Monday, January 02, 2006

 

Hindustan Times on December 14th: Arjun sets the record straight

Arjun sets the record straight

Soumyajit Patnaik Bhubaneswar, December 14

Union Human Resource Development minister Arjun Singh has termed as "incorrect" a report that said a proposed science institute in Bhubaneswar was being shifted to Kolkata.

The report published in HT on November 30, said the HRD ministry was planning to shift the proposed National Institute of Science (NISc) out of Orissa.

In response Singh said a decision was never taken to set up the institute in Bhubaneswar and, therefore, it would be wrong to say it was being shifted from Orissa's capital to Kolkata. According to Singh, UGC's decision to set up four science centers, at Allahbad, Bhubaneswar, Chennai, and Pune, was not valid under the UGC act.

Singh said: "The HRD ministry had raised a query whether UGC is legally empowered to set up such edicational centers under the UGC Act. The matter was examined in detail by the ministry in consultation with the law ministry, which said the UGC cannot establish the proposed centers. the centr had at no time approved these institutes, as proposed by the UGC."
According to Singh, the scientific advisory council to the PM, in a meeting on March 4, 2005, in a meeting on March 4, 2005, recommended two new science institutes, one at Pune, the other at Kolkata. These institutes were to be named Indian Institutes of Science Education and Research. The proposal received "in principle" approval of the Planning Comission on August 24, 2005.

The PM also took a meeting on setting up of the institutes. The cabinet approved the proposal on October 27. The foundation-laying ceremony at Kolkata was scheduled for October 30, which, however, was cancelled after 29/10.
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