The Indian Institutes of Management Bill, 2017 was passed successfully in Lok Sabha, which provides autonomy to the premium management institutes of the country. The bill severely restricts the role of the government in the functioning of the IIMs and grants statutory powers to these institutes.
HRD Minister Praksh Javadekar described the moment as historic and expressed his confidence that in freedom these institutes will grow even further.
"It is greater autonomy and in that direction we want to go," the HRD minister said while replying to a debate on the IIM Bill 2017.
Justifying the government's decision to grant autonomy to these institutes, Javadekar said, that the world class institutes like MIT and Harvard are big and world class because of the freedom and autonomy.
"After the bill is passed, there will be no government role in the appointment of Board of Directors in IIMs. Let the government come out of it. It will be for the betterment of our higher institutions," Human Resource Development Minister Prakash Javadekar said.
He was also very happy to see that 22 members from various political parties were in the favor of the autonomous status of the IIMs.
The autonomous status of the institutes will enable its students to carry the research in India and they no longer need to go to the foreign countries for the purpose of research.
"Now they will do research in India...To all IIMs in India, I can now say that it is yours. Let us make a definitive change," he said.