The growth of Bhubaneswar as an Information technology Mecca has been marked
by an impressive presence of top-notch firms in the services sector. Big
names like Wipro and Infosys have staked long-term positions in this
peaceful haven on the eastern coast of India.
But, the growth has largely been limited to the presence of the few firms
mentioned above. In the recent past reports have surfaced that Mindtree has
been planning a large-scale presence in the software sector in the state
capital. This is an extremely encouraging proposition, since, Mindtree even
though a services sector company, has, got it’s focus on a niche set of
skills, which, are particularly in demand for the Product sector of the IT
boom.
IT can be broadly divided into two segments.
A) Products
B) Services.
The true potential for an IT revolution is actually realized, when, product
sector companies make a beeline to open shop in a destination. The start of
the IT revolution in Bangalore was heralded by the opening of a center by
Texas Instruments in 1984. When questioned by various skeptics on the
feasibility of opening a company in an untried location, the company honchos
replied that, they wanted to utilize the research potential in combination
of the hospitable climate of Bangalore. They also wanted to leverage the
high-quality talent of that destination. They could not have been more
correct. Today, Bangalore is described as the next Silicon Valley of the
world. What were the factors?
a) Availability of huge research potential due to high-caliber
institutes like DRDO, ISRO etc.
b) High and easy availability of talent from the many engineering
colleges in Bangalore.
c) The diverse nature of the talent, since, students from all over
India came to study in Bangalore.
d) The presence of a top-notch Institution like the Indian institute of
Sciences.
Now, let us come to the next success story i.e. Hyderabad.
Hyderabad was a medium-term success story with the presence of many software
majors in the late 90’s. A couple of top-notch presences like Oracle and
DeShaw are present in the city. Perhaps, what also helped the IT story were
the following reasons.
a) A top-10 institute like REC Warangal not more than 2 hours from the
City (By train).
b) The huge presence of Telugu Diaspora in many IT companies in India
and abroad.
Perhaps, the big thing that happened was that Microsoft choose Hyderabad as
the location for setting up its India development centre. This created a
cascading effect on other companies.
After that, everyone wanted to set up shop in Hyderabad. The theory was
that, if Hyderabad was able to have talent for the best company (arguably)
in the world, so can, we set up shop there.
The crux for every state government is to be able to provide the right set
of answers for the fundamental questions being asked by IT companies.
Today, Bhubaneswar is poised to make a jump, which will, bring it in the
front-runners of education in the country. As of today, a number of
Institutes have been planned to either being set up or are in various stages
of operation in the state.
a) NISER -: This is the National Institute of Science and Educational
Research. This is mandated to be the basic science equivalent of an IISc
(Indian Institute of Sciences).
Status: Operational in the IOP (Indian Institute of Physics) campus.
b) IIT-: This is the Indian Institute of technology. As of a week back,
the foundation stone of this institute was set-up at Argul, Jatni. Jatni is
about 20 kms from Bhubaneswar.
Status: Operational in IIT kharagpur. Moving to off-campus IIT Bhubaneswar
by next academic year. Main Institute planned to be completely running by
2013.
c) KIT -: Kalinga Institute of Technology. This is the highest ranked
institute in Odisha among privately ranked institutions. The vice-chancellor
of this institute, Achyuta Samanta has been appointed as a member of
University Grants Commission, AICTE.
Status: Completely operational.
d) Central University -: According to a proposal by HRD ministry,
Bhubaneswar has been allotted a Central University along the lines of JNU
and Osmania University. This will be operational in 2013.
e) World Class University. -: According to the proposal by the Central
government . a world class private university with funding from private
groups will also be set-up in the vicinity of BBSR-Cuttack metropolitan
region.
Lastly, but possibly the foremost one, there is a MOU signed by the GOO
(Government of Orissa) to envisage creation of a world-class university in
the Marine drive between Puri and Konark. This university to be on the scale
of a world-class university like a Stanford University or a Harvard. The
investment to be expected is to the tune of 5,000 crores INR or $1 Billion
only by the founder himself. Another $2 Billion will be generated through
external investors. The planning and architecture has been provided to
Ayers-Saint Gross, a renowned architecture expert in USA, with consultation
of Hafiz Contractor to provide an Indian perspective. This is expected to
come up in a land of approx. 7000 acres.
The crux of the matter is that, if all these things above (Indeed some of
the above are functioning), fructify, then, BBSR, will not just become the
educational hot-spot of India. But, this could translate into greater
investment in IT growth.
What are the advantages of having such educational institutions?
a) These could be used as leverage to show-case the potential for
talent in Bhubaneswar-Cuttack metropolitan region.
b) The presence of high-quality talent can spur the drive for higher
entrepreneurship at the local level.
At the end of the story, you can have job growth only through higher levels
of entrepreneurship from local populace.
I think, the key issue being observed is the progress of completion of the
Vedanta University in Odisha. Once, that institute comes up, then, we will
have dynamic ripple effect across the region.
A point to be understood is that, as a location, Bhubaneswar is extremely
well-connected. It is at the focal point of the Howrah-Chennai highway. The
infrastructure is fairly decent. A Vision 2020 plan has been formulated for
the Cuttack-Bhubaneswar metropolitan area.
Cuttack is a historical town, about 20 odd kms from Bhubaneswar. It is
connected by a high quality National highway. It is home to the high court,
a top-notch deemed university called Ravenshaw university. Also, another
high-level educational institution called Sri Sri Sai University is coming
up in Cuttack, Naraj.
The downside in this story has been the dismal performance of the local
Odiya people in the top level engineering entrance examinations. The IIT is
the foremost bachelor degree technical institution in the country. The
number of students that join IIT seems to have a direct relationship with
the rate of development of that place. All indications tell us that, Andhra
Pradesh is the IIT capital of the country. The number of their students who
join IIT far surpasses any other state at this point.
Now, even the NIT (previously REC) has come under a National level exam. The
quota per state still remains, but, the exam for these institutes has become
a common one across the country. The performance of Odiya students has been
dismal in these top-level exams. The appreciable population in the state
should ideally have at least 100 graduates. This number in the previous
dispensation would be hard to reach. The lone bright spot is the performance
of Rourkela students. They garner even today, most of the seats in the 1st
attempt.
An effort needs to be made to understand:
a) The stark difference in performance between Rourkela students and
the rest of the state.
b) Understanding the education which does not benefit the students from
the higher secondary educational system.
A study of the current state government syllabus will outline, that, there
is serious stress on rote learning and ability to garner marks in board
exams. This, instead of stimulating, actually inhibits
a) Creative growth
b) Applying the concepts on problem-solving and real-time situations.
Science as a stream undergoes a vast jump from Secondary (10th) to Higher
Secondary ( 10 + 2). This requires careful nurturing of talent to optimize
their utilization potential.
There is a desperate need to start top-level coaching institutes which can
cater to IIT level coaching. The presence of Professors from IIT BBSR will
help the effort. But, a lot more needs to be done to bring it on par with
centers like Kota or Hyderabad.
Also, a serious overhaul of the educational system is required so, that,
focus does more a little bit more on application of concepts, as opposed to
rote learning.
If some major steps in this direction are taken, it would not be extravagant
to claim that Bhubaneswar will be a top IT destination in the country in
another 10 years.
