The State Government has identified five places for setting up the proposed IIT. The places are Banki, Jatni, Khurda, Naraj and Nandankanan. While the Centre has decided to set up the IIT in an area of 500 acre of land, the State Government has decided to give 1,000 acre of land for the purpose.
The work for land identification has begun. However, the Centre has asked the State Government to adhere to some rules and regulations while selecting the sites for the purposed IIT. As per the condition, the site must be close to the railway station and airport. The institution should be well connected so that the students would not face any trouble while commuting to attend classes.
However, for the time being the proposed IIT earmarked for the State will operate under the Kharagpur IIT. 120 seats would be reserved for the students.
The state government is wise to look for 1000 acres instead of the 500 acres that the center stipulates. This will allow IIT Bhubaneswar to have sufficient room for future growth.
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 (https://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.
Many JEE qualified students may be wondering about the new IITs. In a series of articles we will talk about the IIT in Bhubaneswar and the advantages of the Bhubaneswar area.
Bhubaneswar has excellent connectivity by train, road and air. It has multiple daily direct trains to/from Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, a daily train to/from Mumbai, and trains to/from all corners of India (Guwahati, Kerala, Goa, Gujarat, Jaipur, Punjab, Haradwar, Kanpur, Lucknow, Benras, Patna, Raipur, Bhopal, etc.) It has direct train connections to all the old IITs (Bombay, Delhi, Madras, Kanpur, Kharagpur, Roorkee, and Guwahati).
Following is a map of Bhubaneswar’s railway connectivity.
The students admitted to IIT Bhubaneswar will be taking their first year classes at IIT Kharagpur, the oldest IIT. Most likely they will stay in the MMM Hall at IIT Kharagpur. They will be staying with the IIT Kharagpur students.
In contrast, the IIT Gujarat students are reported to start their classes at the Vishwakarma Government Engineering College campus at Chandkheda in Gandhinagar district where IIT Bombay has the extension center. They will be more prone to bring with them the culture, tradition and history of that govt. college. IIT Hyderabad students will have to start from scratch, as it is reported that their classes will be held in Isnapur near SangaReddy in Medak district, near Hyderabad.About the arrangements in IIT Rajasthan, Times of India has this to say: "Apartments of IIT-K’s guest house would be converted into hostels for students of IIT-Rajasthan. Classes and labs would be held in shifts. If IIT-K classes are held in the morning shift, IIT-R students would have to attend classes in the evening and similar arrangement would be made for labs".
"The state government thanks Minister of State for Power and Commerce Jairam Ramesh for announcing at a function held Friday at Sipat in Bilaspur district to set up an IIIT in Chhattisgarh," a government press statement said.
"The state government will soon provide the location for the new IIIT as the announcement was made by the central minister as per the initiatives taken by Chief Minister Raman Singh April 20 when they had a meeting in Raipur," the statement read.
Officials said that the state government may offer a massive plot for the IIIT in Naya Raipur where the government is presently developing a new satellite town that will replace Raipur as the new state capital of Chhattisgarh, probably by 2011.
Naya Raipur, about 20 km east of here and located between national highways 6 and 43, will be spread out over 8,000 hectares.
Regardless of the NASSCOM recommendation the Orissa government and Minister of state Mr. Chandrasekhar Sahu must push for a IIIT in Berhampur, the third largest metropolitan area of Orissa. (The other two, Bhubaneswar and Rourkela, have other national institutions.)
The proposed IITs and their mentor institutions are IIT Gujarat/Gandhinagar (IIT Bombay), Punjab (IIT Delhi), Patna (IIT Guwahati), Rajasthan (IIT Kanpur), Bhubaneswar (IIT Kharagpur), and Hyderabad (IIT Madras). While all will offer electrical and mechanical engineering, IIT Gandhinagar will offer chemical engineering, IIT Bhubaneswar will offer civil engineering, and the rest will offer computer science and engineering.
“The curriculum, syllabus, fee structure and other rules for the new IITs will broadly remain the same as in the respective mentor IITs,” the IIT-B official said.
The first-year classes for IIT Punjab, Rajasthan, and Bhubaneswar will be conducted at the campuses of the mentor IITs. The students will be shifted to the respective locations in the second year. Classes for the other new IITs will be conducted in the cities where the IITs are being located.
“Consequent to the government of India issuing notification for the setting up of eight new IITs in the 11th Plan, admissions to three more new IITs in Punjab, Gujarat and Orissa, other than at Hyderabad, Patna and Rajasthan, for the academic session 2008-09 are likely to be made through JEE-2008,” said an official release.
… Counselling for admission begins on June 17 for the declared All-India rank holders. Courses allocated to the successful candidates will be declared on June 30.
“An extended merit list has also been drawn to facilitate admission to other government institutions. Students on the list might be counselled by the Indian Institute of Space-Science Technology, Indian Institutes of Science Education and Research and Rajeev Gandhi Institute of Petroleum Technology. The Indian Institute of Maritime Studies also offers admission based on JEE-2008 results,” said the release.
The following is copied from http://www.jee.iitb.ac.in/2007/openclose.htm. There is no guarantee but it should give you some idea about what branches you may be able to get. Please note that this year at least 3 (Hyderabad, Patna and Rajasthan) and perhaps even 6 (+ Orissa, Gujarat and Punjab) new IITs may come to play. The opening and closing ranks of 2006 is available in the IIT JEE Counseling brochure of 2007 at http://www.jee.iitb.ac.in/2007/CBJEE_2007.pdf.
The Union ministry of human resources development, it is learnt, has given the nod to another three IITs to begin functioning from 2008-09. These are the IITs which are to be located in Orissa, Gujarat and Punjab.
So instead of the initial three IITs that were slated to begin functioning from the forthcoming academic session, the government has now decided to launch another three. A decision to this effect is reported to have been taken earlier this week and conveyed to the existing IITs that will act as their mentor institutes.
The three IITs that were initially expected to begin functioning from 2008-09 are the ones in Bihar, Rajasthan and Andhra Pradesh.
… Punjab will have IIT-Delhi as its mentor institute while the one in Gujarat will have IIT Powai as its mentor. The one in Orissa will be mentored by IIT Kharagpur. As for the admissions to these three institutes, sources said no decision has been taken as yet on the numbers that will be admitted to each. However, they will be admitted on the basis of the joint entrance examination (JEE) that has already been held and whose results are yet to be announced, said ministry sources. In the case of the IITs in Bihar, Rajasthan and AP, each will be admitting 126 students for the 2008-09 session. No decision has been taken yet on the numbers that will be admitted to the IITs in Orissa, Punjab and Gujarat.
IIT in Punjab to be in Ropar (45 kms from Chandigarh) and classes will start this year. IIT Delhi will be the mentor institution: Times of India.
IIT Himachal will be mentored by IIT Roorkee. It is to be located in the Mandi district: myhimachal.com
IIT in Gujarat to be mentored by IIT Bombay. Classes will start this year at the Vishwakarma Government Engineering College campus at Chandkheda in Gandhinagar district where IIT Bombay has the extension center. This year 120 students will be admitted in the disciplines of Mechanical, Electrical and Chemical. It will be located in the Gandhinagar-Ahmedabad Knowledge Corridor: Hindu , Indian Express.
IT BHU on its way to get IIT tag. The is expected to take around a year with the government modifying the BHU Act 1915 in Parliament.: Business Standard.
IIT in Orissa rumored to be located near Bhubaneswar. No formal announcement has been made but the IIT Kharagpur officials have discussed with the CM regarding their preferences and the CM has written to MHRD to allow classes to start this year.
IIT in Rajasthan to be mentored by IIT Kanpur and classes will start this year. 120 students will be admitted in Electronics engineering, computer science and mechanical engineering. "Apartments of IIT-K’s guest house would be converted into hostels for students of IIT-Rajasthan. Classes and labs would be held in shifts. If IIT-K classes are held in the morning shift, IIT-R students would have to attend classes in the evening and similar arrangement would be made for labs"."Along with IIT-K, Prof Sanjay Govind Dhande would also be the director for IIT-R" : Times of India.
IIT Hyderabad would be mentored by IIT Chennai. : Times of India.
IIT Patna would be mentored by IIT Guwahati. : Times of India.
In the meantime, Orissa chief minister Naveen Patnaik too has written to the Centre requesting that the IIT which is to come up in his state should begin functioning from the 2008-09 academic session itself.
Following are more excerpts from that article about new IIT locations across India.
… the Union ministry of human resources development has written to the state government suggesting three cities. And none among the three is the location favoured by the Rajasthan government, Kota. Instead, the ministry has suggested that the IIT be located in either Jaipur, Jodhpur or Udaipur. The logic behind the ministry’s suggestion, said sources, is that it wants the IIT located in a city which has an airport or is at least in close proximity to an airport. While all the three cities suggested by the HRD ministry have an airport, Kota doesn’t have one. The closest airport is in Jaipur, some 240 km away.
… both the other two new IITs — in Bihar and Andhra Pradesh — fulfil this HRD ministry criteria. The one in Andhra Pradesh will be located in Isnapur near Sanga Reddy in Medak district and won’t be too far away from the twin-cities of Hyderabad-Secunderabad. … the new IIT which will come up in Bihar is located some 40 kilometres away from state capital Patna, which has an airport. These three IITs will begin admissions from the 2008-09 academic session itself, though they will be functioning from the already-established IITs.
The National Association of Software and Service Companies (Nasscom) on Thursday suggested the 20 cities for setting up new Indian Institute of Information Technology (IIIT).
Delhi, Chennai, Thiruvananthapuram, Bangalore and Jammu are among the cities suggested.
… In its model detailed project report (DPR) presented to the Ministry of Human Resource Development, Nasscom, the trade body representing the Indian information technology and business process outsourcing (IT-BPO) industry, has also included the names of Chandigarh, Dehradun, Lucknow, Patna, Shillong, Kolkata, Ahmedabad, Indore, Nagpur, Bhubaneshwar, Pune, Visakhapatanam, Mysore, Mangalore and Coimbatore for establishing new IIITs. PPP model
In its model DPR that will serve as a template for the preparation of the DPR for each individual IIIT, Nasscom has proposed that the new IIITs be set up as a fully autonomous institutions, through a public-private partnership (PPP) model. The partners in setting up the IIITs should be the Ministry, the respective State governments and industry members.
National importance
According to Nasscom president Som Mittal, each IIIT has been envisioned to become a world-class academic institute and evolve into technology and functional ‘Centres of Excellence’ through a strong focus on research in frontier technology areas.
To achieve this, it is imperative to attract best-in-class faculty, and students; develop sustainable linkages with industry; and provide an environment conducive for research excellence.
To justify the large investments being made in the IIITs, it is important that they provide a sufficient scale at undergraduate, post-graduate and doctoral research levels, he added. …
Autonomy
“The model for the new IIITs proposed in the DPR focuses on both academic and research excellence through innovative governance and operational approaches and a strong and sustained participation from the IT industry.
“However, achieving this will not be easy and it is important that each institute is supported, especially in the initial years, and is also allowed complete autonomy to define its roadmap and implement it,” Mr. Mittal added.
While required investment into the IIITs could vary depending on the city, close to Rs 100 crore has been estimated for each IIIT. …
The locations of IIITs have been arrived at on the basis of how well connected they are in terms of transport and facilities and their prominence to industrial hubs. Considering the dire faculty crunch in the country, Nasscom has made it clear that faculty members must be be given salaries prevalent in the market.
It has been suggested that each IIIT must have the autonomy to decide its own salary structure to compete with private educational institutes. Collaborating private organisations would be requested to send their experienced employees as visiting faculty members. A higher number of visiting faculty and faculty-exchange programmes with universities in India and abroad have been suggested.
…
The report says all programmes in an IIIT should be given equal importance, having noted that generally it is the undergraduate programme in institutes that receives most of the attention. It has been suggested that other post-graduate programmes, especially the PhD programmes, should not be compromised with.
The development of the PhD programme, according to one of the suggestions, is vital to the growth of IIITs as these doctoral students could be groomed for teaching positions in IIITs, creating a strong pool of candidates for top academic positions.
It has been recommended that the undergraduate programme of IIITs could be scaled up to 600 students, the post-graduate programme could take about 400 students and the PhD programme could have an intake of 100 students.
A faculty-student ratio of 1:14 has been suggested. The report has suggested an integrated campus model and a hub-and-spoke campus model, depending on the IIIT.
The Orissa government has to figure out a way to have this IIIT in Berhampur and if not then convince the central govt. to establish one of the proposed 10 NITs in Berhampur.
Now the Orissa Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation (IDCO) has been asked to identify the land. IDCO has identified 3 spots for the proposed IIT.
Interestingly last week only, the MHRD sent a letter to identify a land measuring 600 acres for the proposed IIT in the vicinity of Bhubaneswar, which will be directly accessible to the airport, railway and national highway.
Nearest to Bhubaneswar is a temple land near Jatni is available which is only 25 km from the capital city. This is approachable with railway and national highway. But snag is that only 400 acres of government land is available, so it may not be acceptable for IIT.
Second place is near Banki-Cuttack Road, which is around 65 km from Bhubaneswar. There is a patch of more than 2000 acres of government land. However the place is not directly connected with national highway, but it lies the side of a state highway.
Third one is in Tangi of Bhusandpur near Chilka. More than 4000 acres of land is available in the low lying areas of Chilka. It will be more than 70 km from Bhubaneswar. The place is picturesque and its scenic beauty is enchanting. The NH-6 5 is passing nearby the place.
Out of these 3 places, one will be chosen.
Experts are visiting the places and it will take much time to reach a final decision. How ever nothing prevents MHRD to declare IIT Kharagpur as the ‘mentor institution’ of IIT Orissa and start the classes from this education year. IIT Kharagpur needs 3-4 acre of land as it is having an extension centre at Bhubaneswar. Only 70,000 square feet is needed to begin the classes.
In regards to IIT Odisha, Prof. Damodar Acharya, who as IIT Kharagpur director will be in charge of IIT Odisha, recently visited and discussed with the CM of Orissa on the IIT issue. I was told that there was a news item in the local edition of Times of India that the IIT in Odisha will start classes this year with 120 students. This news has not appeared in any other place yet.
… IIT Bombay, which set up its extension centre at Government Engineering College (GEC), Chandkheda, six months ago, will support the state education department in the entire process of setting up full-fledged IIT here, including faculty recruitment. The IIT will function from GEC Chandkheda- the institute from where IIT Bombay currently conducts 12 short-term courses under its continuing education programme
According to Principal Secretary, education department, Hasmukh Adhia, "After the media came up with its report on the decision to set up an IIT in Gujarat, we received the letter from the union HRD ministry. To which we have expressed the ministry that we consists readymade infrastructure at GEC, Chandkheda, which fulfils all infrastructural requirements as asked by it, so we came to a conclusion to set up IIT".
Pointing out the grey areas Mr. Adhia, "We have the entire required infrastructure in place. But the only thing which is missing here is the hostel facility for students. GCE, Chandkheda has very excellent housing projects in place and the problem of hostel requirement will be easily sorted out".
The HRD ministry’s decision to set up four IITs each in Gujarat, Orissa, Madhya Pradesh and Punjab, comes months after finance minister P Chidambaram declaration during his budget speech about setting up IITs in Bihar, Andhra Pradesh and Rajasthan. Initially, the three states will kick-start IITs with 120 students each for three undergraduate programmes in Computer Science & Engineering, Electrical Engineering and Mechanical Engineering. IIT-G is to follow the same pattern as well.
