Rajya Sabha passes IIIT Bill; grants Institute of National Importance to 5 more IIITs.

On Tuesday Morning, Parliament Upper House Rajya Sabha passed a total of 7 Bills including IIIT Bill to declare 5 more Indian Institute of Information Technology (IIITs) as Institute of National Importance (INIs) along with existing 20 IIITs.

• The 5 IIITs are :
• Indian Institute of Information Technology Bhopal
• Indian Institute of Information Technology Surat
• Indian Institute of Information Technology Bhagalpur
• Indian Institute of Information Technology Raichur
• Indian Institute of Information Technology Agartala

• Other Institutes which also received Institute of National Importance tag are:
• Rashtriya Raksha University, Gujarat
• National Forensic Sciences University, Gujarat (also having campus at Delhi)

IIIT Laws (amendment) Bill will grants institutes to use the nomenclature of Bachelor Of Technology (BTech) and Master Of Technology (MTech) or PhD degree as is issued by IITs/NITs or any Institute of National Importance. The Bill will amend Indian Institutes of Information Technology Act, 2014 and the Indian Institutes of Information Technology (Public-Private Partnership PPP Model).

Also Read: NIT Placement Ranking 2020; Important for college selection

Previously 15 IIITs were given the Institute of National Importance tag. With the addition of 5 more IIITs the list goes on to total of 20. The Bill was introduced in Rajya Sabha by Education Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank and passed on Tuesday morning. The IIIT Bill was passed in Lok Sabha in the previous session on 20 March 2020.

Education Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal in upper house said, “There are total of 25 IIITs in country out of which 5 are completely run by the government of India While 15 run on Public Private Partnernship (PPP) Model.

The Bill was supported by Biju Janta Dal &  other political parties. BJP MP Kamakhya Prasad Tesla supporting the bill said, “IIIT Bill will help the IIITs to attract more no. of students while it will enable the institues legal rights to issue diploma, degree and phD.

Also Read: NIT Silchar, In The Land of Tea; 9th best NIT

The Bill passed in the Rajya Sabha merged the Lok Nayak Jayaprakash Narayan National Institute of Criminology and Forensic Sciences, New Delhi and Gujarat Forensic Sciences University, Gandhinagar and form an institute of national importance. The newly formed University will be known as the National Forensic Sciences University,with its campuses both in Delhi and Gujarat.

The Rajya Sabha also passed the Bill to establish the National Defence University in Gujarat as an institute of national importance. It was passed by the Lok Sabha last week.