8 new IITs are born

The Union Cabinet on Thursday approved setting up of eight new Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) in Bihar, Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan, Orissa, Gujarat, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh. The cost of setting up each IIT will be Rs 760 crore and the total cost will be Rs 6,080 crore. The cabinet has also approved forming of societies for creating legal entities for new IITs. The government said it has formed a post for a director and a registrar for each of the eight IITs, as well as approved formation of 30 faculty posts per year. A decision was also taken on granting a pay scale of Rs 26,000 per month (fixed) to each director of an IIT.” In the meanwhile, directors of existing IITs, who will mentor the new institutes, have already dispatched some nominees for the post of directors. The results could take up to three months. IIT Guwahati’s director Gautam Barua said: “We have been asking the government to increase our pay scales from the existing Rs 25,000 per month to Rs 26,000, on the same lines as that of director of IISc (Indian Institute of Science) Bangalore.”