Odisha HRD

DAV Colleges in Odisha

India has several DAV Colleges and Schools. A listing of them can be obtained from http://www.davcmcdircol.org/index2.aspx. Some of their top colleges in India are DAV  College Chandigarh and Hansraj College Delhi. They currently have 4 colleges in Odisha.

Based on the claims in their web page, the DAV School of Business Management seems to be doing very well. 

Currently there are four DAV Public Schools in the Bhubaneswar area. 

• DAV Chandrasekharpur
• DAV Unit 8
• DAV Pokhariput
• DAV Kalinganagar

There are many DAV Schools in rest of Odisha. This includes

• DAV School Berhampur
• Four DAV Schools in Cuttack city (Raja Bagicha, CDA, Gandharpur, Alisa Bazaar)
• DAV School, Basanti Colony Rourkela
• DAV School Sovarampur Balasore
• DAV School Paradeep
• DAV Talcher Thermal
• DAV MCL
• DAV Jharsuguda
• DAV Burla
• DAV Badambagarh, Cuttack
• DAV Brajarajnagar
• DAV Sundergarh

See http://www.adhyapak.com/schools/orissa/orissa_schools2.html for a bigger list.

May 3rd, 2010

Comparing Maharashtra and Odisha in terms of engineering seats

The Maharashtra numbers are from http://www.dte.org.in/degree/statistics/regionwisetotal.asp?inst_type=ENGINEERING. For Odisha I calculated the numbers using 2009 AICTE data. (Thanks to Bagdu for inspiring us to make this comparison.)

Couple of points to note from the above:

• The number of B.Engg seats in Bhubaneswar is not bad in comparison with the much larger cities of Mumbai and Pune.
• The other three metropolitan areas of Odisha mentioned above need to get to the level of at least 5000 seats (if not 10,000 seats) to make them attractive to IT companies.
• The increasing M.Tech seats will help improve the quality of faculty in the engineering colleges.

4 comments April 22nd, 2010

IIT act to be ammended to include medicine; Despite objections by the Health Ministry IIT Kharagpur to start medical school in collaboration with Indian Railways

Following is an excerpt from a report in Times of India.

In a written reply in Lok Sabha on Wednesday, minister of state for HRD D Purandeshwari said the ministry has decided to amend the IIT Act, the law that governs IITs, to include medical science. The health ministry had said that IITs should not be allowed to start conventional courses in medicine.

The amendment, Purandeshwari said, would help IITs to offer programmes bringing together the diverse disciplines of medicine and engineering. Referring to the health ministry’s objection, she said, "However, appreciating the fact that the modern trends in medical education and research in technology and medicine in all the developed and most of the developing countries are seen hand-in-hand, the government proposes to incorporate `medicine’ in the IIT Act."

Purandeswari said the programme would bring the two important disciplines of medicine and engineering together.

… IIT Kharagpur has come up with a concrete proposal in this regard and plans to start a medical college in collaboration with Indian Railways. At a meeting of experts in the health ministry in February this year, it was observed that IITs should start courses on health information technology, biomedical engineering and e-health rather than running a hospital or starting MBBS courses.

There are several lessons that Odisha can draw from this.

• As Purna Mishra suggested in a comment, VSSUT and the VSS Medical College in Burla should combine to form a single university.
• NIT Rourkela and IIT Bhubaneswar should consider adding a medical college as part of the institute; NIT could include the proposed ESI medical college and IIT could include the proposed Railways medical college.

April 22nd, 2010

Tourism and Higher Education minister Shri Debi Mishra proposes establishment of hotel management schools in Balangir and Rourkela

Update on May 9th 2010: Following is from a report in Daily Pioneer.

The Food Craft Institute, Balangir, has been awarded as the best food craft institute all over India for its excellent all-round performance. Established jointly by the Union Ministry of Tourism and State Department of Tourism, this institute offers diploma courses in Food Production, Food and Beverages Service, Front Office Operation and House Keeping Operation. … The institute is going to be upgraded as a State Institute of Hotel Management. Recently, a Central inspection team visited the campus.

Following is an excerpt from a report in Business Standard.

… the state government has sought the conversion of the status of Food Craft Institute at Bolangir into an Indian Institute of Health Hotel Management (IIHM). The state government would provide additional land for it. Besides, the government has also urged the Centre to set up a IIHM at Rourkela, Mishra added.

Note that the Institute of Hotel Management in Bhubaneswar started as a Food Craft Institute in 1973. It became a centrally funded Institute of Hotel Management in 1984.

March 27th, 2010

Jharkhand proactive with its public sectors for medical colleges; Odisha should learn from it

(Thanks to http://www.rourkelacity.com/rdf/showthread.php?p=41#post41 for the pointer.) Following is an excerpt from a report in Ranchi Express.

State Health Minister Baithnath Ram on Monday informed the Assembly that approval letters have been sent to HEC, Ranchi and SAIL, Bokaro to start medical colleges at Ranchi and Bokaro respectively. About 250 students will be admitted in each medical college, Minister said.

Note that HEC Ranchi is a Government of India enterprise. 

We have said this earlier but is worth repeating. Odisha must push the central public sectors that have large operations in Odisha, especially the ones that either use Odisha minerals, pollute Odisha or both to establish medical colleges in Odisha. So far they have pursued this strategy with MCL which has promised a medical college in Talcher. 

Odisha government should immediately pursue with the other such public sectors.

• SAIL Rourkela should be pushed for a medical college in Rourkela.
• NALCO should be pushed for a medical college in one of the places it operates in Odisha.
• NTPC should be pushed for a medical college.

They should also do that with respect to some of the private sectors that have been using Odisha minerals. This includes:

• Tatas in the Kalinganagar area.
• Birlas in the Barbil area.

Some of our earlier articles on this topic:

• https://www.orissalinks.com/archives/1172
• https://www.orissalinks.com/archives/1465
• https://www.orissalinks.com/archives/3108

14 comments March 17th, 2010

Rourkelacity.com: CM favorable towards ESIC Medical College in Rourkela

Following is an excerpt from http://www.rourkelacity.com/top-news/naveen-patnaik-assured-and-indicates-green-signal-for-esic-medical-college-at-rourkela/.

Today under the leadership of Dr. Prafulla Majhi ( MLA , Talsara Constituency, Sundargarh ) about 6 MLAs from Sundargarh, Jharsuguda, Keonjhar met the Chief Minister Shri Naveen Patnaik and appraised him about the discontent among the civil society and people at Rourkela and Sundargarh on the on going issue of locating the ESIC Medical College. After giving a calm hearing to the MLAs , Naveen Patnaik said, being ESIC Medical College is a central Govt. project, the State Govt. doesn’t have any problem if the ESIC Corporation decides this to be at Rourkela. The state will facilitate accordingly and allocate the land. He further assured about checking the status of the project and do his best for Rourkela and its people. At the same time 20 representatives of people from the above districts, also handed over a memorandum for setting up ESIC Medical College and Hospital at Rourkela to the Chief Minister which he gladly accepted.

I hope this solves all the technical issues and the ESIC hospital and medical college is quickly established in Rourkela.

Assuming the above happens Rourkela would have a very good momentum towards becoming a Tier II city in India. Some of the other things that are happening in parallel are: (i) Faster progress with respect to BPUT (ii) Good progress on Hi-Tech Medical college (iii) Proposal for a metropolitan university in Rourkela and much more. In terms of knowledge infrastructure Rourkela would then have:

• One institute of National importance: NIT
• Two Universities: BPUT and Metropolitan University
• Two medical Colleges: Hi-Tech and ESI
• Two existing engineering colleges (Padmanava and Purushottam) and one more in pipeline (Rourkela Institute of Technology)
• Good management institutes in RIMS Rourkela and IIPM Kansbahal.

I hope now Rourkela will have the momentum and its people will take their own initiatives so that steps such as the ones we earlier mentioned in  https://www.orissalinks.com/archives/3480 will be taken and  Rourkela will march towards becoming a Tier II city of India.

Among people driven initiatives the first one to be taken is to push SAIL to create a medical college and an engineering college in Rourkela and approaching top institutions in Odisha and India to open a campus in Rourkela.

5 comments March 13th, 2010

Hi-Tech advertises for its Rourkela Medical College: Dharitri, Samaja

The ad says they are expecting it to start in 2010-11. Perhaps someone from Rourkela can tell us how far the construction has progressed. Any photos would be appreciated.

8 comments March 3rd, 2010

Prof. Jitendriya Kumar Satpathy from NIT Rourkela to takeover as BPUT’s 3rd VC

Following is an excerpt from a report in tathya.in.

Jitendriya Kumar Satpathy will take over as third Vice Chancellor of Biju Patnaik University of Technology (BPUT) soon. 

Professor of the Department of Electrical Engineering at National Institute of Technology (NIT), Rourkela, has been appointed as new VC BPUT by the Chancellor Murlidhar Chandrakant Bhandare. 

The Raj Bhawan has issued orders accordingly and Prof. Satpathy would remain VC for the next five years.

… Prof. Satpathy received his Ph. D in Electrical Engineering from the University of Bradford, United Kingdom. 

…  His specialisations include Digital Signal Processing, Application of Neural Networks & Fuzzy logic to digital communication, Electrical power drives. 

Born in Cuttack with top academic excellence, Professor Satapathy is known for his down to earth approach.

… Commenting on his new appointment Professor Satapathy said that once he completes his duties in NIT, he will take over as VC. 

Once he takes over the assignment, it will be possible to spell out his vision on BPUT, said Prof.Satapathy.

Since Prpfessor Satapathy has been living in Rourkela, there is a high chance that unlike his predecessors he will run BPUT from Rourkela.

16 comments January 25th, 2010

Labor minister Pushpendra Singh Deo appeals on ESIC Medical College

Following is from Samaja.

This creates an interesting situation. On one hand Rourkela is really the right location for the ESIC Medical college; but on the other hand changing of an already announced location can be dangerous in that it opens up other attempts to change other locations. No announcement of a location will be safe as  people from other aspiring areas will keep trying to change it and some of that may result in instability and chaos.

While ESIC medical college case is a very very special case,  and we tried to make that case, it seems to be very difficult to make people understand that. Even we have failed in that in these pages.

That may be one of the reasons Orissa government is being stubborn on the ESIC Medical college case.

As the Telangana case illustrates how one decision can have snowball effect on the rest of the country, unless the ESIC case is carefully handled (by all sides) it can create chaos across the state.

December 27th, 2009

Delhi farmers offer land for state university

Earlier I wrote about people getting together and offering land for a university, a branch campus, or a new institute in Orissa. This is exactly what has now transpired in Delhi. I hope people in various parts of Orissa learn from this. Following is an excerpt from a report about the Delhi farmer’s offer.

… A delegation from Delhi’s villages called on Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit on Monday and presented to her a resolution offering 540 bighas of land in the Ghumanhera village in Najafgarh for opening of a State university.

A memorandum seeking opening of a new general university under the Delhi government and naming it after former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi was submitted to Ms. Dikshit …

They said that opening of a new general university under the Delhi Government would benefit the farmers of Delhi as it would also help in implementation of the OBC reservation list under which the Jat community is covered.

Dr.Kumar had earlier also raised this issue with the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for inclusive development in the rural areas by asking to give a portion of the developed land to the farmers from whom it is acquired, said that the meeting was a historic landmark as the farmers have willfully offered to give the Gram Sabha land for a noble cause.

… Sibal had however given a green signal to the plea, in writing to Dikshit that, the government should consider the plan and avail the help of the Centre to set up a new state university providing incentives to the states during the 11th Plan since the Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University does not have seats in general higher education, in which a majority of students from the rural areas of Delhi are interested.

Following the interaction, Dr. Kumar said the Chief Minister declared that she would soon work on forming this new university and thanked the farmers for offering to give their land to Delhi Government for the purpose.

The underlined parts above are important points. (i) Returning part of the developed donated land to the farmers, which by then is multiple times worth the original land, is a win-win situation. (ii) General Universities are important and no matter the existence of NIT and BPUT, Rourkela, still the second largest metropolitan area of Orissa, must have a general university at the earliest.

December 23rd, 2009

NIT Rourkela: Orissa’s top nationally ranked academic institution and Rourkela’s shining jewel

I was going through NIT Rourkela’s website. Although it has been always ranked pretty high (good research ranking, high ranking by India Today) among engineering colleges in India, over the last few years it is turning into a comprehensive university with new departments and programs. Prof. Sunil Sarangi has done wonders since he has arrived as the director of NIT Rourkela. Following are some of the highlights of the unique programs, new programs and new departments.

• Applied Mathematics Department: Has a program in M.Sc Mathematics
• Biotechnology and Medical Engineering Department: New department started in 2007-2008 and started B.Tech and M.Tech in Biomedical Engineering
• Business Administration Department: New department being made. New programs to start soon, hopefully in 2010
• Ceramic Engineering Department: B.Tech and M.Tech programs in Ceramic Engineering. This is a unique department and program not available in many places.
• Chemistry Department: Has a program in M.Sc Chemistry
• Humanities and Social Sciences Department: Two-year PG Programme in Development Studies to start from the next academic year
• Life Sciences Department: 2 year M. Sc. Programme (4-semester course) in Life Science commenced from July 2009
• Physics Department: Has a program in M.Sc Physics

Note: Among the above departments, the Applied Mathematics, Chemistry and Physics departments are not new but I think the M.Sc programs are new; I could not find when exactly they were started.

As one can notice from the above, one can do degrees in Molecular Biology or Humanities at NIT Rourkela. Soon one can pursue an MBA. This is really wonderful and kudos to Prof. Sarangi for making this happen.

In August this year when I met Prof. Sarangi in Orissa I broached the topic of having a medical college at NIT Rourkela. He was not opposed to the idea, but was worried that with only 1-2 years left in his tenure at NIT Rourkela, he would not be able to make it happen in that short time. I hope a way is found so that Prof. Sarangi stays for another 5 year term at NIT Rourkela. I am told every one likes him and respects him at NIT Rourkela. We should  write him and thank him for all that he has done for NIT Rourkela, request him to stay longer in Rourkela and we should do something (perhaps write to CMO and MHRD) to give him another 5 year term. We should request Prof. Sarangi to start a medical college at NIT Rourkela. His parent institution, IIT Khragpur is starting one in Kharagpur, so if he is given time, he will be able to do it. Another program that NIT Rourkela should be encouraged  to establish is "Architecture and Town Planning".  (In this regard, NIT Warangal leads the pack of NITs in planning for a medical school and a law school.)

For our readers with Rourkela connection please spread the word about the availability of science, business and humanities programs at NIT Rourkela so that good students and faculty join these programs. Also, some of you students, go and pursue higher degrees (PhD) and come back and join NIT Rourkela and to the others become an entrepreneur and open companies in Rourkela. 

Another good thing about all of these is that with the new VC at VSSUT Burla, who is also from IIT Khragapur and a good friend of Prof. Sarangi , a similar transformation can be expected at VSSUT Burla. Already, a new department of Humanities is being made at VSSUT Burla. VSSUT Burla has advertised for new faculty positions and its VC has mentioned some of his new plans. In an interview to TOI he is reported to have said: 

Our priority will be to make the institution as one of the best of the country and for this we are planning to introduce few new branches of engineering courses. Textile engineering is one among them which will help to strengthen the development of the Sambalpuri fabric. We also plan to introduce Nano-science technology, Bio-medical engineering and surgical engineering soon”, the vice chancellor Dr Tripathy told.

6 comments December 19th, 2009

RTI response on ESIC Medical College in Orissa

On 22nd October 2009 Prashant babu had filed an RTI with the following questions:

1. What are the reasons for choosing Bhubaneshwar, Odisha as the location for ESIC Medical College and Hospital, when Rourkela and its nearby areas are having the largest number of ESIC Insured Persons (ESIC Employees)?
2. On what ground Bolangir, Odisha was not considered as a location for the ESIC Medical College and Hospital?
3. Whether Rourkela as a location for ESIC Medical College proposed by Govt. of Odisha? If so please specify the date of such porposal? Who had sent the proposal (Name of the person/officer)?
4. If Rourkela was proposed, then on what ground it was not considered by ESIC for setting up the Medical College and Hospital?

He has now received the response. They are as follows:

1. Govt. of Orissa has offered 25 acres of land at Bhubaneshwar for setting up medical college by ESI Corporation.
2. There was no such proposal for consideration.
3. Govt. of Orissa has not proposed Rourkela as a location for ESIC medical college.
4. Not applicable. 

Different people are interpreting this different ways. My interpretation is as follows: 

• It is clear now that Orissa government plays a crucial role in deciding on the location of the ESIC medical college. The center may still say yes or no to a proposed location but it does not seem to have the power to propose a location on its own. This means the CM needs to be convinced. (That is why it was a big step to get the hint that the CM is now aware of the issue. However, it remains to be seen how accurate that information is.)
• Newspaper reports can not be trusted completely. From first hand experience I know that if there is a paper about X in the desk of a secretary some news papers have printed it as Orissa government has a proposal for X. There have been times where an email I sent to the government, which happen to lie in the desk of a secretary, has later appeared in the news papers as an Orissa government proposal whereas in reality my email printout probably went to some file (at best) or the dust bin. So my analysis is that somebody in Orissa government mentioned the name Balangir in the ESIC medical college context and it probably never made it out of the Orissa government; but regardless the newspapers printed about it. Its also possible that somebody on purpose gave wrong or misleading information to the media.

In any case, Prashant babu desreves thanks for using the RTI mechanism to get these answers. Now it is clear where the buck stops on this matter (the CM) and where the efforts should be concentrated on (the CM).  With the reluctance of the Rourkela MLA and the Labor Minister to bring this issue to the CM, some other way to access the CM and convince him about Rourkela needs to be found.

3 comments December 14th, 2009

Existing health related institutes in Orissa

Following is from http://www.orissa.gov.in/health_portal/index.html.

Medical & Dental Colleges:

Ayurvedic Colleges:

Government Institutions

Private Institutions:

Homeopathic Colleges:

Government Institutions

Private Institutions:

Nursing Colleges:

Pharmacy Colleges:

6 comments December 10th, 2009

First hint that the CM is aware of the ESIC medical college in Rourkela issue

Following is an excerpt from a report in tathya.in.

Chief Minister has now demanded the Government of India to favour with a Dental and Nursing College for the Steel City, said official sources.

State Government in the Department of Labour & Employment (DOLE) has asked the Ministry of Labour to set up the facilities in Rourkela keeping in view the long standing demand of the people.

After Rourkela has been sidetracked for a Medical College & Hospital, the State Government has initiated the move to set up Dental College and College of Nursing in the city.

…Nearest Hospital for them is Sambalpur and IPs require frequent references for their dental problems.

Further there is extreme shortage of nursing staff in the health institutions of the state including ESI Medical Institutions.

So both Dental and Nursing College is needed, said Satya Prakash Nanda, Development Commissioner.

Mr.Nanda has taken up the issue with P C Chaturvedi, the Union Secretary Labour & Employment.

It has been agreed that ESIC would consider opening up of a Dental College and College of Nursing at Rourkela.

Investment in both the institutions will be around Rs.100 crores, said Sardar Jagar Singh, Secretary Labour & Employment.

Mr.Singh said that he has brought it to the notice of C D Kedar, the Director General ESIC.

Although a dental and nursing college (if it happens) is better than nothing, but it still does not seem to address the issue fairly. If there are more ESI insured people around Rourkela, the medical college should be established there. If there is some real logical reason why the medical college is being made in Bhubaneswar then the officials involved should spell that out.

26 comments December 9th, 2009

A turning point on ESIC Rourkela effort? – 4 Congress MPs including Hemanada Biswal request the PM for ESIC medical college in Rourkela

Update: Pioneer also writes about this.

Following is an excerpt from a report in expressbuzz.com.

First Published : 23 Nov 2009 04:16:00 AM IST

Last Updated : 23 Nov 2009 09:17:24 AM IST

BHUBANESWAR: Four senior Congress MPs from Western Orissa have demanded establishment of the proposed ESIC medical college and hospital at Rourkela in Sundargarh district instead of near the Capital for which the State Government is insisting on.

Though the maximum number of industrial and mine workers reside in the area which is tribal dominated, it has been neglected in the health sector since Independence, the four MPs said in a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

The four MPs, former chief minister Hemananda Biswal, former Union minister Bhakta Charan Das, former minister Amarnath Pradhan and Sanjay Bhoi, said that the area includes border districts and industrial belt of Jharsuguda, Deogarh, Keonjhar, Bargarh and Sambalpur. Out of the 2.4 lakh ESI insured persons in the State, 1.4 lakh are from this area, they said and added that the first public sector integrated steel plant was established at Rourkela in 1955.

… While the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) is going to be set up near Bhubaneswar, another medical recommended by the Human Resource Development Ministry will be set up in the coastal district. Besides, another medical college recommended by the Ministry of Railways will be established at Bhubaneswar. Two more medical colleges have been recommended to be set up Koraput and Talcher. Bhubaneswar city also has three private medical colleges and hospitals, they said.

This could be the turning point on this movement. Thank you MPs for finally doing this; better late than never.

The above report has a new piece of information in the last paragraph that I have underlined. I wonder what that refers to.

25 comments November 23rd, 2009

Mass Rally for ESIC Medical College in Rourkela on the 21st of November

Update: See News coverage of the rally at http://www.odiasamaja.org/esic-medical-college-rkl-mass-media-coverage/. Pioneer also reports on it at http://dailypioneer.com/217502/Demand-for-ESIC-college-in-Rourkela-gets-stronger.html.

Update: From today’s Dharitri.

Following is from http://www.odiasamaja.org/esic-medical-college-rkl-movement-intensified-again/.

1 comment November 20th, 2009