The Hindu : IIMs fee cut not an interference: Minister

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Feb 08, 2004

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IIMs fee cut not an interference: Minister

By Our Special Correspondent

COIMBATORE, FEB. 7. The drastic cut in the annual fee for the post-graduate programmes in the Indian Institutes of Management is not "an interference" in the autonomy of these institutions, the Union Minister of State for Human Resource Development, Sanjay Paswan, said here today.

He told presspersons that the Centre, which took the decision to slash the annual fee in the six IIMs to just 20 per cent of the existing fee (to Rs. 30,000 a year from Rs 1.5 lakhs), was willing to foot any shortfall these institutes might suffer because of the reduction in the fees. As the education at the IIMs is subsidised by the Centre why it should be costly, he wondered.

The Minister was here to participate in a conference of the State unit of the Akil Bharathiya Vidyarthi Parishad.

He said: "Education in India must be within the reach of every Indian." But it was "shocking to note that somebody could not get admission due to paucity of funds."

"We do not want to interfere with them. Our interactions and involvement must not be equated with the interference."

Asked whether the Centre would continue with its budgetary support to the IIMs, he said the Government was prepared to even increase the financial assistance to them. At the same time, the Government desired that they should be self-sustaining.

The Government was proud of the IIMs and wanted the IIM divisions and chapters to be opened in big countries.

The number of IIMs should be increased and they should be strengthened.

They should export "Indian knowledge, Indian ethos," he said.

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