NRO bats for educational balance among different regions in the State

The Pioneer, Sept 6, 2010
PNS | Bhawanipatna

Non-Resident Odias (NROs) laud the step taken by the State's Department of Higher Education to establish an Odisha State Open University.

However, it is surprising to note that the headquarters of the Odisha State Open University has been proposed in Bhubaneswar in the preliminary draft Bill without any public discussion, they rue.

This is totally unjust and irrational, feels leading NRO Digambara Patra. In any modern democratic society nowadays, the State or national level institutions are distributed regionally all over the region, said Patra citing the example of African nations which have three capitals.

With the modern technology and communication, distance hardly plays any role for Open University education. On the other hand, according to economists, establishment of any such institution do play an important role to indirectly boost the local economy. Unfortunately most of the time Odisha's capital region has taken all these benefits keeping the backward regions in the dark, he lamented.

Earlier, State-level universities such as OUAT, Utkal University of Culture, Sri Jagannath Sanskrit University, National Law University, etc were already established in Bhubaneswar, Cuttack and Puri regions. These institutions have directly boosted the local economy.

In this context the proposed Open University should come in a backward place which is far away from the State capital and logically deserves to balance the existing regional imbalances, he justified.

Kalahandi/Nuapada regions are not only backward and far away compared to many other locations in coastal and eastern Odisha, but also is the central district among the backward KBK, Kandhamal, Gajapati, Bargarh and Boudh districts. Bhubaneswar is the central location in the eastern bordering Odisha from Jaleshwar to Parlakhemundi, similarly Kalahandi region is the central location in the west bordering Odisha from Baljod in Sundargarh to Motu in Malkangiri, he pointed out.

The headquarters of the Odisha State Open University should rather come in Kalahandi/Nuapada region as it will boost the local economy of this backward place and will not harm in growth of the institution, he said. In addition it may help to dissipate growing regionalism in the State and balance the existing regional imbalances, he added.

It is strongly suggested and requested that the preliminary Bill should be modified and the headquarters of the proposed Open University should be located in Kalahandi/Nuapada region, Patra urged.