Recognize Kosli as the second official language of Odisha

Following is a report from the Samaja:

BPUT Rourkela plans to collaborate with the Pune-based C-DAC

Following is a report from The Telegraph:

Bhubaneswar, Feb. 21: The Biju Patnaik University of Technology (BPUT) plans to collaborate with the Pune-based Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC) to work on various key areas of high performance computing, the use of supercomputers and computer clusters to solve advanced computing problems.

The university is working on setting up five advanced centres of computing in various institutions in the state and intends to set up a high performance computing cluster in their upcoming campus in Rourkela.

“This would help students of MTech to pursue research,” said a senior official of BPUT on the sidelines of the National Symposium on High Performance Computing in Academia and Beyond, organised by C-DAC, department of IT, ministry of communications and IT, in association with BPUT. The programme primarily aimed at creating awareness on high performance computing and its benefits in the academic segment.

“The symposium will enable BPUT to introduce similar programmes in their curriculum and enable faculty and students in various scientific and all engineering disciplines of Odisha to exploit the benefits of advanced computing and parallel processing,” said Pradeep K. Sinha, senior director high performance computing, C-DAC.

“C-DAC should take the initiative to set up high performance computing labs in all the universities and institutions of the state for the benefit of the scientific and engineering community,” said minister of higher education Badri Narayan Patra, who inaugurated the programme.

Patra also said that these centres would act as computing research centres for scientific and academic purposes and address the need of high quality engineering education and high-end computing work for the research community in the eastern region.

A faculty development programme on “Current Trends in Distributed Operating Systems” was also organised for the faculty members of engineering, MTech, MCA and mathematics stream of all colleges under the university on the occasion. The Medical Informatics Group of C-DAC is already working for the Odisha Telemedicine Network in the state.

Uranium deposits in Jhanj mountain near Ghess, Bargarh

Following is a report from the Sambad:

 

“Kosli Matrubhasa Divas” celebration: A report by Sambad

Following is a report from the Sambad (BBSR) edition:

Kosli language speakers raise pitch for official language status

Following is a report from the Pioneer:

The Kosli Ekta Manch celebrated Kosli Matrubhasa Divas on the occasion of the World Mother Language Day here on Tuesday.

Dr Arjun Purohit, a professor based in Canada, joined as chief guest, while Padmashree Dr Chaturbhuja Meher joined as the guest of honour. Manch president Gorekhnath Sahu presided over the function and executive president Baidyanath Mishra introduced the guests.

The speakers unanimously demanded that Kosli language should be recognised as the mother tongue of the people who speak it and included in the Scheduled 8 of the Indian Constitution. Besides, they also demanded that the language should be the second official language of Odisha.

The speakers rued that the State Government was not much sincere on development of human resource, natural resource and culture and language of the region of the Kosli speaking people.

Poet Haladhar Nag was given Koshal Ratna, while litterateurs Atal Buhari Panda, Srinibas Mishra and playwright Panchanan Mishrs were felicitated. A mouthpiece of the Manch ‘Jay Koshal’ was released on the occasion.

Kosli Matrubhasa Divas celebrated in Bhubaneswar

“Kosli Matrubhasa Divas” celebrated in Bhubaneswar (Thanks to Pradeep Kumar for posting the photo on face book). On this occasion, poet Haldhar Nag was felicitated with “KOSAL RATNA”.

Dumeshwar temple of Jharsuguda

Following is a report from the Sambad:

FIITJEE plans a ‘global school’ in Rourkela

Following is a report from http://www.thehindubusinessline.com (Thanks to Orissalinks blog for the pointer):

After having set up its foot firmly in providing guidance to students appearing for IIT-JEE and other engineering entrance examinations and rolling out four “world schools” in Hyderabad, FIITJEE Ltd plans to set up four “global schools” across the country in the next two years.

FIITJEE, which is likely to clock a turnover of Rs 360 crore in 2011-12 (Rs 280 crore in 2009-10), also plans to go for an initial public offering in the next two-to-three years, said Mr C.V. Kalyan Kumar, director and head of corporate communication, FIITJEE.

IN TALKS WITH INVESTORS

The first of the global schools to be set up in Bhopal is likely to be operational by the end of this year. “We are in talks with investors for setting up schools in Kolkata, Bengaluru and Rourkela,” Mr Kumar said. The school will have classes from kindergarten to XII.

According to Mr Kumar, the primary differentiating factor between FIITJEE’s World School and Global School would be in terms of the infrastructure and curriculum.

“The world school in Hyderabad is not a residential school and is based primarily on the State board syllabus. The global school, on the other hand, will have both day scholar and boarding facilities, the infrastructure will also be of higher standards and it will offer three curriculum options (CBSE, ICSE and State board) to students to choose from,” Mr Kumar said.

The average cost of setting up the infrastructure for the Global School would be close to Rs 150 crore, he said. FIITJEE will look at roping in equity partners for investing for setting up the Global School. “The World School was set up with internal accruals, but we are looking for suitable investors for the Global School,” Mr Kumar said.

COACHING CENTRE

FIITJEE – which currently has 52 coaching centres across the country and two overseas, in Doha and Bahrain – plans to spread its wings to newer territories. “We are planning to set up FIITJEE centre in Dubai and Europe. This apart, we are also looking at expanding our presence in the domestic market, primarily in the Tier II and III towns,” Mr R L Trikha, head of department, distance education, FIITJEE said.

The educational institute, which so far has been catering primarily to engineering examinations, also plans to roll out specialised classes for students appearing for medical entrance examination.

Demand for Kosli language as a medium of school education: “Kosli Matrubhasa Divas” celebrations on Feb 21, 2012

Following was our conversation in different groups:

janatavikas manch <janatavikasmanch@gmail.com> wrote:

Dear all,

The book – School education in Odisha : Challenges & Opportunities – released by Janata Vikas Manch (JVM)  in December last year in Bhubaneswar is being debated throughout the state.  (Release photo is attached with this mail.)

Among  several issues, one of the most important issue which has come to the fore is the medium of education. We are getting a feed back from the Western Odisha that the students of the region should be given school education in their own mother tongue. This will help in reducing the high drop out rate of the students in the schools in the Kosal region.

The above view was also expressed by Mr Baidyanath Mishra , working president of Kosal Kranti Dal (KKD) in a state level conference on school education organised by JVM on May 28, 2011 in Bhubaneswar. His views are given a due place in the JVM’s book. Following is the quote from the book:

“Mr.  Baidyanath Mishra from Koshal Kranti Dal expressed dis-satisfaction over the implementation of RTE and especially very poor performance in the district of Sambalpur and Sundergarah. He mainly emphasized upon time bound implementation of programmes for the development of education in the Western Odisha. He mentioned about the multi lingual tribal education in Odisha and told that as one fourth of population in Odisha speaks Kosali language, it is highly imperative to bring this language under multi-lingual education system. He also highlighted the acute disparity between Coastal and Western region of Odisha in terms of levels of education and urged the state government to announce special packages to the districts of Western region under RTE Act”.

Now, Kosal Ekta Manch is  observing Kosli Matrubhasa Day on the occasion of World Language Day on February 21, 2012 in Bhubaneswar. The meeting will be held between 9.30 AM to 2 PM at Red Cross Bhawan. The Concept note and invitation both in English and Kosli language for this meeting is attached with this mail.

JVM requests all to have a state wide debate on the issue of Kosali language as a medium of school education in Western region of Odisha.

Looking forward for suggestions and comments,

Thanks & Regards,

Sai Prasan
JVM

Note: Below is the concept note and the Invitation Card is attached with this mail. Please contact at the mobile numbers given in the Invitation card for more details.

……………………………….

Kosli Matrubhasa Divas: Concept Note

Language is never the prerogative or monopoly of limited group or community. The uniqueness of a language lies in its universal appeal. That is why it is said that in the galaxy of linguism every word is a glittering star. Kosli language might be a little star in the universal firmament but it does twinkle and occupy a space of its own in the linguistic world. Drawn from this logic one cannot but say that kosli is a full fledged language and not a sub language of Odiya as claimed more often than not. Kapila Samhita says “ Punya Swarnapuri prokta punya marjara kesari, kosalesu punya traya punya chitrotpala nadi ”. History says and linguists agree to the fact that Awadhi, Baghelkhandi and

Chhatisgarhi are the derivatives of kosli Language. As india remains India even after the partition of Pakistan and Bangladesh, Kosli remains the principal language of Kosal region even after these languages have established themselves as separate languages. Therefore linking Kosli with Odiya is a misnomer. Kosli  is spoken by more than one crore population and that it has survived the test of time and hegemony of a larger community over a minor , is itself a testimony to cherish.

This language is craving for recognition from a pretty long period but as history repeats, the Odiyas look down upon and reject the status of the language like the Bengalis who once said “ Odiya Ek Ta Bhasa Na e” . Lalu Yadav said Jharkhand will be built over his dead body. Today Jharkhand is a reality and Lalu Yadav is still alive. Tall claims of notorious people have never got cognizance of the civil society and it will not be a surprise if such elements are alive in Odisha too.

Nothing is permanent because ‘change’ is the truth and that is constant. There will be a change. kosli as a language will be accepted one day even by its worst adversaries. Today on this day, when we celebrate the Kosli Matrubhasa Divas in the capital of our neighbouring state, we only appeal to the conscience of those who wrote the political history of Odisha, to rethink as to whether their brethren in Kosalanchal are justified in their demand for recognition of the language in the 8th schedule of the constitution and to grant the second official language status of the state as well.

Baidyanath Mishra, 94370 83025

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Sanjib Kumar Karmee <sanjibkarmee@gmail.com> wrote:

Dear Sai ji,

This is a step in the right direction. I am sure such a step will reduce the school drop-out rate significantly.

You also need to emphasize the fact that mother tongue based multi-lingual education is a reality in the whole world. Thus, all kids should have right to study in their mother tongue up to 6-7^th standard. Then they can choose any other medium. In this regard, a delegation should pay a visit to the education minister of Odisha.

I hope the Odia educationalist will support this move. Wish you a successful “Kosli Matrubhasa Divas”!

Best regards,

Sanjib

BPUT(Biju patnaik University of Technology) campus still a distant dream

Following report is from the Samaja: