Catch the NIT
- Manipur, the biggest loser, thanks to new MHRD rule! -

By Cloud *

"According to the Communication No F-23-12/2008 TS III dated June 9, 2008 and the subsequent Corrigendum No. F-23-12/2008 TS III dated June 13, 2008... Admission in NITs for rest 50% seats would be admitted from amongst All India rank holders in AIEEE"
- Chairman, CCB

I am a final year student of a National Institute of Technology (NIT) and I know what an NIT is. Some of you may be aware, but for the much larger bulk of unperceptive populace, NIT is counted amongst the top order of engineering colleges in India, just below the IIT’s.

And with the new MHRD directive, the students of Manipur and some other states are all set to have their NIT dreams blown to bits. That is, if the Government of Manipur doesn’t do something about it now!

For those not so acquainted with the system of engineering colleges in India, let me present a brief account. First there is the world renowned IIT's all of 7 in numbers, then come the NIT's with a total of 20 institutes in various states of India.

There are also some other very good engineering colleges like the Birla Institute of Technology and Delhi College of Engineering. Admission to IIT's take place through the JEE and for the NIT's it is the All India Engineering Entrance Examination (AIEEE). Other colleges have their own entrance test or admit students through AIEEE score.

Albeit we can always work towards improving the educational environment of our state, the harsh truth of the day is we are far behind other states like Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Rajasthan, etc. in terms of academic competitiveness, at-least in the plus two level.

Our students find it extremely hard to compete in the same plane with those from these states, a fact well seen in the microscopic number of students from Manipur cracking the IIT JEE for it is entirely merit based. It is not that we are headless morons.

I have personally seen our students even becoming department toppers once they are admitted to NIT's. We just need an opportunity to stand on equal ground with the rest. It is just the vast difference in the competitiveness quotient till the plus two level that skews the balance.

Recognizing this difference, the concept of NIT was conceived in 2002. Through the AIEEE, 50% of the seats were reserved for the home state in which the NIT was based.

The other 50% were filled from the remaining states based on quotas for each state, the number of which is again decided by the number of seats offered by a particular state in its own NIT, and also on the population of the state.

Manipur generally had around 30 to 35 seats distributed among the various NIT's. That meant we had a chance to get into the premier engineering institutes, even if meagre in number. So, IIT's meant pure merit and NIT's meant excellence with equal opportunity. Well, not anymore!

Starting this year, the MHRD has decided to wash hands with the state quotas and admit the other 50% of seats in any NIT entirely through All India Rank (AIR). For states with an NIT at least they get 50% seats reserved in their home NIT.

But what about states like Manipur with no NIT yet? One can always argue that we should be able to compete on equal grounds; nothing is impossible and so on. Argue as they may but the fact remains that the students of our state stand to lose a huge chunk of the already small window towards the world of engineering.

For the mere instance of mention, getting into an engineering college is very easy, with hundreds of private colleges with hazy backgrounds mushrooming up in the country. However getting into a good engineering college is a mammoth task.

Now the task has just become super mammoth for us!

Change of rule for seat fill-up for an NIT	First 50% seat allocation	Rest 50% seat allocation	Seats reserved for Manipur in various NIT’s
Rule till 2007	From home state	From quotas of other states	Around 30-35
Rule from 2008	From home state	Exclusively through AIR	Nil*

* tentative (up to the date of writing of this article)

With NIT's almost out of reach, the dreams of our students are severely compromised and it is a fact the Government of Manipur needs to realize urgently. The CM of Assam, Tripura and Tamil Nadu have appealed to the Centre against this new directive.

These states have their own NIT's and they have 50% of the seats reserved as I mentioned earlier. Still they have spoken up against this directive, which is clearly a bad news for less educationally developed states, because they realize it is very biased.

Then why Manipur, which doesn't have an NIT of its own, yet, is still silent? We stand to lose a whole lot more than Assam, Tripura or Tamil Nadu and yet why have our Government failed to even notice this grave development?

This rule has come after the announcement of the results of this year’s AIEEE. Due to such a sudden nature of the announcement, the students are caught off guard. They haven’t appeared for other exams in the hope that they’ll get into NIT’s and now that very hope is sucked out of them.

The counselling for this year's AIEEE batch starts from July first week. If we just sit with our hands on our head, our students can forget NIT.

I am not an expert but I can clearly see the state of engineering colleges 2-3 years down the line. Students from AP, Bihar, Rajasthan and the likes will dominate NIT's.

On the other side of the coin, our students will have to be satisfied with some private college or at most a government engineering college. With degrees from such colleges, our students can hope to get work at most in some BPO.

So when students from other states will start becoming executives, we will be working in call centres!

Is this what we want? Definitely not.

So do speak up please.

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* Cloud (a Pseudonym from Manipur and a student of NIT Surat) contributes for the first time to e-pao.net . The writer can be reached at meetei_2006(at)rediffmail(dot)com . This was webcasted on 24th June 2007.

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