NKC recommendations annoys UGC

The knowledge commission had questioned the need for the UGC and other higher education regulatory bodies, reports Chetan Chauhan.

Published on: Jan 26, 2007, 01:26:00 IST

None | By Chetan Chauhan, New Delhi

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The University Grants Commission (UGC) and the National Knowledge Commission (NKC) appear to be heading for a confrontation over the latter's recommendation on the future of higher education.

Many UGC members were vocal in their opposition on Wednesday when the commission had called a special meeting to discuss the NKC's recommendations on the directions of HRD ministry. These were the first deliberations by a government body on the NKC's recommendations.

The knowledge commission had questioned the need for the UGC and other higher education regulatory bodies and had recommended an independent regulator in their place. A separate board for colleges and an increase in the number of universities to 1,500 were some of the recommendations.

The UGC members were most exercised over the proposal to dilute the role of the commission in higher education. "In the era of decentralisation, Sam Pitroda is talking about creating a super body at the central level. Bodies like UGC and AICTE have evolved in 50 years and have brought education to this fantastic level. Diluting their role is a most misconceived idea," said Professor Jalees Ahmed Khan Tareen, former Vice-Chancellor of Kashmir University and a UGC member.

Professor Khan termed the NKC recommendations as 'without any vision and prepared hurriedly,' and betrayed a lack of understanding of ground realities.

Another commission member Dr Sashi Rai was not willing to comment on the deliberations but described the two-hour long discussion as 'loud'.

"There was some opposition but all the recommendations were not rejected," she said. Professor DS Chauhan, Vice-Chancellor of Lovely Professional University, Jalandhar didn't oppose the recommendations fully. "Education cannot get autonomy like judiciary or the election commission as it has evolved through a different system in India," he said, while indicating at some positive aspects of the NKC recommendations

Now, the UGC will compile the views of its members and forward them to the HRD ministry. The ministry has issued similar directions on the NKC recommendations to other regulatory bodies like All India Council for Technical Education and National Council for Teachers Education.

The opinion of different bodies will form part of the HRD ministry's response on the NKC recommendations. The response will be then forwarded to the Prime Minister's office.

Email Chetan Chauhan: chetan @hindustantimes.com

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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