Six crores for renovation of the Sanskrit University: Pioneer

Following is an excerpt from a report in the Pioneer.

The university will receive Rs 3 crore for its infrastructure development, while the UGC will also provide Rs 47 lakh for the year.

Besides, the university will have block grant of Rs 2.26 crore and an additional research grant of Rs 10 lakh from the State Government. The Syndicate has approved an annual budget of about Rs 6.94 crore. A 100-bed, two-storied hostel will come up on the campus soon to address the constriction.

The university has further resolved to institute scholarships to the tune of Rs 1 lakh this year to attract poor and meritorious students to pursue their studies. Research on the Jagannath culture being a major objective of the university, a sum of Rs 10 lakh received from the State Government will be utilised in it this year. Earlier, funds for research on the Jagannath culture were provided by the Puri temple trust.

Add comment April 28th, 2008

NCERT and Tamil Nadu boardBooks available free on-line

See http://www.ncert.nic.in/textbooks/testing/Index.htm for the NCERT books (Thanks to Abi for the pointer.) See http://www.textbooksonline.tn.nic.in/Default.htm for the Govt. of Tamil Nadu text books.

1 comment April 27th, 2008

Sports hostels in Orissa

The following is from http://orissagov.nic.in/sports&youthservices/dsys/hostels.htm.

The Sports Hostel Scheme was launched in our State in the year 1985 with the objective to enable the talented young Sports persons to undergo systematic coaching for a prolonged period. As per the scheme, the young talented boys and girls in the age group of 10-14 yrs. are selected from the grass-root level through a rigorous process of tests which include anthropometrics as well as series of battery of tests.  After determining their motor capabilities, they are finally selected on the basis of their performance in specific skill tests.  The Sports Hostel scheme has paid rich dividends as large number of Sports Hostel products have proved their worth in National and International tournaments. At present there are 14 Sports Hostels and 3 Centers of Excellence functioning in the State.

 NON-PLAN SECTOR

TRIBAL AREA SUB-PLAN SECTOR

 Government in Sports & Y.S Department bears the expenditure towards the stipend of the inmates @ Rs. 2250/- per head per month, Sports kits and uniforms, medicine, bedding  materials, admission fees of Schools and T.A/D.A etc. for attending different National/International tournaments and coaching camp wherever necessary. Scientific coaching in systematic manner by experienced coaches are provided to these inmates during their stay in the hostels.

CENTRE OF EXCELLENCE

Government in Sports Department have implemented the scheme of  Centre of  Excellence for  providing intensive coaching to Sports persons between the age group of 15-18 years who are proficient in the concerned field.  In order to be eligible for admission to the Centre of Excellence a candidate must have secured first to sixth position in any recognized National Championship either in Individual or Team events. During their stay in the Centre the inmates enjoy the same facilities availed by their sports Hostels counterparts. The scheme has proved it’s worth as many of the inmates of Centers of Excellence have laurels for the State. In pursuance of this scheme, the Centre of Excellence at the following places are now functional in the State:

TALENT SCOUTING

          Govt. in Sports & Youth Services Department have established 14 Sports Hostels in the State. In order to spot the budding sporting talents from grass root level and to nurture them by admitting in to Sports Hostels the Scheme of Talent Scouting has been formulated in the following manner. The talents must be within the age group of 10 to 14 Years and a student of Class-VIII or below in recognized educational institutions in order to be eligible to appear at the talent scouting selection .

  A)               Block & Dist. Level Selection

At the advent of each Academic Session, all Collectors of the Districts are requested to circulate the Scheme at Panchayat level & Block level for wide publicity and information of the interested sports talents as well as their parents to appear the selection test. It is the responsibility of the Block Development Officers to instruct the educational institutions for selection of talents at Gram Panchayat & Block level. The District Sports Officer of concerned District co-ordinates with the B. D. Os & educational institutions for selection process. Selection of talents at Block & District level Competition are organized in all Districts in order to select the outstanding talents of the Districts. Adequate publicity in print and electronics media regarding conduct of the lower level scouting as well as district level scouting are made for information of general public.

B)              State Level Assessment Camp

After conduct of the Selection trail in all the Districts, the D.S.Os send the list of selected talents along with their detail Bio-Data, motor ability test and Battery test report etc. to the Directorate of Sports & YS., Orissa, Bhubaneswar. A Committee is constituted in the Directorate of Sports & Y.S, Orissa, Bhubaneswar for scrutinization of the lists sent by all the D.S.Os.  Keeping in view the vacancies in different disciplines in all the Sports Hostels a select list of talents is prepared in order to call them for the State level scouting. After fixation of the date of State level selection all the D.S.Os are intimated regarding the list of selected talents in the State level scouting of their respective districts with instruction to ensure attendance of the talents. Selection committees are constituted in all eleven disciplines to prepare the merit list of the talents for admission in the Sports Hostels taking in to consideration of their age, educational qualification, motor ability and skill in the particular discipline.

The selected talents are intimated on the spot for taking admission into the Sports Hostels within specific time frame.  

NON-RESIDENTIAL SUMMER COACHING CAMP

 With a view to provide Coaching to the talents in rural areas as well as urban areas of the State in the popular disciplines of the localities concerned, the scheme of Non-Residential Summer Coaching Camp has been introduced by the Sports & Youth Services Department. Normally these camps are held during Summer vacation during the month of May-June every year. Coaches of the Directorate of Sports & Youth Services, Orissa Council of Sports and Sports Authority of India are deputed for imparting the Coaching in the camps. Concerned D.S.Os in co-ordination with local Sports Clubs, Sports lovers and educational institutions conducts the coaching camps which generally conducted for two weeks. Provision of refreshment and Sports kits are supplied for the purpose. 

4.       SAI SPORTS HOSTEL, CUTTACK

Sports Authority of India has established a Sports Hostel (Residential) at Cuttack to provide coaching to the students between 16-20 years of age in the disciplines of Athletics, Gymnastics, Football etc.  The students residing in SAI sports hostel are getting monthly stipend of Rs. 1500/- towards their fooding charges.  The total sanctioned strength of this hostel is 74.  Besides this, a Non-residential Training Centre is also functioning at Cuttack in Football and Athletics with a student strength of 20.

5.       SPDA SPORTS HOSTEL, DHENKANAL

          Sports Authority of India has established a Sports Hostel at Dhenkanal for development of Sports talents in the disciplines of Football & Athletics.

1.       CENTRE OF EXCELLENCE

Government in Sports Department have implemented the scheme for providing intensive coaching to sports persons between the age group of 15-20 years who are proficient in the concerned field in pursuance of this scheme,  the Centre of Excellence at the following places have been opened; 

Sports Hostels

Students belonging to the age group of 10-14 yrs are being admitted into sports hostels in the State situated at different places.

          There are 14 sports hostels as detailed below;

Centre of Excellence

There are 3 Centres of Excellence in the State

1.       Centre of Excellence (Sports Hostel, Panposh)                 Hockey                  36

2.       Centre of Excellence (Sports Hostel, Berhampur)              Wt.Lifting              03

3.       Centre of Excellence (Sports Hostel, Bhubaneswar) Athletics & Wt.Lifting     16

          Sports persons having excellent performance in the age group of 15-20 yrs are inducted to the Centre of Excellence for intensive coaching.  They are provided with  monthly stipend of Rs. 1200/- towards fooding expenses & other facilities as available to the inmates of Sports Hostels.

Add comment April 27th, 2008

Sri Sri Ravishankar Vidya Mandir Trust will set up a medical college and super specialty hospital near Naraj

Following is an excerpt from a news report in Pioneer.

Sri Sri Ravishankar Vidya Mandir Trust will set up a medical college and super specialty hospital near Naraj. Earlier, it was announced to set up a private university at Naraj. It has also planned to set up health centre in all the districts of the State.

In this connection, Trust member Yezdi Batliwala called on Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Saturday at the State Secretariat.

The State Government has allotted 185.97 acres of land for this purpose. The proposed university would have a core campus comprising academic and non-academic buildings to cater to the needs of 15,000 students, 1,500 faculty and matching number of non-teaching staff.

Basic science, humanities, engineering, medicine, pharmacy, business management, law, bio-science, art, culture and Vedic studies, Ayurveda, aviation and maritime training will be on course list. The campus will house a sports complex, recreational facilities, utility centres and meditation halls.

Following is from Samaja.

Add comment April 27th, 2008

Vedanta University will work towards giving 25 percent seats to the students from Orissa who will be taken on merit basis: Anil Agarwal to IANS

Following is an excerpt from an IANS report in thaiindian.com. (Also reported in indiaprwire.com.)

The Anil Agarwal Foundation, promoted by Agarwal, is setting up a multi-disciplinary world-class Vedanta University near the Konark-Puri marine drive with an investment of Rs.150 billion ($3.75 billion) in phases.

Vedanta Alumina, part of the Vedanta Resources (Sterlite) Group, is building an alumina refinery with an investment of $800 million in the state’s Kalahandi region.

It is also building an aluminium smelter project costing Rs.70 billion in Jharsuguda district.

“Our refinery project in Lanjigarh is one of the best projects in the world. We hope bauxite will be available for it,” Agarwal said.

He was hopeful of getting raw material and adequate water for the Lanjigarh project. “There is enough water in the Hirakud reservoir for industries and we will not touch a drop of water meant for farmers,” he said.

Regarding rehabilitation of the affected people, he said: “We will follow R&R (resettlement and rehabilitation) policy of the Orissa government for all our projects.” He described Orissa’s R&R policy as the best in the country.

Speaking of the progress of Vedanta University, Agarwal said in the first phase, the foundation stone for a medical college and a 600-bed hospital will be laid soon in the university campus.

“We will work towards giving 25 percent seats to the students from Orissa who will be taken on merit basis,” he remarked.

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

VEDANTA Resources,which has proposed a university at Puri, intends to establish a multi-disciplinary hospital of international standard in the first phase.

Work for the hospital will start during the first quarter of next year. The project is targeted to be complete by 2010.

"Health is a priority area so far as CSR is concerned," Chairman,Vedanta Resources Anil Agarwal said during a tete-e-tete with Editors of the newspapers here today.

Agarwal who met Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik earlier in the day reiterated his company’s demand for ensuring 150 million tonne of bauxite for its alumina plant at Lanjigarh. Seventy million tonne out of the total, Agarwal suggested, was to come from Niyamgiri area as assured at the time of MoU and the rest to be made available from Sasubahumali in Koraput.

The other contentious issue for Vedanta is water for its power and smelter plant at Jharsuguda. Given the agitation by farmers over use of water from Hirakud for industrial purpose, Agarwal suggested that his company is prepared to pump in Rs 30 crore as an interim measure to source water from downstream of the reservoir to avoid any conflict with farmer’s interests.

He informed that the smelter plant at Jharsuguda is all set for commercial production and would go in phases. In the first phase, the company will go for 0.5 million tonne of smelter.

Vedanta Resources has already signed 100 MoUs with different companies for ancilliarisation at Jharsguda.

Asked,why Puri was selected as the site for the university,Agarwal said, his consultants had suggested seven proposals in different states but he selected Puri for its water frontage.

Stating that the university project is estimated at Rs 15000 crore, he informed that the Anil Agarwal Foundation will fund Rs 5000 crore to begin with.

Earlier, talking to mediapersons Agarwal parried a question on AICC general secretary Rahul Gandhi opposing bauxite mining lease to refinery project.

He also informed that 25 percent of the students for the university will be given preference from the State of Orissa.

Following is from Samaja.

Add comment April 27th, 2008

ICAR Foot and mouth disease (FMD) lab to be established in Jatni near Bhubaneswar

Following is an excerpt from a report in New Indian Express. (See http://www.orissalinks.com/?p=1103 for other ICAR labs/institutes in Orissa and India.)

The International and National centre on FMD would be set up by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) at Jatni about 25 kms from here. The State Government has already identified 116.325 acre of land for the Rs 400 crore Central Government sponsored project.

The state-of-the art facility with Bio Safety level (3+) standardisation will work for control and containment of virulent, pathogenic and mutagenic FMD virus. The disease in endemic to India and manifests itself across regions round the year.

The lab would receive samples from the country as well as abroad for identification, characterisation of the biological pathogens that caused the disease. It will also act as a repository for various serotypes.

Telegraph also reports on this.

Add comment April 26th, 2008

ICAR institutes, project directorates and national research centers

Following is from http://www.icar.org.in/icar7.htm.

Institutes/ Bureaues