Cabinet approves bill for new IIM in Guwahati, 2nd in North East

On Tuesday, the Union Cabinet cleared a bill to establish an Indian Institute of Management (IIM) in Guwahati.  This is the second IIM in the North East after Shillong (opened in 2007) and the 22nd in India.

As stated by a senior government official, over Rs 500 crore has been approved by the Centre for the project. The decision further strengthens the role of Guwahati as a topmost educational hub of the country, already housing such apex institutions like Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Guwahati, National Law University and Judicial Academy, and the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) at Changsari, Guwahati.

The new IIM will serve to plug a long-held gap in management education in the North East, providing quality programs and research facility for students from all over the country, top government officials said. Its establishment will bring in talent, induce entrepreneurship, and help in capacity building in fields of maximum priority for economic development in the region as a whole and of the country as a whole, they said.

Institutional infrastructure is also part of the Centre's overall plan to upgrade higher education infrastructure in the North East, which over the past two years has seen the inauguration of central universities, AIIMS campuses, and special purpose research centres. Officials said the objective is to fill the gap in accessing quality institutions in the region, enhance employability, and link the region with more active national and global economic networks.

The bill will likely be moved in Parliament in the current session.