Smriti Irani's IIM Policy Recast, Government Role Diluted

New Delhi: Smriti Irani's controversial Indian Institute of Management or IIM Bill has been recast and her successor, new Education Minister Prakash Javadekar has signed off on a fresh draft after reaching agreement on several key points with the Prime Minister's Office, NDTV has learnt.

The new draft provides that top appointments in IIMs will be made not by the President of India on the advice of the government, but by their board of governors, as the government seeks to allay apprehensions about the autonomy of the premier management institutes.

The human resource development ministry had under Ms Irani replicated for the IIM Bill, provisions of a bill used to set up Indian Institutes of Technology or IITs, whose Directors are chosen by the government.

There has been outrage, with the country's best business schools protesting strongly against the move. The ministry and the PMO too had disagreed on several points.

The new draft also provides that a coordination council for all the IIMs that has on it government representatives, will make non-binding suggestions which the institutes can consider. The earlier draft had made their decision binding for the B schools.

Academics are cautious in their reaction. 'The most important thing is that government should have no say in appointments,' said Dr Pritam Singh, a former IIM director, adding, "One has to look at the fine print for that."

There are 13 IIMs in the country and at least five more have been announced. The newer IIMs have demanded a bill to effect an Act that will allow them to award degrees; they can currently award only diplomas which are not recognised abroad.

An IIM Act will mean that the institutes will have to reserve seats for beneficiaries of affirmative action in admission to their courses and for faculty. IIMs are currently registered as societies and so have no quota.