Govt upgrades Rae Bareli NIFT centre
Government approves the funding of the Rae Bareli NIFT centre on the lines of IITs and IIMs.
Approving the IIT and IIM pattern of funding for the National Institute of Fashion Technology, the government on Thursday cleared setting up of a full-fledged NIFT centre at Rae Bareli, the Parliamentary constituency of Congress President and UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi.
The decision to set up the Rae Bareli campus at par with the NIFT centres in the national capital and six other places was taken by the Union Cabinet at a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
"Rae Bareli centre of NIFT would be the first one to be set up in any backward area of the country," Finance Minister P Chidambaram told reporters after the meeting.
The government had approved a NIFT extension centre at Rae Bareli in Uttar Pradesh in January and it was inaugurated by Gandhi in February this year. However, the academic session started from August, 2007.
With the latest Cabinet decision, the extension centre, set up at a cost of Rs 20 crore will get upgraded.
Chidambaram said opening of another NIFT centre would make available additional seats once the OBC reservation is implemented.
He said the Rae Bareli centre would ease pressure on the Delhi centre.
The institute will now be funded on the lines of IITs and IIMs through the Block Grant Scheme.
"This will provide further functional/financial autonomy to NIFT and will encourage it to generate more internal resources, promote innovation and result in an overall improvement in the standard of education and research," he said.
The new funding pattern will come into effect from this financial year.
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