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Rajasthan first off new IIT blocks
The Centre is launching the Indian Institute of Technology, Rajasthan, as the first among a new breed of upcoming IITs, hoping to counter chief minister Vasundhara Raje’s allegations of bias against the poll-bound state.
The ministry of human resource development has decided to launch the Rajasthan institute as India’s eighth IIT on August 2, top government officials have said. But IIT Rajasthan will operate from IIT Kanpur this year, they added.
Classes will begin on August 4, the sources said, but students selected to the Rajasthan institute will be asked to report to IIT Kanpur on July 30.
The seven existing IITs are at Kharagpur, Mumbai, Madras, Kanpur, Delhi, Guwahati and Roorkee.
“IIT Rajasthan will enjoy the same status among the new IITs that Kharagpur enjoys among the first lot,” a ministry official said. IIT Kharagpur was the first of the premier engineering schools to be set up.
None of the eight new IITs — including Rajasthan — announced is legally registered yet, but the Centre does not want to risk “negative publicity” ahead of Assembly elections in the state, the sources said.
Rajasthan was among the first three states — along with Andhra Pradesh and Bihar — that were announced as recipients of new IITs, but the state and the Centre have been locked in a heated debate over the institute’s location ever since.
Raje has repeatedly asked HRD minister Arjun Singh to locate the state’s IIT at Kota — a town famous for its coaching classes for competitive examinations.
But on each occasion, Arjun struck down the state government’s proposal and told Raje that the new IIT must come up near one of the bigger cities like Jaipur, Jodhpur or Udaipur, the sources said.
Locations for the IITs in Andhra and Bihar were finalised in the meantime, prompting allegations of discrimination by Rajasthan. Raje has also publicly accused the Centre of “playing politics” over the IIT’s location.
Apart from Rajasthan, five other new IITs — in Orissa, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Punjab — are starting courses this year. Of these, the Rajasthan, Orissa and Punjab IITs will function out of their “mentor” institutes — the IITs at Kanpur, Kharagpur and Delhi — this year.
The remaining three — Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh and Bihar — will operate out of temporary campuses near their respective state capitals.
A foundation stone is to be placed at the IIT Andhra campus in Medak near Hyderabad on August 8, but classes are likely to start later, sources said.
“All six have to be started this year, but Rajasthan is being given priority to make a point ahead of the Assembly elections,” a source said.
Source : telegraphindia.com