However, as mentioned in the article http://www.orissalinks.com/archives/3229 adequate infrastructure seems to have been an important factor in determining the locations of the new IITs, IIMs and National universities.
For Orissa to have them in locations ouside of Bhubaneswar, there are two ways to go about it.
Argue that adequate infrastructure should not be a requirement or they will automatically come once the institutions are established.
Develop areas outside Bhubaneswar to have adequate infrastructure.
To me pursuing (2) has a higher chance of success than pursuing (1) and even if (1) is successful the institutes/universities in locations without appropriate infrastructure will struggle until the infrastructure eventually catches up which may take a long time if just left to fate. (Such a struggle may result in Orissa not being given in appropriate numbers additional central/national institutes.)
[In India people sometime point out that IIT Kharagpur was established in a rural location. First, Kharagpur is only 116 kms from Howrah. Second it has been a major railway junction for a long time. Third it was the first IIT and for a long time only one of 5 IITs. Similarly Roorkee was the oldest engineering college and is close to Haridwar and Dehradun. There are a few top universities and institutions in the US that are in rural areas, but these are exceptions, and the infrastructure in rural areas of US are quite good compared to rural areas of India. For example, Univ of Illinois at Urbana Champaign and Penn State University in State College, PA are often mentioned in that context. But both do have small airports with commercial flights.]
Before we suggest what needs to be done regarding developing areas outside Bhubaneswar to have adequate infrastructure, let us address what may be coming in the future and why Orissa needs to do this urgently so as to not risk missing future allocations of national institutions.
We recommend the creation of up to 50 National Universities that can provide education of the highest standard. As exemplars for the rest of the nation, these universities shall train students in a variety of disciplines, including humanities, social sciences, basic sciences, commerce and professional subjects, at both the undergraduate and post-graduate levels. The number 50 is a long term objective. In the short run, it is important to begin with at least 10 such universities in the next 3 years. It is worth noting that the National Universities need not all be new universities. Some of the existing universities could also be converted into National Universities, on the basis of rigorous selection criteria, to act as exemplars. We recognise that there could be a human resource constraint if faculty members are not available in adequate numbers to establish these universities.
The current government has implemented most of the recommendations of the NKC and exceeded some of them. For example, instead of the recommendation of 10 national universities in the three years following the report (2007-2010), establishment of 14 have been announced. Moreover, the higher education budget has been increasing drastically from one five year plan to the next. The 12th five year plan starts in 2012 and it is expected that it will take up on the long range objectives of the knowledge commission. In other words there could and should be more central and national universities in the 12th plan.
[My impression is that how soon additional national universities are established will depend on the success of the first 14. It seems to me that the locations of the first 14 have been greatly influenced by the consideration of, where in each of the states selecetd, does it have the best chance to succeed.]
However, 2012 is still 3 years away and if adequate steps are taken very soon, Orissa should be able to get its fair share.
The pity is there are areas in Orissa which are on the verge of having the necessary infrastructure, mostly through private investment, but because of non-constructive opposition, blind suspicion towards industrialization and the relcucatnce of many to speak out in favour of development and industrialization, the development and associated infrastructure building has been greatly hampered. The governments (state and center) are also at fault for their sluggishness on some aspects.
Following are some suggestions:
The state government should push for the completion of the airport in Jharsuguda within a year.
It should make an all-out effort to have commercial flights operating out of the existing airport in Rourkela. In general, the people of the area need to recognize the existing infrastructure and potential of Rourkela and take advantage of it. Currently, as a friend of mine would say, Rourkela is an orphan. This is a pity. It is a big asset to Orissa, especially to the western parts of Orissa; but is severely underutilized and undermined.
Coming back to Jharsuguda, the people there should follow a smarter approach in not opposing and rather facilitating industries coming up there, and at the same time being vigilant about environmental and land acquisition related R & R issues. If these industries and investment are allowed to materialize there soon, then Sambalpur-Jharsuguda area would become a large metro with adequate infrastructure to have and support any and all kinds of institutes and universities. But will the people do that? Or will they continue to be controlled by or scared of the anti-industry activists.
Similarly, both Bhawanipatna (Lanjigarh to be precise) and Rayagada areas have industrial investors who have been senselessly opposed. If the people would take a smarter approach that mixes development with being vigilant about environmental and land acquisition related R & R then both these areas would be able to get infrastructure where a central university (and possibly more) would flourish. But will the people do that? Or will they continue to be controlled by or scared of anti-industry activists. In Lanjigarh, Kalahandi, the local MP has recently taken a more sensible approach. I hope there is a quick resolution as this area desperately needs development and the resulting infrastructure.
The state government should push for the rail infrastructure, particularly, the Khurda-Balangir line, the Talcher-Bimlagarh line and connectivity to Kalahandi, to be completed at the earliest.
The above is extremely important for the development of the western parts of Orissa where there is often a feeling of neglect. If the people there do not follow a smarter approach and only follow the strange approach that many (not all) seem to be following (such as opposing industrialization and thus infrastructure building but wanting things that need infrastructure) the places that follow a smarter approach (inside and outside Orissa) would be gainers. The same is happening in some other places in Orissa too – Paradeep and Kalinganagar come to mind, but these places are in closer proximity to Bhubaneswar and because of that they may be less harmed.
Following is an excerpt from a report in Statesman.
Mahanadi Coalfields Limited (MCL) will set up a 500-bed medical college and hospital at Talcher in Angul district. It will also upgrade its Nehru Satabdi hospital to a super speciality hospital.
This was informed at the meeting between the state health and family welfare minister, Mr Prasanna Acharya, and MCL CMD Mr SR Upadhaya on 31 July.
… the state government recently gave its no-objection certificate, official sources said.
The medical college would be set up on a 60 acre patch of land along the same lines as Sanjay Gandhi Postgraduate Institute of Medical Sciences (SGPGIMS), Lucknow.
Mr Upadhaya further informed that the state health and family secretary would be the chairman of the medical college’s governing body, while the company CMD or senior director will act as the co-chairman.
Union Minister of State for Coal Santosh Bagrodia today said small and medium-scale industries and coal-based power plants will be supplied coal as per necessity.
Addressing newsmen here, the Minister maintained that there is no shortage of coal in the country.
… Mahanadi Coalfields Limited (MCL) would adopt two ITIs and set up a medical college at Talcher.The medical college will be set up before the new academic session. The Minister informed the Chief Minister about these decisions.
The left four columns(*) in the following list is based on the lists at http://orissagov.nic.in/highereducation/DistBlockWise_College_list.htm and http://orissagov.nic.in/highereducation/actsrules.htm. It seems both these lists are not up-to-date. For example, neither list has any colleges in the Boudha district. However, the Boudha district web pages mention it having 9 colleges. Using Google some of the colleges one can find in Boudha are Boudh Panchayat College and Gandharadi College. The rightmost column (**) is based on going to the district web pages and getting information there. That is also not up-to-date as in recent years numerous junior (+2) colleges have opened.
In the following figure the red dots indicate where the current universities in Orissa are, including the ones that have been announced, such as the proposed central university in Koraput. As the map illustrates, all the existing and planned universities are in the periphery of the state and the interior districts lack university level higher education opportunities. This needs to be corrected by establishing state universities at the blue marked points: Bhawanipatna, Phulbani, Angul and Keonjhar. In addition, the Rourkela metropolitan area, the second largest metropolitan area in Orissa, needs a regular university. Neither BPUT nor NIT Rourkela serve the purpose. Thus a regular university needs to be established in Rourkela.
The expert committee report is at http://www.ugc.ac.in/notices/dpr374modelcolleges.html. The list of 374 districts contains 18 districts from Orissa. They are: Malkangiri, Baudh, Kandhamal, Nuapada, Nabrangpur, Gajapati, Koraput, Sonapur, Bargarh, Deogarh, Kalahandi, Balangir, Anugul, Rayagada, Kendujhar, Ganjam, Nayagarh, Dhenkanal. Of these, Malkangiri and Baudha are in Phase 1 with CPI (colleges per lakh population) below 4, Kandhamal and Nuapada in Phase 2 with CPI 4 to 8, and the rest in Phase 3 with CPI 8.1-12.4.
Following are some excerpts from that report:
The criteria for identification of location within the district may be the following:
a. The college has to be located in an area of the district having no college in the vicinity of 10 km radius.
b. Predominantly rural location where the proportion of rural population in area is higher than the State average
c. A new college as an additional one in the vicinity shall be permitted only if the existing college has more than 1000 students, or there is no separate college for women in the area of 10 km. radius.
d. Accessibility : The location of the college should be such that it is accessible, i.e. reasonably well connected by transport facilities so that the college may serve a larger catchments area.
e. Population density: The proposed college should be located subject to fulfillment of the above-mentioned criteria in locations having higher population density in comparison with other contending locations.
4.1. Non- recurring Budget requirements:
4..1.1. Land : Since the Model colleges are to be established in rural, hilly, forest, tribal and other priority areas as per the criteria already described in chapter.2., a minimum of 10 acres of land need to be provided by the State Government concerned to each of the college in the identified low GER district.
4.1.2. Non recurring infrastructure requirements per college:
4.1.2.1. Academic & administrative buildings (3000 sq.mtrs) : 2.5 crores
4.1.2.2. Campus development : 2.0 crores
4.1.2.3. Hostels for 100 students : 1.0 crores*
4.1.2.4.Teachers’/Non teaching quarters – 20 each; : 2.5 crores
4.1.2.5. Laboratories : 0.2 crore
4.1.2.6. Library : 0.2 crore
4.1.2.7. Computer Centre : 0.2 crore
4.1.2.8. Health centre : 0.1 crore
4.1.2.9. sports facilities : 0.1 crore
4.1.2.10 Miscellaneous : 0.2 crore
Total per College Non-recurring :9.0 Crores.
* the expenditure towards hostel could be sanctioned through the UGC special scheme for “ hostels”. The net Non-recurring requirements would thus be Rs.8.0. crores per college.
4.1.2. Recurring Budget requirement: It would involve the salary requirements for 25 teaching and 25 nonteaching personnel for each college and the college maintenance expenditure of Rs.50.0 lakhs per annum to be provided by the State government concerned.
4.1.4.1. Model I: Fully Government supported Colleges:
Non-Recurring : 100 % by Central Government, while the required land for the colleges has to be provided by the State Govt.
(This pattern of financial support by Central Govt. is necessary to motivate the State Governments to
establish these model colleges in the Low GER districts adhering to the criteria suggested for actual location of these Colleges within the LOW GER districts) Recurring : 100% by the State Government;
Orissa should follow this lead and have one university in each of its undivided districts. The undivided 13 districts of Orissa were: Puri, Cuttack, Sundargarh, Baleswar, Sambalpur, Bolangir, Kalahandi, Koraput, Phulbani, Dhenkanal, Kendujhar, Ganjam and Mayurbhanj. Among those the six districts Bolangir, Kalahandi, Koraput, Phulbani, Dhenkanal and Kendujhar do not have a university. The Orissa government should take advantage of the central government’s offer and set up a university in each of these districts.
(Update on June 17 2008: For guidance on what you can get with your Orissa JEE rank in 2008, please see http://www.orissalinks.com/archives/1185 I do not have more information than that.)
Continuing with our methodology, and solely based on the student preferences in the GE (general) category, we develop a ranking below. Our methodology is we compare when the various branches of the colleges get finished. For example below when we write CET (8, 8, 12, 12, 16) it means that two of the CET branches were all finished in the GE category by the ranks 800, two by 1200 and one by 1600. We will use the first three numbers unless it becomes necessary to go beyond that.
1. UCE Burla (8,8,12,12,16)
1. CET Bhubaneswar (8,8,12,12,16)
2. ITER Bhubaneswar (16,16,16)
3. Silicon Bhubaneswar (16, 20, 20)
4. CV Raman Bhubaneswar (20,24,28)
5. NIST Berhampur (24, 24, 28)
6. GITA Bhubaneswar(28,28,32)
7. Orissa Eng College Bhubaneswar (28, 28, 36)
7. IGIT Sarang (20,28,45)
8. College of Eng Bhubaneswar (36,36,41)
9. Gandhi Eng College Bhubaneswar (36,41,45)
10. Krupajala Bhubaneswar (45,45,45)
10. Trident Bhuabneswar (41, 45, 50)
11. East Bhubaneswar (45,55,66)
11. Gandhi Inst for Tech Bhubaneswar (50,50,60)
11. GIET Gunupur (50,50,60)
12. Orissa school of mining eng Keonjhar (45, 55, 117)
13. NMIET Bhubaneswar (66, 72, 78)
14. DRIEMS Dhenkanala(72,72,100)
15. Konark Bhubaneswar (78, 78, 117)
15. Koustuva Bhubaneswar (78, 100, 100)
15. Mahavir Bhubaneswar (78, 84, 100)
15. Synergy Dhenkanal (78, 84, 100)
16. Nalanda Bhubaneswar (84, 84, 100)
17. Rajdhani Bhubaneswar (84, 100, 100)
18. Roland Berhampur (84,100, 108)
19. Techno Bhubaneswar (84, 100, 117)
19. Padmanav Rourkela (100,100,100)
20. Ajay Binay Cuttack (100,100,117)
21. Ghanashyam Hemalata Puri(100,108,136)
22. Jagannath Cuttack (108,117,147)
22. Bhadrakh (117,117, 136)
23. JITM Parlakhemundi (117,126,147)
24. Inst of Adv Rayagada (117,136,159)
24. Sanjay Memorial Berhampur (117,147,159)
24. Purushottam Rourkela (126,126,136)
26. Balasore (136,136,159)
27. Seemanta Mayurbhanj (159, 159, 186)
28. Padmashree Baragarh (172,172,200)
29. Majighariani Rayagada (172,200,200)
30. Satyasai Balasore (159, 172, 999)
31. Samanta Chandra Sekhar Koraput (186,999,999)
32. Gopal Krishna Jeypore (999,999,999)
The colleges that are missing from the above are NIT Rourkela, and KIIT. I consider NIT Rourkela to currently be the best in Orissa. I would slot KIIT around ITER and Silicon.
Outlook for 2008-2009:
Now that ITER’s parent organization Siksha O Anusandhan has become a deemed university, ITER may opt out of Orissa JEE and/or 2008 BPUT counseling.
In 2008 and 2009 there would be several new colleges.
… government of Orissa is planning to set up medical colleges in Angul, Koraput, Mayurbhanj and Balangir, revealed a Public Private Partnership (PPP) Initiative document.
… According to sources, the Chief District Medical Officers (CDMO) of these districts has been asked to identify at least 25 acres of land nearby the District Headquarters Hospitals (DHH). These DHH will be attached to the medical colleges to facilitate practical training to the students.
Chairman and Managing Director of Mahanadi Coalfields Limited (MCL) Shriram Upadhyay seems more concerned for educational and social development of Orissa than his counterpart in National Aluminium Company (Nalco) Chitta Ranjan Pradhan.
Upadhyay is eager to provide fund for establishment of a medical college at Talcher. Pradhan, though an Oriya, on the other hand, has till date not shown any interest in investing in human resource development of the State in a big way.
Interestingly, Nalco’s medical bill per annum is around Rs14 crore, and if this Navratna public sector undertaking (PSU) takes a bold step, it could save the huge medical expenses for its employees by investing in setting up of a medical college and hospital.
Lack of interest at the top management level of Nalco to fund in social sector of the State has irked the leading non-resident Oriyas (NROs) and educationists. While major private investors have been providing funds for development of the educational sector, PSU Nalco’s shyness to develop Orissa as an educational hub has resulted in a sorry state of affairs, lamented Professor Chitta Baral, who teaches at the Arizona State University.
Prof Baral has asked the Nalco chief to fund a medical college at Damanjodi (Koraput), an engineering college at Angul and a topnotch management institute in Bhubaneswar. He said that this is high time the Nalco authorities were forced to invest in the social sector in a big way.
Owing to political pressure, Nalco is funding few projects in Koraput and Anugul, alleged an educationist. He said that Nalco must take cue from MCL and Central Coalfields Limited (CCL) in taking initiative for investment in the social sector. CCL, it may be pointed out, is funding an engineering college in Jharkhand, its area of operation. Similarly, the Bokaro Steel Plant is also funding a medical college in Jharkhand.
… As Nalco has applied for another bauxite mines in Orissa, it is high time the State Government pressurised the PSU to fund liberally in the educational sector of the State, he said.
Following is Sambada’s tongue-in-cheek take in its Sunday magazine article on City Politics.
Following is an excerpt from a news report in Pioneer.
Coming under a sustained pressure from the State Government, the Mahanadi Coalfield Ltd (MCL) has reportedly agreed to set up a Medical College at Talcher. A decision to this effect was taken at a high-level joint meeting between the Coal India Limited (CIL) Chairman Partha S Bhattacharjee and Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik at the State Secretariat on Thursday.
During the meeting, Patnaik placed a proposal before the Coal India Chairman to convert the existing 100 bedded hospital at Talcher to a 400-bedded hospital and to make it a full-fledged Medical College. Bhattacharjee promptly agreed to Patnaik’s proposal, sources said.
… Mahanadi Coalfields Limited CMD SR Upadhayay, Principal Secretary to Chief Minister Bijay Kumar Patnaik and Secretary, Energy, Suresh Chandra Mohapatra were present at the meeting.
The recent announcements of the locations of the 30 central universities, new IITs and IIMs and earlier announcements of IISERs shows how the Government of India has corrected the earlier imbalance in terms of marquee HRD institution locations and has now spread its HRD institutions all across India. The Orissa government should do the same. In particular, for Orissa to get to the targeted 15% enrollment in higher education from its current 6.1% it must provide opportunities of higher education across Orissa. With this in mind we propose that while announcing its IIT and central university locations it must do the following:
Not be complacent and pursue other undecided issues at MHRD (this includes pursuing one of the proposed 10 NITs, one of the four new National Institutes of Design, an NIFT, one of the 20 IIITs etc.)
Establish new universities and institutions across Orissa to fill existing holes in Orissa higher education landscape. In particular it should:
Establish the IIT at a location a bit far from Bhubaneswar (as far as acceptable to center, and as far as it can still maintain its proximity to Bhubaneswar to be able to be competitive in recruiting good faculty)
Establish the second central university in KBK with branch campuses across KBK+ districts. The first choice for a HQ could be Bhawanipatna, which is well connected to other places in KBK. Alternatives are Koraput-Jeypore area or Rayagada. If the center does not allow this and requires that the central university be near a city then Rourkela (which is without a regular university) would be a good location.
The new IIIT should be in location other than Rourkela and Bhubaneswar, and in a place where there is an STPI. Berhampur would be a first choice. Other choices could be Bhadrakh (between Kalinganagar industrial area and Balasore) and Sambalpur.
New NIT: If it will be an upgradation, then UCE Burla is the first choice. If it will be a greenfield one then possible choices include industry hubs such as Angul, Kalinganagar, Rayagada.
A regular university in Rourkela: Rourkela, the second largest metropolitan area of Orissa needs a regular university where students can pursue masters and Ph.Ds in science, liberal arts, etc.
A medical college in Rourkela.
A medical college in North Orissa: Balasore has been demanding a medical college for a long time.
Upgrade UCE Burla to a state university and position it better to make it an IIEST similar to what West Bengal and Kerala did with respect to BESU and CUSAT respectively.
State universities in KBK region: The government should aim for three universities for the three undivided KBK districts. If a central university is established in one of the three districts then the other two should have state universities.
The state government should make a few more state engineering colleges in industrial and emerging areas such as Rayagada, Kalinganagar, Jharsuguda and Paradeep. Perhaps the premiere engineering schools in Berhampur and Jharsuguda can be upgraded to engineering colleges.
A medical college, perhaps in partnership with NALCO and/or MCL and a regular university in Angul-Talcher area may also be considered.
To do the above the state might consider going the PPP route and creating a corpus of 1000-2000 crores.
