Govt to introduce IIM Bill in Winter Session

The HRD Ministry, headed by Smriti Irani, which is always in news for some reason, is planning to introduce the contentious Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Bill in the Winter Session, starting Thursday. 

According to HRD ministry officials, Irani has addressed almost all concerns of various IIMs and the Bill will be introduced in this Session of Parliament.

The government had on October 9 ironed out almost all differences with the IIMs over the Bill. The legislation titled, Indian Institute of Management Bill 2015, will “enable the IIMs to grant degrees”, said a government notification, dated November 23.

The Human Resource Development Ministry reached the final consensus after several rounds of meeting with stakeholders, including the IIMs, following an outcry that the previous version of the Bill would undermine the autonomy of the elite institutions and give more power to the HRD Ministry on all key issues governing the institutes.

Millennium Post was the first to report that despite premier business schools objecting to some clauses in the contentious IIM Bill, the ministry was ‘ready’ to table the draft in the Monsoon session, but failed to do so as the session was stalled by the Opposition parties over the resignation of External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje on the Lalit Modi issue.