IIT Madras bags first position in Atal Innovation ranking yet again

The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras bags the first position again in the Atal Ranking of Institutions on Innovations Achievements (ARIIA) 2020 that was announced on Tuesday, followed by IIT Bombay and Delhi, who secured the second and the third spots respectively. Emerging as the ‘top innovative institution’ in the country, IIT Madras has topped under the ‘Best Centrally Funded Institution’ category. 

The Ministry of Education, via the initiative of ARIIA, systematically ranks the higher education institutions and universities of the country on markers related to innovation. The Vice-President of India, Venkaiah Naidu announced the ranking among the top 10 institutes in ‘Public-funded’ and five institutes in ‘Private and Self-finance’ categories. The ranking is done in six categories – centrally-funded institutes of national importance, state-funded universities, state-funded autonomous institutions, deemed universities, private institutions, and women-only higher educational institutions. 

Naidu said, "Mere confidence will not suffice. We need to be self-reliant. For self-reliance, we need innovation. Greater emphasis is given to promote a knowledgeable society. The culture of innovation and entrepreneurship among students will make them out-of-the-box thinkers. They will be job creators and not job thinkers." 

While addressing the ceremony, Naidu stressed on innovation, the need for institutes to focus more on agricultural innovation and self-reliance. He added, "Farmers of the country are agitated. They are ready to put in hard work. Despite the adversity of coronavirus, the production of agriculture has gone up. Hats off to the farmers. They are the backbone of our country. The researchers, innovators coming up should focus on agriculture."

The rank-holder universities and colleges in various categories were as follows :

The minister further said that the category of women-only higher educational institutions was introduced this year so that it can give an impetus to encourage women and also achieve the aim of gender parity in the innovative and entrepreneurial areas. 

Naidu also remarked, "Innovation has always been the key defining feature of human progress. India has its own illustrious history of innovations spanning at least 20 centuries right from the invention of 'zero' and the decimal system. India was known as the 'vishwa guru'. We must regain that intellectual leadership, we must again emerge as a global hub of learning and innovation. We have highly talented youths brimming with new ideas, with a passion for implementation and willingness to forge a new path. The youth will define our country's future. They need encouragement, facilitation and recognition. They must be given the guidance needed and the freedom to explore new frontiers."

Union Minister of Education, Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank’ mentioned that the ranking is named after our former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. He said, “Under his leadership, India took many leaps in the field of innovation. The ARIIA gives us a reflection of our efforts and provides us with a reason to celebrate our achievements. A National Research Foundation (NRF) will be set up for invigorating innovation and research under recently released Nation Education Policy (NEP)."

The Vice President congratulated institutes which had achieved top ranks, “I congratulate all institutes that have achieved top ranks. I would not only like to congratulate the heads but all the youngsters and people working in them. Other institutes that could not rank up should double their effort and focus more attention on innovation."

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