Many of the institutes that have opened since 2008 have picked vulnerable locations for their vast campuses, sparking controversy and running into delays.
Last year, a staggering 2.2 million students took the Joint Entrance Examination-Main, which determines admissions to the coveted Indian Institutes of Technology and National Institutes of Technology. The number of aspirants has nearly quadrupled in the last decade; it is now more than the population of Goa. Add two (worried) parents to each aspirant and you have a cohort that can populate a mid-sized European nation.
Naturally, politicians have seen the writing on the wall. To increase the supply of seats (and have fewer disgruntled students and parents in their constituencies) 14 new IITs and 11 new NITs have been …
Nihar Gokhale led the Chaos coverage at The Morning Context. Nihar wrote on the environment, the economy and resource conflicts in India. He has reported from across the country on everything from displacement, pollution and environmental violations to land regulation, corruption and human rights. He was earlier associate editor at Land Conflict Watch, and his work has appeared in Scroll, The Wire, IndiaSpend, The Caravan and Mongabay India.
Editor, Chaos
nihar@mailtmc.com
Delhi