New Delhi: The Lok Sabha on Monday passed the Institutes of Technology (Amendment) Bill, 2016 that will govern the six new recently set up Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) and bring the Indian School of Mines at Dhanbad in Jharkhand within the ambit of this law.

Human resources development minister Prakash Javadekar said in his reply to a debate on the bill that the government will set up a fund with a ₹ 1,000 crore investment and an equal contribution from a financial institution that will leverage ₹ 20,000 crore for adding research infrastructure to IITs. “We have asked IITs to give detailed project reports," the minister said.

Javadekar defended the 122% fee hike in IITs announced in April 2016 saying that the underprivileged are protected from it. Students from the scheduled castes and scheduled tribes, those from below poverty line (BPL) families and physically challenged are exempt from fees in IITs and NITs, the minister said.

“Today the government spends ₹ 6 lakh per student, while the maximum fee today is ₹ 2 lakh a year. Fee for students from families with annual income between ₹ 1-5 lakh is ₹ 60,000. Others are eligible for interest-free loans. We are charging the rich ₹ 2 lakh. Those who are capable of paying, ought to pay. Only then we will be able to deliver social justice," said Javadekar.

The six IITs that have come up are at Tirupati, Palakkad, Goa, Dharwar, Bhilai and Jammu.

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