The Hindu : Front Page : Yet another appeal for an IIT

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Wednesday, Oct 15, 2008
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Yet another appeal for an IIT

Special Correspondent

Bangalore: Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa has once again urged Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to approve an Indian Institute of Technology for Karnataka.

The State Government has been repeatedly requesting the Union Government to set up an IIT in Karnataka.

The Chief Minister had made a similar request in July and had also personally requested the Prime Minister during a visit to New Delhi. Governor Rameshwar Thakur had also written to the Centre on the matter.

In a letter to the Prime Minister, Mr. Yeddyurappa said in the State budget for the year “we have announced many measures to harness the knowledge power which has been built up over the decades in the State. For the first time in the country, we have decided to set up a Knowledge and Higher Education Commission at the State-level. It is in the fitness of things that an IIT be established in the State. Hence, I request you to convince the Human Resources Development Ministry to consider the State’s request”.

Research institutions

Mr. Yeddyurappa wrote to the Prime Minister about the large number of research and development institutions of international repute in the field of science and technology in the State. Karnataka is also the technological capital of the country, having more than 100 global companies and the largest workforce in hi-tech areas. “These research and development institutions and private companies need a high quality of human resource, which the IITs churn out in the country,” he said. He added: “In the Union Budget for the financial year, Karnataka does not figure in the list of States which have been sanctioned IITs. I am surprised by the decision of the Centre which has ignored the long-pending demand and genuine need of Karnataka.”

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