Problems galore for TS varsities

• Insufficient budget allocated for TS universities
• Grants alloted for research are being used to pay staff salaries

No difference between united AP govt and new TS govt. The new State allotted the same amount that the erstwhile AP govt allotted to varsities

- B Satyanarayana, president, TSFUTA

Hyderabad: The Telangana universities, which are already in dire straits financially, received a jolt in the maiden budget presented by the Telangana government. The biggest and oldest universities - Osmania University (OU) and Kakatiya University (KU) - were allotted Rs 170.12 crore and Rs 47.89 crore respectively.

According to B Satyanarayana, president, Telangana State Federation of Universities Teachers Association (TSFUTA), “Osmania University and Kakatiya University would require at least Rs 321.55 crore and Rs 124.53 crore respectively to function efficiently.”

Professors in the universities say that the government had poured cold water on their basic requirements.

“In united Andhra Pradesh, universities in Telangana were badly hit due to non-allotment of required grants. There is no difference between united AP government and newly formed Telangana government. The new government allotted the same amount that the united AP government allotted to universities,” says Satynarayana. However, the situation in Andhra Pradesh is quite different. The AP government has doubled the block grants for universities.

“Andhra University, which got Rs 130.38 crore in the erstwhile AP, has been allotted Rs 292.64 crore by the new AP government. Same is the case with SV University, AN University,” said K Manohar, president, Telangana State Universities Non-Teaching Association.

Diversion of UGC funds

Teachers lamented that universities were not in a position to credit the deductions of provident fund, insurance and bank loans from its employees. With the government allocating fewer grants, universities are now using up funds received from central agencies for giving salaries and pensions to teachers.

“Now that the government has allotted half of the required grant, the universities are now diverting funds from the University Grants Commission for giving away salaries and pensions of the staff. The commission grants are purely meant for research and development purpose but not for salaries. Funds from the commissions will be stalled if it learns the matter,” says Prof. Krishnaiah of OU.

Satyanarayana claims that in the last two months, Rs 1.5 crore, meant for research in university, was diverted for paying salaries to the staff.

Varsities yet to get NAAC status

Another major problem haunting universities is the funds and accreditation. Universities like OU may lose grants from the centrally funded agencies due to non-availability of regular vice-chancellors, and National Assessment and Accreditation Council accreditation (NAAC). NAAC accreditation for OU was completed in February, 2013, while that for Kakatiya University ended in June, 2014. So far both the universities did not get accreditation from NAAC. According to the University Grants Commission guidelines, universities which fail to get NAAC accreditation by April 1, 2015, will not receive any grant. Though OU had applied for re-accreditation, so far the university did not receive any letter of intent from the NAAC that it would come for re-inspection for grading. On the other hand, KU applied for requisition before deadline, due to lack of VC, it too did not get letter of intent from the NAAC. Meanwhile, professors and non-teaching staff in the State have planned for a series of protests over the allocation of grants. According to Satyanarayana, a black badge protest would be held on Tuesday and mahadharana at all the administrative buildings will be held on Thursday.