Archive for July, 2011

High Court to resolve the ESIC medical college location issue; Kudos to the persistent efforts by the Rourkela action committee; Join them via rourkelacity.com to further the development of Rourkela

Following is from a report in ibnlive.com.

The Orissa High Court has directed the state government, union and the authorities of the ESIC to clarify their stand on the establishment of an ESIC Medical College at its existing hospital in Orissa.Acting on a writ petition, the HC bench comprising Chief Justice V Gopal Gowda and Justice B N Mohapatra has given two weeks time to the parties to submit their replies on the issue.The action committee of Rourkela had filed the writ petition in the High Court as the state government alloted the land.The action committee has been demanding establishment of the ESIC medical college here stating that out of 2.70 lakh Insured Persons (IPs) in the state 65 per cent were from tribal dominated districts of Sundargarh, Jharsuguda, Keonjhar and Sambalpur.

This should resolve the ESIC medical college location issue. So far the central government and the state government have never been able to give a proper answer to the logic behind choosing Bhubaneswar as the location, despite indications that more insured people will be served if it was located in Rourkela.

Kudos to the people who have persisted on this for more than 2 years. Their latest efforts are chronicled in http://www.rourkelacity.com. BPUT is next on their agenda. Rightly so, as very little progress has been made on BPUT front.  I hope others interested in the development of Rourkela will join http://www.rourkelacity.com and actively help in the efforts being organized there.

This can also serve as a guide to people from other areas on how to organize themselves and help and watchout for the development of areas of their interest.

3 comments July 30th, 2011

Sujata Mohapatra, distinguished disciple and daughter-in-law of late legendary Odissi maestro Kelucharan Mohapatra opens the Odissi dance institute “Guru Keerti Srjan” in Balasore

Following is an excerpt from a report in Hindu.

The distinguished disciple and daughter-in-law of late legendary Odissi maestro Kelucharan Mohapatra opened an Odissi dance institute namely Guru Keerti Srjan in the North Orissa town of Baleswar. Aptly as the name of the institute suggested, Guru Keerti (legacy of the Guru) and Srjan (creativity and the name of the Bhubaneswar-based Odissi institution that Guru Kelucharan had founded) has been visualised to carry forward the legacy of the great master who was known for his unbound creativity. “This institute would specially care for the uncared-for talents who would be groomed in the age old guru-shishya tradition. Besides, my thrust would be on propagation of authentic Odissi tradition through proper teaching,” stated Sujata.

 

July 29th, 2011

Status of IIT Bhubaneswar three years after its inception – excerpts from its Director Prof. Madhusudan Chakraborty’s address on its 4th institute day celebration on 22nd July 2011

Today, the 22nd July, is a very auspicious day for us. It is on this day in 2008, the society of IIT Bhubaneswar was registered. Further, the date assumes more significance as we began our academic programme from the city of Bhubaneswar for the first time on 22nd July 2009. I wish to avail this opportunity to congratulate our students, staff, officers and faculty, who all are working as a dedicated team to develop this new IIT, for successfully completing 2 years of existence in the city of Bhubaneswar.

Infrastructure:

Temporary Campuses
We started our journey in 2008 from the campus of IIT Kharagpur. As mentioned earlier, we commenced our operation from the city of Bhubaneswar from 22nd July 2009. Currently, we are operating from a number of campuses which include IIT Kharagpur Extension Centre, Toshali Plaza at Satyanagar and Workshop cum laboratory complex near IIT Kharagpur extension Centre. Government of Odisha provided us about one (1) acre of land on which we have already constructed a new workshop cum laboratory complex (22000 sq. meters). The Government of Odisha also provided us two towers of Toshali Bhavan which we have already renovated. In addition IIT Kharagpur has constructed a new 200 capacity Dr. A. N. Khosla Hall of Residence near the Workshop cum Laboratory Complex for the students of this Institute. I must avail this opportunity to thank IIT Kharagpur for constructing the hostel which is of great convenience to us. We are also getting support of some of the sister Institutes like IMMT (CSIR) and Central Tool Room and Training Centre.

The class rooms and the laboratories are in place in our campuses at IIT Kharagpur Extension Centre, Toshali Plaza and the New Workshop cum Laboratory Complex.

IIT Bhubaneswar is well equipped with modern Teaching rooms and Teaching and Research Laboratories. All the class rooms are fitted with Multimedia Projectors, Internet Facilities and Wireless Connectivity. Besides the Normal teaching rooms, The Institute designed and developed three Virtual Class Rooms (VCR) sponsored by National Knowledge Networks (NKN). These rooms facilitate Real time on campus and Off-campus teaching learning process. These rooms are equipped with high end and high resolution equipment to facilitate the real time interaction among the students and teachers of the campus and as well as off campus students and faculty members. These class rooms are connected to the NKN Network by means of a dedicated 1GBPS Leased Lines.

The Government of Odisha has provided us 14 flats at Government Colony, Gajapati Nagar. We are fortunate to have found cooperation from the Housing Complex in SBI Colony Kesura wherein we have hired about 60 HIG 3 bed-roomed flats and few MIG flats for accommodation of our students and faculty. While the 3rd and 4th year male students have been being accommodated in the A. N. Khosla Hall of Residence, we have to accommodate others (all the girl students, research scholars and 1st and 2nd year students) in SBI Colony Kesura, 10 KM away from our academic campus. I may avail this opportunity to put on records my deep appreciation of the students, the staff and faculty who have to commute regularly between their residence and the various academic campuses. I am aware that this is strenuous. But I am sure our students, faculty and staff will accommodate the strains and be a part of the history in the making.

Permanent campus
The Foundation Stone of our campus at Arugul was laid on 12th February 2009. The Government of Odisha has allotted 936 acres of land at Arugul (near Jatni) for developing this new IIT of which we already have taken advanced possession of 598 acres. The Government of Odisha has started construction of 4 lane access road to IIT Campus from the National Highway 5. The work on water supply and electric supply to the campus is also in progress. The power supply systems for construction are virtually ready. The Honourable Chief Minister himself as well as the Chief Secretary of the Sate are taking active interests in the developmental work and are addressing issues that need their constant attention. It may not be out of place to mention that the Government of Odisha has also agreed to provide us 75 acres of land on Puri–Konark coast to set up an Innovation Centre for Climate Change.

Out of total 19 KM, we already have completed construction of 8 Km of boundary wall. About 10 bore wells have been sunk to facilitate construction work. IIT Bhubaneswar has also taken up tree plantation programme for its new campus.

The master plan of the new campus at Arugul for 10, 000 students, 1000 faculty and 1100 supporting staff has been approved and the total construction should be completed in 3 phases in next 12-15 years. The work for land grading, road and other related construction are expected to begin in August 2011. While the Government of India has approved construction of 2, 21,000 sq meter of covered area in the 1st phase, our consultant has already completed conceptual design of 1, 20, 000 sq meters of covered areas for various schools, residential quarters, hostels and other service/administrative buildings based on the availability of fund in the initial phase. Applications for clearance form statutory bodies (e.g. forest, BDA, environment) are under process and such clearance are expected shortly. We expect the tendering process to be over and hope that CPWD would be able to start the construction work by the end of this year or early next year. We are planning to move to our new campus by end 2013 or beginning 2014.

Academics

Academic Schools
IIT Bhubaneswar promotes a borderless academic environment: We have the concept of Schools, rather than Departments. We encourage academic staff and students to work together in an interdisciplinary environment. Initially we had set up the following five (5) schools:

• School of Basic Sciences (Physics, Chemistry, Bioscience, Mathematics)

• School of Humanities, Social Sciences and Management

• School of Mechanical Sciences (Mechanical, Manufacturing & Industrial Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, Naval Architecture)

• School of Infrastructure (Civil Engineering, Architecture, Urban Design, Town Planning, Traffic & Transportation Engineering)

• School of Electrical Sciences (Electrical Engineering, Electronics Communication Engineering, Computer Science and Engineering, Energy, Learning Sciences, Instrumentation)

The Institute has just set up the following two (2) new Schools:

• School of Mineral, Metallurgical and Materials Engineering – Materials, Metallurgy, Mining (Relevant to the Rich Resources of metals and minerals in the region)

• School of Earth Ocean and Climate Sciences (Relevant to the region keeping in view the vast Coast Line, Rich Biodiversity and mineral resources, need for Disaster Management and Mitigation arising out of Flood, Cyclone etc.) As a part of this School, the Institute will set up an Innovation Centre for Climate Change on the Puri-Konark coast line.

The following schools are proposed to be set up in the second phase of our expansion:

•School of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering Chemical, biochemical, biomedical, biotechnology

• School of Design and Creative Arts

Academic Activities
We started our journey with a total of 94 students in three (3) undergraduate programmes namely civil, electrical and mechanical engineering with an intake capacity of 40 each in 2008. We already have introduced Ph. D. programmes from 2009 and have about 35 Research Scholars. We are planning to start our postgraduate (MS/M. Tech.) programmes from July 2012. Currently, we have about 500 students (UG and Ph. D.), 50 full time faculty members 7 officers and 40 supporting staff.

Awards and Honours
We are proud that our Chairman Board of Governors, Professor P. Rama Rao, has received the second highest civilian award “Padma Vibhushan” of the Government of India this year.

Prof. S. C. Datta of the School of Infrastructure was awarded Fulbright-Nehru Sr. Research Fellowship and he visited the University of California at Davies, USA. He has been awarded the prestigious Occasional Lecturer Fund by Council for International Exchange of Scholars, US Department of State, for delivering two invited lectures at University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth, during his Fulbright Grant period in USA. Dr. Sumanta Haldar of the same School received the Prof. Leonard’s best Ph.D. thesis award from Indian Geotechnical Society. Dr. C.S. Bhende of the School of Electrical Science received the best Ph.D. thesis award from Indian National Academy of Engineering.

Mr. Pyari Mohan Pradhan, Mrt. Satyasai Jagannath Nanda and Mr. Vikas Baghel, Research Scholars of the School Electrical Sciences were awarded the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, Government of Canada, “Commonwealth Graduate Student Exchange Programme” fellowship. Dr. Subhransu R. Samantaray of the same School won the Samanta Chandra Sekhar Award for 2010 from Orissa Bigyan Academy for his contribution to Engineering and Technology by Oriya Scientist working in Odisha. Dr D. Sahoo of Humanities, Social Sciences and Management received the Best Paper Award at the International Workshop on Regional Competitiveness and International factors Mobility at Oriens France. Professor M. Chakraborty received the Best Technical Paper Award 2010 from the Indian Foundry Journal of the Institute of Indian Foundrymen.

Mr. Raghav. R, 3rd Year Student of Mechanical Engineering won the All India essay competition for college students conducted by the NGO: Nandini Voice for the Deprived

Publications
Within 2 years of our existence in the city of Bhubaneswar, the faculty members have already contributed to creating new knowledge by publishing about 115 papers in National and International Journals of repute. Besides, 85 papers have been presented in various National and International Conferences in India and Abroad that have made our presence felt all over the world. Our doctoral and undergraduate students have also published a few papers in journals and made presentations in conferences. Our faculty members have also published 17 books/ chapters of books in Humanities, Science and Technology.

Sponsored Projects and Consultancy and Endowment
The Institute already has received a number of sponsored projects from various funding agencies like DST, CSIR and DRDO and consultancy from industries worth more than 320 lakhs.

Industries are coming forward to join us in developing this new IIT. M/s MGM Minerals Group has already established a perpetual “MGM Chair Professor” for the School of Minerals, Metallurgical and Materials Engineering with an endowment of Rs 300 lakhs.

International Collaborations
IIT Bhubaneswar has started collaborative activities with a few Universities abroad. We already have signed MOU for faculty exchange programmes with the University fo Massachusetts at Dartmouth USA, and the University of Western Ontario Canada. Professor Lord S. Kumar Bhattacharyya of the Warwick Manufacturing Group, of the University of Warwick has been appointed as Distinguished Visiting Professor of IIT Bhubaneswar while Professor Richard Dashwood of the same university spent two weeks at IIT Bhubaneswar as visiting Professor in March 2011. Professor Asit K Biswas, President of the Third World Centre for Water Management, Winner of Stockholm Water Prize (2006) has also been appointed as Distinguished Visiting Professor of this Institute.

Workshop/Conferences
The Institute organized a one day workshop “An Academy – Industry Interface” with participation from the Warwick Manufacturing Group, the University of Warwick, UK, IIT Bhubaneswar, Tata Steel, Infosys, IBM, WIPRO, L&T and others on 17th September 2010. Another workshop “Multivariate Statistical Analysis” was organized by the School of Humanities, Social Science and Management on 24th March 2011. The Training and Placement Section had organized a Panel Discussion “Managing Generation Y in workplace – A Challenge to the Indian Industry” on 12th March 2011. The Institute has started organizing “Research Scholars Day” on the National Science Day on 28th February every year.

Summer Internships
Our students have received support from various Universities and Industries in India and Abroad for summer internships. Some of these Universities and Industries abroad are the University of North Texas, Oklahoma State University, University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth, Northern Arizona University in USA, University of Warwick UK, McGill University Canada, University of Cologne Germany, University of Padua Italy, Flanders Mechatronics Centre Belgium, ExTechNa GmbH Switzerland, University of Zacadecas Mexico, Tianjin University China, Ming Chi University Taiwan and University of Technology Malaysia.

… Student Activities
Our Students under the Students Gymkhana are quite active and are organizing various activities. They already have formed several societies like Robotics Society, Entrepreneurship Cell, Dramatic Society, Music Society to name a few. They have been organizing cultural (Alma Fiesta) and Techno-Management (Wiessenaire) festivals successfully with support from many sponsors/industries drawing participations from various colleges/institutions of the country.

July 28th, 2011

Current and Upcoming Education Hubs of India – Central, State, Private & Deemed Universities and University-like institutions in these places

The list below is culled from mutiple sources: Institutes of National Importance, Central Universities, State Universities, Private Universities, Deemed Universities and news items regarding upcoming universities. The color code below is red for centrally funded institutions, orange for state funded institutions, green for deemed universities, blue for private universities created by the state and black for unclear status. One exception is the "South Asian University" which is created by multiple countries; but inside India it is centrally funded.

  Mumbai Delhi-NOIDA-Gurgaon Kolkata Chennai
1 IIT Bombay IIT Delhi IISER Kolkata IIT Madras
2 Mumbai University (state) Delhi University (central) ISI Kolkata Anna University (state)
3 HBNI (deemed) JNU (central) IIM Calcutta Madras University (state)
4 TIFR (deemed) South Asian University IIEST Shibpur (prev. BESU) AMET University (deemed)
5 TISS (deemed) IIIT Delhi (state) West Bengal National University of Juridical Sciences (state) The Tamil Nadu Dr. M.G.R. Medical University (state)
6 Mahatma Gandhi Antarrashtriya Hindi Vishwavidyalaya (central) Indian Agricultural Research Institute (deemed) Calcutta University (state) Tamil Nadu Dr. Ambedkar Law University (state)
7 DY Patil Vidyapeeth, Navi Mumbai (deemed Univ)   Indian Institute of Foreign Trade (deemed) Jadavpur University (state) Tamil Nadu open University (state)
8 SNDT Womens University (state) Indian Law Institute (deemed) Rabindra Bharati University (state) Tamil Nadu Veterinary and Animal Sciences University (state)
9 Central Institute of Fisheries Education (deemed) Jamia Hamdard (deemed)  Presidency University (state) Bharath University (deemed)
10 Indira Gandhi Institute of Developmental Research (deemed) National Museum Institute of History of Art, Conservation and Musicology, National Museum (deemed)  West Bengal Univ. of Technology (state) Dr. M.G.R. University (deemed)
11 International Institute for Population Sciences (deemed) National School of Drama, Bahawalpur House (deemed)  West Bengal Univ. of Health Sc. (state) Sathyabama University   (deemed)
12 MGM Institute of Health Sciences, Navi Mumbai (deemed) National University of Educational Planning & Administration (deemed)  West Bengal Univ. of Animal & Fishery Sciences. (state) Sri Ramachandra Medical College and Research Institute (deemed)
13 Narsee Munjee Institute of Management Studies (deemed) Rashtriya Sanskrit Sansthana (deemed)  RKM Vivekananda University (deemed) Sri Ramaswamy Memorial (SRM) University (deemed)
14 Institute of Chemical Technology (deemed) School of Planning & Architecture (deemed)  Netaji Subhas Open University (state) Meenakshi University (deemed)
15
Shri Lal Bahadur Shastri Rashtriya Sanskrit Vidyapith (deemed) Aliah University (state) Saveetha University (deemed)
16   TERI School of Advanced Studies (deemed) West Bengal State University, Barasat (outskirts of Kolkata) Chennai Mathematical Institute (deemed)
17   Institute of Liver and Biliary Sciences(ILBS) (deemed) Bidhan Chandra University Of Agriculture, Kalyani  (50 kms from Kolkata) Hindustan Institute of Technology and Science (HITS), Kelamballam,  (deemed)
18   National Brain Research Centre, Gurgaon (deemed) Kalyani University (50 kms from Kolkata) Sri Chandrasekharendra Saraswathi Vishwa Mahavidyalaya,
Kancheepuram
(deemed)
19   Manav Rachna International University
Faridabad
(deemed)
  St. Peter’s Institute of Higher Education and Research (deemed)
20   Lingaya’s University Faridabad (deemed)   Vel’s Institute of Science, Technology & Advanced Studies (VISTAS) (deemed)
21   Jaypee Institute of Information Technology
A-10, Sector-62, Noida-201 307  (deemed)
  Chettinad Academy of Research & Education (CARE)
Kelambakkam, Kancheepuram Distt. 
(deemed)
22   Santosh University
Santosh Nagar,Ghaziabad
Uttar Pradesh. (deemed)

  Rajiv Gandhi National Institute of Youth Development,
Sriperumbudur
(deemed)
23   O.P. Jindal Global University
Sonepat (pvt)

  Vel Tech Rangrajan Dr. Sagunthala R&D Institute of Science & Technology (deemed)
24   ITM University
Gurgaon, Haryana
(pvt)
  B. S. Abdul Rahman Institute of Science & Technology
Vandalur, Kanchipuram
(deemed)
25   AMITY University, Gurgaon (pvt)   Anna University of Technology, Chennai (state)
26   Apeejay Stya University, Gurgaon (pvt)   Tamil Nadu Physical Education and Sports University (state)
27   Amity University, Uttar Pradesh
Gautam Budh Nagar
(pvt)
  Tamil Nadu teacher education university (state)
28   Sharda University
Gautam Budh Nagar
Greater Noida (UP)
(pvt.)
  Dakshina Bharat Hindi Prachar Sabha (INI)
29   Noida International University (pvt.)   IIIT D &M, Kanchipuram (INI)
30   NIT Delhi   Indian Maritime University (central)
31   Ambedkar University (state)    
32   Delhi Technological University (state)    
33   GGS Indraprastha Vishwavidyalaya (state)    
34   National Law University (state)    
35   YMCA University of Sc. & Tech., Faridabad (state)    
36   Gautam Buddha University (state)    
37   Mahamaya Technical University, NOIDA (state)    
38   Jamia Millia Islamia (central)
   
39   IGNOU (central)    
40   Shiv Nadar University    
41   AIIMS Delhi    
  Mumbai Delhi-NOIDA-Gurgaon Kolkata Chennai

 

  Bangalore Hyderabad Pune Ahmedabad Jaipur Bhubaneswar
 1 IISc Bangalore IIT Hyderabad IISER Pune  IIT Gandhinagar NIT Jaipur IIT Bhubaneswar
 2 IIM Bangalore Univ of Hyderabad (central) University of Pune IIM Ahmedabad Rajasthan University (state) NISER Bhubaneswar
 3 National Law School of India Univ. (state) Osmania University (state) Bharati Vidyapeeth (deemed)  NID Amity University (pvt) Utkal University
 4 Bangalore University (state) IIIT Hyderabad DY Patil Vidyapeeth (deemed) Gujarat University (state) Jaipur national University (pvt) Orissa University of Agri. & Tech.
 5 IIIT Bangalore NALSAR  University of Law Symbiosis (deemed) Nirma University of Sc & Tech (pvt) Jagadguru Ramanandacharya Sanskrit University (state) Ravenshaw University, Cuttack
 6 Visvesvaraya  Tech Univ. (state) Acharya NG Ranga Agricultural University (state) Tilak Maharashtra (deemed) Babasaheb Ambedkar Open University (state) Rajasthan University of Health Sciences (state) National Law University of Orissa, Cuttack
 7 Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences (state) B R Ambedkar Open University (state) Defense Institute of Advanced Technology (deemed) Gujarat Vidyapeeth (deemed) Suresh Gyan Vihar University. (pvt) Utkal University of Culture
 8 University of Agricultural Sciences (state) English and Foreign Language University (central) Deccan College (deemed) Gujarat National Law University, Gandhinagar (state) NIMS University. (pvt) KIIT (deemed)
 9 Christ University (deemed) JNTU Hyderabad Gokhale Institute of Politics and Economics (deemed) DA-IICT (pvt) Mahatma Jyoti Rao Phoole University. (pvt) SOA University (deemed)
10 Jain University (deemed) Nizam’s Institute of Medical Sciences Lalit Kala Vidyapeeth University (proposed) Pandit Deendayal Petroleum U, Gandhinagar. (pvt) LNMIIT (deemed) Sri Jagannath Sanskrit University, Puri
11 Alliance University (pvt) Potti Sreeramulu Telugu University   Kadi Sarva University, Gandhinagar. (pvt) Banasthali Vidyapeeth (72 kms from Jaipur) Sri Sri University (pvt) – act passed; expected to commence in 2012
12 Ajim Premji University (pvt) ICFAI Foundation for Higher Education (deemed)   Ahmedabad University (pvt) I.I.S. University (deemed) ICFAI University (pvt) – act passed; but yet to commence
13 Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research (deemed) Jawaharlal Nehru Architecture & Fine Arts University (state)   Charotar University of Science & Technology
Changa (pvt); 55 kms from Ahmedabad
Jagannath University (pvt.) AIIMS like Institute (To be operational in 2012 or 2013)
14  National Institute of Mental Health & Neuro Sciences (deemed) Maulana Azad National Urdu University (central)   Ganpat University (pvt) Jayoti Vidyapeeth Women’s University (pvt.) Vedanta University, Puri (pvt.) – act passed in assembly but yet to commence
15 Swami Vivekananda Yoga Anusandhana Samsthana (deemed)     Calrox Teacher’s University
Ahmedabad (pvt)

Xavier University (pvt) – bill expected to be presented in 2011.
16 Indian Institute of Human Settlement, Bangalore.     Centre for Environmental Planning & Technology University (state)   MANY MORE in the pipeline.
17 Tipu Sultan University of Science & Technology (proposed)     Gujarat Technological University (state)    
18       Gujarat Forensic Sciences University (state)    
 19       Central University of Gujarat, Gandhinagar (central)
   
  Bangalore Hyderabad Pune Ahmedabad Jaipur  Bhubaneswar

11 comments July 27th, 2011

Hope the Xavier University bill is finally tabled and passed in the Odisha assembly

Following is an excerpt from a report in Business Standard.

After giving its nod to four privately promoted universities in the state, the Orissa government is set to table the Xavier University Bill in the ensuing monsoon session of the assembly.

Earlier, the state assembly had passed bills for setting up of Sri Sri Ravi Shankar University, Vedanta University, Icfai University and Centurion University of Technology & Management.

"We are making efforts to introduce the Xavier University Bill in the monsoon session of the assembly. All problems relating to the establishment of the university will be sorted out,” said state Chief Secretary B K Patnaik.

P T Joseph, director, Xavier Institute of Management-Bhubaneswar (XIMB) said, “We want the status of a unitary university. Our proposed second university is coming up on 35 acres of land at Jatani in Khurda district. Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation of Orissa (Idco) is in the process of building a compound wall which will be completed soon. Then, we will start construction work on this campus in August.”

Joseph said, initially, XIMB will invest Rs 10-12 crore in the current financial year on the second campus.

While the university will function from XIMB’s existing campus in the city, the rural management course will be shifted to the new campus. Besides the flagship Post Graduate Diploma in Management (PGDM), the new campus will offer courses like healthcare management, education management, human resource management and a doctoral programme in management for working executives.

… XIMB also has plans to set up a campus at Bolangir for the rural management course and a B-school at Sambalpur but details are yet to be finalized.

If this happens this will be the first Xavier University in India.

1 comment July 25th, 2011

Information on pilot training course at Government Aviation Training Institute (GATI) in Bhubaneswar (from Telegraph)

Following are excerpts from Shilpi Sampad’s report in Telegraph.

Institute: The Government Aviation Training Institute, popularly known as Gati, is the only pilot training institute in the state, which is run by the government. It is located on the premises of Biju Patnaik Airport, Bhubaneswar.

Course: It offers two programmes – Private Pilot License and Commercial Pilot License, and runs three batches per year with a maximum of 30 trainees in each batch. The next batch starts from October. Interested candidates can start applying.

Important: A medical fitness certificate from a director general civil aviation (DGCA)-approved doctor is mandatory for admission.

Private Pilot License (PPL): It is a six-month course and the fee is nearly Rs 6 lakh. The minimum qualification is matriculation. PPL involves 50 hours of flying.

Commercial Pilot License (CPL): The course lasts for 18 to 22 months and costs around Rs 19 lakh. The minimum eligibility is Plus Two with pass marks in physics and mathematics. Aspirants from non-science background can take provisional admission and appear for the two subjects through open school exam. CPL involves 200 hours of flying.

Common features: For both courses, 350 hours of compulsory ground classes precede the flying. The classes include theoretical lessons in air regulation, air navigation, aviation meteorology, technical general and technical specific. After attending the required hours of ground classes, a trainee earns a Student Pilot License (SPL) and Flight Radio Telephony Operating License (FRTOL) for solo flying. Candidates, who wish to attend only these classes and pursue flying at any other institute, have to pay a course fee of Rs 1.35 lakh.

Flying training: There are four aircraft – two each of Cessna 152 (two-seater) and Cessna 172 (four-seater). There are three runways for flying operations in Bhubaneswar, Hirakud (Sambalpur) and Gopalpur (Ganjam).

Reservation: Applicants belonging to SC/ST categories can avail 100 per cent scholarships provided by the central government. Fifty per cent seats are reserved for domicile candidates but the share of students from the state is low. …

Loan and accommodation: Applicants can avail bank loans easily for studying at Gati. The academy also helps the pilot trainees find accommodation in nearby areas.

Scope: After completing the course, one has plenty of opportunities at hand to get employed in the areas of airlines, corporate charters, coast guard, paramilitary, state government / public sector units and so on. To add to their experience, they can become instructors at flying schools. Those who have done the private pilot license course can fly privately owned aircraft. The institute is also in touch with several corporate houses for placement opportunities.

The highlighted part should be publicized in places like KISS so that many of the students there are aware of this option.

2 comments July 24th, 2011

NISER construction handed over to L & T – to be done in 30 months and ready by Jan-Feb 2014; IIT Bhubaneswar construction to start later this year and to be finished in 2013-14

Following are news items from Samaja.

July 23rd, 2011

Odisha to have 1480 new high schools; a high school every 5 kms

Following are news items from Samaja and Dharitri.

 

July 21st, 2011

BIT offers attractive scholarships to attract top ranked students

(Disclaimer: I am listed as a "Friend of BIT" and as an adjunct and visiting faculty. So this is a biased posting. Nevertheless, I know many of its founders and am convinced of their sincerity to establish a top notch college in Odisha. Its Chairman, Prof. Rabi Mahapatra, was my professor at IIT Kharagpur. He is currently a full professor at Texas A & M University, a top university, especially in Engineering, in the USA. Even though BIT is new and its first batch has not graduated, I hope more top students will consider going to BIT. Besides the scholarship offer and other things mentioned in this ad, BIT has sent 1-2 of its top students to Texas A & M this summer.)

NOTE: The registration deadline has been extended till 22nd July.

1 comment July 20th, 2011

ESI Corporation is eying the private colleges to increase its IPs (insured persons); that may be the reason it instists that its medical college in Odisha be in the Bhubaneswar area

Following is from the page http://esic.nic.in/coverage.htm.

Applicability
Under Section 2(12) The Act is applicable to the factories employing 10 or more persons irrespective of whether power is used in the process of manufacturing or not.

Under Section 1(5) of the Act, the Scheme has been extended to shops, hotels, restaurants, cinemas including preview theatre, road motor transport undertakings and newspaper establishment employing 20 or more persons.

Further, u/s 1(5) of the Act, the Scheme has been extended to Private Medical and Educational Institutions employing 20 or more persons in certain States .

Following is from a report in Times of India.

All educational institutions, including public, private, aided or those run by individuals, trusts and societies, and employing 20 or more persons should pay Employees State Insurance (ESI) premium for their employees, the Madras high court has ruled.

Justice K Chandru, dismissing a batch of writ petitions against the legality of a notification issued by the labour department of the Union territory of Puducherry, said: "Any establishment can be validly notified by the appropriate government to be covered by the provisions of the ESI Act."

The writ petitions were filed after the lieutenant-governor of the Union territory of Puducherry issued a notification mandating that educational institutions including public, private, aided or partially aided employees, run by individuals, trusts and societies, would be covered by the ESI Act if they employed 20 or more persons in their organisations on any day of the preceding 12 months.

Consequently, ESI sent notices to the organisations and directed them to cover their employees under the act. The ESI also followed it up with show-cause notices, and later sent prosecution notices threatening to levy damages under Section 85-B of the ESI Act. While some of the institutions paid up the amount, many of them filed writ petitions noting that the territorial administration lacked the legislative sanction to issue the notification as the Centre also could come out with such notifications.

It seems at this time Odisha government has not required private medical and education institutions be covered by ESI.  But perhaps ESI would like that and therefore it is trying to put up its medical college in Bhubaneswar, where 60-70% of the state’s private colleges (engineering, management, etc.) are.

The following ad came in today’s Dharitri.

July 20th, 2011

Odisha higher education department’s demands to the planning commision for the 12th plan

I hope this is not all that Odisha is asking.

1 comment July 20th, 2011

Latest list of private diploma (in engineering) schools in Odisha that are member of OPESA

The complete list of 90 diploma schools (both private and government) is at http://sctevtorissa.in/%28S%282pssui550go5ufug55nvab45%29%29/collegedetail.aspx?Cid=2.

July 20th, 2011

CDAC offers free courses for women with family income of less than 2 lakhs per annum at its satellite center in Bhubaneswar

The course advertised below is part of ACTS (Advanced Computer Training School) of CDAC. Its website is http://acts.cdac.in/. Following are excerpts from its web page.

C-DAC’s Advanced Computing Training School (ACTS) is dedicated to creating high quality manpower for C-DAC in particular and the IT industry in general through the designing and delivering various courses. The courses are offered through a network of Authorized Training Centres (ATC’s) as well as C-DAC’s own centers. Around quarter million students passed out since inception in last decade and a half. They are today successful employees of many Multinational and Premier Indian IT companies, and many of them have become successful entrepreneurs.

1 comment July 19th, 2011

Numbers related to Matric, Plus 2 and degree

Updates on July 19 2011:


Article started on June 25 2011:

Following are some numbers related to how many students pass Matric exam, the number of seats and colleges available at the plus 2 level, and the number of seats and colleges available at the degree level. (We don’t have all the numbers yet. So this is a work in progress.) Several of these numbers are from http://dheorissa.in/.

  • Number of students that passed matric (Class X) in 2011
  • Number of seats at the Plus 2 level available through junior colleges: 3,05,356
    • Number of regular junior colleges:
    • Number of self-financed junior colleges:
  • Number of seats at the Plus 2 level available through schools that have +2:
  • Number of students that appeared and number that passed +2
    • Odisha board
      • Science: 707 colleges; 56,280 appeared; 41,359 passed; 12,773 in first class; 15,566 in second class and 12,016 in third class
      • Arts: 1062 colleges; 159,866 appeared; 109,230 passed; 11,183 in first class; 34,446 in second class; and 60,826 in third class
      • Commerce: 311 colleges; 22,670 appeared; 15,553 passed; 3577 in first class; 3961 in second class; 7817 in third class
      • Vocational: 186 colleges; 7247 appeared; 4976 passed; 1609 in first class; 2400 in second class; 682 in third class
    • CBSE: 6900 appeared  with 82% pass percentage (Science; Arts; Commerce break-up is unknown)
    • ICSE: Science; Arts; Commerce
    • Total: Science; Arts; Commerce
  • Number of seats available at +3 BA/BSc/BCom: 57,312
    • Number of students submitting  completed forms against these seats: 74,968
    • Number of students initiating applying on-line (some did not submit): 91,786
  • Number of seats available at B.Tech/B.Arch:
  • Number of seats available at B.Pharm:
  • Number of seats available at MBBS:
  • Number of seats available at BBA
  • Number of seats available at 5 yrs Law programs:

 

July 19th, 2011

Web page of Parala Maharaj Engineering College (a govt. college) in Berhampur

http://www.pmec.org.in/. There is not much information there yet. They should at least put a list of departments and their faculty.

3 comments July 13th, 2011

Auxiliary Nurse Midwife (ANM) school in Bouda and Sonepur and General Nursing and Midwifery (GNM) school in Nabarangpur: Samaja

In addition to the proposed regional institute of paramedical sciences in Bhubaneswar (which we wrote about yesterday), the following article talks about ANM and GNM schools.

1 comment July 12th, 2011

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