Jammu, Tirupati among six places to get IITs

Jammu and Tirupati are among six cities across the country which are set to get IITs, with Parliament on Tuesday passing a bill in this regard. Under the Institutes of Technology (Amendment) Bill 2016, which was approved today by the Rajya Sabha by voice vote, IITs will also be started in Palakkad (Kerala), Goa, Dharward (Karnataka) and Bhilai (Chhattisgarh). Earlier, the Lok Sabha had passed on July 25 the Bill which also seeks to bring the Indian School of Mines, Dhanbad, within the ambit of the proposed Act. Replying to a debate on the bill, HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar said the IITs are the centre of excellence and they will continue to remain like that.

"We will not allow anything that will lower their standards. Actually, we all should try to improve them further and make them really world class institutes. Therefore quality is absolutely important," he said. Replying to Jairam Ramesh of Congress, who raised the issue of ensuring complete autonomy for the IITs, Javedekar said the HRD Ministry is not there on any board of IITs. "MHRD is not even represented on Board of Governors. It is completely run by the Board. We only facilitate in finance and that is where we will concentrate," he said. On funding for the premier institutes, he said there would not be any financial constraints for the growth of IITs. The government is already working on a scheme for financing higher education infrastructure needs, particularly research infrastructure requirements, he added. "Rs 20,000 crore will be leveraged through government's own contribution of nearly Rs 1,000 crore which is promised in this Budget and another Rs 1,000 crore will be coming from partners like nationalised banks or something," Javadekar said. Admitting lack of faculty in the IITs, the HRD Minister said currently there are around 30 per cent vacancies in the premier institutes.

"We need to take proactive steps in this regard, including interviews of talent who are out of the country. We want to fill up the vacancies as soon as possible, in a continuous process. It's our priority," Javadekar said. Replying to a matter raised by D Raja (CPI) on the issue of having freedom of expression on the campuses, Javadekar said the government will ensure freedom on the campuses. "As responsible citizens of the country, we also work within the Constitutional framework and will abide by the laws of the land and these are the only two things we need to keep in mind. Expression of freedom is not curbed and we have no intention of doing so," he added. Raja said obstructionists and fundamentalists were destroying the academic freedom on the campuses. He said sedition charges have been filed against students at various places including JNU. "The(sedition charges) should be withdrawn," he said. Raja also said that the government is not adhering to reservation policy in terms of appointments to IITs and NITs. Replying on the issue, Javadekar said: "As far as reservation is concerned I will review immediately and we will ensure that reservation is implemented in letter and spirit." On the fee structure, he said students from the ST and SC communities, from the Below Poverty Line (BPL) category and physically challenged have the full waiver of fees in the IITs and NITs. He said those whose family income is below Rs 9 lakh per annum also get education loan at zero percent interest rate. "So fee hike is only for people who have an annual income of more than Rs 9 lakh. So what is against poor students? We are incurring an expense of Rs 6 lakh per year per student. So somebody has to pay," Javadekar said. He said the government will also see to the timely completion of Ph.D.'s in the premier institutes. He added that in order to give