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Jaya
Jagannath,
In recent weeks the UCE
Burla students have been demanding that UCE Burla, the oldest
engineering college of Orissa, be made a unitary state university.
It is admirable that they have been making their demands in a
non-disruptive way.
As per the latest reports in tathya.in (http://www.tathya.in/2008/story.asp?sno=2164
) the state government
(i) is telling UCE to apply for a deemed university status
and
(ii) has asked UCE to supply this plan and that document.
This is exactly the classic strategy of delay that the central
government used against Orissa when Orissa was asking for premiere
institutions. This is also the modus operandi of some (not all) of
Orissa's bureaucrats who want to show off their power.
I do not understand why the state govt. wants to make UCE a deemed
university and not a state university.
(a) First, declaration of deemed university is in the hands of
central govt. and it can take a long time to get that done.
(b) Second, most deemed universities do not receive much funds from
UGC. So what is the point! On the other hand most state universities
get UGC funding after they become 12 (B) eligible.
(c) The state govt. can on its own declare UCE to be a state
university by passing a bill. If Orissa govt. could do it for
Ravenshaw which has already become 12 (B) eligible, why can not it
do it for UCE, Burla.
Is it because Ravenshaw is in Cuttack and UCE Burla is in Sambalpur?
I sincerely hope this is not the case of an anti-western Orissa
attitude of Orissa govt., as many suggest.
(d) The Bengal Engineering and Science University (BESU) in Howrah
(formerly called Bengal Engineering College) first became a deemed
university 1993. But then West Bengal realized that the deemed
university status did not help much and made it a state university
in 2004. See http://www.orissalinks.com/archives/694 . Very soon
after that it was picked to be made to an IIEST, an IIT clone.
Why does not Orissa learn from this? When West Bengal realized,
albeit after 11 years, that a deemed university status does not help
much and made BESU a state university with immediate success, why
does Orissa want to make the same mistake (of pushing UCE for a
deemed university) and delay the further development of UCE Burla.
Note that West Bengal also has a West Bengal Technical University
(like our BPUT); so having BPUT should not be a reason to not make
UCE Burla a state university; unless of course the Orissa govt. is
afraid that the incompetency of BPUT of not yet becoming 12 (B)
eligible for UGC funding (after 6 years of its establishment in
2002) will become clear when UCE Burla, made to a state university,
becomes UGC eligible through 12 (B). (Note that Ravenshaw became
12(B) eligible about a year after its establishment.)
Finally, the central govt. has special provisions in its 11th plan
to give one third of the capital cost of establishing new
institutions or expansion by the State Govts." Moreover, it promises
"50% funding on sharing basis – to strengthen existing universities
to get eligibility for 12B recognition under UGC Act." (See http://darpg.nic.in/arpg-website/ChiefSectConf/PPT/HRD.ppt
).
To reiterate, I am not sure why the following is not getting into
the thick heads of Orissa government.
* State university can get UGC funding; most deemed universities
don't.
* Central govt. has a scheme in the 11th plan for contributing for
expansions and creation of new institutions.
* UCE Burla if made to a state university has a good chance being
upgraded to a national institute, like what happened with BESU and
CUSAT - Cochin University of Sc & Technology, the two other such
universities in the country.
I would request all of you to support the UCE Burla students on
their just and forward looking demands.
May God give the UCE Burla students the strength to not indulge in
any disruptive methods like all kind of "Bandhs" and "Rokos" (that
is my sincere request to them) and give the Orissa govt. the extra
neurons to understand the value and timeliness of making UCE Burla a
state university.
(Please also look at what Maharashtra and UP are planning for their
states and ponder must Orissa be always behind. See http://www.orissalinks.com/bigfiles/maharashtra-engg-plan.pdf
and http://www.orissalinks.com/archives/1126 . )
sincerely,
Chitta Baral
Professor
Department of Computer Science & Engineering
Arizona State University
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Regards
Nilachakra
http://nilachakra.50webs.com
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