No foul game is allowed just for political gain - Mr Minister

SC green signal for admissions to deemed universities

PTI, May 6, 2010, 02.58pm IST

NEW DELHI: The 44 deemed universities sought to be de-recognised by the government today got a reprieve with the Supreme Court refusing to stay any fresh admissions to these institutes.

A bench of Justices Dalveer Bhandari and Gyan Sudha Misra rejected the Union HRD Ministry's plea for an injunction against any fresh admissions which are likely to commence from July.

The apex court said that it could not pass any such injunction order as the validity of the very constitution of the high-powered Tondon Committee is under challenge.

The review committee headed by Professor P N Tondon had earlier recommended derecognition of the 44 institutes spread across the country on the ground that they failed to meet the standard required for sustaining status of a "deemed" university.

Though Solicitor General Gopal Subramanium, appearing for the government, pleaded that at least, a condition be imposed that any fresh admissions would be subject to the final outcome of the case pending in the apex court, the bench was in no mood to grant any relief to the Centre.

"The constitution of the committee is itself under challenge, it has to be adjudicated first. There is no point in passing any injunction. It would not be appropriate for us to pass any injunction," the bench said.

The apex court pointed out that there are allegations that Professor Tondon himself was heading a deemed university and it was not appropriate for him to head the high-powered committee which sought de-recognition of the aggrieved universities.

Hence, the bench asked the government and the varsities to file their replies and rejoinders so that it could take up the matter for further hearing on August 3.

The bench had also agreed to examine the validity of the government's decision to de-recognise the varsities as the institutions claimed that under the statutory rules, it was only the UGC which has got the power to strip them of their deemed status.

What we are doing with our kids....may be ensuring to create cheerful idiots?

Uncle Kapil’s gifts- Hindustan Times

HRD minister can run everything to ruin...thanks to his task-force.

How can HRD Ministry run medical education, asks AICC doctors' cell

Aarti Dhar - The Hindu

NEW DELHI: Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal has come under criticism from his own colleagues in the Congress for his “proposal of transferring medical education” from the Health Ministry to the proposed National Commission on Higher Education and Research (NCHER).

The task force which is finalising the regulatory commission has been constituted by the HRD Ministry.

Mr. Sibal wants to create a new national body to control and supervise the departments of higher and technical education. Surprisingly, he has shown interest in bringing medical education also within the ambit of this body, Vijay Khaira, AICC member and national convener of the AICC (doctors' cell) has said in a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

The HRD Ministry's proposal is baseless as it cannot run the health care system, which is an integral part of the Health Ministry and without which medical education is incomplete.

If one or two persons are corrupt, the entire Medical Council of India or the entire Medical Education department cannot be blamed or transferred to the HRD Ministry, Dr. Khaira has said.

Even the All-India Council for Technical Education chief and other functionaries have been allegedly found involved in corruption.

How can the HRD Minister guarantee that the body he is constituting would be outrightly honest?

In the “interest of patients, health care delivery system and medical education itself,” Dr. Khaira has requested the Prime Minister not to transfer medical education to any other ministry.

One more U-Turn...why didn't you think before throwing....Mr. Minster?

Final decision on NCHER rests with Centre, says Kapil Sibal

Aarti Dhar - The Hindu

NEW DELHI: Under criticism from his Cabinet colleagues, Union Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal on Saturday sought to clarify that the final decision on the proposed National Commission on Higher Education and Research (NCHER) remained with the government at the “highest level” and that the decision would be “acceptable” to the Ministry.

Speaking to journalists at the end of a daylong consultation organised by the task force on the draft NCHER bill with academics from across the country, Mr. Sibal said the bill was the property of the task force. The government could change its title and take the final call.

The Union Health and Family Welfare Ministry and the Bar Council of India oppose the idea of transferring medical and legal education to the Human Resource Development Ministry, which is piloting the legislation and which has set up the task force.

The task force decided to set up an ‘informal' committee of four eminent persons. It will study the drafts of the NCHER and National Council for Human Resource in Health (NCHRH) bills to ensure there was no overlap. The committee will comprise Srinath Reddy and Ranjit Roy Choudhary (both members of the HCHRH task force) and M.K. Bhan and Syeda Hamid, both members of the NCHER task force. Mr. Sibal said the inputs received at the consultation would be taken into account while finalising the draft NCHER bill before it was placed before the Central Advisory Board of Education (CABE) next month. After the CABE approved it, the draft Bill would be sent to the government.

Task force member N.R. Madhava Menon said the legislation was aimed at granting more autonomy and academic freedom to universities, and this would lead to more accountability. The government would have no role in the setting up of the commission, and there were mechanisms to check its misuse. “We also want medical, legal and agricultural higher education to be under the purview of the commission,” he said. The task force would recommend to the government to amend the Constitution for bringing agriculture education to the Concurrent List. Another member M.K. Bhan said the second draft of the Bill — discussed at the consultation — was more consistent with the federal structure, as it had representation for the States, and for a wide spectrum of areas. The participants also agreed with the new draft that had a provision for setting up a general council that allowed for wider discussions. Of the newly constituted Board of Governors that replaced the Medical Council of India, one member turned up for the consultation.

With the begging bowl again....

Sibal to focus on wooing foreign varsities on US trip

2010-05-29 19:00:00

Human Resource Development (HRD) Minister Kapil Sibal, during his 10-day visit to the US beginning Monday, will focus on increasing cooperation in the education sector and attracting American universities to set up their campuses in India, an official said Saturday. Sibal is accompanying External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna for the India-US strategic dialogue. Official sources in the HRD ministry said Sibal will interact with government officials and representatives from a number of universities seeking cooperation in the higher education sector. Sources said the meetings will aim at attracting these universities to set up their campuses in India. This comes after the foreign universities bill was introduced in the Lok Sabha during the budget session. The bill aims at facilitating as well as regulating setting up of campuses by foreign varsities in India. 'This will be the litmus test for the (foreign university) bill,' a senior minisitry official said. Among the universities the HRD minister will be interacting with is Virginia Tech, which has shown interest in setting up a campus in Hyderabad. Sibal will be meeting the university's president for further deliberations. He will also meet representatives from the Washington's premier Georgetown University on Thursday. On Friday, the minister will interact with representatives from Stanford Centre for International Development, a center of Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research which focuses on international trade and development. He will also meet representatives from University of California, Berkeley on the same day. This will be Sibal's second visit to the US in seven months. During his visit towards the end of October 2009, he had met the heads of several top American universities, including Harvard, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Yale. 'The universities expressed interest at that time but they wanted to wait for the foreign universities bill to come,' the official said. It is important to note that all the above mentioned universities have already refused to establish their campuses in India. But let's go with the begging bowl again....

Top central univs have 34% teaching posts vacant...what MHRD is doing?

LEFT IN THE LURCH?
Sikkim University Heads List With 84% Vacancies
TIMES NEWS NETWORK

New Delhi: There is a stark difference between the hype around higher education and the real picture. The top 22 universities in India have 34% vacancy in teaching jobs. Twenty-two central universities, with 11,085 sanctioned posts, have 3,777 vacant posts, the Lok Sabha was informed on Wednesday.
So bad is the situation that the new central universities, the ministry told the lower House, have appointed temporary/guest faculty on contract to meet their immediate requirement.
Sikkim University is the worst of the lot with a whopping 84% vacancy (169 vacancies out of the total posts of 201). HRD ministry’s claim that all the posts have since been advertised and 32 posts have been filled on contractual basis is hardly a consolation.
Allahabad University has 43.5% of the posts vacant, JNU has 32.5% vacancy (237 out of 728), Indira Gandhi National Open University has nearly 40% (273/692) teaching posts lying vacant. It is interesting to note that Allahabad University is just completing its first five years as a central university, but there has been hardly any change since its days as a state university.
The government has explained that though Delhi University has around 51% vacancy, out of the 1,500 sanctioned posts, 202 posts (out of 646 posts sanctioned for OBC reservation) have not been permitted to be filled. The total vacancy is of 763 posts out of which 729 have already been advertised and interviews are in the process of being scheduled, the ministry said.
Maulana Azad National Urdu University has 118 vacancies out of 248 posts. The ministry claims all the vacant posts have since been advertised.
In Aligarh Muslim University, there is a vacancy of 235 posts against the sanctioned strength of 1,387. In Banaras Hindu University, the government has explained that though there are 1,842 sanctioned posts, 553 have not been allowed to be filled. It has 352 vacant posts.
Hyderabad University has 184 vacancies out of 541 sanctioned posts.
In its reply, the ministry also highlighted steps it has taken to make teaching attractive. These steps include 50% enhancement in junior and senior research fellowships.

SC rejects govt plea to hinder fresh admissions in Deemed Universities

Supreme Court today rejected the HRM ministry plea for injunction against fresh admissions by the Deemed to be Universities, particularly the 44 institutions sought to be derecognized in a review committee report.
Hearing the Viplav Sharma vs. Government of India, UGC & others case today the bench comprising Justices Dalveer Bhandari and Gyan Sudha Misra rejected the Ministry's plea against fresh admissions by the deemed universities saying that it could not pass any such order as the validity of the very constitution of the high-powered Tondon Committee is under challenge. Next hearing in the case will be on August 3.
"The constitution of the committee is itself under challenge, it has to be adjudicated first. There is no point in passing any injunction. It would not be appropriate for us to pass any injunction," the bench said. Besides, the apex court pointed out that there were allegations that Professor Tondon himself was heading a deemed university and it was not appropriate for him to head the high-powered committee which sought de-recognition of the aggrieved universities.
Though Solicitor General Gopal Subramanium, appearing for the government, pleaded that at least, a condition be imposed that any fresh admissions would be subject to the final outcome of the case pending in the apex court, the bench was in no mood to grant any relief to the Centre.
The ministry’s similar plea had been rejected by the court earlier too. The HRD ministry has been adamant against the 44 deemed universities after its review committee under Prof. PN Tandon recommended de-recognition. The bench had also agreed to examine the validity of the government's decision to de-recognise the varsities as the institutions claimed that under the statutory rules, it was only the UGC which has got the power to strip them of their deemed status.
It is worth mentioning that the Tandon committee didn’t give its detailed report and the methodology used to arrive at its decision in assessment of the deemed universities on nine different aspects.
Earlier the apex court had directed the Centre to put on the Internet the recommendations of the Tondon Committee and the Task Force. On March 8, the Supreme Court had on March 8 granted two weeks to the aggrieved varsities to file their responses on the Centre's decision to de-recognise them.
During earlier hearings the Union HRD Ministry had denied the allegations of the institutes that they were not given sufficient opportunity to explain their academic performance before deciding to de-recognise them.
Stoutly defending its decision, the Centre, in its additional affidavit, had said its high-powered review committee and task force were more concerned with the academic excellence of these universities, rather than infrastructural facilities. The HRD ministry said the universities sought to be de-recognised were being run as family fiefdoms, rather than as institutions of academic excellence which they claim to be.

IIT, IIM staff crunch: Increase in vacancies in 2009-10 : Mr HRD Minister what your "Task Force" is doing?

IIT, IIM staff crunch

New Delhi, April 21 (PTI): The IITs and IIMs are facing a shortage of faculty members despite an attractive pay structure, good accommodation and other perks, the Lok Sabha was told today.

IIT Kharagpur has a maximum vacancy of 299 posts, followed by 222 in IIT Bombay, 194 in IIT Roorkee, 138 in IIT Madras, 78 in IIT Delhi, 69 in IIT Kanpur and 65 in IIT Guwahati, HRD minister of state D. Purandeswari said in a written reply.

The number of vacancies have increased from 877 in the seven old IITs in 2008-09 to 1,065 in 2009-10, the minister said.

The vacancies in these institutions in 2007-08 was 971.

There are 95 vacanies in the seven IIMs. IIM-Bangalore has a maximum vacancy of 35 posts followed by 29 in IIM-Ahmedabad.

“Recruitment of faculty is a continuous process and all efforts are being made by the institutes to fill up vacant posts. Institutions have been employing suitable strategies to attract and retain quality faculty which include attractive pay structure, provisions of good residential accommodation, medical facilities and initial research grants,” Purandeswari said.

Babus Rule The Roost: Another U-Turn of Kapil Sibal

Pasted from - (http://binupramod.posterous.com/babus-rule-the-roost)
A former private secretary to Kapil Sibal is set to head India’s largest central government school chain less than a year after the human resource development minister objected to bureaucrats occupying top education posts.
The HRD ministry has recommended Avinash Dikshit, a 1986 batch officer of the Indian Defence Accounts Service, for the post of commissioner, Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan, lying vacant since October 31, top government officials told The Telegraph.

Dikshit was a private secretary to Sibal between 2004 and 2006 when the Congress leader was the minister for science and technology in the first UPA government.

The HRD ministry has asked the appointments committee of the cabinet headed by the Prime Minister to approve Dikhsit’s nomination. The committee is the apex panel for top government appointments and is likely to clear Dikshit’s name soon, sources said.

The Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan runs over 1,000 schools across the country and in a few foreign countries. Over a million students study in the Kendriya Vidyalayas.

Dikshit’s name was recommended by the ministry after a search-cum-selection panel set up by Sibal found him most appropriate for the post.

No one, including other contenders for the post, is known to have either formally voiced criticism of the manner in which the selection was conducted or questioned Dikshit’s record as an official.

But Sibal’s stamp of approval for the appointment of his own former aide suggests that he has backtracked on a stand he had taken last year.

Last year, Sibal had indicated to his officials that he did not want a career bureaucrat or police officer to head any educational body.

Academicians across the country had for several years criticised the government’s education appointments policy, blaming it for the increased bureaucratisation and politicisation of education.

A bureaucrat or policeman, dependent on his political masters for career promotions is unlikely to challenge politicians on matters of academic autonomy, these academicians had argued.

In official file notings, Sibal had questioned the practice of appointing officials removed from education to top posts at academic bodies or institutions — a practice common under his predecessors Arjun Singh and Murli Manohar Joshi.

Sibal’s comments to his officials appeared to finally indicate a shift towards academicians governing educational institutions and bodies.

But the ministry’s decision to pick Dikshit suggests that the minister has decided to abandon his opposition to the appointment of career bureaucrats to top education posts.

Shri Kapil Sibal, Chairman, General Council of SPA: Are you aware???

Hindustan Times 18.03.2010

For the kind attention of Hon'ble Supreme Court

08.03.2010



09.03.2010

Deemed University review by P.N. Tondon Committee Scam : Is Kapil Sibal a Part??

Dr. TMA Pai was the founder of Manipal Education Group. His son, Dr. Ramdas M Pai then took over the reins and made it into a purely commercial venture. Infact the Manipal Group controlled by the PAI family may be considered to be the Father of Capitation Fee System in India. In 1993 The Manipal Intuition became the first Commercial Institution to be granted status of deemed University in the Private Sector in India which led to opening of Gates for Private Players to become deemed Universities.

Dr. Ramdas Pai’s is also the Pro Chancellor of the Sikkim-Manipal University of Health, Medical & Technological Sciences, Gangtok, Sikkim, India’s Leading Private University.

The Manipal University has Campuses in Pokhara, Nepal, in Melaka, Malaysia and in Dubai, UAE which do not have approval from the University Grants Commission, Medical Council of India and The Government of India.

Mr. Kapil Sibal’s Relations with the Manipal Group
Mr. Kapil Sibal, the Union HRD Minister, is considered very close to the Manipal Group and has also represented the Manipal Group in many litigations before the High Court of Karnataka and The Supreme Court of India, advocating privatization of Higher Education.

Visit by the HRD Minister to the Unapproved Campus of Manipal University in Malasysia
Mr. Kapil Sibal, the Union HRD Minister who speaks a lots against the Deemed Universities in July 2009 did not miss the opportunity to take time off, visit and inaugurate the Sports Complex of Manipal Medical College in Melaka, a Constituent of Manipal Academy of Higher Education deemed University. It is to be noted that neither the government of India, nor the UGC has approved the off shore campus of Manipal University in Malaysia. The Medical Council off India has also not withdrawn it’s recognition from the college due to it’s irregularities.

The Review Committee Formed by the Ministry of HRD Under the Chairmanship of Prof. P.N. Tandon
The name of Manipal Academy of Higher Education Deemed University has been cleared by the Review Committee Formed by the Ministry of HRD to review the Functioning of the Deemed University by P.N. Tondon Committee
Parameters which were Considered By the Review Committee: Parameters Facts
Management: Family Owned (Pai Group)
Off Campus Centers: Highest Number of Off Campus Centres in India (Most of them Not approved by the UGC)
Off Shore Campus Outside the Country: In Malasia and Dubai (Not Approved By the UGC)

Fee Structure: One of the Highest Fee Charged by the Deemed University in the Country
The important question is why was Manipal University not considered for De recognition: Answer is Simple when your lawyer is the HRD Minister you dont need anybody else.

Did the Review Committee Formed by the Ministry of HRD Under the Chairmanship of Prof. P.N. Tandon gave clearance to Manipal University under influence from the HRD Minister?
Prof. P.N. Tandon was a Member of Adhoc Committee appointed by the Hon’ble Supreme Court look in to the issue of recognition of medical college.

The Executive Committee of the Medical Council of India held it’s meeting on 24th August, 2007 at 11.00 a.m. in the Council Office at Sector 8, Pocket 14, Dwarka, New Delhi-110 077 where the members of the Adhoc Committee appointed as per the Hon’ble Supreme Court including Prof. P.N Tandon were also present.

At S.No 39 and 40 the case of Medical Coolges Under the Manipal University were considered. The Expert members of the Adhoc Committee appointed by the Hon’ble Supreme Court and of the Executive Committee of the Medical Council of India Made the following recommendations regarding the Medical Colleges :

“In view of above and as the deficiencies of teaching faculty, teaching beds, distribution of units, availability of paramedical staff and other infrastructure are still persisting, the members of the Adhoc Committee appointed by the Hon'ble Supreme Court and of the Executive Committee of the Council decided to reiterate its earlier decisions taken at its meeting held on 22.5.2002 and as approved by the General Body of the Council presided over by the Administrator at its meeting held on 27.8.2002 and by the Executive Committee on 02.12.2006 wherein the members of the Adhoc Committee appointed by the Hon’ble Supreme court were also present to recommend to the Central Government to initiate action u/s 19 of the Indian Medical Council Act,1956 for withdrawal of recognition of MBBS degree granted by Manipal Academy of Higher Education in respect of students being trained at Kasturba Medical College, Manipal and further decided to request the Central Government to recall the permission given by the Central Govt. vide letter dated 15.06.2007 to admit the students for MBBS course during the current academic year 2007-2008 and to direct the institute not to make any further admissions in the MBBS course for the academic year 2007-08. It was further decided to request the Central Government to direct the institute not to teach and train the students of Malekka Manipal Medical College, Malaysia unless evidence of creating additional facilities for training such students is submitted to the Central Government and prior permission of the Central Government is obtained for such an arrangement. “

When Prof. P.N. Tandon was a part of both the committees and was aware of the irregularities in the Manipal University, why was a go ahead given to the Manipal University, by the review Committee. Does the answer lies with the HRD Minister??

_________________________________________________________
Details taken from UGC website on 13.03.2010

http://www.ugc.ac.in/inside/deemed%20universities/manipal.html

Deemed University
________________________________________
Manipal Academy of Higher Education
Madhav Nagar, Manipal,576104, Karnataka
(A Deemed University declared under Section 3 of the UGC Act,1956)

1. Government of India,Ministry of Human Resource Development notification declaring the Institute as 'Deemed to be University'
• F. 9-8/89-U.3 dated 1st June,1993
• F.9-8/89-U.3Dated 24th April,2000
• F.9-8/89-U.3Dated 25th December,2002

2. Institute(s) under the Deemed to be University at the time of notification • Kasturba Medical College, Manipal and associated teaching hospitals, Manipal
• College of Dental Surgery, Manipal
• College of Nursing, Manipal
• Kasturba Medical College and Associated teaching institutions, Mangalore
• College of Dental Surgery, Mangalore
(vide Notification No.F. 9-8/89-U.3 dated 1st June,1993)

3. Off campus(s)/Instituion(s) under ambit/constituent units(s)/study centre(s) approved by Government of India,Misnitry of Human Resource Development and UGC
• Manipal Institute of Technology & College of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Manipal
(vide Notification No.F.9-8/89-U.3 Dated 24th May,2000)
• Welcomegroup Graduate School of Hotel Administration, Manipal
(vide Notification No.F.9-8/89-U.3 Dated 25th December,2002)

4. Off-shore campus(s) approved by Government of India,Ministry of Human Resource Developement and UGC
NONE

5. Courses approved under distance mode Courses to be approved by UGC -AICTE-DEC Joint Committee

6. NAAC accreditation
B+ level (1st October,2002) from the academic year 2002-2003

7. Website http://www.manipal.edu/

DO WE REALLY NEED TO SAY MORE????

Deemed Universities violating UGC/MHRD regulations not being listed by Tandon Committee....WHY?

An RTI, attached for your perusal, suggests that although the Deemed Universities which are violating UGC/MHRD procedures and regulations are not being listed in the Deemed Universities that are recommended for disaffiliation by the Review committee / Task force of MHRD.

It is mockery to allow continuation of the Deemed University status of The IIS University, Jaipur, which has not even started its Deemed University operations. Also the BITS-Mesra, BITS-Pilani and Banasthali Vidyapith who are operating off campuses centers without the approval of UGC/MHRD.

Also many Deemed universities that are operated as family business rather than a professionally run organization are given a green card may be due to political interference or reasons best known to the MHRD Review committee/task force.
Interestingly four Deemed Universities which did not appear before the Review committee / Task force of MHRD for presentation are not being listed in the Deemed Universities that are recommended for disaffiliation.

There seems to be a disrespect to statutory bodies that are created by law such as UGC/NAAC and their recommendations are grossly by passed. It indicates a process that is not democratic but adhoc and premeditated.

There could be many more irregularities, which clearly indicate that the review process is biased and is targeted with ulterior motive, to probably benefit a few, or perhaps to make a clear ground for foreign universities to land on Indian soil.

Tandon Committee : A mockery with the nation!!!

The Tandon Committee in its 129-page report uploaded on the Department of Higher Education website has adopted simple approach – Decry whosoever you want.

After spending a few pages on explaining their notions and ideas about the phenomenon of university, university systems, the existing provisions and so on, the Committee under the leadership of Prof. PN Tandon simply jumps to its conclusions.

The report contains tables with notional ratings finally converted in marks. The committee was least bothered with being logical and rational. It defined nine parameters – the broad framework, but there are no defined standards, the yardstick, against which the institutions were tested. It is all a notional work. They ranked the institutions like this because they felt like that. They had no other reason for their conclusions otherwise they would have given detailed observations on different institutions with sufficient reason and logic to reach the conclusion. But that was not to be.

Human Resource Development: the untold story

The 100 day plan of the Union Ministry of Human Resource Development it now appears has backfired! These were the proposals for an autonomous and independent umbrella authority that now at best appears to be anything but independent but surely an ‘over-arching all in one’ body, independent assessment and accreditation that is now being known as a regulatory nightmare considering the multiplicity of accreditation agencies and the resultant chaos in public mind; the much touted entry of foreign education providers hurting our own national pride, best portrayed by the failed foreign jaunts of Kapil Sibal and his invitation lamenting our educational standards now being perceived by many as India’s spurned begging bowl to European and American Universities; a tribunal for fast-tracking disputes, perceived by the private sector as an attempt to malign their altruistic efforts and one that is as yet to see the light of the day; the short sighted and ill conceived review of deemed universities, sparing other state run private and other government central and state universities, for sure Kapil Sibal has the credit for having damned them in public but are far from being doomed and the final and least controversial decision for direct credit of scholarships to bank accounts, perhaps the easiest to implement but is as yet to see the light of the day! Ironically the Government has done little in the past few months when it comes to universalization of elementary education that is now compulsory for the past few years and is the single most important commitment of the government that also stands for open and distance education, eradicating illiteracy and introducing adult literacy, secondary and vocational education.

Ironically, it is on the higher and technical education front that could have been best left to the private sector since the country was faring relatively better, having acclaimed to be the third largest scientific and technological manpower and having brought about the information technology revolution to mankind’s doorstep in an increasingly flattened world. But it is here, that the Government has unwittingly stirred a hornet’s nest and in the process Kapil Sibal has indeed burnt his own fingers.

Let us use a different lens, so that we do not miss the wood for the trees and examine other outcomes. The doing away of 10th Board, in retrospect appears to be a bad policy decision on many counts, but most importantly Kapil Sibal cannot be excused for the narrow short sighted goals that dismantled Mahatma Gandhi’s larger vision of imparting vocational education after schooling where rising costs and socioeconomic compulsions made it difficult for most parents to bear the burden of further education. Indeed it was the 10th Board that had provided standardization of standards and uniformity for assessments before a student would have embarked on employable skills based training so critical for a country that wishes to improve its literacy rate and capitalize on its demographic dividend.

Similarly all efforts at doing away of numerical assessment in favor of grading that has stood the test of time for a shortsighted and purported benefit of lesser competition and stress have not taken into account the issues and problems associated with its implementation in letter and spirit. The fact of the matter remains that even in most of the IITs today numerical assessment is converted into grades just for the sake of arriving at those grades thus defeating the very purpose of grading.

To cap it all the latest in the series is the draft Central legislation on the constitution of the National Commission for Higher Education and Research (NCHER) that proposes to dismantle the University Grants Commission (UGC), the All-India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), the National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE) and sets up another overarching body with immense powers and responsibilities to usher in an era of highly centralized and authoritarian institutionalization with little guarantee and safeguards to ensure the vision of academic freedom and decentralized democratic structures of Professor Yash Pal or the agenda of neo-liberal reforms that Sam Pitroda was so impatient to implement. Amusingly the Task Force constituted to aid and advise the MHRD to set up the NCHER has skirted the issue of promoting autonomy, decentralization, competition and privatization of higher education that even Kapil Sibal has been publicly recommending. It is unclear that the orchestrated campaign against the now discredited privately funded deemed universities sparing other private state government recognized Universities and more importantly the public funded Central and other Universities that in many a cases suffer with yet lower quality standards. It is now learnt that some of these Deemed Universities under de novo category were not even allowed to complete their mandated five year term as per Government’s own notification before they were recommended for derecognition. It is also preposterous to presume that the façade of a national collegiums of advisers, comprising of core members and another set of co-opted members will not be compromised by the political selection process as has been indeed the case in the past with such positions as the UGC or AICTE or NCTE Chairman’s selections may bear testimony and the past remains a good barometer for future. The patronage of a position for a lifetime is again against all canons of promoting democratization and decentralization and the possible rationale is that it would ensure both continuity and change in the determination of policies in higher education is highly questionable. The Bill also provides for the preparation of a national registry of Vice-Chancellors and mandates that Vice-Chancellors of State universities and even private Universities be appointed from a panel of names selected by the commission from the registry is a very serious affront to the wisdom of others and the freedom and autonomy of the University system, particularly in a federal polity as ours. The issue is not whether the Commission would always act fairly, but whether such an arrangement would be consistent with the principles of autonomy. These decisions have been contrary to the emerging global trends in privatization of higher education and have brought immense disrepute internationally to India’s own academic standing.

Another myopic move that has now been objected by the Planning Commission is the proposed setting up of Regulators and the educational tribunals that will have the power to impose jail sentences and fines as such a move will result in a multiplicity of regulatory bodies given that the creation of the National Commission for Higher Education and Research (NCHER) is on the anvil and that the prospect of a plethora of statutory authorities, is against the spirit of the Yash Pal committee recommendations. Apart from duplicating role of NCHER the move will further insecurity and bureaucratize the prevailing jungle raj of higher education in our country instead of tackling grievances related to deemed universities and affiliations. It is suspected that without adequate safeguards there will be a multiplicity of AICTE like bodies to license engineering, management and other technical courses offered by private colleges and the scrutiny for regulatory delays, red tape, restrictive policies, opaque functioning—and even bribery will indeed go for a six. The Chairman of the National Commission for Minority Educational Institutions (NCMEI), MA Siddiqui, believes that a specific body to deal with disputes may work better in India, where the education sector is always expanding for fast and more efficient redressal. This view is also shared by Mr Pratap Bhanu Mehta, President of the Centre for Policy Research, a New Delhi-based think tank, who believes that India needs sweeping changes. “There is no point having a tribunal or an oversight mechanism such as NCHER unless reforms happen in the sector.” There is intense opposition from several quarters to the Bill as the Commission, announced by the President as a key agenda of the UPA in its second term, as a single regulator that will monitor all streams of higher education other than those related to medicine. The Bar Council of India and the Council of Architecture perform two tasks — regulating education in their respective streams and issuing licenses mandatory to practice as a lawyer or an architect in India but the bill proposes to transfer control over legal and architecture education to the new regulator while allowing the Bar Council of India and the Architecture Council to continue as quality monitors of both professions, a move that will further centralize decision making and control and hence opposed tooth and nail by the two Councils.

Yes true to his inimitable cavalier style Kapil Sibal, again has ensured that the Human Resource Ministry’s acceptance of ‘Tandon Committee Report’ recommending without much ado derecognition of 44 Deemed Universities followed by another 44 in the next three years indeed opens a Pandora’s Box. It is learned that on 18th August, 2009 representatives of these Universities were summoned by the ‘Tandon Committee’ constituted amid much hurry, bypassing the Constitutional Authority, the University Grants Commission (UGC) by the same Ministry of HRD for a hurriedly convened ‘Durbar’ presided over by Dr P N Tandon. It is alleged by the Universities that such a short hearing without any transparent parameters indeed became a meaningless exercise and a mockery of the process which is evident from the fact that 126 Deemed Universities were heard in just 4 days and each one of them was given a mere 10 minutes, wherein only a formal introduction was really possible. Incidentally on verification from the Ministry of HRD sources it is confirmed that till date no copy of the said Report has been furnished or the minimum standards of assessment or parameters were ever been defined or the observations of the Committee been informed to the Universities concerned before recommending the purported action of de-recognition. It also transpires that the UGC, a statutory body, under its Act had earlier appointed an expert committee to visit these institutions and the Deemed to be University status was granted only after a thorough on site inspection, interaction and physical verification of all aspects by the Ministry of Human Resource Development vide its gazette notifications under Section 3 of UGC Act 1956. Ironically, enough it is also understood that the Chairman of this Task Force, Prof. P.N. Tandon, himself is the President of the society of one of the Deemed Universities (under De-Novo category) named National Brain Research Centre, Manesar, Haryana that was recommended to be one of the 38 Universities found to be fit out of the total list of 126 reviewed by him. The fact also remains that one of the members of the said Tandon Committee, Shri Sunil Kumar happened to be one of the handpicked bureaucrats of the then HRD Minister Arjun Singh, who was instrumental in having these Institutions declared as Deemed to be Universities. Even if one goes by governments own assessment yardstick, the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) has rated 140 (out of 355) universities and 3,492 (out of 18,064) colleges wherein only 9 per cent of colleges and 31 per cent of universities were graded “A”. No wonder that 150,000 Indian students head annually for foreign shores at a tremendous cost to their parents and the country. Have the mandarins in Shastri Bhavan come up with a plan to review the functioning of all these Universities and Institutions and handed them with a time bound action plan? Obviously not!

Although Education in our country is in the concurrent list, upholding, regulating and maintaining the quality in higher education happens to be the responsibility of Central Government as recently settled by Calcutta High Court which had declared several teacher-training institutions in Bengal illegal as they did not meet NCTE requirements despite their meeting state government standards. In due fairness to the Deemed Universities the purported ‘Tandon’ review exercise was limited to only the Deemed Universities that even included the de novo category, which had not even completed the first five years, before a review was to be undertaken as per government’s own gazette notification. Many of these Universities particularly in remote and rural heartland were infact fulfilling the mandate of Government of India working on various projects with different government and non-government bodies that were in any case based on independent inspections. Some of these Universities included the likes of Gurukul Kangri an age old Institution, Rajiv Gandhi National Institute of Youth Development and many Universities graded much higher than to even some of the IITs and Central Government Universities. It is lamented by these Universities, a few of whom were even accredited as ISO 9001-2000 Institutions with academic collaborations and independent academic validations with several reputed foreign Universities, Industries and Institutions. Highly aggrieved, notes one of the promoters, having invested huge amounts and despite conforming to every possible guideline issued by the University Grants Commission and the Trust byelaws and regulations that were open to public scrutiny and having the best possible educational standards they have been derecognized by the Government and condemned, unheard and hence deprived of even the Principle of Natural Justice. The review exercise surprisingly enough had spared the State Private Universities and other Central and State Universities where despite huge public expenditures over a number of years no such review was even contemplated. On a cue from the Ministry of HRD, the print and the visual media immediately started a concerted campaign and initiated their own media trial against some of these Universities, surprisingly oblivious of the even poorer standards of the State Universities, State recognized Private Universities and other Central Universities barring a few notable exceptions. As pointed out by one of the Deemed to be Universities, the witch hunting was exacerbated by rival competition and a vicious cartel of vested interests, funneled by greed and demands for illegal gratification by individuals who now plague the corridors of power in the regulatory institutions. They wonder that in the years to come any private capital or enterprise would again dare venture in the arena of higher education in India and allege that even Minister Kapil Sibal appears to have been taken for a ride as he was caught unaware as could be made of from his own press statements.

In India presently just eleven million students enroll for higher education however we dither when it comes to allowing private enterprise and free capital forgetting the fact that there has already been a de-facto privatization of school education, professional education and now even the higher education sector. Though the barriers to entry and the regulation in higher education for the private sector are strict, there is no level playing field with the public universities and there are inadequate disclosure norms. One may discover that the ratings done by assorted interests and magazines particularly for professional education are more motivated based on subjectivity than on the basis of objectivity and proper disclosures. Ironically, Kapil Sibal is guided by the existing ideological bias against profit-making in the education sector and therefore access to capital markets remains a taboo. Thus we have only driven profiteering by the ‘not for profit’ societies and trusts underground, as the so many politicians and industrialists who have ventured in professional education understand. Altruism, in today’s world is best left to individuals and the motives best judged by the public at large than by the government of the day and by any legislative correction or intent. Unfortunately due to ill-conceived, misguided and ill fated governmental regulation any residual investment through private participation has directed the inflows and outflows under the carpet and by precluding private and foreign equity we have further ensured too many road blocks for transparency and better disclosure.

The entire fiasco as it now emerges has been best summed up recently with some good advice for HRD Minister Kapil Sibal by Oscar Fernandes, Chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Human Resource Development that he cannot ignore ‘even if there are deficiencies the Deemed Universities should be given another chance’ to promote governments own mandate and to encourage public private partnerships in higher education so that the governments may concentrate more on its promise to ensure quality free and compulsory primary education.

Deemed, Damned and Doomed: rise and fall of private Universities in India

Yes true to the caption Kapil Sibal, again in his cavalier style has indeed ensured that the Human Resource Ministry’s acceptance of ‘Tandon Committee Report’ recommending without much ado derecognition of 44 Deemed Universities followed by another 44 in the next three years opens a Pandora’s Box. It is informed that on 18 August, 2009 representatives of these select Universities were called by the said ‘Tandon Committee’ constituted by Ministry of HRD for a 10 minutes presentation. It is alleged by the Universities that such a short hearing without any transparent parameters indeed became a meaningless exercise and a mockery of the process which is evident from the fact that 126 Deemed Universities were heard in just 4 days and each one of them was given a mere 10 minutes, wherein only a formal introduction was really possible. It is also alleged by the Universities in affidavits now before the Supreme Court that very insinuating remarks were made and frivolous questions were posed with little academic rigor or relevance as borne out by a video graphic recording that was made, again without prior knowledge of the Universities. Incidentally on verification from the Ministry of HRD sources it is confirmed that till date no copy of the said Report has been furnished or the minimum standards of assessment or parameters were ever been defined or the observations of the Committee been informed to the Universities concerned before recommending the purported action of de-recognition.

Although Education in our country is in the concurrent list, upholding, regulating and maintaining the quality in higher education happens to be the responsibility of Central Government as recently settled by Calcutta High Court which had declared several teacher-training institutions in Bengal illegal as they did not meet NCTE requirements despite their meeting state government standards. In due fairness to the Deemed Universities the purported ‘Tandon’ review exercise was limited to only the Deemed Universities that even included the de novo category, many a cases had not even completed the first five years, before a review was to be undertaken as per their gazette notifications. Highly aggrieved, notes one of the promoters, having invested huge amounts and despite conforming to every possible guideline issued by the University Grants Commission and the Trust byelaws and regulations that were open to public scrutiny and having the best possible educational standards they have been derecognized by the Government and condemned unlawfully, unheard and hence deprived of the Principle of Natural Justice. The exercise surprisingly enough had spared the State Private Universities and other Central and State Universities where despite huge public expenditures over a number of years no such review was even contemplated. On a cue from the Ministry of HRD, the print and the visual media immediately started a concerted campaign and initiated their own media trial against some of these Universities, surprisingly oblivious of the even poorer standards of the State Universities, State recognized Private Universities and other Central Universities barring a few notable exceptions. Some of the Universities assert that their reputation has been tarnished irrevocably without any level playing field with that of any of the Central, State or even the State Private Universities that now dot the landscape. They wonder that in the years to come any private capital or enterprise would again dare venture in the arena of higher education in India. It is their case that they have been condemned unheard through an affidavit filed by the Union Of India through the Ministry of HRD before the Hon'ble Supreme Court in a Writ Petition that initially had only sought effective regulation of the Deemed to be Universities that were to be created under Sec 3 UGC Act in W.P. No 142 of 2006. Obviously the babudom in the Ministry of HRD had the better of the Minister Kapil Sibal who was caught unaware as could be made of from his own press statements of this backdoor attempt by the mandarins in power not only to subvert the administrative mechanism in place but also the due process of law and natural justice.

It has been stated in the affidavit to the Supreme Court that the Ministry of HRD has already accepted the findings and recommendations given by a ‘Task Force’ that was earlier referred to as ‘Tandon Committee’ seeking non continuation of various “Deemed to be Universities” and the list forwarded alongwith the affidavit that gives the names of the 44 Universities purportedly found unfit and recommended to be derecognized.

Amusingly, enough it is also understood that the Chairman of this Task Force, Prof. P.N. Tandon, himself is the President of the society of one of the Deemed Universities (under De-Novo category) named National Brain Research Centre, Manesar, Haryana that was recommended to be one of the 38 Universities found to be fit out of the total list of 126 reviewed by him. The fact also remains that one of the members of the said Tandon Committee, Shri Sunil Kumar happened to be one of the handpicked bureaucrats of the then HRD Minister Arjun Singh, who was instrumental in having these Institutions declared as Deemed to be Universities. This indeed makes a mockery of the entire review exercise, notwithstanding the fact that a closer scrutiny reveals that the report of the Tandon Committee appears to have been drafted more on pre-conceived notions and personal prejudice than on facts based on an onsite inspection or on merits as evidenced by a sweeping remark made in the affidavit of Union of India made for all the 44 Universities found to be unfit and the other 44 having been granted further 3 years before their derecognition or otherwise. All canons of judicial propriety appear to have been thrown to the winds as primafacie no natural justice or due process appears to have been followed by the Committee in its proceedings and even subsequently no opportunity or representation appears to have been offered in arriving at the reportedly biased conclusions and assigning any specific reasons for such a recommendation or its acceptance even by the Ministry of HRD.

It also transpires that the UGC, a statutory body, under its Act had earlier appointed an expert committee to visit these institutions and the Deemed to be University status was granted only after a thorough on site inspection, interaction and physical verification of all aspects by the Ministry of Human Resource Development vide its gazette notifications under Section 3 of UGC Act 1956. This apparently means parliamentary sanction subject to compliance of necessary official formalities and procedures and therefore acceptance of the report and recommendations of such derecognition by the Ministry without parliamentary approval may attract breach of privilege as well. Well now the question is as to who are the culprits behind the unilateral and subjective decision, as there appears to be not only a denial and miscarriage of justice but also a grave, deliberate and serious distortion of procedures and physical verifications required to be followed before such a drastic action is resorted to with questionable motives.

Many of these Universities particularly in remote and rural heartland were infact fulfilling the mandate of Government of India working on various projects with different government and non-government bodies that were in any case based on independent inspections. Some of these Universities included the likes of Gurukul Kangri an age old Institution, Rajiv Gandhi National Institute of Youth Development and many Universities graded much higher than to even some of the IITs and Central Government Universities. It is lamented by these Universities, a few of whom were accredited as ISO 9001-2000 Institutions with academic collaborations and independent academic validations with several reputed foreign Universities, Industries and Institutions. This act has not only brought immense disrepute to our country internationally through media trial and much mudslinging that has indeed hampered the future of the Universities in question besides impacting the excellent academic environment and healthy relations with their student fraternity.

It is left to be seen if the Supreme Court would indeed intervene immediately and to rectify the enormous harm already done by scrapping the said ‘Tandon Committee’ findings and recommendations and appoint a fresh Committee with no conflict of interest and proper representation to look into all aspects to assess performances on well defined and laid down transparent and recognized parameters on a uniform basis for all public and private Universities in national interest.

The Hindu : Education : Give delisted deemed universities a chance to explain: Oscar Fernandes

The Hindu : Education : Give delisted deemed universities a chance to explain: Oscar Fernandes

Why is it that every time Kapil Sibal appears to miss the wood for the tree?

The doing away of 10th Board, in retrospect was a bad policy decision on many counts, but most importantly for narrow short sighted goals it was the dismantling of Mahatma Gandhi’s larger vision of vocational education after schooling where rising costs and socioeconomic compulsions make it difficult for most parents to bear the burden of further education. Indeed it was the 10th Board that had provided standardization of standards and uniformity for assessments before a student would have embarked on employable skills based training so critical for a country that wishes to improve its literacy rate and capitalize on its demographic dividend.

Similarly all efforts at doing away of numerical assessment in favor of grading that has stood the test of time for a shortsighted and purported benefit of lesser competition and less stress have not taken into account the issues and problems associated with its implementation in later and spirit. The fact of the matter remains that even in most of the IITs today numerical assessment is converted into grades just for the sake of arriving at those grades thus defeating the very purpose of grading.

The latest in the series is the draft Central legislation on the constitution of the National Commission for Higher Education and Research (NCHER) that proposes to dismantle the University Grants Commission (UGC), the All-India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), the National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE) and sets up another overarching body with immense powers and responsibilities to usher an era of highly centralized and authoritarian institutionalization with little guarantee and safeguards to ensure the vision of academic freedom and decentralized democratic structures of Professor Yash Pal or the agenda of neo-liberal reforms that Sam Pitroda was so impatient to implement. Amusingly the Task Force constituted to aid and advise the MHRD to set up the NCHER has skirted the issue of promoting autonomy, decentralization, competition and privatization of higher education that even Kapil Sibal has been publicly recommending. It is unclear that the orchestrated campaign against the now discredited privately funded deemed universities sparing other private state government recognized Universities and more importantly the public funded Central and other Universities that in many a cases suffer with yet lower quality standards. It is now learnt that some of these Deemed Universities under de novo category were not even allowed to complete their mandated five year term as per Governments own notification before they were recommended for derecognition. It is also preposterous to presume that the façade of a national collegiums of advisers, comprising of core members and another set of co-opted members will not be compromised by the political selection process as has been indeed the case in the past with such positions as the UGC or AICTE or NCTE Chairman’s selections may bear testimony and the past remains a good barometer for future. The patronage of a position for a lifetime is again against all canons of promoting democratization and decentralization and the possible rationale is that it would ensure both continuity and change in the determination of policies in higher education is highly questionable. The Bill also provides for the preparation of a national registry of Vice-Chancellors and mandates that Vice-Chancellors of State universities and even private Universities be appointed from a panel of names selected by the commission from the registry is a very serious affront to the wisdom of others and the freedom and autonomy of the University system, particularly in a federal polity as ours. The issue is not whether the Commission would always act fairly, but whether such an arrangement would be consistent with the principles of autonomy. These decisions have been contrary to the emerging global trends in privatization of higher education and have brought immense disrepute internationally to India’s own academic standing.

Yes true to his inimitable cavalier style Kapil Sibal, again has ensured that the Human Resource Ministry’s acceptance of ‘Tandon Committee Report’ recommending without much ado derecognition of 44 Deemed Universities followed by another 44 in the next three years indeed opens a Pandora’s Box. It is learned that on 18th August, 2009 representatives of these Universities were summoned by the ‘Tandon Committee’ constituted amid much hurry, bypassing the Constitutional Authority, the University Grants Commission (UGC) by the same Ministry of HRD for a hurriedly convened ‘Durbar’ presided over by Dr P N Tandon. It is alleged by the Universities that such a short hearing without any transparent parameters indeed became a meaningless exercise and a mockery of the process which is evident from the fact that 126 Deemed Universities were heard in just 4 days and each one of them was given a mere 10 minutes, wherein only a formal introduction was really possible. Incidentally on verification from the Ministry of HRD sources it is confirmed that till date no copy of the said Report has been furnished or the minimum standards of assessment or parameters were ever been defined or the observations of the Committee been informed to the Universities concerned before recommending the purported action of de-recognition. It also transpires that the UGC, a statutory body, under its Act had earlier appointed an expert committee to visit these institutions and the Deemed to be University status was granted only after a thorough on site inspection, interaction and physical verification of all aspects by the Ministry of Human Resource Development vide its gazette notifications under Section 3 of UGC Act 1956. Ironically, enough it is also understood that the Chairman of this Task Force, Prof. P.N. Tandon, himself is the President of the society of one of the Deemed Universities (under De-Novo category) named National Brain Research Centre, Manesar, Haryana that was recommended to be one of the 38 Universities found to be fit out of the total list of 126 reviewed by him. The fact also remains that one of the members of the said Tandon Committee, Shri Sunil Kumar happened to be one of the handpicked bureaucrats of the then HRD Minister Arjun Singh, who was instrumental in having these Institutions declared as Deemed to be Universities.

Although Education in our country is in the concurrent list, upholding, regulating and maintaining the quality in higher education happens to be the responsibility of Central Government as recently settled by Calcutta High Court which had declared several teacher-training institutions in Bengal illegal as they did not meet NCTE requirements despite their meeting state government standards. In due fairness to the Deemed Universities the purported ‘Tandon’ review exercise was limited to only the Deemed Universities that even included the de novo category, which had not even completed the first five years, before a review was to be undertaken as per government’s own gazette notification. Many of these Universities particularly in remote and rural heartland were infact fulfilling the mandate of Government of India working on various projects with different government and non-government bodies that were in any case based on independent inspections. Some of these Universities included the likes of Gurukul Kangri an age old Institution, Rajiv Gandhi National Institute of Youth Development and many Universities graded much higher than to even some of the IITs and Central Government Universities. It is lamented by these Universities, a few of whom were even accredited as ISO 9001-2000 Institutions with academic collaborations and independent academic validations with several reputed foreign Universities, Industries and Institutions. Highly aggrieved, notes one of the promoters, having invested huge amounts and despite conforming to every possible guideline issued by the University Grants Commission and the Trust byelaws and regulations that were open to public scrutiny and having the best possible educational standards they have been derecognized by the Government and condemned, unheard and hence deprived of even the Principle of Natural Justice. The review exercise surprisingly enough had spared the State Private Universities and other Central and State Universities where despite huge public expenditures over a number of years no such review was even contemplated. On a cue from the Ministry of HRD, the print and the visual media immediately started a concerted campaign and initiated their own media trial against some of these Universities, surprisingly oblivious of the even poorer standards of the State Universities, State recognized Private Universities and other Central Universities barring a few notable exceptions. As pointed out by one of the Deemed to be Universities, the witch hunting was exacerbated by rival competition and a vicious cartel of vested interests, funneled by greed and demands for illegal gratification by individuals who now plague the corridors of power in the regulatory institutions. They wonder that in the years to come any private capital or enterprise would again dare venture in the arena of higher education in India and allege that even Minister Kapil Sibal appears to have been taken for a ride as he was caught unaware as could be made of from his own press statements.

The entire fiasco as it now emerges has been best summed up recently with some good advice for HRD Minister Kapil Sibal by Oscar Fernandes, Chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Human Resource Development that he cannot ignore ‘even if there are deficiencies the Deemed Universities should be given another chance’ to promote governments own mandate and to encourage public private partnerships in higher education so that the governments may concentrate more on its promise to ensure quality free and compulsory primary education.