AMN
The Lok Sabha today passed the IIIT Public Private Partnership Bill 2017. The Bill provides to establish 20 IIITs under Public Private Partnership mode across the country and authorise them to award degrees to the students.
The Bill intends to address the challenges faced by the Indian information technology industry and growth of the domestic information technology market. It includes developing new knowledge in information technology, providing manpower of global standards and ensuring autonomy in governance.
At present, there are fifteen functional Indian Institutes of Information Technology in public-private partnership mode, which are proposed to be declared as Institutes of national importance under the Bill.
Replying to the discussion HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar allayed the apprehension of members that PPP mode will lead to hike in fee charged by the institutes from students.
He said the country is a leader in software technology but it has not been able to achieve this status in the field of Hardware. The Minister also ruled out the possibilities of unemployment in IT sector in coming days and quoting some experts he said 70 lakh jobs will be generated in the IT sector in next five years.
Responding to allegations of Deepender Hooda of Congress about closure of IIITA campus at Amethi in Uttar Pradesh, Mr Javadekar said it was a off campus of Allahabad IIIT and nothing much was done till 2014.
He said there was no political agenda behind its closure. He thanked the members cutting across party lines for their support to the Bill.