The problem of not having enough home-grown doctors, teachers and other professionals cannot be solved just by having quotas for STs in various Central institutions in far-flung places like Delhi. This is because, having reservations in Delhi University and hoping that tribals from KBK will go there, get education and come back to KBK, is not realistic. Obviously, what is needed are more higher education opportunities in backward areas.

This is also supported by data that shows the success of Central funding of higher education institutions in the Northeast and Delhi. According to the NSSO figures, attendance among 15- to 19-year-olds and among 20- to 24-year-olds (in an educational institution) in Arunachal Pradesh is 61.1 per cent and 22.6 per cent, Assam, 53.2 per cent and 12.8 per cent, and Delhi, 70 per cent and 19.3 per cent respectively. In contrast, for Orissa it is 29.0 per cent and and 6.1 per cent — the lowest in India. As for Orissa’s tribals, it is 17.1 per cent and 4.1 per cent respectively.

Citing this data, the government and people of Orissa have been trying to convince the PM, the HRD ministry and the Planning Commission about the need for a multi-campus Central university for the KBK region. In general, following the establishment of Central universities in each of the states of the Northeast, which is scheduled to happen very soon, the HRD ministry and the Planning Commission should establish multi-campus Central universities in the backward and tribal district clusters.

The Central universities should have disciplines beyond the traditional liberal arts, such as education, medicine, nursing, sports, sciences, agriculture and engineering. They should have linkages with the primary and secondary education initiatives in these districts and have

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