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New Indian Express
2 hours ago
- New Indian Express
Pradhan lays foundation for Rs 480 crore Net Zero campus of CUO at Koraput
JEYPORE: Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan laid foundation stones for a slew of infrastructure projects worth Rs 480 crore at Central University of Odisha (CUO)'s Sunabeda campus in Koraput district on Saturday. The new infrastructure projects for which foundation was laid seek to build a Net Zero Campus which is environmentally sustainable, technologically advanced, and socially inclusive. The proposed project includes multi-storey academic blocks, 10 modern hostel buildings, a grand auditorium, a gymnasium and indoor sports complex. Besides, shopping centres, fully equipped health centre, and an international guest house will also be built. Designed with green building standards, renewable energy systems, and climate-resilient infrastructure, the Net Zero Campus will significantly reduce the university's carbon footprint while enhancing quality of life for students and faculty. The Minister also inaugurated newly completed facilities of the university, including the academic building, health centre, vice-chancellor's residence, officers' quarters, and staff quarters worth about Rs 130 crore. The minister witnessed MoU signing among six universities - CUO Koraput, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bhubaneswar, National Institute of Technology (NIT) Rourkela, Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Sambalpur, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) Berhampur, and Shri Sadashiva Campus of the Central Sanskrit University, Puri.
Time of India
2 hours ago
- Time of India
India commits second tranche of Rs 10,000 crore to support deep tech: Piyush Goyal
Academy Empower your mind, elevate your skills Union commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal has announced a second tranche of Rs 10,000 crore to promote innovation and strengthen the deep tech ecosystem 'We are formulating guidelines to ensure that this money is directed towards promoting innovation, facilitating the absorption of newer technologies, and supporting the development of contemporary technologies,' Goyal said at the sixth edition of IIT Madras and IITM Alumni Association's Sangam 2025 event in current fund, part of the flagship Fund of Funds (FoF) , was first announced by union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman during the Union Budget for 2025-26. The scheme was originally launched in 2016 with an initial corpus of Rs 10,000 crore.'The aspirations and dreams of a young country with one of the youngest populations globally are driving R&D, technology, and our startup ecosystem,' he is the third-largest startup ecosystem in the world, after the US and China, according to the Economic Survey 2021-22. Goyal also noted that India has moved from being the world's 11th largest economy in 2014 to the fifth-largest today and is expected to become the third-largest by 2027.'New technologies will define India's growth story in the coming years. I am confident that the 60,000-strong IIT Madras alumni network will play a key role in supporting the country's technological advancement,' he added.
Mint
3 hours ago
- Mint
Delhi government's Air Pollution Mitigation plan could fall short on several parameters: Environmental expert
The ambitious Air Pollution Mitigation Plan 2025 launched last month by the BJP-led Delhi government in one of the world's most polluted cities may fall short on several parameters despite some redeeming features, says a leading environmental activist. Reflecting on the putting on 'hold' the fuel ban on end-of-life vehicles amid public pressure, which came into effect this week, Shambhavi Shukla of the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) told this reporter: 'In its decades-long campaign on the right to clean air, CSE has never recommended the phase-out of personal vehicles based on age. Instead, we have recommended the improvement of fuel and emission standards for vehicles – from BS-0 in the mid-1990s to BS-6 introduction in 2020.' Of the multi-pollutants that have turned the national capital into a living hell, vehicular pollution is right at the top. The Delhi government said that only BS-VI vehicles, CNG vehicles, and electric vehicles will be allowed entry into the Union territory after November 1, 2025. This feature will not apply to vehicles already registered in Delhi, but would apply to commercial vehicles—large, medium, and heavy goods vehicles. According to Shukla, 'Unless there is a unified transport system, a kind of a multi-modal arrangement, restricting it to just Delhi will not work. Delhi-Gurugram-Faridabad-Noida requires a multi-modal integrated transport system.' Such an arrangement is lacking in the anti-pollution plan, she said. In Shukla's estimate, the project could do with more technological assistance. The plan misses critical technological interventions such as remote sensing-based monitoring of emissions to identify gross polluters in real-time, which will help in the strong enforcement of the air pollution mitigation plan. Pilot studies of remote sensing have shown promising results, which will completely transform how on-road emission management is done.' Among the other key steps introduced by the Rekha Gupta government is the introduction of more electric vehicles on the capital's roads. "By 2027, as many as 2,000 electric buses will ply the streets, and 18,000 public charging stations will be set up," the chief minister said, adding that 2,299 e-autos will be deployed by Delhi Metro. Shukla believes that better air quality monitoring, including the use of Chemical Transport Models (CTMs) for policy guidance, and the development of a public information system with health advisories, should be considered mandatory. The new plan does not include such sharing of public information, and without such guidance, a titanic battle against such a deadly environmental scourge will always face hurdles. On the vexed issue of the air quality index (AQI) dipping due to increased stubble burning in the neighbouring states, Shukla said that more needs to be done. "Crop burning is a seasonal phenomenon. But more coordinated efforts are required for other sources of pollution, which are present throughout the year. Transboundary movement of pollution is a key issue, and this must be taken care of by not just focussing only on city-centric solutions,' she said. Air pollution in Delhi continues to be an unresolved problem. In winter months, the AQI levels often hit hazardous levels due to increased stubble burning in neighbouring states. The Delhi government's other innovative moves include the installation of mist sprayers on electric poles across 13 pollution hotspots, and the introduction of anti-smog guns on commercial buildings of over 3,000 sq. m. On July 5, the Delhi government announced its decision to install water sprinklers on poles along the busy Rani Jhansi Road, which connects central and north Delhi. Officials said that the entire project is expected to take about two to three months to complete. The Delhi chief minister also said that the national capital would witness its first artificial rain "very soon' with the help of cloud seeding techniques. For cloud seeding and artificial rain, an MoU has been signed with IIT Kanpur as a pilot project. Shukla, however, believes that these are temporary solutions and it would only help if pollution were fixed at the source itself. On the question of artificial rains, the CSE expert questioned the sanctity of the move ``because it requires exact clouds to be present for the rain to happen.' Since taking office in February 2025, the Delhi government has implemented a series of ambitious measures, from a 25-point pollution control plan and a ban on older vehicles to mandatory anti-smog guns on buildings, cloud seeding trials, and a widespread dust control initiative.
