Bhubaneswar, Feb 12: Human Resource Development Minister Arjun Singh will lay the foundation stone of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) here today.

The ceremony will be held at the construction site situated few kilometers south of Bhubaneswar at KANSAPADA ( Khudupur-Taraboi Road ) near Jatni Block Office, Khordha.

This new IIT at Bhubaneswar is part of the eight new IITs that have been established in the country by the Union Ministry of Human Resource Ministry.

Though the construction of the campus of IIT Bhubaneswar will follow the foundation laying ceremony, the IIT as such has already started functioning through its mentor IIT, which in this case is IIT Kharagpur.

The seven other new IITs have been set up in Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Rajasthan, Punjab, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh (Indore) and Himachal Pradesh.

An allocation of Rs. 2,000 crore has been provided in the XIth Plan and Rs. 50 crore has been allocated for 2008-09 for new IITs.

Orissa is also to get a new Central University under The Central Universities Ordinance, 2009 which was promulgated by the President of India on January 15, 2009.

The Central Government has laid great emphasis on the advancement of higher education during the XIth Plan for which the outlays have been increased by ten times when compared to the Xth Plan outlays.

This higher allocation is being used for the creation of 30 Central Universities including 14 new National (World Class) universities; eight new IITs; seven new IIMs; five new Indian Institutes of Science Education and Research (IISERs); 20 new Indian Institutes of Information Technology (IIITs); two new Schools of Planning and Architecture; ten new NITs, Central assistance for establishing 1000 new polytechnics, including through PPP mode, and strengthening of 500 existing polytechnics. (ANI)