[Assam] Day2: Assam 2007: Pt2; engg colleges, NRAs & CM

Wed Jul 4 06:24:05 PDT 2007

Rajen-da,

I was expecting to meet you at Assam 2007. Hope you are doing well. More in a private email -  thank you for your timely help in my problems. God Bless You.

Gautom Barua's name I heard from ADC of the Chief Minister who was smoking outside the hotel and reacted to my comments about Jugal-da's presentation - about Infosys's comments about engineering grdautaes in Assam (only 750 - and only 3 engineering colleges -- compared to 250 in Andhra Pradesh -mostly privately run). The ADC perhaps wanted to show that he is on top of things .

Umesh

Rajen & Ajanta Barua <barua25 at hotmail.com> wrote:       Umesh-ji:
 Thanks for the update. I am glad to see  that there were meaningful discussions with the CM on relevent issues. Thanks to  Jugal and Partha for taking the initiative. I am glad to see involvement  of Gautom Barua (Director IIT, Guwahati) on the issue of additional  engineering colleges in Assam. Was he personally present in the Assam-2007? I  have already written to Jugal that they have done a great job because this is  the first time ever that we Assamese have prepared an indepth scientific report  on what we have and what we need and why, at least for the engineering  education. If we follow this approach, instead of GOI Mai-Bap to bless Assam, we  will win. Let us keep up with the issues and follow up agrresively.
 Thanks
 Rajenda

    ----- Original Message ----- 
   From:    umesh    sharma 
   To: assam at assamnet.org 
   Sent: Tuesday, July 03, 2007 11:30    PM
   Subject: [Assam] Day2: Assam 2007: Pt2;    engg colleges, NRAs & CM

   Hi,

In      the Day 2 of the meeting (on Sunday July 1st, 2007) we arrived just in time      to have the lunch (got value for money - the $110 we had paid each for the      Assam 2007) - I was able to identify the dish with the shrimp (and avoided a      painful alergy outbreak ) .

At the same time meeting of Assam Society      was going on - I could make out the sentences in English which were focused      on non-profit work and fund-raising (of about $2,500 only) and projects been      sponsored and monitored in Assam.

 Later Partha-da Gogoi      presented a passionate presentation for the self-help groups and business      initiative and mentoring for engineering students etc       http://www.nepif.weblet.in/   North East Professional Institutes      Forum

under the leadership of Assam Institute of Management      http://www.aimguwahati.com/ -- which was later shown in front of the Chief      Minister --

alongwith a presentation slideshow of      http://www.pearllifeline.com/ funded and spearheaded by an NRI/NRA      http://www.assamtribune.com/may0507/Photo4.html who advised US President      George Bush on medical stuff.      

http://www.posoowa.org/2007/06/30/a-need-for-expanding-engineering-education-facilities-in-assam-for-economic-growth-and-human-development/
After      that was the persuasive presentation for promoting engineering college by      Jugal-da Kalita based on research by Jugal-da (IIT , Phd UPenn - Ivy League      Univ, Prof Computer Science, Colorado) , Umesh-da Tabildar (IIT , NASA, USA      ), Jukti-da Kalita (IIT, IIM, PhD Columbia) , Mantu-da Bhaishya ( BITS,      Pilani ) , Ganesh-a Bora (PhD Kansas - Agriculture engineering)  ,      Durba-da Bhattacharya (Prof Computer science - Tejpur Univ,      Assam)

--- with comments on it by  Gautom Barua (Director IIT-      Guwahati Computer Science) and other IIT profs and Dipankar-da Medhi (Prof      Computer Science at Kansas and AssamNet Co-founder) 

The Chief      Minster was in a state of bliss --- especially after the negative      reception  he received at Boston conference where he was only      questioned about the annual flooding of Guwahati (he later spoke of Global      Warming which might lead initail floods by melting of glaciers followed by      drought - when no more glaciers). He said that he is so pleased with these      presentation which have a positive note and aim to improve the situation of      Assam.

Main Points of the engineering college presentation -- Orissa      has 13,000 employed by Infosys for computer work -- even though has much      worse travel connection than Assam. Gautam Barua (IIT - G director) was told      by Infosys Chief (Nilekani is IIT batchmate of Gautam-da ) that Assam only      produces 750 engg grads compared to 13,000 by Orissa - and Infosys wants 80%      of its employees to be local -atleast. 

Second, Assam has 2.5% of      India's population but only 0.2% of its engineering colleges and only 0.17%      of its engineering graduates. I agreed with Jugal-da that engineering      education might act as a "pull" in improving basic education (at school      level) .

 Later during lunch Jugal-da, Partha-da and others were      having lively discussion with the CM. The CM had declared that his govt had      declared already that the year 2007 was the Year of Education and passed a      Bill (confirmed by his ADC later to  me) to open privately run      engineering colleges etc. Jugal-da however, told me that he was not able to      lay hands on any such Bill being passed by Assam govt - but may have been      introduced.

I was within one feet of the CM and  even made eye      contact but I conceded to the stalwarts waiting to talk to him - who could      have more immediate impact or synergy.

Partha-da in his very      professional approach  showed that it was possible to  have      business outreach delegations to US  -- since backward states like      Jharkhand and  Uttranchal have been  making waves in US. Utpal-da      Brahma  (IIT, IIM  and  National Defense  Academy       selected  ) was of the opinion that  first  local Indian      companies need to  be invited to Assam and  based on their       performance MNCs would  get attracted to  invest  (FDI) in      Assam.  

There are more than one way to skin a cat ,      however!!!!

Jugal-da and Partha-da rightly noted that NRAs have yet      to get involved with entrepreneurial ventures and thus, professional      education is the key to economic development of Assam -- a fact whole      heartedly agreed  to by Assam Chief Minister.
He did say the Assam's      economy was growing at 3% before his tenure and now is at 6% and want it to      go up to 8-9%  to catch up with rest of India - and negated my question      (anonymous) that corruption was on the rise otherwise how could current      growth be possible. 

(My comment - Indian embassy in DC has now      opened doors for anyone seeking corroption of any other info - under RTI -      Right To Info Act)

Any      comments?

Umesh

Umesh    Sharma

Washington D.C. 

1-202-215-4328 [Cell]

Ed.M. -    International Education Policy
Harvard Graduate School of    Education,
Harvard University,
Class of    2005

http://www.uknow.gse.harvard.edu/index.html (Edu    info)

http://hbswk.hbs.edu/ (Management    Info)

www.gse.harvard.edu/iep (where the above 2 are used    )

http://jaipurschool.bihu.in/      

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Umesh Sharma

Washington D.C. 

1-202-215-4328 [Cell]

Ed.M. - International Education Policy
Harvard Graduate School of Education,
Harvard University,
Class of 2005

http://www.uknow.gse.harvard.edu/index.html (Edu info)

http://hbswk.hbs.edu/ (Management Info)

www.gse.harvard.edu/iep  (where the above 2 are used )

http://jaipurschool.bihu.in/

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