New IIIT to be set up in Assam

New IIIT to be set up in Assam

By our Staff Reporter GUWAHATI, Nov 21: In what would provide a major boost towards the development of the skilled IT market in the Northeast, the Assam government today said that a new Indian Institute of Information Technology (IIIT) would be set in Guwahati. To be set up on the lines of the Indian Institute of Technology, the proposed IIIT will be an institute with world class infrastructure for academics and research in the field of information and sciences, Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi said here today. The IIIT, which will be set up in a unique public-private mode between the government and key IT players, will have a wider mandate to cover advanced and applied sciences as well. The IIIT will be set up at an estimated cost of Rs 127 crores. Out of the total budget, the Government of India will contribute 57 per cent and the Government of Assam will contribute 35 per cent while IT majors TATA, OIL and AMTRON will contribute the remaining amount. Gogoi said that the IIIT would be set up in Mirza at a location around 7 kms away from the Lokapriya Gopinath Bordoloi International Airport on NH 37. The IIIT is in response to the union HRD ministry's decision to set up 20 new IIITs across the country in addition to the existing four institutes of international standard in Hyderabad, Bangalore, Gandhinagar and Delhi, he said. "With world-class infrastructure for academics and research in the field of information technology and sciences", Gogoi said, "emphasis would be on industry-interface research and development relevant to Assam, besides skill development benefitting the youths of the State to be employable here and elsewhere". The governing body of the proposed IIIT includes a host of renowned national and international experts, making it the first such body to be incorporated by the Government of Assam. The institution will be headed by S Ramadorai, Advisor to the Prime Minister on the National Council on Skills Development in the rank of Cabinet Minister. Ramodorai, who has been bestowed with the Padma awards, had led the revolution of Information Technology in the country since 1972 when he joined TCS. He said, "We want to start classes by August 2012 and students can join the Institute after class 12. We will also focus on undergraduate research. We will also concentrate on local domains and needs and how to bridge the two". The first meeting of the State Steering Committee convened by the State government was held in the city today. Some of the eminent personalities present in today's meeting included Prof Rajeev Sangal, director of the International Institute of Information Technology in Hyderabad, Prof MS Anath, former director of IIT Madras, OP Bhatt, former chairman of the State Bank of India, Dr Devi Shetty, chairman of the Narayana Hriduyalaya in Bengaluru, M Madhavan Nambiar, former Special Secretary in the Ministry of Information and Technology. Prof Satish K Tripathi, president of the University at Buffalo in New York and Sir David King, former Chief Scientific Advisor to the Government of UK.

           (The Sentinel ,22.11.2011)