Posts filed under ‘Educational Policy’
Following is a report from the http://economictimes.indiatimes.com:
NEW DELHI: In a pleasant surprise for students, Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal Thursday announced an increase of almost 200,000 seats in engineering courses in India.
As part of reforms in All India Council for Technical Education ( AICTE )) norms, the minister also announced additional 80,000 seats in management and 2,200 seats in architecture courses.
The norms for land requirement for engineering colleges were also liberalised, with Sibal saying that lesser space will be needed for establishing technical institutes.
While an engineering college in rural India will need 10 acres of land, just 2.5 acres of land will be needed in urban areas.
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December 30, 2010 at 2:03 pm sanjibkarmee
Following report is from the Pioneer:
National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) will set up a medical college and an engineering college in the State as part of its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) activities. Informing about the proposed institutes, Energy Minister Atanu Sabyasachi Nayak said the State Government has lauded the CSR proposal of NTPC. The location for the colleges are yet to be identified and talks are on, the Minister informed.
Following is another report from http://www.business-standard.com:
National Thermal Power Corporation Ltd (NTPC), India’s largest power generation utility, has sought 15 acres of land from the Orissa government to set up a medical college. The company also intends to set up a power engineering institute in the state.
The locations and other specifics of these two institutes are yet to be finalized.
“NTPC has sought 15 acres of land for setting up a medical college in the state. It has also evinced interest in setting up a power engineering institute. The company has written to us, requesting for land allotment and we will hold an inter-departmental meeting soon to decide on the site for the medical college and the power engineering institute. The details of the medical college are yet to be finalized but as per the norms of Medical Council of India, they have to start with a 300-bed facility”, an official source told Business Standard.
NTPC which had proposed to set up two super thermal power plants to be set up at Gajamara in Dhenkanal district and Darlipalli in Sundergarh district and also add 1320 Mw to its thermal power station at Talcher, was keen to sign a Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) with the state owned Grid Corporation of Orissa (Gridco).
The PPA was to be signed between NTPC and Gridco for a period of 25 years. NTPC is setting up a 3200 Mw power plant at Gajamara and 4800 Mw power plant at Darlipalli.
One of the conditions set by the state government for signing of the PPA was the setting up of a medical college and a power engineering institute. The second condition was allocation of 50 per cent power for the state from the two proposed super thermal power stations.”NTPC has claimed that it has got the approval of the Centre for allocation of 50 per cent of power for the host state. We have asked the company to produce a copy of the letter of approval of the Centre”, the source added.
The proposed super thermal power projects of NTPC at Gajamara and Darlipalli were scheduled to be operational by 2016-17. The Gajamara project needed 2900 acres of land and NTPC claimed to have conducted the gram sabha for this project in March this year.
This is a good initiative by NTPC. The Orissa govt. must ask other industries to establish medical and engineering colleges in the industrial zones of western Orissa. In particular, such industry sponsered institutes need to be established in Sambalpur-Jharsuguda and Rourkela-Sudergarh belt.
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December 28, 2010 at 6:22 pm sanjibkarmee
Following is a report by TOI:
KOLKATA: Four years ago, the state government had given 10 acres to the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, for its second campus. But the institute has not been able to put up the boundary wall till now as it has not been given possession of the land by Hidco, the housing and infrastructure agency that is developing Rajarhat as a township.
Apparently, the plot that had been allotted to IIT-Kgp has a path through it, which is used by locals, who have reportedly blocked the handover of the land. According to the agreement between the institute and Hidco, the latter would handover the land after walling it. But even after repeated reminders from the institute, Hidco has done little. Presently, with its go-slow policy on land takeover, Hidco is reportedly not willing to push the case too much to avoid another land-related controversy.
“We are in trouble as the Union human resources development ministry had allotted funds to us long back to develop the new campus. We might be asked to return the funds because of this delay,” said AN Majumdar, the deputy director of the institute.
A lot of excitement was generated in 2006, when the land was allotted to the institute. IIT-Kgp had even drawn up a blueprint for the land.
Though regular postgraduate tech programmes will be there, this is not to be its focal area. The institute authorities want the campus to have advanced laboratories, run incubation programmes and become an industry hub which will attract international and national industries to set up their R&D infrastructure here. It shall also be a nodal centre for the larger technology parks being set up around the institute in Kharagpur.
“The Kolkata campus shall be mandated to promote an inter-disciplinary structure to incubation programmes, multi-disciplinary academic programmes, advanced research and development activities. We will also have some PG programmes in the emerging areas. But all this can start only if we get possession of the land!” said PP Chakraborty, dean of the institute’s sponsored research initiatives, who is in charge of drawing up the plans for the new campus.
“We are looking at helping tech professionals who already have a basic degree and do not need to stay on the campus for a full-time programme,” Chakraborty added.
The multi-disciplinary areas being targeted include Information Technology, VLSI & Embedded Systems, Media and Communication Technologies, Information Assurance and Security, Urban and Regional Informatics, Human Resources Management and Business Administration, and, Bio-Informatics.
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November 29, 2010 at 10:43 am sanjibkarmee
Following is from the Pioneer:
The State Government on Saturday decided to provide 100 acres more land to the National Institute of Technology (NIT), Rourkela for its expansion. Besides, the Government has also decided to provide an alternative source of water supply to the institute.Decisions to this effect were taken in high-level meeting held under chairmanship of Chief Secretary Bijay Kumar Patnaik at the State Secretariat. It was known from the meeting that the NIT authority had 400 hundred acres more land for its expansion. The construction work of the institute is going on and the Central Government has given `50 crore for this year.
Similarly, on water problem issue, the meeting decided that the NIT would be given water from Mahanadi. The Rourkela Steel Plant is planning to take water from the river, the NIT would have the small share on the water, the meeting decided. Presently, the institute is taking water from Koel River.
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November 1, 2010 at 4:45 pm sanjibkarmee
Following is a report from The Telegraph:
Bhubaneswar Sept. 2: Members of the All India University Employees’ Confederation (AIUEC) has raised objections on certain provisions in the proposed Orissa State Open University bill.
The confederation has raised objections to section three of chapter two in the draft bill which says: “With the establishment of this university, the overall control of all the Centres of Distance Education and the correspondence course institutes is deemed to have passed over to the Orissa State Open University subject to a proviso that the parent universities will be given a one-time opportunity to decide the status of their personnel working currently in these centres.
“All parental universities are to submit the final list of such members, who are to continue working in the Orissa State Open University, within a period of three months after the Act comes into existence.”
President of the confederation, Bhabani Shankar Hota, opposed the state government’s move to hand over the control of the centres of distance education, and correspondence course institutes to the proposed open university. Calling it an intentional step by the state government that would lead to the untimely death of existing major Universities Hota, demanded its immediate withdrawal.
“The five important universities — Utkal, Berhampur, Sambalpur, Fakir Mohan and North Orissa University — are going to suffer,” said former MP Hota.
He also urged intellectuals, students and educationists to decry the provision in the Bill. He asked chief minister Naveen Patnaik to scrap the objectionable provisions of the bill.
“There is nothing wrong if the state government establishes more than one open university in the state. However, the provisions to hand over the control of distance education and correspondence courses to the proposed university should be deleted,” the AIUEC president said.
The department of higher education had earlier issued a notice inviting “public opinion” on the issue.
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September 3, 2010 at 5:58 pm sanjibkarmee
Following report is from the Samaj:
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August 30, 2010 at 7:04 pm sanjibkarmee
Following is a report from expressbuzz.com:
BHUBANESWAR: The State Government has decided to enhance scholarships for college students and those pursuing technical courses.
A decision to this effect was taken at a high-level meeting presided by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik here today. Plus Two, degree, post-graduate, engineering, medical, dental, agriculture and veterinary students will be eligible for the enhanced scholarships.
It was also decided that more students will be given scholarships from the current academic year. The junior merit scholarship for the Plus Two students has been increased from ` 40 to ` 300 per month. Senior merit scholarship for degree students has been hiked from ` 50 to ` 500 per month.
The PG merit scholarship will be ` 1000 per month. This has been enhanced from ` 60. The scholarship for students pursuing engineering, medical, dental and other technical studies will be ` 10,000 per year.
The income limit of the parents for availing the scholarship for their wards has been enhanced to ` 4.5 lakh per year from ` 24,000. Interested students can apply for the scholarship to the Higher Education Department through their respective colleges.
While 5000 students will be given the scholarship at the Plus Two level, this will benefit 1000 students at the degree level.
At PG level, the scholarship will be given to 500 students. Besides, 10,000 students from different technical courses will be extended the scholarship.
The Chief Minister underscored the need for creating awareness among the students about the new scholarship structure.
He said the students should get the scholarship amount at the right time.
Higher Education Minister Debi Prasad Mishra, Bijay Kumar Patnaik, Principal Secretary to the Chief Minister, Additional Development Commissioner Rabinarayan Senapati, Principal Secretary in the Finance Department Jugal Kishore Mohapatra, Secretary, Higher Education Department, Madhusudan Padhi, and senior officials were present.
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August 21, 2010 at 4:27 pm sanjibkarmee
Following is a report from expressbuzz.com
SAMBALPUR: The privatisation and outsourcing spree has not spared Sambalpur University either. If the varsity authorities have their way, students will soon find their examination and evaluation done by a private agency. And this has stirred up a hornet’s nest. The student community and the intelligentsia expressed strong resentment at the move to outsource examination.
The university is planning Integrated Examination Management System under which a private agency will be hired. The agency will look after all the exam-related activities __ registration of examinees, admit cards, setting question papers, valuation of answersheets and issuing provisional marksheets. The system is to be implemented at the university’s 220-affiliated colleges, besides various departments. Once implemented, this would effectively end the work of six examination cells, six confidential cells, one private cell and one distance education cell that are involved in conducting examinations of around 65,000 students every year.
Sources said three south-based IT firms __ Mind Largx Infotech Limited (Bangalore), Merit Trac Services Private Limited (Bangalore) and Om Shanti Soft Solution Private Limited (Hyderabad) had evinced interest in the project after the varsity floated a tender in July. Although university authorities have not yet finalised the deal, the move has led to public outcry. Former Vice-Chancellor of Berhampur University Prof A P Padhi and All-India University Employees’ Federation president Bhawani Hota have asked the authorities to first evolve a consensus. University syndicate member Karunakar Supakar said he would raise the issue at the syndicate.
The decision has also come in for stiff opposition from Sambalpur University Employees’ Association, All-Koshal Students’ Union, Sambalpur Chhatra Vikash Parishad and Sambalpur unit of NSUI. The NSUI, led by district president Debasis Dash, held a meeting on Saturday and resolved to launch a stir if the decision is not withdrawn. However, university Registrar Dr S S Rath said the proposal is at nascent stage and all aspects will be looked into before taking a final decision.
–This report was filed by Mr. Ratan K Pani
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August 13, 2010 at 8:33 am sanjibkarmee
Following report is from merinews.com:
JHARSUGUDA TOWN is emerging as one of the economic hubs of India. It has many industrial units which need no introduction viz Ultratech Cement of the Aditya Birla Group at Dhutra (India’s largest cement manufacturing company), SMC Power Generation Ltd, Action Ispat Ltd, Eastern Steel and Power Ltd, and SPS Steel and Power Ltd, and Utkal Alumina International Ltd.
Recently, it is reported that Jharsuguda will be the highest electric power producing town of India since industrial giants like Vedanta Aluminum Limited (VAL), Reliance Energy and Sterlite Energy Limited are developing power plants at Jharsuguda.
As Jharsuguda is emerging as the fastest growing town in Orissa, it is also witnessing huge migration of work-force from all parts of India. To cater to this need an airport is essential. The Jharsuguda airstrip was build during World War II. There is a proposal to make this fully operational. However, the state government is yet to realise the importance of this airport as evident from the following highlights as reported by various media sources.
It was reported that the Airport Authority of India (AAI) has decided to upgrade the airstrip at Jharsuguda into a full-fledged airport. So, the government has decided to opt for a public-private partnership for the work. In this regard, SREI, a Kolkata based finance company, had expressed interest and was negotiating with the government; but so far nothing has happened.
Recently, the Chief Minister has informed to the Orissa legislative assembly that the AAI is considering the proposal of the state government for developing the Jharasuguda airport and it has asked for the required 815 acres of land free of cost. Responding to this the state government has requested the AAI to scale down their requirement of land as only 734 acres of land is available near the airport.
It is also reported that a private is an obstacle for developing the Jharsuguda airport.
After analysing these reports about Jharsuguda airport; we can come to the conclusion that nothing much has happened in the past ten years. Are these announcements about making Jharsuguda airport operational only sweet talk? Are we are going to see any passenger plane arriving or taking off in the near future? Is this the outcome of the persistent efforts of our leaders?
We urge you to take the following steps to make Jharsuguda airport operational:
- Orissa government should provide the required 815 acres of land to the AAI. Providing 734 acres of land might hinder the future expansion of the airport. Moreover, if the government is capable of acquiring land for building industries and dams; why can’t it acquire land for the development of an airport?
- Government should complete the land acquisition for Jharsuguda airport at the earliest.
- Very soon our neighbouring state Andhra Pradesh will have two international airports. The Orissa government should propose the AAI to make Jharsuguda an international airport. There is also possibility of connecting Jharsuguda with direct flight to China and Korea as Vedanta group is employing many Chinese and Korean nationals at its Jharsuguda plant. This will further encourage Buddhist tourism in the region viz at Ganiapali of Bargarh and Baud town of Western Orissa.
- Presently, Jharsuguda airport can accommodate F27 type planes. Therefore, facilitation of small commercial flight should be encouraged.
- Orissa government should implement the master plan to be submitted by the administrative staff college of Hyderabad for Jharsuguda town to make it a 21st century city. In addition, the Orissa government should push for establishing some state and national level institutes in this town.
In this regard, immediate operationalisation of Jharsuguda airport is essential to cater the need of whole Western Orissa. This will accelerate the socio-economic condition of this region. Therefore, we urge you to take necessary steps to make this airport ready.
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August 12, 2010 at 5:45 pm sanjibkarmee
Following report is from The Pioneer:
Sambalpur MP Amarnath Pradhan has demanded the setting up of an Indian Institute of Management (IIM) at Sambalpur.
He said that Sambalpur is the nerve centre of western Odisha and it has the entire infrastructure to facilitate an IIM. Pradhan said that the Union Government should create more opportunities for students in the State by opening at least one IIM in Odisha.
Recently, the standing committee on HRD in its report had asked the Centre to increase the number of seats in the existing IIMs. Pradhan said that as the State is witnessing rapid industrialisation, the necessity for setting up an IIM is increasingly felt. He said majority of the mega projects are coming up in western Odisha and to meet the requirements of these industries, an IIM is very much needed, said the MP.
It may be pointed out that Odisha has all along demanded an IIM and the Ministry of Human Resources Development (MHRD) has never been kind to the State since the days of Arjun Singh. Though Union HRD Minister Kapil Sibal is not having such negative feeling, he has not been generous to the State, said a senior official.
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August 5, 2010 at 7:22 pm sanjibkarmee
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