Reliance’s Jio Institute which does not even exist gets government’s Institution of Eminence status
New Delhi, July 9 : Three private universities - BITS (Pilani), Manipal Academy of Higher Education and Jio Institute - were awarded the status of ‘institutions of eminence’ by the Centre on Monday.
Government institutions such as the Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru, and the Indian Institutes of Technology in Mumbai and Delhi were also awarded the status.
While IISc was ranked first in the all-India NIRF (National Institutional Ranking Framework) rankings of the government in 2018, IIT Bombay and Delhi were ranked third and fourth in the rankings, respectively.
IIT Madras, ranked second, IIT Kharagpur, ranked fifth, JNU, ranked sixth and IIT Kanpur, ranked seven, are not on the list. Manipal was ranked 18th in India by the NIRF and BITS Pilani was ranked 26th.
The surprise entry was Jio Institute, which was not found on the NIRF 2018.
Jio institute is proposed to be set up by Reliance Foundation, led by Nita Ambani. The foundation is the philanthropic arm of Reliance Industries, the largest private company in India. With this, the Jio Institute gets unprecedented freedom from the government’s higher education regulations from its very birth.
As per Government norms, an Institution of Eminence should offer interdisciplinary courses and conduct research in “areas of emerging technology”. It must have a mix of foreign and Indian students and faculty, with “student amenities comparable with that of globally reputed institutions”.
The Jio Institute has none of these. It does not even exist. Yet, it has been declared an “Institution of Eminence”, at par with the Indian Institutes of Technology at Delhi and Bombay, the Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore, the Birla Institute of Technology at Pilani, Rajasthan, which was set up in 1964, and the Manipal Academy of Higher Education, which began with Kasturba Medical College in 1953.
PTI had reported on March 11, 2018, that Reliance Foundation was planning to establish a university for cutting-edge research and innovation.
Union Minister of Human Resource Development Prakash Javadekar tweeted about the decision to select these six institutions: “Yet another landmark initiative of @narendramodi government. The #instituteofeminence are selected by the experts panel and today we are releasing list of six universities -- three each in public and private sector.”
The University Grants Commission (UGC) - which is going to be replaced by Higher Education Commission of India (HECI) - and the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), will lose the power to regulate these institutions, which are expected to break into the top 500 in the world in a decade.
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Nagaland bypoll: Nearly 20 pc voter turnout recorded in Koridang seat in first two hours
Kohima (PTI): Nearly 20 per cent of 22,382 electors exercised their franchise in Nagaland's Koridang Assembly bypoll in the first two hours of polling on Thursday, officials said.
The voting that commenced at 7 am across all 30 polling stations has so far been peaceful, they said.
The polling will continue till 4 pm.
Security has been significantly tightened across the constituency following violence on April 5 and 6, in which one person died, and several vehicles were damaged.
The byelection was necessitated by the demise of sitting BJP MLA Imkong L. Imchen in November last year.
A total of 22,382 electors, including 11,071 women, are eligible to decide the fate of six candidates in the fray.
The ruling People’s Democratic Alliance (PDA) has fielded BJP nominee Daochier I. Imchen, while the Congress candidate is T. Chalukumba Ao. The National People’s Party (NPP) has nominated I. Abenjang, while the Independent candidates are Imchatoba Imchen, Imtiwapang, and Toshikaba.
Of the 30 polling stations, 13 have been categorised as vulnerable and 17 as critical, prompting deployment of additional security personnel and intensified surveillance measures. Two polling stations have been designated as all-women booths.
Counting of votes is scheduled for May 4.
