Bureaucratic hurdles delaying Nalanda varsity: Amartya Sen

Nobel laureate Amartya Sen on Friday blamed “bureaucratic barrier” as a major hurdle for the delay in starting of the Nalanda University, which is being established in Bihar, close to the ancient historic institution of learning. “The reason for delay is the bureaucratic control. We are having some problem in getting the sanctioned funds released but we should be able to deal with it,” Professor Sen, who also chairs the Governing Board of the University, said.

Explanations for bureaucratic queries take a lot of time, he said, while speaking at an open session on “Nalanda University: A 21st Century University: (Re) Calling the Past” in New Delhi. Dismissing a growing perception that the University was in trouble and that the former President, A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, had disassociated himself from it as the first Visitor, Professor Sen said the delay was only because of bureaucratic hurdles, which could be partly due to ignorance, and Mr. Kalam had disassociated himself only because he had stepped down as the President, in which capacity he held the position of the Visitor also.

“We wanted him to continue as the Visitor but he wrote to us saying that would be inappropriate since the new President had taken over,” he explained. Describing Nalanda as the university of “Bihar, India, Asia and the globe,” the Nobel laureate said admissions would start as soon as the funds were released to enable appointment of the faculty. Quoting Mr. Kalam, whom he met earlier in the day, Professor Sen said he (Mr. Kalam) felt that research in India was difficult because of bureaucratic control, though some of the institutions like the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) were very good basic training centres.

“There should be no bureaucratic control over education and the institutions should get freedom and autonomy as in the American universities,” Professor Sen said. He said a lot of money was being spent on higher education in India, which should have been spent on school education, but not much was being achieved. He expressed unhappiness that India was not represented in the top 200 institutes of the world, though several Asian institutes had found place in the survey conducted by the Times group. “The important thing to recognise is the standard of education and the relevance of what is being taught,” he said, adding this would be followed strictly in Nalanda.

Professor Saugata Sen, member of the Governing Board, said even though the Indian institutions did not seem to be doing well at a global level, there was enormous individual talent. “So something was missing which failed to translate individual talent to administrative ability,” he said, adding that most good researchers were in institutes and hence unable to benefit the young students. There is a need to strike a balance between research and teaching.

Source: The Hindu, October 8, 2011

APJ Abdul Kalam dissociates himself from Rs. 20 billion Nalanda University project

Efforts to set up a world-class university at Bihar’s Nalanda district, where the ruins of an ancient centre of learning exists to this day, has been plagued with teething troubles, with former president and visitor APJ Abdul Kalam withdrawing from the project and progress is at snail’s pace. The project, with a budget of more than Rs. 2,000 crore (Rs. 20 billion), was set up through the Nalanda University Act, 2010. The project was the brainchild of Kalam, and was endorsed by the 16-nation East Asia Summit. In 2007, the government set up a Nalanda Mentor Group, chaired by Prof. Amartya Sen and people like Prof. Meghnad Desai, Prof. Sugata Bose and NK Singh as members, among others. The same group constitutes the governing board of the university.

On Thursday, Kalam’s office informed news agencies that he is no longer associated with the project. The reasons for his withdrawal are unknown. Kalam was the visitor of the university and this meant he would officially appoint the chancellor and vice-chancellor of the university.

In a move that has become subject of some controversy, the Nalanda Mentor Group recommended the appointment of Gopa Sabharwal, a reader of Sociology at New Delhi’s Lady Sriram College, as the vice-chancellor of the university. The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), which is handling the project, accepted Sabharwal’s appointment but she has been functioning for a year as VC-designate as the visitor had not formalised the appointment. Historian Ramchandra Guha and political scientist Pratap Bhanu Mehta had reportedly turned down the job, before it went to Sabharwal.

Patna-based academics and journalists have raised questions about the ability of the relatively lesser-known VC to attract top-flight academic talent to the university. Sabharwal told ET that the Nalanda Mentor Group was given a free mandate to appoint whoever they deemed fit to build a world-class university, and the guidelines of the University Grants Commission (UGC) or the Ministry of Human Resources Development (MHRD) did not apply.

Sabharwal said she didn’t know if other candidates were in the fray or what process the group followed. ET could not reach members of the Mentors Group. NK Singh and Desai were overseas and unavailable for comment. Calls to Kalam’s office went unanswered.

The university has just three full-time staffers, including OSD Kalpana Sharma. The Bihar government has gifted 450 acres of land at Rajgir in Nalanda district. The university currently functions out of an office in New Delhi’s RK Puram neighbourhood. Sharma said the Bihar government has given the university an office in Rajgir, but the facility had no water supply or sanitation.

“We hope to get the office there functioning as soon as possible,” Kalpana Sharma said. According to Sabharwal, the geographical survey of the land is currently on and an international design competition will soon be launched for the campus. Efforts are also afoot to build a boundary wall around the land.

Source: The Economic Times, September 16, 2011