The MHRD announced 6 new IITs this week, to be started in the states of Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Goa,
Jammu & Kashmir, Kerala, and Karnataka. Of these, IIT Tirupati in Andhra
Pradesh and IIT Palakkad in Kerala have already started operations from the
2015-16 academic session.
The government will begin operations of
these IITs by starting Societies, registered under the Societies Act, 1860, until their legal
status is guaranteed under the IIT Act, 1961. The IIT Act will have to be
amended, with the amendment approved by the whole Parliament, as the Act does
not have a provision to add new IITs in the future.
However, the WSJ ran a story, worried about a lack of professors available to teach the students at the
new IITs. Currently, some IITs are facing as large as a 60% faculty crunch. Though
the new IITs are expected to have a 1:10 Faculty:Student ratio, the question
remains, where will the faculty come from?