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The Union Budget 2017 was announced on 1st February 2017. Arun Jaitley, Union Finance Minister, declared that there has been a 10% rise in the overall budget for education. In the year 2016, a sum of Rs. 72,394 crore was allocated to the education sector, and this year, it has been raised to Rs. 79,686 crore. There has been a hike of Rs. 7,292 crore out of which Rs. 3,000 will be allocated to the Indian Institutes of Technology.
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On the other hand, IITs pinned hope on Union Budget 2017 for it to increase the scope of research-based activities and aid in developing state-of-the-art infrastructure. However, the allocation of Rs. 3,000 crore for IITs is not satisfactory and taking up developmental activities with minimal funds is a challenging task.
The government wants IITs to achieve global ranks on one hand, but according to them, how would it be possible without necessary infrastructure and research facilities. The government has also planned to establish 20 world-class institutions. Some of the officials associated with IITs indicate that the government needs to focus on developing the existing IITs initially if they wish to increase global rankings.
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One of the officials indicated that most of the newer IITs do not have permanent campuses and hostel facilities. Therefore, more funds have to be allocated for the development of new campuses and construction of hostels. However, the minimal budget allocated to IITs will not mitigate the existing issues to the full extent.
