The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh News : Tripura CM welcomes ICFAI initiative

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Oct 18, 2004

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

Tripura CM welcomes ICFAI initiative

By Our Staff Reporter

HYDERABAD, OCT. 17. Tripura Chief Minister, Manik Sarkar, held talks with representatives of the Hyderabad based Institute of Chartered Financial Analysts of India (ICFAI) here on Sunday regarding setting up of a campus for the newly established ICFAI University in Tripura.

The Tripura State Assembly had recently passed the ICFAI University Act to constitute the first private university of the State. The University has started operations on a limited scale from this academic year and is offering undergraduate courses in engineering and business management.

Courses from next year

According to Siva Ram Mallela, Head, ICFAI New Operations, said that they had plans to start MBA, MCA and Teacher Training courses from the next academic year.

Mr. Sarkar told The Hindu that his Government had laid down certain conditions for the University. These included level of fees, reservations for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes and preference to local candidates. He hoped that it would emerge as a premier higher educational institution in the North East and attract students from other States of the region and even from Bangladesh.

Focus on `connectivity'

Earlier, addressing a press conference, Mr. Sarkar said that road and rail connectivity to Agartala from Kolkata via Bangladesh was vital for the development of the State. "Before independence the distance between these two cities was only 350 km but now it was 1,610 km as the road through Dhaka had been closed," he said. The "multi-visa system," which allowed Indian nationals to enter Bangladesh from West Bengal and exit via Tripura, was a step in the right direction.

Peace talks

Mr. Sarkar welcomed the ongoing peace talks between the Andhra Pradesh Government and the Communist Party of India (Maoist) and said that everyone was hoping for a positive outcome. His Government too had initiated dialogue with one extremist group and had been successful in getting one more such group to surrender.

He alleged that most of the North East extremist groups were being backed by Pakistan's ISI and alleged that the ISI was "hand-in-glove" with the CIA in these activities. He called on the Bangladesh and Myanmar Governments to demolish the camps of these extremists on their territory and freeze their bank accounts.

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