Jio Institute not given Institution of Eminence status: Javadekar
New Delhi, July 30 : Union Minister Prakash Javadekar on Monday said Jio Institute has not been granted the status of Institution of Eminence yet, and has only been issued a Letter of Intent, under which it should complete the process of setting up in three years.
"As far as Jio Institute is concerned, let me make it very clear that it has nothing to do with the government. The Letter of Intent has been issued by the government to this Institute under which the Institute should be set up within three years. Only then the government will grant it," the Union Human Resource Development Minister told the Lok Sabha.
He said: "No greenfield university, which is not in existence but has a plan to come up in future, has been given the status of Institution of Eminence. They have been only issued Letter of Intent with a clear guideline of what they should do for three years, complete the process and then only they will be granted status after verification and inspection," he said during a reply in Question Hour.
The Minister said there were 114 applications -- 74 from public institutions, 29 from private universities and 11 greenfield category universities -- which did not exist but had a plan to have major investment in education and better education.
"A committee headed by N. Gopalaswami included Tarun Khanna of Harvard University, Renu Khator of University of Houston, Pritam Singh (former Director of IIM Lucknow) took presentations from all of them.
"The criteria were to have a 15-year vision and five-year implementation plan," he said replying to a question regarding the criteria adopted for granting the Institutions of Eminence status.
The question was raised by TMC MP Prasun Banerjee.
"The implementation plan includes academic plan, recruitment plan, research plan, administrative plan, infrastructure plan, collaboration plan, finance plan, governance plan, outputs and outcomes per year, and clear annual milestones and action plan," said Javadekar.
"So, all these aspects were comprehensively considered by the committee. The government kept it at arm's length because this was an empowered committee," he added.
The minister also said out of 11 institutes which were to be selected under the greenfield category, only one had been recommended.
"So, the issue is very clear. The government is giving Rs 1,000 crore only to public institutes, that is, IITs and IISCs. No single paisa is given to the private institutes," he said.
Raising a question, TMC MP Sougata Roy said: "I appreciate the Minister's effort in bringing about improvement. What steps are being taken by the government to bring the best Indian professors working abroad to work in Indian universities or institutes of technology?"
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IPL first phase schedule announced amid travel concerns caused by war in West Asia
New Delhi (PTI): Defending champions Royal Challengers Bengaluru will take on Sunrisers Hyderabad in the IPL 2026 opener in Bengaluru on March 28 as the BCCI announced the first phase of the tournament schedule amid concerns around players' travel arrangements due to the ongoing West Asia conflict.
All matches scheduled at the Chinnaswamy Stadium remain subject to clearance from the Karnataka government appointed expert committee, which is scheduled to meet on March 13 to assess venue preparedness in the wake of the deadly stampede at the stadium last season.
The BCCI announced the schedule of the first 20 games on Wednesday and will unveil the full schedule once the dates of elections in three states -- Tamil Nadu, Assam and West Bengal -- are announced.
Besides the state elections, the escalating conflict in West Asia will also be at the forefront of BCCI officials' minds. The war has wreaked havoc to international travel with operations of major airports like Doha and Dubai being heavily restricted.
As a result of that, some of the squad members of South Africa and West Indies are yet to reach home a week after the completion of their T20 World Cup campaign.
It remains to be seen if IPL bound players of those two nations report to their respective teams in time.
"There was a substantial delay in departure of West Indies and South Africa players. It would be a tough task to get them back to India on time. Plus the airfares have gone up substantially due to the war in West Asia," a team official told PTI.
Additionally, hotels across India are facing cooking gas shortage due to the raging conflict and on Tuesday, the central government invoked Essential Commodities Act to ensure uninterrupted supply of domestic cooking gas.
Chennai Super Kings CEO Kasi Viswanthan told PTI that he is expecting his players from the West Indies and South Africa -- Akeal Hossein and Dewald Brevis, to join the team well before their IPL opener.
"We are expecting no delays from their end," he said.
The second game of the opening weekend will see Mumbai Indians host Kolkata Knight Riders at the Wankhede Stadium and the opening weekend will not feature any double-headers.
A total of 20 matches will be played across 10 venues: Bengaluru, Mumbai, Guwahati, New Chandigarh, Lucknow, Kolkata, Chennai, Delhi, Ahmedabad and Hyderabad.
"During the season, Royal Challengers Bengaluru will play five home matches in Bengaluru and two in Raipur. Punjab Kings will play four home matches in New Chandigarh and three in Dharamshala, while Rajasthan Royals will play three home matches in Guwahati and four in Jaipur," said the BCCI in a statement.
"During this period (the first 16 days), the tournament will feature four double-headers, with the afternoon matches beginning at 03:30 PM IST and the evening matches commencing at 07:30 PM IST.
"Following the opening encounter on Saturday, Mumbai Indians will take on Kolkata Knight Riders at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on Sunday.
"The matches scheduled in Bengaluru are subject to clearance from the Expert Committee constituted by the Government of Karnataka," the BCCI added.
