Research,innovate: PM to IITs

Says will consider Kakodkar panel report on premier tech institutes.

Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh on Monday urged the Indian Institutes of Technology IITs to strive for nurturing an ecosystem system of strong research and innovation.

Referring to the recommendations of the Anil Kakodkar Committee on the functioning of the IITs,the Prime Minister said the premier technical institutes produced a fewer number of PhDs compared with the US and China.

Addressing the 57th annual convocation of IIT-Kharagpur,Singh said: The committee noted that the number of PhDs that come out annually from the IITs is very small compared to similar technology institutions in the USA and China. The committee,therefore,emphasised the importance of technology and innovation linked to advanced research.

Singh said the IITs should take on the challenge of creating an advanced research-based innovation ecosystem with the involvement of industry and national technology-related programmes.

Stressing on the need to increase the number of PhDs,Singh said the recommendations would be soon considered by the Council of the IITs and then by the government of India.

The committee,set up under the former Atomic Energy Commission chairman Dr Anil Kakodkar,has come with various path-breaking recommendations for IITs. It says the number of PhDs all the IITs today produce annually is around 1,000 and the number should be increased to 10,000 by 2020 or 2025.

The committee has also suggested of increasing the fees of undergraduate programmes.

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At the 57th convocation of IIT-Kharagpur on Monday,the mismatch in the number of PhD students was quite evident. The institute awarded undergraduate and post-graduate degrees to 1976 students while only 245 students got PhDs.

IIT-Kharagpur can provide a fertile breeding ground to drive innovation by creating a strong Ramp;D environment and environment and entrepreneurial support systems, the Prime Minister said,adding the industrial renaissance of eastern India and Bengal should start from the soil of IIT-Kharagpur.

Singh said that if a science park can come up at IIT-Kharagpur,industries can locate their Ramp;D activities there. The Prime Ministers advice comes at a time when the institute is celebrating its diamond jubilee.

Director Damodar Acharya said the institute wants to increase its PhD enrolment. He said the institute wants 30 per cent of its entire students to be PhDs.