“The IIM will provide the students of the region with an opportunity to attain the best management education”.

People of Meghalaya have welcomed the decision of the Central Government to set IIM in Shillong with great enthusiasm. The students, who will be the main beneficiaries, are the ones who are particularly jubilant. The Shillong IIM will be the seventh of its kind in the country and will give tremendous boost to the education sector in the region. The new institution will initially function under one of the established IIMs at Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Kolkata, Lucknow, Indore and Kozhikode.

“We wholeheartedly welcome the decision. The IIM will provide the students of the region with an opportunity to attain the best management education and create top ranking management professionals from the region,” said president of the Khasi Students’ Union (KSU). The KSU chief also assured that his organization would play a constructive role for better functioning of the IIM.

Meghalaya Chief Minister D. D. Lapang also expressed his happiness – “We have been fighting for the same for a long time. We are thankful to DONER and its Minister P. R. Kyndiah in this regard. We appreciate the good gesture of the DONER Minister in recommending the case. The Chief Minister said that the IIM work would start soon. He appealed to everyone to see   that the IIM functions well giving quality service. Meghalaya Pradesh Congress president O. L. Nongtudu also expressed his happiness – “We are extremely happy and shall continue to support the IIM at all cost. Congress legislator Charles Pyngrope said that the setting up of the IIM reasserts Shillong’s good name in the field of education.

Nagaland and Mizoram along with Meghalaya and Assam were contenders in the race for IIM. But the main fight boiled down to Assam and Meghalaya or more precisely between Guwahati and Shillong. Both Meghalaya and Assam started lobbying immediately after Union HRD Minister Arjun Singh had announced that the 7th IIM in the country would definitely be set up in the North-East. Assam also laid a strong bid – it even roped in corporate gurus to make an impressive presentation of setting up the institution in Guwahati. But it is understood that Delhi had always been inclined towards the Meghalaya proposal. Arjun Singh himself was also personally interested in Shillong from the very beginning. The Union Minister was highly impressed with the development works taken place in Shillong, which is why he perhaps made two visits to Shillong since taking over as the HRD Minister. And when the DONER openly recommended Shillong as the ‘perfect side’ for IIM, it put an end to all speculations. The efforts of Meghalaya Deputy Chief Minister Mukul Sangma are also very significant. Mr. Sangma, who holds the Education portfolio, had been camping in Delhi for long and played a major role in lobbying for the IIM. “It has been a long-standing demand of the people of the region and finally their dream will come true,” said the Deputy Chief Minister.

Geographical factors did not work in favour of Nagaland and Mizoram. Guwahati was a strong contender but that it already has a premier institution in IIT probably worked against it. Guwahati’s loss is Shillong’s gain.

|  Headlines  |  Editorial   | From Other Publications  |
|  Travel Column   |   News Briefs  |
| OT Main Page | Nena  Home Page  |