On Tuesday, parliament passed a bill to declare five newly established Indian Institutes of Information Technology (IIIT) as institutions of national importance.
The five new IIITs established under the Public Private Partnership mode are in: Surat, Bhopal, Bhagalpur, Agartala and Raichur.
The Indian Institutes of Information Technology Bill (Amendment) 2020 was already approved by Lok Sabha in the previous session on March 20, 2020.
The bill was introduced in the upper house on Monday by Education Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank.
The Education Minister said there are 25 IIITs in the country, of which 5 are administered exclusively by the central government and 15 operate under the public-private partnership (PPP) mode. “We have submitted the proposal to this House to bring in five new operational institutes that are located and have started operating in Surat (Gujarat), Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh), Bhagalpur (Bihar), Agartala (Tripura) and Raichur (Karnataka) to bring under this law, ”Nishank said. He said that bringing the five new institutes under the IIIT Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2020 will make them institutes of national importance and they will have the legal right to issue diplomas, degrees, doctorates, etc.
These 5 IIITs, along with 15 other IIITs, which are also based on the public-private partnership (PPP) mode, will now be able to use the Bachelor of Technology (BTech) or Master of Technology (MTech) or PhD nomenclature.
It will also allow the institutes to attract enough students needed to develop a strong research base in the country in the field of information technology. BJP MP Kamakhya Prasad Tasa thanked the prime minister and the minister of education for including the Agartala institute in the bill. BJD MP, Dr. Sasmit Patra, supported the bill.
“I support your bill on behalf of my peer Biju Janta Dal,” said Patra.
The bill amends the Indian Institutes of Information Technology Act 2014 and the Indian Institutes of Information Technology (Public-Private Partnerships) Act 2017. Currently, these institutes are registered as companies under the Act company registration of 1860 and do not have the power to grant titles or diplomas. Upon being declared institutions of national importance, the five institutes will have the power to grant degrees.
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