Date:10/01/2009 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2009/01/10/stories/2009011059031000.htm

National

PIOs, NRIs urged to tie up with centres of excellence

Special Correspondent

Plans afoot for three new universities for their children

— Photo: V. Ganesan

Exchanging ideas: A. Raja, Union Minister for Communications and Information Technology (second from right), with Ashwin Patel, Chairman, Asian American Hotel Owners Association; T.P. Sreenivasan, former Ambassador of India to the United Nations; and Thomas Abraham, Chairman, GOPIO International, USA, at a Pravasi Bharatiya Divas function in Chennai on Friday.

CHENNAI: To bridge the technology divide, the Centre is in the process of setting up ‘Telcom Centres of Excellence’ in prestigious academic institutions, Union Minister for Communications and Information Technology A.Raja said here on Friday.

Addressing the regional session on the Americas at the concluding day of the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas, he said that talks were already on with Indian Institutes of Technology, the Indian Institute of Management-Ahmedabad, and the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, to set up such centres in public-private partnership mode. This would strengthen research and development efforts. Mr.Raja urged PIOs and NRIs to tie up with these centres of excellence.

Satyam issue

During interaction with Malaysian Minister for Human Resource, S.Subramaniam, who raised the Satyam issue, Mr.Raja said that the Centre was closely watching the situation. It intended to wait till a clear picture emerged after examining Satyam’s accounts and related files. “We expect this will take about a week. We will keep everyone informed and intend to disseminate information by posting it on the website.”

Answering questions from presspersons, Mr.Raja said, “Merely because one company has done this it does not mean you can paint all with the same brush.” His Ministry was examining the issue in depth and would provide inputs to the appropriate government bodies for avoiding such “aberrations.”

Addressing the regional session focussing on the Caribbeans, Union Minister of State for Statistics and Programme Implementation G.K.Vasan said that the government planned to set up three new universities for children of NRIs and PIOs. The first of these would be located in Bangalore and operational by 2010. These universities would have 50 per cent seats for NRIs/PIOs. The Centre had also increased to 120, the number of scholarships for NRIs/PIOs to facilitate unhindered access to higher education. Addressing a session on West Asia, Union Minister of State for External Affairs E.Ahamed said that negotiations to explore the possibility of concluding an Indo-Gulf Cooperation Council Free Trade Agreement were under way. “India is keen to make the agreement an FTA plus one arrangement, which would also include investment and services,” he said.