Dharitri: BJD calls for economic blockade against center

Orissa Minister of Tourism and IT Surya Patra talks about central apathy and IIT shifting

Orissa Minister of Tourism and IT Surya Patra talks to journalists about central apathy and specifically lays out what happened with respect to the IIT shifting as well as cancellation of the plans to establish a branch campus of IIT Kharagpur in Orissa. This is reported in major papers in Orissa: Dharitri, Samaja [1,2], Sambada, Pragtivadi, Statesman etc. In Samaja it is a front-page headline.

Samaja also has an article with a picture on the protest organized by BJD in regards to the IIT issue.

Dharitri: The minister had spoken the truth

Dharitri reports that the minister answering the no call motion had said that upon the advice of teh scientific advisory committee an IIT is to be established in “Orissa”, but then she corrected herself and said “Bihar”. More interstingly, she also said that Minister Fatmi never said that an IIT will be established in Orissa. However, Minister Mr. Fatmi was in the Lok Sabha at that time and he was silent even when the Orissa MPs were looking at him for an answer.

CM upset on the IIT issue: various news

• Sambada
• Dharitri: 1,2
  

IIT issue raised by Orissa MPs in the parliament

Dharitri (page1, page 2, page 3, page4, page5, page6, page7) has a nice summary of the various issues raised by Orissa's MPs in the just concluded first phase of the budget session of the parliament. It shows that various MPs raised the IIT in Orissa issue and MHRD's discrimination against Orissa. In particular:

• BJD and BJP MPs gave a notice in the Lok Sabha on this issue, and received acknowledgement from the speaker, but it did not get a chance to be included in the Lok Sabha proceedings. (page1) We hope that they insist that it gets included in the second phase of the parliament session.
• Lok Sabha: MP Mr. Swain raised the IIT issue. (page2)
  
• Lok Sabha: MP Mr. Dharmendra Pradhan raised the IIT issue as well as how MHRD spends much lower in Orissa than in other places. (page3)
• Lok Sabha: MP Ms. Archana Nayak raised the IIT issue. (page6)
  
• Rajya Sabha: MP Mr. Pyarimohan Patnaik raised the IIT issue. (page2)
• Rajya Sabha: MP Mr. Rudranarayan Pani raised the IIT issue. (page 7)
  

However none of the above was in an impactful manner like last year. We hope that in the second phase of the budget session, which starts on April 26th, the Orissa MPs will raise it in a more vocal and more impactful manner.

Dharitri (in Oriya) reports Ms Archana Nayak demands IIT for Orissa in Lok Sabha

Dhariti reports that MP Ms Archana Nayak demands greenfield IIT for Orissa in Lok Sabha.
Another good step by our MP in Lok Sabha.

Dharitri's Front Page Picture : Protest by ABVP on Shifting of IIT from Orissa

Dharitri (in Oriya): IIT shifting and the sleeping Oriya - Brajakishore Sahu

Another hard hitting article on the issue in Dharitri.
(page1, page2, page3, page4, page5, page6)

Dharitri's Editorial gives a scathing wake-up call to Oriyas

Dharitri's editorial gives a scathing wake-up call to Oriyas to go after things, with the IIT issue and MHRD neglect as the subtext. (page1, page2, page3, page4, page5)

Center Doesnot Need Orissa: Dharitri

Dharitri (pdf: page1, page2, page3) covers the main story on "Center Doesn't Need Orissa" where it exposes how Orissa is being sidelined for all the national institutes being proposed in 11th five year plan including IIT, IIIT, IISER, IIM, etc. Not a single institute is being proposed in Orissa among proposed 3 IIT, 20 IIIT, 5 IIM, 3 IISER, 4 ISPA, and NITTR in the 11th five year.

Samaja, Sambada, Dharitri and New Indian Express report that the CM wrote to the PM regarding the shifting of IIT

The NewIndianExp article is given below. This is also reported in Pioneer, Samaja, Sambada, Kalinga Times and Dharitri (2).

CM writes to PM demanding greenfield IIT
Thursday February 1 2007 00:00 IST

BHUBANESWAR: Taking strong exception to the reported move of the Centre to shift the establishment of an Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) from Orissa to Andhra Pradesh, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Wednesday shot off a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh demanding that a greenfield IIT should be sanctioned for the State.

The Centre had announced establishment of three greenfield IITs in the country during the Eleventh Five Year Plan. Orissa was included in this proposal, which was also announced by Union Minister of State for Human Resources Development MM Fatmi on August 28 last year at Patna.

Describing the move by the Centre to establish the IITs in Andhra Pradesh, Bihar and Rajasthan as ‘shocking’, the Chief Minister has sought the intervention of the Prime Minister in setting up such an institute in Orissa.

Establishment of an IIT would go a long way in supporting the rapid industrial growth in the State by producing highly qualified technical and managerial personnel as well as the much needed R&D support, he said.

Drawing the Prime Minister’s attention to the proposal of the IIT, Kharagpur for the upgradation of their extension centre in Orissa to a full-fledged IIT campus, Naveen said that the State Government has also formally recommended the proposal to the Ministry of HRD and conveyed willingness to provide 300 acres of land free of cost for the prestigious project. He requested the Prime Minister to sanction the extension campus also.

Stating that the vibrant growth in the industrial and technical education sectors provides enormous potential for industry and institutional linkages, Naveen said that establishment of an IIT in Orissa will greatly facilitate in intensifying this process.

Orissa is playing host to the biggest ever FDI projects in the country such as Posco and Arcelor-Mittal steel projects, he said and added that presence of such strong industrial players will definitely provide required synergy for an IIT level institution to realise its full potential.