On Monday, M.M. Pallam Raju made a decision which is probably the biggest since he took over as the minister for Human Resource Development (HRD ) in October last year.



He approved an interim, but substantial fee hike, proposed by the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs ) at a meeting of the IIT Council.



All IIT aspirants seeking admission to undergraduate programmes from this year will have to pay Rs 90,000 per annum as against the current fee of Rs 50,000 per annum. The fee was last revised from Rs 25,000 per annum to Rs 50,000 per annum in 2008-09.

This latest increase of almost 80 per cent was endorsed by HRD Minister M.M. Pallam Raju. This latest increase of almost 80 per cent was endorsed by HRD Minister M.M. Pallam Raju.

This latest increase of almost 80 per cent was endorsed by Raju on the ground that the IITs, like the IIMs, should now start striving for self-sufficiency. Currently, almost three-fourth of the non-plan (operational) expenditure of the IITs is borne by the HRD ministry.However, this increase in the annual fee will not affect students from the reserved SC/ST category and also students from disadvantaged backgrounds whose education is being funded via scholarships and freeships. So in effect, this hike is meant for 50 per cent of the student population that will take admission in 16 IITs this year."The fee structure will be reviewed every year but that does not mean that it will be increased every year. But let me also say that no qualified student has ever had to leave his or her programme incomplete because of economic constraints. IITs are committed to their cause," Raju told reporters immediately after the Council meeting.

This increase in the annual fee will not affect students from the reserved SC/ST category. This increase in the annual fee will not affect students from the reserved SC/ST category.

"If you look at the IIMs, financially they have been come fairly independent. We want the IITs to also be sustainable and increasing fee is one of the ways in which it can happen," he added.Raju's support for the IIT's longstanding demand is interesting as his predecessor Kapil Sibal wasn't in favour of a fee hike. Last year, he along with all IIT directors had agreed "in principle" on an alternative by which all IIT graduates would have to reimburse their alma mater the expenditure incurred on them after having found a job. According to ministry estimates, the government spends about Rs 2.25 lakh every year on educating each IITian, but a student only pays Rs 50,000.However, the minister assured that plan has not been scrapped. "The intention is still there", he said.