• The Rajya Sabha passed a Bill to set up an Indian Institute of Management (IIM) in Guwahati with the Union government providing a capital support of Rs 550 crore.

• The Indian Institutes of Management (Amendment) Bill, 2025 will help set up the second IIM in the northeast after Shillong.

• The Bill was passed by the Lok Sabha on August 19.

• Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan introduced the Bill in Rajya Sabha.

Establishment of IIMs

• In 1961, the government of India decided to establish two Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs), one in Kolkata (then Calcutta) and another in Ahmedabad.

• These specialised institutions were envisaged for increasing the pace of management training and education in India. 

• As demand for more such institutions grew, four more IIMs at Bangalore (1973), Lucknow (1984), Indore (1996) and Kozhikode (1997) were established. 

• In the Eleventh Five Year Plan (2007-2012), seven new IIMs at Shillong (2008), Ranchi (2010), Rohtak (2010), Raipur (2010), Kashipur (2011), Tiruchirappalli (2011) and Udaipur (2011) were established. 

• During the year 2015-16, seven more IIMs at Amritsar, Bodh Gaya, Jammu, Nagpur, Sambalpur, Sirmaur and Visakhapatnam were established. 

• These 20 IIMs were originally established as a Society registered under the respective Societies Registration Acts. 

• Subsequently, with the enactment of the Indian Institutes of Management Act, 2017, these IIMs were declared as institutions of national importance, enabling them to grant degrees, ushering in uniformity in governance of IIMs with academic autonomy.

• In 2023, the Indian Institutes of Management Act, 2017 was amended to include the National Institute for Training in Industrial Engineering, Mumbai in the Schedule of the IIM Act under a new name as the Indian Institute of Management, Mumbai. 

• Presently, there are 21 IIMs that are declared as institutions of national importance and each of those Institutes are specified in the Schedule to the IIM Act.

Setting up of IIM in Assam

• The establishment of an IIM in Guwahati as an institution of national importance is one of the projects under the Special Development Package (SDP) provided to Assam.

• Assam is one of the very few states with more than three crore population which does not have an IIM. 

• The Assam government has requested the establishment of an IIM in the state, keeping in view the geographical location of the state and its all-round development.

• As per the latest published results of the All-India Survey of Higher Education, more than five and a half lakh students are enrolled in higher education institutions in Assam.

• Establishing an IIM at Assam shall boost the overall education and development of the region and open up significant opportunities for the students of the northeast region of India to develop managerial skills.