The central government on Monday awarded Institution of Eminence (IoE) status to six educational institutions, 3 public (IIT-Delhi, IIT-Bombay, Indian Institute of Science) and 3 private (BITS-Pilani, Manipal Academy of High Education and Reliance Foundation’s proposed JIO institute). The IOE status enables these institutions to get full autonomy and special incentives to establish them as world-class institutions. 

Congratulations to @ManipalUni, @bitspilaniindia & Jio Inst for getting status of #InstituteofEminence. #TransformingEducation #48MonthsOfTransformingIndia@PIB_India @MIB_India pic.twitter.com/XpRsm8nxIQ

— Prakash Javadekar (@PrakashJavdekar) July 9, 2018

HRD Minister Prakash Javedkar had also shared that the 3 public institutes will get a funding of about 1000 crores over the next five years to help them achieve world ranking.

Soon people started criticising and questioning the inclusion of a yet to be a functional institution "Jio Institute" in the IOE list. But some people went ahead to claim that JIO institute competed directly with IITs and BITS Pilani. Some even claimed that the government will give 1000 crores grant to Jio institute.

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But these allegations are baseless as Mr. Javedkar had clearly mentioned that only public institutions will get the funding. It was also pointed by Mr. Anand Ranganathan.

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Later on, the HRD Ministry responded to criticism on social media by issuing a clarification about how the decision on IoE tag was taken. The ministry shared the list of the clarifications on Twitter, "In response to some misinformation campaign in social media regarding "Institutes of Eminence", please find herewith clarifications on commonly raised questions #InstituteofEminence".

In response to some misinformation campaign in social media regarding "Institutes of Eminence", please find herewith clarifications on commonly raised questions #InstituteofEminence pic.twitter.com/K6IB5ILpfb

— Ministry of HRD (@HRDMinistry) July 9, 2018

The Ministry of Human Resources and Development (HRD) also clarified that the institution was accorded the coveted tag under greenfield category for new or proposed institutions that are yet to come into existence.

So the accusation that Jio institute competed with IITs, BITs and other top institutions to get "Eminent" tag is baseless.

The HRD Ministry also stated that the criteria for greenfield projects to be considered under IOE were:

1. Availability of land for construction of the institution
2. Putting in place a core team of highly qualified and widely experienced individuals
3. Making funds available for the institution
4. A strategic vision plan with clear annual milestones and action plan

The Ministry stated that the EEC ( empowered expert committee) had received a total of 11 applications under the greenfield projects and from them, only the Jio Institute had met the specified criteria. The 10 other institutes that had applied under the category reportedly included Airtel’s Bharti University, Anil Agarwal’s Vedanta University in Odisha and KREA University in Bangalore. Source

The move is part of a scheme of the Human Resource Development (HRD) Ministry to select 20 IoEs -- 10 public and 10 private -- that will enjoy complete academic and administrative autonomy.

But was selecting a yet to be established institution like the Jio Institute under the IOE tag makes any sense? Difficult to answer.