Union Minister of Commerce & Industry and Civil Aviation, Suresh Prabhu, inaugurated National Institutes of Design (NID) at Bhopal in Madhya Pradesh and Jorhat in Assam through video conference from New Delhi on 22nd February 2019. Both institutes are autonomous institutions under Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), Ministry of Commerce and Industry.With design and innovation taking prime importance in many sectors, policies, and schemes of the government like "Make in India”, “Skill India”, “Digital India”, “Startup India”, and “Smart City initiatives” to name a few, it is imperative to promote design education. The National Design Policy 2007 had recommended setting up design institutes on the lines of NID, Ahmedabad in other parts of India to promote design programs. Four new NIDs have been set up in Andhra Pradesh (Amaravati), Assam (Jorhat), Madhya Pradesh (Bhopal) and Haryana (Kurukshetra) with a total outlay of Rs. 434 crore.Establishing new NIDs in different regions of the country will help produce highly skilled manpower in design which, in turn, will create job opportunities, both direct and indirect, by providing sustainable design interventions for crafts, handloom, rural technology, small, medium and large-scale enterprises and outreach programs for capacity, capability and institution building.
At the inaugural session, Suresh Prabhu stated that it is important for the country to become a part of the global value chain, especially at the design stage, where maximum value addition takes place. He added that new NIDs will fulfil the requirement of designers in the country and expose them to employment opportunities, which will lead the country towards higher socio-economic growth.He further added that establishment of NID in Jorhat, Assam, the first Design Institution at the national level in the North Eastern Region of India, gives great opportunity to young creative talent and design aspirants from North East.NID Bhopal will begin its academic journey from July 2019 with 60 students in 4-year undergraduate courses in industrial design, communication design and apparel & textile design, the written test for which were held in January 2019.The campus is spread in 30 acres and is equipped with the best of facilities and technology. Some of the key state of the art facilities are design studios, workshops, it centre, library, resource centre, auditorium, amphitheatre, sports complex, gymnasium and hostel. The Institute aspires to bring about design based education reform in the country and initiate a Design research based innovation approach in the industry.NID Jorhat envisions design education which will focus on creativity and innovation in the social, health, livelihood and lifestyle sectors both in digital and indigenous technologies. Spread over 30 acres’ campus, has full fledges facilities like studios, IT lab workshops, library, hostels with a capacity for more than 200 students. The entire project has been executed and implemented by NBCC (India) Ltd.Admission process has been initiated for NID, Jorhat for the coming academic session in 2019-20. Bachelor courses are being offered in Industrial design, communication design, textile and apparel design.