A bill providing for opening six new IITs, including at Jammu and Tirupati, was passed by the Lok Sabha on Monday. Under the Institutes of Technology (Amendment) Bill 2016, new IITs will also be started in Palakkad, Goa, Dharward and Bhilai. The Bill also seeks to bring the Indian School of Mines, Dhanbad, within the ambit of the Act. Replying to a debate on the bill, HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar said the
government has formed High Education Financial Agency (HEFA) to upgrade the infrastructure. The government's credo is 'Sabko Shiksha Acchi Shiksa (Good Education to All) and has taken a number of efforts in this regards, he said. On the fee structure, he said students from the ST and SC communities, from the Below Poverty Line (BPL) category and physically challenged have full waiver of fees in the IITs and NITs. He said, those whose family income is below Rs 9 lakh per annum also get zero per cent education loan. "Education must be inclusive. But those capable of paying must pay. You should not oppose when rich are being asked to pay," the Minister said. Javadekar said in order to address the issue of high fee of IIT coaching class entrance exam, the government has started online programme IIT-PAL. Under this programme the students can take free tutorials, exams, homework. In future, he said, the government is also planning to take it at the television level for a wider access. To a question about the role of industry in the IITs, Javadekar said the government is even ready to reduce its control but the industry has to accept a larger responsibility. He said the government has been working to provide wi-fi connectivity of 1 GBPS network to all universities in the country which will slowly be extended to the colleges affiliated to it as well in next two years. In Central universities, this facility will be extended to classrooms, canteens, hostels, the minister said. Javadekar also sought to dispel the notion that the funding in IITs have gone down, saying this year, the government has allocated Rs 4035 crore to the IITs as against Rs 3855 crore the last year.
Javadekar also rued over the fact that although an IT superpower, India does not have a Google, Facebook, Twitter or a Microsoft to its credit. To encourage Start Ups, Javadekar said, a decision has been taken under which students can give their hostel address if they are to start any new venture, the HRD minister said. The IITs have registered over 757 patents, he said. To give a boost to the research, the government has started Imprint project under which 483 projects have been short-listed of which Rs 450 will be finalised. These projects will be given a funding of Rs 1 to Rs 5 crore. "Funding is one of the reason why students go abroad. Foreign universities fund projects. Under this scheme funding is available and there is no need to go abroad because of funding," Javadekar said.
Terming ragging as an offence committed only by a smaller section of people, Javadekar said students' mentorship programme can be started in IITs under the guidance of seniors.
Earlier moving the bill for consideration, he said the focus so far had been on expansion of education but "we all should now worry about accountability, quality and affordability." Describing IITs, NITs and IIMs among others as "our institues of pride", he said a number of new IITs are now going to open which is a "big event" for Indian education. Referring to low international ranking of the IITs, he said there was a need to boost perception about them as well as perception carries over 40 per cent weightage in the global evalusation. "The bill is an important milestone," he said. Gaurav Gogoi (Cong) supported the bill on behalf of his party and India should work to reclaim its earlier status of "inspiring" the world in the field of knowledge, mentioning ancient universities of Taxila and Nalanda. Taking a veiled dig at former HRD Minister Smriti Irani, whom Javadekar has succeeded, over the government's "sour" relations with the institutes, he said the centre should give the IITs autonomy and the respect they deserve.
He opposed the hike in the fee at the institutes and Deputy Speaker Thambi Durai, who was in the Chair, also seemed to be supporting at he drew Javadekar's attention to this also the need for counselling for students, some of whom under pressure take extreme steps, incuding committing suicide.
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