Emphasizing for making the state a knowledge hub, Himachal government has put forth a demand for sanctioning an Indian Institute of Information Technology (IIIT) before the central government.
Narinder Bragta, the Minister for technical education addressing a minister’s conference on higher and technical education at Delhi. He said that the state government had already offered a hundred acre patch for setting up the IIIT institute. He further said that the state is willing to contribute 15 % project cost with private partners under private public partnership mode while the government detailed project report for setting up the institute once the central government in principal approves the project.
He also demanded the setting up of polytechnic colleges in five districts under national skill development mission and also requested funds for strengthening of technical education infrastructure as the state presently had eight government and four private technical colleges. However, five districts are still without any technical institute.
Bragta also asked for starting the IIT session in Mandi where the government has been able to offer requisite infrastructure for the proposed prestigious central institute.
What is the purpose behind setting up an IIIT in Himachal? It would be better to set up a local IIIT, which is dedicated to training the youth of Himachal. An IIIT will be taking students on an all-India level. HP’s performance in such exams is average at best. There aren’t that many students in IIT or NIT or IIM from Himachal. Therefore, an IIIT will not benefit people in HP much.