Monday, April 4, 2011

Uttarakhand plans IIM at Kashipur

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The Uttarakhand government is planning to set up an Indian Institute of Management (IIM) in Kumaon region of the hill state.

For this purpose, the government has identified two sites — Escort Farms in the industrial town of Kashipur and Pant Nagar agriculture university. In both the places, vast land is available for a possible IIM, which requires 200 acres.

A central team from the Union Ministry of Human Resource and Development (HRD) has already surveyed the two places and would take a final decision shortly.

Before the concept of an IIM at Escort Farms, spread over 530 acres of land came into picture, the State Infrastructure and Industrial Development Corporation of Uttarakhand Limited (Sidcul) had plans to develop a new industrial estate there.

Even if the 200 acres of land is given for the IIM purpose, a top official here said an industrial estate still could be developed on the rest of the land side by side. According to an estimate prepared by Sidcul, the land cost at the proposed Kashipur estate is likely to be 40 to 50 per cent cheaper than the other industrial areas in Uttarakhand.

The land cost at Kashipur after the development would be around Rs 1,800-2,000 per sq meter, which is far cheaper than other industrial estates like Sigaddi in Kotdwar, where the land cost is Rs 3,500 per sq meter. Moreover, the revenue through plots sale can also generate an income of Rs 200 crore for the cash-starved state.

These estimates are based on the DPR being prepared by the Sidcul, which wants to develop an industrial estate for SME units. These estimates are based on the fact that the Sidcul got the Kashipur land from the government free of cost.

On the other hand, the official said Pantnagar agriculture university was also having sufficient land for the proposed IIM. However, the university authorities are opposing the idea of IIM in the premises.

Source: www.business-standard.com

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Saturday, April 2, 2011

Jim Corbett National Park - Injured Tigress Dies

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A tigress at the Jim Corbett National Park in Uttarakhand was declared dead after it succumbed to injuries on Saturday.


Jim Corbett National Park in Uttarakhand
According to Corbett National Park's veterinarian Rajeev Singh, the tigress broke its leg 10-15 days earlier making it unable to feed itself.

Singh said that hunger might have been the cause of death.

"I was informed that a tigress was hurt. I was on my way to look at it when I was informed that it succumbed to injuries. But after prima facie, it seems the tigress' right leg is broken," Singh said.

"It also seems it used to move by dragging its feet. The bone too was jutting out, and maybe that is why it wasn't able to hunt and drink water which could be reason for its death," he added.

It was recently reported that 34 tiger cubs were sighted at the national park, creating a positive buzz of increasing number of tigers.

The Jim Corbett National Park has a tiger population of around 160, which makes it the last and most important bastion of this endangered species in India.

Earlier, last month, Union Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh had said that the number of tigers had gone up from 1,411 to 1,636 as per a 2010 census.

Source: dailyindia.com