The fate of five IIITs will be up for debate during the Monsoon Parliament Session 2020

• Indian Institutes of Information Technology (IIITs) in Surat, Bhopal, Bhagalpur, Agartala, and Raichur may be a step closer to becoming institutes of ‘national importance’ if the IIIT Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2020 is passed in the upcoming Monsoon session.
  
• It will give the five IIITs the power to give out standardised technology degrees like Bachelors of Technology (B. Tech) and others.
  
• The move aims at helping the IIITs attract more students and strengthen their research and development base.
  

The fate of five Indian Institutes of Information Technology (IIITs) will be up for debate in parliament’s monsoon session that begins next week. Currently, they don’t have the power to grant degrees or diplomas. However, the Indian Institutes of Information Technology Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2020 — if passed — can change that.

The IIIT Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2020: The proposal
It proposes to declare IIITs in Surat, Bhopal, Bhagalpur, Agartala, and Raichur as institutes of ‘national importance’. It will give them the power to grant degrees and use the traditional Bachelors in Technology and other nomenclatures for its graduates.

Right now, under the Societies Registration Act of 1860, these are the only five IIITs still left out of the loop. 15 others already have the power to grant degrees under the IIIT (Public-Private Partnership) Act, 2017.


The significance
If the new bill is passed, the central government will cover 50% of the cost under the PPP mode, 35% will be taken care of by the respective states and 15% by the industry stakeholders.

The underlying justification for this bill is that the tag of ‘national importance’ and the power to grant standardised degrees will allow these institutions to attract more students and strengthen their research base in the field of technology.

The bill was passed by the lower house — the Lok Sabha — earlier this year in March. It will now be up for debate during the Monsoon session of Parliament which is scheduled to kick off September 14.

On the first day of the parliamentary session, the lower house will meet from 9:00 am to 1:00 pm, and the upper house will conduct their session from 3:00 pm to 7:00 pm.

Following that, the Rajya Sabha will meet in the mornings from 9:00 am to 1:00 pm, and the Lok Sabha will take the afternoon shift between 3:00 pm to 7:00 pm.

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Monsoon session 2020 of the Indian Parliament will debate these important bills and ordinances

Monsoon Session of Parliament be held from September 14 to October 1, recommends Cabinet Committee