ISM to IIT refers to the movement started by the students of Indian School of Mines Dhanbad aimed at convincing the Government of India of the need to convert the institution into an Indian Institute of Technology (IIT). On 25 May 2016, the Union Cabinet headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi approved that a bill be introduced in Parliament for converting ISM Dhanbad into an IIT. On 19 July 2016 the Institutes of Technology (Amendment) Bill, 2016 was introduced into the Lok Sabha. It was passed by the Lok Sabha without opposition on 25 July 2016. The Rajya Sabha unanimously passed the Bill on 2 August 2016. The Bill got the Presidential assent and a Gazette notification was made on 6 September 2016, thus officially converting ISM into Indian Institute of Technology (Indian School of Mines), Dhanbad.
History
The proposal for conversion of ISM into an IIT had been strongly recommended in 1994 by a Government committee headed by Prof. S. Sampath (former Director of IIT Kanpur and IIT Madras). However, no action was taken by the Government over the proposal.
Several years later, in 2007-08, several new Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) like IIT Patna were set up without even having a campus, while ISM was not converted into IIT. This was despite the fact that since 1997, ISM was taking in IIT-JEE qualified students (along with the 7 older IIT's and IT-BHU). After the conversion of IT-BHU to IIT-BHU in June 2012, ISM was the only non-IIT institute which admitted IIT-JEE (now called IIT-JEE Advanced) qualified students to its various undergraduate and dual degree programmes. Once admitted into ISM or an IIT through IIT-JEE (Advanced) exam, a student was not permitted to appear in the exam again, and hence could not take admission in an IIT next year (as per rules of the JEE Advanced exam). In this respect, Govt of India treated ISM at par with IITs.
In 2009, ISM got the approval of its Finance Committee, Executive Board and General Council, proposing its conversion to an IIT. This was forwarded to Ministry of Human Resource and Development (MHRD), Government of India in early 2010. This was followed by a detailed project report on the conversion prepared by EdCIL (a Public Sector Enterprise), on the directions of the HRD Ministry. The ISM Teachers Association and ISM Alumni Association passed resolutions in 2010-11, favoring this conversion. In September 2011, a resolution was passed by the Government of Jharkhand, recommending to the Government of India to convert ISM to an IIT soon.
On 7 May 2012, the Director of ISM gave a detailed presentation highlighting the various aspects of institute and the need for its conversion to an IIT, at the Yojana Bhawan, Planning commission. The meeting was chaired by Narendra Jadhav, Member of MHRD. The conclusion that came to be was inclusion of the conversion in the 12th Five Year Plan (2012–17).
In June 2012, a Planning Commission panel, on a reference to it from the Union Cabinet, favoured that this conversion be done, during the 12th Five Year Plan (2012-2017) and in such a possible way that ISM's core competency in mining and geology is maintained.
The proposal to convert ISM to IIT became a part of the 12th Five Year Plan after its passage by the Prime Minister headed National Development Council or NDC, on 27 December 2012. ISM was the only institute of India selected by NDC to be converted into an IIT in the 12th Five Year Plan.
Finally, the Union Finance Minister Mr. Arun Jaitley, during his budget speech in Parliament on 28 February 2015, had proposed to upgrade ISM Dhanbad into an Indian Institute of Technology (IIT). On 25 May 2016, the Union Cabinet headed by Prime Minister Modi approved that a bill be introduced in Parliament for converting ISM Dhanbad into an IIT.