The campus of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) in Kerala was inaugurated on Friday by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan in the presence of Union Education Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank and Sanjay Dhotre, Minister of State for Education. CM Pinarayi inaugurated the Nila campus in Palakkad by unveiling a plaque via video conference, while the stone laying was done online by Minister Pokhriyal, by unveiling another plaque. While IIT Palakkad has been operational since 2015, they were operating out of another college as the campus was not ready.
A total of 640 students are pursuing their undergraduate degree at IIT Palakkad, and 225 students are in post-graduate programs. There are also 132 doctoral students. As part of the BTech programme, the IIT offers programmes in streams such as civil, mechanical, electrical and computer science. The MTech programme offers subjects such as manufacturing and materials engineering, computing and mathematics, data science, etc.
I, along with Shri @vijayanpinarayi Ji, CM of Kerala and Shri @SanjayDhotreMP Ji, MoS for Education are inaugurating Nila Campus and laying the foundation stone of the main campus of @PalakkadIIT. https://t.co/vlQW14Jr24
— Dr. Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank (@DrRPNishank) October 23, 2020
He added that IIT Palakkad, with its centre for research and education in data sciences, will explore new possibilities in the field of new scientific and technical knowledge in data sciences and artificial intelligence. There will be the aid of various institutions in France and Germany. “Such collaborations will strengthen the quality of education and the soft power of India,” the minister said.
“I am happy that a budget of Rs 1,006 Cr has been approved for the first phase of construction of IIT Palakkad. Only through the construction of such institutions can we fulfil our dreams of nation building, capacity building and character building,” Minister Pokhriyal added.
CM Pinarayi could not make his inaugural speech due to connectivity issues. The state’s Minister for Higher Education KT Jaleel spoke of the contribution of 450 acres of land by the state government for free to build the campus. “It was in 2014 that the Palakkad IIT was declared. The first IIT in the country came up three years after independence, during the time of PM Jawaharlal Nehru in Karagpur. There are 23 IITs across India today. Kerala now has an IIM (Indian Institute of Management) and an IIT too has come after a lot of effort. We hope that an AIIMS (All India Institute of Medical Sciences) will also be allowed in the state,” Minister Jaleel said.