, Resort, Agricultural Research, Horticulture, Athletics & Sports Facilities, Utility Substations, Conference Center
Parks & green space (in acres): 440
Project team designers: Ayers/Saint/Gross Inc, Architects+Planners
Project team developers: Ayers/Saint/Gross Inc, Architects+Planners

Previous site status:

Starting/Ending date of construction/implementation: 2009 –

Location: Orissa, India.

February 24th, 2008

Scholarship revision notice at IISc Bangalore

From http://iisc.wordpress.com/2008/02/03/scholarship-hike-in-iisc/.

1 comment February 23rd, 2008

IIMC Delhi and Dhenkanal admission ad in Samaja

February 23rd, 2008

NOU Baripada’s progress so far: It received “funded by UGC” tag in 2006 (Samaja article by its VC)

2 comments February 23rd, 2008

ILS Bhubaneswar part of a team looking for medicinal molecules in Bacterias

Following is an excerpt from a report in indiainfoline.com.

Nicholas Piramal India Ltd. said on Friday that NPIL Research & Development Ltd. (NRDL) has signed an agreement with the Department of Biotechnology, New Delhi on ‘Screening for Bio-molecules from Microbial Diversity Collected from Different Ecological Niches’, thereby initiating an industry – university / national institute partnership programme in drug discovery.

An agreement was signed on Feb. 22, in the presence of Kapil Sibal, the Union Minister of Science & Technology between the Department of Biotechnology (DBT), New Delhi, and NRDL of Nicholas Piramal, Mumbai, to initiate an industry – university / national institute partnership programme in drug discovery.

The Department of Biotechnology (DBT) has recently initiated a network project called ‘Screening for Bio-molecules From Microbial Diversity Collected From Different Ecological Niches’. The public private partnership project involves nine institutes, with NRDL, Mumbai, as an industrial partner. The total cost of the project is about Rs250mn, Rs180mn of which will be contributed by the Government and Rs70mn by NRDL.

The participating institutes are: National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI), Nagpur. National Centre for Cell Science (NCCS), Pune. Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology (IGIB), Delhi. University of Delhi, South Campus (UDSC), Delhi. Institute of Life Sciences (ILS), Bhubaneshwar. M S Swaminathan Research Foundation (MSSRF), Chennai.

Guru Nanak Dev University (GNDU), Amritsar. Institute of Bioresources and Sustainable Development (IBSD), Imphal. National Institute of Oceanography (NIO), Panjim. The project envisages a mega-scale screening programme for various environmental isolates. This is the first project in the country in which industry and academia will work together to screen such a large number of bacterial isolates.

Different academic institutes will isolate organisms specific to diverse ecological niches. For each sample, isolation of bacteria will be carried out on 30 different growth media. This multi-institutional effort will generate approximately 7000 isolates / month (~1000/institute), which will be regularly sent to NRDL, the industrial partner of the project. Each of these institutes is an expert in niche areas of microbial biodiversity. The microbial isolates have not been tested for potent medicinal properties, if any.

5 comments February 23rd, 2008

Expansion demand for Khallikote College: Samaja

February 22nd, 2008