Gross injustice to Orissa:Announced National Inst. of Sc. in Bhubaneswar renamed & shifted

Web posted at: 12/1/2005 2:32:52

Source ::: IANS

New Delhi: MPs from Orissa created a furore in the Lok Sabha yesterday staging noisy protests against the Congress-led central government over the alleged decision to move a proposed science institute at Bhubaneswar to Kolkata.

Declaring that the central government was "neglecting" Orissa, parliamentarians from the Biju Janata Dal (BJP) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) demanded an assurance that the National Institute of Science (NIS) would be set up in Bhubaneswar.

They said the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) had taken a political decision to "shift" the proposed NIS from the Orissa capital to the West Bengal capital.

Consequently, house proceedings were stalled for 20 minutes as the MPs even staged a sit-in near the speaker's chair.

The pandemonium that followed forced Speaker Somnath Chatterjee to adjourn the house 10 minutes before the lunch recess.

Raising the issue during zero hour, BJD leader in the Lok Sabha Braja Kishore Tripathy said the UPA government had deliberately shifted the NIS, which had been granted by the previous BJP-led government at Bhubaneswar in 2003.

(Thanks to Deba for pointing this out.)


http://www.thepeninsulaqatar.com/Display_news.asp?section=World_News&subsection=India&month=December2005&file=World_News2005120123252.xml

ADDRESS AT THE GOLDEN JUBILEE CELEBRATION OF UNIVERSITY GRANT COMMISSION

28-12-2003 : Vigyan Bhavan, New Delhi

University Education and National Missions
I am indeed delighted to participate in the Golden Jubilee Celebrations of the University Grants Commission which has contributed to the cause of higher education in the post independent India for the last five decades through several innovative schemes. I congratulate the Ministry of Human Resource Development, University Grants Commission and all those who are associated with this growth. The Universities have a major responsibility in nation building through enriching Science, Engineering and Technology and by providing value based education to students to make them moral leaders. On this occasion, I would like to share with you some of my thoughts on "University Education and National Missions".



Second Vision for the Nation

We have all heard about the first vision of the Nation which commenced in the year 1857. During that period there were few universities in the country. Many of our freedom fighters were educated abroad. Lawyers, educators, poets, academicians, industrialists all of them participated in the freedom movement. It was a long drawn struggle and we got the freedom and India became independent in the year 1947. There has been substantial growth in higher education after independence and today nearly 10 million students are studying in our colleges thereby in our universities. We have designed our own higher education system and educated over eighty million students during this period who are engaged in a variety of national and international assignments. After five decades of growth our country has to face new challenges. It has a second vision to become a developed India by the year 2020. We have a population of over one billion people of which 260 million are still living below the poverty line. They need education, they need habitat, they need health care, and creation of employment potential. To meet their needs we need the second vision for the nation. Our GDP is growing at an average rate of 5% p.a. whereas the economists suggest that to remove the poverty of 260 million people we have to grow at the rate of 10% p.a. consistently for over a decade.



Partner to Developed India - Missions

How do we counter this situation? What role our educational system will play in the second vision of national development? Is an incremental change sufficient or do we need a quantum shift in emphasis for developing people who can participate in transforming India into a developed nation by 2020? Let us study the proposed integrated missions such as 5000 PURA's (Providing Urban Amenities in Rural Areas) out of 25000 PURA's, interlinking of rivers, power mission, agriculture, agro-food processing, tourism, healthcare, infrastructure development, information and communication technology (ICT), mass transportation system and critical technologies. Youth with knowledge, skill and passion are required for undertaking and completing these tasks in time.

In the next two decades, nation will witness the occurrence of many events. The vision 2020 will be put into action-oriented missions. Interlinking of rivers may get priority in the list and PURA will get into implementation by all the states. Now the university system apart from its research focus has to become partners in national development. This will call for changes in the syllabi. The training will include several aspects that will nurture entrepreneurial skills in the students. It will also have our value systems at its core. We now know that high quality developments like PURA and the networking of rivers are missions that will also call for high quality research. In order to meet these complex requirements it has to be recognised that the university should also be a place of research. 10% of the university facilities should be allocated exclusively for research. Creation of national institute of science will also help in identifying areas where research and developments are co-located and flow from one another.



Present Status of Higher Education System

Number of schemes have been launched by UGC for the development of the Universities and Colleges, provide access of education to all the section of the society equitably, especially for the under privileged and differently abled persons. I understand that UGC has also launched career oriented courses at the academic staff colleges. To meet the challenges in education and in global society, UGC has evolved a scheme of granting potential for excellence status to selected universities. It is good UGC is creating four National Institute of Science at Chennai, Pune, Allahabad and Bhubaneshwar for promoting excellence in Science Education in collaboration with CSIR, DBT, ISRO, DAE, DST, DRDO and Department of Oceanography. Generating the sustained interest in the scientific discipline, will need continuity in provision of employment.



Employment Generation through entrepreneurship

There has been substantial growth in our higher educational system and we are generating over 3 million graduates every year. However our employment generation system is not in a position to absorb the graduates passing out from the universities leading to increase in educated unemployed, year after year. This situation will lead to instability in the social structure. We need higher education backed by employment opportunities. A multi pronged strategy is needed to make education more attractive and simultaneously create employment potential - how do we do that?

Firstly, the educational system should highlight the importance of entrepreneurship and prepare the students right from the college education to get oriented towards setting up of the enterprises which will provide them creativity, freedom and ability to generate wealth. Apart from entrepreneurship, the youth should have the spirit that "we can do it". Secondly, the banking system should provide venture capital right from every village level to the prospective entrepreneurs for undertaking new enterprises. Banks have to be proactive to support the innovative products for enabling wealth generation by young entrepreneurs by setting aside the "conventional tangible asset syndrome". Definitely this involves certain amount of calculated risks which can be eliminated by making an analysis of successful venture capital enterprises. Thirdly, there is a need to identify marketable products and enhancement of purchasing power among the people. This can come through the implementation of mega programmes such as PURA, Interlinking of Rivers, Infrastructural missions, Power missions and Tourism. Also genuine border trade can improve if we have a friendly border in all sectors.

The universities should become a facilitator for creating this entrepreneurship scheme through the support of the banking system and the marketing system. This is one way of reducing the employment gap leading to upliftment of the 260 million people living below the poverty line.



An empowered University

The SAC-C (Scientific Advisory Committee to the Cabinet) has given the recommendation: The demand of the country both in terms of the quality and quantity is so enormous that the government funding alone will not be adequate to take care of the needs of the higher S&T education. It is also recognized that the requirements of the trained manpower arise not only from within the country but also from abroad as a result of the globalization of manpower markets.

Recently I was talking to a Physics Professor from Princeton, I asked him, what is the difference between an Indian University and Princeton University? And he replied in a single word that "Freedom is the difference". Of course this freedom comes out of national administrative vision. Nation has to graduate towards this. Science has no borders and integrates many fields. May be, this is what probably was followed in our Gurukuls and Nalanda University, which were never dependent on the support of the government or the kingdom. I started visualizing an ideal university in our country which can have an autonomous totally free educational environment, which can meet the challenges of 21st century. An empowered Board of governors and an academic council is appointed for establishing and guiding the university. The board of governors should elect the Chancellor and Visitor from within or outside the board giving credence only to the academic excellence. It is made fully autonomous with a mandate to develop human resource of excellence for deployment towards societal transformation.

Each student is assigned a computer connected to the Internet through wired or wireless connections. In order to make use of the integrated educational services any time, any where- be it in the class room or the hostel, he stays always connected. He is in direct touch with all the happenings on the subject and also in continuous communications with his/her teachers. Assignments are given, completed and submitted through e-learning system. His teachers do not provide him or her solution to any problem. They only trigger his or her imagination to think wider and find a solution for him or herself. They encourage him to take risks and think differently. Students are taught the art of learning rather than learning itself. In this 21st century, we are seeing the death of time and distance. It is immaterial where the information is located at any time, any one, any place. And we will be able to travel with the information, in fact all the information that you need in your life can be packed in the disk of your computer that may store few terra bytes. You will be overloaded with the information, winner will be the one who knows how to mine the data and convert it into knowledge. Can we have such an empowered university?



Virtual University

It is time that we should start looking at the possibility of creating a Virtual University in India through networking of all the universities and other educational institutions for imparting universal tele-education. Virtual university will have the following tasks:

a) Act as a central hub of all universities which are networked.

b) Identify experts of national/international eminence in specialized areas.

c) Coordinate, organize, schedule and broadcast the lecture of specialists at a mutually convenient time to all participants.

d) Record the live transmission of the lecture with interaction details in a data bank for easy access by participants for review learning.

e) Digitize all the university libraries and make it available for seamless access by all the universities.

f) Provide for all the 3-Ls of learning- Lectures, Laboratory and the Library- all over the Internet-

g) The universities need to become learner centric.

This experiment across the country will provide a common platform for teaching Schools, Colleges and Universities and even vocational courses. This will give equal emphasis on theory and experiments in spite of the fact that it will be done in the cyberspace. Such is the power of the technology and our understanding of it. This facility would also help in expansion of telecommunication and IT services. All this would lead to synergising the strengths of different universities in promoting quality education to our students in a cost effective manner. I suggest the Five Universities which have been recognized as having "potential for excellence" should be asked to create virtual universities on the five areas of excellence which will enable sharing of excellence by all the Universities.



Concluding remarks :11 initiatives

UGC has formulated number of initiatives for promoting excellence in higher education as per Xth Plan Target. I would recommend certain initiatives, which can make the educational sector vibrant and meet the challenges of providing vital human resource for national development.

1. a. In the first phase 5000 PURAs (Providing Urban Amenities in Rural Areas) are planned out of the 25,000 possible PURAs in the country. Youth with knowledge, skill and passion are required to be in the centre stage for participating of such PURAS. An integrated programme should be developed at graduate and postgraduate levels for developing technologists and managers for creating and sustaining PURAs. The first course may commence from academic year 2004-05.

b. University needs to become the knowledge partner in the programmes such as India's vision 2020, interlinking of rivers, desalination of water through nuclear and solar energy etc.,

2. A transparent system of University performance Evaluation scheme is required to be evolved. Evaluation criteria may include areas such as quality and quantity of research, contribution to societal transformation, utilization and performance of the students who have passed out in the previous five years, quality and standing of the teaching staff, promotion of E-governance , transparent examination system and the student centric responsive administration.

3. Performance evaluation results could also be used to plan merger of some universities for promoting synergy and excellence and reducing managerial overheads.

4. A simple, easy to implement "educational loan scheme" should be evolved by UGC in collaboration with the banks for enabling meritorious students to pursue higher education without disruption.

5. UGC should create a dynamic curriculum review mechanism relating to current socio-technical needs of the country.

6. There are a number of young prodigies in different areas. A system for recognizing these prodigies and promoting their growth consistent with their abilities different from the conventional system needs to be designed and implemented.

7. UGC should create simplified uniform inter-university mobility norms for students acceptable to all universities.

8. UGC should plan to build a common digital library for the all universities and provide them seamless access to the literary resources.

9. Build Educational Grid which connects Universities for resource sharing, content generation on their core competence, e-learning, tele-education and universal certification.

10. Enlist great teachers of the nation who love teaching from various sectors

11. Lead to the approval of empowered university with private initiatives, national/international.

Wish you all the best.

See

http://du.ac.in/new_initiatives/newnis.html and

http://www.ugc.ac.in/new_initiatives/newnis.html or

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&safe=off&rls=GGLG%2CGGLG%3A2005-37%2CGGLG%3Aen&q=new+Model+President+Bhuvaneshwar+Science&btnG=Search

for link to documents on this.

A google archive pdf document is at
http://www.baral.us/orissa/pdf/president-nis-dec2003.pdf

The content in that site is as follows:

Setting up New NISc
----------------------------------------------------------

National Institutes of Sciences

India has an opportunity to become the global R & D Hub. For this, the most important intervention would be to selectively and preferentially raise the standards of science education for a small section of bright students taking up science because overall status of science education suffer from severe handicaps. This is essential not only to meet the requirement high quality people in science to man and lead out national lab system and mission oriented agencies that is likely to face crisis in coming years due to large number of senior people retiring, but also to move up the value chain in global R & D services, where India is favourably positioned. This would also provide a new Model of Science Education in the Country. Therefore, it is proposed that a number of new science institutes (to begin with four) may be set-up at different places in the country to be the Centres of Excellence in Science Education. These institutes would occupy prime position in the area of science education as IITs and IIMs occupy for technology and management education in the global setting today.

These institutes would be established at Allahabad near Allahabad University, at Chennai near Anna University, at Pune near Pune University and at Bhuvaneshwar near Utkal University. They would primarily offer integrated five-year basic and applied science education programme, leading to a Masters Degree and would have linkages with National research labs science agencies and industry right from their inception. With a view to ensure that these Institutes come up fast, these will be incubated as a part of the existing premier universities. Though, these Institutes would be, for all purposes, autonomous institutions of the Link Universities with full academic, administrative and financial autonomy. Although the link university will award educational and research degrees to the scholars and students of this Institute in the initial phase, these Institutes will have complete and total freedom to lay down their courses, frame suitable course structure, method of teaching and evaluation. This organic link with the Link universities would be very crucial in the initial phases. Established Universities would help to nurture the Institute till they mature to be on their own.

Formal announcement for setting up of these Institutes was made by HE President of India on December 28, 2003 on occasion of the concluding ceremony of the Golden Jubilee of the UGC. Academic, administrative and financial details have been worked out and the proposal is in the approval process.

See Also Detailed Project Report. (pdf)

Any enquiries or suggestions on this initiative may be addressed to In-charge, New Initiatives & FA (UGC), University Grants Commission (UGC), Bahadur Shah, Zafar Marg, New Delhi -110002. You can reach him at pagarwal@ugc.ac.in

Protest by BJD members

- By Our Special Correspondent

New Delhi, Nov. 30: For once, the Biju Janata Dal members, who are always sitting quitely and behaving properly, were on their feet in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday. Some BJD MPs, led by Mr Tathagat Satpathy, even sat in the Well of the House to protest against what they described the decision of the UPA government to shift the proposed National Institute of Science from Bhubaneswar to Kolkata.

After the Question Hour, Speaker Somnath Chatterjee allowed BJD leader Braj KishoreTripathy to raise the issue and with him the whole BJP contingent was on its feet, alleging Central neglect of Orissa. Raising the issue, Mr Tripathy followed by Mr Arjun Charan Sethi said that the earlier NDA government had decided that the proposed institute would be located at Bhubaneswar, but the Manmohan Singh government has now taken a "political decision" to shift it to Kolkata.

The move, he alleged, had resulted in "unrest" among students and intellectuals in Orissa, which had been a victim of such "ill-treatment" in the past and does not have even a single IIT or IIM or any such Central institution. "Are we not in India?" he asked, adding that when a BJD delegation went to meet the Prime Minister to seek a financial package for the state "we were told that money does not grow on trees."

Some remarks by Mr Tripathy were expunged by the Speaker who gently told him not to say anything which would harm national unity. The BJD members alleged that the Prime Minister had not responded to three letters written by chief minister Navin Patnaik on the issue. He said Utkal University in Bhubaneswar had even acquired 75 acres of land for setting up the institute.

Rest at:

http://www.asianage.com/main.asp?layout=2&cat1=5&cat2=154&newsid=195674&RF=DefaultMain

or if that does not work then at

http://www.baral.us/orissa/pdf/2005-nov30-asianage.pdf

http://www.ugc.ac.in/new_initiatives/dpr_nis.pdf

A local copy is at http://www.baral.us/orissa/pdf/ugc-45pg-document.pdf

Thanks Manoj for unearthing this.

------------------------------------------
This May 2004 document illustrates how far the decision regarding NIS had gone. In page 5 it talks about the starting of these institutions in July 2005. Just because the central government changed the name to IISER and perhaps made a few changes, IISERs do not become a new thing. They are at best retooled NISs.

Manoj asks, where is the report for the IISERs?

Chitta
(ps -- Local copies of the other relevant UGC documents are at

http://www.baral.us/orissa/pdf/ugc-archive-2004.htm

and

http://www.baral.us/orissa/pdf/google-ugc-archive.pdf
)

In http://news.webindia123.com/news/showdetails.asp?id=177363&cat=India

CPI-M leader Basudeb Acharya is reported to have sayid:

"I don't think that what Kolkata is getting is the same one that was granted for Bhubaneswar. We were never against the development of Orissa. We will support them."

0. See http://iiser.blogspot.com/2005/12/cliam-that-nis-and-iiser-are-totally.html for why the above claim is bogus.

1. The documents http://www.ugc.ac.in/pub/jan_2004/12.htm

and the excerpts in http://iiser.blogspot.com/2005/11/samaja-exposes-lies-in-central.html

mention the setting up of National Institute of Sciences in Bhubaneswar.

2. The news report in
http://www.frontlineonnet.com/fl2208/stories/20050422000903900.htm says:

"... On the contrary, the SAC-PM has advocated the creation of two new institutions to be called the National Institute of Science, in Kolkata and Pune. ..."

3. An excerpt from http://www.telegraphindia.com/1051004/asp/bengal/story_5317968.asp about West Bengal CM's statements:

He, however, expressed satisfaction that the National Institute of Sciences is being set up in the state. The Prime Minister would lay its foundation stone at Salt Lake end-October.

“It’s a piece of good news that we will have the National Institute of Sciences, modelled after Bangalore,” Bhattacharjee said.

4. The article http://www.telegraphindia.com/1051029/asp/calcutta/story_5412063.asp tells the story of NIS becoming IISERs and Kolkata getting in the mix.

Following is an excerpt.

Yet, two years ago, when a group of Pune-based scientists first mooted the idea of a new-age centre for science education and research to stem the brain drain to disciplines like management, Calcutta featured nowhere on their radar screens. Pune was the preferred location.

The University Grants Commission (UGC) later recommended setting up four national centres in Allahabad, Chennai, Pune and Bhubaneswar.

Calcutta became a contender after chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee mounted a campaign early this year. Backed by the Prime Minister, Bhattacharjee submitted a detailed proposal to the Centre.

“Delhi agreed to include Calcutta and in March 2005, asked the state government to prepare the groundwork for setting up the institute,” education department sources said.

In July 2005, the Planning Commission, after examining the ministry for human resource development proposal, recommended that instead of five cities, only Calcutta and Pune should house the centre.

5. Conclusion: The proposed IISER in Kolkata is same as the proposed NIS in Bhubaneswar, when one takes into account the normal evolution of plans from initial announcement to closer to implementation.

New Delhi | November 30, 2005 5:15:12 PM IST

MPs from Orissa created a furore in the Lok Sabha Wednesday staging noisy protests against the Congress-led central government over the alleged decision to move a proposed science institute at Bhubaneswar to Kolkata.
Declaring that the central government was "neglecting" Orissa, parliamentarians from the Biju Janata Dal (BJP) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) demanded an assurance that the National Institute of Science (NIS) would be set up in Bhubaneswar.

They said the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) had taken a political decision to "shift" the proposed NIS from the Orissa capital to the West Bengal capital.

Consequently, house proceedings were stalled for 20 minutes as the MPs even staged a sit-in near the speaker's chair.

The pandemonium that followed forced Speaker Somnath Chatterjee to adjourn the house 10 minutes before the lunch recess.

Raising the issue during zero hour, BJD leader in the Lok Sabha Braja Kishore Tripathy said the UPA government had deliberately shifted the NIS, which had been granted by the previous BJP-led government at Bhubaneswar in 2003.

He said the state government had acquired seven acres of land for the institute. "It was the first and only national institute allocated for Orissa. The Congress governments since independence have been neglecting us despite our great contribution to the freedom struggle and nation building."

"And now our peaceful state is in turmoil because of this."

An emotional Tripathy went to the extent of warning the central government that Orissa could put the entire nation into darkness if it so decided as the state supplies a major portion of power and iron ore.

The speaker asked him not to make any remarks that might affect national unity.

Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) members from West Bengal denied that the institute had been shifted to Kolkata.

"I don't think that what Kolkata is getting is the same one that was granted for Bhubaneswar. We were never against the development of Orissa. We will support them," CPI-M leader Basudeb Acharya said.

When the opposition insisted on a response from the government, Leader of the house Pranab Mukherjee said he would ascertain the facts and inform them about the status of the institute.

He added that he had not been informed about the members' decision to raise the issue.

"You cannot expect the leader of the house to give an instant reply like an instant coffee. I have not been given any notice about your decision to raise this particular issue today," Mukherjee said.

As the members continued to insist for an assurance from the government, Chatterjee adjourned the house.

See also

http://www.newkerala.com/news.php?action=fullnews&id=58813






(IANS)

Excerpts:

The BJP today strongly condemned the moves to shift the proposed National Institute of Science (NIS) from Bhubaneshwar and said that the NDA would resist the government's bid in and outside the Parliament.

BJP Parliamentary Party spokesman Vijay Kumar Malhotra said the UPA was free to start new institutions in West Bengal or any other place but it couldn't shift the NIS to outside Bhubaneshwar since the city had made all efforts to house the project.

...

UNI MCN LR BD1627

Bhubaneswar, Nov. 29: The tussle between Orissa and the Centre over the proposed national institute of science (NIS) has intensified with the Union human resource development ministry claiming that it never took a policy decision to set up the institute in Bhubaneswar.
The court has filed a counter-affidavit in Orissa High Court in this regard.

Reacting to the UPA government’s move, chief minister Naveen Patnaik said: “I am very disappointed with the action of the Centre. I had written three letters to the Prime Minister on the issue and even discussed it with the HRD ministry. We will file a fresh affidavit in the court.”

In the affidavit, under-secretary in the HRD ministry Prem Kumar argued that in 2002, the University Grants Commission had proposed to set up centres for advanced science education.
In March this year, the scientific advisory council to the Prime Minister, too, suggested that two such institutes be set up.
Taking cognisance of the suggestions, the Union cabinet decided to set up two science institutes in Pune and Calcutta at Rs 500 crore each. “There was never a policy decision and Orissa was nowhere in the picture,” Kumar has claimed in the affidavit, adding that the issue has assumed political significance.
On November 8, the high court had stayed the UPA government’s decision to shift the proposed NIS from Bhubaneswar to Calcutta. “We direct a stay on the shifting of the NIS from Bhubaneswar to any other place in the eastern region,” the high court had said in response to a PIL filed by Prasanta Kumar Das of the State Public Interest Protection Council.
Madhusudan Panda, who is fighting the case on behalf of Das described the counter-affidavit as a “lie” and threatened to file a criminal case against the under-secretary.
“The NDA government had promised to set up the institute in Bhubaneswar and requested the state government to provide land for the purpose. The state has already allotted 75 acres in Bhubaneswar,” a state official said.

In December 2003, senior BJP leader and HRD minister in the then NDA government, Murli Manohar Joshi, had announced that national institutes of science would come up in the cities of Bhubaneswar, Pune, Chennai and Allahabad.

An all-party Assembly committee, which was formed recently, will meet Prime Minister Manmohan Singh soon to air their grievances on the matter.

See http://www.telegraphindia.com/1051130/asp/jamshedpur/story_5530182.asp
for the rest.

NEW DELHI: The alleged decision to locate the proposed National Institute of Science in Kolkata instead of Bhubaneswar generated much heat in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday with agitated Biju Janata Dal (BJD) members accusing the UPA government of consistently neglecting Orissa. At one point, the members even staged a dharna in the well of the House. Raising the issue during zero hour, Braja Kishore Tripathi alleged that a decision was taken by the NDA Government that the Institute would be located at Bhubaneshwar but the Manmohan Singh Government has now taken a "political decision" to shift it to Kolkata. The move, he alleged, had resulted in "unrest" among students and intellectuals in Orissa, which had been a victim of such "ill-treatment" in the past and does not have even a single IIT or IIM or any such Central institution. "Are we not in India?", he asked adding that when a BJD delegation gone to meet the Prime Minister sometime back to seek a financial package for the state "we were told that money does not grow on trees"

See http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/msid-1313065,curpg-2.cms for the rest.

The Lok Sabha today witnessed uproarious scenes during Zero Hour, including a sit-in by six members belonging to the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) and BJP in the well of the house, over the alleged ''shifting'' of the proposed National Institute of Science (NIS) from Bhubaneshwar to Kolkata in West Bengal.
When the trouble persisted with the BJD-BJP members remaining on their feet, Speaker Somnath Chatterjee adjourned the house at 1250 hrs, ten minutes ahead of the lunch break.
During Zero Hour, BJD floor leader Braja Kishore Tripathy alleged that the present UPA government had deliberately ''shifted'' the NIS, sanctioned by the previous NDA government in 2003 at Bhubaneshwar.
He said about seven acres of land had been acquired for the first and the only national institute in Orissa. However, the UPA government had moved this institute to Kolkata in neighbouring West Bengal and re-designated it as Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER). A similar institute was sanctioned for Pune also.
Mr Tripathy said a delegation of MPs from Orissa had met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and represented the matter, but his response was not encouraging. ''Whenever the Congress is in power at the Centre, it never favours Orissa.'' He pointed out that the students were on an agitation over the issue. ''Our state Orissa is in turmoil due to student unrest on this issue,'' he said.
When Mr Tripathy became emotional and recalled the contribution of Orissa in the freedom struggle and nation building, the Speaker asked him not to make such statement as ''it is against national unity''. ''However, I respect your sentiment,'' he said

See http://www.baral.us/orissa/pdf/2005-nov30-sambada.pdf for a more readable pdf document of the photo below.

See http://www.baral.us/orissa/pdf/2005-nov29-samaja.pdf for a more readable pdf document of the photos below.

Following is an English translation of parts of the article.

... On 23rd July 2003 UGC Chairman Dr. Arun Nigevkar wrote an official letter numbered DO#F-1-74/2003 (CM) to Utkal University vice Chancellor Professor Pandav Nayak that HRD minister Professor Manmohan Joshi and PM Atal Veharee Vajpayee are extremely concerned about science research and high quality HRD.

"I notify you with pleasure that UGC has decided to open 4 national institute of sciences in 4 cities. (1) East: Bhubaneswar, in Utkal University, (2) West: Pune, in Pune University Campus, (3) North: Allahbad, in Allahbad University Campus, (4) South: Chennai, in Anna University campus. "

The UGC chair wrote that all these centers will be called National Institute of Sciences. For each center 50 crores will be spent in 5 years. In the 10th five year plan 100 crores has been provisioned for this and another 100 crores has been requested from the planning commission. For the initial phase each center will have 25 crores. Not only that, UGC chair in his letter also wrote that for establishing these 4 proposed National Institute of Sciences a five member high level committee has been formed under the chairmanship of ex vice Chancellor of Pune University Professor R. G. Rede. This committee will make the various rules and regulations for the proposed NISs. Eventhough the proposed institution will open under Utkal University, it was clearly written that it will be autonomous.

1: Was UGC's decision and its chair's letter a lie?

2: Was it a lie that UGC budget had 25 crores each for the 4 NISs?

3: Did the UGC request an additional 100 crores from the planning commission?

4: Aren't the UGC and planning commission part of the central government?

With all these proof how come the HRD ministry filed a completely false affidavit?

It is rumored that the UPA goverment at the center is being driven by the left. The Manmohan government does not have any power or will to make the left leaders from West Bengal unhappy. Here the CM Naveen Patnaik is keen on maintaining his image of a polite person. This behavior of the CM has encouraged the center to betray Orissa.

In December 2003, the President and the then HRD minister Professor M. M. Joshi had announced that UGC had established steps to initiate four National Institute of Sciences at Bhubaneshwar, Chennai, Pune and Allahabad. This is documented in the UGC web documents [1] http://www.ugc.ac.in/pub/jan_2004/12.htm , [1.1] http://www.ugc.ac.in/new_initiatives/dpr_nis.pdf, [1.2] http://www.ugc.ac.in/new_initiatives/newnis.html , and the press release [2] http://pib.nic.in/archieve/lreleng/lyr2003/rdec2003/10122003/r1012200313.html by the Ministry of Human Resource Development and Science & technology, dated 10th December, 2003. As of today both are available, directly or in archival sites, in the Internet.

Recently on September 28, 2005 the current PM Dr. Manmohan Singh announced [3] http://pib.nic.in/release/release.asp?relid=12305 the
setting up of an Indian Institute of Science for Education and Research (IISER) at Pune and Kolkata, respectively.

The aim of the National Institute of Sciences that Professor Joshi
had announced in December 2003 is the same as the proposed IISERs.
Thus, NIS and IISER, though they defer in their names; as proposed institutions, both refer to the same concept. In fact the CM of West Bengal has referred to it [4] http://www.telegraphindia.com/1051004/asp/bengal/story_5317968.asp
as National Institute of Sciences and many newspapers [5,6] have referred to the proposed IISERs as National Institute of Sciences.

After press reports about proposed IISERs in Pune and Kolkata appeared [5,7], the newspapers in Orissa [8-13] published articles mentioning the possibility of NIS shifting from Bhubaneswar to Kolkata. In response to that the Chief minister of Orissa wrote letters to the PM about it. In response to criticisms in the newspapers he wrote another letter. A concerned organization in Cuttack filed a PIL suit [14,28] in the Cuttack High Court.

Orissans, who view Dr. Singh as a fair impartial statesman were hoping that after reading the CM's letter he would realize the unfairness associated with not having one of the IISERs in Bhubaneswar. Their hopes were shattered when Dr. Singh formally announced on September 28th the plan to establish two IISERs at Pune and Kolkata.

Immediately the word spread via email, mailing lists, email groups and phone calls and thousands of Orissans and people of Oriya origin all over the world wrote, emailed and faxed [15-19] to the Prime minister and the PA Chairperson Smt. Gandhi about their disappointment and the gross injustice done to Orissa. They mentioned that Orissa does not have any centrally funded higher education institute such as an IIT, IIM, IISc, ISI, central universities etc. [20-23], and how despite that Orissa has on its
own helped in the development of quality institutions like the Institute of Physics [24], Institute of Life Sciences [25] and the Xaviers Institute of Management [26]. They requested the PM to reconsider his announcements and at least add Bhubaneswar to the list of IISER cities.

The word of the letter writing reached the newspapers in Orissa (including national newspaper with Orissa editions such as TOI, Pioneers, and Statesman) and they wrote about it [16-19]. Since then a peaceful mass movement has begun in Orissa and among Orissans and people of Oriya origin all over the world and they have written to the PM, to the planning commission, to the SAC-PM (scientific advisory committee to the PM), and to various newspapers about it. There were letter writing campaigns in arious cities across the world from New York, Phoenix (Arizona), Chicago, to New Delhi, and Bhubaneswar. Among these [28] was a group of eminent personalities (retired) of Bhubaneswar that included past vice chancellors and administrative officers of the Orissa and Indian government. There was a convention of intellectuals [29] in Bhubaneswar and then there was convention of student leaders [31] from various colleges across Orissa. This mass movement is continuing on. In the meanwhile the Orissa high court after a couple of changes of dates passed a temporary stay order [30] saying “We direct a stay on the shifting of the NIS from Bhubaneswar to any other place in the eastern region.”

The mass movement of the people further pushed the Orissa government and the CM wrote one more time to the PM. The 2005 winter assembly of Orissa started off with a resolution [32] to form a assembly committee for this issue and to send a delegation to the PM. The 2005 winter parliament session in Delhi started off with a delegate of 15 Orissa MPs staging a demonstration [32] near the parliament.

So far the only communication from the central government is an
affidavit [33-35] filed by the under secretary of the HRD ministry, as a response to the high court stay order, which according to newspaper reports says that "No policy decision was finalized by the central government for setting up any science institution in Bhubaneswar".

While the courts will sort the legal aspects, and figure out how far the decision regarding an NIS in Bhubaneswar was made, it is clear that it had gone to a high enough level for the then HRD minister to say in [1] "Four national-level institutes are also being established at Bhubaneshwar, chennai, Pune and Allahabad". He is also reported in a UGC document [2] to have said "... Dr. Joshi also informed the members about the steps initiated by the UGC for improving the relevance and quality of teaching and research, such as ...; to establish four National Institutes of Sciences at Bhubaneshwar, Chennai, Pune and Allahabad; ..."


The fact remains that from that high level of decision, the current
government made alterations to the plan and only announced two IISERs at Pune and Kolkata. Both are fine cities and deserve IISERs, except that the central government did not have to take away the only announced dream from a state (Orissa) and a city (Bhubaneswar) that does not have anything in terms of a centrally funded higher education institution.
It is ironic that on the day the PM said "This report also points to a grave regional imbalance in terms of educational institutions in different states. ... I trust our government as well the state governments will take note of these findings and evolve policies to remedy these regional imbalances," he also announced the establishment of IISERs in Pune and Kolkata, thus removing Bhubaneswar from the list.

If one analyzes the list of institute of national importance and central universities one can see the gross imbalance with respect to some states. States like West Bengal have an IIT, an IIM, an ISI, a central university, while states like Orissa, Rajasthan, Chhatisgarh have none of them. Yet one of the new IISERs is announced in West Bengal, which was not even in the initial list, while removing an announced for NIS in Bhubaneswar; thus seemingly suggesting that an NIS was shifted from Bhubaneswar to Kolkata.

This absolutely makes no sense unless one assumes that our
government believes that only people of certain states deserve to be near such institutions while other states do not, or unless one perceives a connection between the current government needing and being allied to the West Bengal's contingent of close to 40 MP's support while not being allied with the smaller contingent of BJD-BJP MPs of Orissa, and the elimination of Bhubaneswar and introduction of Kolkata to the list of NIS/IISERs. Especially coming from a government with an economist at its helm who knows how quality institutions not only impact the nation but also have a significant impact in the development of the area, city, district and state where they are located, one can not help but wonder why
such a decision was made.

Since the Indian constitution does not explicitly mention that resources and investments have to be regionally balanced the central government may be able to legally get away (and it has so far) with creating and reinforcing (instead of correcting) such imbalances, but in the court of Indian people's opinion, and with the RTI act and the availability of Internet search engines to the common man, the government can no longer act like a fief as it has done in the higher education domain of HRD.

The following is a compilation of the various documents and news items regarding the mass movement taking place in Orissa. Although the focus here is on the announced NIS in Bhubaneswar (Orissa) that was dropped, if not shifted, by the current government; it has a great significance to the country of India as a whole

(i) because India has many other states and cities which have been also neglected by the HRD ministry over the years,

(ii) because for all round growth of India, all of its parts need to develop simultaneously, not just some pockets,

(iii) because it seems institutions with mega investments like IITs and IISERs are being established mostly in states that have a bigger representation in the parliament or whose MPs are allied with the government at the center at the time the decisions are made or both, and

(iv) and most importantly because such grabbing and doling out of mega investments without regards to regional balance may further stress the fabric of mother India which already has gone through and is going through such forces in certain parts.

We hope the readers of this compilation, be it patriotic Indians from Orissa, or from other parts of India, will take this gross imbalance and the serious implication of its continuation (in terms of the current decision by the central government) and convey to the central government in no uncertain terms

(a) that such injustice is no longer acceptable, even if they may be "legal" as our constitution does not yet give a regional balance right to states;

(b) that it should be immediately corrected by establishing an
NIS/IISER/equivalent in Bhubaneswar and by immediately forming a
committee to review other states and cities that have been neglected over the years;

(c) that the central government is put on notice in regards to where they are going to establish the proposed seven new IITs that are under consideration, and they better be distributed across the country in states that do not have them, or similar well established institutions already;

(d) and that the central government should pay attention to the the mountaineous belt in parts of Andhra, west Orissa (KBK), Chhatisgarh, Jharkhand, etc. which is much more backward than the north east and establish several central universities there (as has been done in the north east) so that those areas have enough teachers, and other educated folks.


References:

1. http://www.ugc.ac.in/pub/jan_2004/12.htm

1.1 http://www.ugc.ac.in/new_initiatives/dpr_nis.pdf

1.2 http://www.ugc.ac.in/new_initiatives/newnis.html

2.
http://pib.nic.in/archieve/lreleng/lyr2003/rdec2003/10122003/r1012200313.html

3. http://pib.nic.in/release/release.asp?relid=12305

4.
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1051004/asp/bengal/story_5317968.asp

5.
http://www.frontlineonnet.com/fl2208/stories/20050422000903900.htm

6. http://www.baral.us/orissa/pdf/2005-oct24-statesman.pdf

7. http://www.deccanherald.com/deccanherald/mar072005/n16.asp

8. http://www.baral.us/orissa/pdf/2005-aug24-newindexp.pdf

9. http://www.baral.us/orissa/pdf/2005-aug18-samaja1.pdf

10. http://www.baral.us/orissa/pdf/2005-aug19-samaja1.pdf

11. http://www.baral.us/orissa/pdf/2005-aug19-sambada.pdf

12. http://www.baral.us/orissa/pdf/2005-aug20-samaja.pdf

13. http://www.baral.us/orissa/pdf/2005-aug24-sambada.pdf

14. http://www.baral.us/orissa/pdf/2005-sept2-samaja.pdf

15.
http://iiser.blogspot.com/2005/10/open-letter-to-prime-minister-of-india.html

16. http://www.baral.us/orissa/pdf/2005-oct10-suntimes.pdf

17.
http://orissamatters.com/news/index.php/2005/10/07/under-whose-spell-the-prime-minister-has-done-it/

18. http://www.baral.us/orissa/2005-oct8-sambad.pdf

19. http://www.baral.us/orissa/2005-oct8-samaj.pdf

20. http://www.ugc.ac.in/inside/utype.php?st=Central%20University

21.
http://www.ugc.ac.in/inside/utype.php?st=Institute%20of%20National%20Importance

22. http://dst.gov.in/autonomous/autonomous_index.htm

23.
http://iiser.blogspot.com/2005/10/unequal-distribution-of-higher.html

24. http://www.iopb.res.in/overview.php

25. http://www.ilsc.org/

26. http://www.ximb.ac.in/about/

27.
http://orissamatters.com/news/index.php/2005/10/26/orissa-high-court-intervenes-in-nis-iiser-matter/

28. http://www.baral.us/orissa/pdf/2005-oct27-suntimes.pdf

29.
http://iiser.blogspot.com/2005/11/news-reports-related-to-nov-6.html

30.
http://iiser.blogspot.com/2005/11/news-reports-related-to-high-court.html

31.
http://iiser.blogspot.com/2005/11/news-reports-related-to-students.html

32.
http://iiser.blogspot.com/2005/11/news-reports-related-to-efforts-in.html

33.
http://iiser.blogspot.com/2005/11/sambada-on-central-govs-affidavit-in.html

34.
http://iiser.blogspot.com/2005/11/statesman-on-central-govts-affitdavit.html

35.
http://iiser.blogspot.com/2005/11/suntimes-report-on-centers-response.html

In English:

http://iiser.blogspot.com/2005/11/orissa-assembly-concerned-over-nis.html

http://iiser.blogspot.com/2005/11/statesman-and-pioneer-on-uproar-in.html

http://iiser.blogspot.com/2005/11/mps-of-orissa-will-demonstrate-in.html

http://iiser.blogspot.com/2005/11/netizens-of-orissa-make-assembly.html

http://iiser.blogspot.com/2005/11/new-india-press-and-telegraph-on-nis.html


http://iiser.blogspot.com/2005/11/pioneer-newkeralacom-and.html

http://iiser.blogspot.com/2005/11/house-to-knock-on-pm-door-over-nis.html

http://iiser.blogspot.com/2005/11/orissa-mps-join-nis-chorus-times-of.html



In Oriya:


http://iiser.blogspot.com/2005/11/orissa-mps-plan-regarding-nis-in.html

http://iiser.blogspot.com/2005/11/samaja-sambada-and-dharitri-on-nis.html

http://iiser.blogspot.com/2005/11/samaja-and-sambada-on-orissa-mps.html

In English:

http://iiser.blogspot.com/2005/11/daily-pioneer-on-all-orissa-student.html


In Oriya:

http://iiser.blogspot.com/2005/11/all-orissa-student-convention-on-nis.html

http://iiser.blogspot.com/2005/11/sambada-on-nov-20-convention-in-oriya.html

http://iiser.blogspot.com/2005/11/samaja-on-all-orissa-student-leaders.html

In English:

http://iiser.blogspot.com/2005/11/business-standard-on-high-court-stay.html

http://iiser.blogspot.com/2005/11/times-of-india-hc-stays-shifting-of.html

http://iiser.blogspot.com/2005/11/science-institute-stay-callcutta.html

http://iiser.blogspot.com/2005/11/statesmans-take-on-highcourt-stay.html

http://iiser.blogspot.com/2005/11/telegraphs-take-on-high-court-stay.html

http://iiser.blogspot.com/2005/11/pioneer-on-hc-stay-order-on-nis.html

http://iiser.blogspot.com/2005/11/newswebindia123coms-take-on-highcourt.html

http://iiser.blogspot.com/2005/11/iiser-stayed-from-orissamatterscom.html


In Oriya:

http://iiser.blogspot.com/2005/11/samaja-and-sambada-on-highcourt-stay.html

http://iiser.blogspot.com/2005/11/dharitri-also-reports-on-high-court.html

http://iiser.blogspot.com/2005/11/odishacom-on-high-court-stay-on-nis.html

In English:

http://iiser.blogspot.com/2005/11/centre-changes-plan-orissa-loses-nis.html

http://iiser.blogspot.com/2005/11/demand-for-institute-gains-momentum.html

http://iiser.blogspot.com/2005/11/orissa-launches-campaign-for-central.html

http://iiser.blogspot.com/2005/11/orissa-launches-campaign-for-central_07.html

http://orissamatters.com/news/index.php/2005/11/07/nis-convention-demands-execution-of-earlier-decision/

http://iiser.blogspot.com/2005/11/navhind-time-orissa-launches-campaign.html

http://www.orissasambad.com/english/localnews.asp?Fs=421

In Oriya:

http://iiser.blogspot.com/2005/11/sambadas-report-on-nis-iiser.html

...

It now appears that there were two different proposals — one to set up four centres made during the NDA government’s tenure which was rejected by the Law Ministry and secondly a fresh proposal of the UPA government for setting up two institutes at Pune and Kolkata.

-------------------------------------

Chitta's comment:

The above is puzzling. What has the law ministry got to do with setting up of NIS?

One possibility is that the law ministry was asked if the original NIS plan can be scrapped and the same idea can be introduced as IISERs and will that allow changing of locations (adding Kolkata and removing Bhubaneswar, Allahbad and Chennai), and the law ministry probably said yes.

Dear Friends,

The clarification from GOI as reported by The Statesman is no surprise in Indian bureaucracy. Though we are not sure what clarification was sought by The Orissa State Public Interest Protection Council this is no answer to us.

Of course these are two separate reports but for the same nation in the same direction. Our point is either GOI has deliberately changed the name of the institutions to avoid these matters covering them under the blanket of law or it has wasted resources already spend in the same direction by it's negligence. In either way it has disrespected democracy. It has surely disrespected people of Orissa in this issue by going ahead with it’s agenda to establish a IISER in Kolkata.

Under secretary Mr. Prem Kumar clarifies “No policy decision was finalized by the Central government for setting up any science institution at Bhubaneswar,” The Statesman. We do not have the exact affidavite but if the reports at national newspapers like The Statesman is the best summery this document sure do not have answer to the injustice done to Orissa.

Please see the dates below
Nov 28 – GOI clarification
Nov 09 - Stay order
Oct 30 - Prime minister was supposed to lay the foundation in Kolkata.
Oct 27 - Union Cabinet gives its approval to GOI
Oct 26 - High court summon to GOI

GOI got Cabinet approval just two days before PM was supposed to lay the foundation of IISER in Kolkata. Without cabinet approval the stage was all set for PM to lay the foundation stone at a huge expense to the nation! Why was this hurry!!

Many of our protest/request letters (including Hon'ble Chief Ministers’s) to reconsider BBSR must have reached much before this Cabinet decision/approval. Day before Orissa high court has already issued summon? At least this news would have reached the PMO. GOI clearly neglects people of Orissa in NIS/IISER issue.

The requirement of higher institutions of Science was a need felt by the Government under one ruling party. Then the next ruling party felt that the need is more severe and wanted to intensify the effort. Then why the previous government’s finding was dismissed? Who and when they dismissed the finding? How Govt of Orissa did not get a clue?

Why did not Govt start the work from where the previous Govt had left?

The finding was for the change in type of institution not change of place. If National Institution of Science is not the need of the time but Indian Institution of Science Education and Research, a much better institution in status and much costlier in expense, is the need, why place was changed not the project in previously declared places?

What about the important finding of regional imbalance in the same report 'India Science Report' upon which the scientific advisory board is recommending these IISERs?

The next High court proceeding is fast approaching. We need to present our issue the best way and keep the high court stay order as long as possible. The Orissa State Public Interest Protection Council is our representative here. I hope the council is following the Oriyas concerns in different online medias along with the regular approaches of understanding the issue.

Our questions remain unsolved until Bhuaneswar gets the first IISER of the nation if IISER is the need of the time.

Regards,
Saubhagya Laxmi Mohapatra.

P.S. For the dates mentioned above visit the following link- http://www.worldorissa.com/News_IISER_NIS_Bhubaneswar_Orissa.htm

We do not have access to the exact affidavit filed by the central government. But here are the facts as we know:

1. The press release of the Ministry of Human Resource Development and Science & Technology at

http://pib.nic.in/archieve/lreleng/lyr2003/rdec2003/10122003/r1012200313.html
says:

"... The meeting was also informed of the steps initiated to improve the quality of teaching and research. It was informed that at post-graduate level a credit-based, modular approach is being introduced. UGC has recently upgraded monetary support at individual, group and department levels and has opened for colleges such incentive schemes as were earlier confined to universities. While five universities were identified this year, with potential for excellence, viz. Chennai, Hyderabad, Jadhavpur, Pune and Jawaharlal Nehru Open University, five more universities will be identified next year to promote excellence among universities especially in matters of research. Four national-level institutes are also being established at Bhubaneshwar, Chennai, Pune and Allahabad. ..."


2. Similarly the following UGC document from the UGC site
http://www.ugc.ac.in/pub/jan_2004/12.htm says:

"... Dr. Joshi also informed the members about the steps initiated by the UGC for improving the relevance and quality of teaching and research, such as introduction of utility-oriented programmes along with the traditional degree; identifying the universities with potential for excellence; to establish four National Institutes of Sciences at Bhubaneshwar, Chennai, Pune and Allahabad; monitoring the universities using parameters for academic performance, research performance and governance and providing incentives to universities and colleges scoring high on these parameters. ..."

3. When we extract the relevant sentence from (1) above we have:

Four national-level institutes are also being established at Bhubaneshwar, Chennai, Pune and Allahabad.

4. When we extract the relevant phrase from (2) above we have:

Dr. Joshi also informed the members about
the steps initiated by the UGC to establish four National Institutes of Sciences at Bhubaneshwar, Chennai, Pune and Allahabad.

-------------------------------------------------

Starting with the above statements attributed to the HRD minister of the previous government and the decision of establishment of IISERs at Pune and Kolkata by the current government, one can draw their own conclusions.

I am not a lawyer and am not privy to the exact documents of the government other than the above mentioned links in government's own web pages. But it is clear from the above documents that "steps initiated to establish four National Institutes of Sciences at Bhubaneshwar, Chennai, Pune and Allahabad" changed to the decision of establishment of IISERs (which are basically NIS renamed) at Pune and Kolkata by the current government. This may or may not be a legal violation by the government (that the courts can sort out) but considering that Orissa does not have any institution of national importance (such as IIT, ISI, etc.), central universities and not even autonomous science and technology institutions, by not having Bhubaneswar in the list of IISERs and having Kolkata (a fine city) there
(West Bengal already has institutions of national importance such as an IIT, IIM, ISI, a central university and 2 autonomous science and technology institutions) this government has further widened the disparity and imbalance in top quality higher education opportunities and access. On what basis can the government, the SAC-PM and the planning commission justify this?

NIS row takes a new turn

Statesman News Service

CUTTACK, Nov. 27. — The controversy and media hype over shifting of the proposed National Institute of Science (NIS) from Orissa to West Bengal may actually fizzle out due to a ludicrous anti-climax.

The Central government has stated that no decision was ever taken by it to set up any such science institution in Bhubaneswar.
The stand taken by the Central government assumes significance as the issue had already triggered a row in the Assembly with the ruling BJD-BJP combine and the Opposition parties blaming each other for the shifting of the National Institute of Science from Orissa to Kolkata.

The Assembly had decided to constitute a House Committee to put pressure on the Centre to stall any such move.

More at
http://www.baral.us/orissa/pdf/2005-nov27-statesman.pdf

...

Well on my way to airport to-day morning i went to meet Hon'ble Dharmendra Pradhan MP Lok Sabha.

He was waiting for me. He is also of the opinion that a mass movement is required to Sanction- back a NIS or IISER for Orissa. He is going to take up the case strongly in Parliament and also on our request coming to bbsr in first week of Dec'05 to chalk out the future course of action.

I have interacted with Mr Siddharta Mohanty, who is PS to Sj, Bijayanti Panda. He is besically co-ordinating all MP's for this NIS issue. He told me that a Memorandum will be submitted by MP's to PM next week. I told him there cannot be better memorandum prepared than Odiya Samaj. He asked me to e-mail him. Would X, Y, or Z frame up a memorandum and e-mail it to him? It should preferably be maximum two pages.

His Address:-
Sidharta Mohanty,
PS to MP ( Bj Panda),
2, Mahadev Rd. New Delhi.
Tel-23753430, Fax-23323355,
e-mail siddharthmohanty@sarkaritel.com

Centre files affidavit in Orissa HC on NIS issue

Pioneer News Service/ Bhubaneswar

The Centre has filed an affidavit before the Orissa High Court on shifting of the National Institute of Science (NIS) from Bhubaneswar to Kolkata.

On behalf of the Central Government, under secretary to the Human Resources Development Ministry Prem Kumar on Friday filed the affidavit in the High Court, stating that the Union Government had never pledged to set up the NIS in Bhubaneswar.

The Orissa Government has reacted sharply to the Centre's move. The State Government officials said it was a blatant lie on the part of the HRD Ministry. The NDA Government had promised to set up the institute in the Bhubaneswar and requested the State Government to provide land for the purpose, the officials pointed out, adding that the State had already allotted 75 acres of land in Bhubaneswar.

More at
http://www.baral.us/orissa/pdf/2005-nov27-pioneer.pdf

-----------------------------------------------------------

Chitta's comments:

1. The press release of the Ministry of Human Resource Development and Science & Technology at

http://pib.nic.in/archieve/lreleng/lyr2003/rdec2003/10122003/r1012200313.html
says:

The meeting was also informed of the steps initiated to improve the quality of teaching and research. It was informed that at post-graduate level a credit-based, modular approach is being introduced. UGC has recently upgraded monetary support at individual, group and department levels and has opened for colleges such incentive schemes as were earlier confined to universities. While five universities were identified this year, with potential for excellence, viz. Chennai, Hyderabad, Jadhavpur, Pune and Jawaharlal Nehru Open University, five more universities will be identified next year to promote excellence among universities especially in matters of research. Four national-level institutes are also being established at Bhubaneshwar, Chennai, Pune and Allahabad.


2. Similarly the following UGC document from the UGC site
http://www.ugc.ac.in/pub/jan_2004/12.htm says:

Dr. Joshi also informed the members about the steps initiated by the UGC for improving the relevance and quality of teaching and research, such as introduction of utility-oriented programmes along with the traditional degree; identifying the universities with potential for excellence; to establish four National Institutes of Sciences at Bhubaneshwar, Chennai, Pune and Allahabad; monitoring the universities using parameters for academic performance, research performance and governance and providing incentives to universities and colleges scoring high on these parameters.

3. When we extract the relevant sentence from (1) above we have:

Four national-level institutes are also being established at Bhubaneshwar, Chennai, Pune and Allahabad.

4. When we extract the relevant phrase from (2) above we have:

Dr. Joshi also informed the members about
the steps initiated by the UGC to establish four National Institutes of Sciences at Bhubaneshwar, Chennai, Pune and Allahabad.

To me this sounds more than a pledge.

Chitta

Dear Friends:

I have submitted memorandum to following MP's in their House, at New Delhi and followings are their personal opinion during the conversation.

1/ Hon'ble Archana Naik MP Lok Sabha
2/ Hon'ble Pramilla Bohidar MP Rajya Sabha
3/ Hon'ble Radhakant Nayak MP Rajya Sabha
4/ Hon'ble Bajayanti Panda MP Rajya Sabha
5/ Hon'ble Rudranarayan Pani MP Rajya Sabha
6/ Hon'ble Birabhadra Singh MP Rajya Sabha
7/ Hon'ble Sushree Devi MP Rajya Sabha
8/ Hon'ble Prasanna Acharya MP Lok Sabha
9/ Hon'ble Bikram Keshari Deo MP Lok Sabha
10/ Hon'ble Mohan Jena MP Lok Sabha
11/ Hon'ble Bhurtahari Mahatab MP Lok Sabha
12/ Hon'ble Parsuram Majhi MP Lok Sabha
13/ Hon'ble Sudam Marandi MP Lok Sabha
14/ Hon'ble Juel Oram MP Lok sabha
15/ Hon'ble Arjun Charan Sethi MP Lok Sabha
16/ Hon'ble Prasanna Patsani MP Lok Sabha
17/ Chandra Sekhar Sahu MP Lok Sabha
18/ Kharavela Swain MP Lok Sabha

I could not contact more than that alone.
Out Of the above some were available in the house and some were not. The high lighted personnalities talked to me personnaly.
Followings are their overall comments in brief:-

They are in unision that in no case they will leave this issue in this Parliament session. Their Dharana in front of Parliament has been high lighted in NDTV, Aaj Tak and all other national TV channal. They have given call motion to be taken up in the parliament next week. Some of them said if all parliamentarian unite than they can jolly well jump to the well of the house to stop the proceeding untill and unless their voice is heard.
Some of them were very vocal and felt humiliated at this decision of shifting. Some of them said that it's very good that intellectuals are coming to the fore front. Some of them said that they will get an appointment from Prime Minister and all of them along with intellectuals from different field an join.
Some of them said that as President is visiting Bhubaneswar in end of December'05, Intellectuals may meet and submit their memorandum. Some of them said that when the House Committe will come to Delhi they will accompany them. Some of them said that he will submit our memorandum to pitition committee and if we will be in problem as we are all working, i said no problem. All of them assurred of their full co- operation to our movement and rather said that it is their movement.

I am going to meet Mr Dharmendra Pradhan tomorrow before leaving for bbsr.

I have specifically written "some of them" not to identify any individual.

...

Lalit Mohan Pattnaik

A news item at

http://www.baral.us/orissa/pdf/2005-nov26-sambada.pdf

A picture at

http://www.baral.us/orissa/pdf/2005-nov26-samaja.pdf

Bhubaneswar: Parliamentarians from the state on Thursday joined the
ongoing public campaign against the Centre's decision to change the site of the proposed National Institute of Science (NIS) from Bhubaneswar to Kolkata.

At least 15 Lok Sabha (LS) and Rajya Sabha (RS) members belonging to BJP and BJD staged a dharna outside Parliament against the Centre's move. However, Congress MPs stayed away from the protest.

BJP MP Dharmendra Pradhan said, "We had requested Congress
Parliamentarians to join the dharna in the greater interests of the
state".

Pradhan said the parties were trying to raise the NIS issue in
Parliament. He added, "We have apprised our party high command of the injustice meted out to Orissa by the UPA government. We are also trying to draw support from other like-minded MPs, who feel that the Centre's action is illogical and is a sort of political appeasement".

The BJP MP said the Oriyas residing in New Delhi also strongly oppose the UPA government's action. "We are planning to take a public delegation to the Prime Minister to seek establishment of the NIS in Bhubaneswar. We began preparations for this on Wednesday evening," he added.

Earlier on Wednesday, education minister Samir Dey said the state
requires an institutin like NIS because it had no major educational
centres like IITs or IIMs.

This is the first time that intelliectural from the state have unitedly put pressure on political leaders to raise their voice for an issue that "affects the state's interests". Researchers, academicians and students from both within and outside the country launched a protest campaign soon after the Centre announced that the NIS would be set up in Kolkata.

Lately, MPs and MLAs from the state have been receiving e-mails and
phone calls from various parts of the country asking them to raise the NIS issue in Parliament as well as the Assembly.

Chief minister Naveen Patnaik has also sent three letters to Prime
Minister Manmohan Singh on the NIS issue.

(Rajaram Satapathy)

House to knock on PM door over NIS

Times News Network

Bhubaneswar: The Orissa Assembly on Wednesday decided to send a House committee to the prime minister to press for the National Institute of Science (NIS).

The UPA government had decided to shift the proposed institute to
Kolkata from the state capital. The House took the decision in response to a proposal by the higher education minister Samir Dey.

Dey through a call attention motion, placed the present status of the Rs 50 crore project mooted in 2002 during the NDA government. The project was scheduled to be implemented in five years under the Utkal University. The Centre’s decision was communicated to the
vice-chancellor of the university by the UGC chairman in a letter dated July 23, 2003.

The NIS (Bhubaneswar) was one of the four such centres proposed in the country to boost higher studies in pure science as a part of long term strategy to fill the vacuum in research in fields of science, particularly in nuclear energy, space technology and bio-technology. The three other centres were proposed for Chennai, Pune and Allahabad.

The state government had identified 75 acres of land on the outskirts of the city and intimated the UGC on December 12, 2003 on the matter. Dey said the departmental secretary was later sent to New Delhi to hold talks with the UGC.

The fate of the project however, took a turn after the UPA government in August decided to set up the project in Kolkata.

Chief minister Naveen Patnaik has since then written three letters to the PM. A PIL has been filed in the Orissa high court challenging the Centre’s decision to shift the project. The court has ordered an interim stay on the shifting of the project and directed to furnish detail information.

The NIS issue has also caught minds of thousands of Oriyas, settled in various states and even abroad, who have launched a campaign to elicit public opinion for putting a pressure on the Centre to change the decision.

Dey said an institution like NIS was necessary for Orissa as it had no major educational institutions like Indian Institute of Technology or Indian Institute of Management.

Dear All

There was a good 7-8 minute coverage of the NIS issue in Etv. Various issues like demonstration by MPs, resolution by MLAs and interview of Dr.S.K.Tripathy and Prof. Trilochan Pradhan was shown, among others. Another good news is that it also showed the computer screen with the blogspot (http://iiser.blogspot.com) for nearly 1 minute (this was suggested to Subhranshu, the Etv person, by Dr. S.K.Tripathy).

As per Hon' MP Jual Oram, the following M.Ps. of BJP and BJD demonstrated against shifting of NIS from Bhubaneswar to Kolkata:

BJD MPs.

(1) Shri B.K.Tripathy L.S.
(2) Shri Arjun Sethi L.S.
(3) Shri Prasanna Ptsani L.S.
(4) Shri Brahamada Panda L.S.
(5) Shri Bhartuhari Mahtab L.S.
(6) Shri Archana Naik L.S.
(7) Shri B.J.Panda R.S.

BJP MPs.

(1) Shri Suren Lath R.S.
(2) Shri Rudra Narayan Pani R.S.
(3) Shri Chhatra Pal Singh R.S.
(4) Shri Jual Oram L.S.
(5) Shri M.A. Kharvavela Swain L.S.
(6) Shri B.K.Deo L.S.
(7) Smt. Sangeeta Singh Deo L.S.
(8) Shri Dharmendra Pradhan L.S.

Indian Institutes of Science & Technology (IIST):
An innovative proposal for a national level institute in Bhubaneswar, Orissa

This draft has been sent to one of the SAC-PM members and some Orissa MPs. Please contact chitta@asu.edu for the draft.

Lalit Patnaik mentioned that in today's TIMES OF INDIA, Bhubaneswar edition, the NIS issue is in the front page and it has appreciated the intellectuals outside the State and also inside the State for gearing up the movement and more so of flooding PM's and other VVIP office with e-mails.

We would appreciate it very much if someone can send the article to me, so that it can be archived. (chitta@gmail.com)

Thanks
Chitta

-------------

Heartfelt thanks to Rajaram babu for senidng the articles that appeared in TOI on Nov 24th and 25th.

Chitta 11/25/05

Dear all:

If one goes through the archives of this site (http://iiser.blogspot.com) one will see the tremendous coverage done by various newsmedia on the NIS IISER issue. One may not have realized it but the coverage is partly due to many concerned scribes and journalists who have written these pieces. They also deserve our heartfelt thanks.

They still have a challenge though. So far this has not made it beyond the wire services and Bhubaneswar/Orissa+ editions to the mainstream national media. Lets sincerely hope that efforts for that are on by the scribes and journalists and soon the coverage of this will be in the national media. There are many interesting angles in this story such as:

* outrageous injustice done to Orissa;

* HRD ministry's track record of ignoring states like Orissa, Chhatisgarh, Rajasthan

* A first email/blog initiated and catalyzed protest in India

* A mass protest that has been civil, and without any disruptive methods (such as rasta roko etc.)

and so on, that would be interest to all of India.

best regards
Chitta

Dear All,

Please find below the updates of the activities on the issue of NIS undertaken by Agamee Odisha and some of the immediate forth coming events.

1. Student representatives have visited the honourable members of legislative assembly and given each of them a memorandum to pursue the matter in the assembly.

2. Mr Lalit Mohan Pattanaik has been given a memorandum to the MPs and a copy of the letter to the PM, each letter having a signature of nearly 250 students. Any of our members residing in New Delhi wants to be in touch with Mr.Pattanaik, please contact him on his cell or in the City International Hotel where he'd be staying. Mr Pattanaik would be visiting the MPs during his 3 days
stay in Delhi - from 24th Nov to 27th Nov.

3. Agamee Odisha members have visited and talked to Mr.J.B.Pattanaik and some of the MLAs on this issue.

4. Etv is planning to cover the issue of NIS in their prime time news on 7 pm. Mr. Subhranshu Panda who is planning this event has been told to visit http://iiser.blogspot.com and Agamee Odisha yahoogroups site to get details on this issue.

5. A peaceful/silent rally (with candle/torch) would be organized with students and senior citizens by the 1st week of December. Exact date of the event will be anounced very soon.

6. Preparations are going on for the post card campaign in colleges across the state.

With this we would request all our members to kindly come in large members to extend their help in organizing this events and keep our spirit high.

Thank you


Supriti Mishra

Agamee Odisha

The Orissa MLAs and the Orissa MPs have made a good start on the NIS IISER issue. They desreve our thanks.

But just so that we are on track, I would like to emphasize that our goal is still far away. So far the MLA's and MP's actions have resulted in good publicity in local (Bhubanewswar, Orissa) newspapers, local editions of national newspapers, and wire services.

Unfortunately, none of the national media (and national newspapers) has picked it up. In other words the rest of India does not quite know the gross injustice that has been done to Orissa. That may be neceessary before the central government feels embarassed and responsible enough to take some concrete action. I hope the MPs and MLAs have thought of actions that would lead to national media highlighting this issue.

http://www.baral.us/orissa/pdf/2005-nov24-pioneer.pdf

http://www.newkerala.com/news.php?action=fullnews&id=56531


http://news.webindia123.com/news/showdetails.asp?id=171607&n_date=20051124&cat=India

Orissa MPs protest shifting of science institute

New Delhi | November 24, 2005 12:15:06 PM IST


Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Biju Janata Dal (BJD) MPs from Orissa Thursday went on a sit-in inside the parliament premises to protest what they alleged was regional partiality against their state.

The MPs are protesting the shifting to West Bengal of the proposed National Institute of Science (NIS) announced for Bhubaneswar in 2003 during the previous National Democratic Alliance (NDA) regime.

"It's regional partiality," BJD Rajya Sabha MP B.J. Panda told IANS as he and about 10 other MPs sat in protest in front of the statue of Mahatma Gandhi inside the parliament complex.


... See more at.

http://www.newkerala.com/news.php?action=fullnews&id=56531

http://news.webindia123.com/news/showdetails.asp?id=171607&n_date=20051124&cat=India

Dear All,

Its heartening to note that our MPs are as serious about IISER issue as we are. We at Delhi met some of them yesterday and most of them we were candid to do something on this issue. Particulalrly, Mr. Dharmendra Pradhan was very forthcoming and he has already initiated dialogue with other MPs and they are planning to go for a dharna today at 10.30 AM before Mahatma's statue in the Parliament vicinity. They are also going to raise the issue in the parliament. lets apreciate their role and avoid writing personal things that would hurt and divert the issue on hand.

So lets back our MPs in the earnest efforts. Some of us are trying to highlight the issue in the media. We have gone for a massive signature drive in JNU, DU, IIT, Oriya associations and together, we are doing a press relase this week.

Besides, a demonstration near parliament has been mooted as last resort, in case all these efforts in and out the Parliament go waste.

Keep the momentum and hope for the best.

Niranjan Sahoo

http://www.dharitri.com/241105/story1.asp


http://www.baral.us/orissa/pdf/2005-nov23-samaja.pdf

http://www.baral.us/orissa/pdf/2005-nov24-sambada.pdf

http://www.baral.us/orissa/pdf/2005-nov24-newindpress.pdf

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1051124/asp/jamshedpur/story_5514563.asp

The student convention and student leaders have done a commendable job. After the student convention called by Agami Orissa in Vani Bihar on 20th Nov'05, the students have been meeting MLAs on a daily basis in groups and submitting the resolution of 20th Nov as a part of their 5 point action plan.

Yesterday The Assemby has constituted a House Committee to take up the NIS shifting Issue with Center. Today in all leading Local daily(Samaj/Samaya...)the issue has been broadly elaborated.

It's going to be a bigger movement than Nalco Privatisation Issue. All of us must act in whatever way we can.

Odia Samaj/ Agami Odissa are certainly praisworthy in
sparking the Oriya's to take up their own cause in
unision. Odia Samaj Jindabad.

Lalit Mohan Pattnaik.

MPs of orissa will demonstrate in front of parliament house from 10 am to 11am on 24th november to press their demand , i.e NOT TO SHIFT THE NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE FROM BHUBANESWAR TO KOLKOTA.

Jual Oram

http://www.baral.us/orissa/pdf/2005-nov23-statesman.pdf


http://www.baral.us/orissa/pdf/2005-nov23-pioneer.pdf

Orissa Assembly concerned over NIS shifting, set up House Committe

Bhubaneswar

November 23, 2005 7:43:16 PM IST

The Orissa Assembly today expressed concern over the shifting of the National Institute of Science(NIS) from Bhubaneswar to Kolkata and decided to constitute a House Committee to take up the issue.

The house committee comprising members from all political parties and headed by Speaker Maheswar Mohanty will meet the Prime Minister and Union Human Resource Development Minister in Delhi to oppose the shifting of the institute.
Orissa Assembly Deputy Speaker Prahallad Dora announced the decision to constitute a house committee after members cutting across party lines demanded an all party delegation to Delhi to put pressure on the centre not to shift the NIS.


Higher Education Minister Samir Dey even in his reply to the calling attention,favoured for an all party delegation to apprise the Primer Minister and the Union Human Resource Development Minister on the issue.

He said the Chief Minister had already written three letters to the Prime Minister requesting him not to shift the NIS to Kolkata.
The state government, Mr Dey said, had already earmarked 70 acres of land for the institute.

Biju Janata Dal(BJD) members Aswani Patra, Raghunath Mohanty and Pratap Jena while participating in the debate demanded that the state government should put pressure on the UPA government not to shift the institute to Kolkata and suggested an all party delegation or House Committee to take up the issue.

Sensing the mood of the house, Deputy Speaker Prahallad Dora who was on the chair said the House Committee earlier constituted to take up the development of Railways would go to Delhi on the NIS shifting issue.
But government chiefwhip Kishore Mohanty suggested a new house committee be set up for the purpose which was later accepted.
Orissa Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik in a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on November 11 last had stated that the shifting of the NIS would be a serious set back as the government had already selected the site for the Institute.

More at http://news.webindia123.com/news/showdetails.asp?id=170990&cat=India

See http://www.indianexpress.com/full_story.php?content_id=82535
where the CM designate of Bihar writes an editorial piece titled
"When rest of India realises that it can’t let the east (Bihar) slide into
darkness".

Many of us have requested the CM of Orissa and the MPs of Orissa to write a similar op-ed piece in national newspapers in regards to the NIS issue, but to no avail so far.

President
DR. A.P.J. ABDUL KALAM
Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Delhi - 110 004
Email : presidentofindia@rb.nic.in
presidentofindia@rb.nic.in
Fax : 011-23017290 & 011-23017824



PM
Dr. Manmohan Singh
South Block,Raisina Hill,
New Delhi, India-110011.
Telephone: 91-11-23012312.Fax: 91-11-23019545 /91-11-23016857.
email: http://pmindia.nic.in/write.htm
manmohan@sansad.nic.in

Leader of UPA
Smt. Sonia Gandhi
President:INDIAN NATIONAL CONGRESS
24, Akbar Road,
New Delhi – 110011 ,INDIA
TEL : 91-11-23019080
FAX : 91-11-23017047
email: aicc@congress.org.in
soniagandhi@sansad.nic.in

Deputy Chairman, Planning Commission
Montek Singh Ahluwalia
Deputy Chairman, Planning Commission,
Government of India
Parliament Street, New Delhi – 110001 (India)
Tel.: 91-11-23096677
dch@yojana.nic.in

Dear ...,

Thanks. Just now i am coming back from a "ekadash" ceremony of our junior cum friend late ..., wherein again met MLA Arun Sahubjd youth president Orissa, Muna Pattnaik Cong Youth president(bbsr) and many other reporters. Virtually i gave a speech and roped in all the people to our topic of IISER. Pragatibadi reporter Mr Ratikant Mohanty, a friend of mine said he will not only give full coverage but also join the movement.
we will organise action every fortnightly.

Good wishes,

Lalu Bhai

Dear ...,

Well we Oriya association as well as other oriyas who are really concerned about this issue have already made that signature campaign a success. Success in the sense that they started to realise the gravity of the issue and they themselves shown enough enthusiasm to bring out some solution. We have already made the draft press release and it will go to press within the next three days. its a signature list of common people. and ... we are going to take their signatures separately and plan to raise the issue in parliament through these MPs.

...

Gyana

The Hon’ble Mr. Manmohan Singh
Prime Minister Of India
New Delhi

Sub: Setting up of National Institute of Science in Orissa

Dear Esteemed Prime Minister:

The Government of India has recently approved a proposal to set up two institutes of Indian Institute of Science for Education and Research (IISER) in Pune and Kolkota. We would like to bring to your kind attention the fact that, way back in December 2003, the then Human Resource Development Minister had announced the formation of four National Institute of Sciences (NIS) in Chennai, Bhubaneswar, Pune and Allahabad. Unfortunately, in the recently announced list of IISERs, the name of Bhubaneswar has been dropped and deemed unfit for the establishment of an IISER.

Sir, it is extremely unfair and unjust that a previously announced decision to locate NIS at Bhubaneswar has not been implemented. Orissa, as you know, does not have any central university, or any institute of national repute like IIT, IIM, IIIT or ISI, etc. It also does not have any reputed autonomous science and technology institution funded by Government of India. On the other hand, Orissa being the most backward state in India, often the need for a research institution, which can help develop proper growth strategies linking the development needs of the state with that of the available resources, has been mooted. This calls for a scientific approach and the need for an institute that envisages offering “education and teaching in basic science totally integrated with the state-of-the-art research”.

Orissa has often been a victim of negligible educational investment from the Central Government. It was deprived of an IIT just after Independence. In recent years, Bhubaneswar has come up as a major information technology hub for software industry. When all other major IT cities have either an IIT or IIIT in the city or close by, Bhubaneswar in particular and Orissa in general, do not boast of such facilities either. However, institutes like Institute of Life Sciences, Institute of Physics, etc. are some of the bright examples of the State’s ability to sustain and flourish research and educational institutes of high standard. Setting up of an NIS/IISER in Bhubaneswar/Orissa will fulfill the long standing demand of a central government funded institute in the state and can act as a change agent in the development of the state.

Our Indian system of proportinal representation makes smaller states like Orissa susceptible to injustice and neglect by the Centre. That is where, we expect statesmen like you, Smt. Sonia Gandhi, and Mr. Arjun Singh to lead and make sure that resources are fairly distributed, and interest of economically backward states like Orissa are protected. Your recent address, where you have refered to regional imbalance in case of educational institutions and urged the state governments to strongly deal with such issues, is surely praiseworthy. According to newspaper reports, the Chief Minister of Orissa, has written to you on this issue. He has also talked to Mr. Arjun Singh who seems to be positive on this issue. In this context, we expect that you will also have a more empathetic approach towards setting up of an NIS/IISER in Orissa.


The issue of relocating NIS/ IISER from Orissa has perturbed many Oriyas, both within and outside the state (including a number of Non-resident Oriyas who have been continuously harping on the issue through e-signature campaigns, blogspot, writing protest letters and so on). A number of prominent individuals under the aegis of Agami Odisha, which is a people’s movement association of Oriyas at the grassroots, have been meeting periodically to voice their grievances in the said issue. A group of delegates, on behalf of Agamee Odisha, comprising of intellectuals, academia, students’ leaders, film personalities, businessmen, retired bureaucrats, representing the broader civil society, would like to meet you and put forth their views on this issue at your kind convenience. The list of delegates is attached.

Sincerely,

Supriti Mishra

On behalf of Agamee Odisha

Copy to: 1. Smt. Sonia Gandhi, Chairperson, UPA

2. Mr. Arjun Singh, Minister of HRD

3. Mr.Navin Pattanaik, the Chief Minister of Orissa

List of Delegates

1. Dr. Digambar Mishra,
Prof. of Political Science & Dean of Social & Behavioural Sciences
University of Alabama

2. Dr. Pandav Nayak
Ex-Vice Chancellor, Utkal University
Professor, Indiara Gandhi National Open University
New Delhi

3. Dr. Ajit Kumar Mohanty
Professor, Psychology
Jawaharlal Nehru University
New Delhi

4. Dr. Radhakant Nayak
MP, Rajya Sabha

5. Ms. Nandita Das
Cine Artist and Social Activist

6. Padmashree D. P. Pattnaik
Noted Linguist and Social Activist

7. Mr. Dhiren Kumar Ray
Former Director General, Income Tax

8. Mr. Abasara Beuria
Retired IFS & Former Indian Ambassador

9. Mr. Sahadev Sahoo
Former Chief Secretary, Orissa

10.Dr. Santosh Kumar Tripathy
Reader, Dept. of PM & IR
Utkal University, Orissa

11. Mr. Sudarshan Das
Register, KIIT Deemed University
Orissa

12. Ms. Supriti Mishra
Development Professional
Research Scholar, IIT, Kharagpur

13. Pranab Prakash Sahu
Ex-President
Utkal University Students’ Union

14. Prof. S. Mishra
Former Director, Institute of Physics
Orissa

Dt.21.11.2005


The Hon’ble Members of Parliament

New Delhi

Sub: Setting up of a National Institute of Science in Orissa

Dear Esteemed Member of Parliament:

The Government of India has recently approved a proposal to set up two institutes of Indian Institute of Science for Education and Research (IISER) in Pune and Kolkota. We would like to bring to your kind attention the fact that, way back in December 2003, the then Human Resource Development Minister had announced the formation of four National Institute of Sciences (NIS) in Chennai, Bhubaneswar, Pune and Allahabad. Unfortunately, in the recently announced list of IISERs, the name of Bhubaneswar has been dropped and deemed unfit for the establishment of an IISER.

Sir, it is extremely unfair and unjust that a previously announced decision to locate NIS at Bhubaneswar has not been implemented. Orissa, as you know, does not have any central university, or any institute of national repute like IIT, IIM, IIIT or ISI, etc. It also does not have any reputed autonomous science and technology institution funded by Government of India. On the other hand, Orissa being the most backward state in India, often the need for a research institution, which can help develop proper growth strategies linking the development needs of the state with that of the available resources, has been mooted. This calls for a scientific approach and the need for an institute that envisages offering “education and teaching in basic science totally integrated with the state-of-the-art research”.

Orissa has often been a victim of negligible educational investment from the Central Government. It was deprived of an IIT just after Independence. In recent years, Bhubaneswar has come up as a major information technology hub for software industry. When all other major IT cities have either an IIT or IIIT in the city or close by, Bhubaneswar in particular and Orissa in general, do not boast of such facilities either. However, institutes like Institute of Life Sciences, Institute of Physics, etc. are some of the bright examples of the State’s ability to sustain and flourish research and educational institutes of high standard. Setting up of an NIS/IISER in Bhubaneswar/Orissa will fulfill the long standing demand of a central government funded institute in the state and can act as a change agent in the development of the state.

Our Indian system of proportinal representation makes smaller states like Orissa susceptible to injustice and neglect by the Centre. That is where, we expect statesmen like you to lead and make sure that resources are fairly distributed, and interest of economically backward states like Orissa are protected. In a recent, the Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh has refered to regional imbalance in case of educational institutions and has urged the state governments to strongly deal with such issues. According to newspaper reports, the Chief Minister of Orissa, has written to the Prime Minister on this issue. He has also talked to Mr. Arjun Singh who seems to be positive on this issue. In this context, we expect that the honourable members of Parliament will also have a more empathetic approach towards setting up of an NIS/IISER in Orissa and raise this issue in the Parliament vigorously in the interest of Orissa.

The issue of relocating NIS/ IISER from Orissa has perturbed many Oriyas, both within and outside the state (including a number of Non-resident Oriyas who have been continuously harping on the issue through e-signature campaigns, blogspot, writing protest letters and so on). A number of prominent individuals under the aegis of Agami Odisha, which is a people’s movement association of Oriyas at the grassroots, have been meeting periodically to voice their grievances in the said issue. Agamee Odisha has conducted a series of events on this issue including one convention of the intellectuals and another convention of the students where the Oriyas at large have expressed their anguish over this decision. It has been largely felt by each Oriya, cutting across the party affiliation, regional affiliation, caste/creed/age bias, that Orissa must not be deprived of its due and the Central Government must adhere to their own declaration of setting up of an NIS in Orissa. Hence, we would like to urge all our MPs, across party lines, to pursue seriously the case of NIS for Orissa, as it is a case of sheer negligence of our state by the Central Government.

Kind regards

Dear Chitta Bhai,

Please find attached the letters to the PM and MPs which I have written. The letter to MPs is being taken by Lalit Bhai (Mr. Lalit Pattanaik of NALCO) tomorrow to New Delhi where he is supposed to meet some MPs to press upon the matter in the Parliament. I am attaching a photocopy of signatures which we had collected in both the conventions, along with the letter which Lalit Bhai is carrying.


Kind regards


Supriti,

NIS issue unites student leaders

Pioneer News Service/ Bhubaneswar

November 20, 2005 will be remembered as a historic day in the annals of student politics in Orissa. Student leaders, cutting across party lines got together at a students' convention organised by the Agamee Odisha, a leading voluntary organisation and Utkal University Teachers' Association to demand setting up of a National Institute of Sciences ( NIS) in the State.
More than 300 student leaders and students from across the state congregated in the auditorium of Utkal University to demand for the Centrally-funded national level institute in the State. They urged the UPA Government at the Centre to give Orissa its due, which was promised by the previous NDA Government.

This was for the first time in decades that student leaders of all political parties shared the same platform. The present president of the BJD students' wing Arun Sahu, president of the Congress students' front Jinesh Das, president of AISF Jyoti Ranjan Mohapartra and president of the Janata Dal (S) students' wing Amiya Pandav joined hands to voice the demand.

The convention reminded the Central Government of its decision in 2003 to establish four NISs in the country, including one in Orissa.

However, a recent declaration by the Government overlooked the previous decision, with Prime Minister stating that two Indian Institutes of Science Education and Research (IISERs) would be set up in Kolkata and Pune. Since the objective of both an IISER and a NIS is the same, this declaration has come as a shock to Oriyas across the country and abroad.

...


The convention resolved to submit memoranda to Prime Minister, UPA Chairperson, Deputy Chairman of Planning Commission, Orissa Chief Minister and Governor and Chairman of Scientific Committee (PMO).
It was also decided to launch a postcard campaign in every college, hold an hour protest rally before the Raj Bhawan, undertake innovative protests like cleaning of college campus and to organise a protest rally in New Delhi.

The convention resolved to submit memoranda to Prime Minister, UPA Chairperson, Deputy Chairman of Planning Commission, Orissa Chief Minister and Governor and Chairman of Scientific Committee (PMO).
It was also decided to launch a postcard campaign in every college, hold an hour protest rally before the Raj Bhawan, undertake innovative protests like cleaning of college campus and to organise a protest rally in New Delhi.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

See details at http://www.baral.us/orissa/pdf/2005-nov22-pioneer.pdf

Dear All,

Please find below the proceedings of the students' convention on 20th Nov. 2005 held in the Utkal University auditorium.

Kind regards

Supriti Mishra

PRESS RELEASE

20th November 2005 will be remembered as an unusual day in the annals of student politics in Orissa. Student leaders across party lines got together in a single forum in the students' convention organized by Agamee Odisha and Utkal University Teachers' Association to raise their unanimous voice for the setting up of the National Institute of Science in Orissa. More than 300 student leaders and students across the state congregated in the auditorium of Utkal University to demand for a centrally funded national level institute in Orissa and urged the UPA Government to give Orissa its due which was promised by the previous Government at the center. This is also for the first time in decades that President BJD student's wing Mr. Arun Sahu, President student Congress Mr. Jinesh Das, President A.I.S.F. Mr. Jyoti Ranjan Mohapartra, and President student Janata (S) wing Mr. Amiya Pandav shared the same platform and shared the same dream for the interest of Orissa – this time to demand for the setting up of NIS in Orissa.

The stage was set to press the need for reminding the Central Government of its previous declaration in 2003 to establish 4 NISs in India in which Orissa was one of the locations. However, a recent declaration by the Government overlooks the previous decision and the Prime Minister has recently announced the setting up of two IISERs in Kolkata and Pune. Since the objective of both the IISER and NIS is the same, this declaration has pained many Oriyas across the country and abroad. While NROs have launched e-signature campaigns, and a blog (http://iiser.blogspot.com) has been created by Prof. Chitta Baral to highlight and demand the issue of NIS, Agamee Odisha has taken up the cause to sensitize and educate, and in turn also create a strong voice for demanding the NIS, within the state and in the national level. The students' convention on 20 th November was second in the series of events planned by Agamee Odisha. The first event was organized on 6th Nov. where intellectuals had raised their demand for this cause. In yesterday's event all the student leaders, congregated in the students' convention, felt the need for all Oriyas – intellectuals, politicians, media and the broader civil society, to get together forgetting their personal differences to fight for the cause of the state. Orissa has been subjected to negligence by the center but Oriyas have also never asserted their rights, reflected Mr. Arun Sahu. Mr. Amiya Pandav pressed for the need of going to Delhi to press on the UPA chairperson and Prime Minister for the cause. Mr. Jinesh Das declared that since their party is in power in the center, he would do all that required to get things done at New Delhi. Mr. Jyoti Ranjan Mohapatra also reiterated the unconditional support of his wing for the cause. The convention was addressed by eminent Professor Digambar Mishra of Alabama State University, Justice M. Papanna, President of NALCO employees' association Mr.L.M. Pattanaik, and noted environmentalist Mr. Nadia Chand Kanungo, all of whom stressed upon the need for a non-violent and peaceful demonstration for the cause.


The meeting was addressed by many other student leaders from B.J.B. college, R.D. college, Bhawanipatna college, Khurda P.N . College, Jagatsinghpur college, Alaka college, Basudevpur college, Atalabihari college and Vani Vihar. Student leaders from nearly 80 colleges from the districts of Cuttack, Khurda, Puri, Jagatsinghpur, Malkangiri, Balasore, Bhadrak, Phulbani, Kendrapara, Keonjhar, Jajpur, Dhenkanal, Angul, etc. participated in the event. The convention was presided over by the Secretary of Utkal University Teachers' Association Dr. S.K.Tripathy. Mr. Sudarshan Das and Ms. Supriti Mishra of Agamee Odisha also placed their views on the issue. Mr. Chinmaya Jena, Mr. Prashant Samantaray, Mr. Dillip Savat, helped in the coordination of the event from the student side. Mr. Priyadarshi Mishra, Mr. Pradipta Nayak, Mr. Gadadhar Pradhan and Mr. Deba Parija were also present in the event among others.

The following resolutions were taken by the students:

1. Memorandum to the Prime Minister; Deputy Chairman, Planning Commission; Chairman, Scientific Committee (to the P.M.); UPA, Chairperson; Chief Minister, and Governor (the process was already started yesterday).

2. Postcard campaign by each college.

3. Peaceful protest for one hour before the Governor's House.

4. Innovative protest like cleaning the college campus or painting of college wall.

5. Protest at New Delhi (if none of the above forms of protest yield result).

When i was a child in 60's, England was the destination for all brilliant students and it was so since last 2 centuries. And may be by attracting world wide intellectuals, and feeding them food, it could retain the affection of best brains of the world and expanded it's horizon through out the World in 18th and 19th century.
When i grew up in 80's, America was the destination for all brilliant students and it was so in 20th century and may be because of feeding the best brains it could
snatch away the power from all erstwhile powerful countries.

If we look back Bihar(Magadha) was powerful when Institution NALANDA was shinning.

During after British Raj Bengalis, Bombaytes, Madrasis, Keralites and Delhite prospored because of Good Institutions nearby.

Orissa lacked good institution then and the present position is simply a clear cut out come of that and let us not blame or focus any where else.

Now the situation is different. Oriya's have gathered knowledge and wisdom by learning in top class institutions in America and England and are ready to promote top class institutions in Orissa.

What we have to do is built an Institution.
Why not an IISER?

Here is an initial report.
Stay tuned for more detailed news.

Chitta
-------------------------------------------
Dear Chitta Babu,
...

Today's student convention at Utkal University is to be seen to be believed.
The Hall was full with Student Leaders from the nook and corner of Orissa. May be around 400+ Presidents and VP's and Secretaries of different Student Unions crossing accross party lines not only assembled but also presented their views and determination to carry out 5 point programme resolved in the forum.

The most important aspect is that all youth leaders of Orissa ( Juba janata, Juba BJD, Juba Congress and Secy AISF) were sitting in the same dias under the presidetship of Dr SK Tripathy and encouraging the student leaders to take up their programme in their respective colleges in a non-violent manner.

Agami Odisha has done a wonderful job of reuniting the students of Orissa.

I have a strong conviction that which you have sparked in electronic media is going to be accomplished by the students of Orissa under the banner of Agami Odisha and that may be the SWABHIMAN of ORIYA'S will get stirred up in the whole episode.

Although Delhi is a long way but still it can be done by end 2006 or early 2007. We the intellectuals have lot of home work to do and keep the movement warm.

Good Wishes,
Lalit Mohan Pattnaik

BHUBANESWAR:

The Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM) will organise a State-level rally here on December 9 protesting alleged neglect of State by the UPA Government.

The Morcha will highlight the steps taken by the NDA Government for the development of the State and ‘step-motherly’ treatment of the UPA Government to the State by reversing all decisions of the previous government at the Centre.

...

The shifting the National Institute Science to Kolkata is the latest instance of neglecting the State by the UPA Government, Pradhan said and expressed serious doubt about the fate of the oil refinery project at Paradip.

Local copy at
http://www.baral.us/orissa/pdf/orissa-journalists.pdf

Some email addresses:

rajaram.satapathy@timesgroup.com, odisha@rediffmail.com,puru@ndtv.com, pragativadi@pragativadi.com,dharitrieditor@yahoo.com, msambadadvt@yahoo.co.in,
samaj@orissanews.com, samajbbsr@yahoo.com,statesmanbbsr@vsnl.net, samajactc@hotmail.com,brajabhai@rediffmail.com, prafulladas@gmail.com,debabrata_m@yahoo.com, soumyajitpattnaik@yahoo.com,
samanwaya@yahoo.com, tapan_moharana@rediff.com
zashutosh@rediffmail.com,
ravi3796@yahoo.co.in,
gourahari_das@rediffmail.com,
bbsuri@sancharnet.in,
parthaindia123@yahoo.com,
thesamaya@yahoo.com

Rajya Sabha MPs
----------------
Bohidar Ms. Pramila
BJD
Orissa 62, South Avenue, New Delhi 110011
Tel. - 23793622
Mohantypada, At/PO/PS/Dist. Sambalpur, Orissa.
Tel. - {0663} 2400808

Lath Shri Surendra
BJP
Orissa B-103, MS Flats, Baba Kharag Singh Marg, New Delhi 110001
Tel. - 23322166, 23327727, 9868181783(M)
surendra@sansad.nic.in Lath Niwas, At/PO Khetrajpur, Dist. Sambalpur, Orissa 768003
Tel. - {0663} 2400280, 2522628, 2521822

Lodha Dr. Chhattrapal Singh
BJP
Orissa 7, Canning Lane, New Delhi.
Tel. - 011-23782112, 23782087, 9868181080(M)
drsingh@sansad.nic.in Near Income Tax Office, Bulandsahar,Uttar Pradesh.
Tel. - 05732-232747

Mohapatra Shri Pyarimohan
BJD
Orissa Orissa Bhawan, New Delhi
Tel. - 24122488, 9868181155(M)
pyarimohanap@sansad.nic.in A/111, Sahid Nagar, Bhubaneswar 751007
Tel. - 0674-2545132

Nayak Dr. Radhakant
INC
Orissa Flat No. 9, South Avenue, New Delhi.
Tel. - 23795066, 23795065, 9868181094(M)
rknayak@sansad.nic.in 319 Kharvel Nagar, Unit-3, Bhubaneswar, Orissa.

Panda Shri B. J.
BJD
Orissa 2, Mahadev Road, New Delhi 110001
Tel. - 23322612, 2332258 Fax 23323355, Mobile9810042252, 20061836
bjpanda@sansad.nic. in
office.bjpanda@gmail.com
5b, Bhoi Nagar, Bhubaneshwar, Orissa.
Tel. - {0674}2401020, 2536781

Pany Shri Rudra Narayan
BJP
Orissa 136-138, North Avenue, New Delhi
Tel. - 23092455, 9868181122(M)
rn.pany@sansad.nic.in Deulasahi (Jubuli Town),Po/Distt: Dhenkanal, Orissa

Ray Shri Dilip
IND.
Orissa 9, Teen Murti Lane, New Delhi 110011
Tel. - 23017120, 23018737, 2318553 9868181911(M)
mayfair@sansad.nic.in Hotel Mayfair Lagoon, 8-B, Jaydev Vihar, Bhubaneshwar, Orrisa
Tel. - {0674}2506898

Singh Shri Birabhadra
BJD
Orissa 129-131, North Avenue, New Delhi 110001
Tel. - 23093349, Mobile 9868181049
virb@sansad.nic . in (i) At/P.O. - Talakunda, Via -Bisipitha, Distt. Mayurbhanj, Orissa
(ii) N-5-534, IRC Village, Near Indradhanu Market, Zonal Hospital Road, Bhubaneshwar, Orissa Tel. - {0674) 2555193

Sushree Devi Smt.
BJD
Orissa 113, North Avenue, New Delhi. 110001
Tel. - 23092224, 9868181131(M)
Aul Palace, At/P.O.- Aul, District- Kendrapara, Orissa 754219

Lok Sabha MPs
-------------
List: http://164.100.24.208/ls/lsmember/13ref.asp

Acharya, Shri Prasanna BJD Sambalpur(Orissa )
PARTY : Biju Janata Dal (BJD)
E-Mail : prasanna@sansad.nic.in
Present Address
33, Ferozeshah Road,
New Delhi - 110 001
Tels. (011) 23782744, 9868180419 (M)
Permanent Address
Bargarh, P.O. Bargarh,
Distt. Bargah - 768 028 (Orissa)
Tels. (06646) 234322,234344

Deo, Shri Bikram Keshari BJP Kalahandi(Orissa )
CONSTITUENCY : Kalahandi (Orissa )
PARTY : Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)
E-Mail : deobk@sansad.nic.in
Present Address
188, South Avenue,
New Delhi - 110 011
Tels.(011) 23792158, 23794046, 9868180316(M)
Permanent Address
Keshari Nahar, At & P.O. Bhawanipatna,
Distt. Kalahandi- 766 001 (Orissa)
Tels. (0674)230294, 2406364

Gamang, Shri Giridhar INC Koraput (ST)(Orissa )
PARTY : Indian National Congress (INC)
Present Address
12, Teen Murti Marg,
New Delhi-110 011
Tels. (011) 23795012, 23795354,
968180530, 9437021251 (M)
Permanent Address
Vill. Dibirisingi, P.O. Godiabandha via Padampur, Gunupur,
Distt. Rayagada-765 001 (Orissa)

Jena, Shri Mohan BJD Jajpur (SC)(Orissa )
PARTY : Biju Janata Dal (BJD)
Present Address
200, North Avenue,
New Delhi-110 001
Tels. (011) 23093518, 9868180198 (M)
Permanent Address
At. Sasansima, P.O. Dhanmandal,
Distt. Jajpur- 754 024 (Orissa)
Tels. ( 06725) 221960, (0674) 2588349, 9437066156 (M)

Mahtab, Shri Bhartruhari BJD Cuttack(Orissa )
PARTY : Biju Janata Dal (BJD)
E-Mail : bmahtab@sansad.nic.in
Present Address
AB-94, Shahjahan Road,
New Delhi - 110 011
Tels. (011) 23782589, 23782742, 9868180308 (M)
Fax: 23872742 Beharibagh, Chandni Chowk,
Permanent Address
Cuttack- 753 002 (Orissa)
Tels. (0671) 2607568, 2608001(O), 2608002, 2608003(R)
Fax: (0671) 2607111

Majhi, Shri Parsuram BJP Nowrangpur (ST)(Orissa )
PARTY : Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)
E-Mail : pmajhi@sansad.nic.in
Present Address
64, South Avenue,
New Delhi - 110 011
Tels. (011) 23792617, 9868180593(M)
Permanent Address
Vill. Turunjiaguda, P.O. Maidalpur,
Via Papadahandi, Distt.Nowrangpur -764 071(Orissa)
Tels. (06869) 40001,40030

Marndi, Shri Sudam JMM Mayurbhanj (ST)(Orissa )
PARTY : Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM)
Present Address
146, North Avenue,
New Delhi - 110 001
Tels. (011) 24100071, 9868180410 (M)
Permanent Address
Ward 19, Bijoy Ramchandrapur, Baripada,
Mayurbhanj (Orissa)
Tels. (06792) 261310, 260222

Nayak, Shri Ananta BJP Keonjhar (ST)(Orissa )
PARTY : Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)
E-Mail : ananta@sansad.nic.in
Present Address
180, South Avenue,
New Delhi - 110 011
Tels. (011) 23793935, 9868180623 (M)
Permanent Address
At. Langlakanti, P.O. Dhenkikote, P.S. Ghatgaon
Distt. Keonjhar - 758 029 (Orissa)
Tel. (06733) 228333

Nayak, Smt. Archana BJD Kendrapara(Orissa )
PARTY : Biju Janata Dal (BJD)
Present Address
B-701, M.S. Flats, B.K.S. Marg,
New Delhi-110 001
Tels. (011) 23359376, 9868180303 (M)
Permanent Address
At & PO, Badakul, Via Marshaghai,
Distt. Kendrapara (Orissa)
Tels. 9437060732 (M), 9868180303 (M)

Oram, Shri Jual BJP Sundargarh (ST)(Orissa )
PARTY : Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)
E-Mail : jualoram@sansad.nic.in
Present Address
AB-86, Shahjahan Road
New Delhi - 110 011
Tels. (011) 23795271/5310,
9868180206, 9437123855 (M)
Permanent Address
At Kendudihi, P.O. Kalaiposh, Via-Lahunipara,
Distt. Sundergarh - 770 040 (Orissa)
Tels.(0661) 2643766, (06625) 232215, (06622) 275037

Panda, Shri Brahmananda BJD Jagatsinghpur(Orissa )
CONSTITUENCY : Jagatsinghpur (Orissa )
PARTY : Biju Janata Dal (BJD)
Present Address
142, South Avenue,
New Delhi-110 011
Tels.(011) 23795473, 9868180445 (M)
Permanent Address
Pithapur, Buxi Bazar, Cuttack
(Orissa)
Tels.(0671)2624222, 09437026242(M)

Patasani, Dr. (Prof.) Prasanna Kumar BJD Bhubaneswar(Orissa )
CONSTITUENCY : Bhubaneswar (Orissa )
PARTY : Biju Janata Dal (BJD)
Present Address
11, Mahadev Road,
New Delhi - 110 001
Tels. (011) 23711588, 9868180271 (M)
Permanent Address
Plot No. 2, Nilkanth Nagar, Nayapalli,
Bhubaneshwar - 751 012 (Orissa)
Tel. (0674) 2530888

Pradhan, Shri Dharmendra BJP Deogarh(Orissa )
PARTY : Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)
Present Address
34, Meena Bagh,
New Delhi - 110 003
Tels. (011) 23795212, 9868180290(M)
Permanent Address
Handidhua Chhak, Talcher,
Angul - 759 100 (Orissa )
Tel. (06760)240234

Sahu, Shri Chandra Sekhar INC Berhampur(Orissa )
PARTY : Indian National Congress (INC)
Present Address
187, North Avenue,
New Delhi-110 011
Tel. (011) 23093208, 9868180413 (M)
Permanent Address
Bejipur Main Road, Berhampur
Distt. Ganjam (Orissa)
Tels. (0680) 2202119, 9437012119 (M)

Satpathy, Shri Tathagata BJD Dhenkanal(Orissa )
PARTY : Biju Janata Dal (BJD)
Present Address
(i) B - 60, Gulmohar Park, Ist Floor,
New Delhi - 110 049
Tel./Fax (011) 26525522
Permanent Address
107, Surya Nagar,
Bhubaneswar - 751 003 (Orissa)
Tels. (0647) 2536644, 2536262, 2580101
Fax. (0647) 2581654

Sethi, Shri Arjun Charan BJD Bhadrak (SC)(Orissa )
PARTY : Biju Janata Dal (BJD)
E-Mail : acsethi@sansad.nic.in
Present Address
21, Canning Lane,
New Delhi - 110 001
Tels.(011) 23782760, 23782745, 9868180387 (M)
Permanent Address
Vill. & P.O. Odang via Randhiahat,
Distt. Bhadrak - 756 135 (Orissa

Singh, Shri Sugrib BJD Phulbani (SC)(Orissa )
PARTY : Biju Janata Dal (BJD)
Present Address
38,South Avenue
New Delhi-110 011
Tels (011) 23795276, 9868180252 (M)
Permanent Address
Amalapoda
Phulbani, Kondhamal (Orissa)
Tel. (06842) 253240

Singh Deo, Smt. Sangeeta Kumari BJP Bolangir(Orissa )
PARTY : Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)
E-Mail : sangeeta@sansad.nic.in
Present Address
C-1/19, Pandara Park,
New Delhi - 110 003
Tel. (011) 23385465
Permanent Address
(i) Shailashree, P.O. Patnagarh,
Distt. Bolangirr (Orissa)

Swain, Shri Hari Har BJD Aska(Orissa )
PARTY : Biju Janata Dal (BJD)
Present Address
8, Meena Bagh,
New Delhi - 110 011
Tel . 9868180564 (M)
Permanent Address
(ii) At/P.O. Debabhumi (Aska)
Distt. Ganjam (Orissa)

Swain, Shri M.A. Kharabela BJP Balasore(Orissa )
PARTY : Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)
E-Mail : makswain@sansad.nic.in
Present Address
166, North Avenue,
New Delhi - 110 001
Tels.(011) 23792122, 23094216, 9868180304 (M)
Permanent Address
Angargadia, Balasore- 756 001
(Orissa)
Tels. (06782) 260934, 266934
Fax (06782) 263393

Tripathy, Shri Braja Kishore BJD Puri(Orissa )
PARTY : Biju Janata Dal (BJD)
E-Mail : braja@sansad.nic.in
Present Address
9, Talkatora Road,
New Delhi - 110 001
Tels. (011) 2375344, 23354939
Fax: 23358307 (i)
Permanent Address
Tiadisahi, P.O. Puri Town,
Distt. Puri - 752 001 (Orissa)
Tel. (06752) 2314444

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http://www.baral.us/orissa/pdf/2005-nov17-odishadotcom.pdf

ORISSA

Nov 18, 2005

BJP petitions President on National Institute of Science issue

Thursday November 17 2005 10:35 IST

BHUBANESWAR: Members of BJP’s State unit took out a rally in the city and staged a dharna near Raj Bhawan here on Wednesday protesting the UPA Government decision to relocate the proposed National Institute of Science (NIS) in Kolkata. In two separate memoranda to President A.P.J.Abdul Kalam, the party has sought his intervention in the matter by directing the Centre not to shift the national institute.

...

Alleging that Congress has done unimaginable injustice to the State in the past, the BJP said that the UPA Government’s decision to shift the proposed NIS in the eastern region is unjustified. The NDA Government had decided to set up four science institutes of excellence in Allahabad, Bhubaneswar, Chennai and Pune. The Centre has allocated Rs 100 crore for the four institutes and the State Government had allotted 75 acres of land in the city as desired by the University Grants Commission (UGC). However, the UPA Government reversed the NDA Government’s decision and shifted the NIS to Kolkata under pressure from the Left parties. Instances are galore of Congress’ negligence to the State. The latest decision is another instance of Congress’ anti-Orissa attitude, party members alleged. Although Chief Minister Naveen Patnbaik has written thrice to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh requesting to reconsider the decision, the UPA Government is non-committal.
...

A delegation led by party president Jual Oram, national general secretary Om Prakash Mathur and party’s national Juva Morcha president Dharmendra Pradhan and state vice-president Nayan Mohanty submitted the memoranda to Governor Rameshwar Thakur.

In continuation of our fight aganist the injustice to our state, I was able to contact following 7 more honourable members of parliament from Orissa.

{ Shri Sugrib Singh, BJD Phulbani ,(Orissa ),PARTY : Biju Janata Dal (BJD) Dr. Radhakant Nayak, PARTY : INC;

Smt. Sangeeta Kumari Singh Deo,BJP Bolangir(Orissa ) PARTY : Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)

Dr. (Prof.) Prasanna Kumar Patasani, BJD Bhubaneswar(Orissa );CONSTITUENCY : Bhubaneswar (Orissa ) PARTY : Biju Janata Dal (BJD)Shri Dharmendra Pradhan, BJP Deogarh(Orissa )PARTY : Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)

Shri Ananta Nayak, BJP Keonjhar (ST)(Orissa ) PARTY : Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)

Shri Bikram Keshari Deo,BJP Kalahandi(Orissa ) PARTY : Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Till now I am able to contact 14 MPs from Orissa and requested their support on our fight against the gross injustce. In addition to it, a Copy of the original letter to the PMO has been sent to all Members of Prliament from Orissa.
It is quite encouraging to see some of our MPs are taking this cause seriously and fighting for the cause.
Honourable MPs are people's representative from Orissa, if they can not protect the intrest and respect of my state, then whom we the concerned citizens are going to go to. We concerned citizens of Orissa can not take this undemocratic decission of Central Government silently. The self respect of Odias are at stake.

Shifting of this NIS is a gross injustice to Orissa and undemocratic too. Irrespective of party line, we the people of Orissa want to see all of our MPs on the first day of the pirliament session to have a presentation to the PM and a walk out in protest. Mps do boycot sessions sometime on pretty issues, let this be a new begining for the cause of the state you represnt.

For further information on the issue please do visit http://iiser.blogspot.com/
With warm regards
Dhirendra Kar
Vice President Orissa Society of Americas
001-781-929-6658(Mobile)
"Give the World the Best You Have the Best Would Come Back to You" Dhirendra Kumar Kar.

MPs Contacted Earlier ..

Shri Giridhar Gamang, INC Koraput,PARTY : Indian National Congress (INC)
Shri Mohan Jena, BJD Jajpur ,PARTY : Biju Janata Dal (BJD)Shri Bhartruhari Mahtab, BJD Cuttack,PARTY : Biju Janata Dal (BJD)
Shri Jual Oram, BJP Sundargarh ;PARTY : Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)
Shri Brahmananda Panda, BJD Jagatsinghpur, CONSTITUENCY : Jagatsinghpur (Orissa )Shri Chandra Sekhar Sahu, INC Berhampur ,PARTY : Indian National Congress (INC)
Shri Arjun Charan Sethi, BJD Bhadrak ;PARTY : Biju Janata Dal (BJD)

During the recent Boita Bandhan celebration in Delhi on Nov 14th, the President of Delhi Oriya Youth Society & others deeply concerned about the NIS shift briefed the audience about NIS development and carried out a signature campaign against injustice to Orissa where more than 250 oriyas signed the petition to be sent to the PM and Ms Sonia Gandhi.

Statesman News Service

BHUBANESWAR, Nov. 16. — Hundreds of BJP activists staged a dharna in front of Raj Bhavan here today in protest against ...

Citing the recent move of the UPA government to shift the proposed National Institute of Sciences from Bhubaneswar to Kolkata, the BJP leaders said that this was the burning example of the “step-motherly treatment” of UPA government towards Orissa. It may be noted that the NDA government had decided in 2003 to set up National Institute of Sciences in six places including Bhubaneswar. However, the UPA government has reportedly altered the decision and decided to shift the NIS from Bhubaneswar to Kolkata.

...

The protest dharna was led by the BJP national general secretary Mr Om Prakash and state unit president Mr Juel Oram.

CPI (M) convention today

Bhubaneswar: The Orissa unit of the Communist Party of India (CPI-M) will organise a convention on Wednesday, demanding the immediate installation of National Institute of Science in the State, All Indian Institute of Medical Science (AIIMS) centre at Sijua and an Oil Refinery Plant at Paradeep. This was decided at a meeting headed by Manoj Das, president CPI (M) at the party office here on Sunday.

CM to visit Delhi today

Bhubaneswar: Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik begins a three-day visit to Delhi starting from Wednesday. He will meet the deputy chairman of the Planning Commission Montek Singh Alhuwalia. Mr Patnaik will urge the Panel to increase the State plan for 2005-06. He is scheduled to return to the State on November 19.

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Dear Chief minister:

While you meet with Dr. Ahluwalia please point him to the gross injustice he and his commission did by rubberstamping the NIS/IISER shifting.

Please ask him to give you a state-wise break down of the HRD ministry's budget over the years and ask him what he is planning to about the regional imbalance.

best regards
Chitta

From: Chitta Baral chitta@gmail.com

Mailed-By: gmail.com

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Date: Nov 15, 2005 9:56 AM

Subject: Re: Baijayant Panda BJD says MPs of Orissa will take up the matter during the forthcoming session of parliament.

Dear Mr. Panda:

Thank you for your mail.

But I am sorry to say that it gives the impression that you, other MPs and the CM still do not realize the importance and gravity of the matter; or at least the actions that you have taken or planning to take does not show that you are treating it with the seriousness it deserves

When a thief steals something from your house in broad daylight and you see him standing outside you do not send a letter to the police, and send another and another. You and your neighbour go after and catch the thief or immediately call the police or drive to the police station to get the police's attention. And if the local police station wallah does not listen, you call the DSP, SP, IG, whatever.

In this case a 500 crore previously announced institute was taken away (some would say stolen) in broad daylight, and that too from a state that has nothing (in terms of centrally funded higher education institution). As far as we can see, the letters by the CM have not had any impact. We, the people of Orissa, whereever we now reside, have been doing all we can in a non-violent and civil manner, as we can not tolerate this gross injustice, this taking away (again, some would say, stealing) of our only hope so far, after having been neglected for years. You, the MPs and the CM, the custodians of Orissa's interest have been sending letters and waiting for the parliament to convene. Then you will say something; it will go into the parliament record, and that is where it often ends. May be in the best case the HRD Ministry will say that they will look into it. We have great respect towards our parliament, but this calls for more immediate action through media.

Considering the urgency and the importance of the situation why can not you, the MPs and the CM:

-- Write op-ed pieces in all national newspapers about this and expose this redistribution (some would say thievery; see details at http://iiser.blogspot.com/) to the whole of India.

We tried but the national newspapers won't publish our letters. Perhaps regional balance and a 500 crore heist from a poor state is not important to them. Perhaps a peaceful mass protest without rasta rokos, bandhs, etc. does not seem important to them.

But if several MPs like you or the CM write about it they will publish it.

India should know how our esteemed PM talks about regional balance in education in a speech one day and the same day he announces the heist of NIS/IISER from Bhubaneswar (not in so many words of course). See http://in.rediff.com/news/2005/sep/28pm1.htm
http://news.webindia123.com/news/showdetails.asp?id=123703&cat=India and
http://iiser.blogspot.com/2005/10/west-bengal-side-of-story-sanitized.html
The world should know how he does not bother to respond to thousands of letters written to him. Thats how much he cares about people of Orissa and regional balance. (As the largest democracy India and its PM should learn from the US where letters written to elected officials are replied to.)

-- Set up an appointment at the HRD ministry and the planning commission and demand that they tell you how HRD budgets have been spent over the years and what is the state-wise distribution. I am sure Orissa (and Rajasthan, and Chhatisgarh etc.) will be at the bottom as it does not have any centrally funded institution of the likes of a central Univ, IIT, etc. and anytime there is a hope (like the NIS/IISER) it is politically maneuvered (or some would say stolen). Then you must demand that this years of neglect must be corrected immediately by establishing the NIS/IISER/equivalent in Bhubaneswar, by upgrading NIT Rourkela to an IIT and by having a central university in KBK.

Dr. Mungekar of the planning commission has rightly stated that the 7 new IITs should be set up in states where there are no IITs and IIMs. More power to good real patriotic Indians like him, who care for all of India, not just their state. Based on that, NIT Rourkela, among the top non IIT engineering colleges, should be a prime candidate for it. Similar measures should be taken with respect to the other neglected states too.

-- Show that the planning commission (except perhaps Dr. Mungekar), with respect to the NIS/IISER approval, has behaved like a rubber stamp for its chair (the PM) and the central government, and instead of threatening Orissa every now and then for this and that ( as is often reported in newspapers) the planning commission should first revisit its decision regarding NIS/IISERs immediately. It is the planning commission's job to plan for all of India, not to dole out favours to states that are allied with the center, as it has done over the last 50 years with respect to locations of central universities and institutions of national importance (IIT/IIM/IISc/etc.). By their decision regarding NIS/IISER, which takes away NIS/IISER from Orissa ( a state with no ...), they have disgraced themselves in front of Orissa and the whole country.

If they have any self respect left, they should immediately correct this. In addition, I hope they would show their planning ability by taking immediate steps to establish several central universities in the mountainous areas of West Orissa (KBK), AP, Chhatisgarh, Jharkand etc. which are more backward and deprived than the northeast and where good educational institutions (like central universities) will produce teachers, doctors, etc. that are sorely lacking; thus taking them away from Naxalites, violence, deprivation etc. and towards development.

sincerely and with best regards

Chitta Baral
Professor, Arizona State University

ps -- You may find the details of the NIS/IISER subterfuge at
http://iiser.blogspot.com/ That will be a good place to start.

Some thoughts on KBK central university are at
http://kbkcentral.blogspot.com/

By Rajaram Satapathy

Times News Network

Bhubaneswar: The state is gearing up to launch a movement against the proposal to shift the proposed National Institute of Science (NIS) from here to Kolkata.

Chief minister Naveen Patnaik has already shot a third letter to prime minister Manmohan Singh protesting against the decision, but there is no guarantee that peace will reign in the state because public resentment against the UPA government is growing in the state.

Hundreds of educated Oriyas working outside the state and abroad have also thrown their weight behind the issue. Scores of letters by post and e-mails have since been sent to the President, PM and several other functionaries in New Delhi protesting against the Centre’s action, while a social action group, Orissa Politics (http://www.orissapolitics.cjb.net/), has started a global campaign to put pressure on the state government on the matter.

“Orissa has been denied the NIS due to the weak leadership and lack of government intervention in this regard. The state government only writes letters and leaves everything at the Centre’s mercy”, said Bangalore-based Sachi Satpathy, coordinator of the group. Satapathy said over 10,000 Oriyas working in different parts of the world are involved in the campaign.He said in the next few days nearly 30,000 Oriyas residing in other parts of the country and abroad would wear orange badges as a mark of protest against the Centre’s action. He said a delegation of Oriyas would soon meet the PM and submit a memorandum demanding establishment of the NIS.

Prof. Chitta Baral of Arizona University, USA, has created a website –www.petitiononline.com – (Chitta: There was a typo here. The correct site is www.iiser.blogspot.com .) to lead the campaign for NIS in Orissa. “We will continue our protest in a non-violent manner. Let us show India how a proper protest is organised in a poor but educated and peaceful state. Let us all write letters to the PM, the President, and the Congress president about this injustice”, Baral said.

At a meeting here recently scores of intellectuals resolved to continue the agitation on the NIS issue. The Orissa high court has ordered a stay on the NIS in response to a PIL filed on the matter.

Though the Congress and the Left parties have by and large remained silent on the issue, the BJP has decided to take up the matter. BJP state president and Lok Sabha MP Jual Oram has said that his party would meet the governor on Wednesday and submit a memorandum on the NIS issue. (EOM)

From: BJ Panda office.bjpanda@gmail.com

To: OrissaToday@googlegroups.com

Date: Tue, 15 Nov 2005 12:41:11 +0530

Subject: Hello All

Dear All,

It has been interesting reading, going through all your postings. While I agree with some views and not with others, I can honestly say that I am glad to see this level of interest, discussion and debate.I am also glad that the original messages I saw from this group --having to do with the shifting of the NIS away from Orissa-- have had an important effect of increasing awareness of and indignation on the issue. The Chief Minister has written to the PM on this matter, and rest assured that we MP's of Orissa will take up the matter during the forthcoming session of parliament.

By the way, contrary to some of the postings here, many MP's of Orissa are active and vocal in Delhi, and in fact several issues have been taken up unanimously by all-party efforts. I am often dismayed at the lack of accurate information in the public domain about the activities of the government of the day (both positive and negative). While the latter will greatly be impacted by new legislation like the right to information act, I worry that lack of information on positive developments will continue to foster more cynicism than is appropriate. In any event, I once again congratulate all members here for voicing their views and making many positive, actionable suggestions. I have regularly championed the activism of educated and employed Indians, since survey after survey shows their continued apathy towards the system, so much so that the voter turnout in this category is low (which is the opposite of trends in more developed democracies). With best wishes and warm

regards,

Baijayant Panda

http://orissamatters.com/news/index.php/2005/11/13/central-university/

The above article, in its story, includes a short history of establishment of central universities in recent years.

(See also page 171-180 of http://www.education.nic.in/Annualreport2004-05/Uhe.pdf )

Orissa has been making efforts for having a central university for a long time, but to no avail. Besides the IISER/NIS/equivalent convincing the center to have a central university in Orissa is very important. In this regard the HRD minister seemed to have given a positive response towards a recent proposal for a central university in KBK. See http://kbkcentral.blogspot.com for more news and thoughts on this.

I think one course of action that a significant group of Oriyas (or others who feel strongly about this) in a city in India can take is to:

1. Get yourself fully familiar with the issue by going through this site
http://iiser.blogspot.com/

2. Write one open letter addressed to PM and XYZ, where XYZ is a SAC-PM (Scientific advisory committee to the PM) member http://www.baral.us/orissa/sacpm or a planning comission member http://planningcommission.nic.in/ who hails from the city that you (or your group) is based in.

(We have SAC-PM members from Bangalore, Hyderabad, Chennai, Kanpur, etc. and Planning Comission members from Delhi, Mumbai, etc. )

If no XYZ is in your city, continue with the plan except skip step 6.

3. Get as many signatures with signatory information (name, address etc.)
as possible (hundreds will be useful)

4. Make all out effort to get the open letter published in local (in your city) and national media (preferably an English paper). Note that the local media will be interested when XYZ is from that city.

5. Send the letter with signature to PM, Smt. Gandhi and put it in a website.

6. After that make an appointment with XYZ and present our case in person in a polite and respectful manner.

Complete News is in the link.

The point to make here is that as per Prof Rao: "Foundation for two Institutes for Science Education and Research (ISER) in Pune and Kolkata at a cost of Rs. 500 crores each will be laid in 2006, and three more ISERs will be started in the north, south and central parts of the country in the coming years."

Subrat

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Chitta's comments:

We should not rest until an NIS/IISER/equivalent is established in Bhubaneswar. Bhubaneswar is not in the proposed region of south, north and central. Even if Bhubaneswar is mentioned specifically as a possible location in some unnamed future we should not make the same mistake of waiting patiently again. Who knows what the political situation then will be.

The facts remains: 4 NISs were decided in Bhubaneswar, Pune, Chennai and Allahbad. Among those 4 Bhubaneswar is the only one in a state with no IIT/IIM/IISc/CentralU etc. So Bhubaneswar should be one of the first locations where are NIS/IISER/equivalent is established. Until that happens we should not let up our campaign.

We are thankful for the media coverage of the various events associated with the NIS IISER protest. However, it would be really great if the media, besides covering events like CM wrote to PM or the HC stay order, does an analysis or an investigative piece. As watchdog for the society the media and journalists should publish and write much more than just about news events. Here are some suggested story lines.

(For all the story lines a large body of research is already done and listed as links in the left hand side.)

Story angle 1:

Unequal distribution of top notch centrally funded institutions across various states.

Some have multiple and others have none. The interesting thing here is this is symptomatic of the political system that we have. While in US each state has 2 senators, and that balances each state power to some level. In India the number of MPs in a state are proportional to the population. Thus bigger states have more clout. Hence mega institutions like IITs, IIMs etc., which are like trophies, often end up in states which have more clout than the others. Some institutions like the 3 centrally funded IIITs (2 in MP and 1 in Allahbad) were made in the home states of the then HRD ministers.

An easy way to illustrate the above is to create a state-wise breakdown of HRD budget spending over the years. The table can be per state, and per capita per state. I am sure with no central universities or IIT/IIM/IISc/etc. states like Orissa, Rajasthan, Bihar, Chhatisgarh will be at the bottom.

Story angle2:

This protest so far has been via blogs (http://iiser.blogspot.com), emails, letters, faxes, petition, etc., instead of the standard way many protests are done (rail roko, rasta roko, bandh etc.) in India.

This may be one the first blog based protest in India. Thousands of letters, emails and petition signatures have been sent to the PM and Smt. Gandhi. You may know that in the US the Supreme court nominee stepped down because of protests, a big part of which was blog and email based. Same with respect to Dan Rather retiring.

A rhetorical conclusion of the story may be:
Will this work in India or will this turn into a standard bandh/rail roko/rasta roko fare?

Another rhetorical question:

If such peaceful protests are listened to won't it change the fundamental way protests are done in India?

Won't it reduce the number of rasta rokos, rail rokos, bandhs etc., which are often destructive and economically harmful, and sometimes violent?

Perhaps just for that reason the central government should pay attention to this protest and perhaps the national media should too.

In comparison, couple of weeks back I wrote to my local senator regarding the last supreme court nominee. I received a reply. No such reply from the PM or Smt. Gandhi has been received by any one of the thousands who wrote them.

Story angle 3: Seemingly arbitrary decision making in the HRD ministry of this government.

Four National Institute of Sciences were announced in Bhubaneswar, Pune, Allahabad and Chennai in 2003. In 2005 they were changed arbitrarily to Pune and Kolkata. While it may not be a big deal to Chennai and Allahabad as they have an IIT and an IIIT respectively, for Bhubaneswar and Orissa (where I am from) it is a big deal as there is no IIT/IISc/Inst of national importance/Central Univ etc. in Orissa. Basicaly there is no centrally funded higher education inst in Orissa.

Other examples of arbitrary decision at HRD: One fine morning 15 NIT directors were fired by the HRD M. Now some of them have been hired back. (For example: Prof. Sunil Sarangi, a reputed professor of IIT Kharagpur moved as the director of NIT Rourkela a few years back. He was one of the directors who was fired from his directorship for no reason. [The media just reported the news and did not question this.] NIT RKL did not have a director for many months. Now he has been hired back. ) If this is how our top academics and researchers are treated by the HRD babus and HRD ministers, no wonder most of the good scientists and academics leave India and settle abroad.

http://news.webindia123.com/news/showdetails.asp?id=160443&cat=India

Date: 14th Novemebr at 6.oo pm

Location: Karnataka Sangh bhawan(Near Moti Bagh Flyover).

Evcent: Cultural program plus discussion on NIS

Organizers: Oriya Pua & Delhi Oriya Youth Society.
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On 15th Morning, a symbolic Boita Bandhaan will be done at India Gate.

CM urges PM not to shift NIS

BHUBANESWAR, Nov. 11. — The BJD-BJP government in the state today urged the UPA government at the Centre not to shift the proposed National Institute of Science (NIS) from Bhubaneswar to Kolkata. It may be recalled that it had been decided by the NDA government to set up National Institute of Sciences at six places across the country including Bhubaneswar. However, the UPA government has reportedly changed its decision and decided to shift it to Kolkata. Meanwhile, a public interest litigation had been filed in Orissa High Court, which has recently issued an injunction on the shifting of the institute. Earlier, the chief minister had written twice to the Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh on this issue. But his plea had apparently been ignored. In his 3rd letter to the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, chief minister Mr Naveen Patnaik said the news — the NIS was being set up at Kolkata instead of Bhubaneswar — had aroused widespread public discontentment. “The people of Orissa feel let down by the decision to shift the institute to Kolkata because the UGC chairman had indicated as early as on 23 July, 2003 about the establishment of the institute in Bhubaneswar,” he said.

More at http://www.baral.us/orissa/pdf/2005-nov12-statesman.pdf

All Orissa Students’ Convention

Date: 20th Nov. 2005

Venue: P. G. Council Hall, Vani Vihar

Particiapants: Nearly 200 student leaders from all over Orissa

Contact: Supriti Mishra, Agami Orissa

(The student leaders are urged to not pursue the traditional methods of protest such as boycotting classes, boycotting exams, rasta roko, etc. which negatively affect many people and alienate them. They should do innovative protests such as the ones mentioned in http://iiser.blogspot.com/2005/11/being-creative-non-harmful-and-even.html )

A snippet:

Bhubaneswar: Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Friday wrote a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, stating that the Centre's move to shift the proposed National Institute of Sciences ( NIS) from Bhubaneswar to Kolkata is "unacceptable". Mr Patnaik pointed out that the people have reacted strongly to the move.

...

Samaja reports in Oriya that "CPI and CPM in Orissa deny any role in shifting of NIS from Bhubaneswar to Kolkata".

---------------

Comments from Chitta: They support the central government. Why don't they talk to their central leadership and lodge a formal protest with the center? What is the point of doing demonstrations in front of the governor, as is mentioned in this article? They should instead demonstrate in front of the decision makers: PM, HRD M, Smt. Gandhi, Cabinet, UPA governing board, Planning Comission etc.

A snippet:

Appeal to common citizens

Dear Fellow Citizens,

Your kind attention is drawn towards step motherly attitude of decision makers on certain states while making National Educational Institute. In the year 2003, the Human Resource Development Minister of Government of India proposed to make four more science institute to be named as “National Institute of Science (NIS)” at Bhubaneswar, Allahabad, Chennai and Pune by UGC in the line of present “Indian Institute of Science (IISc)”, Bangalore. Unfortunately change in the government at the center and political rivalry have modified the decision and only two such institutes have been announced at Pune and Kolkata by abolishing Bhubaneswar, Chennai and Allahabad from the list by our Prime Minister. Although political leaders are directly not agreeing that both NIS and IISER are of similar kind, it could be identified from the media and statements by policy makers that IISER is an extension of earlier proposed NIS since both NIS and IISER are inspired from IISc, Bagalore and have many things in similar. It could be realized from the policy makers’ decision that due to coalition political gamble and political rivalry one of the locations would be shifted from Bhubaneswar to Kolkata and other two would be abolished.

...

more at http://o3.indiatimes.com/IISER

http://www.business-standard.com/common/storypage.php?storyflag=y&leftnm=lmnu2&leftindx=2&lselect=1&chklogin=N&autono=205112

Today's Dharitri has a picture of some people demonstrating in front of Rajdhani express on the NIS shifting issue. [No link provided to avoid giving them more publicity.] Such demonstrations are often counterproductive (it irritates and some times harms the people who are affected and turns them against the issue) and it is not clear what their purpose is. Many such demonstrations are not even reported and even if reported are often forgotten. Even the ones which are reported result in a negative impression. (Thankfully, this is the only such incident that I have come across so far. Hopefully, it will be the only one.)

If the goal is to get media's attention one should think of creative ways-especially with a positive impact-to demonstrate, that will bring the media's attention.

For example, a group of people seriously interested in demonstrating against the NIS shifting could first inform the media in advance and go to the science block of BJB college, or one of the science departments of Utkal University and paint its exterior. Many of these buildings look terrible from outside because of rain and mildew. Such novel (in the Indian context) and creative methods of protest will get not only local, but national media's attention, will make the people watching it supportive of the issue, and will result in a positive thing. A political outfit can support this and even announce doing this every saturday (from a list of buildings), invite volunteers and keep doing this for a long period of time and really get attention of the media. Even media and onlookers can be invited to participate in this.

Another example will be to invite volunteers and build a school building from scratch in a slum area. I would have suggested roadside planting, but plants will die if they are not taken care of later.

I hope one of the politicians reading this will get inspiration from these ideas and focus his or her energy in such a form of protest, instead of the disruptive rasta rokos, rail rokos, bandhs etc.

This is the same news as in the other oriya newspapers. But it shows
the concerns of the people on this important matter.

One more comment on the news "Panel to assign IIT grade to institutes"
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1287774.cms

It is a matter of regret that the present Government at the center always forgets that there exists a state called Orissa, where something must be done!

In the newindpress.com report, there is only a mention of spreading of new IITs all over India. But no where there is a mention about Orissa.

Thanks to the media in state and national level to bring out this
issue before the general public.

http://www.baral.us/orissa/pdf/2005-nov9-samaj.pdf

http://www.baral.us/orissa/pdf/2005-nov9-sambad.pdf

A snippet:
...
It said that the IITs should be spread as far and wide and all seven should be in seven different states where neither an IIT nor an IIM existed. “I suggested that institutes of national importance should be dispersed as widely as possible for balanced regional development,'' said Bhalchandra Mungekar, Member (Education), Planning Commission.
...

I hope the above planning comission member's view prevails and one of these IITs is in Orissa. Nevertheless, we must not get fooled or lulled by this hope. We must pursue to correct the injsutice and get back the announced NIS/IISER. The new IITs may never happen
(see the news in http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1287774.cms
which has a completely different take), and even if they happen, we will be still behind many of the states. Moreover an IIT in Rourkela will be very good , but being far from Bhubaneswar, the other main metro area of Orissa with a large concentration of private engineering colleges, MCA colleges etc., an NIS/IISER in Bhubaneswar is still extremely important.

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The states which neither have an IIT nor an IIM are
Andhra Pradesh, Jharkhand, Bihar, Rajasthan, Orissa, Punjab, Haryana, J & K, Himachal Pradesh, Chhatisgarh, Pondicherry, Goa, and several of the north eastern states.

Reference: http://iiser.blogspot.com/2005/10/unequal-distribution-of-higher.html
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In this regard following is a note I made in
http://www.baral.us/orissa.html#iit
(a more recent site is http://newiits.blogspot.com )

Editor's comment July 1 05:

New IITs should be regionally balanced (i.e, a particular geographical regions should not have too many IITs while another regions has much fewer IITs) and states without any IIT should be preferred over states already with an IIT. Assuming that they will be created by upgradation of exisiting institutes, it should be done based on the current quality of the exisiting institutes. Based on that if , *as an example* (since the ranking mentioned next may not be a proper one), we look at a recent ranking of top 20 T-schools, then we can rule out IT BHU as UP has IIT Kanpur, next NIT Warangal[1] should be made to an IIT, NIT Trichy should be ruled out because of IIT Madras, Thapar Institute[2] should be made to an IIT, DIT Delhi should be ruled out because of IIT Delhi, NIT Surathkal[3] should be made to an IIT, MNNIT should be ruled out because of IIT Kanpur, Punjab Eng should be ruled out because of Thapar Institute, IIIT Hyderabad should be ruled out because of NIT Warangal and because it is a private college, BITS Pilani should be ruled out as it is a private school, next NIT Rourkela[4] should be made to an IIT. This will make the total list of IITs 7 Original + 4 suggested = 11. The distribution will be 4 in North (IITD, IITKanpur,IITRoorkee,Thapar), 3 in South(IITM,Warangal,Surathkal), 3 in east/NE(IITKGP,IITGuwahati,Rourkela), 1 in west(IITMumbai). So the next two IITs should be from the West and West-central part.

Dear Prof Baral:

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/msid-1261842,curpg-2.cms

Above article (originally by Indian Science Report) says:

"After Maharashtra, Rajasthan (5.9%) sends out highest number of students to pursue a degree in medicine to other states, followed by Orissa. In engineering,after Andhra Pradesh, highest number of migrants are from Orissa (4.5%) and Bihar (2.9%)".

Orissa becomes special because unlike the other four states in both medical and engineering educationOrissa comes under highest no. of students migrating to other states to pursue a degree. This is despite Orissa's low population compared to Maharastra, Bihar, Rajasthan and Anadra Pradesh. Orissa definitely lacks good national educational institute forcing students to migrate other states for both medical and engineering education. This makes another point for considering a national education institute in Orissa.

With best regards

Digambara
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The above email refers to the Table 2.11 in page 34 of
http://www.insaindia.org/India%20Science%20report-Main.pdf

Chitta

Couple of days back one of the organizers of the Nov 6th Bhubaeswar convention (on the NIS IISER issue) recieved a call from the Congress Legislative Party leader's office (I.e., Mr. J.B. Pattnaik's office). Mr. Patnaik wants to meet the members of the steering committee that was formed at the end of the convention. Today evening, the steering committee is meeting, so probably they will decide the date for the meeting with Mr Pattnaik. Mr. Prasad Harichandan has already shown his interest on this and is in touch with the convention organizers.

-----

Independently, I have talked to one of the youth congress leaders (who has an engineering degree from BITS Mesra and seemed very decent) and he is planning to go and meet some of the national level leaders of Congress on the NIS issue and hand them a letter.

Court stay on science hub ‘shift’ - Petitioner smells conspiracy by Left

OUR CORRESPONDENT

Bhubaneswar, Nov. 8:

Orissa High Court today stayed the UPA government’s decision to shift the proposed National Institute of Science (NIS) from Bhubaneswar to Calcutta, “We direct a stay on the shifting of the NIS from Bhubaneswar to any other place in the eastern region,” the court said today.

The directive came in response to a public interest litigation filed by Prasanta Kumar Das of the State Public Interest Protection Council. Das had filed the PIL on August 29 alleging that the Left parties had hatched a conspiracy to “snatch” the national institute from Bhubaneswar.

...

The campaigners argue that the state does not have any reputed autonomous science and technology institutes funded by the Centre and has often been a victim of negligible educational investment by the Centre.
“We are not against IISERs in Calcutta and Pune. We just want the Centre to undo the injustice being done to Orissa by not taking away from it an announced and planned for NIS/IISER,” said Chitta Baral of Arizona State University, who is leading a campaign in support of the institute in Bhubaneswar.

In his letter to the Prime Minister and Congress president Sonia Gandhi, Baral wrote that the aim of the NIS that Joshi had announced in 2003 was the same as that of the proposed IISERs. “Thus, NIS and IISER, though they differ in their names; as proposed institutions, both refer to the same concept,” he said.

“Perhaps, the other announced locations — Chennai and Allahabad — are not as much concerned… but for Bhubaneswar and Orissa, this is a matter of survival as Orissa does not have a central university or an institute of national importance like the Indian Institute of Technology or the Indian Statistical Institute,” Baral, who has launched a campaign through e-mail, argued.

(Thanks to Sachi and a journalist from Orissa for sending this in)

Orissa HC stays shifting of NIS from Bhubaneswar

By Pradip Das

Cuttack: The Orissa High Court on Tuesday stayed the shifting of the proposed National Institute of Science(NIS) from Bhubaneswar to West Bengal. “We direct for the stay of the proposed science institution from Bhubaneswar to any other place in eastern zone of the country”, ordered a division bench of the court comprising Chief Justice Sujit Barman Ray and Justice M M Das. Adjudicating over a PIL on the issue, the court directed that until the disposal of the case, shifting of NIS would not take place. It further asked both the Union government and the state government to file counters to the petition within four weeks. The matter is likely to be taken up by the court after one month, said the petitioner advocate Madhusudan Panda. The petitioner has stated that there have been malafide intensions and political considerations by the present UPA government at the Center in shifting the proposed institution from Orissa to West Bengal. “While the previous NDA government at Center had allotted the NIS to Bhubaneswar in eastern zone, the present UPA government is shifting it to West Bengal to keep the Communists, on whom the Manmohan Singh government is heavily dependant, in good humor as the neighbouring state is going to polls next year”, Panda argued. He said, already there have been a lot of regional imbalances created among the states in eastern zone and Orissa is a victim of it. The state doesn’t have a single national educational institute of repute. “If the NIS is allowed to be shifted from Bhubaneswar to any other part, Orissa would suffer from a great regional disparity”, he contended. The state government represented through its chief secretary and an opposite party in the case has however, informed the court that the government has already lodged its objections before the Union government over the proposed shifting of the NIS. The state government’s letter to the court said: “following the announcement to set up the NIS atBhubaneswar in the year 2003, an area of 75 acres of land near Utkal University in capital was made available for the purpose as per the requirement of University grants Commission (UGC). But after that, there has been no communication either from the Union science and technology ministry or from UGC over the setting up of the Rs 100 crore institute”, the lettersaid. (EOM)

Please use this opportunity to bring this issue into national notice, as the central government will definitely try to unstay this asap.

Chitta

Set up NIS in Odisha, intellectuals demand

Bhubaneswar: Lamenting the lack of any central institute of repute in the State, intellectuals from various walks of life have launched a campaign demanding the establishment of National Institute of Science (NIS) that was first proposed but later cancelled.

Agami Odisha, a non-governmental organization, and the Utkal University Teachers Association jointly organised a convention at the PG Council Hall at Vani Vihar on Sunday to chalk out next course of action. Over a 100 eminent people declared that the convention is the beginning of a movement for establishment of the institute.

”We will stage rallies, demonstrations, hunger strike and other non-violent form of protests to press our demand,” said eminent linguist Devi Prasanna Patnaik who presided over the convention.

The participanrts said the State neither has any central university nor any institute of national repute like Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Indian Institute of Management (IIM) or Indian Institute of Science (IISc). It also does not have any reputed autonomous science and technology institution funded by the Union Government. The campaigners felt that the State has often been a victim of negligible educational investment from the centre.

Apart from politicians, academicians, students and representatives of the civil society groups have also launched their campaign organising meetings, sending letters to the Prime Minister and President and posting messages on websites.

Several organisations of non-resident Odias are also protesting by launching a website www.baral.us/orissa.html in US on the issue.
Similarly over 2000 Odias have signed an online petition to press their demand at www.petitiononline.com, a site that provides free hosting of public petitions for responsible public advocacy.

Then HRD minister Murli Manohar Joshi had announced the setting up of four national institutes of Sciences (NIS) at Bhubaneswar, Chennai, Pune and Allahabad in December 2003. The state government had even identified 75 acres of land near Ghatikia village, on the outskirts of the Capital City for the proposed institution.

However, on September 28, 2005, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh announced the setting up of Indian Institutes of Sciences for Education and Research (IISERs) in Pune and Kolkata. Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has also written a letter to the Centre expressing his displeasure.

See http://www.baral.us/orissa/pdf/2005-nov8-sambad.pdf

Chitta's comment: This is the third or fourth date on this and the previous postponements are because both the state and the central government have not furnished the documents that the court asked for. It is really funny that now we have a RTI (right to information act) and even the high court can not get the document it asks for and has to postpone the hearing date 3-4 times.

Anyway, the central government may be reluctant to give the documents as it may be afraid that its subterfuge will be exposed. But why is the state not able to give the document it has. What has it got to hide?

A snippet:

IANS Bhubaneswar Nov 7:

Lamenting the lack of any central institute of repute in the state, Orissa has launched a campaign demanding the establishment of a national institute of science that was once proposed but cancelled later on.

The central government had announced the setting up of four national institutes of Sciences (NIS) at Bhubaneswar, Chennai, Pune and Allahabad in December 2003.

The state government had even identified 75 acres of land near Ghatikia village in the district of Khurdha near Bhubaneswar for the proposed institution.

However, on September 28 this year the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh announced the setting up of Indian Institutes of Sciences for Education and Research (IISERs) in Pune and Kolkata.

“This is an injustice,” said the state president of the Bharatiya Janata Party, Mr Jual Oram. “We will launch a state-wide agitation for depriving Orissa,” he added.

Last night I talked to Mr. Rohit Pujari General Secy. Orissa Youth Congress. We had a detailed discussion on the issue and what can be done. Mr. Pujari was aware of the issue and is working closely with other members of his party, to fight against this injustice. He has promised all his support for the cause.

Regards

Dhirendra Kar

Today almost all the newspapers carried out the news on yesterday's convention. Papers include :Times of India, Pioneer, Samaj, Sambad, Anupam Bharat, Samaya, Dainika Bhaskar, and Pragatibadi. Etv also covered the event.

Regards

Supriti

Bhubaneswar Bureau

Execution of earlier central government decision for establishment of National Institute of Science (NIS) in Bhubaneswar was demanded in a convention held in the P. G. Council Hall of Utkal University on 6th Nov. 2005.Organized by Agamee Odisha in association with Utkal University Teacher’s Association, the convention put premium on the announcement of the then HRD minister Dr. M. M. Joshi on 9th December 2003 to establish four National Institutes of Sciences (NIS) at Bhubaneshwar, Chennai, Pune and Allahabad. Quite contrary to this declarations, Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh has announced on September 28, 2005, the setting up of Indian Institutes of Science for Education and Research (IISERs) at Pune and Kolkata, respectively. The aim of both the Institutes being the same the convention unanimously felt that a grave injustice has been done to the state of Orissa.

See http://orissamatters.com/news/index.php/2005/11/07/nis-convention-demands-execution-of-earlier-decision/ for more.

Bhubaneswar:

Lamenting the lack of any central institute of repute in the state, Orissa has launched a campaign demanding the establishment of a national institute of science that was first proposed but later cancelled.

See http://www.newkerala.com/news.php?action=fullnews&id=49092
for more.

Lamenting the lack of any central institute of repute in the state, Orissa has launched a campaign demanding the establishment of a national institute of science that was first proposed but later cancelled.
The central government had announced the setting up of four national institutes of Sciences (NIS) at Bhubaneswar, Chennai, Pune and Allahabad in December 2003.

The state government had even identified 75 acres of land near Ghatikia village in the district of Khurdha near Bhubaneswar for the proposed institution.

However, on Sep 28 this year Prime Minister Manmohan Singh announced the setting up of Indian Institutes of Sciences for Education and Research (IISERs) in Pune and Kolkata.

"This is injustice," said state president of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Jual Oram. "We will launch a state-wide agitation for depriving Orissa," he added.

The state Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has also written a letter to the centre expressing his displeasure.

The campaigners say the state neither has any central university nor any institute of national repute like Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Indian Institute of Management (IIM) or Indian Institute of Science (IIS).

See
http://news.webindia123.com/news/showdetails.asp?id=155763&cat=Science
for more

http://orissamatters.com/news/index.php/2005/11/06/nis-iiser-naveen-uses-iit-as-a-new-ploy-against-orissa/

I do not quite agree with the take above, but anyway ...

Chitta

Demand for institute gains momentum

Pioneer News Service / Bhubaneswar

Agami Odisha, a voluntary organisation on Sunday organised a convention on "Establishment of National Institute of Sciences (NIS) at Bhubaneswar".

Academics, politicians, students and representatives from civil society groups participated in large numbers to discuss the next course of action to press the demand for setting up of a NIS in the State Capital.

More at http://www.baral.us/orissa/pdf/2005-nov6-pioneer1.pdf

Centre changes plan, Orissa loses NIS

Supriti Mishra / Bhubaneswar

Two years ago, a group of Pune-based scientists first mooted the idea of a new-age centre for science education and research to stop brain drain to disciplines like management and for that matter to foreign countries.
On December 9, 2003, the Central Government announced its decision to establish four National Institutes of Sciences (NIS) at Bhubaneswar, Chennai, Pune and Allahabad. The University Grants Commission released a document in January 2004, referring to the steps initiated by it to set up these institutes.

The UGC chairman wrote a letter to the Vice-Chancellor of Utkal University informing him about the steps being taken for establishment of an NIS at Bhubaneswar. Even a sub-committee was constituted with all concerned V-Cs as members who met in Delhi in August 2003 to have discussions on the proposed four NIS. The then V-C of Utkal University met Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik in this regard and the latter immediately instructed the district authorities to allot land for the purpose. Informally, the location of the NIS was also decided to be Ghatikia, Bhubaneswar.

However, on September 28, 2005, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh announced the setting up of Indian Institutes of Sciences for Education and Research (IISERs) in Pune and Kolkata respectively. The concept of NIS is the same as the proposed IISERs, though they differ in names. The new list somehow did not include Orissa's name.

Rest at http://www.baral.us/orissa/pdf/2005-nov6-pioneer.pdf

Dear Hon'ble Members of Parliament,

Please take note of the following convention on the issue of 'relocation of NIS from Orissa'.
http://iiser.blogspot.com/2005/11/peoples-convention-demands.html
Oriyas, from across the state and all over the world, sincerely urge you raise this issue in the forthcoming sessions of parliament and help getback its due.

Regards

Supriti Mishra

On behalf of Agamee Odisha

A convention on the issue of ‘Setting up of National Institute of Science (NIS) in Orissa’ was organized in the P. G. Council Hall, Utkal University by Agamee Odisha in association with Utkal University Teacher’s Association, on 6th Nov. 2005 at 3.30 p.m.

The objective of the convention was to demand for the establishment of NIS in line with the announcement on 9th December 2003 by the then HRD minister Dr. M. M. Joshi to establish four National Institutes of Sciences (NIS) at Bhubaneshwar, Chennai, Pune and Allahabad. As a part of this initiative and by the directives of the UGC, Orissa State Government in association with Utkal University, had even allotted land for this Rs. 500 cr. project. However, quite contrary to these steps and declarations by the centre, recently on September 28, 2005, Hon’ble Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh has announced the setting up of Indian Institutes of Science for Education and Research (IISERs) at Pune and Kolkata, respectively. The aim of the National Institute of Sciences, that Dr. Joshi had announced in the past, is the same as the currently proposed IISERs. Particiapants in the convention unanimously felt that this was an unfortunate incident and a grave injustice to the state of Orissa.

The convention had a participation of more than 150 participants mainly comprising of the academicians, intelligentsia, activists, students & student leaders, political representatives, ex-bureaucrats and so on. Padmashree Dr. Debi Prasanna Pattanaik presided over the meeting and it was coordinated by Dr. S.K.Tripathy (Secretary, Utkal University Teachers Association). Other dignitaries on the dais were Padmabhusan Dr. Trilochan Pradhan (Ex Vice Chancellor, Utkal University & Ex-Director, Institute of Physics), Mr. Sahadev Sahu (Ex-Chief Secretary, Govt. of Orissa), Mr. D.N.Roy (Ex- DG, Income Tax), Mr. Abasara Beuria (Ex-Ambassador), Prof. Sachidananda Tripathy (P.G.Council Chairman & Syndicate Member, Utkal University).

The meeting started with a welcome note by Dr.S.K.Tripathy. Mr. Sudarshan Das talked about the objective of Agamee Odisha. Ms. Supriti Mishra presented the facts about the establishment of NIS and proposed a future plan of action for comments and suggestions from the House. Some of the participants who placed their views on the issue were – Prof. G.B.N. Chainy (Utkal University), Prof. Ashok Pattanaik (Utkal University), Mr. Priyadarshi Mishra (Secretary, BJD), Mr. Ranjan Mohanty (Social Activist), Ms. Kasturi Mohapatra (Social Activist), Mr. Lalit Mishra (Social Acivist), Ms. Namrata Chadha (Member, Women’s Commission), Prof. Dhanada Mishra (Principal, JITM), Mr. P.P.Sahu (Student Leader), Mr. Chinmaya Jena (Student Leader), Mr. Ramakrushna Panda (All India President, AISF), Mr.Biswanatha Gouda (NRO), etc.

The following decisions were taken in the convention:

1. Organizing a students’ convention on 20th Nov. 2005.

2. Lobbying the MLAs, irrespective of their party affiliation, to press upon a common resolution for setting up of the NIS in Orissa in the coming winter assembly session.

3. Lobbying the M.P.s to raise the issue in the ensuing winter Parliament session.

4. Submitting a memorandum to the Hon’ble Prime Minister on the issue in a delegation from Orissa.

5. Organizing a peaceful rally of the senior citizens to the Governor’s House and submitting a memorandum on the issue.

6. Postcard signature campaign on the issue (people can also send postcards with their signatures individually).

In addition, two committees were also constituted. The first one is a technical committee under the chairmanship of Prof. Trilochan Pradhan with Prof. G.B.N. Chainy as the convener, and Prof. Dhanada Mishra and Dr. D.K.Roy as members. The second one is a steering committee, under the chairmanship of Padmashree D.P.Pattanaik and 25 other members.

Dear all,

Please find below the 'Factsheet on NIS & Prposed Agenda for the Future Courseof Action by Agamee Odisha' presented in the 6th November convention on the issue of 'Establishment of NIS in Orissa'. The presentation draws from the material placed in the blogspot by Prof. Chitta Baral on the issue of NIS andsome of my thoughts.

Regards

Supriti Mishra

---------------------------------------------------------------

Two years ago, a group of Pune-based scientists first mooted the idea of a new-age centre for science education and research to stop the brain drain to disciplines like management and for that matter to foreign countries. On 9th December 2003, the then HRD minister Professor M. M. Joshi, in an address to the Consultative Committee of the Parliament, announced about the Union Govemment’sdecision to establish four National Institutes of Sciences (NIS) at Bhubaneshwar, Chennai, Pune and Allahabad. On 10th December, 2003, Press information Bureau, Government of India under a press release corroborated the declaration by the Ministry of HRD. Subsequently, an UGC document released on Jan 2004 declaring about the steps initiated by the UGC to establish four National Institutes of Sciences at Bhubaneshwar, Chennai, Pune and Allahabad.

As a part of this initiative the Chairman, UGC, had written a letter to the then Vice Chancellor, Utkal University along with other VCs. Even a sub-committee was constituted with the VCs as members who had met at New Delhi in August 2003 to discuss on this matter. It was a go- ahead signal from the UGC based on which the then VC, Utkal University, had met the Hon’ble Chief Minister and impressed on him for the setting up of NIS at Bhubaneswar. The CM had also taken great interest and instructed the district authorities to cooperate in allocating the land for the purpose. Informally the location was decided to be Ghatikia, Bhubaneswar.

Quite contrary to these steps and declarations by the previous Government at the Centre, recently on September 28, 2005, Hon’ble Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh has announced the setting up of an Indian Institute of Science for Education and Research (IISER) at Pune and Kolkata, respectively. The aim of the National Institute of Sciences that Professor Joshi had announced in December 2003 is the same as the proposed IISERs. Thus, NIS and IISER, thoughthey differ in their names, both refer to the same concept.

Orissa, as you know, does not have any central university, or any institute of national repute like IIT, IIM, IIIT or ISI, etc. It also does not have any reputed autonomous science and technology institution funded by Government ofIndia. Orissa has often been a victim of negligible educational investment from the Central Government. It was deprived of an IIT just after Independence. It took almost a decade to declare REC, Rourkela, as a NIT. Where as the state of West Bengal where one of the IISERs is proposed has an IIT in Kharagpur, a central University in Shanti Niketan, two additional institutes of national importance - an IIM and an Indian Statistical institute(ISI), and three autonomous science and technology institutions, all in Kolkata. Similarly, the state of Maharastra where the other IISER is proposed, has theArmed Forces Medical College (AFMC) in Pune, an IIT in Mumbai, and three other autonomous science and technology institutions. In recent years, Bhubaneswar has come up as a major information technology hub for software industry. Software majors like Infosys and Satyam have set up their facilities. However, when all other major IT cities have either an IIT or IIIT in the city or close by, Bhubaneswar in particular and Orissa in general, does not boast of such facilities either.

Now, this issue needs to be looked at from the perspective of whether, Orissa has the ability to nurture and flourish institutes of high standard like an NIS or IISER. Orissa government and the people of Orissa have helped create several top notch institutions like the Institute of Physics, the Xavier’s Institute of Management and the Institute of Life Sciences, all in Bhubaneswar. The Institute Of Physics at Bhubaneswar, is an autonomous research institution funded jointly by the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) and the Government of Orissa and established in 1972. Research at Institute of Physics is top notch by international standards. Its alumni have gone on to many good institutions all over the world. Many of its faculty and students have preferred it over an IIT. The Xavier’s Institute of Management owes its origin to a Social Contract between the Government of Orissa and the OJS (Orissa Jesuit Society). It was established in 1987, and ranks among the top business schools in India. This year's Outlook magazine ranks it 8 in the country among various business schools, including the IIMs. It has faculty with PhDs from top business schools such as University of Massachusetts, and Stern School of Business, NYU, NewYork. It also has a fellows program which is equivalent to PhDs. The Institute of Life Sciences, an initiative by the Govt. of Orissa, Department of Science and Technology, started a decade back. On August 2, 2002 it came under the administrative and financial control of Department of Biotechnology, Government of India. The researchers of this institute often publish in international journals. To reiterate, the above three institutions had been created by the foresightedness of the Government of Orissa, and are now premier research institutions, albeit with limited focus, but boasting of world class research and teaching. Besides these three, there are several other research institutions in and around Bhubaneswar that do very good and useful research. This includes the Regional Research laboratory (RRL) in Bhubaneswar, the Regional medical research center (RMRC) in Bhubaneswar, the Central Rice research institute(CRRI) in Cuttack , the Central Institute of Fresh Water Aquaculture (CIFA) in Bhubaneswar, and the National Institute of Rehabilitation Training and Research in Olatpur. In addition, two institutions, the Institute of Material Sciences and the Institute of Mathematics and Application have been established by the Government of Orissa and are in their beginning stage. The above illustrates, how Bhubaneswar and Orissa have established and nurtured top notch research and educational institutions. Thus one can extrapolate and conclude that with high probability an NIS/IISER in Bhubaneswar will be very successful and well nurtured.

On the other hand, Orissa being the most backward state in India, often the need for a research institution, which can help develop proper growth strategies linking the development needs of the state with that of the available resources, has been mooted. This calls for a scientific approach and the need for an institute that envisages offering education and teaching in basic science totally integrated with the state-of-the-art research simultaneously working for developing facilities contributing to the upgradation of local needs. Setting up of an NIS/IISER in Bhubaneswar/Orissa will fulfill the long standing demand of a central government funded institute in the state and can act as a change agent in the development of the state.

Our Indian system of proportinal representation makes smaller states like Orissa susceptible to injustice and neglect by the Centre. That is where, we expect statesmen like Dr. Manmohan Singh, Smt. Sonia Gandhi, and Mr. Arjun Singh to lead and make sure that resources are fairly distributed, and interest of economically backward states like Orissa are protected. In a recent address, the hon’ble Prime Minister has refered to regional imbalance in case of educational institutions and has urged the state governments to strongly deal with such issues. We certainly look forward to such a balanced outlook even in setting upof NIS/IISER in Orissa.

In fact, since the issue refers to a previously taken decision, we would expect the Central Government to oblige Orissa with simply implementing the past decision. According to newspaper reports, the Chief Minister of Orissa, has written to the Prime Minister on this issue. He has also talked to Mr. Arjun Singh who seems to be positive on this issue.

However, early this week newspapers have reported that the “Chief Minister Naveen Patanaik has urged Union Human resource Minister Arjun Singh to expedite the establishment of the Regional Centre of Studies in Integrated Sciences (RCSIS) in Bhubaneswar under National Institute of scienceframework”. We, however, do not quite agree with this demand. Rather we would urge upon both the State and the Central Government to retain and implement their previous decision of setting up of NIS/IISER in Orissa.

The issue of relocating NIS/ IISER from Orissa has perturbed many Oriyas, both within and outside the state (including a number of Non-resident Oriyas). Prominent newspapers have been continuously raising this issue in the media. Oriyas outside have initiated many debates and signature campaigns. Thousand and thousands of signatures (both physical and electronic) are being sent to the Prime Minister and Sonia Gandhi. NROs are writing open letters to Prime Minister, Planning Commission, Smt. Sonia Gandhi (UPA Chairperson) and the Minister of HRD, Mr. Arjun Singh pointing at the grave injustice done to Orissa by not setting up the NIS here. A PIL has already been filed in the Orissa High Court on the above issue. Agamee Orissa has taken up this issue since early October (immediately after the Central Government’s decision to set up IISERs at Pune & Kolkata). Since then, we have been coordinating with various other forums who have been fighting for this cause and evolving joint strategies to carry forward our demand for implemention of Government’s own decision to set up an NIS at BBSR. Periodical discussions with academicians, politicians, intellectuals, media and students are taking place on this issue to evolve the future plan of action. Today’s convention is an outcome of such discussions. There are also some laudable voluntary efforts from various persons like –

(i) Mr. Sahadev Sahu, Ex-Chief Secretary, Govt. of Orissa, to stage a hunger strike on the issue.

(ii) Prof.R.K.Nayak (hon’ble Member, Rajya Sabha) and

(iii) Prof. Digambar Mishra (Prof.,University of Alabama) volunteering to coordinate an audience with the PrimeMinister, of a small group of delegates representing the broader civil society,on behalf of Agamee Orissa.

An important objective of today’s convention is to decide on the future plan ofaction or set the agenda for our future course of action. Some suggestions are outlined below:

1. Silent rally by intellectuals to the Governor House

2. Hunger strike by two/three senior members in front of the Governor’s House

3. A peace rally by students

4. A selected/limited number of delegates meeting the Prime Minister on the issue (subject to our getting an approval for the appointment for the saidpurpose)

5. Appeal to hon’ble Members of Parliament and legislative assembly forstrongly lobbying for the cause

6. Appeal to the media – both print & electronic, for wide publicity of theissue, and ensuing debates and discussions on the issue

We would like to call upon the House to give their sugestions on the proposed agenda, suggest any other course of action, and decide on the dates for thevarious events.

Govt of Orissa signs agreements with IITKGP and XLRI, jamshedpur for improving the quality of technical education in the state, in view of a good number of steel industries coming up in Orissa in near future.
In sharp contrast, the government fails to put enough pressure on the central govt to que up an IIT or an IIM in the state, which is quite genuine from the viewpoint of its strong infrastructural background!!
In addition, there are many different ways an institute of higher education and research can contribute: involvement in local and regional partnerships; links with local business and industry through targeted training and research consultancies; the establishment of research incubators, of science parks, of quasi autonomous R&D companies and the commercialisation of research via spin-off companies and patents; student placements in local businesses and the tying of student projects to the needs of businesses and local community groups; and through its wider role as part of a network of knowledge industries, a feature which itself is used in local and regional promotion to attract out-of-state and overseas inward investment.

Continuing on with the thoughts in http://iiser.blogspot.com/2005/11/iist-iiser-alternative-for-bhubaneswar.html :

The proposed IIST will involve both undergraduates and graduate students in research and teaching. From the second year onwards each students will have to register for a teaching or a research class. To graduate each student will have to have certain number of teaching and certain number of research credits.

Undergraduate students registered for teaching will primarily have the role of a grader, where they will help instructor of a class with grading homeworks, class works, projects, quizes etc. They will be paid for it. Students with financial difficulties can request additional grading load and thus get paid more. Undergraduate student registered for research will work in one of the faculty research labs, and get paid for it. The money will be sourced 50-50 between the faculty and the institute.

The teaching duties at the graduate level will involve teaching a class, or being a teaching assistant of a class. Each Ph.D student has to teach at least two classes before he or she can graduate.

The above involvement in teaching and research will encourage the graduates of the IIST to pursue a career in research and/or academics. This will contribute towards India's desperate need for more first rate scientists and academicians.

Utkal University Students Submit Memorandum to President, PM and Sonia Gandhi.

This news published in Pragativadi is in Oriya.

We, at Agami Orissa, are planning to organize a convention on the issue of relocation of NIS from Orissa. The convention is likely to be attended by academicians, activists, bureaucrats, student leaders/students, media persons and representative from other civil society organizations at large. The attendance in the convention is expected to be around 100.

The date of the convention is 6th November, 2005.

Venue of the convention is:

P.G.Council Hall, Utkal University, Bhubaneswar.

The details of the discussion in the convention would be sent to the media - both print and electronic, and also to various e-groups who have been seriously debating on the issue. This convention will be followed by a convention of the student leaders from various parts of the state.

Regards
Supriti

http://www.financialexpress.com/fe_full_story.php?content_id=107540

http://www.indianexpress.com/full_story.php?content_id=81314

The above is a really nice article. As we have been arguing that for the all-around growth of India, pockets of it (such as Orissa) should not be neglected, the same goes for Orissa too. For the all-around growth of Orissa, no part of it, and especially the tribal parts of it, should be ignored. In this regard the governments effort towards a central university in the KBK region is laudatory. The Orissa government should immediately make plans for (and implement as quickly as possible) a university in the KBK region, while it negotiates with the central goverment on the central university designation. It should not wait for the central university designation before starting work on it.

Having said the above I wish CM Patnaik was equally eloquent in making his case for the NIS/IISER. From press reports, so far he has written a couple of letters and has met the HRD minister who told him some mumbo-jumbo about regional center. CM Patnaik should write in national newspapers (as he did above) about this gross injustice and expose this injustice across India. I hope he does not think that (a) high paying jobs are not important to Orissa, and (b)Orissa people can only become technicians, they do not have the ability to become scientsists. I am sure he does not, but his feeble actions (w.r.t. NIS/IISER) seem to suggest that a 500 cr investment in higher education and research is not important to Orissa. It seems so far he has taken some miniaml action just to show that he has done something, but he really has not put his weight on the issue.

This report is in Oriya.

This article in Oriya is about a statement by Janardan Pati the chief of CPI(M) in Orissa. He blames the Orissa government for the losing of NIS and many other things.

----

Chitta's note: He should look at his face in the mirror. His party (CPI-M) supports the central govt in Delhi that has made this wrong decision. He should first raise this issue with his party bosses and ask them to raise it with PM and Smt. Gandhi. If his party bosses do not listen to him, he and all other CPI-M members of Orissa should resign en masse and join the protest against this gross injustice to Orissa.

From NewIndPress.com:

http://www.newindpress.com/NewsItems.asp?ID=IEQ20051103235832&Page=Q&Title=ORISSA&Topic=0

NIS: Students urge Kalam to intervene -- Friday November 4 2005 10:20 IST

BHUBANESWAR: Expressing resentment over the shifting of the National Institute of Sciences (NIS) from Bhubaneswar to Kolkata, students of Utkal University have called upon President Dr A P J Abdul Kalam to intervene and ask the Centre to reconsider its decision.More than 1000 students of the post-graduate streams of the University have submitted a memorandum to the President ...

(Thanks to Manoj in Switzerland and Prakash for sending the pointers to Chitta.)

Since someone may wonder about a proposal from Orissa, and ask us to make a proposal, here are some initial thoughts.

In lieu of the hijacked NIS/IISER from Orissa, an alternative institution could be an IIST (Indian Institute of Science and Technology) in Bhubaneswar with an investment of the order of 500 crores (same as an IISER) or more from the HRD ministry and with an additional amount from the Science&Technology ministry and/or the AICTE budget.

This institute will be a blend of an IISER and IIT. Similar to IISERs its main focus will be science. But it will be an opposite of an IIT in that in IITs engineering departments have a main role but science departments do exsit. In contrast, in the proposed IIST, the science departments will play the main role, but various engineering departments will exist so as to create a synergy between the science and engineering departments and so that new scientific developments will have easy access to engineering techniques leading to a faster path to products.

For example, there will be various biology and life science departments such as Physics, Chemistry, Life Sciences, Material Sciences, etc. But at the same time there will be departments such as (a) Bioengineering, (b) Biotechnology, (c) Biomedical Informatics, and (d) Drug and therapy engineering. To support these departments there will be engineering departments such as (e) Chemical Engineering, (f) Computer Science and Engineering, (g) Information technology, (h) Electronics engineering, (i) Robotics and mechanical engineering, etc. In addition there will be departments like (j) Pharmaceutical sciences, (k) Fuel and Energy engineering (with special focus on Bio fuels), and (l) Instrumentation engineering (with special focus on Biomedical instrumentation).

Mathematics, Informatics and Biology will play a central role for all undergraduates. Like in IITs all undergraduate students will have courses in Physics and Chemistry, but in this institute every student will have more Math classes (for example: every one will be taught discrete mathematics which is not taught to all undergraduates at IITs), more informatics classes
(algorithm design) and Biology classes (in particular in "molecular biology").

This istitute will closely collaborate with the proposed AIIIMS-like institution in Bhubaneswar and have joint centers in topics like (y) Medical Technology. It will have unique centers (w.r.t. India) such as in (z) systems biology.

In this institute, at the undergraduate level, everyone will be required to have a major and a minor, one from a science program, and the other from an engineering program, and everyone will be encouraged to have a dual degree.

To encourage interdisciplinary research, the institute will not have any departments. It will have a couple of colleges such as (i) College of Science and Engineering,
(ii) College of social sciences and in the far future (iii) a college of business and law.
Within the college of science and engineering there will be programs, and program heads who will be in charge of programs such as the B.ScTech (Bachelors in Sc and Tech) in
Biochemistry, but no distinct departments or departmental buildings. The faculty offices
and research labs will not be grouped around the programs, but rather in a way that will facilitate interdisciplinary research. A molecular biology faculty's office and his lab may be next to the database faculty's office, thus enabling greater interaction between the groups.

The architecture of the college of science and engineering would borrow from the Pentagon's architecture in that one can get from one office/lab to another in no more than 5 minute of walking.

----

This institute will serve several purposes.

(a) It will serve the purpose of an IISER with respect to enhancing the scientific prowess of India.

(b) It will be a graduate school in science, engineering and technology so as to significantly add to the number of M.Techs and Ph.Ds in various science and engineering fields that are necessary to improve the faculty of the thousands of private engineering colleges that have opened in India, and that currently have very low quality faculty.

(c) It will bring science and technology closer together.

(d) It will be the only institute in India with interdisciplinary research as its focus with everything (courses, programs, faculty offices, administrative structure of colleges, etc.)
centered around that focus.

(d) In collaboration with the propsed AIIMS-like institution it will bring together medicne, science and engineering.

-----

We will flush out more details of this proposal in future postings.

Some news emanating from unofficial sources mention that efforts are being made to placate Orissa through a new national level mettallurgical lab, and a Regional Centre of Studies in Integrated Sciences (RCSIS).

First, because of the surge of metal and metallurgical (steel, aluminium, rare earths etc.) industries in Orissa, there is a need for a national level mettallurgical lab in Orissa. This is not a substitute for IISER.

Second, any substitute of an IISER should have an investment of a similar magnitude, i.e., of the order of 500 crores. A 10 or 25 crore RCSIS is peanuts compared to the 500 crore IISER.

Dear Mr. Oram, Mr. Tripathy and Mr. Pani:

I and I am sure the people of Orissa appreciate that your party members
raised the question about NIS shifting in the parliament. We would like to thank
you, Mr. Tripathy and Mr. Pani very much for that.

But since we have been saying that the CM writing a letter or two is not enough, similarly
raising the issue in parliament, although a good step, should not be the only step.

Now that it is clear that not only a 500 Crore institute was stolen, it was also
an insult to PM Vajapayee's government (your government) as their decision
was reversed, and a slap in the face to Orissa; I hope you and your party members will
do more. Following are some suggestions.

-- Please call a press conference and use any other peaceful methods necessary so that
the national media covers it in their national editions; so that people of India, supporters
of PM Vajapayee all over India are aware of this heist, insult and slap.

-- Please talk to your party leadershipo in the center and convince the bigwigs such as
Mr. Vajapayee, Mr. Advani and Dr. Joshi to raise the issue at the national level.

-- Please write to various national level newspapers as op-ed letters. In this if it will
help I would be happy to co-write them with you. Or feel free to use all the
materials in http://iiser.blogspot.com/

-- Please make an appointment with the planning comission and demand an answer from them. Why did they approve the shifting? They should be answerable to MPs.

-- Please request all your party bigwigs in Orissa to attend the
meeting on 6th of November at PG Council Conference Hall of Utkal University at 3 PM.

Finally, please do all this immediately.

best regards

Chitta
chitta@gmail.com

From: "jual oram" jualoram@hotmail.com

To: sachisatpathy@yahoo.com, sanjeev@bestwebonline.com, dilip.barik@rediffmail.com, sanjayajena@gmail.com, orissapioneer@yahoo.co.in, oriyanews@etv.co.in

Date: Thu, 03 Nov 2005 15:44:53 +0530

Subject: Matter raised in the parliament by MPs...

Dear Sachi,

I came to know tha honorabl Shri Brajakishore Tripathy mp lok sabha & ShriRudra Narayan Pani mp rajyasabha had raised the NIS issue on 29th &30thAugust respectively of the last session . I got the copy of the synopsis of Rajya Sabha yesterday. I also got political resolution passed by my party. Iam sending all those document for your kind information and needfulaction.

Thanking you.

Jual Oram & Rudra Narayan Pani

While thinking about this NIS/IISER injustice to Orissa I started digging deeper into why am I so incensed by this.

Perhaps it is because I have been living in the US for some time, and here such a decision is discussed much more openly. The people join in and have a chance to voice their opinion. The media joins in with editorials. etc.

In India the decsions seem to be made under closed doors and the media just parrots the decisions without questioning the logic behind the decisions. I doubt the RTI act would help in figuring out how such decisions are made and the logic behind it and who said what. Someone ought to try the RTI route to find out though.

In this regard another recent announcement that I came across is the establishment of a branch of the IIFT Delhi in Kolkata. See http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1278659.cms and http://www.hindu.com/2005/10/29/stories/2005102904941500.htm. Again, nothing against Kolkata, but this announcement also does not make sense. IIFT is basically a business school, and it is ranked pretty high among business schools and Kolkata already has an IIM. Wouldn't it make more sense to have the IIFT in Chennai (which is a metro and does not have an IIM), or even Bhubaneswar if for some reason it has to be in the east. It would have been easy to just add a FT department to IIM Kolkata and the new IIFT could and should have been established at another location.

(Personally, I think Chennai would have been a better location for such an institution as it is a metro and does not have an IIM. Note that although Mumbai does not have an IIM, Mumbai IIT has a business school. But then Chennai IIT could easily create a business school, so a non-metro without an IIT/IIITM such as Bhubaneswar would not have been a bad idea. Hyderabad would have been good too.)

But who is listening?

One wonders on what basis such decisions are made. The press, and for that matter, no one, seems to be questioning this. In the long term these decisions make some places more favorable destinations of companies, human capital, etc. and others less favorable. Unless people and press start watching and paying attention to this so as to make sure that there is regional balance in such allotment, the net result will be that some states in India will remain much behind than the others.

From: Chitta Baral chitta@gmail.com

To: dch@yojana.nic.in, mvraja@yojana.nic.in, kirit.parikh@yojana.nic.in, abhijit.sen@yojana.nic.in, vl.chopra@yojana.nic.in, b.mungekar@yojana.nic.in, s.hameed@yojana.nic.in, yugandhar.bn@nic.in, anwarul.hoda@yojana.nic.in

Cc: manmohan@sansad.nic.in, presidentofindia@rb.nic.in, soniagandhi@sansad.nic.in, cnrrao@jncasr.ac.in, ashok@tenet.res.in, gangulynk@icmr.org.in, director@cdfd.org.in, vijay@ncbs.res.in, spiramal@nicholaspiramal.co.in, diroff@admin.iisc.ernet.in, sgd@iitk.ac.in, cmo@ori.nic.in, chairman@aicte.ernet.in, toieditorial@timesgroup.com, salil@hindustantimes.com, letters@outlookindia.com, info@newindpress.com, thehindu@vsnl.com, letters-ie@expressindia.com, letters@deccanherald.co.in, letters@tribuneindia.com, letters@nytimes.com, nicholas@nytimes.com, letters@globe.com, feedback@latimes.com, newseditor@independent.co.uk, reader@guardian.co.uk, foreign@nytimes.com, letters@economist.com, letters.editor@ft.com, themail@newyorker.com, Letters@newsweek.com, letters@time.com, lettersbwol@businessweek.com, NewsAlert@letters.washingtonpost.com, letters@washpost.com, foreign@guardian.co.uk, letters@guardian.co.uk, politics@guardian.co.uk, online@guardian.co.uk, foreigneditor@independent.co.uk, rajarini@indiatimes.com, ddd@rediff.co.in, padmini@mail.jnu.ac.in, upatnaik@mail.jnu.ac.in, minatipanda@mail.jnu.ac.in, ashasarangi@mail.jnu.ac.in, bidwai@bol.net.in, debabrata_m@yahoo.com, soumyajitpattnaik@yahoo.com, prafulladas@gmail.com, samanwaya@yahoo.com, brajabhai@rediffmail.com, nayak@mcbl.iisc.ernet.in, pravas@aero.iisc.ernet.in, puneet@cyberzest.com, trans@pti.org.in, scp@orissamatters.com, arakali@thehindu.co.in, atticusin@yahoo.co.in, bhumikak@rediffmail.com, deepab18@yahoo.com, gurulingaswamyhb@rediffmail.com, johnsonta@sify.com, maxmartin@rediffmail.com, mdriti@rediffmail.com, meghana_mathur@yahoo.com, nirad_gm@yahoo.com, paperboy@rediffmail.com, pkarumbaya@yahoo.com, priyali_sur@yahoo.co.uk, radhika@journalist.com, ramupatil@hotmail.com, rishikesh_desai@rediffmail.com, sanghac@hotmail.com, venky000@yahoo.co.uk, vineeta_rao@hotmail.com, vksbc@bgl.vsnl.net.in, calnet@yahoogroups.com, biot_spm@yahoo.com, ajitnayaksbp@yahoo.com, tusarnmohapatra@mail.com, rcmisra@noos.fr, keerti@aravind.org, bishnupada.sethi@undp.org, mohanty@univmail.cis.mcmaster.ca, ornet@cs.columbia.edu, bapunu@hotmail.com, tatzaudi@yahoo.com, Jagada@cysd.org, rajaram.satapathy@timesgroup.com, nageshwarpatnaik@rediffmail.com, sahadevas@yahoo.com, manju_choudhury@hotmail.com, jatindash@hotmail.com, agamiorissa@yahoogroups.com, bigyanidas@yahoo.com, binodnayak@hotmail.com, seeds@cs.columbia.edu, dpatra@yahoo.com, ranjanpanda_mass@rediffmail.com, sujeet.kumar@harris-manchester.oxford.ac.uk, info@gramvikas.org, praful_sahoo@yahoo.com, drmahapatra2002@yahoo.com, mishrasupriti@rediffmail.com, iaff1@aol.com, achyutdas@agragamee.org, puru@ndtv.com, saranga@sancharnet.in, Sudarsan_d@yahoo.com, pragativadi@pragativadi.com, dharitrieditor@yahoo.com, sambadadvt@hotmail.com, sambadadvt@yahoo.co.in, bbmohanty@sify.com, saswat@umd.edu, officeofjaypanda@vsnl.net, jualoram@hotmail.com, drbhagban@yahoo.com, ashwini@nipfp.org.in, fmohanty@yahoo.com, debaprasadray@rediffmail.com, mahadarshee@yahoo.co.in, viswasforberhampur@yahoo.co.in, chitta@gmail.com, nrusingh78@yahoo.com, nagendra_208@indiatimes.com, tuklu19@yahoo.com, sandip.kumar.dasverma@gmail.com, dhanadam@yahoo.com, abani@eng.buffalo.edu, dkmishra@ortel.net, mohanty@mcmaster.ca, niranjansahoo@yahoo.com, dipaksau@yahoo.com, naresh@iitk.ac.in, pkm77@hotmail.com, sushantamids@hotmail.com, samaj@orissanews.com, samajbbsr@yahoo.com, statesmanbbsr@vsnl.net, tamasamitra@yahoo.com, sibasis_acharya@yahoo.com, samajactc@hotmail.com, pecuc@hotmail.com, mbinodk@yahoo.co.uk, banshdharm@hotmail.com, mkdas@ori.nic.in, bibhudutta_patnaik@yahoo.com, myodisa@yahoogroups.com, kkroutray@hotmail.com, subrat@hve.iisc.ernet.in, dhirendrakar@hotmail.com, arijeetds@yahoo.com, manojpadhi@gmail.com

Date: Nov 1, 2005 11:48 AM

Subject: A letter to the Indian planning comission members from an Indian origin professor in the US

To: Esteemed Planning Comission Members of India

Subject: http://www.iiser.blogspot.com

cc: PM, Smt. Gandhi, Members of the SAC-PM, Prof. Prabhat Patnaik, CM of Orissa, Chairman AICTE, various journalists and news media (in Orissa, India, and international), and various Oriyas.

Dear members:

I would like to bring to your notice the following article from Telegraph
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1051029/asp/calcutta/story_5412063.asp
which says that "In July 2005, the Planning Commission, after examining the ministry for human resource development proposal, recommended that instead of five cities, only Calcutta and Pune should house the centre." It refers to the National Institute of Sciences which was originally planned for Bhubaneswar, Pune, Chennai and Allahabad and was later renamed to IISER.

Dear Sirs: I wonder if you considered the distribution of central universities, and institute of national importances (IITs, IIMs, ISIs etc.) across India? Many states have multiples of them while states like Orissa, Rajasthan, Chhatisgarh etc. have none. They happen to be backward in many indices. Please see http://iiser.blogspot.com/2005/10/unequal-distribution-of-higher.html for the distribution.

Do you think this is fair?

Do you think some states should have many of them while others have none, even though they (such as Orissa) have shown that they can nurture good institutions?

Do you think the way to improve backward states is to take away planned 500 cr higher education institutions from them?

Dear Sirs: It is a gross injustice that you took the dream (of NIS/IISER) away from the people of Orissa, which does not have a single central university, IIT, IIM, IISc, etc. and yet has on its own initiated the development of quality institutions such as Inst of Physics, Inst of Life Sciences and Xaviers Institute of Management.

Dear Sirs: You are supposed to watch out and plan for all of India; especially, since in India (unlike the US where each state has 2 sentaors) larger states have more MPs thus more power and smaller states have less power. With due respect, by approving the removal of Bhubaneswar from the list of IISERs, you have not done your job appropriately and have done grave injustice to Orissa, and perhaps to the fabric of India.

We sincerely hope you will make appropriate amends at the earliest, and if the political leadership (which so far has not considered it appropriate to reply to hundereds if not thousands of letters and emails sent to them over the last month) does not allow you to correct the injustice then you should consult your conscience about what to do. Please see http://www.iiser.blogspot.com about the details of your injustice and some thoughts on how to amend it.

sincerely,

Chitta Baral
B.Tech, IIT Kharagpur, Ph.D University of Maryland
(author of a 550+ page book published by the Cambridge University Press, area editor of an ACM journal etc.)

Professor
Department of Computer Science & Engg
Arizona State University
Tempe, AZ 85287
http://www.public.asu.edu/~cbaral

Please spread the word about this site among people sympathetic to this cause. Also, please link it from your pages. Thanks.

So far the local media in Orissa (mainly Samaja and Sambada) are regularly covering this. Efforts are on to get it covered by the national and (in the worst case) inetrnational media.
(In particular, Professor Prabhat Patnaik of JNU has been contacted by the president
of Orissa Society of the Americas. We hope, as a leading economist concerened about India and Indians at all levels, he will write about this injustice.)

Any reader incensed by this injustice is requested to contact national or international media, colleagues, friends, relatives, etc in national and international media about this. For international media , one may use a variation of the short article in http://iiser.blogspot.com/2005/10/short-press-release.html as it brings up the issue, but does not badmouth India too much, as India is dear to our heart too. Also, after the success of blog based protests in forcing US News news anchor Dan Rather to retire, and US Supreme Court nominee (in the US) Harriet Miers to withdraw, it remains an interesting storyline to see blogs and electronic media being used as a medium of protest in the Indian context. This may make it a news of international interest.