President of India issues ordinance establishing 15 central universities; one in Orissa to be called “Central University of Orissa”
January 18th, 2009
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.
Entry Filed under: Central Universities,Central University of Orissa, Koraput,Koraput-Jeypore-Sunabeda area (5)
4 Writeup
1. Sanjoy Das | January 19th, 2009 at 10:12 pm
I would have much preferred a name commemorating a famous Oriya personality, like Gopabandhu Das, Veer Surendra Sai, Kharavela, or Biju Patnaik (already have BPUT) or someone.
2. R P Tripathy | January 20th, 2009 at 1:14 pm
Orissa government should provide all the necessary infrastructure to Koraput so that the Central University attracts the best among the students and faculty. Apart from Hirakhand Express, the only train that connects BBSR to Koraput via Berhampur and Rayagada, one more intercity express is needed between Berhampur-Koraput. Further, the Vijaywada-Ranchi National Highway which was the brain child of the State government must be put under the NHDP to make it a 4 lane Highway. The urban areas of Koraput, Jeypore, Damanjodi and Sunabeda must be declared Greater Koraput City which would have a population of 1.7 lakh making it the 6th largest city of Orissa.
3. bharat kumar | July 10th, 2009 at 12:58 am
Naming has never been a concern here. The only problem lies with the quality of education among both faculty and students. The best minds can only be attracted with a user-friendly campus, which is hardly seen on any state-run educational campus in Orissa. May it be Sambalpur University or Utkal, all the same with the attitude of the administration, student protest, outside inane influence, or quality-time spent by faculty. Hope this campus is unlike those institutions and would serve for the betterment of generations.
4. santosh | December 8th, 2009 at 7:41 pm
better KALINGA UNIVERSITY.