The recent firing in Kalinga Nagar, Jajpur, Orissa, India - is a symptom of a disease that is plaguing the development process in Orissa (handled by Govt. of Orissa (GOO)), not the disease itself.
The disease or the real issues are missing from the ongoing debate, too. It may be deliberate or may be just missing because no body thought up or don’t care– I don't know.
Because, I don’t observe in the history GOO of last 60 years, any significant difference among various parties in power at different times and their dealing with the tribal, Harijon or poor. That is, any qualitative difference in compassion for or fairness to, the tribal or Harijon, who invariably happen to be poor. Except may be some, at the time of Late Naba Krushna Choudhury, who abolished the Zamindari system
Be it as it may, but let me define precisely three issues that are missing in this debate, which undermines it’s quality:
A. The failure of successive Governments, turning a PIMBY (Put In My Backyard) situation in to a NIMBY (Not in My Backyard).
B. Dealing with the Bee lines of Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signers, at their term and not GOO’s terms. As a result everyone else but GOO who is winning?
C. Neglect of Externalities
a. Cost of restoration of environment
b. The finishing up of resources in one or two generations what is handed down to us through generations.
A. Rehabilitation(R & R):
We see every year hundreds of thousands of poor Adivasis, Harijon and poor in general are moving to Hyderabad brick kilns, Bombay slums, or Surat ship wrecking yards, Assam Tea Gardens, Delhi slums or Calcutta slums etc. If these people are ready to move, with family for a better job / chances of a better living they will relocate for the prospect for a better life. But they are not.
The rehabilitation packages do not even have prospect for a better life for them. The R & R projects have brought no bright future for the displaced persons, both in speed of delivery or access to make them attractive.
The Rourkela land officer has probably got promoted to become Chief Secretary or a Secretary of GOI or GOO but the displaced persons have not got their compensation finalized in 50 years. This has obviously made the R & R package unattractive. Our people are no doubt largely illiterate but wise in protecting their self interest.
Thus the newly proposed displacements are bringing so much resistance. And people have come to believe – they have leverage to negotiate till they move out of land. In addition the land regime of the state did not give settlement documents in 50 years and yet insist on records.
My argument will be incomplete without one issue being brought to light – the issue of compensation, as wrongly thought out by the revenue admin – based on the British legacy and carryover of the Raj.
I have seen it being argued ad infinitum that people are being compensated for their land at market price. Thus is a very challengeable theory based on following facts:
1. The homestead land, the tangible asset: The basis is the land bought or sold in the immediate area in the past, which is usually deflated to avoid taxes with active connivance of the land officer and his office. This is well and widely known.
Due to the deficiencies indicated, some times even having an honest officer is a liability because they are unwilling to go beyond books.
2. The intangible assets: These are never compensated and I think there lies the rub. How do you compensate people for things which can’t be measured in rupees, like living of the extended family in one neighborhood? Childhood friends having home in the same neighborhood and living a cooperative life? Since this can’t be reasonably done – but has to be evaluated to make the R & R package, acceptable and attractive to the displaced.
3. The imperial era tactics of provoking people to violence through show of force, application of force to kill, maim, jail, torture and oppress the displaced people into displacement, distress and submission is a little out dated, in this era of instant communication.
I got the posting on the Kalinga nagar firing within 4 hours sitting 13 time zones away. Appointing commissions and not implementing or making public their reports is another ridiculously out dated policy.
Those citizen who are not involved, whose opinion can’t be bought, are impartial judges of the event, who the GOO has to win over. They are the civil society. They may be supporter of development but they will definitely not side with the GOO, if they are found to be failing due other reasons or if the dealing is imperial. Thus the GOO, essentially its bureaucracy, should realize that only fair, transparent and expeditious acts will win the approval of the world at large, which is closely watching this game.
4. I like immensely the idea put forward in the Bajayanta Panda’s interview in Rediff about front ending the rehabilitation settlement. Because people do move voluntarily given real and measurable economic incentives – particularly the underprivileged and poor. Incentives are always more than what is due – more than the market price, based on tangibles.
Lastly, development should touch the very people who are affected by development and at the end of the day, those displaced must be better off, than they previously were.
I do not agree or accept the false prophet’s preachings - that development has to accept the suffering of a some poor and underprivileged for the greater good of the society. Every life is equally valuable and it is where the Govt. in free market comes in.
B Dealing with bee lines of MOUs, rationally in the interest of people:
The Orissa Govt. has signed 42 MOUs last year, .up from may be 0 or Single digit last year. I am sure no one will argue that it was caused solely by the efficiency of the current Orissa Govt, though it may be one of the factors. The same CM is there for more than 6 and half years now. And the NDA Government at center was more Orissa friendly, as an ally of the BJD. So when you clear your vision and look for reasons, for this success, the market forces stare out at you as the answer. In fact is that world is running out of the unassigned iron and the Aluminum ore deposits. Eastern India is one of the few places in the world where such ore are available. So this self-interested drive to Orissa to tie up the mines – as long term captive mines. It is understandable.
What is not understandable is the naivety of GOO to protect it’s enlightened selfinterest.. They have not been able to protect the interest of the people of the state, one could argue. Instead of following the example of Oil cartel or forming a similar organization with the other ore rich states like Chhatisgarh and Jharkhand (which are part of Indian union) and bettering the term for the state–– it has competed with them and made the terms better for the MNCs like POSCO and Tatas. .
In fact they have brought down the prices of the ore and license fees or at least tied them down permanently so that there is no scope of escalation, in 50 years. This obviously is not a very smart negotiation. The terms should get better when there is more demand and the abolition of steel and coal price equalization policy has given these states built in natural advantage. Instead of taking advantage of they have due stupidity or sabotage acceded to long term fixed price for ore. HAVE THEY FORGOTTEN THE EPISODE OF SELLING POWER FROM HIRAKUD @ 1 KWh PER ONE PAISA TO INDAL, WHEN PRODUCTION COST WAS 6 TO 15 PAISA AT VARIOUS TIMES? And in whose interest they have fixed the price of Iron Ore for 30 years to 50 years when it’s world market price is rising. A few months back there was even a strike by Sponge Steel Manufacturer’s association of eastern India, who wanted to ensure that they get ore at Rs. 2000/ Tonne or at least limit the price to Rs. 2500/ Tonne. So why they can’t use this situation to escalate mine leases?
I would expect GOO make all the MOUs public where it belongs and experts and civil society to analyze whether there is a provision of escalation of ore prices on following accounts.
1. Rising price of steel
2. Diminishing reserve of iron ores and other ores.
3. Or an enormous error has been done by fixing the ore prices in an world where the free market ensures rising prices of items with shrinking reserves.
The pattern of pricing will be very clear if the terms signed to of 42 MOU by GOO are compared with those signed by Chhatisgarh and Jharkhand, as well as themselves: If this has been properly done Orissa will become rich due to it’s natures endowment. Else like Gorumahisani and Badampahad it’s natural resources will be drained but it’s people will remain as is - poor.
It must be kept in mind that these MOUs are one way only. Based on past experience companies can walk away from MOUs under various pretext – for example if price of steel has a free fall. We all remember MOUs signed by Late Biju Patnaik’s government with Swaraj Paul and others in 1990s, is not it?
If we take Oil prices as a guideline however we have seen it come up from $1.28 in 1970 to $70 today and large prosperity of middle eastern countries and others due to Oil. With a cooperation between Orissa, Chhatisgarh and Jharkhand (and being land locked they are more likely to cooperate if not pushed) there is a huge prospect of these states getting enough resources for food, shelter, health, education and clothes in next 10 years.
However GOO is hooked to it’s secret signed document. Not only it’s tenure but it’s successor Governments for next 50 years.
C. Neglect of Externals:
Recently Al Gore, the respected former Vice President of US and Al Blood formerly head of Goldman Sachs asset management, wrote an article with in Wall Street Journal, the prestigious mouth piece of Multinational Business. In that OpEd of Wall Street Journal, dated March 28 wrote about what and how externalities are being progressively handled in the 1st world. In that article they state and I quote:
“The industrial revolution brought enormous prosperity, but it also introduced unsustainable business practices. Our current system for accounting was principally established in the 1930s by Lord Keynes and the creation of "national accounts" (the backbone of today's gross domestic product). While this system was precise in its ability to account for capital goods, it was imprecise in its ability to account for natural and human resources because it assumed them to be limitless. This, in part, explains why our current model of economic development is hard-wired to externalize as many costs as possible.”
“Externalities are costs created by industry but paid for by society. For example, pollution is an externality which is sometimes taxed by government in order to make the entity responsible "internalize" the full costs of production. Over the past century, companies have been rewarded financially for maximizing externalities in order to minimize costs.”
"License to operate" can no longer be taken for granted by business as challenges such as climate change, HIV/AIDS, water scarcity and poverty have reached a point where civil society is demanding a response from business and government. The "polluter pays" principle is just one example of how companies can be held accountable for the full costs of doing business.
Extensive arguments on the processes used to dump externalities and their impact on local populations are presented by Sanat Mohanty.
Without public review the steel bonanza will turn out to be bonanza not for Orissa people but for the steel companies. They contracts must be strong enough so ensure that when the exploitation is finished the ground will be restored. The reputation of the companies of public orientation is not enough.
20 years back Birlas and Tatas were the top companies, today they are not. Reliance is.
But the GOO will be there and it has to pay the price of a bad contract today, like GOO paid INDALCO for 50 years.
Unexpectedly, our discussions are not covering these important missing points. They should show up in these discussions, sooner than later to make the debate meaningful and useful.
Sandip Dasverma has argued extensively for the rights of the displaced. This article was first published on his blog .
Tuesday, June 27, 2006
A how to primer for Spelling Bee and Vocabulary for India
By Sandip K. Dasverma
Spelling Bee and Vocabulary contest run by North South Foundation in USA is now more than a decade old but “Indian Spelling Bee Competition started by K. P. Das memorial spelling Bee and Vocabulary Trust is only 3 years old and this year will be third year of it’s running. It was initially started Sandip K. Dasverma under banner of Diocese of North India, Cuttack. From the inception it is assisted technically by the North South Foundation, Chicago, and it still is done that way. But the conducting of the test successfully the Cuttack team has developed their own do’s and don’ts.
Both the problems and issues are different in Orissa/India, and are as follows:
1. Unlike North America the Indian program have to be school based and not based on volunteers among the parent-teachers and civil society..
2. Unlike America the participant number is high once the kids are motivated.
3. Transport is both expensive and a big hindrance for a separation of even 15 miles distance.
4. Indian English and American English are different both in spelling and pronunciation.
5. In India people are accustomed to get things free so a Rs. 10 entry fee can be questioned.
6. The numbers of participants are usually high because unlike America (only Indo-Americans), everyone is eligible to participate.
I will now describe the process how it is done which is the main question:
1. We sent in a letter to every school we targeted giving a date by which to send the name of the willing participants with a Rs. 15 fee / student.
2. Except a few schools which were under control of the diocese we had to pursue the school English teachers or the Head Master.
3. About 6 English medium schools (3 from Cuttack and 3 from Bhubaneswar) and 3 Oriya medium schools sent in about 500 applications.
4. The preliminary word lists(1000 words each for Spelling BEE and 1000 for Vocabulary) both of which was received from North South Foundation, were checked for variation in spelling, retyped, Xeroxed and sent to each student, as the preliminary word list. This is a very expensive proposition.
5. There was a shortage of good pronouncers and even English teachers did not have good pronunciations. Luckily we had couple of top class English pronouncers in Prof Gopa Das, Nita Das, Farley North, Mr. Stanley Wright, Mariamma Jachak among the teachers of New Stewart School, who took filled in creditably.
6. They conducted some demo competitions in various new schools, where it was not done in 2003. Now it is done through a demo VCD, from this year on wards.
7. We could use a few of parents as judges, who essentially were score keepers. However such practice increased the credibility of the team as they went back to other parents and testified about the fairness of the competition. It worked out to our advantage – we strictly forbade the parents or their friends not being in the room of their wards.8. Each kid was given 3 random words in the beginning, a list of 20 words dictated to them to write and then 3 random words to spell. The cut off for the spelling Bee was decided after both the Cuttack and Bhubaneswar competitions so roughly 20% was invited to the finals. All the score sheets signed by all of the a judge, the Chief judge and pronouncers were preserved – just in case. The 2nd bunch of the 3 words were from out side the list given. Again these words were obtained from the NSF data base and was kept under wraps by the Prof. Gopa Das who shared the list only at the last moment. She had made the necessary correction and duplication of the list.
9. In the finals 78 kids were invited for spelling Bee and some 52 for Vocabulary. They included at least one person from each participating school so they can carry the flavor of the final to their fellow students.
10. In the final same 26 word format – 3 plus 3 given at the beginning and the end by random picking and 20 words were dictated to all students.
11. In the final there were two ties which were eliminated by a tie breaker for which additional words not in the list was used.
12. In the final there were two stages for both. There was a semifinal after which the numbers were reduced to 30 in each category.
13. It was seen that the students came prepared for the finals.
14. Awards amounting to Rs. 22 thousand given away. Rs. 3000 for 1st prize, Rs. 2000 for 2nd prize and Rs.1000 for the third prize in each of Vocabulary and Spelling Bee. Five consolation prizes of Rs. 500 each was given in each category.
Spelling Bee and Vocabulary contest run by North South Foundation in USA is now more than a decade old but “Indian Spelling Bee Competition started by K. P. Das memorial spelling Bee and Vocabulary Trust is only 3 years old and this year will be third year of it’s running. It was initially started Sandip K. Dasverma under banner of Diocese of North India, Cuttack. From the inception it is assisted technically by the North South Foundation, Chicago, and it still is done that way. But the conducting of the test successfully the Cuttack team has developed their own do’s and don’ts.
Both the problems and issues are different in Orissa/India, and are as follows:
1. Unlike North America the Indian program have to be school based and not based on volunteers among the parent-teachers and civil society..
2. Unlike America the participant number is high once the kids are motivated.
3. Transport is both expensive and a big hindrance for a separation of even 15 miles distance.
4. Indian English and American English are different both in spelling and pronunciation.
5. In India people are accustomed to get things free so a Rs. 10 entry fee can be questioned.
6. The numbers of participants are usually high because unlike America (only Indo-Americans), everyone is eligible to participate.
I will now describe the process how it is done which is the main question:
1. We sent in a letter to every school we targeted giving a date by which to send the name of the willing participants with a Rs. 15 fee / student.
2. Except a few schools which were under control of the diocese we had to pursue the school English teachers or the Head Master.
3. About 6 English medium schools (3 from Cuttack and 3 from Bhubaneswar) and 3 Oriya medium schools sent in about 500 applications.
4. The preliminary word lists(1000 words each for Spelling BEE and 1000 for Vocabulary) both of which was received from North South Foundation, were checked for variation in spelling, retyped, Xeroxed and sent to each student, as the preliminary word list. This is a very expensive proposition.
5. There was a shortage of good pronouncers and even English teachers did not have good pronunciations. Luckily we had couple of top class English pronouncers in Prof Gopa Das, Nita Das, Farley North, Mr. Stanley Wright, Mariamma Jachak among the teachers of New Stewart School, who took filled in creditably.
6. They conducted some demo competitions in various new schools, where it was not done in 2003. Now it is done through a demo VCD, from this year on wards.
7. We could use a few of parents as judges, who essentially were score keepers. However such practice increased the credibility of the team as they went back to other parents and testified about the fairness of the competition. It worked out to our advantage – we strictly forbade the parents or their friends not being in the room of their wards.8. Each kid was given 3 random words in the beginning, a list of 20 words dictated to them to write and then 3 random words to spell. The cut off for the spelling Bee was decided after both the Cuttack and Bhubaneswar competitions so roughly 20% was invited to the finals. All the score sheets signed by all of the a judge, the Chief judge and pronouncers were preserved – just in case. The 2nd bunch of the 3 words were from out side the list given. Again these words were obtained from the NSF data base and was kept under wraps by the Prof. Gopa Das who shared the list only at the last moment. She had made the necessary correction and duplication of the list.
9. In the finals 78 kids were invited for spelling Bee and some 52 for Vocabulary. They included at least one person from each participating school so they can carry the flavor of the final to their fellow students.
10. In the final same 26 word format – 3 plus 3 given at the beginning and the end by random picking and 20 words were dictated to all students.
11. In the final there were two ties which were eliminated by a tie breaker for which additional words not in the list was used.
12. In the final there were two stages for both. There was a semifinal after which the numbers were reduced to 30 in each category.
13. It was seen that the students came prepared for the finals.
14. Awards amounting to Rs. 22 thousand given away. Rs. 3000 for 1st prize, Rs. 2000 for 2nd prize and Rs.1000 for the third prize in each of Vocabulary and Spelling Bee. Five consolation prizes of Rs. 500 each was given in each category.
The Case for unsecured loans to bright but poor students of Orissa - by Sandip K. Dasverma
A. Description of the case:
With commercialization of education the access to education for the kids, not born in privileged homes, has significantly reduced.
Orissa is full of such underprivileged homes and first generation kid, in college.
By laws of nature many talented kids are born in economically underprivileged homes.
In addition they can also be sociologically (SC, ST) or religion wise (Muslim or Christian), or gender wise(women), handicapped.
Less than half of the underprivileged kids get to the school, in Orissa.
Only one hundred of every one thousand get to class ten(89 girls out of 1000).
Of these a small percentage of only 10% or less pass in 1st Division.
For any advancement of Orissa we need to offer full academic opportunity, in form of funding access, to every one of these that come in to the school system, to breast the tape of their educational ambition.
In other words, when one is born to an underprivileged situation he needs to have assured funding to fulfill his full potential - else the state(Orissa) will linger in it's present sorry state for a long time to come and progress will be stalled. Thus the need for unsecured loans.
B Actions Taken and results:
o With this in view a team of education enthusiasts of Orissa, Mr. S. C. Choudhury, Customs Commissioner of Vizag Port and Prof. Swadheenananda Patnaik, Director Institute of Mathematics & Applications, BBSR, met the Chief General Manager(CGM) of SBI at BBSR more than two years back.
o The CGM promised to have this problem redressed and
o He assigned a Dy.General Manager (one Mr. S. N. Tripathy) to this job. There was a flurry of letters and meeting with Mr. Tripathy, no results.
o Last year on July 2nd, 2005, SBI sent a special officer (Mr. Kanababu) to a meet of our group of education enthusiasts, to explain and advise them how to apply for Bank loans and what actions SBI has taken(video available):
o He explained with examples and rules, as to what SBI policy are.
o He explained that the meritorious (qualifying mark 60%) and poor (i.e. they don't have property to pledge and low income) will get unsecured loan, if forms are properly filled in.
o He explained that SBI policy is to sanction Bank study loan within 48 hours of a properly filled form
o Based on that criteria 67 kids from NIT Rourkela applied and were recommended by a special officer (who was sent by SBI, Regional office to NIT Rourkela)
o Some of these applications are still pending with the SBI
o None, yes NONE got unsecured loan so far.
C. Our Grouse and case:
o In paper and officially SBI states students are eligible, their marketing papers says meritorious students (60% or above marks) can get unsecured loan.
o Yet when they apply they don't get.
o But the Bank talks something to be their policy and yet it's officers do something else.
o So it is a long struggle going on for 3 years now to crack open the door for the meritorious and needy students of Orissa.
D. Our finding and suggested Solution:
o We have to find out the reasons for denial and have suggestions as to how to prevent it. If there are other solutions banks have found working some where they too are acceptable. Bottom line is sanction of Unsecured Loans to needy students.
o Reasons in our opinion are two fold:
The Corrupt branch managers and officers harass the students to extract bribe.
§ Make them run a few times and they will cough up or give up policy.
o Other officers, honest but indifferent, are afraid to give loan without security to students. They figure out ways, some times simply ignore regional office directives, (don't care whether Kids qualify or not), to avoid responsibility and remain safe.
§ Yes, since they don't gain anything from sanctioning a loan, they don't want to take the risk of being penalized for sanctioning a bad loan. - though their rule books and guidelines state otherwise. Thus they stick to the usual bureaucratic path, where inefficient cringe and corrupt benefit.
o And all the while our students run after them, or from pillar to post to get the loans, and thus fail to concentrate on their studies.
o What this does is that REAL poor can't even dare to try to come out of their morass and misery - because they don't have money to even get admission, unless accidentally some one they meet, who mentor, monitor and support them.
o It is same old story of Late Dr. P. K. Parija(scientist and educationist), in the 21st century, nearly 100 years after he had to go through it.
E…Civil Society Action Inadequate:
Not that we are not trying. We are giving at this time about 30 lakhs worth in scholarships to the deserving students (600 plus students). But that number is just insignificant compared to the size of the problem. The real need is so high that we need institutional finance – like countries where education has been commercialized. Like in USA where if you are meritorious the college will manage to help you out with student loans. Unfortunately, the Indian system has followed the US pattern of commercialization of education but not it's financing patterns.
F. Banks are still behaving the old way:
Loaning money is a favor not a business deal, even today. They say old habits die hard.
Due to political pressures they are forced to let go the big fish (with crores of uncollected loans) - - but they are killing these budding talents for a few crores worth student loans.
We do want BANKs (yes all banks, not only SBI) to help resolve this issue of financial access to the poor and needy but bright and hard working students or Orissa, asap, at least before 2006-2007 academic season, starting this July,2006.
G. Banks need to be proactive:
The banks need to set and meet educational loan goals and sanction at least a fixed quantity of unsecured loans in the coming year, to meet that goal.
A suggested out line for SBI is below but other banks should come up with their own goals and submit them for public view and transparency.
Post Matric – Rs. 6 to 10 thousand – 2000 @ 65 in each of 30 district =1.6 crores
Plus 2 / plus 3 – Rs 10 thousand – 1000 @ 35 in each district = 1crore
Engineering Diploma: Rs. 10 thousand – 300 @ 10 in each district = 0.3 crores
Engineering: 20 to 30 thousand per year - 1000 @ 35 in each district. = 2.5 crores
Medical: 30 thousand per year – 100 @ 30 in each of the 3 colleges =0.3 crores
H. Recommended Solution:
The issue of corrupt branch managers is to be resolved by banks through administrative process, which civil society need not worry about – except if loan scholarship goals are not met they should be penalized and ATR(action taken report) made public.
Not sanctioning stipulated number of loans should be considered a dereliction of duty.
I would even suggest the Branches should have assigned quotas – and they shall be answerable to this state consultancy/advisory body, if they don't meet them. In case of harassment there should be a advisory body of Bank officials and Academia in each district.
It should be made a responsibility of the Banks to release to media applications received and loans sanctioned each month.
48 hours is too ambitious but if they can be sanctioned in 2 weeks time or better it should be considered adequate.
About the fear of other branch managers as "unsecured loans" have no safety net for the Branch Managers. This problem seem to have been solved by Hyderabad Regional office of SBI. This is what they have done:
A person who is more permanent in the area and traceable – a resident of the area who is also a State Govt, Panchayat, Central Govt. or similar gives a written undertaking that in case of the loanee disappearing not being traceable – they undertake to find and give their addresses. The reason is that when kids graduate from destitute conditions to be an engineer or a doctor – they abandon their village and take their either old or economically weak family members to their place of work in far off urban areas, like Mumbai or Delhi. Some times they cut off their contact or their relatives back home don't give their addresses thinking they are doing a favor to their now established ward. Once the address is obtained, all banks have institutional mechanism to collect money, which gets triggered.
The upcoming ID card system in India should make even this process unnecessary – because they can be easily traced in no time.
Banks should share between them any success stories in student loan collection between each other and come up with a standard operating procedure
NIT Rourkela should be declared as an "Institute of Eminence", like the IITs, (which it is being ranked 17th in India) so the loan can be sanctioned at the college Branch of SBI.
Other old colleges like UCE, Burla, S.C.B. Medical College, can and should be sanctioned "Institute of Eminence" status.
A public watch body in each district may be set up to bring misuse of the privileges both by the bank and the students can be investigated and finding reported for correction.
With commercialization of education the access to education for the kids, not born in privileged homes, has significantly reduced.
Orissa is full of such underprivileged homes and first generation kid, in college.
By laws of nature many talented kids are born in economically underprivileged homes.
In addition they can also be sociologically (SC, ST) or religion wise (Muslim or Christian), or gender wise(women), handicapped.
Less than half of the underprivileged kids get to the school, in Orissa.
Only one hundred of every one thousand get to class ten(89 girls out of 1000).
Of these a small percentage of only 10% or less pass in 1st Division.
For any advancement of Orissa we need to offer full academic opportunity, in form of funding access, to every one of these that come in to the school system, to breast the tape of their educational ambition.
In other words, when one is born to an underprivileged situation he needs to have assured funding to fulfill his full potential - else the state(Orissa) will linger in it's present sorry state for a long time to come and progress will be stalled. Thus the need for unsecured loans.
B Actions Taken and results:
o With this in view a team of education enthusiasts of Orissa, Mr. S. C. Choudhury, Customs Commissioner of Vizag Port and Prof. Swadheenananda Patnaik, Director Institute of Mathematics & Applications, BBSR, met the Chief General Manager(CGM) of SBI at BBSR more than two years back.
o The CGM promised to have this problem redressed and
o He assigned a Dy.General Manager (one Mr. S. N. Tripathy) to this job. There was a flurry of letters and meeting with Mr. Tripathy, no results.
o Last year on July 2nd, 2005, SBI sent a special officer (Mr. Kanababu) to a meet of our group of education enthusiasts, to explain and advise them how to apply for Bank loans and what actions SBI has taken(video available):
o He explained with examples and rules, as to what SBI policy are.
o He explained that the meritorious (qualifying mark 60%) and poor (i.e. they don't have property to pledge and low income) will get unsecured loan, if forms are properly filled in.
o He explained that SBI policy is to sanction Bank study loan within 48 hours of a properly filled form
o Based on that criteria 67 kids from NIT Rourkela applied and were recommended by a special officer (who was sent by SBI, Regional office to NIT Rourkela)
o Some of these applications are still pending with the SBI
o None, yes NONE got unsecured loan so far.
C. Our Grouse and case:
o In paper and officially SBI states students are eligible, their marketing papers says meritorious students (60% or above marks) can get unsecured loan.
o Yet when they apply they don't get.
o But the Bank talks something to be their policy and yet it's officers do something else.
o So it is a long struggle going on for 3 years now to crack open the door for the meritorious and needy students of Orissa.
D. Our finding and suggested Solution:
o We have to find out the reasons for denial and have suggestions as to how to prevent it. If there are other solutions banks have found working some where they too are acceptable. Bottom line is sanction of Unsecured Loans to needy students.
o Reasons in our opinion are two fold:
The Corrupt branch managers and officers harass the students to extract bribe.
§ Make them run a few times and they will cough up or give up policy.
o Other officers, honest but indifferent, are afraid to give loan without security to students. They figure out ways, some times simply ignore regional office directives, (don't care whether Kids qualify or not), to avoid responsibility and remain safe.
§ Yes, since they don't gain anything from sanctioning a loan, they don't want to take the risk of being penalized for sanctioning a bad loan. - though their rule books and guidelines state otherwise. Thus they stick to the usual bureaucratic path, where inefficient cringe and corrupt benefit.
o And all the while our students run after them, or from pillar to post to get the loans, and thus fail to concentrate on their studies.
o What this does is that REAL poor can't even dare to try to come out of their morass and misery - because they don't have money to even get admission, unless accidentally some one they meet, who mentor, monitor and support them.
o It is same old story of Late Dr. P. K. Parija(scientist and educationist), in the 21st century, nearly 100 years after he had to go through it.
E…Civil Society Action Inadequate:
Not that we are not trying. We are giving at this time about 30 lakhs worth in scholarships to the deserving students (600 plus students). But that number is just insignificant compared to the size of the problem. The real need is so high that we need institutional finance – like countries where education has been commercialized. Like in USA where if you are meritorious the college will manage to help you out with student loans. Unfortunately, the Indian system has followed the US pattern of commercialization of education but not it's financing patterns.
F. Banks are still behaving the old way:
Loaning money is a favor not a business deal, even today. They say old habits die hard.
Due to political pressures they are forced to let go the big fish (with crores of uncollected loans) - - but they are killing these budding talents for a few crores worth student loans.
We do want BANKs (yes all banks, not only SBI) to help resolve this issue of financial access to the poor and needy but bright and hard working students or Orissa, asap, at least before 2006-2007 academic season, starting this July,2006.
G. Banks need to be proactive:
The banks need to set and meet educational loan goals and sanction at least a fixed quantity of unsecured loans in the coming year, to meet that goal.
A suggested out line for SBI is below but other banks should come up with their own goals and submit them for public view and transparency.
Post Matric – Rs. 6 to 10 thousand – 2000 @ 65 in each of 30 district =1.6 crores
Plus 2 / plus 3 – Rs 10 thousand – 1000 @ 35 in each district = 1crore
Engineering Diploma: Rs. 10 thousand – 300 @ 10 in each district = 0.3 crores
Engineering: 20 to 30 thousand per year - 1000 @ 35 in each district. = 2.5 crores
Medical: 30 thousand per year – 100 @ 30 in each of the 3 colleges =0.3 crores
H. Recommended Solution:
The issue of corrupt branch managers is to be resolved by banks through administrative process, which civil society need not worry about – except if loan scholarship goals are not met they should be penalized and ATR(action taken report) made public.
Not sanctioning stipulated number of loans should be considered a dereliction of duty.
I would even suggest the Branches should have assigned quotas – and they shall be answerable to this state consultancy/advisory body, if they don't meet them. In case of harassment there should be a advisory body of Bank officials and Academia in each district.
It should be made a responsibility of the Banks to release to media applications received and loans sanctioned each month.
48 hours is too ambitious but if they can be sanctioned in 2 weeks time or better it should be considered adequate.
About the fear of other branch managers as "unsecured loans" have no safety net for the Branch Managers. This problem seem to have been solved by Hyderabad Regional office of SBI. This is what they have done:
A person who is more permanent in the area and traceable – a resident of the area who is also a State Govt, Panchayat, Central Govt. or similar gives a written undertaking that in case of the loanee disappearing not being traceable – they undertake to find and give their addresses. The reason is that when kids graduate from destitute conditions to be an engineer or a doctor – they abandon their village and take their either old or economically weak family members to their place of work in far off urban areas, like Mumbai or Delhi. Some times they cut off their contact or their relatives back home don't give their addresses thinking they are doing a favor to their now established ward. Once the address is obtained, all banks have institutional mechanism to collect money, which gets triggered.
The upcoming ID card system in India should make even this process unnecessary – because they can be easily traced in no time.
Banks should share between them any success stories in student loan collection between each other and come up with a standard operating procedure
NIT Rourkela should be declared as an "Institute of Eminence", like the IITs, (which it is being ranked 17th in India) so the loan can be sanctioned at the college Branch of SBI.
Other old colleges like UCE, Burla, S.C.B. Medical College, can and should be sanctioned "Institute of Eminence" status.
A public watch body in each district may be set up to bring misuse of the privileges both by the bank and the students can be investigated and finding reported for correction.
What is Spelling Bee / Vocabulary contest? How it will be conducted?
The Spelling Bee contest
It is an American innovation at which Indians have become very adept. In fact in the last 7 years, kids of Indian origin have dominated the American national contest, known as “Scripp-Howard spelling Bee”, winning 5 times out of 7. In fact most of the years there were more than 2 Indian kids in the top ten, of the event. This contest helps immensely in development of mastery in English language in addition to improving their other faculties of competition, helping in educational pursuit.
Vocabulary contest:
It is a word meaning contest which helps in expanding kid’s word power, thus enhancing his ability to grasp knowledge. This very skill is tested in SAT test, which is a very established way of determining the college readiness and comprehension of the kids.
History of contest in Orissa:
We have started these tests in Orissa in 2003, in English medium New Stewart School, Stewart School, Cuttack, and Stewart School, Bhubaneswar. A few other schools like Ruchika School of BBSR participated in 1st year. About 500 kids participated.
We repeated the tests 2004 again in the same schools plus extended it to a few Oriya medium schools and central schools of Cuttack.
In 2005 the participation was vastly expanded and participation crossed 1000 for the 1st time and reached nearly 1200. Schools from six districts participated:
Cuttack, Khurda, Puri, Berhampore, Jajpur, Bhadrak. Tests were conducted in Cuttack(twice), Bhubaneswar(twice), Sukinda and Puri.
The finals were held in Cuttack. The whole show was lead / managed by Diocese of Cuttack, led by B. B. Das, Diocese Secretary and Farley North, Principal New Stewart School.. It was technically supported by North South Foundation, USA and financially by an NRI, Sandip K. Dasverma.
From day one Prof. Gopa Das, President, Farley North, Secretary and Nita Das, Asst. Secretary and treasurer, have conducted the tests. They have developed enough expertise over last 3 years, to Indianize it, and taken all executive responsibilities.
It has been proven that it does excite kids to master English language and improves their language skills in English, the most important language in the era of “Globalization”.. To do this we need to do things which we have not done so far:
1. Spread it to every Oriya medium school in every nook and corner of Orissa, because it is expected to play a major role in the mission of improvement of English in Orissa. Lack of fluent knowledge in English is hindering Orissa’s development / progress.
2. The basic test should be conducted first by each school, internally. Then 5 to 10 students from each school need to compete in a inter school competition at districts level of the state.
3. Then the final will be at the state level, with big prize and recognition etc. This will be in conjunction with English medium schools.
4. The spelling Bee contest is for the juniors (6 and 7 class) and Vocabulary contest is for seniors(8 and 9 class).
5. The Diocese has done a great job in spreading the awareness and competition among the students of the English medium schools of coastal area.
6. They can and will extend this to the English medium schools in other parts of the state but that is a very small part of the student population.
7. To expand farther we need to use organizations which will complement the Diocese effort and spread the message and expertise, while the core competence and quality is controlled and maintained by a group of experts developed over last 3 years. This is where Lions club can chip in.
8. Lions role is envisioned here in providing it’s vast net work of 70 branches and the organizational expertise to hold it everyone of those towns and cities, and expand it to nooks and corners at one shot.
9. Diocese and Lions will complement each other in the Late K. P. Das memorial Spelling and Vocabulary contest and Trust, each in charge of their core competence areas.
10. Diocese will help in holding them in their own and other English medium schools and Lion in Oriya medium schools except where a combination will be beneficial per judgment of fhe organizers. The expertise and training of the new judges will be with co-operation of Lion, Diocese and the central body of experts..
11. Lion will use its presence in 70 locations, numerous officers, and offices, to help expand the tests to all parts of Orissa.
12. Web sites to exchange information, Post test words, leading to what is called mass customization is a goal to cut costs and maintain uniform quality. An example of what can be done can be seen at: www.rmtsorissa.org/ for improvement of math among rural students of Orissa.
13. Advantage of video technology will be taken to train new teachers and organizers to train them to internalize the modus operandi, of the tests. A Demo Video disc has was made last year to demonstrate “How to conduct” among new schools. It can be improved with better captions or other improvements.
14. Each district center will be it’s own cost center and will be self sufficient, through local sponsorships. They will take an entry fee. The will try to send all those qualified to the central contest, by paying travel expenses as per actual, host lunches for the participants and their parents. Though economically needy students to be supported- no free ride should be given to those who can afford.
15. Local district prizes can be given if funds locally funds can be raised.
16. The central organization will conduct the final, conduct one or two tests to demonstrate to those who want to come, see and learn, maintain quality by setting test questions and practice words. The central organization will also look for sponsors, which it presently has
This is a first draft and other ideas are welcome to improve it/ innovate it.
It is an American innovation at which Indians have become very adept. In fact in the last 7 years, kids of Indian origin have dominated the American national contest, known as “Scripp-Howard spelling Bee”, winning 5 times out of 7. In fact most of the years there were more than 2 Indian kids in the top ten, of the event. This contest helps immensely in development of mastery in English language in addition to improving their other faculties of competition, helping in educational pursuit.
Vocabulary contest:
It is a word meaning contest which helps in expanding kid’s word power, thus enhancing his ability to grasp knowledge. This very skill is tested in SAT test, which is a very established way of determining the college readiness and comprehension of the kids.
History of contest in Orissa:
We have started these tests in Orissa in 2003, in English medium New Stewart School, Stewart School, Cuttack, and Stewart School, Bhubaneswar. A few other schools like Ruchika School of BBSR participated in 1st year. About 500 kids participated.
We repeated the tests 2004 again in the same schools plus extended it to a few Oriya medium schools and central schools of Cuttack.
In 2005 the participation was vastly expanded and participation crossed 1000 for the 1st time and reached nearly 1200. Schools from six districts participated:
Cuttack, Khurda, Puri, Berhampore, Jajpur, Bhadrak. Tests were conducted in Cuttack(twice), Bhubaneswar(twice), Sukinda and Puri.
The finals were held in Cuttack. The whole show was lead / managed by Diocese of Cuttack, led by B. B. Das, Diocese Secretary and Farley North, Principal New Stewart School.. It was technically supported by North South Foundation, USA and financially by an NRI, Sandip K. Dasverma.
From day one Prof. Gopa Das, President, Farley North, Secretary and Nita Das, Asst. Secretary and treasurer, have conducted the tests. They have developed enough expertise over last 3 years, to Indianize it, and taken all executive responsibilities.
It has been proven that it does excite kids to master English language and improves their language skills in English, the most important language in the era of “Globalization”.. To do this we need to do things which we have not done so far:
1. Spread it to every Oriya medium school in every nook and corner of Orissa, because it is expected to play a major role in the mission of improvement of English in Orissa. Lack of fluent knowledge in English is hindering Orissa’s development / progress.
2. The basic test should be conducted first by each school, internally. Then 5 to 10 students from each school need to compete in a inter school competition at districts level of the state.
3. Then the final will be at the state level, with big prize and recognition etc. This will be in conjunction with English medium schools.
4. The spelling Bee contest is for the juniors (6 and 7 class) and Vocabulary contest is for seniors(8 and 9 class).
5. The Diocese has done a great job in spreading the awareness and competition among the students of the English medium schools of coastal area.
6. They can and will extend this to the English medium schools in other parts of the state but that is a very small part of the student population.
7. To expand farther we need to use organizations which will complement the Diocese effort and spread the message and expertise, while the core competence and quality is controlled and maintained by a group of experts developed over last 3 years. This is where Lions club can chip in.
8. Lions role is envisioned here in providing it’s vast net work of 70 branches and the organizational expertise to hold it everyone of those towns and cities, and expand it to nooks and corners at one shot.
9. Diocese and Lions will complement each other in the Late K. P. Das memorial Spelling and Vocabulary contest and Trust, each in charge of their core competence areas.
10. Diocese will help in holding them in their own and other English medium schools and Lion in Oriya medium schools except where a combination will be beneficial per judgment of fhe organizers. The expertise and training of the new judges will be with co-operation of Lion, Diocese and the central body of experts..
11. Lion will use its presence in 70 locations, numerous officers, and offices, to help expand the tests to all parts of Orissa.
12. Web sites to exchange information, Post test words, leading to what is called mass customization is a goal to cut costs and maintain uniform quality. An example of what can be done can be seen at: www.rmtsorissa.org/ for improvement of math among rural students of Orissa.
13. Advantage of video technology will be taken to train new teachers and organizers to train them to internalize the modus operandi, of the tests. A Demo Video disc has was made last year to demonstrate “How to conduct” among new schools. It can be improved with better captions or other improvements.
14. Each district center will be it’s own cost center and will be self sufficient, through local sponsorships. They will take an entry fee. The will try to send all those qualified to the central contest, by paying travel expenses as per actual, host lunches for the participants and their parents. Though economically needy students to be supported- no free ride should be given to those who can afford.
15. Local district prizes can be given if funds locally funds can be raised.
16. The central organization will conduct the final, conduct one or two tests to demonstrate to those who want to come, see and learn, maintain quality by setting test questions and practice words. The central organization will also look for sponsors, which it presently has
This is a first draft and other ideas are welcome to improve it/ innovate it.
Monday, June 26, 2006
List of NRI donors
List of donors for RMTS First Batch (2003 to 2007): 30 Scholarships
1. S. K. Dasverma
List of donors for RMTS 2nd Batch (2004 to 2008): 100 Scholarships
1 Satyabrata and Bijay Laxmi:
2 Purna Mohanty
3 SriGopal babu
4 Lalu Mansingh
List of donors for RMTS 3rd Batch ( 2005 to 2009) : 165 scholarships
1. Shaibal and Yin Leong Roy
2. Neelamadhaba and Sashmita Mohapatro
3. Dr. Debi Mishra(Alabama)
4. Dr.Subhendra and Ranu Mohanty
5. Dr. Priyadarshan and Anu Patra
6. Dhirendra Kar
7. Binod Naik
8. Alok Mohapatra
9. Dr. Chitta Baral
10. Dr. Annapurna Pandey
11. Birendra Mishra
12. Sunil Sabat
13 . Prasanta Behera
14. Dr. Abani Patro
15. Soumendra Mohanty
16. Bijay Mohapatra
17. Ram K. Das
18. Sapan Panigrahi
19. Nishikanta Sahoo
20. Dr. Saheb Sahu
21. Dr. Anjalika Pattnayak
22. Vikas Mishra
23. Satyajit Sahu
24. Sujata Das
1. S. K. Dasverma
List of donors for RMTS 2nd Batch (2004 to 2008): 100 Scholarships
1 Satyabrata and Bijay Laxmi:
2 Purna Mohanty
3 SriGopal babu
4 Lalu Mansingh
List of donors for RMTS 3rd Batch ( 2005 to 2009) : 165 scholarships
1. Shaibal and Yin Leong Roy
2. Neelamadhaba and Sashmita Mohapatro
3. Dr. Debi Mishra(Alabama)
4. Dr.Subhendra and Ranu Mohanty
5. Dr. Priyadarshan and Anu Patra
6. Dhirendra Kar
7. Binod Naik
8. Alok Mohapatra
9. Dr. Chitta Baral
10. Dr. Annapurna Pandey
11. Birendra Mishra
12. Sunil Sabat
13 . Prasanta Behera
14. Dr. Abani Patro
15. Soumendra Mohanty
16. Bijay Mohapatra
17. Ram K. Das
18. Sapan Panigrahi
19. Nishikanta Sahoo
20. Dr. Saheb Sahu
21. Dr. Anjalika Pattnayak
22. Vikas Mishra
23. Satyajit Sahu
24. Sujata Das
Wednesday, June 21, 2006
Should the story of Dipak Das, begin and end with him?
in Orissa and abroad among NRIs(Non Resident Indians), particularly NROs(Non Resident Orissans or Oriyas). Many have volunteered to support Dipak through the medical school. Three banks have been wining and dining him (so to say) having arranged special functions in his honor at their Jagatsingpur branches. see Sambad news
And many FFE coordinators have expressed concern for the boy. It is another matter that the boy will not be able to continue medical studies if he gets FFE scholarship of Rs. 25000 when his study expenses are Rs. 45 thou / year or so. And he will get this in January / February of 2007. Thus if he is really poor he can't survive till that time.
On the positive side FFE scholarships and other scholarships, which are coordinated in India by our associate Vikas Charitable Trust's Sri S. C. Choudhury has so far helped mentor and monitor 35 medical students and 70 plus Engineering students. And helped them get through.
But Dipak is only one of the many cases from Orissa. Accidentally or incidentally he is first in JEE. But any one who gets an admission to the Medical School is by design a good student, so scare are the seats and so fierce is the competetion. So those others the 21st, the 41st, the 61st the 101th or 201th et el are all good students, too. How do we provide them, if they need support? How come no one talks of them. Many of them will need "Unsecured" bank loan to get from here to there, when they qualify in the JEE examination to when they become doctors or Engineers.
And that needs a lot of thought on Bank's part too to meet their social obligations. Banks should not get lost in gimmicks of multiple bank's offer to the same kid, who accidentally has become first. They should collaborate to see that all the kids who have qualified and need funds, get them.
As we discuss this one more issue comes to my mind. These days some kids are passing school, first time in their villages or families, who don't have any resources in the family to support them in the college. These are real meritorious students who minimal family support and no financial support to go for tuition, are getting 60 to 70%. They are thus real meritorious students, with raw merit - and not massaged merit, who are massaged through tuition for IIT or IIM.
But in these days of commercialized education they need Rs. 10 to 12 thousand per year to get by for the 11th and 12th grade. Thus they need between Rs. 40 to 50 thousand to pass B.A / B.Sc to become a teacher or get where they can get a job. I don't think banks are even considering such students and they should - if our society is ever to provide equal opportunity. But where is that thought?
That is why I ask - "Should the story of Dipak Das, begin and end with him?"
And many FFE coordinators have expressed concern for the boy. It is another matter that the boy will not be able to continue medical studies if he gets FFE scholarship of Rs. 25000 when his study expenses are Rs. 45 thou / year or so. And he will get this in January / February of 2007. Thus if he is really poor he can't survive till that time.
On the positive side FFE scholarships and other scholarships, which are coordinated in India by our associate Vikas Charitable Trust's Sri S. C. Choudhury has so far helped mentor and monitor 35 medical students and 70 plus Engineering students. And helped them get through.
But Dipak is only one of the many cases from Orissa. Accidentally or incidentally he is first in JEE. But any one who gets an admission to the Medical School is by design a good student, so scare are the seats and so fierce is the competetion. So those others the 21st, the 41st, the 61st the 101th or 201th et el are all good students, too. How do we provide them, if they need support? How come no one talks of them. Many of them will need "Unsecured" bank loan to get from here to there, when they qualify in the JEE examination to when they become doctors or Engineers.
And that needs a lot of thought on Bank's part too to meet their social obligations. Banks should not get lost in gimmicks of multiple bank's offer to the same kid, who accidentally has become first. They should collaborate to see that all the kids who have qualified and need funds, get them.
As we discuss this one more issue comes to my mind. These days some kids are passing school, first time in their villages or families, who don't have any resources in the family to support them in the college. These are real meritorious students who minimal family support and no financial support to go for tuition, are getting 60 to 70%. They are thus real meritorious students, with raw merit - and not massaged merit, who are massaged through tuition for IIT or IIM.
But in these days of commercialized education they need Rs. 10 to 12 thousand per year to get by for the 11th and 12th grade. Thus they need between Rs. 40 to 50 thousand to pass B.A / B.Sc to become a teacher or get where they can get a job. I don't think banks are even considering such students and they should - if our society is ever to provide equal opportunity. But where is that thought?
That is why I ask - "Should the story of Dipak Das, begin and end with him?"
Friday, June 09, 2006
FFE is now a recognized name in Orissa
FFE or Foundation For Excellence, of Santa Clara is now a recognized name in Orissa. Since 1994, when FFE was started, FFE has helped 389 Students (Female-126, Male-263) from Orissa with 789 scholarships. So far 54 of its alums have graduated, in Engineering, Medical, and/or Veterinary Sciences.
It's activities in Orissa has increased in last five years significantly. Here are the statistics since 2001-02:
2001-02 - 38 students – $13,251
2002-03 - 68 students - $15,542.00
2003-04 - 165 students - $26,649.00
2004-05 - 196 students – $34,051.00
2005-06 - 223 students - $45, 436.00
Total scholarships awarded to date is worth: $145,681.00.(one hundred forty five thousand six hundred eighty one dollars)
FFE works through a system of Coordinators (who liaise with FFE, in USA) and Facilitator (spot / recommend scholars from Orissa). There are 25 coordinators and 70 facilitators, now.
Sri Purna Mohanty of Bay Area .has shown exemplary leadership to make FFE a success story, it is today. Two of FFE facilitators in Orissa have spent incredible amount of their time and money need special mention: Sri Subhas Chandra Choudhury of Cuttack/Vizag and Sri Manaswi Sahu of Sambalpur.
If you have any questions send them to me at: sandip.kumar.dasverma@gmail.com
Friday, May 12, 2006
Volunteers for RMTS project:
| Volunteer For RMTS Project | ||||
| Name | District | Block/Blocks | ||
| 1 | Sumanta K. Nayak | Jagatsingpur | Balikuda | |
| 2 | Saikumar Behera | Balasore | Chandbali, Annandapur | |
| 3 | Kushal Shah | Balasore | Balasore | |
| 4 | Dr. Jajati K. Nayak | Keonjhar | Hatibadi | |
| 5 | Sudharsan Das | Balasore | Basta | |
| 6 | Sudharsan Das | Mayurbhanj | Rasgobindpur | |
| 7 | Pradeep Pradhan | Puri | Delang and Satyabadi | |
| 8 | Chhayakanta Mishra | Dhenkanal | Odogaon | |
| 9 | Himansusekhar Achariya | Keonjhar | Annandapur | |
| 10 | Lalit Patnaik | Cuttack | Mohanga | |
| 11 | Dhirendra K. Behera | Cuttack | Salepur | |
| 12 | Dhirendra K. Kar | Jajpur | Rasulpur, Dharmasala | |
| 13 | Abhijit Tripathy | Nawrangpur | Nawrangpur | |
| 14 | Nishikanta Sahoo | Nayagarh | Nayagarh | |
| 15 | Sri Gopal Mohanty | Balasore | Soro | |
| 16 | Prasanta Tripathy, IITM | Rayagada | Gunpur | |
| 17 | Dr.Saroj K. Patel | Sundergarh | Bisra | |
| 18 | Baidyanath Singh | Mayurbhanj | Udala and Kaptipada | |
| 19 | Biswaranjan Padhi of Shrusti | Nuapada | Boden, Kumna, Nuapada & Khariar | |
| 20 | Gouri Shankar Dash | Mayurbhanj | Samakhunta | |
| 21 | Sukumar Parida | Cuttack | Niali | |
| 22 | Dr. Dhanada Mishra | Gajapati | Paralakhemendi | |
| 23 | Hosenshu Sahoo | Sambalpur | Kuchinda, Jamankira | |
| 24 | Umakanta | |||
| 25 | Minakshee S. | Bargarh | Bargarh | |
| 26 | Ch. Santakar | Koraput | blocks of Koraput | |
| 27 | Sudhansu Tripathy | Koraput | Kotpad, Jeypore | |
| 28 | ||||
| 29 | ||||
| 30 | ||||
INDIAN DONORS FOR RMTS SCHOLARSHIPS
| Total scholarships: 20 | |||
| Sl No. | Name | Since | Remarks |
| 1 | Sri Dinabandhu Nanda, Bhubaneswar | 2003 | |
| 2 | Sri C.P.Rao. Chennai | 2003 | This year paid to 3 students. |
| 3 | Sri Sitakanta Mohanty, Puri | 2003 | |
| 4 | Sankar Foundation, Visakhapatnam | 2003 | |
| 5 | Sri Trilochan Das, Bhubaneswar | 2003 | |
| 6 | Seema Mishra, C/O.Saroj KumarMishra, Visakhapatnam | 2003 | |
| 7 | Sri P.C.Mohanty, Visakhapatnam | 2003 | |
| 8 | Sri R.C.Mohapatra | 2003 | |
| 9 | Sri B.S.Nanda Visakhapatnam | 2003 | Discontinued this Year |
| 10 | Ira Rajguru, Chennai | 2003 | Discontinued this Year |
| 11 | Suchitra Patnaik | 2003 | Discontinued this Year |
| 12 | Sri J.C.Mohanty, IAS, Hyderabad | 2005 | Paid to Prakash Batra for all his study and hostel expenses. |
| 13 | Anasuya Kar, New Delhi | 2005 | |
| 14 | Sri Swadheenananda Pattanayak | 2003 | |
| 15 | Srijat Mishra, Bhubaneswar | 2005 | |
| 16 | Soumya Ranjan Mohapatra, IIIT, Kharagpur | 2005 | |
| N.B. The main reason behind the donors discontinuing their assistance is the poor result of the students. | |||
Rural Math Talent Search (RMTS) Project, it’s time has come
– Sandip K . Dasverma
Institute of Mathematics and Applications, Bhubaneswar, Orissa needs professionals with a solid math background to help elevate the state’s economy by becoming involved in projects such as:
Weather model for prediction and tracking of cyclones.
Model for prediction of floods in the monsoon season.
Modeling of Chilika Lake water flow, salinity and silting.
But while at it, it’s 1st Director, Dr. Swadhinananda Pattanayak authored a revolutionary idea. He routinely conducted the annual Orissa Mathematics Olympiad and screened candidates to represent Orissa, & to spot future talent in Math. They made to a pool from among whom those representing India in International Math Olympiad are selected. Dr. Pattanayak observed - though 90 % of Orissans live in villages, not a single kid among the 30 being selected each year for the Olympiad, are from rural area. This made him restless.
Concomitantly, Indian Atomic Energy commission (AEC), and the movers and shakers of Science and Technology education establishment of India, were observing- another phenomena. That Basic research in Science and Mathematics has become a barren area today where stalwarts like Prof. Meghnad Saha, P . C. Mohalanobis, Satyen Bose, Birbal Sahani et el once bloomed. There is not only no basic research but all talent that is being thrown up by the schools, are being sponged out by the IITs and the technology sector. This leaves very little talent behind for basic science and Math research. AEC needed to urgently expand the talent pool to remedy this problem and did not know HOW. In walked Dr . Pattanayak, of IMA, with a solution. He theorized that up to class six rural talents keep up with their urban competition . Thereafter due various environmental and resource deficiencies the rural kids slowly loose out and wither away. Thus they are not in the Math Olympiad teams. And the pool size (AEC’s concern) can be expanded, if we eye rural sector at class six level and catch talents before they wither away.
He proposed that he conduct a competition for only rural kids, defined as not living in Notified Area Council (NAC), in the same line as Math Olympiad but at class six level. Then select the best and brightest minds in Mathematics and then train and nurture them. He asked to be funded to hold two annual camps/ year for 3 years (six camps) of the selected kids to accentuate their inborn mathematical ability. In these camps, conducted by IMA, the best mathematical brains of Orissa, will nurture the talents unearthed . The AEC agreed and RMTS program, a pioneering effort and first in India, was born. This is the 3rd year the tests have been conducted and mobilization for the 4th has started (due on September 10th, 2006).
The result of holding the tests and the camps, has been significant. For the 1st time this year (i.e. after just 2 years), three (3) of the rural students competed and got into the 30 students pool of State Math Olympiad finalists .
To encourage these students Dr. Pattanayak a long time friend requested me to fund 30 scholarships @1500/year for the best among them . The scholarships are to continue for 5 years till these students graduate from high schools. Thus started Late Kamala Pada Das memorial Rural Math scholarships, in 2003.
Subsequently, the interest in RMTS has increased enormously. From the 2nd year onwards Sustainable Educational and Economic Development Society (SEEDS), which the author is now a member/volunteer, has come in to support it. With SEEDS’s help the numbers of scholarships have increased to 100 last year and 165 this year. So far confined to only Orissa, we have found no dearth of funds for the scholarships . Info on SEEDS and its story can be found in its web site at www.seeds.org. In India Vikas Charitable Trust, run by a few dedicated volunteers, is helping to deliver/administer the scholarships to the students. It has also been successful in raising some funds for RMTS scholarship purpose; under what they call Give a Hand Scheme. This covers another 25 or so scholarships.
How RMTS test is conducted:
- A central agency(in our case IMA, BBSR) plans out the program schedule(date of test, last date of applications, accredited centers etc), prepares the question papers, application forms and then writes to the Orissa State Govt . Mass Education department.
- The mass education dept sends out a circular to the 314 Blocks development officers, who send it to the Sub Inspectors of Schools (SI) attached to the blocks.
- The SIs send it to the Middle school Head Masters and the middle school teachers take the initiative to organize it.
- The students pay a nominal Rs. 5, entry fee.
- After the 1st two years we noted the word is not going around and participation decreased. So we started to have a civil society promoter, normally some one’s father or brother (and a retired person) to help us out and to give a push to the schools. This approach tried last year is bearing fruit.
- The participation went up 3 fold from 1500 to 4800 this year, with about 1000 plus students attributed to efforts of Non Resident Oriya (NRO).
- From 14 out of 30, participation has gone up to 30 out of 30 districts . This year’s (2006) GOAL is to reach all the 314 blocks.
- There is a regional distribution of scholarships as also other affirmative actions, like equal distribution of scholarships between West, South and Coastal Orissa (55 each in 2005). 40% reservation for Adivasi / Harijan students, which is the proportion of their proportion in the state population. Gender equity is also being attempted.
Lessons learned:
- We are observing changes happening and hope will soon show up on the surface.
- Civil society’s participation has been successful. This it is important. The creation of a network of education lovers is proving both beneficial and necessary.
- The scholarships though nominal, have made a difference in their lives . We have found kids who did not have shirts to come to the camp and so they came with borrowed ones. Two of them worked as wash boys in tea shops to pursue their studies before they were picked up by us.
- A fear existed that average students (class performance) are not good for RMTS. This has been proved wrong.. The RMTS tests for a logical mathematical mind of the student and not ability to remember tricks to solve problems. They are tested for their ability to approach to unknown problems. Results are sometimes startling. Kid’s who were not at all expected to be good in math are being successfully unearthed. Subsequent performance has proved the correctness of test results.
- Girls have done equally well as the boys. In both 2003 and 2004 RMTS tests Girls topped.
- Affirmative action is used to select 40% of tribal and Harijan students – once in the camps they have proved to be not wanting in any way.
Prologue: The idea is not patented and any one anywhere can replicate it - for public education purposes. However, please acknowledge and give due credit to the originators. Contacted in the address given below, IMA will help you organize in other states. In no case the ideas should be used for “For profit” purposes.
End Note:
Orissa native Sandip K. Dasverma had stepped forward to award monetary scholarships to the 1st batch of these students (2003) for the next five years. Subsequently, many more have volunteered to donate money to SEEDS for this purpose. The enthusiasm is contagious and heartening... If you’re interested in contributing to this effort, or starting such a project in your own state - please contact Dr. Pattanayak or Sandip Dasverma.(sandip.kumar.dasverma@gmail.com)
Prof Swadheen Pattanayak ( or swadhyn@yahoo.com)
Director
Institute of Mathematics and Applications
2nd Floor, Suryakiran Buildings
Sahid Nagar, Bhubaneswar 751007
Ph: (0674) 2540604, 2542164
Wednesday, May 10, 2006
An Experience of Pain and Ignominy:
Sandip K. Dasverma E-mail : dasverma@yahoo.com
It was January 1977, in the city of
That evening I went to attend the seminar on Rural Development, presided over by one of
So, with permission from Dr. Swaminathan, I gathered all my courage and went to the dais. This was the same place where 10,000 people were seated in the morning and Mrs. Gandhi had addressed them. My points were very simple. I minced no words, and they came from direct experience. I told the august audience that the previous expert was no expert at all. What rural women need in
There was an eerie silence as I left the dais, and a man passed me on his way to the dais. He introduced himself as a professor of Physics in the
He had topped the
About two hours later a crowd started moving in the direction of the Dalit colony. Soon it reached his house and someone called his father by name. When his father came out the crowd of about 100 people told him that they knew that his son came first in the
I remember the whole audience was moved by this story but I believe nobody felt outraged enough to do anything to undo these wrongs. In fact the lady speaker, some years later, became the Chairman of India’s University Grants Commission, the agency that oversees the Universities of India, and doles out research and development grants. Reward for her good work as a scholar and policy-maker.
Today, they, the tormentors of the professor and his family, have a name: Ranvir Sena, in
Relevance of Gandhi
by Sandip K. Dasverma
In an article in The Washington Post, September 8, 2004, Anne Applebaum wrote:
Some of the Beslan survivors have said that they were told by their captors that "Russian soldiers are killing our children in Chechnya, so we are here to kill yours." But there is no moral justification, no intellectual line of reasoning, no political logic. The hardest thing in the world is to resist injustice without hatred, or to resist brutality without brutality, or to fight any kind of war without losing your own humanity. By failing to do so, the Chechen terrorists may have just defeated their own stated cause.
And yet more than 100 years back, Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, universally known as Mahatma Gandhi, not only preached but also practiced to counter “brutality without brutality”. He showed that: “we could fight a war without losing our own humanity”. He practiced it for retrieving national dignity in racist South Africa and later in colonial India.
One has to be reminded that in those days there was much less communication and hardly any knowledge of what was going on in far corners of the world. The sympathy of impartial outsiders uninvolved in the local issues was not easy to come by Рsince they did not know about the local issues till months, if not years afterwards. Knowledge of government repression or police brutality Рif they were known at all Рby virtue of some daring reporters' expos̩ of government's actions, was way in the future. That is why in the Third World countries, the governments still try to control the media; and, for example, in the case of numbers of persons killed in a police shooting, they report much less than the actual numbers.
This made the task of communication far more difficult in those days. Gandhi had to garner sympathy from local inhabitants on the opposite side by his dignified moral actions, wherever he protested the brutal actions of inhuman regimes. He even volunteered for the British as a Red Cross worker on the side of the bitter foes, the British, in the brutal Boer War (1905) in South Africa. Time and again he commanded and got the pledge of total non-violence from his followers in the face of extreme provocation and brutality. In the process, when non-violent protesters marched to protest some government action and the police acted against them by resorting to a baton charge or shooting, the local solidarity and sympathy of opponents tended to lie on the side of the non-violent protestors. And, thus, minimal physical harm and minimal incarceration resulted.
This lowering of hurdles led to larger mass participation in subsequent non-violent reactions to each police action or repressive regulation. It was both brilliant and effective tactics in those days of isolation, when sympathy had to be earned from among the local partisans of the opposition.
Gandhi, though a devout Hindu, got these ideas from Christian ethics. His inspiration came from Ruskin and Tolstoy, the great humanists and philosophers of yesteryears. He never hated his enemy and never targeted innocents. His tactics could be used today – the days of sound bites and media glare, to resolve many questions of international and national dispute much faster and with much less loss of life and property.
Both the civil rights movements of the United States, led by Martin Luther King, Jr., and of South Africa, led by Nelson Mandela against apartheid, succeeded due to their commitment to non-violence, lack of hate, and the resulting reduction of fear of reprisal among the opponents.
In contrast, the gruesome Beslan tragedy was a great loss to the victims' families of nearly 400 lives. Sadly, it achieved for the combatants and their cause exactly the opposite of what they wanted.
Nonviolent methods can be used for better resolution of other hot issues of today, like Kashmir & Palestine. This brings back to mind the RELEVANCE of Gandhi, in today's violent and unjust world.
Sandip K. Dasverma of Richland, Washington, is a proponent for the underprivileged and the low castes of India, who were Gandhi’s prime concern. He is an admirer of Gandhi’s "Satyagraha"(truth force) because it encapsulates ideas of empowerment and rights of and compassion for the poor and underprivileged. Sandip is a Mechanical Engineer by profession.
Sunday, May 07, 2006
The Mathematics Initiative: by Sandip K. Dasverma
Any body who has anything to do with mathematics and Orissa, has definitely heard of Dr. Swadhinananda Pattnayak. He is presently the head of the Institute of Mathematics and Applications(IMA) at Bhubaneswar (BBSR). His work among the students, to inspire them to be brilliant students of Math and good human beings, is well known. He has his admirers sprinkled over the length and breadth of Orissa. Many of his students have earned National acclaim for their work and are now in various Universities of Orissa and outside. He is now up to spotting Math talent early - before rural talents lose out to urban ones, and wither, due to lack of timely encouragement and tuition mania which is distorting the picture. The Govt. of India’s policy of having competition to have math Olympiad selection process came handy. Through a general selections he picks up about 200 kids for last few years, through a state wide competition (participants nearly 5000) and holds a camp in Bhubaneshwar, the capital of Orissa state. In the camp all these kids lived and interacted with hand picked math lecturers and learned that mathematics can be fun. Two mathematicians of repute, retired Vice Chancellor of Utkal, Dr. Gokulananda Das and retired Professor of IIT,
I also remember what Gokulananda babu said the day I went to handover the personal letters, , addressed to the winners. He said, in presence of every one in that informal meeting at Math institute, and I quote: “ With what you have done, we will be able to take the participation from 5 thousand this year to 15 thousand next year, without doubt.” They were such soothing words to my soul... I thought may be I can pay off some of my debt to the people of Orissa, who nourished me in my formative years.
The list of selected students follows, in the original e-mail as it came from Dr. Pattnayak.
So another journey has started. They say bad people when they create network they become very powerful - a Mafia. My question has always been why can’t the good people get together with their good wishes and good sentiments, connect to each other through electronic network and produce things that are worthy? We can thus make this world a better place. Yes, it is possible and here is an example. I consider my self to be lucky to be part of it.
PS: During the recent camp, Swadhin spotted two kids, who were so poor that they could not even afford a shirt. To come to the camp they had borrowed a neighbor’s shirt. He informed me and I could find a volunteer in Sri Surajit Amrit,
Dear Sandip,
As required by you we are sending you a list of 30 children selected on basis of a mathematics test on 21 Sept. 2003. Of this 30, fifteen are selected purely in the basis of merit. Of the rest, six are girls & nine are dalits.
They are to be given the scholarships for 5 years subject to the condition that they perform well in each subsequent class examinations & do not change to private schools. If you can write to each of them a personal letter, it will nice.
WISH YOU A HAPPY NEW YEAR-2004.
Looking forward to meeting in
Sincerely yours,
Swadheen.
1. Subhashree Laxmipriya, C/o-Ramachandra Sandha.,
At/Po-Parichhala,
Dist-Khurda-752062,
Ph-95674-2332395
2.
At-Palli, Po-Atu
Dist-Bhadrak-756123
3. Manoj Ranjan Parija. C/o-Jayanta Ku. Parija,
At-Khambakul, Po-Sangrampur
Dist-Jagatsinghpur,
Ph-06724-238715
4. Srabana Kumar Dash, C/o-Sukant Ku. Dash,
At-Bedipur,
Dist-Balasore-756043,
Ph-280044
5. Sribachha Kumar De., C/o-Biswajit De,
At/Po-Bandhadiha
Dist-Jajpur-755005
6. Gunasagar Kisan, C/o-Karunakar Kisan,
At-Kukma, Po-Ku. Jamankira
Dist-Sambalpur-768222
7. Gyanesh Ranjan Satpathi, C/o-Santosh Ku. Satpathi,
At/Po-Khaprakhol
Dist- Bolangir
8. Ranjeet Ku. Routray, C/o-Trinath Routray,
At-Gadamunda, Po-C.A. Chipilima
Dist-Sambalpur-768025,
Ph-0663-2460812
9. Ajad Kumar Patel, C/o-Hari Prasad Patel,
At-/Po-Laichaguna
Dist-Sambalpur-768222,
Ph-95663-2006082
10. Sikta Manjori Patel, C/o-Kailash Ch. Patel,
At-Po-Tainsar
Dist-Sambalpur-768227
11. Sakti Prasad Das, Umaprasad. Das,
At-Kudisiala Colony, Gunupur
Po-Marathiguda,
Dist-Rayagada-765022
12. Satish Kumar Mahakuda, C/o-Pratap Ch. Mahakuda,
At/Po-Onukadelli
Dist-Koraput-764042
13. Jagarnnath Panigrahi, C/o-Gadadhar Panigrahi,
At-Railway Station Road, Gunupur,
Po-Gunupur,
Dist-rayagada-765022
14. Mamini Kumari Sahoo, C/o-Trinath Sahoo,
At/Po- Jagarnnath Prasad
Dist- Ganjam-761121
15 Anita Behera, C/o-Narasingh Behera,
At/Po-Bariniput,
Dist-Koraput-764006,
Ph-242189
16. Subhasmita Mishra. C/o-Pradeepta Kumar Mishra,
At/Po-Bariniput
Dist-Koraput-764006,
Ph-242179
17. Nibejita Rath. C/o-Patitapabana Rath.
At-Hastai Colony, Gunupur,
Dist-Rayagada-765022
18. Debadarsini Samantray C/o-Amiya Ku. Samantray
At-Markana, Po-Simulia
Dist-Balasore-756126,
Ph-06788-239551
19. Swati Swagatika, C/o-Dhaneswar Swain.
At/Po-Baramba,
Dist-Cuttack-754031,
Ph-956721-273386
20. Eswari Patel. C/o-Surendra Ku. Patel.
At-Po-Tainsar,
Dist-Sambalpur-768227
21. Kurtika Karna. C/o-Umesh Ch. Karna.
At/Po-Laramva,
Dist-Bargarh-768102
22. Deepak Ku.
At-Bari Bagada, Po-Bari
Dist-Jajpur-755003
23. Binaya Kumar Nayak, C/o Sanu Nayak,
At Talabarada, Po-Singhpur,
Dist-Keonjhar-758018
24. . Mandakin Kisan. C/o-Parsuram Kisan,
At-Sahebpada, Po-Tainsar,
Dist-Sambalpur-768227
25. Bhagabati Kisan, C/o-Hari Kisan,
At-Kuchinda, Po-Tainsar,
Dist-Sambalpur
26. Kumudin Nayak. C/o-Mukunda Nayak.
At/po-Kundukela.
Dist-Sundargarh-770019
27. G. Rakesh Kharamurti. C/o-G. Srinuwash Rao.
At-talapatratikra,
Dist-Bargarh
28, Kanaka Muduli. C/o-Ghenu Muduli.
At-Sadasibapur, Po-Balimela,
Dist-Malkangiri
29. J. Mirabai Reddi. C/o-J. Chandrasekhar Reddi.
At-K. Mathamakundapur, Po-H. Buridi,
Dist-Ganjam-761027,
Ph-05811-221238
30. Bijaya Kumar Kanhar. , C/o-Bali Kanhar.,
At-Jugapadar, Po-Nuagaon
Dist-Kandhmal-762102
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