Mamata Banerjee disagrees with IIT fee hike

Kolkata, April 13: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday disagreed with the central government's decision to hike the annual fees at Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) by 122 percent.

"The Centre must consider the feelings of my young generation. I don't agree," Banerjee said in response to a poser on her views on the hike, on Facebook during a live QnA session.

The IITs recently hiked annual fees for undergraduate courses from Rs.90,000 to Rs.2 lakh.

The government took the fee hike decision after accepting the recommendations of the Anil Kakodkar committee appointed in 2010 on increasing the autonomy of IITs.

The IITs have seen an eightfold hike in fees in the last six years. The last fee hike to Rs.90,000 was effected in 2013.

Students at IIT-Kharagpur launched protests following the announcement.

However, the Human Resource Development ministry on Wednesday clarified the revised fee would be applicable for students taking admission starting from academic year 2016-17 onwards and not those who are already enrolled in undergraduate courses.

IANS