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Sensitivity must be criterion for top posts in academic institutions: Sarma
Expressing serious concern over the declining standards of institutions, former civil servant and social activist EAS Sarma has said that while selecting the senior functionaries of the academic institutions, in addition to professional competence, sensitivity to the interests and concerns of the Dalits and the minorities should be adopted as an overarching criterion.
Visakhapatnam: Expressing serious concern over the declining standards of institutions, former civil servant and social activist EAS Sarma has said that while selecting the senior functionaries of the academic institutions, in addition to professional competence, sensitivity to the interests and concerns of the Dalits and the minorities should be adopted as an overarching criterion.
Otherwise, the academic institutions of the country will soon degenerate into bodies without a soul. If this criterion is not adopted, there will be many more instances of the kind now seen in the University of Hyderabad (UoH). In a letter to President Pranab Mukherjee, Sarma said the unfortunate death of V Rohith, a Dalit research scholar at the University of Hyderabad (UoH), raised important concerns about the State of affairs in academic institutions and the sensitivity or the lack of it, of the government and the institutions towards the Dalits.
Sarma pointed out that it is the President of India as the Visitor of the University who should exercise overall supervision on the affairs of the University. As per the provisions of the UoH Act, neither the Central Ministries concerned nor any Union Minister can interfere in the functioning of the University. The responsibility of the Central Ministry of Human Resources Development is to help the government in framing higher education policy and remain accountable to the Parliament on behalf of the political executive.
The Act envisages the process of appointment of the senior functionaries of the University to be apolitical and transparent. He said in the recent times, there have been instances of undue interference from MHRD in the selection of senior functionaries of some of the premier academic institutions. For example, a well known scientist who was the Chairman of the Board of Governors of IIT, Mumbai, had chosen to resign from that office on the ground that there was an undue interference in the selection process.
Such interference does not augur well for the credibility and the effectiveness of academic institutions. He appealed to the President to set up an independent group of impartial persons with representation from the Dalits, the Adivasis and the minorities to review the functioning of the system of governance of all academic institutions in the country and make recommendations to contain the process of institutional decline that is eroding their credibility and effectiveness.
He further asked him to direct the political executive to communicate immediately with the aggrieved sections in UoH and address their concerns to their satisfaction, rather than obstinately justifying how the affairs of the University have been handled till now.
