The Council of IITs is expected to take up the matter of conversion of the prestigious Indian School of Mines (ISM), Dhanbad into an IIT following sustained demand and raging protests by the students of the institute.
The students have been up in arms seeking expeditious conversion of ISM to IIT as suggested by the Planning Commission. last year, the plan panel said the ISM would be upgraded to IIT level following which the HRD Ministry forwarded the matter to the Council of IITs.
But the inaction of the authorities prompted about 1,500 students of the institute to demonstrate at Jantar Mantar for three days last week. Several dignitaries — including Members of Parliament — took part in the protest. The students have also been protesting on the institute’s premises as well as in Ranchi.
The January 2013 Council meeting had put a spanner in the conversion issue. The Council wanted an increase in funding to the institution and its inclusion in the group of IITs to benefit from the brand name. The Council constituted a committee headed by former IIT Bombay Director Ashok Mishra to examine afresh the proposal of conversion. Mishra is believed to have given a “favourable” report.
The matter will again be placed before the Council in its September 16 meeting. However, sources feared that the conversion decision might be put off again since no members have sent in their comment so far.
“The moment the Council approves without dissent, HRD Ministry will go ahead with the Gazette notification on the conversion of ISM to IIT,” said a HRD Ministry official. While the Finance Ministry has reportedly told the Council that the financial implications of conversion will have to be weighed in, the students do not agree.
“This requires very little economic support compared to the construction of a new IIT. We also have the required level of faculty and we have already been in taking students through IIT-JEE since 1998 (now JEE advanced). So, our primary concern is the delay regarding this matter, which we feel is completely unnecessary. So, the basic purpose of our peaceful demonstration is to convey a message to the Government to expedite this process,” said a statement on behalf of demonstrating students.
The Jharkhand Assembly had passed a resolution in 2011 requesting the Centre for the conversion of old ISM into IIT. ISM was established in 1926 as a specialised institute in the field of Earth Sciences and is now a full-fledged engineering college with 17 departments.