The Union Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on Wednesday approved the revised cost estimate to the tune of Rs. 4,799 crore as against the originally approved cost of Rs,2,500 crore for setting up of five Indian Institutes of Science Education and Research (IISERs) in Kolkata, Pune, Mohali, Bhopal and Thiruvananthapuram.
While construction of these five Institutes is in progress, approval to the revised cost estimates will enable the ministry and the Boards of Governors of the institutes to enhance the pace of work and expeditious completion of fully operational permanent campuses with 9,275 students, 928 faculty and 1,020 non-teaching staff by 2018-19.
These institutes will integrate undergraduate, postgraduate and research education under the same umbrella. They will interact with national laboratories, and other research institutes to develop a synchronous environment for researches that would transcend rigid administrative structure and also encourage interdisciplinary research.
Many areas of basic science have eventually evolved as applied sciences e.g lasers, super conductivity, semiconductors, nano-materials etc. Research in such areas can generate significant intellectual properties, which have potential for generating sizeable revenue.
These institutes will also contribute to highly competent and trained manpower, who will be a major catalyst for technological human resource revolution that will inevitably have an impact on the economic growth of the country.