For the time being, the permanent campus of the Indian Institute of Technology in Goa is being planned. It has taken longer than expected, officials say, and this has led to confusion among faculty and students. Faculty members cited lack of room as another reason for the institute’s inability to offer new courses.
Key Highlight:
- Permanent site has yet to be allocated for Indian Institute of Technology in Goa.
- IIT-Goa operates out of Farmagudi, five years after it was opened as part of a bill amendment.
- Faculty members cited lack of room as another reason for the institute’s inability to offer new courses.
- There has been an increase in the past two years in the number of students choosing IIT – Goa who had lower all-India rankings.
- The delay has hampered their ability to plan for the future, faculty members said.
- The state government cancelled the project in January when protests erupted, turning violent on one occasion when people threw stones at police, who then used lathi-charge to retaliate.
- It is hoped that a third site in Shel-Melalui and Guleli villages will be found in 2020, according to the research team.
A permanent site has yet to be allocated for the Indian Institute of Technology in Goa (IIT-Goa), which operates out of Farmagudi, five years after it was opened as part of a bill amendment.
As part of the Institutes of Technology (Amendment) Bill, 2016, a total of six new IITs were opened in Tirupati, Palakkad, Dharwad, Bhilai, and Jammu during the 2015-2016 academic year, giving students who want to attend India’s top engineering schools more options. Other IITs have either moved to their own campuses or are in the process of doing so, but IIT-Goa continues to share its Farmagudi campus with a state-run engineering college.
Students and professors alike have expressed concern about how the delay has hampered their ability to plan for the future.
“For the institute, it’s getting to be a lengthy wait. Faculty members now have a greater sense of unease due to the holdup. There has been an increase in the past two years in the number of students choosing IIT-Goa who had lower all-India rankings. Director BK Mishra said that this was not initially the case.
After locals in the Lolium area of south Goa protested, officials indicated the land had been identified in 2016, but no progress had been made.
Later in 2019, a plot of land in Sanguem was found, but it was never finalized because of “different challenges experienced in procuring/acquiring and transferring the land to IIT-Goa.”
Third site in Shel-Melalui and Guleli villages will be found in 2020, according to the research team. Nevertheless, the state government cancelled the project in January when protests erupted, turning violent on one occasion when people threw stones at police, who then used lathi-charge to retaliate. They said the initiative will have an impact on their farming.
There are numerous opportunities that the Goa unit is missing out on because there is no permanent campus there.
However, you need room to apply for many of the government’s research and financing initiatives. ” Because we don’t have a permanent campus, we won’t be getting any projects like this,” said associate professor Sharad Sinha.
We can’t even receive sponsored research projects because those require a lot of lab infrastructure and resources, and we don’t even have those.” They’ve come and gone, but they didn’t bring anything,” Sinha said of those who stopped by.
Faculty members cited lack of room as another reason for the institute’s inability to offer new courses.
In civil engineering and materials engineering, we considered beginning programs, but huge laboratories are required. This room we rented from another college is now home to only the labs that are absolutely necessary to our curriculum. It’s difficult to recruit people despite having ample faculty-sanctioned resources,” a faculty member who asked to remain anonymous remarked.
Currently, the institute provides four undergraduate courses, three postgraduate courses, and PhD programs in a variety of fields.
“Due to space constraints, the institute is unable to purchase and install sophisticated technical equipment.” Professor adds, “Most of what we do is demonstrations for our students, thus we are largely using tabletop equipment with restricted capabilities”.
Similar grievances were voiced by students at the university as well, Graduate students at IIT-Goa can live on the shared campus, while PhD academics must find alternative housing.
IITs around the world provide housing for PhD students and families to live together. However, here I am, residing 7-8 kilometers away from my 4-year-old daughter. It has a negative impact on my research, but it’s also making it tough for me to keep going on a personal level, as I had to put my family first to take advantage of this chance. There are creches for children on other IIT campuses, but not on ours because of a lack of room,” said Prachi Kashikar, a 31-year-old research scholar at the institute.
The faculty stated that it had sent numerous requests to the Ministry of Education over the years, and a representative also visited the Prime Minister’s Office in July in this respect. For the upcoming school year, which begins in November, the institute is working hard to secure a site.
“We had been issuing reminders to the state administration for expediting the land allocation procedure,” said a senior ministry official when contacted but did not wish to be identified.
Goa’s revenue secretary Sanjay Kumar, a member of the state’s committee charged with allocating land for the project, stated, “We are looking for suitable property for the project.” There will be something in the near future.”
Melauli villagers (mostly Adivasis) are protesting against the proposed site of IIT Goa for months now. Today they face the danger of police arrests. Forceful evictions has been the norm of the governments.#NoIITswithforcefuleviction pic.twitter.com/z6exC4Gl79
— APPSC IIT Bombay (@AppscIITb) January 5, 2021
