Odisha HRD

Update on the Bhawanipatna Medical College

(Thanks to Kalahandia for the pointer.)

Following is from http://expressbuzz.com/states/orissa/medical-college-to-see-light-of-the-day/253254.html.

The last one year has rekindled hopes for Kalahandi waiting since long for a medical college as promised by the State Government. Sardar Raja Medical College at Jaring is expected to start functioning from 2012 academic year, the chief executive officer of the college Tarun Mishra announced at a press meet here.

The project got clearance from the State Government in 2004 after an MoU was signed with a private educational institute Salvam Educational and Charitable Trust, Tamil Nadu. The Revenue Department provided 25 acres at Jaring and Western Orissa Development Council released Rs10 crore for infrastructure development. Work soon picked up on the 300-bed hospital, college and hostel buildings.  

However, the project suffered a setback with the chairman of the trust entangled in a legal battle in Tamil Nadu. The long court battle had raised doubts about the future of the project. Last year, the college also failed to get a nod from the Medical Council of India mostly due to lack of adequate number of doctors, staff and some basic infrastructure. This had led to resentment among the locals.  

With the charges against the chairman of the trust dropped, the project witnessed some positive development this year.  

Mishra said that the infrastructure as pointed out by MCI has been put in place. The Health and Family Welfare Department has already issued essentiality certificate and Sambalpur University given consent for affiliation. MCI permission has already been sought and the team is expected to be here soon. Pending works have been taken up on a war-footing to meet the MCI stipulations, he  added. 

The chairman of the Salvam Educational and Charitable Trust SA Raja, in a press release, said that the commitment for establishment of a medical college and super speciality hospital will be fulfilled and he thanked people for their cooperation for success of the project despite undue delay.

It would be interesting to see whether this one becomes operational first or the AIIMS-like institute in Bhubaneswar gets operational first. Looks like both are scheduled to take in students in 2012. The foundation stone of the AIIMS-like institution was laid in 2003, a year earlier than the medical college in Kalahandi.

2 comments March 4th, 2011

University demanded in Kalahandi; Upgrading Govt. College Bhawanipatna to a university urged

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

Leader of Opposition Bhupinder Singh today said improvement of educational infrastructure in Kalahandi district can help minimise regional imbalance. He was speaking at the inaugural function of Golden Jubilee celebration of Government Autonomous College, Bhawanipatna, which kicked off today. …

Bhakta Charan Das, MP, said there is a need to create educational environment and infrastructure in the college. He raised the demand for setting up a university in Kalahandi.

Following is an excerpt from an appeal by NRO Madhusmita Panda. It appears in Orissadiary.com.

Despite being located in a backward and underdeveloped region, Government Autonomous College Bhawanipatna has established itself for maintaining high quality in education in this part of the state. Students of this College have been securing top ranks at the University level as well as state level in various fields of education. …

Being an autonomous college, this college has limited flexibility to introduce new courses on nursing, pharmacy, optometrist, agriculture, horticulture, banking and services, metal processing, information processing, computer science, medicine etc in the diploma, bachelor as well as postgraduate level course and carry out research work seriously to fulfill local demand.
 
A Unitary University, however, will give this institution independency to introduce new courses not only in the discipline mentioned above but also in the field of medicine, agriculture, technology etc based on local requirements. It will also improve the current deficiency in regular teaching positions and make the professor’s position non-transferable basis by directly encouraging research activities 
 
…  Based on location, available infrastructure, local & regional requirements, quality, and importantly merit Government Autonomous College Bhawanipatna deserves to be a Unitary University in the state.

6 comments February 2nd, 2010

Vedanta to build hostel for Government College of Engineering in Bhawanipatna

Following is an excerpt from a report in Business Standard.

The company will also build the hostel for the proposed engineering college of the state government at Bhawanipatna.

This is a good first step. It should do much more with respect to the HRD of that area.

January 25th, 2010

Earlier this year College of Agriculture Bhawanipatna started with 48 students in B.Sc (Agriculture) program

I knew about classes starting in the college of engineering in Bhawanipatna but somehow I missed this news earlier. The following news item in Dharitri provided the tip.

Looking in the web I found the following two documents in regards to College of Agriculture, Bhawanipatna.

5 comments December 30th, 2009

Regular JEE counseling starts with Womens categories; IIIT, Silicon West, Parala Maharaj and Govt. Engineering College Bhawanipatna are in

Regular JEE counseling started yesterday with Women’s categories. In addition to the colleges that were listed for the AIEEE round of  Orissa JEE counseling,  the list of colleges also includes IIIT, Silicon Sambalpur, Parala Maharaj and Govt. College Bhawanipatna. This does not yet appear in the Orissa JEE web site, but I was told by a friend that this is the case. So the complete list of new colleges is:

1. Aryan Institute of Engineering and Technology, Mouza: Barakuda, Post Panchagoan, Bhubaneswar-752 050
2. Bhubaneswar Institute of Technology, Plot No 4, Village Harapur, Khurda, Pin- 752 054
3. Einstien Academy of Tech. & Management (EATAM) Bania Tangi Bhubaneswar
4. Eklavya College of Tech., and Sci., At Kusumati PO Jatni Bhubaneswar Khurda
5. Gandhi Academy of Tech. & Engineering At/PO Golonthara Konisi, Berhampur, Dist Ganjam Orissa
6. Gandhi Institute for Education & Technology, At Banlatangi, P.O. Bajpur, Dist : Khurda-752060
7. Government Engineering College, Kalahandi
8. Gurukula College of Engineering for Women (GCEM) At- Jamuhari Chhatabar, Bhubaneshwar Dist- Khurda Odisha
9. Hi-Tech College of Engineering, Rasulghar, Pandara Bhubaneswar
10. Indotech College of Engineering, Plot No. 144, AT/PO Mallipada, Via Pallahat(Khurda-2) Dist-khurda,Orissa-752056
11. International Institute of Information Technology, Plot No – 570(P), Gothapatna, Khandagiri, Bhubaneswar – 751030
12. KMBB College of Engineering and Technology AT-Daleiput, PO-Talahat Dist. Khurda,Orissa
13. Parala Maharaj Engineering College, Berhampur
14. Rahul Institute of Engineering & Technology, Govindapur JN Tata Dapalli, Village Konisi, Berhampur, Ganjam (DT) Orissa-761 008.
15. Shibani Institute of Technical Education , At-PO-Chhatabar,Via, Hanla, Bhubaneswar – 752054, Khurda, Orissa
16. Silicon Institute of Technology, Sason, Sambalpur -763 200, Orissa.
17. Sophitorium Engineering College, Baniatangi, Khurda
18. Spintronic Tech. & Advance Resarch At.Po Taraboi P.S. Jatani Dist Khurda, Orissa
19. Srinix College of Engineering College At-Ranipatna, Dist Balasore-750001 .
20. Suddhananda Engg. & Research Centre, Phulnakhara Cuttack At Anchhipur P.O. Bhatapatna Orissa
21. Synergy Institute of Technology, At : Bhimpur,P.O. Jagannathpur, P.S. Balianta, Dist:Khurda, Orissa
22. Vedang Institute of Technology, Durga Prasad, P.O. Ramachandi, Dist. Khurda, Orissa
23. Vikash College of Engineering for Women (VCEW) plot No. 2766, P.S. Dist- Baragarh, Odisha
24. Vivekananda Inst. Of Tech., at Chhatabar Dandi, Chaatabar, Orissa
25. Xavier Institute of Tech., Princess Avencue Ghangapatna Bhubaneswar Dist Khurda Orissa

Among the above Silicon Sambalpur, IIIT, and Bhubaneswar Institute of Technology (BIT) are colleges which I would recommend the most. As I wrote earlier, I would even say that students with good enough ranks to get CET or UCE may also consider BIT and IIIT seriously. (Disclaimer: As far as I can recall, I am in the advisory board of BIT, Centurion, JITM and was in the advisory board of Silicon some years back.)

13 comments July 25th, 2009

BPUT advertises for 37+37 positions for its engineering colleges in Berhampur and Bhawanipatna

July 19th, 2009

Agriculture College to come up in Bhawanipatna

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

… The Chief Minister decided to assuage the hurt feelings of the people of Kalahandi by announcing two professional colleges in the district.

Mr.Patnaik chairing the high level meeting here on 27 December announced to set up an engineering and a new agriculture college at Bhawanipatna.

…Sensing the popular demand for more educational facilities in the district, Mr.Patnaik declared that “there will be an agriculture and engineering college at Bhawanipatna”.

Funds will be located from Special Problem Fund (SPF) for both these institutions.

Both the colleges were provided Rs.5 crore each to take up preliminary works.

The engineering college will have 240 seats, where as the agriculture college will accommodate 48 students, revealed an official.

There are 63 engineering colleges, where as this will be the third agriculture college in the state, said he.

Two agriculture colleges exist at Bhubaneswar in Khurda district and Chiplima in Sambalpur district.

The College of Agriculture, Bhawanipatna will be under the Orissa University of Agriculture Technology (OUAT).

… Mr.Patnaik also asked Dr.Arabinda Padhee, Director Agriculture to take up the matter with VC OUAT for facilitating the students to enroll them in 2009-10.

Dr.Padhee gave out details on the planning process on establishing the new institution.

Tarun Kanti Mishra, Development Commissioner who attended the meeting will co-ordinate the land alienation and construction work in a faster manner.

13 comments December 28th, 2008

Orissa government plans a government engineering college in Kalahandi near Bhawanipatna

Following is from tathya.in.

Finally KBK region will have a Government sponsored engineering college.

And this will be established here in the district Headquarters of Kalahandi.

Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has given green signal to this effect.

The Industries department has moved the files so that the institution receives approval of AICTE.

The authorities are eying to enroll students in 2009-10 in four streams, once the AICTE approval is availed.

The Collector has been asked to locate 30 acres of land near Bhawanipatna.

At least 10 acres of land is required for an engineering college but keeping in future expansion, the State Government has asked the Collector Kalahandi to do the needful.

Chief Minister has asked the Finance department to provide Rs.4 crore from the Orissa Contingency Fund (OCF).

Recently the OCF has been allowed to enlarge its kitty to Rs.400 crore.

There are 63 engineering colleges in the state and 2 in KBK. 

Most of the engineering colleges are in Khurda district, which houses 34.

There are no government engineering colleges in KBK and keeping this in view the Chief Minister has approved the Kalahandi Engineering College in this part of KBK, said an official.

This engineering college will be constituent college of Biju Patnaik University of Technology (BPUT).

6 comments December 20th, 2008

State universities needed in Orissa interior districts (Bhawanipatna, Phulbani, Angul and Keonjhar) and Rourkela

In the following figure the red dots indicate where the current universities in Orissa are, including the ones that have been announced, such as the proposed central university in Koraput. As the map illustrates, all the existing and planned universities are in the periphery of the state and the interior districts lack university level higher education opportunities. This needs to be corrected by establishing state universities at the blue marked points: Bhawanipatna, Phulbani, Angul and Keonjhar.  In addition, the Rourkela metropolitan area, the second largest metropolitan area in Orissa,  needs a regular university. Neither BPUT nor NIT Rourkela serve the purpose. Thus a regular university needs to be established in Rourkela.

October 20th, 2008

State Institute of Rural Development (SIRD) and other training institutes in Odisha

The website of SIRD is http://www.sirdorissa.org/. See also http://orissa.gov.in/panchayat/SIRD/sird1.htm. Following is a list of training institutes in Odisha listed in a SIRD document. 

• Institute of Agricultural Management, Bhubaneswar
• Gram Sevak Talim Kendra (GSTK), Bolangir
• Gram Sevak Talim Kendra (GSTK), Ganjam
• Gram Sevak Talim Kendra, Dhenkanal
• Minor Irrigation and Water Use (MIWU), Bhubaneswar
• Plant Protection Training Institute (PPTI), Bhubaneswar
• Soil Conservation Training Institute (SCTI), Koraput
• School of Horticulture (SHC), Khurda
• Orissa State Co-operative Union (OSCU), Bhubaneswar.
• Co-operative Training Centre (CTC), Ganjam
• Krutartha Acharya Co-operative Training Institute(KACTI),Baragarh
• Revenue Inspectors Training Institute (RITI), Ganjam
• Co-operative Training Institute (CTI), Mayurbhanj.
• Co-operative Training Institute (CTI), Koraput
• Home Economics Training Centre (HETC), Bhubaneswar.
• Home Economics Training Centre (HETC), Barpali, Sambalpur
• Madhusudan Institute of Co-operative Management (MICM), Bhubaneswar
• Crew Training Institute (CRTI), Chandabali, Bhadrak
• School of Printing and Allied Trades (SPAT), Cuttack
• Driving Training School (DRTS), Bhubaneswar.
• Secondary Council Education Research Training (SCERT),Bhubaneswar
• Madhusudan Institute of Accounts & Finance (MIAF), Bhubaneswar
• Rangers Training College (RTC), Angul
• Nocholoson Forest School (NFS), Keonjhar
• Muny Forest Guards School, Dhenkanal
• Forest Training School (FTS), Phulbani
• Forester’s Training School (FTS), Jeypore
• Social Forestry Training School (SFTS), Bhubaneswar
• Fisheries Training Institute (FTI), Balugoan
• Live Stock Inspectors Training Institute (LSITI), Bhanjanagar
• L I Training Institute(LITI), Bolangir
• Live Stock Training Institute (LSTI), Keonjhar
• College of Nursing (CN), Berhempur, Ganjam
• Health & Family Welfare Training Centre(HFWTC), Cuttack
• Regional Institute of Planning,Applied Economics& Statistics(STI),BBSR
• SC & ST Training Institute, Bhubaneswar
• Secretariat Training Institute (SECTI), Bhubneswar
• Police Training College (PTC), Angul
• Orissa Shorthand and Type-writing Trg. Institute(OSTWTI), Bhubaneswar
• Fire Service Training School (FSTS), Bhubaneswar
• Municipal Training Institute (MTI), Bhubaneswar
• Public Health (PH), Bhubaneswar
• Sericulture (S), Keonjhar
• I I F T, Sundergarh
• Master Craftsmen Training Institute (MSTI), Bhubaneswar
• Water and Land Management Institute (WALMI), Cuttack
• Gopabandhu Academy of Administration, Bhubaneswar.
• Veterinary Officers Training Institute (VOTI), Bhubaneswar
• Extension Training Centre, Bhawanipatna.
• Extension Training Centre, Keonjhar
• Extension Training Centre, Bhubaneswar.

2 comments April 7th, 2011

Major higher education and research milestones in Odisha history (work in progress)

(Last Updated on 15th September 2023.)

This grew out of a draft article that I wrote few years ago. I will fill in more details and more items as time permits. Please suggest missing items and links in the comment section. Especially I would like to add information on all the government degree colleges. (A list is at https://sites.google.com/site/orissavision2020/ger-of-ebd-districts.
The list of all degree colleges, about 548 of them, is at
http://dheodisha.gov.in/Defaulter/ReportCollegeProfileSubmitted_DEG.aspx. )

7 comments April 1st, 2011

Higher education moves by the Odisha state government outside of the Capital area during the last 5 years [work in progress]

To get a clear picture on higher education moves by the state government (during the last 5 years) outside of the capital area (Khurda, Cuttack and Puri districts) we try to list the moves. Many fully centrally funded institutes are mentioned as the state contributes by free land and in making the location decision. (Note that Odisha has 30 districts.)

What has been done so far (including under construction):

1. Central University of Orissa, Dist – Koraput
2. Upgradation of UCE Burla to VSSUT, Dist – Sambalpur
3. Private University status to Centurion, Dist – Gajapati
4. Government Engieering College, Bhawanipatna, Dist – Kalahandi
5. College of Agriculture, Bhawanipatna, Dist – Kalahandi
6. WODC funds and free land for Private Medical College, Jaring, near Bhawanipatna, Dist – Kalahandi  (significant part of the construction is complete)
7. Pushed Vedanta to establish Vedanta Science College in Lanjigarh, Dist – Kalahandi
8. Parla Maharaj Engineering College, Berhampur, Dist-Ganjam
9. Special SUIIT institute as part of Sambalpur University, Dist – Sambalpur
10. WODC funds for Hi-Tech Medical College, Rourkela, Dist – Sundergarh (under construction) 
11. Indian Institute of Handloom Technology, Baragarh
12. College of Horticulture, Chipilima, Dist – Sambalpur

The districts involved above and the number of items for them are: Baragarh (1), Gajapati (1), Ganjam (1), Kalahandi (4), Koraput (1), Sambalpur (3), Sundergarh (1). If one takes the funding amount as the criteria then Koraput comes at the top.

Some of the announcements that are most likely to happen in 1-3 years as reported in the news:

1. Pushed MCL to agree to make a medical college in Talcher
2. Pushed NTPC to agree to make a medical college (location not announced)
3. Pushed NTPC to agree to make a Power Institute (location not announced)
4. Announced that all three medical colleges (includes Berhampur, Sambalpur) will be autonomous starting with the one in Sambalpur.
5. Announced that Khallikote College Berhampur will be made to a university
6. Proposed that one of the 20 IIIT should be in Berhampur.
7. Pushing to upgrade FCI Balangir to an Institute of Hotel Management
8. Grants to XIMB to open a campus in Balangir
9. Grants to XIMB to open a campus in Sambalpur
10. Support for a CIPET campus in Balasore
11. Upgradation of GM College, Sambalpur to a university (announed by Higher Education Minister)

The districts involved in the above two lists and their number of items are: Angul (1), Balasore (1), Balangir (2), Baragarh (1), Gajapati (1), Ganjam (4), Kalahandi (4), Koraput (1), Sambalpur (6), Sundergarh (1).

The districts that are left out are: Bhadrak, Bouda, Deogarh, Dhenkanal, Jagatsinghpur, Jajpur, Jharsuguda, Kandhamala, Kendrapada, Keonjhar, Malkangiri, Mayurbhanj, Nabarangpur, Nayagarh, Nuapada, Rayagada and Sonepur.

Besides the above there have been reports about government willing to give grants to several private medical colleges in various places and the WODC has tried (but failed) to entice (through grants and free land) a private party to establish a medical college in Balangir.

Also, I think the government will implement some of the recommendations made by the higher education task force.

Please suggest missing items in the comments section. Any capital-bashing comments will be deleted as the purpose of this post is to get a clear picture of what is happenning and not happening in the higher education side outside of the capital districts of Khurda, Cuttack and Puri.

Again, this list is to get a clear picture of what has happened in the non-capital area districts so that one can make an informed decision if the government is biased towards some non-capital districts over other non-capital districts. (There is no argument that the bulk of the moves have been made favoring the capital area. So no discussion on that.)

In regards to my personal view on what the government ought to do, it is listed in details in the site http://orissa2020.org.

The above list should not be interpreted in isolation. For example, one should not conclude that Kalahandi got too much. It got several institutions because it started from very little and the education conscious people of Kalahandi have been rightly demanding for higher education institutions for a long time. But at the same token, arguing that Kalahandi has been neglected by this government with respect to higher education just goes against the facts above and I worry that the well-meaning people who are making such arguments may be harming their cause. I guess the argument comes from losing the central university to Koraput. But then every district other than Koraput (and the capital districts) can use that argument. [If there is interest I will explain more on my take on this in the comments section.]

As an analogy, in 2005 we could rightly argue that the central government neglected Odisha with respect to centrally funded higher education institutions. But if we now say that the UPA government  neglected Odisha with respect to centrally funded higher education institutions, we will be laughed at, and our efforts will have negative impact. So we plan to use finer arguments and location specific arguments to push for central institutions in Odisha for the 12th plan.

Kalahandi people wanting more institutions in Kalahandi should think of other ways to make their case and irritating the state government and its bureaucrats with arguments that go against the facts (see list above) may help some politicians but has a higher potential to harm Kalahandi’s case than help its case.

44 comments March 29th, 2011

The 100 Engineering Colleges under BPUT

This list is from the page http://www.bput.ac.in/colleges_bput2010.html.

Soon two of the above colleges will move from BPUT to be under Centurion University. Also IIIT is scheduled to become a state university.

The other places to study engineering in Odisha are:

1. KIIT Bhubaneswar (Deemed university)
2. ITER Bhubaneswar (Deemed university)
3. VSSUT, Burla (State University)
4. NIT Rourkela  (Institute of National Importance)
5. IIT Bhubaneswar (Institute of National Importance)
6. College of Agricultural Engineering & Technology (CAET), OUAT, Bhubaneswar

3 comments February 3rd, 2011

Details emerging on Vedanta Science College in Lanjigarh, Kalahandi

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

Prof. Gopabandhu Behera and Dr. A. K. Nanda, who are also the Governing Body member of Vedanta Science College were also present. 

Mr.C Joseph, in-charge of the Vedanta Science College, Nabakrushna Panda, Principal, Government Autonomous College, Bhawanipatna, S P Nanda, Principal, Government, Women’s College, Bhawanipatna, Sudershan Rath, Principal, Bisamcuttack College and Bharat Rath, Principal Rayagada Government College also graced the conference.

The objective of the conference was to make the people conscious about the value of science education at degree level as well as to discuss about the proposed Vedanta Science College at Lanjigarh. 

Dr. Kumar, President and COO, VAL, said, “Vedanta Science College was a long pending demand of the people of Western Ordisha. 

He said that Vedanta is committed to create a state of art Science College that will promote quality science education in Western Odisha. 

Quality Science education can help in developing technical manpower for industrialization in the state, he added. 

The proposed Vedanta Science College will start its academic session from 2011. 

The institution will provide education in subjects of Physics, Chemistry, Botany, Mathematics, Zoology, and Environmental Science.

It should be noted that there are very few (could be zero) fully private (i.e., without depending on state grants) science colleges in Odisha. Even the government ones and private ones that depend on state grants do not have good infrastructure and do not have adequate quality faculty. The more well known private higher education institutions of the state focus on trade oriented disciplines like engineering, management, medicine, pharmacy, biotechnology etc. so that they can charge adequate amount of student tuition. This includes deemed universities like KIIT and SOA and the private state university Centurion. None have science programs at the Bachelors level.

So if the Vedanta Science college in Lanjigarh becomes a good quality science college, then it would be a big boon to Kalahandi and Rayagada districts and hopefully it will also encourage other private groups to establish similar colleges.

January 31st, 2011

Sri Sri Ravishankar laid foundation stone at Dharmagarh (Kalahandi) for an agriculture university

Following is an excerpt from a report in Pioneer.

December 17, 2010   11:59:31 AM

BIKASH KHEMKA | BHAWANIPATNA

Spiritualism pervaded the air here with Art of Living Guru Sri Sri Ravishankar’s visit and didactic discourse on Wednesday evening at the college field here thronged by the people of both Kalahandi and adjacent districts.

The backdrop of the dais was catchy with the images of Maa Manikeswari Temple, Chhatar Yatra and the primitive tribal groups depicting the true aura of this tribal district.

In the morning hour, Ravishankar laid a foundation stone at nearby Dharmagarh for an agriculture university and air-dashed here by chopper at around 2.30 pm.

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

The founder of Art of Living , Spiritual Guru HH Sri Sri Ravishankarji  meets Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik in the Orissa Secretariat on Thursday and discussed with the Chief Minister regarding progress of proposed Sri Sri University at Narah Bidyadharpur.

In course of Discussion, Ravisankarji has proposed to set up an  Agriculture University at Kalahandi. Ravisankarji also expressed that besides Agriculture, training will be imparted on Medicinal Plants.

This is wonderful news. Earlier it was reported in kalahandia that about 100 acres has been identified for the above mentioned university.

December 17th, 2010

BPUT Colleges in 2010-2011

The following is from http://www.bput.ac.in/colleges_bput2010.html.

100 B.Tech Colleges:

2 B.Arch Colleges

16 B. Pharm Colleges

60 MBA Colleges

45 MCA Colleges

1 comment October 15th, 2010