Looking Back with Satisfaction

On the eve of the fifty second Kerala formation day on 1st November, 2007 Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan looked back with satisfaction over the gains made during the year behind. When Prime Minister Man Mohan Singh came to Kerala last year to inaugurate the Golden Jubilee Celebrations of the formation of the State the LDF Government brought to his notice that unlike other States, Kerala was not having national centres of learning and research. Responding to the request of the State Government the Prime Minister promised to recognise the State’s plea for sanctioning IIT and Institute of Science Education and Research in the State. The State Government has been pressing the Centre ever since for the fulfillment of that promise. IISER was sanctioned a few days back and an amount of Rs. 500 crore set apart for the purpose. The State Government has decided to give 200 acres of Government land at Vithura in Thiruvananthapuram district for the purpose. Now the Centre has agreed to place the formation of I.I.T in the State in 11th Five Year Plan. In the meantime, the prestigious Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology was sanctioned under ISRO and it has already started functioning. Memorandum of Understanding has been signed for setting up a School of Mathematics at Kozhikode. Thus Kerala has realised its long-felt need for starting institutes of higher learning with international standards in the State. The consistent pressure of the State Government on the Centre has borne fruit.