Dr Anirban Ganguly in Pondicherry University

A look at the world of politics, statecraft, diplomacy and books


Dr Syama Prasad Mookerji remains one of India's greatest intellectuals. And Pondicherry University was privileged to host a Distinguished Lecture by its present Director, Dr Anirban Ganguly. The Ministry of Human Resource Development of the Government of India has instituted a seies of Lectures on leadership under the Leadership Town hall Scheme. Under this scheme Dr Ganguly visited our University and gave a scintillating Lecture of 50 minutes that held the rapt attention of everyone. In the battle of ideas the vapid stale narrative of the Left has occupied a dispropotionate space in public discourse and the marginalized voices of dissenters like Dr Anirban Ganguly and others have not been heard. Identity politics based on caste, language, community,religion occupy a great deal od attention. But the voice of sanity, reason and science are drowned out by the cacophony emanating from the misguided Left and its hangers on. Dr Anirban Ganguly's Lecture was a refreshing departure.

Dr Anirban Ganguly

The Syama Prasad Mookerjee Research Foundation is a Nationalist research organization which has been performing the stellar role of the dissident through much of the 70 years of Indian Independence when the voice from the margins was hardly heard. Public discourse meant singing hosannas to Nehru and the Congress Party and its family. The Left soon became part of this scheme of things as it was co opted by the Nehruvian state. The death of Dr Syama Prasad Mookerjee soon after he was taken custody in Kashmir remains an enduring mystery. And Kashmir has been on the boil ever since.

Dr Anirban Ganguly dwelt on the positive changes that jave been introduced in India since the magnificent victory in 2014. It matters little if the so called intellectuals with their vested interest in maintaining the satus quo acknowledge the positive changes or not. The reduction of Corruption and the introduction of schemes that have worked for the common man were stressed by the speaker. In the field of foreign policy, the speaker drew pointed attention to the fact that the days when India did not react or punish the cross border acts of Terrorism are over and he spoke of the resolute manner in which the Government retaliated to the February 14th Pulwama Attack.

The Audience

He spoke of 5 principles that governed the foreign policy of the Government of India:
(1) Samvaad or consultation/consensus
(2) Samviddhi  or mutual concern
(3) Suraksha or Security
(4) Samskritti evam  Sabyata (Culture and Civilization) and
(5) Samaan Mutual Dignity.

These are the five major principles that govern Indian foreign policy and as can be expected there is not even lip service to the cowardly way of dealing with major attacks by sending candy floss files as did the UPA after the 26/11 attack that killed nearly 185 people in Mumbai alone. The reason why the Congress dominated regime was reluctant to name and shame Pakistan lay in their inclination to blame Saffron Terror for the attacks. Then capture of Kasaab by a police constable paid put to the devious designs of the dynastic fascists. After the February 14 th attack, the Nation was well aware that retribution would follow.

The many National Schemes introduced by the NDA Government have proves trans formative: the extension of cooking Gas scheme, the Ayuman Bharat Scheme, The Jan Dhan Yojana and many other schemes. The NDA Government has served India well and its service multifaceted and diverse qwere brought out by the speaker.

The Scrapping of the University Grants Commission: A Welcome Move

A look at the world of politics, statecraft, diplomacy and books


The NDA Government at the Center has taken a major decision: the scrapping of the University Grants" Commission. For over 60 years this large unwieldy body was running the Higher Education scene in India and the chaos in Indian  Universities is largely the consequence of the UGC pursing policies that ultimately proved self defeating. Set in 1956, the UGC was mandated to act as a funding agency for Indian Universities.Its original purpose was to ensure that Universities  received funds as per their allocated budget. At the time the UGC was established there were less than 50 Universities in India and the task of fund distribution was relatively simple. A fixed sum of money was apportioned to Universities and College and the bulk of the spending was on the six Central Universities which came directly under the Central Government. When Professor Nurul Hassan the Communist turned Congressman became the Minister for Education, the UGC began to acquire a stranglehold over the University and Higher Education Institutions all over India. By the simple expedient of tying financial assistance to policy initiative, the UGC became over the decades the sole arbiter of Indian education. It conducted the National Eligibility Test (NET), it granted Major and MInor Research Projects, it prescribed the Curriculum to Indian Universities in the form of its Model Curriculum, it set personnel policies for those employed in Universities and Colleges by prescribing norms and criteria for promotion. It was the UGC which came up with the horrendous system of API on the basis of the recommendation of the S P Tyagarajan Committee. In the name of encouraging Reseach, the UGC decided to introduce the Academic Performance Indicators (API) which in turn was pegged tom promotions. Teachers were made to perform like circus animals in order to acquire the required score. In the process, teaching suffered and research which was done was, at best of indifferent quality.

The proliferation of the ON line Journals which were on the approved list of the UGC spawned an industry of predatory journals and thanks to the wrong policies of the UGC India has the dubious distinction of having the highest number of predatory journals in the world.

All this will change under the new legislation which separates the role of funding and finance from that of the regulator. The new body which will be formed will look after the regulatory aspects of Higher Education and funding will be directly monitored by the MHRD. This will make the policy implementation simpler and there will be less scope for corruption. One of the lesser known aspects of Indian higher education is that it is one of the most corrupt in the world. Major Reseach Projects submitted for projects that run into crores are little more than recycled M Phil and Ph D theses. Same project is resubmitted several times and funding is generated. O f course, now the Turn-it In anti plagiarism test is being encouraged.

The UGC was averse to the participation of foreign universities in the higher education market. This will also change. Another important change is the growing importance that is being given to NIRF ranking. The NIRF ranking is now essential for funding and NAAC accreditation. These changes have improved the quality of Indian education. Though we have long ways to go.