In an effort to ensure spread of higher education avenues in an even manner, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has advised the HRD ministry not to decide on locations of proposed establishment of new central universities and other elite institutions in the country till a mechanism was evolved for the purpose.
Manmohan Singh has indicated that the ministry should await the finalisation of the XI Plan before deciding on locations for the new central Universities, IITs, IIMs, IIITs and IISERs, the PMO said in a recent communication to the HRD Ministry.
"He (the Prime Minister) has also desired that the ministry put in abeyance all further locational decisions till a formal mechanism is evolved for this purpose," it said.
The communication from the PMO was in response to a letter of HRD Minister Arjun Singh had written last month to the Prime Minister regarding establishment of these institutions.
Addressing the full Planning Commission meeting last month, the Prime Minister had said there was general agreement on setting up 16 central universities in states which did not have a university, 14 central universities in other states, eight IITs, seven IIMs and five IISERs.
The Prime Minister had said the location of these institutions should be determined in a manner which balances the desire for achieving a greater geographical spread with the potential synergies arising from co-location.
"Location decisions should not be purely based on land availability. We should encourage states to compete for the location of these prized central institutions," he had said.
Singh had said that details and the roll-out of this high visibility programmes should be worked out by an Inter-Ministerial Group consisting of Ministry of HRD, UGC and the Planning Commission and outside experts which the Planning Commission could appoint. Locational decisions should be taken within the next two months, he had said.
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