In a statement issued on July 10, the Students Federation of India (SFI) central executive committee expressed surprise at the ministry of human resources decision to award Institute of Eminence to Jio Institute which has not even come into existence. The Jio institute which will be run by the Reliance Foundation is not an existing but will be operational only after 3 years. Such an award to a non-existing institution while all the public universities and institutions are rejected shows the attitude of the current government which target to dismantle the public education top down. 

The earlier announcement about institute of eminence (IoE) specifies it will grant special powers to these institutes; such as greater autonomy to start a new course, hire foreign faculty and collaborate with foreign institutes without government approval. From the beginning there had been an apprehension that this may lead to uncontrollable fee hike and a more commercialized situation in an already shrinking public funded higher Education.

Now by giving the IoE award to Jio University, a university which does not exist anywhere but in papers, the government, in a criminal nature, is contributing 1000 crores from tax payers’ money to one of the richest person to start his private venture. This is criminal wastage of public money. 

The SFI condemns this decision and warns the government that any such effort of dismantling the public education and feeding corporates with the common people's wealth will not be tolerated. Central Executive Committee of SFI also appeals the public to rise in rage against this loot for corporates and attack on public education.