Govt to consider Kakodkar panel proposals on IITs

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today said the government would consider recommendations of the Anil Kakodkar committee on the functioning of Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) after a council of the premier institutes looks into them.

Speaking at the 57th annual convocation of the IIT-Kharagpur here, he said, "The Kakodkar panel formed on the functioning of IITs had made a number of important recommendations. These will soon be considered by the council of IITs and then by the government of India."

He said the panel had noted that the number of PhDs emanating from the IITs were "very small as compared to similar institutes in the US or China".

The Prime Minister said the panel therefore emphasised the importance of technology and innovation linked to advanced research.

He said that India had declared the current decade as a 'decade of innovation'.

"The panel suggests that the IITs take on the challenge of creating an advanced research based innovation eco-system with the involvement of industry and national technology related programme," Singh said.

The government had provided a special grant of Rs 200 crore in this year's budget for the development of IIT, Kharagpur, he said.