About the Department
Orissa has a sizable population of Scheduled Tribes, Scheduled
Castes and Other Backward Communities. The socio-economic and
demographic scenario of the state is in a transitional phase with
high infant and child mortality, declining sex ratio, reducing
tribal population, increasing aged population, low status of women,
increasing geographical imbalances and frequent natural calamities.
These interrelated problems need to be comprehensively studied
and acted upon through research and extension activities. In this
context, the Department of Population Studies started functioning
from the academic session, 2004-05 with the objective of providing
quality education and research to the students of the region.
This challenging task can only be undertaken by steps. To begin
with, the two-year (four-semester) M.A./ M.Sc. Course (under course
credit system with continuous evaluation) was introduced with
a student intake of 16 and the faculty of six.M.Phil. and Ph. D.
programmes in population studies are offered since this academic session 2006-07. Similarly,
the extension activities of the department shall comprise creation
of awareness among the people on health problems/hazards in both
rural and urban areas, especially among the underprivileged. Besides,
the department shall develop a data base on different aspects
of demography.
Evaluation System
The Department has adopted the semester system of examination
with continuous evaluation based on course credit. In this system,
each theory paper in a semester is divided into two parts with
internal evaluation of 20% marks and external evaluation of the
remaining 80% marks. The internal exercises are conducted by the
concerned teachers in the middle of the semester and are further
subdivided into two parts, written examination (10% marks) and
home assignment/viva-voce (10% marks). Besides, as a matter of
policy, all the theory papers of 1st and 3rd semesters are to
be evaluated externally, while internal evaluation will be undertaken
in case of theory papers of 2nd and 4th semesters. But all the
practical papers in all the semesters are evaluated externally.
In this way, the MA/MSc degree will be awarded on successful completion
of 96 credits of course work in 4 semesters involving 23 papers
(6 practical papers).
