NRI sets up centre for Social Entrepreneurship

NRI sets up centre for Social Entrepreneurship
The Hindu - Staff Correspondent

His trust will open seven Indian Institutes of Public Health

A NEW CHAPTER: Gururaj Deshpande, chairman of Sycamore Networks, U.S., unveiling a plaque during the bhoomi puja of Deshpande Centre for Social Entrepreneurship in Hubli on Saturday.

HUBLI: The bhoomi puja for the “Deshpande Centre for Social Entrepreneurship” said to be the first of its kind in the country was done here on Saturday.

The centre, which is the brainchild of Gururaj Deshpande, chairman of Sycamore Networks, U.S.; aims at creating a common platform for exchanging and improving the best ideas and methodologies adopted among various non-governmental organisations and those from abroad.

The centre is being promoted by Mr. Deshpande and his wife Jayashri Deshpande, who are trustees of Deshpande Foundation. Its building will come up on the campus of BVB College of Engineering and Technology, Hubli.

A formal function was held here on Saturday to mark the occasion in which apart from the couple, S.C. Deshpande, chairman of K.L.E. Society Prabhakra Kore, Commissioner of Hubli-Dharwad Municipal Corporation P. Manivannan, and principal of the college Ashok Shettar were present.

Mr. Gururaj Deshpande explained the objectives behind establishing the centre. Initially, the around 50 non-governmental organisations had been selected by the centre already and they would be intermingling with “change agents”, including dedicated students from abroad and those who have successfully implemented their ideas to bring about changes in the field of their work, he said.

Dr. Deshpande said the foundation would be funding the activities of the centre but would rope in other agencies and foundation. He said all the programmes implemented by the NGOs would require technology support, where the services of the engineering institute like BVBCET would be utilised. The projects would be in the field of education, agriculture, water, and micro finance.

Mr. Deshpande said that with the assistance of the Centre, and Bill Gates Foundation seven Indian Institutes of Public Health (IIPH) would be set up. About Rs. 200 crore had been mobilised for the purpose, he said.

He said the first IIPH would be in Hyderabad.

KLE planning to start engineering college at Hubli

KLE planning to start engineering college at Hubli

The New Kerala.com and UNI

Hubli, Aug 4: The prestigious Karnataka Lingayat Education (KLE) Society, spearheading the education field in the state was planning to start an engineering college here for Information Technology (IT), Society Chairman Prabhakar Kore said today.

Talking to newspersons, he said the society had already purchased 15 acre of land for the purpose but clearance from the government was awaited to convert it into the non-agriculture land.

He said "we have planned to start the college from this academic year but now it will be postponed to next academic year.

He urged Revenue Minister Jagadish Shettar to clear the land.

The engineering college will have an intake of 2,500 students, will begin with admission for 250 students in the next academic year as per the norms, he added.

Artificial hike in land prices in Hubli -Dharwad

Artificial hike in land prices
The Newindpress.com

Saturday August 4 2007 12:22 IST

HUBLI: Although the City Development Plan (CDP) has nothing to do with real estate, the realtors are creating an artificial hike in land prices in the city.

The soaring land prices could be attributed to the much-hyped IT investment and airport upgradation, as the realtors and land investors are manipulating the land prices for land banking purpose at the cost of the commoners dream to have a plot in the city.

Admitting the artificial hike in land prices, M F Samoji of Ganesh Real Estates said that the city has been witnessing a huge growth in the number of developers and realtors in recent times, following the overall growth of the city. However CDP is yet to be recommended for revision by HDMC.

Shashikumar, Deputy Director of Town Planning, HDMC said that CDP has nothing to do with the real estate business.

As per the section-25 of the Karnataka Town and Country Planning Act, the CDP can be revised every ten years and there were clauses to revise it before completing the tenure following the sudden and unexpected growth in the city.

The present CDP drafted in 2003 does not see any unexpected and sudden developments for premature revision as the equation of land and population has not gone beyond the calculations of CDP in HDMC limits, he said.

“Both realtors and land investors who acquired land at lesser price are falsely forecasting land scarcity to get more for their layouts coming up on the outskirts”, he stated. Local ministers and media are to be blamed for this artificial hike in prices, as both gave a wrong picture of the IT potential of the city, said Ashok Bhat of Ashok Real Estates.

The magic of Vastu consultants has also been playing a key role in the artificial hike in land prices, particularly in Gokul Road area as it comes under the North-Eastern zone which is said to be auspicious for residences.

Ashok Kheny, MD of Nandi Infrastructure Corridor Enterprises (NICE) on his recent visit to the city had stated that the soaring land prices had disrupted the development work in the city and sought the intervention of authorities concerned to check the price.