Central varsities tell Moily: we can expand by ’07, will cost Rs 2250 cr
Days after the sub-group on management schools reported to the Veerappa Moily Oversight Committee that expansion in a year—to offset the 27% OBC quotas—was unrealistic, the group on Central universities has taken the contrary stand.
In its interim report to Moily, the group has argued that the 62,000-seat increase by 2007 from 1.08 lakh to 1.7 lakh should be seen as an “opportunity” and universities should have the freedom to come up with their own mechanism to implement the expansion plan without “compromising” standards.
From the next year, the report says, the upgrade could be implemented in 17 universities with the exception of Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) and Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU).
Drawing from inputs from Vice-Chancellors, the group, headed by Syed Hamid, Chancellor of Jamia Hamdard, has worked out the cost: Rs 2,250 crore of which Rs 1,600 crore will be for developing infrastructure (non-recurring expenditure) and Rs 650 crore on meeting day-to-day expenses, including staff salaries (recurring expenditure).
This will be in addition to UGC funds already allocated—Rs 1,450 crore for the 2006-07 financial year. This year, these Central universities have got Rs 930 crore for recurring expenses and another Rs 515 crore for non-recurring expenses.
The group has suggested fast-tracking hiring of teachers by doing away with UGC approvals, raising retirement age to 65 and re-employing teachers upto 70 years. And an “immediate infrastructure-building exercise.’’
However, the report has argued against a one-size-fits-all plan. ‘‘Jawaharlal Nehru University, for example, already follows a system by which people belonging to backward regions get extra points in the entrance test. Such systems should allowed to exist,’’ a committee member said. The Moily team will now consider the reports of these sub-groups in a meeting on July 13.
Mandal officer new Arjun expert
HRD Minister Arjun Singh has appointed retired bureaucrat P S Krishnan to advise him on the OBC quotas. Krishnan, a 1956 IAS officer, headed the Welfare Ministry when V P Singh announced OBC quotas for jobs.
“My only condition to the govt was take my advice and give a serious thought to it. Do not fix any price on it,” said Krishnan who signed the order in 1979 appointing the B P Mandal Commission.
RSS leader attacks caste reservations
The RSS has come out against caste-based reservations arguing they would only serve vested interests of politicians. The latest issue of RSS mouthpiece Organiser quotes Sangh general secretary Mohanrao Bhagwat at a recent function in Sultanpur in UP as saying: ‘‘We are not against reservation. But it should not be on the basis of caste. It should be on the basis of social and economic backwardness and this issue should be addressed not by politicians but scholars and intellectuals of the society.’’ Bhagwat said politicians were working for their vested interests in the name of reservation.
10th July, 2006 : (Source : http://www.indianexpress.com )
