New National Institutes of Technology to be set up

New Delhi, Sept 17 (ANI): The Union Cabinet today approved setting up of new National Institutes of Technology (NITs), six of them in the northeast.

These new NITs will be established in Manipur; Meghalaya; Mizoram; Nagaland; Goa (which will also cater to UTs of Daman and Diu, Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Lakshdweep); Pudducherry (which will also cater to Andaman and Nicobar Islands); Sikkim; Delhi (which will also cater to Chandigarh) and Uttrakhand.

The process for setting up of these new NITs will start in 2009-10 with formation of their respective societies, constitution of their Board of Governors and appointment of Directors.

The admissions will be made from the academic session 2010-11 and NITs will start classes either in campuses taken on lease or temporarily in mentor NITs.

Work for construction of campuses for these new NITs will also be initiated subject to the land being provided free of cost by the concerned States/UTs.

The process of setting up will be completed over a period of five years.

The new NITs are being setup so as to cater to the needs of States/UTs which do not have NITs as of now. This will meet a long-standing demand of these States/UTs.

These institutes will be covered under the National Institutes of Technology Act, 2007 making them institutions of national importance, which will ultimately help in addressing the aspirations of people especially of the North East region where six new NITs are to be established.

The new NITs will be able to provide high quality education to many of the bright students from these States/UTs, as 50 per cent of the seats are to be filled from the eligible students from these States/UTs.

Many of the States/UTs where these new NITs are being opened, especially those in North East are lacking in national level technical institutions. This will bring such States of North East in the main stream of the technical education.

The new NITs will increase in output of high quality: By producing engineering and science graduates in the short run and postgraduates and Ph.Ds in the long run; By providing teachers for Engineering and Science subjects at College/University level; and By developing Research and Development and Intellectual Property generation in Engineering and Science, in the long run.

The new approved NITs are categorized under two Schemes. They are Scheme "A" consisting of proposed NITs at Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Goa, which will also cater to UTs of Daman and Diu, Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Lakshadweep, Pudducherry, which will cater to Andaman and Nicobar Islands also and Sikkim; and Scheme "B" consisting of approved NITs at Delhi (which will also cater to Chandigarh) and Uttrakahand.

Each of the NIT under scheme A will be established at a cost of Rs.250 crore while each of the NIT in scheme B will be set up at a cost of Rs.300 crore. Total project cost is Rs.2600 crore. (ANI)