Setback to 7 IITs, 'Project Vishwajeet' dropped

The Central government has dumped a proposal to pump at least Rs 1000 crore a year into seven top Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) for five years to help them boost research and innovation to earn a place among the top 100 world class institutions.

The finance ministry’s change of heart came after the premier seven failed to start the ground work for implementing ‘Project Vishwajeet,’ even after a year.

The IITs had to motivate a sizeable number of students to take up research and innovation to get the project approved. They were also expected to develop a strong network of alumni, increase their linkage with industry for research and development projects and attract foreign faculty, among the host of other measures.

“However, the initiatives taken by the IITs so far failed to pass the muster when the proposed scheme reached the finance ministry for clearance,” official sources told DH.

Project Vishwajeet, mooted at the “highest level” of the government, proposed to provide IITs — Kharagpur, Bombay, Kanpur, Madras, Delhi, Guwahati and Roorkee — with a fund of about Rs 8,700 crore over five years to improve their
international ranking.

The project, as conceived last year, sought to enable these institutes eventually become research hubs and contribute to the country’s development. IIT-Delhi Director V Ram Gopal Rao on Tuesday expressed his “disappointment” with the finance ministry’s resolve in the presence of Human Resource Development (HRD) Minister Prakash Javadekar.

“Minister is here. And, I must tell him that we are a little disappointed that Vishwajeet proposal did not go through. This was something that we were looking forward to desperately,” Rao said, urging the HRD ministry to push for clearance.