New Delhi, March 6: India has taken immense measures to start solar power generation and use of this technology in every sector. Another important sector that the government plans to cater is the field of education. The Centre has decided to set up five new Research Parks at IIT institutions at a cost of Rs 75 crore each. These parks are intended to start under the Smart Campus Campaign which would honor institutes which conserve resources.

 

The IIT institutions which the Center has targeted are IIT Delhi, IIT Guwahati, IIT Kanpur, IIT Hyderabad and IISc Bangalore. During the Lok Sabha session yesterday, Minister of State for HRD, Dr. Satya Pal informed that the Government had also approved continued funding of two Research Parks at IIT Bombay and IIT Kharagpur at a cost of Rs 100 crore each.

The Research Park at IIT Gandhinagar at a cost of Rs 90 crore was funded by the Department of Science & Technology. IIT Madras Research Park is fully functional with 43 R&D clients, 4 Incubators, 55 Startups, and 5 Centres of Excellence. These institutes are given budgetary benefits to encourage them to use environment friendly methods for developing their campus.

The decision to launch a Smart Campus Campaign has been undertaken for the educational institutions to encouraged and optimize the use of water, electricity and also adopt measures for generating power through solar installations. The institutions which perform on the parameters of saving, conserving and recycling would be identified and honored. In order to review these institutes the Centre will have an inspection done on periodical basis.