The Union Cabinet on Thursday gave its nod for a proposal to set up seven new Indian Institutes of Management in Tamil Nadu, Haryana, Rajasthan, Jammu and Kashmir, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Uttarakhand.
Four of the new IIMs – in Tamil Nadu, Haryana, Jharkhand, and Chhattisgarh, would be set up this year and become operational from the next academic year. The remaining three would be set up next year and become operational the year after.
In Tamil Nadu, the new IIM would be set up at Tiruchirapalli, in Haryana at Rohtak, in Jharkhand at Ranchi and in Chhattisgarh at Raipur. The location for the other three States would be decided later.
Announcing this, Union Minister and Cabinet spokesperson, Ambika Soni, said the post-graduate programme in management would be the flagship programme, though in the first year several executive programmes including those in the public policy domain focussing on aspects like civic and municipal services would be started.
In the first phase, there would be an intake of 140 students in the post-graduate course and by the end of the phase, it would reach 560 students per year. The admissions would be through a common admission test.
The Cabinet also approved an outlay of Rs. 451 crore - Rs. 333 crore for non-recurring expenditure and Rs. 118 crore for recurring expenditure in the eleventh and the 12th plan period for each IIM.
Minorities Corporation share capital to be raised
Chaired by Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, the Cabinet also gave its approval for increasing the authorised share capital of National Minorities Development Finance Corporation from Rs. 850 crore to Rs. 1,000 crore. The share of the Central Government would be Rs. 650 crore, and that of State Governments Rs. 260 crore. The balance Rs. 90 crore would be obtained as contributions from individuals and organizations.
A not-for-profit company, the Corporation provides financial assistance to people belonging to minority communities and living below double the poverty line for self-employment. It also provides educational loans and conducts vocational training.
As of March 31, the Corporation has disbursed Rs. 1,190 crore covering 4,34,329 beneficiaries through term loans and micro-finance schemes. As per a Memorandum of Understanding between the Corporation and the Central Government, 66,000 more beneficiaries are to be covered during the current financial year.
Further, the Cabinet gave its nod for implementation of reservation for students belonging to scheduled castes, schedule tribes, and other backward classes in the National Institute of Technology at Jirania in Tripura.
