In response to a written question asked in the monsoon session of Lok Sabha today, Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan ruled out any proposal to rename the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Madras as IIT Chennai. Madras city was renamed Chennai in 1996 by the Tamil Nadu government.
“Whether the Union Government has received any proposal from any educational institution/individual or any organisations to change the name of IIT-Madras into IIT Chennai? If so, the details thereof; and the action taken/being taken by the Union Government on such proposals?” the question was asked in the Lok Sabha.
“Any such proposal for amending the name of the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras is not under consideration of the government,” the education minister replied.
IIT Bombay was established in 1958, followed by those at Madras (1959), Kanpur (1959), and Delhi (1961). Though the names of the cities Bombay and Madras were later changed, respectively, to Mumbai and Chennai, the institutes at these two places retain their original names.
Addressing another question about the contractual faculty hiring in universities, the education minister clarified that the teachers should be appointed on a contract basis only when it is absolutely necessary and when the student-teacher ratio does not satisfy the laid-down norms. In any case, the number of such appointments should not exceed 10 per cent of the total number of faculty positions in a college/university.