ISM to IIT

ISM to IIT is the movement started by the students of ISM Dhanbad demanding the conversion of Indian School of Mines, Dhanbad into an Indian Institute of Technology. At present, ISM is the only non-IIT institute which admits IIT-JEE (now called IIT-JEE Advanced) qualified students to its various B.Tech. and dual degree programmes.

The Union Finance Minister Mr. Arun Jaitley, during his budget speech in Parliament on 28 February 2015, said that he proposes to upgrade ISM Dhanbad into a full-fledged IIT. ^{[1] [2]}

History

Initially the proposal for conversion of ISM into an IIT had been recommended by the Evaluation and Review Committee set up by the Government of India in 1994. It was headed by Prof. S. Sampath (former Director of IIT Kanpur and IIT Madras). However, no action was taken by the Government over the proposal.

In 2007-08, several new Indian Institutes of Technology were set up without even having a campus, while ISM was not converted into an IIT. This was despite the fact that ISM was from many years taking in IIT-JEE qualified students (along with the 7 older IIT's and IT-BHU). After the conversion of IT-BHU to IIT-BHU in June 2012, ISM is now the only non-IIT institute which admits IIT-JEE (now called IIT-JEE Advanced) qualified students to its various undergraduate and dual degree programmes. Interestingly, once admitted into ISM or an IIT through IIT-JEE (Advanced) exam, a student is not permitted to appear in the exam again, and hence cannot take admission in an IIT next year (as per rules of the JEE exam). In this respect, Govt of India treats ISM at par with IIT's. Also, the salary of teachers of ISM is same as that in IIT's.^[3]

In 2009, ISM got the approval of its Finance Committee, Executive Board and General Council, proposing its conversion to an IIT. This was forwarded to Union Ministry of Human Resource and Development, Government of India in early 2010. This was followed by a detailed project report on the conversion prepared by EdCIL (a Public Sector Enterprise), on the directions of the HRD Ministry. The ISM Teachers Association and ISM Alumni Association passed resolutions in 2010-11, favoring this conversion. In September 2011, a resolution was passed by the Government of Jharkhand, recommending to the Government of India to convert ISM to an IIT soon.^[4]

On 7 May 2012, the Director of ISM gave a detailed presentation highlighting the various aspects of institute and the need for its conversion to an IIT, at the Yojana Bhawan, Planning commission. The meeting was chaired by Narendra Jadhav, Member of MHRD. The conclusion that came to be was inclusion of the conversion in the 12th Five Year Plan (2012–17).

In June 2012, a Planning Commission panel, on a reference to it from the Union Cabinet, favoured that this conversion be done, during the 12th Five Year Plan (2012-2017) and in such a possible way that ISM's core competency in mining and geology is maintained.^[5][6][7]

The proposal to convert ISM to IIT became a part of the 12th 5 Year Plan after its passage by the Prime Minister headed National Development Council or NDC, on 27 December 2012.^[8] The NDC comprises the Prime Minister of India, the Union Cabinet Ministers, Chief Ministers of all States, and members of the Planning Commission. ISM is the only institute of India selected by NDC to be converted into an IIT in the 12th Five Year Plan.

After receiving recommendation from the NDC, MHRD sent a letter to ISM administration demanding the institutional specifications and variants, comparing it to the other IITs and a report was sent from ISM to MHRD for the same. This report was approved by the officials and has been further forwarded to the IIT Council (consisting of HRD Minister, all IIT's Directors, some M.P.'s) for their advisory opinion on this matter. A meeting of IIT Council for the same was held on 7 January 2013. In this meeting, it was decided that a committee be formed to look into the matter afresh and its financial implications. The IIT Council in its meeting on 16 September 2013 deferred the conversion for at least another six months. Also, in the meeting,a committee headed by Prof. Ashok Mishra (Ex Director IIT Bombay) was set up to look into the issue. The committee paid a visit to ISM from 18-20 Jan 2014.^[9] The committee's report was submitted to Union HRD Ministry in Feb 2014, but its content remains unknown.

The Union Finance Minister Mr. Arun Jaitley, during his budget speech in Parliament on 28 February 2015, said that he proposes to upgrade ISM Dhanbad into a full-fledged IIT. ^{[10] [11]}

Student initiatives

For the conversion of the institute, students of ISM Dhanbad launched many campaigns and silent demonstrations.

Knowledge Packet Challenge

On the line of Ice Bucket Challenge, the students launched Knowledge Packet Challenge.^[12] Hoping to attract as much attention for their IIT campaign as the global ALS Ice Bucket Challenge that’s gone viral on social media as a fundraiser for motor neurone disease, students of ISM-Dhanbad distributed “knowledge packets” across the district on Sunday. Each of the 2,000-odd packets had a children’s book, an exercise copy and other study materials.^[13]

References