Odisha missing tribal varsity

Tathya.in, Feb 4, 2011
Bhubaneswar:4/February/2011


Absence of any political clout of Odisha at the Centre is harming badly the state.

While Political leadership is lacking to influence the Union Government and it s busy in Centre bashing, for which the state is suffering a lot.

Latest is the move to set up a Tribal University in neighbouring Andhra Pradesh.

Sources said Duggubati Purandeswari, Union MOS HRD is trying for a Tribal University in her constituency in Vishakhapatnam (VIZAG) in Andhra Pradesh.

While way back in 2005, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik mooted the idea and demanded the Tribal University to be set up in KBK Zone in Odisha.

Given the Scheduled Tribe population in the state and lowest Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) in the state in general and KBK in particular, Odisha is the place where a Tribal University needs to be set up.


At that time the Arjun Singh, Union Minister HRD grabbed the idea and made the Centrally funded Tribal University in Amar Kantak.

Since then there has been talk about opening of branches of this tribal university across India.

One such branch has been inaugurated in Manipur.

Later Odisha asked for a branch in Kandhamal.

Many times the Chief Minister has raised that issue with Kapil Sibal, Union Minister HRD and has been told that there is no money now (11th plan).

But then how come there is money for a new Tribal University in Andhra Pradesh.

Sources said that move is on to set up the Andhra Pradesh Tribal University on a 300-acre site in Chintapalle.

A study team of senior professors led by Samaresh Bandopadhyay (Kolkata) with Sudarshan Nadu (Bhubaneswar), Joseph Bara (JNU) and Registrar of Indira Gandhi National Tribal University from Amarkantak in Madhya Pradesh, Ashok Singh, which inspected the site on Friday, will be submitting feasibility report to the Centre.

Educationists feel that Odisha needs to push for tribal universities (fully or partly centrally funded) for its tribal district clusters.

One in the North (Sundargarh-Keonjhar-Mayurbhanj); one in the central part (Kandhamal-Gajapati-Rayagada) and one in the southern part (Malkangiri-Nabarangpur-Koraput); or western part (Kalahandi-Nuapada).

While other states are able to get universities/institutes for their states that are worth 100s of crores, Odisha is lagging behind, thanks to weak political leadership, feel they.