ISM marshals hopes for IIT status

ISM, Dhanbad New Delhi, Sept. 28: It may be too early for students and teachers of ISM-Dhanbad to rejoice, but they can let their hopes for an IIT status soar. Prime Minister Narendra Modi seems set to keep his promise of converting the prestigious cradle into an IIT even though an expert panel formed to look into the plea is against an upgrade. According to highly placed sources in the Union HRD ministry, the Modi government is likely to overrule a report by the panel, headed by former director of IIT-Bombay professor Ashok Mishra, which has advised against conversion of ISM into an IIT. The argument of the panel, which also has IIT-Madras director Bhaskar Ramamurthy and former director of IIT-Jodhpur professor Prem Kalra as members, is that such rampant conversions dilute the IIT brand. Besides, the report said past experiences of upgrading engineering institutions into IITs had not proved to be beneficial in terms of academic and research output. Incidentally, the report was to be discussed at a meeting of the IIT Council, headed by Union HRD minister Smriti Irani, last Monday. But, it was not placed because, insiders claim, Irani was not happy with the committee’s recommendation. “The report may be overruled,” said a source. This, perhaps because the same has gone against what Modi had promised to the people of Dhanbad in the run-up to the Lok Sabha polls in April. Slamming the previous UPA government for not granting IIT status to ISM, Modi had said at an election rally: “ISM is one of the most prestigious institutions of Asia, but I can’t understand why people sitting in Delhi can’t give it IIT status.” The huge applause he received translated into votes later on, with the BJP winning as many as 12 of the 14 Lok Sabha seats in Jharkhand, including Dhanbad. Now, the state’s coal capital is expecting the Prime Minister to fulfil his promise. “I have heard that the expert committee report does not favour an IIT status for ISM. But the Union HRD minister’s decision will be final. We are keeping our fingers crossed,” ISM registrar Col (retd) M.K. Singh said. ISM’s conversion into an IIT has been in discussion for four years. The 12th Plan document, approved by the Prime Minister-headed National Development Council, had provided for the conversion. The Mishra committee was set up as a follow-up action. A centrally funded technical institution, ISM was set up by the British in 1926 and was accorded deemed-to-be university status in 1967, nine years after IISc Bangalore bagged the same tag. According to the institute’s website, it offers BTech, MTech and PhD programmes and has 18 departments, most of which are engineering branches. Known for its cutting-edge research in areas of mining and minerals, ISM admits students for BTech courses through the same JEE-Advanced exam as the IITs. This year, it participated in the international ranking process of London-based Times Higher Education.