Union Cabinet has approved to give status of “Institution of National Importance” to 5 IIITs

The cabinet also approved ex-post facto to 21 posts of directors, one each in 20 IIITs

• The Union Cabinet has approved its to confer the status of Institution of National Importance to five Indian Institutes of Information Technology, IIITs
• These institutions will now be able to use the Bachelor of Technology (B.Tech) or the Master of Technology (M.Tech) or the Ph.D degree
• These institutions are operating in PPP mode at Bhopal, Surat, Bhagalpur, Agartala and Raichur

Special features of the cabinet approval

• The approval has been mandated through passing Indian Institutes of Information Technology (IIITs) Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2020
• The Five IIITs in PPP mode at Surat, Bhopal, Bhagalpur, Agartala and Raichur will now be able to use the nomenclature of Bachelor of Technology (BTech) or Master of Technology (MTech) or PhD degree
• The bill will declare the remaining 5 IIITs-PPP along with the existing 15 IIITs in PPP mode as ‘Institutions of National Importance’ with powers to award degrees
• It will also enable the institutes to attract enough students required to develop a strong research base in the country in the field of information technology
• The cabinet also approved ex-post facto to 21 posts of directors, one each in 20 IIITs (PPP) and one in IIITDM Kurnool (IIIT-CFTI) besides ex-post facto to 21 posts of registrars, one each in 20 IITs (PPP) and one in IIITDM Kurnool (IIT-CFTI)

Objectives of the approval

• The objective of the approval is for the formalization of IIITs at Surat, Bhopal, Bhagalpur, Agartala and Raichur
• These IIITs are already functioning as societies registered under the Societies
• Registration Act of 1860, They will now be covered under the IIIT (PPP) Act, 2017, similar to the other 15 IIITs established under the scheme in PPP mode

What is “Indian Institute of Information Technology (IIITs)”?

• These are a group of institutes of higher education in India, focused on information technology
• Five of them are established, funded and managed by the Ministry of Human Resource Development
• The rest are set up on the public-private partnership (PPP) model
• Prior to 2010, the IIITs at Gwalior, Allahabad, Jabalpur and Kancheepuram were set up by the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD)
• Admissions into undergraduate program in IIITs for 4,000 seats are through the Joint Seat Allocation Authority and JEE-Main

What is “PPP – Public–Private Partnership” mode?

• It is a cooperative arrangement between two or more public and private sectors, typically of a long-term nature
• It involves an arrangement between a unit of government and a business that brings better services or improvements (3) PPPs are closely related to concepts such as privatization and the contracting out of government services
• The Government of India defines a P3 as “a partnership between a public sector entity (sponsoring authority) and a private sector entity (a legal entity in which 51% or more of equity is with the private partner/s)

Pic courtesy : Indus Scrolls