In August 2015, after the JoSAA-run allocation process was
over, HRD Minister Smriti Irani had promised that the seat acceptance fees of
those students who did not join any institute would be refunded. This promise
was followed through after JoSAA executed the refund process a few weeks later.

That the MHRD, under Irani’s leadership, has been
instrumental in bringing about beneficial changes to the engineering admissions
process is undeniable. We have written in the past about how the MHRD is trying to continually improve the situation for
students as the end user.

Early this month, the MHRD also listed the recommendations of an elite
committee that suggested a few changes to the JEE testing process after 2017.
The interim changes for JEE 2016 & 2017 would include increasing the number
students eligible to appear for JEE (Advanced) to 2 lakh (from 1.25 lakh) and
increase the number of students eligible for JEE (Advanced) ranks to 40,000
(from 25,000).

Early this week, Scroll.in ran an article that has detailed many other improvements that the MHRD is trying to execute,
so that getting an engineering seat in a reputed college is quite hassle-free
for a deserving student.

Overall, it can be seen that the MHRD, under Smriti Irani’s
leadership, is certainly trying its best to make things as better as possible,
but only time will tell how these activities are useful to students in the long
run.