Odisha HRD

Odisha mulling a construction skills development center in collaboration with L & T

Following is an excerpt from a report in Daily Pioneer.

… the State Government on Monday decided to set up a Construction Skills Training Institute (CSTI) in Bhubaneswar under the Odisha State Employment Mission scheme.

The L&T group has evinced interest for the mega training institute to be set up in the PPP mode in the infrastructure development sector and the negotiation is in an advanced state, said Chief Secretary Bijay Patnaik, adding that the Government would provide the infrastructure support to the L&T.

He said that besides the main campus to be located in Bhubaneswar, the institute would have three sub-centers in the tribal areas, one each at the district headquarters of Koraput, Kandhamal and Mayurbhanj. The sub-centers would act as feeder units for the main CSTI, Bhubaneswar. The concerned district Collectors have already been directed to identify suitable sites for the sub-centers.

The Bhubaneswar institute will be located at the Industries Department premises in the Sailashri Vihar area. Training will be imparted in construction-related trades like masonry, bar bending and carpentry. Training will be meant for school dropouts and the training period will be three months. The training and lodging will be free of cost and L&T will extend stipend of `2,000 per month. According to sources, since the training programme is placement-linked, L&T will offer placement in its own construction sites both within the State and outside.

The Chief Secretary also said after a high-level meeting on the activities of the State Employment Mission held under the chairmanship of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik that it was decided to provide skill development training to an estimated 10 lakh unemployed youth during the next three years under the Employment Mission.

He said a number of sectors like retails, housekeeping, food and beverage, customer relations, front office management, telecom sales, driving, computer and photo shops, nursing and debt recovery agents would be taken up for skill development.

Meanwhile, on the request of the State Government, the National Skill Development Corporation has agreed to undertake skill mapping in order to identify the demand-driven sectors with special emphasis on an in-depth study in tribal areas.

1 comment June 8th, 2011

New AIIMS-like Institutions and upgrdation of medical colleges to AIIMS level; Bihar to have 3, UP to have 6, Odisha complacent and incompetent at 1.

The page at http://mohfw.nic.in/showlink.php?id=698 documents the progress of the various AIIMS-like institutes across the country and as one can find out the progress is the least with respect to AIIMS-like institute in Bhubaneswar. That is a shame.

A bigger shame is that many other states have managed to get approval for additional AIIMS level institutions while Odisha, despite our many emails to the CMO, has not tried that. Odisha should push hard to get both MKCG and VSS Medical colleges upgraded to the AIIMS level.

Following is a list of what has so far been approved obtained from pages 3,4,6 and 8 of the document at http://mohfw.nic.in/showlink.php?id=698.

8 comments June 2nd, 2011

Odisha looking for companies to partner for the PPP (50-35-15) based IIIT

1 comment June 1st, 2011

Himachal Pradesh serious about building up its knowledge infrastructure; Odisha must pay attention and learn how to take advantage of opportunities and geography

Following is extracted from http://nvonews.com/2011/05/21/iim-and-iiit-in-himachal-soon/.

Himachal Government has raised the demand for setting up of Indian Institute of Management (IIM) and Indian Institute of Information Technology (IIIT) in the State with the Government of India. …

Chief Minister said that Himachal Pradesh was poised to emerge a ‘Knowledge Hub’ where best of the vocational educational facilities would be available to the students from all over the world. He said that the IIT classes had already started at Mandi, NIFT classes at Chheb in district Kangra besides the Central University and soon ESI Medical College would start admission at Ner Chowk in district Mandi, Hotel Management Institute at Hamirpur and Food Craft Institute at Dharamshala.

… He said that vocational education was being given added priority since the State had 17 engineering colleges, one in Government and 16 in private sector; 30 polytechnics, nine in government and 21 in private sector and 81 industrial training institutes. He said that additionally 3 major nursing colleges had also been started in the State to give strength to the vocational education system.

Prof. Dhumal said that the State was encouraging private participation in imparting quality education to the students … He said that apart from 3 universities in the government sector 11 private universities had been set up in the state in addition to the one Technical University which too had started functioning. … He said that Rs. 62 crore were being spent over setting up of five polytechnics in Kinnaur, Sirmour, Bilaspur, Kullu, Lahaul and Spiti districts while Hydro Engineering College had been proposed to be opened at Bilaspur under joint venture of National Hydro Power Corporation and National Thermal Power Corporation. He added that the Institute of Engineering and Technology had also been set up at Pragatinagar with the assistance of Satluj Jal Vidyut Nigam. …  He said that Himachal Pradesh happens to be the first State, which was spending 18 percent of its budgetary provisions on education, highest in the country and similarly 12 percent of the budget had been earmarked for agriculture related activities. … He said that Bilaspur, Mandi, Chamba and Kullu districts would be new destinations for setting up of future universities in private sector.

2 comments May 22nd, 2011

Nabakrushna Choudhury Centre for Development Studies – ICSSR research institute in collaboration with Government of Odisha

Its web page is http://nkccds.nic.in/. Following are excerpts from that page.

Nabakrushna Choudhury Centre for Development Studies was established in 1987 vide the Govt. of Orissa Resolution dated the 16th April 1987 in consultation with Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR) under the Ministry of Human Resource Development, as an autonomous body under the Societies Registration Act XXI of 1860. Thus, the Centre has been jointly sponsored by the ICSSR and Govt. of Orissa and receives matching maintenance and development grants from them on 50:50 basis.

Following are excerpts from the page http://nkccds.nic.in/locationinfra.asp about the location of this institute.

The Centre is situated in a prime institutional area, 6 Kms from the Bhubaneswar railway station, 10 Kms away from the Biju Patnaik International airport and 1.5 Kms away from the Jaydev Vihar Square on a very quiet and serene campus on 5 acres of land. It forms part of an institutional area covering Survey of India, IGNOU Regional Centre and Council of Higher Secondary Education (CHSE) on the one side and the Fortune Tower and Xavier Institute of Management, Bhubaneswar on the other side of the main road leading towards Nandan Kanan, the famous Zoological Park at the outskirt of the city.

It has a small faculty of 3 readers, 2 lecturers and one research associate. The director position is open after the recent passing away of Prof. Sakti prasad Padhi. The faculty are involved in research and guide students for their Ph.D. Following are excerpts from the page http://nkccds.nic.in/doctoralprogram.asp.

At present, although the Centre does not have a formal M.Phil/Ph.D. programme unlike other ICSSR institutes, the faculty have been given recognition by the Utkal University to guide doctoral research on different topics. … the faculty members of the Centre are preoccupied with guiding many doctoral dissertations. Many such researchers registered with the Centre’s faculty either as regular UGC/ICSSR JRFs (Junior Research Fellows) or as private Ph.D scholars, have been awarded with doctoral degrees in economics, sociology and social anthropology in the past and quite a few others are on the verge of getting their degrees from Utkal University. …

The Indian Council of Social Science Research allocates three institutional doctoral fellowships (two ordinary and one salary protected) to the Institute every year. The NCDS offers these fellowships in economics, sociology and social anthropology. The selected candidates are given fellowship @ Rs.6000/- p.m. and a contingency grant of Rs.12000/- p.a. for a period of two years, which may be extended by one more year.

Following is the advertisement for its director’s position.

May 21st, 2011

Great Lakes gets 150 crores investment from Educomp; partnesrship plans include a business education-oriented university in Odisha

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

… Great Lakes Institute of Management, Chennai on May 6 announced its own plans to expand operations to Gurgaon and Orissa in addition to its earlier takeover of Mumbai Business School.

… The Great Lakes-Educomp partnership will also build a business education-oriented university in Orissa, tentatively named ‘University of Corporate Excellence’. Once the university kicks off, Great Lakes would have had spread its presence in all four corners of the country, says Prof Balachandran. While Great Lakes – Chennai has built a strength around marketing, IEMR will focus on the energy sector and MBS on emerging markets.

Educomp’s Rs 150 crore investment is part cash and part  infrastructure and technology, such as its e-learning platform which will be powered using Great Lakes content to offer distance learning.

1 comment May 17th, 2011

Which branch to take for Engineering Diploma in Odisha?

These days many students after their Class X exam instead of joining a +2Sc/Arts/Commerce program enroll in an engineering diploma program. The reason being:

(a) They can avail of lateral entry to the 2nd year of B.E program if they have "Pass in 3 years diploma course in Engineering with at least 50% ( 45% in case of candidate belong to SC / ST category) marks in aggregate from State Council of Technical Education and Training (SCTE&VT)". For them there is a reservation of "Upto a maximum of twenty percent of sanctioned intake capacity of 2010-20 11 in appropriate discipline of engineering (these seats will be over and above the intake capacity) and carry forward vacant seats of first year of engineering (as per list submitted by JEE-2010) will be available for lateral entry at third semester level."

(b) They can also join the first year of B.E program if they wish to do that.

Now when choosing what branch in Diploma they should pursue they should look at the following table from the JEE prospectus. It will tell them from which diploma branch they can join "laterally" (i.e, to the second year) to which B.E. branch .

As per the JEE 2011 stipulations, the most flexible branch seems to be "Mechatronics" as it allows them to pursue Mechanical Engineering as well as several Electronics related branches.  (This may change in the future. So students need to check the latest JEE prospectus.)

1 comment May 9th, 2011

Seat availability to study MBA and MCA in Odisha via Odisha JEE 2011

The following is extracted from the Odisha JEE 2011 brochure. Thanks to a post in rourkelacity.com for the pointer.

Note that one can study PG Diploma in Business Management and similar subjects (such as Rural Management) in several other institutions. Those are not listed above. Some of these institutions are: XIM Bhubaneswar, IMI Bhubaneswar, HDF Business School Bhubaneswar, IITTM Bhubaneswar, etc.

One can also pursue B.Sc (Hons) in Computer Science and M.Sc Computer Science in several institutions. SUIIT (Sambalpur University Institute of Information Technology) also offers courses in IT that are not listed above.

May 9th, 2011

Seat availability to study medicine, dentistry and pharmacy in Odisha via Odisha JEE 2011

The following is extracted from the Odisha JEE 2011 brochure. Thanks to a post in rourkelacity.com for the pointer.

Note that in addition medicine and dentistry seats are also available at KIMS (part of KIIT) and IMS (part of SOA) Bhubaneswar.

May 9th, 2011

Seat availavility to study architecture in Odisha (via Odisha JEE 2011)

The following is extracted from the Odisha JEE 2011 brochure. Thanks to a post in rourkelacity.com for the pointer.

May 8th, 2011

Seat availability in Engineering Colleges in Odisha via JEE 2011

The following is extracted from the Odisha JEE 2011 brochure. Thanks to a post in rourkelacity.com for the pointer.

Note that in addition to the above colleges (8 govt + 94 private), students can study engineering at the following other institutions in Odisha; but one needs to use different channels to get admitted there.

• NIT Rourkela
• KIIT Bhubaneswar
• SOA Bhubaneswar
• Agricultural Engineering at OUAT Bhubaneswar
• IIT Bhubaneswar
• SU-IIT Sambalpur

In total, aspiring students of Odisha currently have  a total of 108 institutions to pursue their Engineering degree.

2 comments May 8th, 2011

Azim Premji University Bangalore to establish Institute of Learning and Development in Odisha

The web page of Azim Premji University is http://www.azimpremjiuniversity.edu.in/. Following is an excerpt from a report in Times of India.

The Azim Premji Foundation (APF) … has decided to set up new institutes in Orissa. "The Institute of Learning and Development will be set up in the state under Azim Premji University. We also have plans to set up low-cost model demonstration schools in the districts. The projects will begin in the next couple of years," said the chief executive officer of APF, Dileep Ranjekar.

… He announced the launch of three post-graduate courses at the university, starting from the next academic session. "The absence of a large number of committed, qualified and trained professionals is one of the major constraints in the fields of education and development. The courses we have designed in our university will definitely help prepare outstanding professionals in the education sector," said Ranjekar. The courses offered are: masters degrees in education, development and teacher education.

"There is a huge dearth of experts in the fields of education and development. Teachers’ education in the country is of very poor quality and there has been no concerted effort to improve the curriculum and pedagogy," Ranjekar said.

Those interested in studying in the university will also be provided facilities like scholarships, loans, partial or full tuition fees and living expenses. "We will ensure that no student misses out on opportunities to study in the university due to financial constraints," he maintained. Ranjekar added that the foundation also has plans to set up an institute for assessment and accreditation of educational institutes.

May 5th, 2011

Odisha Knowledge Corporation Limited in offing along the lines of MKCL

The Maharashtra Knowledge Corporation Limited (MKCL) web page is at http://www.mkcl.org/. The following tathya.in news item in Sambada reports on Odisha’s plan for Odisha Knowledge Corporation Limited along the lines of MKCL.

May 4th, 2011

Naveen asks Kamal Nath for an Institute of Urban Management & Governance in Odisha

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

The Chief Minister proposed that the Centre should invest in capacity building and establish an Institute of Urban Management & Governance in Odisha for the purpose.

Minister Urban Development appreciated the suggestions and assured that the Ministry would favorably consider the proposal of one-time grant to large villages.

He also assured that the proposal of the State for setting up of the Institute would be dealt with favorably and that alternatively he would look into opening of a branch of the National Institute of Urban Affairs in Odisha.

1 comment April 11th, 2011

40,000 from Odisha appear in IIT JEE in 2011??

Following is an excerpt from a report on Times of India regarding increase in the number of students appearing in IIT JEE from Odisha.

The number of IIT aspirants in Orissa saw a steady rise with nearly 40,000 students appearing for the joint entrance examination ( JEE) for the country’s premier institute on Sunday, officials said.

Registrar of IIT-Bhubaneswar Bata Kishore Ray said, "The number of aspirants from Orissa has gone up in the last couple of years, especially after IIT-B started operating from the city. …

… About 30,000 aspirants appeared from the state last year, he added.

… In the capital city alone, over 5,000 students appeared in 12 centres for one of the toughest competitive examinations in the country.

… Director of a city-based coaching centre Jyoti Ranjan Tripathy said good coaching facilities and number of successful students increasing every year has been motivating others to go for IIT. "In terms of coaching facilities, Bhubaneswar can be called the Kota of eastern India. Orissa has created some top rankers in IIT-JEE in the last few years and this has motivated more students."

As per a report in Economic Times, the total number of applicants for IIT JEE is 4,85,262.

Following is obtained from a Deccan Chronicle report, a TOI report and another TOI report:

• Total: 4,85,262 out of which 1,13,942 were girl applicants.
  • SC – 47,479; ST – 19,305; OBC – 1,42,387 (TOI)
• Madras zone (Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Kerala): about 68,500 out of which 20,546 were girls. (last year 65,650)
• Mumbai zone: about 85,260/68,735*
  
• Kanpur zone: around 80,400/63,661* (16,770 girls)
• Guwahati zone (Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Manipur, Meghalaya and West Bengal): about 58,700.
• Kharagpur zone:??
• Delhi Zone: 71,353 (16,877 girls)
  
• Roorkee Zone: 16,976 girls

* Two newspapers give different numbers. 

Assuming the numbers for Odisha are correct, it is a significant development in that 8.25% of the total applicants will be from Odisha. Note that Odisha’s population is 3.47% of the total population of the country. 

Ofcourse, a more important aspect is the success in the exam, but significant increase in the applications is a good starting point. Some of the reason behind this increase are:

• More awareness due to IIT Bhubaneswar.
• The significant increase in the availability of coaching, including many nationally known coaching institutes opening their centers in Odisha, especially in Bhubaneswar. These include Careerpoint, FIITJEE, Narayana, Resonance and Vidya Mandir.
• The significant increase in the number of private +2 colleges across the state, some of which have ties with coaching classes.

Now lets hope a good number from Odisha succeed in IIT JEE. Currently Hyderabad and Kota are the places with the highest number of successful candidates. Following is an excerpt from a TOI report on that.

If JEE-2010 results are pored over, the maximum number of candidates to clear the exam was from Andhra Pradesh (AP).

The state dominated the merit list. Seven of the top ten rankers were from there, the share of Kota (which is in Rajasthan) starting only after rank 15. While in 2006, 938 candidates from AP and 1,004 from Rajasthan made it to the IITs, a year later the tables had turned, with 1,384 from AP clearing JEE and 1,344 from Rajasthan. It has been a close race since. In 2009, for example, 1,862 students from AP and 1,898 from Rajasthan cleared JEE.

There are reports from other cities and states, but many have contradictory reports. Following are data from some of these reports.

• Karnataka: 5,400 (Expressbuzz)
• Bangalore: 4,125 (Expressbuzz)
• Nagpur: 4,800 (TOI)
• Mumbai: 8,500 (DNA)
• Maharashtra: 21,000 (DNA), 21,700 (DNA)
• Lucknow: 15,000 (TOI)
• Varanasi: 8,000 (TOI)
• UP: 83,139 (TOI)
• Jaipur: 38,000 (TOI)
• Delhi: 37,411 (TOI
• Andhra Pradesh: 50,000 (Deccan Chronicle), Over 1 lakh (TOI).
• Chennai: 5,000 (Expressbuzz), 5,329 (TOI)
• Bhubaneswar: 5,000 (Times of India)
• Odisha: 40,000 (Times of India)  [I doubt this number.]

3 comments April 11th, 2011

Govt. of Odisha has just sanctioned 96 new regular faculty positions (professors, readers and lecturers) for VSSUT Burla

Update on April 9th 2011: Here is the ad from today’s Samaja. The detailed ad is at http://www.vssut.ac.in/Faculty-2011.pdf. They list 23 Professor positions + 57 Reader positions and 50 lecturer positions. The minimum qualification for professors and readers is a Ph.D and among lecturers, at least in science and humanities, most that will be hired will have Ph.Ds. Once these positions are filled it will increase the number of Ph.D faculty in VSSUT by at least 90.

Following is from a mail sent by Prof. Rakesh Mohanty of VSSUT Burla. It also appears in the alumni site at http://vssut.org/uncategorized/history-created-by-honorable-vc-vssut-burla/.

You will be thrilled and suprised to know that under the dynamic leadership and painstaking effort of Honorable Vice-chancellor, VSSUT Burla, Govt of Orissa has sanctioned 96 New Regular faculty positions (Professors, Readers and Lecturers) for VSSUT Burla.

A great achievement for VSSUT Burla.

This is really wonderful news. If they are able to hire good people against these positions VSSUT will be one of the top technical university in the country and will be next in line for upgradation to an IIEST.

In 2006 the then UCE Burla had submitted a proposal for becoming an IIEST. At that time it had 97 positions sanctioned but with 62 faculty out of which 36 had Ph.D.

I am not sure of the current situation, but with 96 new positions, the sanctioned strength will at least become 193, which is a good number to make a claim for an IIEST.

As per a document prepared by the then UCE Burla in 2006, the then faculty strength of the colleges that were earlier shortlisted for becoming IIEST were as follows:

• IT BHU: 229 faculty with 170 having PhD
• UCET-Osmania U: 127 faculty with 57 having Ph.D
• BESU: 212 faculty with 136 having Ph.D
• UCE-Andhra U: 123 faculty with 68 having Ph.D
• CUSAT: 206 faculty with 151 having Ph.D

So VSSUT’s claim for an IIEST will now depend on how quickly and how many Ph.D faculty they can hire. The sanctioned strength of 193 is pretty good.

Note that earlier in March 2011 VSSUT had advertised for 34 positions (23 lecturers+ 9 readers + 2 professors). See http://www.vssut.ac.in/adv_20111.pdf.

3 comments April 9th, 2011