An IIT Kharagpur scholarship that offers to cover the entire expenses of a student till they complete their undergraduate course if the family’s gross annual income was less than Rs 20 lakh does not have a taker in the first year.
The website of the seat allocation authority that conducts counselling for admission to IITs shows that none of the top 100 from the JEE-advanced merit list has taken admission in Kharagpur.
It could not be ascertained whether all IIT top 100 candidates had an annual family income of over Rs 20 lakh.
An official at IIT Kharagpur said the institute had started the scholarship to attract the top students on the list but it has not fetched the desired result yet.
IIT Kharagpur director V.K. Tewari had on the occasion of the institute’s 71st foundation day programme on August 18 launched Pandit Iswar Chandra Vidyasagar Scholarship and acknowledged that some institutions that “are below IIT Kharagpur are also superseding” the country’s oldest IIT and “this is a cause of concern”.
This full scholarship will cover the entire cost of education of a student like institution fees, hall expenses, meals, text books, laptops along with broadband connectivity and other miscellaneous expenses such as relocation expenses, personal expenses, other living costs and also provide an out-of-pocket allowance.
The website of the seat allocation authority, says the ranks for admission to the computer science and engineering programme — the most coveted stream — at Kharagpur this year is in the range 207-285 in the general category.
The ranks for the same programme at IIT Bombay this year is between 1 and 67 and at IIT Delhi is between 3 and 100.
Jayanta Mukhopadhyay, dean, Outreach at Kharagpur, said: “This year we have not found any candidate who is eligible for availing the scholarship. The scholarship was launched in August. We hope that the institute will get candidates for the scholarship from next year. The information about the scholarship is expected to be disseminated widely by then”.
The director could not be reached for comment on Friday.
A teacher of the institute said the top rankers in JEE-advanced considered a lot of factors before opting for an institute.
According to him, the brand value of an IIT along with the availability of the research facilities, are the factors that weigh in the minds of the toppers.
“In terms of brand value and research facilities, IIT Bombay and IIT Delhi are way ahead of IIT Kharagpur now,” said the teacher.
Chemical scientist Man Mohan Sharma had said while delivering a lecture at the 63rd convocation of IIT in August 2017 that the Kharagpur institute lacked proper “branding”.
A teacher at Kharagpur who did not want to be named said in October they had written to those in charge of the central research facilities drawing attention to machines that were not functioning and needed an overhaul.
“Till date nothing has changed,” he said.
