Jio institute row: Centre battles favouritism charges

The Narendra Modi government was once again battling Opposition's allegations of favouritism over the Institute of Eminence (IoE) tag for Jio Institute promoted by Reliance Foundation.

Human Resource Development (HRD) Minister Prakash Javadekar told the Lok Sabha that the government has only issued a “Letter of Intent” (LoI) to Jio Institute in the Greenfield category for setting up 'Institution of Eminence Deemed to be University' in the next three years.

He was responding to supplementary questions on the issue put by Trinamool Congress members Saugata Roy and Prasun Banerjee.

“It has nothing to do with the government,” Javadekar said when asked whether the government would reconsider the decision on Jio Institute.

Javadekar said 114 applications were received by the ministry for setting up Institutions of Eminence Deemed to be University. These included 74 from the public sector, 40 from the private sector and 11 in the greenfield category.

Besides Jio Institute, two other institutions – Birla Institute of Technology & Sciences (BITS), Pilani, and Manipal Academy of Higher Education (MAHE), Manipal -- from the private sector were issued LoIs, the minister said.

He said the Jio Institute had been recommended and approved by the Empowered Expert Committee and the University Grants Commission based on its 15-year strategic vision plan and a five-year rolling implementation plan with clear annual milestones and action plans, he added.

Jio Institute is to be set up by the Reliance Foundation Institution of Education and Research.

Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, and IIT-Delhi and Bombay are the three institutes from the public sector category that have been selected for the IoE tag.