Bill to empower IIMC to award degree

The Information and Broadcasting Ministry is working on a bill that will provide the Indian Institute of Mass Communication (IIMC) with powers to grant degrees and is likely to approach the union cabinet soon for approval.
IIMC, which falls under the I&B Ministry, runs several diploma courses in journalism.
The Ministry had circulated a draft note for the cabinet along with a draft bill to concerned ministries in August 2012.
However, during the consultation process, substantial changes had to be carried out in the draft Bill. So, the Ministry again circulated a revised draft bill along with a revised draft note for the cabinet in May this year for approval and comments from different ministries.

In a report tabled in Parliament, the Ministry has said that after obtaining the comments from various ministries, the draft note will be forwarded to the Department of Legal Affairs and legislative department for finalisation of the draft bill.
After this, the Ministry would seek approval of the cabinet for introducing the bill in parliament, the Ministry said in the report.