It's time the State Govt kept its promise on IIIT-Berhampur

SOSA demands early establishment of proposed IIIT at Berhampur

The Pioneer

The South Odisha Students’ Association (SOSA) has demanded prompt efforts from the State Government for establishment of an Indian Institute of Information Technology (IIIT) at Berhampur. In a letter to Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, SOSA president RP Tripathy has said that since the Central Government has announced the establishment of 20 Greenfield IIITs across the country during the 11th and 12th Five Year Plan periods, the Odisha Government needs to take sincere and timely steps so that the IIIT is established at Berhampur. Maintaining that Berhampur is a deserving city for the establishment of the IIIT, Tripathy said the centrally funded institute would boost the growth of south Odisha and make Berhampur a knowledge hub.

“Odisha has so far established two IIITs at Bhubaneswar and Sambalpur (SUIIT) and therefore the establishment of the IIIT at Berhampur will lead to better distribution of IT education base in the State. The Planning Commission data suggests that Ganjam and other southern districts are among the districts with a poor gross enrolment ratio in higher education. IIIT in Berhampur will help in building a knowledge cluster in the heart of the most underdeveloped pocket of India. A software technology park has already come up in Berhampur city and the IIIT’s establishment will ensure synergy and investment in the IT and ITES sectors,” Tripathy argued in the letter. 

Orissa scouts for industry partner for second IIIT

Economic Times

Advt. by Govt of Orissa

Orissa government on Wednesday began scouting for Industry Partners for setting up of Indian Institute of Information Technology [IIIT], through Public Private Partnership (PPP). This will be the second IIIT in the state for which the state government had floated advertisements. The capital cost of each IIIT would be contributed in the ratio of 50:35:15 by the Central Government, the State Government and Partner respectively. The State Government will provide free of cost land to establish the IIIT while the Central Government will meet the recurring expenditure up to Rs. 10 Crore during the first four years. The proposed IIITs will be world-class institutes and will be set up as autonomous institutions, officials claimed.

Each Institute is meant to specialize in application of IT skills in one or more domain areas. One of the important criteria for setting up an IIIT in a State will be availability of 50-100 acres of contiguous land or a minimum of 50 acres of land, with additional land available at another site in the State, which shall be made available, free of cost, for the establishment of the Institute. The IIITs would have UG, PG and Ph.D. programmes in IT and different domain areas like Media Arts and Sciences, Financial Systems, Transportation, Systems, Life Sciences, Tourism and Travel etc.