New Delhi: The Rajya Sabha  passed the Indian Institute of Information Technology Public Private Partnership (IIIT-PPP) Bill 2017 yesterday (27 July 2017). The bill has already been passed in the  Lok Sabha. In the  Rajya Sabha, Dr. Mahendra Nath Pandey, Minister of State (HRD) told that this bill is required to grant degrees to the students IIITs set up in PPP mode. It will also grant statutory status to the fifteen IIITs established in PPP mode and declare them Institutes of National Importance.

IIITs in PPP mode has the concerned State Government and industry partners as stakeholders and, therefore, have a different governance structure, including composition of Board of Governors, nomination of Chairman, appointment of Director, etc. It is also supposed to be self-sustainable within 5 years of commencement and, therefore, needs to have appropriate financial process in place.

 The Guiding Principle – Provide autonomy to the Institutes but at the same time maintain a fine balance between autonomy and accountability of the IIITs in PPP mode.

Total 15 started so far and covered by the Bill:

  5 (five) in 2013-14 at Kota, Chittoor, Guwahati, Vadodara, Tiruchirapalli

3 (three) in 2014-15 – Sonepat, Kalyani, Una

4 (four) in 2015-16 – Lucknow, Senapati, Dharwad, Kottayam

3 (three) in 2016-17 – Nagpur, Pune, Ranchi

3 (three) to start in 2017-18 – Bhopal, Surat, Bhagalpur

 The current scheme:   Funding is Centre: State: Industry Partner in the ratio of 50:35:15 (for NER, 57.5:35:7.5). State Government, in addition, provides land. The approved project cost of each IIT-PPP is Rs 128 crore to be shared among the Centre, State and industry partner(s) in the above ratio. In addition, Rs 10 crore to be provided by the central government for recurring expenditure.

As (IIIT-PPP) Bill 2017 is passed by the Parliament now, once the President signs the bill, it will become an Act. Under the provision of the Bill, these 15 institutes get statutory status and are declares as Institutes of National Importance. Also these institutes can grant degrees to the students IIITs.

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