Commission of omissions

By R.K. Mishra

The University Grants Commission (UGC) was established under the University Grants Commission Act, 1956. The Preamble of the Act reads, "An Act to make provision for the coordination and determination of standards in universities and, for that purpose, to establish a University Grants Commission." The underlying philosophy of the UGC, therefore, is to guide universities throughout the country in a way that they provide a reasonable standard of education within a broad framework of policy relating to education. The main instruments of such guidance are the grants that the UGC gives to universities, without which perhaps no university can survive.
Chapter III of the UGC Act is perhaps the most important part of this law because it gives in detail the functions and powers of the commission. Broadly speaking, the UGC can determine standards of education, which includes teaching, examination and research, release funds for development or for performance of special functions by a university, tell a university what needs to be done for improvement of education, lay down standards for colleges under a university and make rules for their affiliation, recommend pay scales, qualifications and methods of recruitment and promotion of teachers and take necessary steps to penalise the university or college which does not comply with its regulations.
How has the UGC functioned so far? As far as Central universities are concerned, the UGC has been reasonably effective in providing adequate funds and ensuring that teaching departments are created to fulfil the required functions of any university. Of course, it helps that it is the Union Human Resource Development Ministry, which carries the responsibility of the administration of Central universities; the UGC plays a supportive role only. However, in the matter of universities incorporated under a state law, the record of the UGC is patchy.
Let us begin with the process of selection of the Vice Chancellor. It is axiomatic that the Vice Chancellor, who is the academic and administrative head of a university, can make or mar the situation by the way in which he functions. Selection of the Vice Chancellor is done by a search committee in which there is one representative each of the Chancellor (Governor), the UGC and the executive council of the university. The Chancellor's nominee is always the Chairperson and he or she exerts a considerable influence over the selection of the panel for the post.
Only a few universities have maintained high standards and can be considered centres of knowledge. For a commission that is more than 50-year-old, the existence of such universities in large numbers only proves that the UGC has failed in its duty to promote and coordinate university education, determine standards of education and ensure maintenance of the same.
State governments are responsible for setting up new colleges. However, in the matter of affiliation and recognition of such colleges, the UGC has a role to play, as under Section 14 of the Act, it can give suitable directions to a university that affiliates non-standard colleges. If the university fails to comply, the UGC can withhold its grant. It is well known that a majority of our mofussil colleges fall far short of any acceptable educational standards in terms of infrastructure, faculty, research, teaching aids and equipment, etc. Such colleges are affiliated by the university concerned and the UGC rarely intervenes in order to end such a violation. It is thus party to making a mockery of higher education because our colleges are by and large in a woeful state.
It is the teachers who impart education and it is the quality of teaching that determines whether students will have access to knowledge. The UGC framed regulations in 1991 regarding minimum qualifications of teachers for their appointment in universities and colleges. The recruitment of college teachers is normally done through the Public Service Commission and their promotion is governed by the rules determining departmental promotion. Despite this, every state recruits on a large scale on ad hoc basis, including people who do not have the minimum required qualification. In most states, there is ex post facto regularisation of such teachers with the result that the difference between regular and ad hoc teachers has got blurred.
The pay structure of teachers is no less faulty. In non-residential universities that affiliate colleges, including postgraduate colleges, such PG colleges teach postgraduate students and also guide doctoral research. Despite this, university teachers have a higher pay scale than college teachers, which violates the principle of equal pay for equal work.
The UGC is required to promote research. Certainly, some well-known universities are well endowed and subsidised in promoting research. However, the process of sanctioning major research projects is so cumbersome and so heavily weighted in favour of metropolitan universities that most teachers and researchers in the states find it difficult to obtain an adequate research grant. One reason for the failure of the UGC to promote research, keep an observant eye on violation of norms relating to standards of education and teaching and appointment of unsuitable teachers is that its headquarters' organisation is too bureaucratised and too bound up in red tape and its field organisations, the regional offices, are generally without a proper head and understaffed.
The UGC is also the main instrument for the implementation of the new reservation policy being framed by the Human Resource Development Ministry. About 54 per cent additional seats will have to be created in institutions of higher learning because of the reservation for OBCs.
This calls for a huge expansion of infrastructure and massive induction of teachers, who are simply not available, especially for technical subjects. The UGC seems to be wholeheartedly supporting the Ministry, but there is no evidence that it is also equally engaged in the expansion of infrastructure and finding a sufficient number of teachers.
Fifty one years is a long time for any institution to exist. It is now necessary for the government to have a detailed review of the functioning of the UGC and take necessary steps to ensure that the commission is strengthened and helped in doing the job for which it was constituted. INAV

Saving Environment

By G L Khajuria

In our diversified civilizations and varied cultures, creeds religions and races, the 'Mother Earth' has all along been worshipped most reverentially, more and more due to her benevolence to the overgone generations and yet those to come by. Rightfully Lord Budha has remarked, the 'Mother Earth' upon which subsist the forest is a peculiar organism of unlimited kindness and benevolence, that makes no demand for the sustenance but extends protection to all beings, offering shade even to the axe-man who fells it."
Man's undiminishing demands for greater greeds have bred affiliations beyond limitations and ambiguously offshooted loot and plunder of all hues thereby over-burdening the only biosustaining - the 'Mother Earth'. With ever-exploding population and the scientific revolution have in unison brought havoc and ultimate death of nature and its resources. The mechanical framework clubbed with capitalistic paradigm is sniffing out life from each and every part of our ecosystem. The more our economy grows, the more faster our nature dies, setting aside the rules, laws and the limits of 'Mother Earth' that sustains all biolife. We pollute pious rivers and wetlands, pump pollution into the air and we mine minerals from her body, we chop down trees for the sake of developments - Highways, flyovers, railways, tunneling and holing in for energy exploration.
We have bulldozed her fragile crust for farming and concrete housing and malls, the rivers are desertifying water bodies rapidly depleting leading to climatic chaos and confusion is but else than man's worst inheritance from killing 'Mother Earth' and the environment that surrounds it and these factors in unison are leading us to the environmental holocaust or to say death knell.
"Mother Earth" was as is now whereas the population is heading at sputnik speed unambiguously in 1850, the total global population was one crore whereas on date China and India have crossed these limits, least to talk of other countries.
The scientific community has rightfully attributed that by the year end 2020, we will require another Earth to sustance the accelerating population. The 'Mother Earth's is shared by an estimated 6.4 billion or so people, apart from a vide variety of animal life. Where on earth we are heading is a big cocooned question mark of the day? And then how long will sustain on the space is quite a matter of utmost concern and obstrousness.
Over the decades scores of conferences, summits have been held to bring under deliberations workable strategies to counteract the impending catastrophies but till date all these summits have been proved to be and attributed as zerosum exercises. Beginning from 1972 (The Stockholm Conference) followed sequentially Helsinki (1989), London (1992), the Rio Summit (1992) Kyoto Summit (1997), World Summit on sustainable Development (Johannburg 2002) and too recently held convention/summit in 2004 and 2005 in Stockholn and Montreal have in unison attributed nothing fruitful.
The US and most of other European countries which are the biggest polluters blame China and India and other fragmented nations of North-Eastern and South-Eastern countries which, in toto, is wrong. The rat-race on industrialization, emission of obnoxious gases and polluting of pious rivers and oceans by hazardous effluents are the root causes and are most warranting to be revertified else the doom's day is no longer too distant ahead for which the modern man should take note of it.
The how this life leasing planet is to be protected is a matter of biggest concern echoing clarion call of the day? There is no cut and dry formula in sight but by all ways we have to chak out workable strategies to make our Mother Earth neat clean and above all green.
Consclusively, therefore, if at all we have to safeguard our revered "Mother Earth" which sustains every variety of human life, its eco-systems, our rich vide varied flora and fauna, we humans over this globe shall have to and must have to make our all out efforts in her preservation and conservation. And let us now take a pledge, "I as an Indian, do hereby take a pledge in the preservation and conservation of vide varied ecosystem, its flora and fauna, soil, water, minerals and further endorse my zest and zeal to my fullest for the sake of 'Mother Earth' to the posterities or else our old customs, creeds, the revered Ganga, Yamuna and Saraswati, our world famous antiques, monuments and the most important places of reverential value shall have little or no importance.