Leave IITs alone, alumni tells Centre

New Delhi: The IITians are not ready to take any nonsense from the government in power. While President A P J Abdul Kalam gave them a dressing down at the Pan IIT-2006 Global Meet in Mumbai on Sunday, saying that the prestigious institution had failed to identify the many hidden Ramanujans and Einsteins in the country, the IITians also told the government that it should stop interfering with the administration of IITs.

IITs are the institutions of excellence. And the only way to enhance the quality of IITs is to leave them alone and the government should not even think of interfering in their administration. This is the view of the IIT alumni who came in for the convention from all around the country.

In their view the role of the government should be limited to funding, scholarship and such other aspects while planning and administration part should be left to the IIT authorities. They also regretted the fact that the government has failed to upgrade these technical institutes, "making them appear as though they belong to the 1950s."

To improve the quality of education available to the poor, the alumni suggested the introduction of a system that allows choice.

The IITians' meet also noted with regret that the lure of money has taken the cream out of the country and the IITs have failed to produce sufficient number of research scholars.

"In comparison to global educational scenario, our IITs have produce very few people for research areas. For instance, IIT-Bombay produces just 60 PhDs every year. This has also been due to the paucity of technical expertise required to maintain the infrastructure installed in IITs," Prof M Balakrishnan of IIT-Delhi said.

Mphasis CEO Jaithirth Rao, another IITian, said: "It's only when the government stops interfering that these institutions will aim for more innovations leading to a competitive environment."

He regretted that some of the laws passed by the Government of India in the recent times have caused a decline in the standard of education offered at the IITs.

Infosys CEO Nandan Nilekani called for entrepreneurship development with the IIT campuses. "We need to have 'incubation centres' at IITs to enhance entrepreneurship skills," he said.