National Need: IIT/IIM vs National Rural University
Dear Friends,
The idea to have IIT/IIM in every state does not seem timely in the interest of nation. IIT/IIM may be outstanding in India, but most of the new ones are coming in those existing cities, which are already in development map. It is time to reach district level inclusiveness instead of state level.
India has overall more than 550 national institutes by now; even then many of the districts/parliament constituencies in India do not have a single national institute, whereas some cities like Kolkata, Bangalore, Delhi etc. have tens of them. Though few critics counter it arguing no good faculty would be willing to serve in smaller or rural towns, many young faculties are in fact interested to serve in these pockets if national facilities and similar benefits are given.
Till now our local educational institutes in the district/constituency level seriously suffer from good quality faculty, infrastructure and facilities. India is so diverse that within the state itself there are many variations. Leaving responsibility of local education and services to state Govt. is not the solution, as state educational institutes have rarely met the national standard across the country. However, national standard could be made available in the local level if the Govt. brings some innovative ideas.
Secondly, investment while establishing national institutes mainly goes to construction sectors directly boosting the local economy. Many world class Universities in USA and Europe initially were established in rural pockets, over the decades these places have transformed the local economy into University based cities, some of them flourished industrially too.
Thirdly, instead of redefining the existing cities, the proposal for building 100 new cities should target rural or backward clusters that are prone to migration across nation. These would be cities for future that can solve local problems, encourage industry and generate high quality human resource in that particular region.
My suggestion, by not just following the footstep of previous UPA regime to have IIT/IIM in every state, Modiji’s Govt. should not divert more fund to serve political goal in the name of IIT/IIM (that we have enough for the time being) and rather establish National Rural Universities that could help building new cities in rural or backward pockets by reversing routine migration to metro in India.
National Rural Universities will be inclusive for local need and development, for instance, faculty of medicine can support health, superspecialty hospital, nursing in the locality, faculty of engineering could be involved in planning and designing local road, bridges, railways etc., faculty of food & agriculture science may directly be involved with local farmers, local level history, geography, management, language, administration etc. can also be uplifted with such institutions. Establishing national institute in local level will also bring new infrastructure in the form of road, railway, airport (in future) etc. and employment (direct & indirect) in the local level, whereas faculty and students could be selected in national level, so that national quality could be retained to serve the local population qualitatively.
Appreciating your participation
Thank you and regards
Digambara Patra
Associate Professor of Chemistry
American University of Beirut, Lebanon more
The idea to have IIT/IIM in every state does not seem timely in the interest of nation. IIT/IIM may be outstanding in India, but most of the new ones are coming in those existing cities, which are already in development map. It is time to reach district level inclusiveness instead of state level.
India has overall more than 550 national institutes by now; even then many of the districts/parliament constituencies in India do not have a single national institute, whereas some cities like Kolkata, Bangalore, Delhi etc. have tens of them. Though few critics counter it arguing no good faculty would be willing to serve in smaller or rural towns, many young faculties are in fact interested to serve in these pockets if national facilities and similar benefits are given.
Till now our local educational institutes in the district/constituency level seriously suffer from good quality faculty, infrastructure and facilities. India is so diverse that within the state itself there are many variations. Leaving responsibility of local education and services to state Govt. is not the solution, as state educational institutes have rarely met the national standard across the country. However, national standard could be made available in the local level if the Govt. brings some innovative ideas.
Secondly, investment while establishing national institutes mainly goes to construction sectors directly boosting the local economy. Many world class Universities in USA and Europe initially were established in rural pockets, over the decades these places have transformed the local economy into University based cities, some of them flourished industrially too.
Thirdly, instead of redefining the existing cities, the proposal for building 100 new cities should target rural or backward clusters that are prone to migration across nation. These would be cities for future that can solve local problems, encourage industry and generate high quality human resource in that particular region.
My suggestion, by not just following the footstep of previous UPA regime to have IIT/IIM in every state, Modiji’s Govt. should not divert more fund to serve political goal in the name of IIT/IIM (that we have enough for the time being) and rather establish National Rural Universities that could help building new cities in rural or backward pockets by reversing routine migration to metro in India.
National Rural Universities will be inclusive for local need and development, for instance, faculty of medicine can support health, superspecialty hospital, nursing in the locality, faculty of engineering could be involved in planning and designing local road, bridges, railways etc., faculty of food & agriculture science may directly be involved with local farmers, local level history, geography, management, language, administration etc. can also be uplifted with such institutions. Establishing national institute in local level will also bring new infrastructure in the form of road, railway, airport (in future) etc. and employment (direct & indirect) in the local level, whereas faculty and students could be selected in national level, so that national quality could be retained to serve the local population qualitatively.
Appreciating your participation
Thank you and regards
Digambara Patra
Associate Professor of Chemistry
American University of Beirut, Lebanon more
Viewed by 54
View all 7 comments Below 7 comments
Every state by now has an IIT or IIM or IISER in the state capital or in major city. Therefore, now the new Govt. should start to have a National Rural University in every state that can go to constituency/dist level. more
Jun 24
One essential requirement of development of villages is to provide adequate power, which is possible only through decentralized and off-grid power from renewable and locally available resources with stake of village population. more
Jun 14
It will be a revolutionary step if National Rural University is set up, in all states with colleges in all their major towns, with focus on developing local human resources and generating opportunities locally, also targetting their employment in that region only, by inculcating required skills, which'll help in reducing migration of labour and raise standard of living which will increase spending and help local business to grow. more
Jun 14
The process will start at the state level and in the process the benift will reach to all level of society. But first the process should start. Its very important to have IIT/IIM's at state level. more
Jun 14
It is true that India lives in villages. The development of village shall, therefore, be given first priority in development. This will really result in the real growth of the nation and as pointed out prevent migration of people from the rural to urban. As villages have enough land that can be utilized to start national level institutions and this will in turn benefit the village people to get the best quality education. Most villagers, of course, because of their financial constraints are finding it difficult to send their children to the national institutes situated in the cities. more
Jun 14
