Indian Government Plans Two IIITs in Northeast India

New Delhi, Jul 14 : The central government Tuesday said it is considering the setting up of two new Indian Institutes of Information Technology (IIITs) in the northeastern region.

'The locations are being worked out,' Minister of State for Human Resource Development D. Purandeswari said while addressing the All India Editors Conference on Social and Infrastructure Issues here.

She said that at least 44 new colleges and six engineering colleges will be opened in the northeastern states.

'Out of the 10 new National Institutes of Technology (NIT) proposed to be opened in the country during the 11th Five Year Plan, 6 NITs are proposed to be opened in Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland and Sikkim,' Purandeswari said.

Talking about the government's aim of increasing the literacy rate, the minister said that right to education act and other flagship literacy programmes will help in bridging the gap.

'At least 70 million non-literates will be made literate to achieve 80 percent literacy. To reduce gender disparity in literacy from 21 percent to 10 percent, 60 million out of the total target of 70 million will be women,' the minister added.