Government okays setting up of six new IITs

The union cabinet on Wednesday approved setting up and operationalization of six new Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) in Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Goa, Jammu, Kerala and Karnataka.

The cabinet was chaired by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

"The cabinet also gave its approval for operationalization of these IITs initially by forming of Societies under the Societies Registration Act, 1860 to give a legal status to them till the amendment for their incorporation in The Institutes of Technology Act, 1961 is enacted," an official statement said.

"Each new IIT will have an initial intake of 180 students in its first year, which would increase to 450 in the second year and to 928 (840 undergraduates, 80 post-graduates and 8 Ph.D.) in the third year of their operation," it added.

The total cost for running these IITs is Rs.1,411.80 crore and will be incurred between 2015-16 and 2018-19.

"The new IITs will be operated from their temporary campuses for the initial period of three years before shifting into their permanent campuses in the 4th year. Each IIT will have a sanctioned strength of faculty members, with a faculty-student ratio of 1:10," the statement added.