Indian Universities, Student Politics and the Government of India

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

The Newspapers in India are carrying real time coverage of the crisis that has gripped Indian Institutions of Higher Education. As a Faculty Member of a Central University with 32 years of Teaching Research and Administration with a PhD from a Global Top 200 Universites of the World I have a few points to make. My 2 cents worth, if you like.

First, Universites like New Delhi's Jawaharlal Nehru University have been encouraged by successive Congress regimes for purely political and dynastic political ends. There has been a trend in JNU to hire its own students and this in breeding amongst the Faculty has contributed to the erosion of diversity and an over representation of certain ideological strands that fare poorly in the electoral battlefield. As the fortunes of the Left declined the radicalism of the Student population repalced the earlier political programme of reaching out to broarder sections of the population: Class analysis was replaced by Identity politics and the rampant mobilization of the youth along identity lines contributes significantly to the present scenario. Identity Politics was the American Social Science respone to Class Radicalisation and was promoted by the American Think Tanks like Fullbright and Ford Founedation in India throughout the 1970s, 80n and well into the early part of the present century. In India it is easy to trnaslate Indentiy Politics into political programmes especially after the introduction of the Mandal Reservation by V P Singh ; Caste, Religion and Gender are now the main stay of Indian Social Science education and research and students socialised in this kind of education fall easy prey to political parties which seek to use Universities as boot camps for their cadre.

In JNU, Jadhavpur University and in other Universites the youth have been incited to join the protests on the Citizenship Ammendment Act on the basis of the false propaganda that a section of the INdian population will lose its citizenship or will be denied certain rights. Nothing can be more untrue. But fascist methods of propaganda are successful: If a lie is repeated over and over again it will be beleived. In this issue the insecurities of the Moslem population is being preyed upon to mobilize them against the Act which in no way abridges or reduced their status or rights. Such identity based mobilization is dangerous and has to be faught against.

The Governance of Indian Universites, with exceptions, leave much to be desired. There is total confusion as far as the Rights of the Universities are concerned. Each University is Governed by a separate Legislation and Central Universities State Universities and now incresingly Private Universitiesd are all competing for funds from a reducing basket of resources and so the Ranking System has been introduced\, Called the National Institution Ranking Framework (NIRF) this system is neither transparent nor credible. Annamalai University generally regarded as a University in which Ph D degrees are managed, ranks very high to other Central Universities. The adoption of the API scoring pattern for Faculty promotion has led to the proliferation of predatory jouranlas and third rate teachers have been promoted on the basis of third rate publications. The Indian Government is notorious for introducing remedies which compound the disease. It is time to delink Research from Teaching and what goes on in Social Science in the name of reseach is just gargabe.

The Student bodies of most UNiversities is highlympolitisised and this leads to confrontation. Political parties of all colours--Saffron and Red and of course Green--use studnets as fodder in their political game of one upmanship and this is playing out in Indian Universities today. Vice Chancellors are not able to function as the politcal parties pull them in different direction. Professor Jagdeesh Kumar has dealt with the crisis in JNU in the best ammer possible and even after the Server Room was trashed perhaps by SFI Students he did not rush to the police. It is for political parties to rtake a call and reduce tensions.

Finally it is tiem to thinkl of solutions. Social Scince education must be reformed and crass Identity Politics under pinnings must be remeoved. Social Science education must be made meaningful and employment oriented and that Education must be  yoked to the New India that is emerging: Digital India, Skill India, Make in India, Entrepenueship, trining in GIS etc.

I am sure that all this will be done.

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.

Gulam Nabi Fai, Indian Intellectuals and Narional Security

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


The involvement of Indian "intellectuals" in the seminar circuit operated by Dr Gulam Nabi Fai who was also the Director of the American-Kashmir Council does not come as a surprise to me at all. When I see the tele intellectuals from JNU sitting in the NDTV sudio with their poster girl Barkha Dutt making the most outlandish statements I only feel that India can never be a world class power with a brain trust that can be hired for an economy class ticket to USA. What is even more disgusting is that this breed of parasites has colonised the UGC, the media, the National Advisory Council, NGOs and the like and a younger generation is being trained to follow in the illustrious footsteps of such "intellectuals". These intellectuals do not read but trade in opinion and pass of political positions in the garb of academic research. The post-colonial theoretical armature that these intellectuals invoke elided the boundaries between truth and fiction, between opinion and judgement, between theoretical position and practice. What is most disconcerting is that these intellectuals profess unalloyed liberal views in public and rant with full vigor at "reactionary hindu extremism", froth at the mouth at the mention of Hon'ble Narendar Modi, the Chief Minister of Gujarat, and let their hearts bleed for criminals of every kind who happen to belong to the "right " caste are silent when it comes to real issues. For instance these tele intellectuals have written volumes on the 1992 event in Ayodhya, but hardly have a word on the criminal pogrom of the Congress Party in 1984. They are the first to hold candle light vigil for "terrorists" killed in police actions but do not have a word of succour for the victims of terrorism, On the one hand they seek the freedom to criticise the Nation state from every platform available but are the first to hold their grubby palms for trinkets and grants from the state. It is this kind of intellectual who has sold the country to Pakistan and the "liberal" anti-national rants are also given the legitimacy of post-colonial social science. The coming of the Sage Corporation into India has led to the erosion of the independent social science thinking India had for quite a long time.

While I am not a great admirer of the nation state, I can say with a great deal of pride that what I have written and published is based on my wide reading and honest understanding. In short, I represent the dying breed of independent historians and thinkers among the slumdog post colonial teleintellectuals. The UGC also rewards intellectuals for being anti national. If one stretches out ones hand for alms from the likes of Gulam Nabi Fai, the prestige value of such beggars in the Indian Universities goes up. He/she is circulating in the rarefied air of high policy ans so he/she must be rewarded and promoted. It is a shame that the Government of India has appointed on the Kashmir interlocutoer council Dilip Padgoankar who was a guest of Gulam Nabi Fai.


JNU is full of robust teleintelelctuals who have battened themselves on the pickings from Fai.The culture of mediocrity and showmanship which is encouraged in Indian Universities is responsible for the sorry state of affairs. These teleintellectuals do not have the time or the energy to teach as they are found lobbying with their political friends for research money and trips. The net result is a total lack of a national perspective in our educational and res each institutions. Moreover, the Indian academics have learnt to be mimic men and have prospered.