Haryana CM Khattar and Union Minister Piyush Goyal inaugurates NIFT, Panchkula

Manohar Lal Khattar, chief minister, Haryana and Piyush Goyal, union minister has inaugurated the 17th campus of the National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT) in Panchkula calling it a “fulcrum of development of the textile sector in the state.” Khattar stated as per the policy of NIFT, 20% of seats in this institute will be reserved for the residents of Haryana.

He mentioned that on December 29, 2016 Smriti Irani, the then Union Textiles Minister, had laid the foundation stone of this campus.

The CM further stated that an amount of Rs 133.16 crore has been spent on the construction of the institute building over 10.45 acres of land, built in collaboration with the textile ministry. Khattar added that he had sought the Centre’s help for some works in the second phase for this institute, include the building of the hostels and auditorium. He was helped in this by Goyal, he said.

The minister asked NIFT to come up with initiatives to introduce hybrid courses to expand its reach. Three online hybrid courses — photography for e-commerce, social media marketing, and digital designing for textiles — will be started in the new NIFT campus, he said.

“In Jhajjar, I am told wood-carving and pottery work is famous, likewise in Bhiwani handloom work is famous, in Ambala and Patiala ‘phulkari’ work is famous, if we can connect these industries with NIFT it will help them upgrade as well,” he said.

Developing co-curriculum with institutes like National Institute of Design and National Institute of Packaging can be explored as a part of the “holistic training,” Goyal said. He said he was told that after Delhi, this is the second most sought after campus of NIFT in north India.

Goyal lauded CM Khattar, saying under his able leadership Haryana has made considerable progress across fields.

Comparing it with cities like Gurugram, Goyal said that Panchkula is also emerging as township which will define Haryana’s development.

Talking about the NIFTs in the country, Goyal said, “Like IIT is known for engineering, IIM for management, NIFT is known for fashion technology for last 36 years.” The Institute will offer four-year degree courses in the areas of Fashion Design/Textile Design, Apparel Production and two-year master degree courses in Fashion Technology, Design and Fashion Management.

Apart from this, there will also be certificate programmes of one year and six months duration, Khattar said.

He said that this newly inaugurated NIFT campus would give a major boost to the textile, handloom and cottage industries in the state.

He said that PM Modi’s vision of ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat‘ can be realised only through skilling of people. That’s why Haryana has connected education with skilling, he added.

With inputs from PTI.

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