New Delhi, Oct. 27: Only one of two new Indian institutes of science, education and research, announced in the 2015-16 Union budget, today got a nod from the cabinet.
The Union cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, approved setting up of an Indian Institute of Science, Education and Research (IISER) in Berhampur in south Odisha. However, the proposal for the institute in Nagaland is caught in contrasting wishes of the Nagaland government and the Centre.
In the 2015 budget, finance minister Arun Jaitley announced proposal to set up the institutes in Odisha and Nagaland.
Sources said the announcement had been made without consultation with the HRD ministry and the Nagaland government. When the ministry wrote to the Nagaland government to suggest site for the institute's campus, the Nagaland government developed cold feet. "The Nagaland government wants a school of planning and architecture (SPA). It is under examination," a top ministry source said.
The Nagaland government has argued that school of planning and architecture (SPA) would better serve the region's need for development than an IISER. There is also fears that the institute in Nagaland may not attract best scientists also.
However, since it is budget announcement, the finance minister's approval is required for any change in the proposal. The ministry went a step further and suggested that the IISER be set up in Assam and one SPA should be set up in Nagaland.
The finance ministry is understood to have agreed on just one institute in the region due to financial constraint. In such case, only Nagaland may get an SPA.
The SPAs focus on education and research on town planning, architecture and product designing. The SPA Delhi director Chetan Vaidya supported the Nagaland government's demand for the SPA.
"There is no SPA in northeast. The region needs one such institution for proper development planning of area and architectural designing," Vaidya said, adding that he was not against setting up of an IISER in the region.
HRD minister Prakash Javadekar told reporters that the IISER Berhampur had started operation on a temporary campus from this academic year. The cabinet approved an allocation of Rs 152.79 crore to meet the expansion and other expenditure for initial three years.
The Odisha government has already provided land for the permanent campus. The ministry will bring a bill in Parliament to amend the National Institutes of Technology, Science Education and Research Act for inclusion of the IISER Berhampur in the list of all IISERs.
The IISERs, started in 2006-07 in Calcutta, Pune, Mohali, Bhopal and Thiruvananthapuram, have proved to be niche institutions focusing on basis science research. The NDA government added two IISERs - one in Tirupatai and another in Berhampur.
The IISER Berhampur is being mentored by the IISER Bhopal. The student strength intake for this year in the BS-MS (bachelor of science and master of science) course is 60. This would be increased 100 next year, IISER Bhopal director Vinod Kumar Singh said.
"The IISER Berhampur has started its first batch. There is good support from the Odisha government for this institute. We will increase the intake capacity next year," Singh said.
The institute will also start Master and Ph.D programmes and its cumulative students' strength is expected to reach 665 in three years.
