Monday, June 9, 2014

NRO Bats For Rural Varsity

Tathya.in, June 8, 2014
Bhawanipatana : 8/June/2014 
For solving rural problems and generating high quality human resource in the socially backward rural pockets, India should build “National Rural University” in the line of Central University in each rural, backward and economically poor pocket and cluster across the nation, urged Digamabara Patra, leading NRO.
 
And Kalahandi is the right place for such an initiative because it is among the ten most backward districts and among five most backward parliament constituency in the nation.
 
Kalahandi is centrally located among all the backward KBK districts and It is also the central point while including other rural and backward region in Odisha such as Boudh, Kandhamal, Bargarh and Gajpati districts, Prof. Patra, who teaches at American  Univeristy at Beruit has sent missive to Union Minister HRD for the purpose, adding Kalahandi is the central point for western bordering Odisha in air distance that is rural and backward.
 
While in the manifesto BJP has promised for Institute of Technology for Rural Development as well as para-medical college. However, this can be combined together to establish National Rural University, opined  the leading NRO.
 
Prof.Patra pointed out that for various socially challenged or weak groups, the Union Government of India has been establishing specialized Institutions/Universities for minority (such as Aligarh Muslim University), tribal (such as Indira Gandhi National Tribal University), Women, etc under central university act.
 
On the other hand institutions such as IITs, NITs, AIIMS, IIM, Central Universities, etc have been being established towards generating high quality human resource and research in the country.
 
Most of these high quality institutions are located in either state capital region or large urban area.
 
Despite India has higher percentage of rural than urban population, the number of urban students qualifying into high quality institutions such as IIT, NIT, AIIMS, IIM, IISc, Central Universities etc compared to their rural counterpart clearly shows that the urban population has an upper hand to enter these institutions.
 
Due to lack of accessibility, awareness and economic condition, large section of rural populations irrespective of communities are relatively left in void compared to their urban counterparts when it comes to access to quality education, bringing differences in economical conditions and opportunities, which finally encourages large rural migration to urban areas from rural and backward cluster of India.
 
Kalahandi is known for rural mass migration, whereas major cities in the nation are getting increasingly populated and polluted due to large rural migration, some of the report claims these rural migrations to urban area in India could be one of the highest in the world.
 
Additionally, large part of the nation is rural areas and existing methods and technology applied to solve rural problems is equally non-reliable and inefficient like found to solve urban problem, which justify the need for modern new technology, creativity and innovation to solve rural problem through Rural University.
 
Due to inadequate & poor quality of human resource generation, social imbalance is increasing in backward clusters of the nation, which is encouraging Maoists activities and other social dissidents. This is being growingly witnessed in Kalahandi and neighboring backward cluster since past decade.
 
Similarly, large part of the rural area, especially backward pockets and cluster in the nation, need quality human resource generation to boost local development by triggering growth of local economy.
 
Economists also agree investment while establishing National/Central Universities mainly goes to construction sectors, which directly boost local economy.
 

Such investment is always given to metro or large urban areas like Bhubaneswar of the country by totally ignoring rural India like Kalahandi, though quality can still be maintained while establishing such institution in rural and backward cluster, said Prof.Patra.

NRO URGES HRD MIN FOR RURAL VARSITY IN KALAHANDI

The Pioneer, June 9, 2014
For solving rural problems and generating high quality human resource in the socially backward rural areas, India should set up a “National Rural University” in the line of the Central University in each rural, backward and economically poor pocket and cluster across the nation, according to leading NRO (non-resident Odia) Prof Digamabara Patra.
And Kalahandi is a right place for such an initiative because it is among the ten most backward districts and among five most backward Parliament constituencies in the country, he has argued in a letter to Union Human Resource Development (HRD) Minister Smriti Irani.Kalahandi is centrally-located among all the backward KBK districts in Odisha and it is also the central point while including other rural and backward regions in the State such as Boudh, Kandhamal, Bargarh and Gajpati districts, Prof Patra, who teaches at the American University in Beruit.
While in its manifesto the BJP has promised for Institutes of Technology for Rural Development and paramedical colleges, this can be combined together to establish National Rural Universities, he has pleaded. Prof Patra has pointed out that for various socially-challenged or weak groups, the Union Government has been establishing specialised institutions/universities for minority (such as Aligarh Muslim University), tribal (such as Indira Gandhi National Tribal University), Women, etc, under the Central University Act.
On the other hand, institutions such as IITs, NITs, AIIMS, IIM, Central Universities, etc have been being established towards generating high quality human resource and research. Most of these high quality institutions are located in either State capital regions or large urban areas. 
Despite India has a higher percentage of rural than urban population, the number of urban students qualifying into high quality institutions such as IIT, NIT, AIIMS, IIM, IISc, Central Universities compared to their rural counterpart clearly shows that the urban population has an upper hand to enter these institutions.
Due to lack of accessibility, awareness and economic condition, large sections of rural populations irrespective of communities are relatively left in void compared to their urban counterparts when it comes to access to quality education, bringing differences in economical conditions and opportunities, which finally encourages large rural migration to urban areas from rural and backward clusters of India.
Prof Patra has stated that Kalahandi is known for rural mass migration whereas major cities in the country are getting increasingly populated and polluted due to large rural migration, some of the report claims these rural migrations to urban area in India could be one of the highest in the world.
Additionally, large parts of the nation are rural areas and existing methods and technology applied to solve rural problems is equally non-reliable and inefficient like found to solve urban problem, which justify the need for modern new technology, creativity and innovation to solve rural problem through Rural University.
Due to inadequate and poor quality of human resource generation, social imbalance is increasing in backward clusters of the nation, which is encouraging Maoists activities and other social dissidents. This is being growingly witnessed in Kalahandi and neighbouring backward cluster since past decade. 
Economists also agree that investment while establishing National/Central Universities mainly goes to construction sectors, which directly boost local economy. Such investment is always given to metro or large urban areas like Bhubaneswar of the country by totally ignoring rural India like Kalahandi though quality can still be maintained while establishing such institutions in rural and backward clusters, Prof Patra has argued. 

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