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Land scarcity makes IITs, IIMs grow taller

Government to ease land requirement norms to fast-track new institutes

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Acute shortage of urban land has forced the Narendra Modi government to relax land requirements for upcoming central educational institutions. Meaning, all the proposed IITs, IIMs and central universities will be vertically constructed and may have to share some of their resources, like library, as these institutes don't really need that much land, feels the government. The Centre plans to renowned architect Hafeez Contractor for architectural designs.

According to prevailing norms, a state government must spare 100 acres for an IIIT, 200 acres for an IIM or IISER, 300 acres for an NIT and 500 acres for an IIT and a central university.

"Easing out theses norms is the need of the hour as states can't find the mandated land," a source said.

The HRD Ministry has already constituted a high-level committee last month to recommend a plan of action. The five-member committee is headed by Higher Education Secretary Satyanarayan Mohanty. Other members are KV Kamath, chairman, Board of Directors, ICICI Bank; Anil Sahasrabudhe, director, College of Engineering, Pune; and, Syed Bari, Vice-Chancellor of Central University of Gujarat.

What's the committee's observation?
It feels land norms are way too much. "As per the committee's internal assessment, land requirement could be much less. For example, IIMs require only 80-100 acres," states the minutes of the December 8 meeting of the committee, which has been put up on HRD ministry website.

What about sharing resources?
For cost efficiency, a common set-up of library, auditorium and academic resources for better collaboration between central institutes was mooted at the meeting. According to a committee member, "KV Kamath has already done a study on universities in the US, Hong Kong and Singapore to determine the total campus size, number of students etc... Our national institutes are occupying land much beyond requirement."

What has air connectivity got to do here?
The committee feels that institutes of higher excellence and central universities should be within 30-40 minutes of drive from the nearest airport. This aspect, the committee, said should be kept in mind while acquiring land. The next meeting of the committee is scheduled in mid-January. The final report is expected in two months.

Where are the news IITs, IIMs coming up?
The government has proposed five new IITs – in Jammu, Chhattisgarh, Goa, Andhra Pradesh and Kerala. Five new IIMs will be set up in Himachal Pradesh, Bihar, Punjab, Maharashtra and Odisha. A centre of excellence in Madhya Pradesh named after Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Narayan and four more All India Institutes of Medical Sciences in Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal, Vidarbha (Maharashtra) and Purvanchal (Uttar Pradesh) are also proposed.

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