Often various sundry organizations oppose various industries that are coming up just for the heck of it. A better approach would be to make sure the industry does not adversely affect them and then convince the industry to do positive things for the area. The later includes setting up of engineering colleges and necessary infrastructure like township, roads, parks, playgrounds, schools, medical facilities etc. Finally such an approach is being taken by the Koshali Ekta manch vis-a-vis Vedanta and Kalahandi. Despite the fact that Vedanta is in the process of making a world class university near Puri, they should listen to this demand, if only to give value to this general approach. Moreover, making an engineering college, of the kind made by most private trusts in Orissa, does not cost much. One can start it with an initial budget of 10 crores and then it can become self -sustaining through student fees. So Vedanta should seriously consider this. Also, people in other areas where industries are coming up, or have come up should take a similar approach. For example, the people in Paradip and Kujanga, rather than being hostile to POSCO should negotiate with POSCO to establish a medical college & hospital and a top-notch engineering college like POSTECH in Korea, that was established by POSCO. Same with respect to the Tatas in Kalinganagar; people in Kalinganagar should negotiate with the TATAs to establish an engineering college and a medical college in Kalinganagar. The Mittals should be asked for the same in Patana, Keonjhar area; RSP/SAIL should be asked for the same in Rourkela; MCL+NTPC should be asked for the same in Talcher area and NALCO for the same in Anugul and Damanjodi.
Following is an excerpt of a Pioneer report that triggered the above thoughts.
Bhawanipatna: A meeting of the Koshali Ekta Manch has decided that a memorandum would be submitted on August 24 to Vedanta Alumina limited in order to establish an engineering college in Kalahandi. … Manch leaders Jagannath Mund, Govind Chandra Rath and Padma Kishore Pujari were present at the meeting.
BJB Junior College is the premier junior college of Orissa. Earlier we listed its arts and science merit lists. In the science merit list there are about 418 students who have secured more than 90% in their class X exam. Although I have not seen Ravenshaw Junior College’s list, my guess is the situation will be almost similar (may be a little bit less) percentage wise. BJB Junior College currently has 512 seats in plus two science and Ravenshaw (after the recent seat increase) has 384 seats.
I am an alumnus of BJB (when it had 384 seats) and have close friends from Ravenshaw. Based on my experience in BJB, and my subsequent experience in IIT Kharagpur Computer Sc and University of Maryland (where I had JEE number 1 of a year in one of my classes) I can say that at least 200 of BJB Jr plus two science students and 150 of Ravenshaw Jr plus two science students have the ability to make it to an IIT and do well in them.
Yet, as I am told, these days annually only about 10-12 fresh plus two pass outs from BJB Jr make it to IITs and may be another 10-12 older pass outs also make it. The result for Ravenshaw Jr is similar. Considering the quality of students that get into BJB Jr and Ravenshaw Jr, this result is dismal and is a shame.
One should just compare how similar colleges from others states do. Many of them send more than 100 students to IITs. An example is Little Flower Junior College of Hyderabad. (It was true in my time and as Partyusa confirms, it was true in his time too.)
Now, it is not the case that Orissa students (as aptly represented by BJB and Ravenshaw) are inferior than students from other states. They are as good, and often they do better (than what their incoming ranks would suggest) once they get in to a national institute.
So why is it that their result in the IIT entrance exam is so dismal!
From my analysis, experience and talking to other friends following are some of my thoughts on this.
1. Lack of Confidence; not believing in oneself: Many students hear about the performance of the previous year and when they find out that only 10-12 from their college made it to IITs, they figure that they won’t be among the top 10-12 in their batch and hence give up before starting. Many others start preparing for IIT but because of lack of confidence, give up mid way.
2. Negative advice: I have heard that certain teachers/seniors/parents/guardians give negative advice. They say that IIT is too hard and if one focuses so much on the IIT preparation then he/she may do badly in other exams and as a result, neither will he/she get IIT, nor will he/she get into the easier options through AIEEE and Orissa JEE.
3. Over dependence on low quality tuitions: Many students take multiple tutions and coaching classes that leaves them little time to study on their own. They depend on their tuition master’s notes rather than reading the books themselves.
4. Satisfied with easier alternatives: Some students set a lower goal for themselves. They notice that graduates from various private colleges in and around Bhubaneswar get well-paying jobs in recognized companies and decide why work hard to prepare for IIT.
Some basic advice to plus 2 students regarding getting into IITs
1. Confidence issues and countering the negative advice: The students who get into BJB jr and Ravenshaw jr colleges with more than or close to 90% marks in their Class X need not doubt their abilities. They will be successful in no matter what they do, provided they put their mind to it. Now, not every one needs to aim or go to IITs. But whatever field they decide for their career they should aim for the best college/institute in that field. So if Engineering is their choice then IITs and BITS should be in the top of their list and if science and maths is their interest then they should aim for NISER and IISERs. If one prepares for these entrance exams in a proper way then even if they are not successful for IIT/BITS/NISER/IISER they will do well in AIEEE, Orissa JEE and Plus 2 examination. The students that get into BJB jr and Ravenshaw jr are among the top 1000 students of Orissa. So there is no reason they should not get within the top 1000 of Orissa JEE and get into a very good local engineering college. With that excellent fall back option, BJB jr and Ravenshaw jr plus two science students interested in engineering should prepare for IIT with their full heart, and without any fear, but in a proper way.
2. A proper way for preparing for IIT and other entrance exams: First, only reading notes dictated by ones tuition master is the worst way for preparing for entrance exams. When a tuition master dictates notes, at best what it implies is that he/she has read the material from one or more places, hopefully understood it, and has made a summary of it. When someone else (a student taking tuition) just reads those notes he/she does not develop the same level of understanding as he/she would have developed if he/she had read the original material in the books himself/herself. Similarly, by only reading examples of solved problems (or listening to a tuition master explaining a solved problem) one does not develop the skill to solve problems. Unfortunately, many plus two students take multiple tuitions where their tuition masters dictate notes, and go through solved examples; they do not have time or energy left to read the text book and develop their own understanding and solve problems on their own to develop the problem solving skill. Now that we have discussed what is the wrong way; let us discuss the right or proper way.
* One must read one of the text books and develop their own understanding of a topic. It is ok to ask a teacher, including a tuition master, to clarify certain aspects that the student could not understand on his/her own. One may (does not have to) make their own notes based on their reading and understanding for quick revisions of the material later.
* For each topic, one must solve many problems on their own. Some of the problems may not be solvable in one sitting. Sometimes one may have to think about the problem, and may be go to sleep; may be in their subconscious they will get some insight of how to solve the problems. In other words, for any topic, pick one source (say X) that has a few solved problems and several problems to be solved (but with final answers). One should then read the material in the book, then read the material in X, then read the solved examples in X, and then solve the exercise problems in X on their own. They should not look at another source Y which may have solved some of the exercise problems in X. One needs to do their best, and if necessary spend 2-3 days thinking about the exercise problems in X that they could not immediately solve. Only after one does this kind of routine with respect to a topic and a source X, and has time, one may take a stab at another source Y. After working with source X, when working with source Y, one should try to not read all the solved examples of Y, but read a few of them and do the solved example problems (without looking at the solution) as well as the exercise problems on their own. However, in general, most students won’t have time to work with more than one source.
* In summary, one must read a book to understand the material (and make their own notes if they desire so) and pick one source (may be the study material of a postal coaching class, or a preparing for IIT book, etc.), and solve all its exercise problem on their own.
Now how does the above fit in with classes at your Junior College and the tuition that many student seem to be taking. I worry that there is not enough hours in a day for most people to take multiple tuitions, attend classes at BJB/Ravenshaw and then prepare in a proper way as I suggest above. So one has to make decisions.
I personally attended my classes at BJB, and prepared in the above way with my source being study material of a postal coaching class. I never took tuition in my life, and never attended a face-to-face coaching class.
=
Many coaching classes do simulated tests. Taking simulated tests are useful, but only if you have prepared in the proper way described above. Otherwise, they are not much useful as you would not have developed the understanding and problem solving skills necessary to answer hard question in an exam.
This is all for now. In my next write up I will discuss some studying as well as test taking strategies. But let me sum up the main thoughts in the above write up.
Most students in BJB and Ravenshaw junior colleges are good enough to get into IIT as well as succeed in it. All they need is to believe in themselves, ignore negative advices and prepare in a proper way.
Proper preparation means reading the text book (not notes dictated by someone) to develop understanding of topics and solving problems (not reading solved examples) on your own to hone your problem solving skills.
The NISER (National Institute of Science Education and Research) web page has a list of candidates who have been called for interview in Bhubaneswar. The list for the candidates invited for interview in Mumbai in connection with UM-DAE is here. Following is the information for interview for the interviews in Bhubaneswar, as given in the NISER web page.
Following is Lalit Patnaik’s report and pictures on it.
Dear Friends,
On behalf of Agami Odisha, me and Dillip Sabat has been deputed to participate in the mass rally for demand of KBK university. Our President sri Dhiren Ray wished us good luck in the departing moment.
We have to travel 700 KM to reach Malkangiri from Bhubaneswar. 350 KM by Train up to Vizaynagaram, and subsequently by Bus another 225 Km through Ghat up to Jeypore and rest 125 Km through deep jungle to Malkangiri. We reached their in the early morning hours to be received by Malkangiri MLA Mr Nimai Sarkar and his associates. We proceeded to Dandakaranya Guest House and found Police in the nook and corner of Malkangiri town, the last one of Orissa before Chattishgarah. The town is Naxal infected and it needs courage to live there, for Police as well as for People.
Mr Sadan naik, MLA of Kodinga came along with his associate by 11 am and our rally started at 11.30 am from bus stand arena. I was really surprised to see the large gathering of students( Young men and women ) of not less than 1250 in number. There were around 250 Intellectuals, business men and retired old persons. The rally was led at three places, front one by Intellectuals, the middle one by the women students and the last one by Men students. the slogan of KBK University is our demand reverberated the high walls of Malkangiri Mountain and almost entire town was by the side road watching the marathon rally of nearly 1 Km long. The rally moved for 2 hours and culminated at Collector’s Office. Collector rushed to his office from a meeting some where else so as to receive our Memorandum to the President of India. Even after handing over of memorandum, the students were in no mood to disperse but went on giving slogans for their right to have a University around KBK. The people were aghast since long, because the nearest University of Berhampur is 500 Km away from their place.
Sincerity of their demand was well visible from the eyes of those boys as well as girl students. After wards, the president of their college walked close to me and expressed his thanks to Agamee odisha for taking up their cause. In return I assured him to carry their message to the Swabhimani odiya all over the world, to support in their endeavor to get an Central funded University at KBK.
They are struggling for their right to higher education, amidst the chaos of Naxalisim. They are not demanding their land to be annexed to Chattisgarah, a very close by State, nor are they demanding for more food or money but are only asking for a Central University, which we all should fight and get it for them, is not it. Are they not real swabhimani Odiya’s ?.
While staying 700 Km away from the capital, they are reciting the song of Mother Odiya, day in and day out.
MSS/NRTS (age below 15 for general, and below 16 for SC/ST)
NTS (Students studying in Class 10)
JBNSTS (Students who have passed 10 + 2 examination in this year and are studying Basic Sciences / Medical Sc. / Engineering in West Bengal are eligible)
Schedule: GE (general) 1-580, SC 1-85, ST 1-110, PH (physically handicapped) 1-18, MI (military) 1-48, GC (green card- i.e. parents have less than or equal to 2 kids) 1-156
SCB (govt) Medical (GE 0, SC 0, ST 0, PH 0, MI 0, GC 0 )
MKCG (govt) Medical (GE 0, SC 0, ST 0, PH 2, MI 0, GC 0)
VSS (govt) Medical (GE 0, SC 0, ST 0, PH 3, MI 0, GC 0 )
KIMS Medical (GE 18, SC 5, ST 7, PH 0, MI 0, GC 4 )
IMS Medical (GE 36, SC 4 , ST 9, PH 0, MI 0 , GC3 )
HiTech Medical (GE 42 , SC 5, ST 7, PH 0 , MI 0 , GC 4)
SCB Dental (GE 0, SC 0, ST 0, PH 0, MI 0, GC 0 )
KIIT Dental (GE 51, SC 5, ST 8, PH 0, MI 0, GC 3)
IDS Dental (GE 49, SC 6, ST 8, PH 0, MI 0, GC 4 )
Hi-Tech Dental (GE 51, SC 5, ST 8, PH 0, MI 0 , GC 3)
Gandhi Dental (GE 26, SC 3, ST 4, PH 0, MI 0, GC 2)
Observations:
Orissa does not have enough rich families that can afford to send their kids to private medical colleges.
Thus there is a need for more government medical colleges.
Among the private medical colleges the order of preference seems to be KIMS followed by IMS followed by Hi-Tech. Its interesting that among these three Hi-Tech is the oldest and the other two only got MCI approval this year. However the other two are either part of or associated with deemed universities.
Dharitri reports on this conspiracy regarding CIFT in Burla and how more on this conspiracy is coming to light due to information obtained through the RTI ACT.
Students cutting across different social groups will soon be able to avail of education loans at highly subsidised rates to study in top educational institutions of the country.
The Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) in consultation with the Human Resource Development Ministry and the National Bank Association has finalised a scheme for paying huge loan subsidy to students from economically weaker sections.
A mean test (annual earning) will be the eligibility criteria to apply for the loan. The government is likely to announce the scheme on Independence Day. The University Grants Commission figures state that only eight per cent students from economically backward families are enrolled in higher education.
… To implement the scheme, the government plans to float a Loan Guarantee Corporation that will pay for any default by the students from the weaker sections.
“It will be a kind of a government guarantee to the banks to give loans to poor students,” an official said. The corporation will become functional with a corpus fund from the government. A small amount from the interest paid against student loans will get deposited with the corporation.
The government found that students from weaker sections have not availed of education loans because of their failure to obtain sufficient guarantee. With the government in the picture, banks are willing to pay them loan for studying even in private educational institutions.
The loan will be available for admission to government-approved institutions. It would be paid directly to the institution. Continuance of the loan will depend on the students’ performance.
KISS, Kalinga Institute of Social Sciences is made and run by the promoters of KIIT University. Hindu has a very nice article about it. Following are some excerpts.
A sister concern of the Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology (KIIT), KISS is a working dream that trained the tribal children to be self-reliant, resourceful and empowered to tackle the challenges of life.
For the visiting media team from Bangalore, KISS was an education in looking beyond urban-centric development. From the well-stocked library, hostel and computer centre to a medical facility that insured every child, KISS is also a home away from home. The institute ensures that the children have enough exposure to their tribal culture, heritage and tradition. …
Today, there are children here from most of the 52 tribes of Orissa, including 13 primitive tribes. This year, we added 700 more tribal children to reach the strength of 5,000,” he informed.
…
For 22 of the brightest from KISS students, Dr. Samanta had reserved free engineering seats in KIIT, five per cent of the total intake.
“This year, the BCA and BBM courses were opened for them. The tribal students will leave this organisation with a job.” As the KIIT Deemed University Chancellor assured this, he was working on an expansion plan: a project to add another 5,000 children to India’s biggest residential tribal school in the next three years.
Following are excerpts from a Pioneer report on this.
Orissa Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Tuesday met the Union Minister for Tribal Affairs PR Kyndiah in New Delhi and urged him to sanction Rs 12 crore as central share on a priority basis for the establishment of tribal hostels in the State.
Kyndiah, while acknowledging the excellent performance of the State in setting up tribal hostels, assured that all possible help would be given by his Ministry for this purpose.
It may be noted that the State Government has given a proposal for sanction of 50 per cent share of under the centrally sponsored scheme for Girls hostels for scheduled tribes for 276 hostels last year.
Patnaik also held discussion about setting up more Ekalavya Model Residential Schools for Primitive Tribal Group regions and other tribal areas. …
The Ministry of Tribal Affairs provided Rs. 15.90 crores as fellowship to more than 600 Tribal students during 2006-07 for taking up higher studies. The fellowship provided under Rajiv Gandhi National Fellowship Scheme for pursuing higher studies such as M.Phil and Ph.D at universities, institutions recognized by UGC.
Each year more than 600 students are provided the fellowship for the maximum duration of five years. The scheme is implemented through UGC on behalf of the Ministry of Tribal Affairs. Financial assistance of Rs. 8000/- per month is provided for initial two years to Junior Research Fellow and Rs. 9000/- per month for remaining period of the fellowship.
Beside this fellowship amount, contingency fund for humanities and social sciences is also provided at the rate of Rs. 10,000/- per annum for initial two years of the fellowship and Rs. 20,500/- per annum for remaining period of the research work. In the case of sciences the Contingency fund is provided Rs. 12,000/- per annum for initial two years and Rs. 25,000/- per annum for remaining tenure of the fellowship. The Government also provides assistance to the host institute for providing infrastructure. Amount of the departmental assistance is Rs. 3000/- per annum per student. An additional assistance of Rs. 1000/- per month is provided for escorts or reader assistance in cases of physically and visually handicapped candidates.
((Update on June 17 2008: For guidance on what you can get with your Orissa JEE rank in 2008, please see https://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. Among them three of them, if they get their approvals in time, are going to make a splash because of the people involved in the making of those colleges. They are:
Bhubaneswar Institute of Technology: This College will be located at or adjacent to Infocity II. Its founders include three Orissa origin professors in the US (Prof. Rabi Mohapatra, Prof. Laxmi Bhuyan, Prof. Prashant Mohapatra) and high level people in WIPRO (in India) and Microsoft (USA). Watch out for this college. It should leap to the top3-5 in Orissa within a year or two of its starting.
Temple City Institute of Technology: This college is being founded by one of the founders of KIIT and a US software professional who also gave some initial funding to KIIT. This college is also supported by at least one North America based professor (not me). Again based on the track record of the founders this should become a good college.
.jpg){kind=link}
