Higher education reforms face stumbling blocks

The National Knowledge Commission terms the AICTE and the UGC as stumbling blocks in the expansion of higher education. Chetan Chauhan reports.

Updated on: Apr 24, 2008, 02:42:23 IST

Hindustan Times | By Chetan Chauhan, New Delhi

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Regardless of the repeated calls for reforms in regulatory bodies, two recent developments — elevation of RA Yadav as head of the All India Council of Technical Education and UGC secretary Raju Sharma’s arbitrary dismissal — are indicators of unending turmoil in higher education.

The National Knowledge Commission had sounded the first warning by terming the AICTE and the UGC, along with other regulatory bodies like the Medical Council of India, as stumbling blocks in the expansion of higher education.

To curb the government’s interference and make regulation transparent, it had recommended the setting up of the Independent Regulatory Authority for Higher Education with private participation. It’s been over a year, but there has been no forward movement on the issue.

The HRD Ministry told Rajya Sabha this week the matter was under consideration. But, fact is its minister Arjun Singh was critical of the NKC’s proposal and had, instead, suggested a Higher Education Commission, an idea that got a thumbs down from the PMO.

In this backdrop, Yadav’s appointment as chairperson of AICTE, the body accused of nepotism and corruption, shows that despite’s the Prime Minister’s repeated calls, reforms wouldn’t be easy in the higher education regulatory mechanism.

While Yadav’s highly questionable action in drawing money from both Delhi University as well as the AICTE at the same time has been resolved, the impropriety inherent to it cannot easily be wished away. But issue was brushed under the carpet to nominate him AICTE chairman.

Likewise, Raju Sharma’s sacking has not done any good to the UGC’s image. In certain circles, the development is seen as proof of its reluctance to have a senior IAS officer — Sharma was a joint secretary level official — looking after the Commission’s daily affairs. Removed on technical grounds, Sharma was always considered an outsider in the UGC, a body of academicians.

These events imply the NKC and Planning Commission’s vision of reforms has evoked stiff resistance from the very quarters that need to translate Manmohan Singh’s call into action.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Chetan Chauhan
Chetan Chauhan is the National Affairs Editor looking into all aspects of news and features from across India. A Chevening scholar with over three decades of experience in reporting and news management, Chetan has extensively covered all important aspects of the social sector, political economy, environment and climate change nationally and internationally. He did a journalism course at the Reuters Institute of Journalism in Oxford and Digital Media training at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. He started as a reporter with The Statesman in 1996 and joined the Hindustan Times in 2000 in the metro bureau covering environment, crime and Delhi politics. He covered hot local news, from the Jessica Lal murder case to the rebellion of Delhi Congress MLAs against then Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, to the replacement of toxic vehicle fuel with cleaner compressed natural gas (CNG) in the national capital. Some of his stories on air pollution became part of the Supreme Court’s landmark MC Mehta versus Government of India case in the National Capital Region (NCR), forcing the government to take corrective measures. As part of the national political bureau since 2004, he covered important central sectors such as environment, education, social justice, labour, rural development, water resources, renewable energy, agriculture, broadcasting and the Planning Commission for more than a decade producing several exclusive and investigative breaking stories. His specialisation is the environment, having covered at least a dozen United Nations global conferences on climate change, biodiversity and wildlife including climate summits in Paris, Copenhagen and Bali. He also covered India’s two five-year plans ---11th and 12th and reported on drafting and execution of right based laws such as Right to Education, Right to Information and rural job guarantee law, MG-NREGA, now being introduced in new format as VG-RAM-G Act. He has in-depth knowledge of social sector issues. He was one of the first to report on tigers vanishing from Sariska and Panna wildlife reserves in 2004 and 2008, respectively, leading to the setting up of the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) and the introduction of stringent penal provisions for poaching. He has written extensively on the rising human-animal conflict in India and the degradation of India’s biodiversity hotspots because of mining and other activities. Since 2004, Chetan has covered Parliament comprehensively and participated in training on the nuanced coverage of Parliament proceedings. He has travelled extensively across India to cover national and provincial elections since 1998, especially in the Hindi heartland states, considered India’s road to power. He writes a regular column for Hindustan Times, Ecostani, on important national politics, economy, Himalayan ecology and environmental issues. His other responsibilities include providing inputs for edits and edit page articles for the publication, apart from managing news flow from across India.Read More

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