AIEEE COUNCELLING

The June 9 circular of the Ministry of Human Resource Development (HRD) on the filling up of National Institute of Technology (NIT) seats through All India Engineering Entrance Examination (AIEEE)scrap States kota.Earlier the procedure for filling up of NIT seats was that 50 per cent of the total seats of an NIT were meant for domicile candidates of the State concerned, while the remaining 50 per cent seats were allocated to different States/Union Territories. But in its June 9 circular, the Department of Higher Education and Technical Education Bureau of HRD has made a major shift in the process for filling up of the 50 per cent seats meant for non-domicile candidates of the States.The HRM Minister has decided that from 2008-09 onwards, admission in the NITs against non-domicile seats would be on all India merit basis.Some States feel that since the NIT seats are filled from amongst the candidates qualifying AIEEE conducted by the Central Board of Secondary Examination (CBSE),students from CBSE course definitely have an edge over those from the States Board of Secondary Education.Critics says, new system will benefit the advanced States.Presently, there are 20 NITs, one each in Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Orissa, Punjab, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Tripura, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal.New system would make admission easier into the 50 percent non-domicile seats in 20 NITs with students of educationally advanced states that have been dominating the national ranking in the AIEEE and deprive the educationally backward states.