Update: Govt to set up 8 IITs and various education institutions

The Government of India is planning to set up various education institutions including eight new Indian Institute of Information Technology (IITs) across the country in the 11th Five Year Plan. During the current academic year 2008-09, government could start six IITs though through temporary campuses or through the campus of an existing IIT.
 
In his inaugural address, through video, at Pan IIT 2008, a three day which was inaugurated at Chennai today, the Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh said that educational institutions especially institutions like IIT should play a key role to strengthen the education system in the country.
 
On this line, the Prime Minister said, apart from 8 new IITs, the government is also in the process of setting up 30 new Central Universities, 7 new IIMs, 10 new National Institutes of Technology, 20 new IIITs, 5 new Indian Institutes of Science Education and 2 new Schools of Planning and Architecture, 373 new Colleges in districts with low enrolment in college education and 1000 new Polytechnics.
 
The IIT community is acknowledged as a community that has contributed very significantly to the knowledge economy and knowledge society, globally and in India. He added, in the last six decades the IIT system has produced over 170,000 graduates. It is generally estimated that about a third or more of these alumni have found opportunities in other countries in their fields of endeavour. They have played an important role in technological break-through around the world and in changing the image of India in the West.
 
"I believe the bigger opportunity today is that such a large and rich community is available for generating ideas and initiatives that may help translate the emerging wonder of 'India at 60' into the embodied success of 'India at 75'," said the Prime Minister.
 
There are many reasons for the success of the IIT system. Among the most important is their autonomy and IITs like all other institutions of excellence and need to function in a more autonomous manner. Another, perhaps more important reason, is the rigorous competitive admission process that ensures that only the very best and brightest gain entrance.
 
He added, from the IIT Joint Entrance Examinations that for every student who got an opportunity to study in IITs, there are at least 3 to 4 who are as bright, but are denied the opportunity because of the intake capacity constraints.
 
"This is highly regrettable because it denies opportunity to thousands of deserving young men and women."
 
If India is to become a global leader in science and technology as well as an economic super power, such talent must not go unutilised. Many more such institutes are needed. Realising this, our government decided to increase the capacity by creating eight new IITs in the 11th Five Year Plan, which are mentioned above.
 
While each IIT represents academic excellence, together, the IITs as a system of technological education and research are world-class, consistently ranked very high in most global surveys and are unique in the world. At the same time, we need to keep in mind two other important factors including strengthen the faculty and research capabilities of the IITs. Similarly, it must ensure that the faculty is world class, especially as they expand, and should be more productive research coming out of these institutions.
 
The second is that beyond the IITs there is a whole range of technological institutions, far larger in number, that are making a vital contribition to India's growth as a technological power. The Information Technology revolution that we have witnessed in the first decade of the 21st Century has been substantially powered in India by private engineering colleges, the NITs and similar institutions. Their work and contribution too need to be recognised and encouraged, and government is committed to ensuring this, said the Prime Minister.
 
Providing access to quality education to the poor and the disadvantaged is another challenge, the Government has implemented a series of scholarship schemes for the under-privileged sections of the society this would help the country to make the growth in educational opportunities inclusive.