The Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) has postponed the National Institutional Framework Ranking (NIRF) announcement for 2020. A notification on the official website of NIRF, nirfindia.org stated that the NIRF India Rankings 2020 had been postponed because of the novel coronavirus outbreak that has gripped the world. The new date for the announcement is yet to be declared. NIRF usually release the rankings on the first week of April. In 2019, NIRF Rankings were released on April 8. This year it had to postpone amid the nationwide lockdown that will continue till April 14, in a bid to contain the spread of COVID-19. AIIMS New Delhi, PGIMER and BHU Are Among the Best Institutes Ranked by NIRF 2019. 

NIRF has put a notice regarding the postponement of the announcement on institutional rankings. “The announcement of India Rankings 2020 is postponed until further notice due to COVID 19,” reads the notification. Any changes or improvements are expected to be released on the official website of NIRF only. NIRF was approved by MHRD and was launched in 2015 by the Minister of HRD. In 2016, the first NIRF rankings were announced. At the time, the rankings were announced only in four categories—Universities, Engineering, Management, and Pharmacy. It later increased to nine categories—overall rankings, University, Engineering, College, Management, Pharmacy, Law, Architecture, and Medical. IIT Madras, Delhi, Anna University Are Among the Best Institutes Ranked by NIRF 2019. 

In 2019 NIRF Rankings, IIT Madras topped the list of higher education institutes. IISc Bengaluru was second, and IIT Delhi secured the third rank in the list. For management institutes, IIM Bangalore topped, IIM Ahmedabad was placed on the second rank and IIM Calcutta, third.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Apr 06, 2020 02:34 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).