It seems like Vedanta University is seriously considering to move to a location in the Southern states. (For those who may not know much about Vedanta University; it is a university proposed by London based industrialist Anil Agarwal who has pledged $1 Billion = 5000 crores of his own money towards this university which will have an overall budget of 15,000 crores. Note that the budgte of a new IIT is about 800 crores, a new AIIMS is about 850 crores, a new IIM is 215 cores, a new IISER is 500 crores. So just the 5000 crore is greater than having 2 IITs, 2 AIIMS, 2 IIMs and 2 IISERs. See http://vedanta.edu.in/ for more details.)
Following are some excerpts from recent news items:
“Agarwal’s other project in Orissa — Vedanta University — seems to be going nowhere. It appears it would take years before the first brick is laid on his most ambitious, and grandest, education project…. Agarwal, founder of London-based Vedanta Group, turned heads in 2006 when he said he would set up an 8,000-acre, $3-billion university under the aegis of Vedanta Foundation (which later changed its name to Anil Agarwal Foundation or AAF) in the state’s coastal town of Puri. He also offered $1 billion from his personal funds. Agarwal’s holding in his companies is worth more than $10 billion (as on 31 March 2010). …
Two states have extended an invitation; a decision is likely to be taken on a new site in two months,” says Ajit Kumar Samal, in-charge of the university project. He, however, refuses to divulge more details. Experts say the alternatives to Orissa could be Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh, which have good educational infrastructure.
The Anil Agarwal Foundation’s plan to set up a Rs 15,000- crore varsity in Puri (Orissa), called Vedanta University, has come a cropper. The management is now in talks with two southern states for alternative land to set up the varsity.
Although there has been opposition from inside Orissa mainly because some people are against Vedanta due to its Kalahandi operations and partly because some people are against the huge land requirement for this university, the last straw seems to be the action taken by the Minister of Environment in Delhi Mr. Jairam Ramesh. His action stopped the construction that was about to happen. See http://moef.nic.in/downloads/public-information/env-crz-vedanta.pdf.
After granting conditional clearance, it has now put on hold the clearance. Following is an excerpt from a report in Hindustan Times:
The Union Environment Ministry on Tuesday put on hold the controversial Rs.150 billion Vedanta University project in Orissa following complaints of alleged irregularities by its promoter Anil Agarwal Foundation. The direction to keep the project in abeyance has come within a month of the Ministry granting conditional environmental clearance to the Foundation which is building the university.
While the environment aspects of a mine is understandable, using environment as an issue to stop a university looks somewhat fishy. Especially, consider the following:
Even Times of India is surprised with this. It wrote: "Oddly, while the ministry had set up separate committees to investigate the settlement of rights under the Forest Rights Act in other high profile cases such as Vedanta and Posco which propose to displace far lesser people, in the Polavaram case the ministry has decided to accept the state government’s compliance report on face value. The mega-project is expected to submerge 276 villages displacing upwards of two lakh people by some estimates. "
(ii) In the past IIT Madras was built on the land of Guindy National Park. Following is from IIT Madras’s web page at http://www.iitm.ac.in/biodiversity
The IIT Madras Campus was carved out of a natural forest that formed part of the Guindy National Park.
(iii) IIT Bombay is in close proximity to the Sanjay Gandhi national park
Jairam Ramesh’s bias against Orissa was earlier evident when in 2007 when he questioned how an IIT would benefit Orissa. See http://www.orissalinks.com/archives/286 .
I worry that Mr. Ramesh may be scheming to take the 15,000 crore Vedanta University to the south. He is originally from Karantak and is currently a Rajya Sabha MP from Andhra Pradesh. Regardless, losing this would be a great loss for Orissa.
I know oppositions in Orissa have raised many questions about Vedanta University. I have tried to answer their criticisms and questions. See http://www.orissalinks.com/archives/1696
My basic point is that this university with a budget of 15,000 crores out of which 5,000 crore is personal money pledged by Anil Agarwal (who has a net worth of several billion pounds, thus making this believable) can completely change the situation of Orissa and make the Bhubaneswar-Puri area a viable competitor to Bangalore, Pune and Hyderabad in terms of being a knowledge hub. This is a once in a century type of opportunity and letting it go would be foolish for generations to come.
Sorry for being so long, but this is a complex issue and I had to explain the background. We need to do something about this so that Vedanta University is established in Orissa, if not Puri, somewhere else in Orissa is fine too. If we let it go to some other state generations of Oriyas will repent for having lost this opportunity.
What can we do?
To start with please consider sending a version of the following letter (make changes to your liking).
SUBJECT: Please stop putting hurdles on the Vedanta University project and facilitate its establishment
Dear Esteemed Prime Minister Dr. Singh:
I am very concerned that various bureaucratic hurdles have been put by your environment ministry on the Vedanta University Project (in Puri, Odisha), which is the only current initiative that has a decent chance of becoming the first (and perhaps the only for several decades) world class university of India.
I have no association with Vedanta University except that I would like India and Odisha to have world class universities and I see the best hope of that happening soon through the establishment of Vedanta University. I am making this clarification of not having any association with Vedanta University because in India many people are afraid of speaking out in favor of industrial houses lest they be branded as being bought out by these houses.
The annual expenditure of typical state university [1] in the USA is 1.785 Billion USD, which comes to 8211 crores of INR at One USD=46 INR rate. Even taking the purchasing power index according to which 1 USD has the purchasing power of Rs 17, 1.785 Billion USD comes to about 3000 crores of INR using the purchasing power parity (PPP) numbers. Among other universities, Harvard with 20,000 students has an expenditure of 3.756 Billion USD [2] which comes to 6385 crores INR using PPP. Stanford’s budget for 18,500 students is 3.65 Billion USD [3]. In comparison, the 2010-11 budget for IISc Bangalore is 221 Crores INR and the total budget for the seven older IITs is 1600 crores.
The only Indian institution that ranks very high (at number 15) in global rankings [4] is the Indian School of Business at Hyderabad. According to a Times of India report [5]: "Indian School of Business (ISB) pays over Rs 20 lakh to its Assistant Professors (APs). Against this, an IIM-Ahmedabad AP gets only Rs 5.5 lakh as starting pay annually."
Based on the above two numbers one can guess estimate that a university in India aspiring to be world class would need to have an annual budget of 1000-1500 crores INR. I am not sure what budget estimates have been made for the innovation universities. The closest number that I came across was the estimate (in 2008) of 720 crores [6] over a nine year period.
The Vedanta University as planned has an overall budget of 15,000 crores with 5,000 crores being pledged from personal funds of the Anil Agarwal foundation. So the scale is way beyond what is mentioned with respect to the other institutions and universities in India.
As per [6,7,8,9] the budget towards making a new IIT is 760 crores, a new IIM is 210 crores, a central university is 300 crores, a central university with a medical school is 720 crores, an IISER is 500 crores and an AIIMS is 850 crores. These all add up to 3340 crores which is much less than the 5000 crores Mr. Anil Agarwal has pledged to contribute personally (through the Anil Agarwal foundation) towards Vedanta University. In addition the 15,000 crore overall budget and the plan for Vedanta University [10] which includes a township of 500,0000 and research institutes and centers a la Stanford Research Institute suggest a way to get enough income to match the annual expenses needed to operate a truly world class university. Thus when Vedanta University website talks about being world class [10], the numbers seem to add up.
I am not sure if the proposed innovation universities will be able to pay about 4 times the salary that is paid to faculty at IIMs and IITs. That is what ISB Hyderabad, the only globally top ranked institute is paying. That is what Vedanta University with its planned budget could possibly pay.
Under the above circumstances, Vedanta University seems to me as having the best chance to be India’s first comprehensive world class university.
While the honorable HRD Minister has been visiting around the world to get help in establishing innovation universities, does it make sense to create unreasonable hurdles (as the environment ministry seems to be doing) to the only one foundation that seems to have a real plan [10] and that has pledged money to back up that plan to create a truly world class university.
India’s laws and its constitution are sacrosanct. But as everyone knows one can use laws to create hurdles and one can also facilitate the establishment of one of a kind potentially real world class university while making sure that those laws are in compliance. It is my sincere opinion that the environment ministry is creating hurdles instead of just making sure that the laws are followed. Also, it is unfortunate that the HRD ministry has not taken notice of Vedanta
University and has not facilitated the creation of this potentially world class university. Please note that, as per [11] "the IIT Madras Campus was carved out of a natural forest that formed part of the Guindy National Park."
In any western country a foundation with a $1 Billion donation towards a new university would have been given red carpet treatment. In India, the HRD ministry does not even notice it and the Environment ministry is bordering on harassing the project. No wonder we do not have any world class university yet.
I know that there are various people and organizations that are opposed to the Vedanta University. Many of them because they have issues with the Vedanta company. Also, most of them do not have a grasp of what a world-class university is, and some with political objectives have even floated malicious rumors. Many of those objections have been addressed in great length at http://www.orissalinks.com/archives/1696.
I sincerely request that you urgently have a meeting with the HRD ministry, the environment ministry and the government of Orissa and facilitate the establishment of Vedanta University with full compliance of the laws of the land. In addition, please help Vedanta University to immediately start graduate programs in 2-3 areas of need while the various issues are expediently sorted out with your help.
Finally, Vedanta University was in the process of constructing the buildings for a top-notch medical school which would have been part of it. The environment ministry has stopped that. How much sense does it make to stop construction of a medical school in a state (Orissa) that lacks adequate medical facilities and that is at the bottom of many health parameters?
Please allow the medical school construction to resume at the earliest as by stopping the construction of a medical school, your environment ministry is playing with lives.
We have no way of verifying if the poster is a Silicon student or not. His account seems believable and the comments there suggests that other students agree with the poster.
In recent years, especially after KIIT and ITER became deemed universities, Silicon Institute of Technology in Bhubaneswar has been the top choice of students among the private engineering colleges of Odisha.
On Thursday night 22nd of April a student of Silicon died. This incident resulted in a conflict between Silicon authorities and the media and there are multiple versions of the story.
On the other hand the Orissa Private Engineering College Association has put the advertisement given below in various newspapers. I do not know who to believe. I hope some of the students who were present during the event can shed light on what really happened.
(Request to readers: If you know of private state universities not listed below and not in the UGC list mentioned below, please add a link in the comment. We will update this page.)
In this page we will collect information regarding private state universities in India. By private state universities we mean privately managed universities that are establish by an act in the assembly of various states of India. These are different from the deemed universities.
The list at UGC date June 2009 is at http://www.ugc.ac.in/notices/updatedpriuniver.pdf. We also listed them at http://www.orissalinks.com/archives/2782. My guess is that these private universities which have been created by state acts have UGC approval. We have come across many other private universities which have been created by state acts which are not in this list; some of them were created by state acts after June 2009.
We start with Odisha: Odisha has passed state acts for two private universities:
Vedanta University
Sri Sri University
Odisha has introduced an act for ICFAI university. It has been discussed and tabled in the assembly. As of writing this, It is yet to be passed by the Odisha assembly.
Chhatisgarh: The UGC list of June 2009 lists two private universities. (i) CV Raman in Bilaspur and (ii) MATS in Raipur
Gujarat: .The UGC list of June 2009 lists five private universities. (i) DAIICT Gandhinagar (ii) Ganpat, Mehsana (iii) Kadi Sarva, Gandhinagar (iv) Nirma, Ahmedabad (v) Pandit Deendayal Petroleum U, Gandhinagar
Himachal Pradesh: It passed an umbrella private university act in 2006. The UGC list of June 2009 lists two private universities. (i) Chitkara University, Solan (ii) Jaypee, Solan. Besides them following are some new ones.
Maharashtra has also revived the plan to bring private universities into the state. Tope said that plans were afoot to help the corporate sector play a key role in the field of education. The Private University Act is being finalised in this connection, he pointed out.
Meghalaya: The UGC list of June 2009 lists two private universities. (i) Martin Luther Christian (ii) Techno Global.
Mizoram: The UGC list of June 2009 lists one private university. (i) ICFAI
Nagaland: The UGC list of June 2009 lists one private university. (i) Global Open
Punjab: The UGC list of June 2009 lists one private university. (i) Lovely Professional U.
Rajasthan: It has an umbrella private university act (enacted in 2005) to facilitate creation of private universities. There are 11 private state universities in Rajasthan in the UGC list of June 2009. (i) Bhagwant University, Ajmer (ii) Jagannath University, Jaipur (iii) Jaipur National University, Jaipur. (iv) Jyoti Vidyapeeth Women’s University, Jaipur. (v) Mewar University, Chittorgarh. (vi)
NIMS University, Jaipur. (vii) Sir Padmapat Singhania University, Jhunjhunu. (viii) Singhania University, Jhunjunu. (ix) Suresh Gyan Vihar University, Jaipur. (x) Jodhpur National University, Jodhpur (xi) Amity University, Jaipur
Beyond those 11, some of the new ones not in that list are:
Sikkim: The UGC list of June 2009 lists two private universities.(i) Eastern Institute for Integrated Learning in Management University, Jorethang. (ii) Sikkim- Manipal University of Health, Medical & Technological Sciences, Gangtok.
Tripura: The UGC list of June 2009 lists one private university. (i) ICFAI
UP: The UGC list of June 2009 lists eight private universities.(i) Amity University, NOIDA (ii) Integral University, Lucknow. (iii) Jagadguru Rambhadracharya Handicapped University, Chitrakoot Dham. (iv) Mangalayatan University, Aligarh (v) Mohammad Ali Jauhar University, Rampur. (vi) Sharda University, Gautam Budh Nagar. (vii) Swami Vivekanand Subharti University, Meerut. (viii)
Teerthanker Mahaveer Univesity, Moradabad.
Uttarakhand: The UGC list of June 2009 lists six private universities.(i) Dev Sanskrit Vishwavidyalaya, Haridwar. (ii) Doon University, Dehradoon. (iii) Himgiri Nabh Vishwavidyalaya, Dehradun. (iv) ICFAI Dehradun (v) University of Petroleum and Energy Studies, Dehradun. (vi) University of Patanjali, Haridwar.
West Bengal: The UGC list of June 2009does not have any from West Bengal. However, the following has been passed by West Bengal assembly since then.
Dhirubhai Ambani Institute of Information and Communication Technology, Kalyani
Prof. Yashpal & Anr. Vs. State of Chhattisgarh & Ors.
Coram: CJI ,G. P. Mathur , P.K. Balasubramanyan 11/ 02/ 2005
CASE NO.: Writ Petition (civil) 19 of 2004
PETITIONER: Prof. Yashpal & Anr.
RESPONDENT:State of Chhattisgarh & Ors.
DATE OF JUDGMENT: 11/02/2005
BENCH:CJI,G. P. Mathur & P.K. Balasubramanyan
has reiterated (see point 36) UGC rules that say:
3.1 Each private University shall be established by a separate State Act and shall conform to the relevant provisions of the UGC Act, 1956, as amended from time to time.
3.2 A private university shall be a unitary university having adequate facilities for teaching, research, examination and extension services.
The following table summarizes the private and deemed universities in various states of India. The data regarding deemed universities is from http://pib.nic.in/release/release.asp?relid=50713. Since the HRD minister Mr. Sibal has said that the deemed university system will vanish, most of the private deemed universities will become private state universities.
State
# private universities in June 2009
# deemed universities
# private universities in pipeline that we know of (work in progress)
I was going through NIT Rourkela’s website. Although it has been always ranked pretty high (good research ranking, high ranking by India Today) among engineering colleges in India, over the last few years it is turning into a comprehensive university with new departments and programs. Prof. Sunil Sarangi has done wonders since he has arrived as the director of NIT Rourkela. Following are some of the highlights of the unique programs, new programs and new departments.
Ceramic Engineering Department: B.Tech and M.Tech programs in Ceramic Engineering. This is a unique department and program not available in many places.
Note: Among the above departments, the Applied Mathematics, Chemistry and Physics departments are not new but I think the M.Sc programs are new; I could not find when exactly they were started.
As one can notice from the above, one can do degrees in Molecular Biology or Humanities at NIT Rourkela. Soon one can pursue an MBA. This is really wonderful and kudos to Prof. Sarangi for making this happen.
In August this year when I met Prof. Sarangi in Orissa I broached the topic of having a medical college at NIT Rourkela. He was not opposed to the idea, but was worried that with only 1-2 years left in his tenure at NIT Rourkela, he would not be able to make it happen in that short time. I hope a way is found so that Prof. Sarangi stays for another 5 year term at NIT Rourkela. I am told every one likes him and respects him at NIT Rourkela. We should write him and thank him for all that he has done for NIT Rourkela, request him to stay longer in Rourkela and we should do something (perhaps write to CMO and MHRD) to give him another 5 year term. We should request Prof. Sarangi to start a medical college at NIT Rourkela. His parent institution, IIT Khragpur is starting one in Kharagpur, so if he is given time, he will be able to do it. Another program that NIT Rourkela should be encouraged to establish is "Architecture and Town Planning". (In this regard, NIT Warangal leads the pack of NITs in planning for a medical school and a law school.)
For our readers with Rourkela connection please spread the word about the availability of science, business and humanities programs at NIT Rourkela so that good students and faculty join these programs. Also, some of you students, go and pursue higher degrees (PhD) and come back and join NIT Rourkela and to the others become an entrepreneur and open companies in Rourkela.
Another good thing about all of these is that with the new VC at VSSUT Burla, who is also from IIT Khragapur and a good friend of Prof. Sarangi , a similar transformation can be expected at VSSUT Burla. Already, a new department of Humanities is being made at VSSUT Burla. VSSUT Burla has advertised for new faculty positions and its VC has mentioned some of his new plans. In an interview to TOI he is reported to have said:
Our priority will be to make the institution as one of the best of the country and for this we are planning to introduce few new branches of engineering courses. Textile engineering is one among them which will help to strengthen the development of the Sambalpuri fabric. We also plan to introduce Nano-science technology, Bio-medical engineering and surgical engineering soon”, the vice chancellor Dr Tripathy told.
Two new regional universities: Western Orissa University Bhawanipatna and Central Orissa University Angul
One new general unitary university: Rourkela University
One new Metropolitan University: Bhubaneswar Metropolitan University
Upgrading of two colleges to new unitary universities: GM and Khallikote
Five new specialized Universities: Tribal University (HQ Phulbani), Sports University (HQ Rourkela), Skill University (HQ-TBD), Health University (HQ-TBD), Education University (HQ-TBD)
Several new branch campuses of existing universities to reduce affiliation load on existing universities with a clear path on how they can become independent universities. Each branch campus will have enough independence to chart its own course. Special attention paid to branch campuses at Balangir, Phulbani and Keonjhar.
A clear road map for development of comprehensive western style universities that have multiple disciplines, including engineering and medical colleges.
I was intrigued by the history of NIRTAR. I think one can take some lessons from it. Following is an excerpt from its history page:
During the visit of the then Hon’ble Prime Minister Mrs. Indira Gandhi to Orissa in 1975, Mrs. Nandini Satpathy the then Chief Minister of Orissa informed the PM that there was 16.5 acres of land with few buildings donated by late Shri Bijayram Mishra to Govt. of Orissa was available in the village, Olatpur of Cuttack District at 35 kms. from Cuttack/Bhubaneswar in a rural area which could be considered for the establishment of the Institute.
In the US communities or rich individual land holders have donated land for specific educational purposes to the government. One shining example is the University of California at Irvine. Following is an excerpt from the wikipedia entry on UC Irvine.
Unlike other University of California campuses, UCI was not named for the city it was built in; at the time of the university’s founding (1965), the current city of Irvine (established in 1975) did not exist. The name "Irvine" is a reference to James Irvine, a landowner who administered the 94,000-acre (38,000 ha) Irvine Ranch. In 1960, The Irvine Company sold 1,000 acres (400 ha) of the Irvine Ranch to the University of California for one dollar, since a company policy prohibited the donation of property to a public entity.
The NIRTAR example suggest that this may also work in the Orissa context.
What if a group of people (say in Kalahandi) pool together 100 acres of land and donate it to the Central University of Orissa Koraput for establishing a branch there. (They can be smart in their pooling so that they also have similar or more land adjacent to the donated land; that way they will benefit via the increase in their land prices when the university opens a branch there.)
How about people in Berhampur taking a similar step with respect to IIT Bhubaneswar?
If people of Rourkela were to pool together 50 acres and approach XIM, I am positive XIM will be happy to open a branch there. Now lets consider something smaller.
The central government has proposed establishment of model colleges in some backward districts of Orissa. In those districts there are many smaller towns who would like those colleges to be located in their town. I think if a particular town’s people pool together 20-30 acres and offer it to the government for the model college then the chances of that town getting the college will become much higher.
In general, land is a big deal in Orissa and India and pooling together some acres and donating it to a reputable organization for a specific purpose has a high chance of achieving that purpose in a shorter time.
The point of mentioning the above is that while the government does have responsibility of doing things and helping in balanced development, at times people need to take proactive steps beyond demonstrations and demands. There are too many areas in Orissa that are crying for development and the areas where people take proactive steps on their own are going to be more successful than the others.
Hundreds of e-mails reached the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO) urging him to impress upon the Employees’ State Insurance Corporation (ESIC) for establishment of the college and hospital in the steel city. The Prime Minister and the Union Minister for Labour were flooded with mails and memorandums. Bur it seems nobody in the Government is bothered about the hue and cry raised by the people from various sections of the society.
“If there is any place fit for an ESIC Medical College & Hospital, it is Rourkela,” said a top Orissa Government official. Then how come the Government is silent over the demand and has allowed the ESIC to set up the college and hospital in Bhubaneswar? “You better ask the Chief Minister,” said the officer on the condition of anonymity. Now, as the ESIC has been allotted land on the outskirts of the capital city, chances of Rourkela seem remote, admitted the official.
Interestingly, when the people of Rourkela joined the bandwagon for demanding the medical college and hospital in the steel city, local MLA Sarada Prasad Nayak, who is the Minister for Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Welfare remained silent. Similarly, Minister for Labour and Employment Puspendra Singh Deo, who also hails from Western Orissa, quietly favoured the college to come up in Bhubaneswar.
The ESIC will spend Rs 600 crore for the medical college and hospital, a dental college and a nursing college in the same campus, said sources. Officials point out that as there is no full-fledged airport near Rourkela, the Centre will not agree to setting up of a medical college there.
The mention about Rourkela not having airport and hence center may not agree is bogus. I don’t see any connection betweem an airport and an ESIC medical college. Indeed two other locations where ESIC medical colleges are being established do not have a nearby airport either. They are Gulbarga, Karnataka and Alwar, Rajasthan. (Thanks to Prashant babu for pointing to the second one.)
In light of some comments in Orissalinks and several efforts that are going around in the Cyberspace, I would like to give a bit of history of Orissalinks that would make our stand clear in terms of promoting all around development of HRD infrastructure in Orissa.
We had several blogs that are precursor to Orissalinks.com. The first two were:
http://iiser.blogspot.com/started October 2005: This was about getting NIS to Bhubaneswar which was earlier announced in 2003 by the President of India and HRD minister of India but was omitted when IISERs were proposed.
http://newiits.blogspot.com/started December 2005: At that time there were plans to upgrade some existing institutions to an IIT or existing IITs opening branches in other locations. We pursued both.
http://iits-11thplan.blogspot.com/started January 2007: After the first three new IITs were announced and Orissa was left out this was to push for an IIT in Orissa.
With the help of Prashant Sahoo, we started this consolidated blog orissalinks.com in Novermber 2006. The first postings of this blog was about KBK Central University. See http://www.orissalinks.com/archives/date/2006/11.
We have been fortunate that the goals of our initial efforts were achieved and we now have NISER, an IIT and a Central University in Orissa.
There were other achievements including helping the UCE Burla students and alumni in their efforts to make UCE Burla an unitary university. The idea was mooted in this blog in October 2007 (see http://www.orissalinks.com/archives/693) and later support was provided by email. See their acknowledgement in their souvenir.
While a lot of our initial focus had been about getting Orissa its fair share, dealing with inequality within Orissa was also a concern from the very beginning. Although we did not frame it in the terms of "inequity within Orissa" our initial postings on KBK University and the kbkcentral blog were about addressing the lack of opportunities in the KBK districts.We continue with several other efforts such as making VSSUT, Burla an IIEST, having a branch of IGNTU in Kandhamal and getting an ESIC medical college to Rourkela.
We also wrote specifically about inequality within Orissa. One of our early post was in April 2007. See http://www.orissalinks.com/archives/100. Since then we have raised this several times and will continue to do so.
But we would like it to be done, at least in this forum, in a respectful way and avoiding divisiveness. I also think that is the most effective way.
Following are some of my suggestions:
We should not show any hatred towards any region of Orissa. (Sometimes one may not mean that, but the words imply that.) While it is ok to point out that some area, say the Bhubaneswar area, has too many of something as compared to the rest of the state, it is really not helpful to say something like since X will be in the Bhubaneswar area, I would rather not have it in Orissa at all.
We should not use divisive terminologies.
Personally I think it is usually better to argue for certain amenities and infrastructure elements in particular metropolitan areas rather than whole regions especially when there are divisive stereotypes about those regional distinctions.
As described in http://orissa2020.org (in particular http://www.orissa2020.org/home/area-wise-plan ) I think we can initially focus on five tier 2 regions (Rourkela area, Berhampur area, Baragarh-Sambalpur-Jharsuguda area, Balasore-Baripada area and Koraput-Jeypore-Sunabeda area) and five trier 3 A regions (Bhawanipatna, Balangir, Phulbani, Angul and Keonjhar). See the above links for the reasoning behind why these ten are our first choice. Specific mailing lists or yahoo groups on each of them would be useful in interfacing cybercitizens with people phyiscally located in those areas. This will allow organization of some ground level teams and actions when needed.
While looking out for our own backyard is important, it is more effective if one does not only focus on their own backyard or one is not too obsessed on their own backyard.
It is more effective to argue for a location of an institute, when another location for it has not been announced. It creates divisiveness when one suggests or campaigns that institute X announced for location L should be moved to location M. A better alternative in that case is to say that a branch of X or something like X should also be in M. That is what we used when campaigning for NIS in Bhubaneswar. We never said that the IISER in Kolkata should be moved to Bhubaneswar. We said that we are happy that Kolkata gets an IISER but we would like Bhubaneswar to have an NIS or an IISER. That way the campaign does not pit people in favor of L against the people in favor of M. The more unified an effort is the better its chances of success. Especially, if one makes enemies or treats others as enemies then it works against their goals. The intelligent and effective approach is to convert others to support or even pursue your goals and not make enemies.
On the other hand if X is announced for location L and someone from L says that I am from L but I think for these reasons the institute X should be in M, then that is the right spirit. That is what is happening in the ESIC medical college in Rourkela effort.
There will be cases when several areas are under consideration for a single exclusive institute. At that time we should keep the debate about the location civil and logic based. In such debates people arguing for their own backyard is expected and reasonable, but one must keep in mind that it automatically decreases their credibility in the eyes of the others.
In summary, if we work unitedly for all of Orissa and respect some ground rules (such as the ones above), the chances of success are much higher.
Update 2: Sundergarh MP Mr. Hemanada Biswal is now the Chair of the Parliamentary Committee on Labour. ESIC comes under the Labour ministry. So getting in touch with Mr. Biswal will also help. His MP biography is at http://164.100.47.132/LssNew/Members/Biography.aspx?mpsno=4416.
Dear all: It is time to translate words to action. Please send similar letters to the Chief Minister ( cmo at ori.nic.in ) with copy to some journalists (for example, http://www.tathya.in/2009/contactus.asp ), laborweb@nic.in, and jd-sys@esic.nic.in. Please ask your like minded friends to do the same. When you write the letter, please sign your name and give your address, especially your address in Orissa.
Dear Esteemed Chief Minister:
We would like to request that you urgently allocate the necessary 32 acres of land for an ESIC medical college in Rourkela and vigorously pursue with the ESIC authorities for the establishment of the same in Rourkela.
[We applaud your earlier attempt in pursuing an ESIC medical college in Balangir and understand that ESIC did not agree to it as it does not have enough ESIC insured persons in the Balangir area. We request that you pursue other ways of having a medical college in Balangir and also pursue other infrastructural elements for Balangir such as a state university, a state/central funded engineering college like SLIET (Punjab) and ABA GKC IET (West Bengal) and the Khurda-Balangir line. ]
Coming back to ESIC medical college, Rourkela is the second largest metropolitan area of Orissa. Unfortunately, it is also the largest metropolitan area of its size in the country which does not have a medical college. (It is also the largest metropolitan area of the country which does not have a regular university.) On the other hand Rourkela is the current industrial hub of Orissa and has a significant number of ESIC insured persons. This is evident from the fact that the only ESIC model hospital in Orissa is in Rourkela. Moreover, another ESIC hospital is in nearby Kansbahal and an ESIC annex is in nearby Rajgangpur. The complete list of ESIC hospitals in Orissa is at http://esicorissa.org/hospital.htm. Moreover recent newspaper reports (Statesman 5th March 2009, Naxatra News) mention that the ESIC authorities are agreeable for having an ESIC medical college in Rourkela. Following is the news report.
Rourkela, March 4: The Orissa Unit of the CITU has urged the Employees State Insurance Corporation (ESIC) authorities at New Delhi to establish a medical college at Rourkela.
A delegation of CITU leaders led by its state unit general secretary Mr Bishnu Mohanty met the Director, ESIC, Mr S Chaturbedi at New Delhi yesterday and pleaded for establishment of an ESIC Medical College stating that over 50 per cent of the total revenue was generated from Rourkela.
A large number of small and medium industries were located in Western Orissa and thousands of workers were contributing and dependent on ESIC, they said.
According to Mr Mohanty, the ESIC director had agreed to the proposal and said if the state government provided 32 acre his organisation would spent about Rs 500 crores for the establishment of a medical college.
Dear Sir:
In summary, Rourkela has the need, the necessary ESIC insured persons concentration, and ESIC is agreeable to an ESI medical college there. All that is needed is for you to immediately allocate 32 acres of land as required by ESIC and tell them that Rourkela is your priority 1 in terms of an ESIC medical college.
It has been reported that you may have allocated the land for an ESIC medical college in Bhubaneswar. Many of us are from Bhubaneswar and considering that it already has 4 functioning medical colleges with several new ones in the pipeline that includes an AIIMS-like institution and a Railway medical college, we request that Rourkela be your priority 1 in terms of an ESIC medical college.
Prasanta Das is the person who went to the High court when NIS was shifted. I met him this January and he showed me the following letters that he wrote to the CM.
Union Minister of State for Commerce and Power Jairam Ramesh said that the Chhattisgarh government would provide land for the Institute while NPTC would bear the entire cost of the project for setting up world-class IIIT in the state. "The state chief minister, Raman Singh, will select the site for the project," Ramesh said.
The experts who had set up IIITs in Hyderabad and Bangalore would be consulted for the Chhattisgarh project, the minister said. The proposal would be given final shape and the site would be finalised on June 30. Ramesh is scheduled to visit Chhattisgarh on the month-end and meet the chief minister to give final shape to the project.
One should compare this with today’s news at http://tathya.in/story.asp?sno=1888 which says NALCO will contribute 1.4 crores towards a police barrack. Few weeks back various news reports mentioned that NALCO has spent (http://www.orissalinks.com/orissagrowth/archives/1333) 100 crores in CSR so far over its 20 years of existence. If its CMD had any shame and any pride on Orissa he would not have touted this number as something great. But it makes sense; if Orissa is a beggar then 100 crore is a big amount to give to a beggar in 20 years.
It is unfortunate that companies like NALCO, Arcelor-Mittal, Tats Steel, etc. treat Orissa this way. But its not all their fault. Our government also acts that way.
Our government is happy with one ITI or ITC and that seems to be the trend in terms of what they ask.
When will Orissa government learn from its neighbors Jharkhand and Chhatisgarh?
Just to recap:
(i) NTPC will make a 100 crore world class IIIT in Chhatisgrah.
(iv) Orissa gets a 1.4 crore police barrack for 1.4 crores from NALCO
(v) Orissa will get a few crore ITI from Arcelor Mittal
(vi) Orissa gets a 12 crore Math institute building from Tata Steel
(vi) A few good signs: MCL’s plan for a medical college in Talcher and Vedanta’s university plan: but who knows if they will happen and when.
I wonder if NTPC can make a 100 crore world class IIIT in Jharkhand Chhatisgarh why can not it have a similar investment in Orissa where its plants might have significantly contributed in making Talcher a hot oven.
Why can not our CM, our industry secretary, our Chief Secretary, say in no uncertain terms that Orissa is no beggar. These industries (NALCO,SAIL, NTPC, CIL, Arcelor-Mittal, POSCO, Tata Steel, etc.) that take and use (or plan to take and use) our minerals at throw away prices must stop thinking Orissa as a beggar to throw a few crore ITI/ITC, a 1.5 crore barrack, a 50 paisa safety pin for Orissa, etc. and start making IIITs, medical colleges, engineering colleges, establishing multiple ITI/ITCs, etc.
Why can not central minister of state Mr. Chandrasekhar Sahu go and talk to his colleague, the power minister Mr. Ramesh who announced the IIIT for Chhatisgarh to do a similar one in Orissa?
Why can not he talk to the other ministers to put pressure on NALCO and SAIL?
How come NTPC can make a IIIT in Chhatisgarh but not one in Orissa?
How come SAIL Bokaro can promise an engineering college and a medical college in Jharkhand and SAIL Raurkela can not do a similar one in Orissa?
ps — Just as an example of how the mineral processing companies have benefited one needs to note that in the last five years the iron ore price has increased more than the price of crude oil. But has Orissa received any benefit from that?
As per as per http://www.econstats.com/fut/xeiad_em1.htm the Crude oil prices over the last five years are: Jan 2004 -$33.16/barrel; Jan 2005- $48.25; Jan 2006- $67.86; Jan 2007- $58.17; Jan 2008- $91.67 and April 2008: $115.67.
A news report in Samaja (30th January 2008, Page 7) mentions that Special Secretary in the higher education department Mr. Acharya said that, "Orissa and many other states have vigorously demanded IITs; But since a IIT quality higher education institution – NISER – has been established in Orissa, it is not possible to establish an IIT in that state." He continues on to say that, " NISER and IIT have the same admission process that happens at the same time. Since NISER will fulfill the need for an IIT one should not put much weight on the demand for an IIT."
The above logic is absolutely ridiculous and filled with falsehoods and contradicts with MHRD actions with respect to other states.
1. NISER and IITs have different admission process and they have no connection with each other. NISER uses the NEST test (http://www.iopb.res.in/niser/admission.php ) conducted by DAE while IITs have their own JEE. The secretary may be confusing NISER with IISER which do take some students from the IIT JEE merit list.
2. NISER will not fulfill the need for an IIT. Currently, NISER only offers M.Sc degrees in Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry and Biology. Some day in the future it may offer a few technology degrees. However, it will not be soon, as having full-fledged engineering degrees will defeat the purpose of NISER, as
students when given a choice between Science and Engineering disciplines in the same institute will prefer engineering, and as a result the NISER science departments, the reason de etre for the establishment of NISER, will not get good students. In this regard it may be noted that Science is second class in the
IITs where students prefer engineering over Science courses. Most students who get into sciences into IITs are the ones who can not get into any engineering disciplines.
Note that IISc, where both engineering and science are flourishing is different because it does not offer undergraduate degrees in science so there is no competition between student choosing between science and engineering after +2.
3. Even if NISER abandons its reason-de-etre and decides to expand into engineering aggressively, the infrastructure, especially the 300 acres allocated to NISER will not allow that. Note that the IITs in Patna and Hyderabad will have 500 acres land.
4. The engineering and technology disciplines will not be established in NISER that quickly, and because of the break-neck industrial progress happening in Orissa, it needs a top notch engineering and technological institute like an IIT "yesterday."
5. Finally the following actions contradict the assertion that Orissa will not get an IIT because it has a NISER
(a) Maharastra was given a IISER even though it has an IIT. (Both are funded by MHRD.)
(b) West Bengal was given an IISER and an IIT like institute (IIEST) eventhough it has an IIT. (All are funded by MHRD and the IISER and the IIEST will be in the Kolkata area.)
(c) Andhra Pradesh was given an IIT and two IIESTs. (All are funded by MHRD.)
(d) Kerala was given an IISER, an IIEST and an IIST (Indian Institute of Space Technology); the first two funded by MHRD, while the last one is funded by Ministry of Science and Technology.
So why is that when it comes to Orissa, when Orissa is now at the bottom of per-capita MHRD funding on higher education institutions, NISER counts against Orissa. This is despite that Orissa needs to bridge the largest gap in higher education enrollment, from 6.1% to the targeted 15%.
Is it because the above four have UPA allied governments while Orissa does not?
Also, earlier it has been remarked in the Parliament by an UPA minister that Orissa has this and that institute (such as Inst of Physics etc.). Yes, but other states have more of such institutes. See the list we compiled at http://iit.orissalinks.com/vol1/state_wise_national_lab.pdf.
So why does it count against Orissa getting an IIT, and does not count against the other states.
Is not this blatant discrimination against Orissa?
Is not such discrimination in the past a main reason why Orissa is now at the bottom of higher education enrollment and many other parameters?
Is that what the government of India wants? And in this information age of news media and Internet will the people of Orissa stand-by and just meekly accept this blatant discrimination?
Action Item: Readers concerned about this may write to the CM at cmo@ori.nic.in to take immediate action and copy to one of the journalists in Orissa (perhaps Braja babu of Tathya.in at brajakmishra@gmail.com)
Orissa this time also is all set to miss the bus for Higher Education.
While the Higher Education Program for the Eleventh Five Year Plan is being final touches, Orissa is in deep slumber.
And who will be able to wake up a sleeping state, which is at the lowest ebb of the investment plan of the Ministry of Human Resources Development (MHRD), asks educationists.
The Eleventh Plan is historical because investment in HRD sector will receive a big jump.
Just follow these numbers:
Currently there are 7 Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) s that was made over 60 years; there will 8 more during the 11th Plan.
There are 23 central universities made over 60 years; 30 more will be added during the Plan.
There are no world class universities in India and planners have decided to go for 14.
There are 6 Indian Institute of Management (IIM) s that was made over 60 years; there is a plan to establish 7 more.
There is a plan to set up Indian Institute of Public Health (IIPH).
Currently there is a single National Institute of Design that was made in 60 years since Independence; there is a plan to make 4 more during the Plan.
The 11th Plan’s stated goal is to take the higher education enrolment to 15 per cent.
Orissa’s higher education enrolment is at the bottom 6.1 per cent.
So Orissa must be working very hard to take advantage of the 11th plan.
Lo behold ! No home work in sight and this time also the state is going to loose heavily, feel the educationists.
Chitta Baral, Professor in Arizona State University is a worried person.
And Prof. Baral has every reason to worry.
We need a world class university and not a single soul has raised his voice for the same in the Government, lamented Prof.Baral.
This type of institution will have a budget of Rs.1000 crore.
It would be again a pity, if the state is going to lose the same as there is opportunity to make a strong case.
It has the Ravenshaw University which without any affiliate colleges, matches the expected model of a world class university.
But will the State Government make such a case, asks Prof.Baral.
While Orissa is haunted by deaths due to cholera, it will be an appropriate place for setting up an Indian Institute of Public Health (IIPH)
Till date the State has made no efforts to get one of the proposed 5-7 IIPHs in Orissa.
So far Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) s are concerned Orissa has not done much beyond the Chief Minister sending a couple of half-baked and impolite letters to the Prime Minister.
On the other hand, many other states have sent more detailed proposals.
Take the case of KBK Central University, in the past Orissa has made a case regarding a Central University in KBK.
However, it has not followed up on it recently.
Is not it time the State Government to follow up on this and makes a case, by pointing to the central universities in the North East, asks he.
It is not too late for many of the above; otherwise Orissa will get the pea nuts and predictably complain about Central apathy against the state.
An article in Deccan Herald elaborates on the practice that is being followed at the various engineering colleges and MBA institutions and their technical university. I do not know the detailed process at BPUT, but it seems BPUT is stricter in some ways. Following are some differences that I came across between the Karnataka system and BPUT.
According to the above mentioned article In Karnataka admission under management quota is done by individual colleges making up their own merit list. Under BPUT, this year admission to management quota is also through common counseling and one has to take the Orissa JEE. BPUT is even having a second JEE so that the leftover seats in the colleges can get filled.
In Orissa many of the colleges do not have heavy political connections.
Some questions that I hope some students in engineering colleges can answer are as follows:
How does the internal system of marks work in Orissa engineering colleges under BPUT?
We appeal to the readers with interest in Orissa to contact their local organization (Outside Orissa, the local Orissa/Oriya/Kalinga organization) and through them send a similar letter to the PM and CM at the earliest. The planning commission has been asked by the PM on September 14th to make the location decisions in two months. So time is running out on this.
(Request to readers associate with Orissa: Please send a request to cmo@ori.nic.in with cc to hedsec@ori.nic.in, "indsec@ori.nic.in" <indsec@ori.nic.in>)
Fatmi said that the Central Government proposed to set up a Central University in Bihar as part of its plans for 30 new Universities. Though the University Grants Commission (UGC) suggested the upgradition of Patna University, the Government wanted to set up Central University, besides upgrading Patna University.
However, although we have sent several communications to the Orissa government on making a similar effort for a second central university for Orissa — beyond the automatic one presumably in the KBK region, the Orissa government has been silent. Tathya.in reports on our efforts and the resulting frustration.
Following are mails that we have sent to the CMO.
Dear Esteemed Chief Minister:
On August 15th the PM announced that there will be 30 new central universities, with 16 of them in states that do not have any. (That means Orissa will get one and since Orissa has been asking for a central university in KBK, it should go to KBK.)
Since India already has 23 central universities (none among them is in Orissa) and the new 30 ones will take the total to 53, Orissa deserves not just one but two central universities. (Note: Orissa is the 11th largest state of India in terms of population and 9th largest in terms of area.)
But as the PM clearly said, the 14 (30-16) central universities will be decided on a competitive basis. THUS, Orissa govt. must send a proposal on this to the HRD ministry and the PM. This needs to be done as soon as possible as the PM gave 2 months time to the planning commission for deciding on the locations and close to 3 weeks has already gone by.
I would like to propose that the Orissa govt., send a proposal immediately to upgrade Ravenshaw University as a central university.
This is because Ravenshaw matches the best with respect to all the conditions that the PM mentioned in his address to the planning commission. In particular:
Ravenshaw is a unitary university. i.e., Like world class universities such as most universities in the United States, and like most of the existing central universities in India (such as JNU, BHU etc.) Ravenshaw does not have any affiliated colleges.
Ravenshaw‘s location at the heart the millennium city of Cuttack and also in the middle of the Bhubaneswar-Cuttack metropolitan area makes it easy to access and the presence of top-notch educational and research institutions near it makes Ravenshaw a good candidate for becoming a world-class knowledge hub; i.e., a world class central university. (The PM mentioned this criteria explicitly.)
Ravenshaw had made plans for its expansion in directions that are in unison with the goal of a world class university that the PM talked about.
Among all universities in India that may be considered for an upgrade, Ravenshaw is in a unique position by virtue of its recent designation as a university. The existing faculty of Ravenshaw are Government of Orissa faculty and are not automatically entitled to be Ravenshaw faculty. So Ravenhsaw can be choosy in retaining only the ones that are qualified to be a faculty in a world class university. The others may revert back to the Government of Orissa to be posted to other colleges in Orissa.
Finally, Ravenshaw is one of the oldest higher education institutions of India with a glorious past. Its alumni is almost who’s who of Orissa.
In closing, I would urge you to not miss this opportunity for making a case for a second central university in Orissa. Otherwise we will continue to remain behind, while other states will have 2, 3 or more central universities.
It now seems abundantly clear that Orissa is going to miss an Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) for the second time. While one after another State is receiving the green signal from the Centre for an IIT, Orissa continues to lag behind.
The Centre on Tuesday announced that it would open a Central university and an IIT in Himachal Pradesh. "Prime Minister Manmohan Singh told me to announce a Central university and an IIT," said Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram at Shimla. The announcements come ahead of the Assembly elections in that State due in February next.
Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh said opening up of a Central university and an Institute of Technology (IIT) would boost the educational standards in his hill State.
Earlier, in the last week of August, Virbhadra Singh had presented a memorandum to set up a Central university and an IIT in Himachal Pradesh to the Minister of Human Resource Development and the Prime Minister.
The Prime Minister had announced on August 15 that there would be eight new IITs in the country.
After Manmohan Singh’s announcement, at least Kerala, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Himachal Pradesh and Haryana approached him to set up IITs in their respective States. Orissa Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik is yet to finalise whether to ask for up-gradation of an existing engineering college to an IIT or to go in for a new IIT, said sources.
… Unless the Orissa Government takes an early decision, the State will miss the IIT bus once again, said an IITian. And this would seal the fate of the State so far receiving a new Institute of Technology (IIT) in future, he added.
I was told that the CM’s office has not sent a letter to the PM after the announcement of 5 more new IITs were made. This while, other states have staked their claim. He was supposed to have sent a letter a month back, but apparently he has not sent it.
Apparently his office can not decide which one of the options to pursue: upgrade Burla (300 crores); IIT KGP campus in BBSR (800 crores); greenfield IIT 1000-4000 crores.
I can not believe that they are that indecisive.
Please send a short email immediately to the CM cmo@ori.nic.in withh cc to Industry Secretary indsec@ori.nic.in and urge them that the CM must send a letter to the PM on a new IIT followed by a vision document.
Follow-up to this: I had made the above appeal by email to certain groups. In response, many of you sent the mail on this. Thank you very much. I am being told that the emails have made the cmo office take notice. See the mention in http://tathya.in/story.asp?sno=1235
My purpose of writing this is to convey that your emails are not thrown away without reading. They are being read and not thrown away. How else a journalist will get hold of them and write about it?
I hope they will take action soon.
Please participate in such email writing, if the cause resonates with you.
