Upper House passes IIIT Bill; gives national importance to 5 institutes

New Delhi: Government today passed the Indian Institutes of Information Technology (IIIT) Bill in Rajya Sabha. The Bill confers the status of National importance to five IIITs in Surat, Bhopal, Bhagalpur, Agartala, and Raichur.

''The Bill will enable the Institutes to attract enough students required to develop a strong research base in the country in the field of Information Technology,'' tweeted Union Education Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank who introduced the Bill in the Upper House on Monday.

He also mentioned that the Institutes will now be able to use the nomenclature of Bachelor of Technology (BTech) or Master of Technology (MTech) or Ph.D. degree.

Under the Indian Institutes of Information Technology (Public-Private Partnership) Act, 2017, the Institutes have been declared as Institutions of National Importance along with already existing 15 IIITs.

Earlier, Pokhriyal said that the Bill will encourage and motivate the IIITs to promote the study of information and technology through their innovative and qualitative methods in the country. At present, over 1000 students will be benefited from this amendment, while nearly 5000 students are likely to get motivated from the move in near future, said the Ministry of Education.

The Indian Institute of Information Technology Act, 2014, and Indian Institutes of Information Technology (Public-Private) Act 2017, are the two initiatives by the Government of India as solutions to the challenges related to education and technology faced by the country.

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