In line of Opposition fire in the Rajya Sabha, the Government on Thursday sought to play down the controversy over the ‘Institution of Eminence’ tag to Jio Institute saying it has not been bestowed to it and only a letter of intent has been given.
During Question Hour in the Rajya Sabha, several members sought clarity on the criteria on the basis of which the prestigious title was conferred on select institutions. HRD minister Prakash Javadekar said a committee of experts had made the selections after a thorough scrutiny.
Javadekar made the statement while responding to a question raised by AIADMK member SR Vijayakumar on whether the government would bring out a White Paper on granting the Eminence tag to a university that had not commenced activities yet.
Elaborating on the rationale behind selecting Jio Institute, Javadekar said the proposed university was among 11 such application received. “A letter of Intent has been awarded and it will be reviewed after three years based on the way the university comes up,” he said.
Trinamool Congress member Derek O’Brien insisted on a one-word answer on the status of Jio Institute and Javadekar replied: “No”. “Only a letter of Intent has been given, no IoE status,” HRD Minister added.
A committee headed by N. Gopalaswami was set up to bring Indian Universities on a par with world universities, Javadekar said, adding that funding of Rs 1000 crore would be granted only to public universities.
“None of the Indian universities made it to the list of top 100 world Universities, so we wanted to improve the conditions of 10 universities in the first phase. More universities will be added in future,” he added.
When CPI leader D Raja sought to know why top performing institutions like the IIT Chennai or JNU were not included, Javadekar said a panel had carried out the scrutiny and the government had maintained an arm’s length.
Raja put up another supplementary question, but before Javadekar could reply, Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu said the questions should be directed through the chair. “The mantri (Minister) need not respond just because the Raja (King) has asked,” Naidu commented in a lighter vein.
Six higher education institutions, including the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bengaluru, the Indian Institutes of Technology at Mumbai and Delhi, and the proposed Jio Institute of the Reliance Foundation were selected as Institutions of Eminence.
The Jio Institute in Maharashtra - which has been chosen in the greenfield category - is among three private institutions to be granted the status; the Manipal Academy of Higher Education and BITS, Pilani, being the other two.
“The institutes which were chosen were Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi, and Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay. The Birla Institute of Technological Sciences, Pilani, Manipal Academy of Higher Education, Manipal, and Jio Institute were recommended for issuance of letter of intent,” the minister’s reply said.