Following is an excerpt from the Indian Express article.
Replying to the calling attention, Minister of State for Human Resources D Purandareswari said … As she proceeded to read out a list of educational institutions in the state that were receiving Central assistance—it was in answer to criticism that the state was being discriminated against—the NDA members began protesting, claiming the assistance was paltry. At this BJP leader Vijay Kumar Malhotra rose to say, “There has been injustice against Orissa,†and led the NDA camp in a walkout.
Two comments:
1. Its laughable that the minister was reading out educational institutions in Orissa that receive central assistance. Every state has such institutions. What we are talking about is institutions like IIT that are international brands; institutions that are fully funded by MHRD; institutions like IIT, IIM, SPA, IIIT, IISc, IISER and Central Universities.
2. It is significant that the NDA leader of the Lok Sabha led the walk out and said what he said. I hope if and when the NDA comes to power he and other NDA leaders will come to Orissa’s aid and make things more equitable.
May 10th, 2007
Author : Chitta Baral
From Kalinga Times.
May 9th, 2007
Author : Chitta Baral
On May 8th 2007, NDA MPs from Orissa brought a call attention notice in the Lok Sabha about an IIT in Orissa and dissatisfied with response walked out of the parliament and were supported by other NDA MPs in this walkout. Speaking about this MP Baijayanta Panda of BJD is reported to have said, “Orissa is being continuously neglected by the Centre, especially by the ministry of HRD.” Is Mr. Panda right? Or is this a typical whining allegation that opposition parties from various states regularly throw at the government.
Continue Reading May 9th, 2007
Author : Chitta Baral
During this UPA rule MHRD has announced and started several top-notch institutions across India; some are mentioned in a recent PIB press release. Following is a list of them:
- IISER Kolkata, West Bengal (1)
- IISER Pune, Maharashtra (1)
- IISER Mohali, Punjab (1)
- IISER in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh (1)
- IISER in Thiruvanthapuram, Kerala (1)
- IIT in Andhra Pradesh (1)
- IIT in Rajasthan (1)
- IIT in Bihar (1)
- IIM at Shillong, Meghalaya (1)
- SPA in Vijaywada, Andhra Pradesh (2)
- SPA in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh (2)
- Upgradation of Bengal Engineering and Sc U to an IIT clone (IIEST), West Bengal (2)
- Upgradation of Andhra Univ Engineering College to IIT clone (IIEST), Andhra Pradesh (3)
- Upgradation of Osmania Univ Engg College to IIT clone (IIEST), Andhra Pradesh (4)
- Upgradation of IT BHU to IIT clone (IIEST), Uttar Pradesh (1)
- Upgradation of Cochin Univ of Sc and Tech to IIT clone (IIEST), Kerala (2)
- IIIT Kanchipuram, Tamilnadu (1)
- Allahbad University made to a Central University, Uttar Pradesh (2)
- Manipur University made to a Central University, Manipur (1)
- Arunachal Pradesh university made to a Central University, Arunachal Pradesh (1)
- Tripura university made to a Central University, Tripura (1)
- New Central University in Sikkim, Sikkim (1)
- CIEFL Hyderabad made to a central university, Andhra Pradesh (5)
Orissa is among the bottom three (and now at the bottom) in terms of per-capita spending by MHRD in fully funded higher education institutions and it does not have an IIT, IIM, Central university, Institutes of National Importance, IIIT etc.
If so many new institutes are being made by MHRD, and Orissa did not have any of the above kinds of top-notch institutions to begin with, why a single one of the new ones fully funded by MHRD are not in Orissa.
May 9th, 2007
Author : Chitta Baral
Following is an execrpt from the Statesman article on this issue.
Call for dharna
Meanwhile, the BJD Rajya Sabha leader, Mr Baijayant Panda, has requested all MPs from Orissa, irrespective of party affiliation, to be join a sit-in dharna near the statue of Mahatma Gandhi on the premises of Parliament tomorrow for an IIT in the state, SNS adds from Bhubaneswar.
All BJD-BJP MPs from Orissa have decided to stage a dharna and others from the state are invited to join, he said.
Orissa is being continuously neglected by the Centre, especially by the ministry of HRD, said Mr Panda. In spite of the declaration by the HRD minister of state to have two IITs in Orissa last year, the Centre has decided to have three new IITs in Bihar, Rajasthan and Andhra Pradesh.
It is unfortunate that Orissa’s longstanding demand for Central institutes like Indian Institute of Technology and Indian Institute of Management continues to be ignored by the Central government, he observed.
May 9th, 2007
Author : Chitta Baral
Newsreports [Times of India, Hindustan Times, Tathya.in, Kalinga Times, Statesman, Indian Express, Sambada, Samaja 1,2,3, Dharitri 1,2,3,4 ,India-e-news, Pragativadi] and emails are coming in regarding the IIT issue being raised in the parliament. At first glance the news is negative, especially the headline in Times of India which says “Govt says No to an IIT in Orissa.”
However, this is a starting point in Delhi. Now the MPs can set up an appointment with the PM and make a case. Another good aspect of this is that the walkout by the Orissa BJD+BJP MPs is reported to have been supported by the NDA partners. We need to find out by how many and if there were any BJP stalwarts. In any case, this provides a fallback option. If the MPs fail to convince the PM, then having the NDA partners on board now, makes it easier if and when the NDA comes to power next.
If one is depressed after reading the news items, they may checkout what happened when the NIS issue was brought up in the parliament Q & A sessions in December 2005.
May 8th, 2007
Author : Chitta Baral
For some time the Orissa government and the WODC (Western Orissa Development Council) have been trying to develop 3 private medical colleges in Rourkela, Balangir and Jarangi near Bhawanipatna in Kalahandi. [Telegraph Feb 2005,Hindu Nov 2006]
Today’s Sambada reports on some progress with respect to these.
Continue Reading May 8th, 2007
Author : Chitta Baral
PIB reports about 667 fellowships annually for tribal (ST) students to pursue M.Phil and Ph.D. The avertisement for these fellowships and the application form are available at a UGC site. The deatils of this fellowship is available at another UGC site. There are fellowships under the same scheme for SC students also.
May 7th, 2007
Author : Chitta Baral
PIB reports on a Q & A on six AIIMS like institutions to be established in India and upgradation of 13 exsiiting colleges to AIIMS level. While the new AIIMS like institutions will be built at an estimated cost of Rs 322 crores each, the upgradations will be made at a cost of Rs 120 crores each.
However, eventhough the government have time and again talked about the AIIMS like institutions, there has been very little physical progress in the ground. In Bhubaneswar, a boundary wall exists, but not much beyond that. There have been some progress with respect to design and call for interests which we have mentioned in earlier writings on this topic.
May 7th, 2007
Author : Chitta Baral
New Indian Express reports that with seven more Ekalabya Schools of Orissa starting +2 science with 60 seats each, now all 10 Ekalabya Schools of Orissa will have +2 Science. I hope all 600 of these students each year get at least into 5 yr integrated MSc, Engineering or Medicine (and avail of ST quotas when necessary). That would be tremendous. Following is an excerpt from the New Indian Express article:
Continue Reading May 6th, 2007
Author : Chitta Baral
In ornet, Purna Mishra, who is visiting Orissa, observes the following:
Good news from Orissa. Vedanta University is for real. It will be unlike any other university in India.
The land acquisition is going smoothly. Unlike POSCO and others, the state government is out of the process. Most of the land is state government and/or belong to Lord Jagannath. Not much private land. They have opened an office in Puri to acquire land. It seems their latest offer is to acquire paddy cultivated land at Rs. 2 lakh /acre. Before the Vedanta University offer, the land was available at Rs. 60,000/acre.
May 5th, 2007
Author : Chitta Baral
The Ministry of tourism of the Government of India has established an Indian Institute of Tourism Travel and Management with the headquarter in Gwalior, and campuses in Bhubaneswar and New Delhi. They offer the following programs in 2007.
Continue Reading May 5th, 2007
Author : Chitta Baral
Recently the Vice Chancellor of Ravenshaw University made a presentation to the CM about Ravenshaw’s future. As an outcome of this presentation the Orissa government agreed to give land for a second campus of Ravenshaw. The Ravenshaw vice chancellor seems to have a lot of ideas on how to take Ravenshaw to the next level and is looking for support from all corners. If any Ravenshaw alumni or well-wisher would like to help in this goal of taking Ravenshaw to the next level, please get in touch with me.
May 4th, 2007
Author : Chitta Baral
Today, there is an opinion piece in Times of India that suggests that some of the best NITs and IT-BHU should be upgraded to IITs. I wrote along the same lines in an Indian Express op-ed article last year. This is discussed in more detail in the blog specifically on this topic. Here is a quick overview of the issue.
Continue Reading May 4th, 2007
Author : Chitta Baral
CIPET (Central Institute of Plastic Engineering and Technology) is an autonomous institute under the ministry of chemical and fertilizers, Govt. of India. It has several locations. Recently it advertised for students (Samaja,webpage) with the list of programs and a prospectus. Digging deep into the locations and what they offer it seems that until now only the Lucknow, Chennai and Bhubaneswar locations offered the M.Tech program in plastic technology and engineering and from this year the Hajipur (Patna) campus will offer that program. They all offer a slew of post graduate diplomas, post diplomas, diplomas and integrated diplomas/post-diplomas.
May 4th, 2007
Author : Chitta Baral
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