Jun 23 2014 : The Times of India (Delhi)

UGC gives DU a day to scrap FYUP

Akshaya Mukul

New Delhi: TNN





Wants Report On Compliance Before Noon

Leaving little scope for Delhi University to defy the government on the four-year undergraduate programme (FYUP), the University Grants Commission on Sunday issued another directive to the varsity to revert to the three-year course and asked for a compliance report by forenoon on Monday .UGC, which controls the university's purse strings, told DU that any deviation from the directive shall be “deemed to be in contraven tion of the UGC Act, with its consequences“. This is the second directive by UGC on scrapping FYUP in the past few days. The previous one was sent on Friday .
“There will be serious costs for the DU administration if it defies the government. Top university offi cials should not play with the future of students any longer and not turn an issue of public interest into a private battle,“ said a highly placed source.
Sources said DU vicechancellor Dinesh Singh was expected to make a statement on the development at the ex ecutive council meeting on Monday . However, late on Sunday evening, the varsity administration postponed the meeting.
Sources said UGC has an action plan ready in the event of the university not falling in line by Monday forenoon.
UGC sent letters on Sunday to the principals of DU's 70-odd colleges, asking them to strictly follow the three year undergraduate course.
Principals have been told that “any deviation or contravention shall be viewed seriously by UGC and may attract action under the UGC Act including withdrawal of grant to the college“. UGC staff delivered the directive to each college principal by hand. The commission has also decided to issue a public notice to be carried by newspapers on Monday , asking students to take admission only in three-year courses.
The notice, issued by the UGC chairperson, also says a standing committee is being set up to advise DU on the migration back from FYUP to a three-year undergraduate programme so that students “do not lose an academic year... and for this purpose, ensure that students acquire necessary academic and other competence during the next two years.“
The committee will comprise members of the university's academic and executive councils, teachers' and students' unions, and senior academics. It is now uncertain whether Delhi University colleges will be able to declare the first cutoff list for undergraduate admissions as per schedule--the entire programme appears to have changed in the 10 days since the application process ended. The first cutoff list for 2014-15 was to be declared on June 24.
Although majority of colleges said they will continue with meetings of the admission committee to decide cutoffs on Monday , the latest University Grants Commission's letter--this one sent directly to colleges on Sunday--has complicated the process, leaving principals and admission committee members confused. Colleges are now looking for clarity from the standing committee set up by UGC on Saturday .
College officials also said the standing committee should clear guidelines on courses scrapped under the four-year-undergraduate programme and on the issue of seat redistribution. DU, while introducing FYUP, had discontinued BA, BCom and BSc programmes and redistributed the seats among the discipline courses 1 (DC1).
Colleges are now unsure whether they have to admit students in these programmes as UGC, in its order, has directed that admissions for 2014-15 have to be as per the three-year structure.
“When these courses were scrapped, the university had told us the methodology for redistribution of seats. Now if they are to be restored, the university is obliged to tell us how,” says a senior official from Ram Lal Anand College, conceding that they are “totally confused.” They are, however, going ahead with the admission committee meeting on Monday.
“If the previous system and courses are restored, it's almost like doing everything afresh,“ observes Rajendra Prasad, principal, Ramjas College, “We will need more time to reorganize as a lot of work is involved. I hope the university will define the policies.“
According to SRCC principal P C Jain, “We will continue with the cutoff meeting. We are awaiting further instructions though SRCC will not have any problem in deciding cutoffs as, even in the three-year system, we had just two courses.“ However, it will be colleges that used to offer BCom, BSc and BA programmes in the three-year scheme and where BTech courses were introduced under FYUP that will face complications in deciding cutoffs.
Illustrating exactly how complicated the process can be, the perturbed principal of a North Campus college says, “I have no idea how to prepare the cutoff list. If we have to conduct admissions as per the three-year structure, will the BSc and BA programmes make a comeback? If, for example, I had 60 seats in physics in the three-year system and that became 97 when, under FYUP, the BSc programme was scrapped, how will I decide cutoffs. Again, how will we enrol students as no one has applied for these courses since they were not an option in the centralized registration process this year?“ toireporter@timesgroup.com

Jun 20 2014 : The Economic Times (Bangalore)

Lots to Do on Labour Laws

Bibek Debroy





Rajasthan has just started the debate on labour laws, but the real task is vastly complex The rules provide for whitewashing of factories.
Distemper won't do. Earthen pots filled with water are required. Water coolers won't suffice

The Rajasthan government has proposals to amend the Industrial Disputes Act (IDA), raising the threshold for state permission to fire workers from 100 to 300. It also wants changes to the Contract Labour Act (CLA) and Factories Act. Trade unions aren't happy .There is too much generalization on labour “laws“ and the expression needs pinning down. Under Article 246 of the Constitution, the Seventh Schedule sets out a Union List, a State List and a Concurrent List.
Consider Entry 55 in the Union List.
This concerns “regulation of labour and safety in mines and oilfields“. Similarly , Entry 61 in the List is about “industrial disputes concerning Union employees“.
It is often said labour laws are on the Concurrent List. That's largely true, especially if one is concerned with laws that directly concern labour. However, as the two examples given from Union List illustrate, it is actually a bit more complex. If one says that labour laws are on the Concurrent List, that's mostly because of Entries 22, 23, 24 and 36, which cover a range of issues including unions, social welfare, provident funds and pensions on that list.
The law can be interpreted in the narrow sense of statutes, something that has been legislated by Parliament or state assemblies. For state laws, there can be two kinds of statutes for labour. First, with a basic Central statute, there can be state-level amendments. Second, there can be de novo state laws where there are no Central statutes.
The Kerala Labour Laws Act of 2002 is an instance.
But the impression that labour laws are only about statutes is not correct. Statutes provide enabling framework. With that enabling framework, administrative law is framed, consisting of rules, orders and regulations. The Factories Act, 1948, is statutory . But rules under the Factories Act, 1948, are part of administrative law.
Administrative labour law can be both Central and state-level. Depending on how one counts, and whether one includes statutes that directly deal with labour or the indirect ones too, and whether one counts amending statutes separately, there are around 45 Central labour statutes.
What Do You Do?
The first extant labour statute was the Fatal Accidents Act, enacted in 1855. Over time, concepts and definitions have changed. So has the case law, contributing to further confusion. For example, there is lack of unanimity about definitions of wages, workman, employee, factory , industry , adolescent, child and even contract labour. Are special statutes really needed for cine workers, dock workers, motor transport workers, sales promotion employees, plantation labour, journalists and mine workers?
Unification and harmonization is an issue on which there should be a consensus. The report of Second National Commission, submitted in 2002, argued for such unification and harmonization of labour laws under five heads of industrial relations, wages, social security , safety and welfare and working conditions. A common perception is that labour laws apply to the organized sector, but not to the unorganized sector. This is not universally true and labour laws vary in their application. And, the services sector is generally covered by shops and establishments Acts.
Absurd Rules State intervention is usually equated with laws on industrial relations, but this is a simplification too.
There is state intervention outside industrial relations too. The Factories Act says that “the State Government may prescribe the number of latrines and urinals to be provided in any factory“ and “may make rules prescribing the number of spittoons to be provided and their location in any factory“. The state government may also make rules “requiring the provision therein of suitable places for keeping clothing not worn during working hours and for the drying of wet clothing“.
The rules are worse. They pro vide for whitewashing of factories.
Distemper won't do. Earthen pots filled with water are required. Water coolers won't suffice. Red-painted buckets filled with sand are required, not fire extinguishers.
There must be crèches within the factory . Making transport arrangements for accessing crèches outside the factory won't be enough.
Let's Talk Again Shops and establishments Acts prescribe which day of the week must be observed as a weekly holiday and have restrictions on employing women outside what is perceived to be regular working-hours, a clause that adversely affects the efficient functioning of call-centres. Inspectors can descend under any labour laws and a system of a single inspector for all labour laws does not exist.
Manual records have to be maintained, electronic records are not acceptable. These are just as important as statutes/rules on industrial relations, such as IDA and CLA. But thanks to Rajasthan, we have got the debate going again.
The author is Consulting Editor, ET

Jun 20 2014 : The Economic Times (Bangalore)

Get, Set, Go: The Race to the IITs Just got Tougher

SREERADHA D BASU

MUMBAI





No of candidates who qualified in JEE Advanced is 6,360 more than last year's

27,151 students have come out tops from among the 1.36 million who sat for entrance exams, only to find the race for an IIT seat is tougher than ever before even at this final stage.The number of candidates who qualified in the Joint Entrance Exam (JEE) Advanced results announced on Wednesday is 6,360 more than last year. And, with marginally fewer seats available this year, competition to get into an IIT is fiercer.
The available seats are split into four categories and the number of qualified candidates has increased in all categories.
“A greater number of students qualifying means the competition will be tougher since the cutoffs remain the same as last year,“ MK Panigrahi, professorin-charge, IIT Kharagpur JEE office told ET.
“Last year, someone with a score of 132 out of 360 would have made it to 10,000 rank, but this year one needs 150 to make it to the same level,“ Mohit Sardana, director and head of Mumbai territory at leading coaching chain FIITJEE, said. 9,784 seats are available this year. “Overall, the situation is the situation is much more com petitive,“ he add ed.
The race for an IIT seat involves cracking two of the most compet itive exams in the country. The first hurdle is the JEE (Main) conducttral Board of Sec ed by the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE), after which 1.5 lakh of the successful students make the cut for JEE (Advanced), provided the student figures among the top 20 percentile of his/her concerned XII board.
The competition this year has been fiercer than the previous at every stage.

Jun 20 2014 : The Times of India (Delhi)

Panjab Univ pips IITs in new ranking

Manash Pratim Gohain

New Delhi: TNN





Panjab University, Chandigarh, has upstaged Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, as India’s number one university and is placed at 32nd position among Top 100 Asian universities.Overall, it has been a significant stride by Indian universities as 10 of them now features in “Times Higher Education (THE) Asia University Rankings 2014,” three more than last year. In fact Indian is the most improved nation in this year’s rankings by far. The 2014 rankings also feature six IITs in top 100. However, there are no Indian institutions yet to make it to the Top 10 in the Asian rankings.
According to Phil Baty, editor, THE rankings, there were 20 Indian participants of which 10 made it to the top
100, “which is a good show,“ and “in the next rankings we are coming up in October 2014 we are expecting around 30 to 40 participants from India.“ Barring IIT-Kharagpur, none of the Indian universities in Top 100 were ranked in 2013 rankings. IITs still continues to be the big represen tatives of India in international rankings with the youngest IIT from Guwahati too making its appearance at 74th position. Not technical institutions – Jadavpur University, Aligarh Muslim University and JNU – are also in Top 100 Asian universities.Baty said: “We are not rewarding volume and size. We are rewarding quality. India is fifth best representing country in this ranking. And majority of these are new entrants. But India is massively under served by quality universities.” Panjab University is one of the oldest Indian university established in 1882 at Lahore (now in Pakistan). In 1956 the university was relocated to Chandigarh, on a red sandstone campus designed by Swiss architect Pierre Jeanneret under the guidance of the legendary Le Corbusier.

Jun 20 2014 : The Times of India (Delhi)

18-yr-old from Udaipur tops IIT-JEE

Ashish Mehta

Jaipur: TNN





Sai Chetan From Telangana Comes Second

Chitraang Murdia had never faced TV cameras and journalists before Thursday, but by the end of the day the 18-year-old from Udaipur had held a presser and given several interviews to the media. Murdia had topped the IIT-JEE (Advanced) exams by scoring 334 out of 360 marks. Chitraang and his parents Manish and Sonali Murdia were having breakfast in a hotel room at 9.30am when a call broke the news of the teenager’s feat.“Yes, we were awaiting the results and getting ourselves ready for it,” said Sonali. “He
(Chitraang) got a call from the director of IIT Kharagpur and was told he had secured the first position. Upon getting the news he was mum for a few seconds and I started crying in joy . I hugged him and his father congratulated him.“Soon, as the news spread, the family started getting congratulatory messages and phone calls from relatives, friends and teachers. The directors and teachers of Allen Career Institute, where Chitraang did his IIT preparation, told him he would have to attend a press conference and also meet Rajasthan chief minister Vasundhara Raje.
“We met the CM and came for the press conference,” Sonali said. “For the first time, my son faced TV cameras and journalists, and I could see he was quite confident.” Chitraang was followed by Sai Chetan from Telangana who bagged the second spot in the prestigious exam.
Coaching hub Kota lives up to its name Kota known for coaching hubs has lived up to its name as three students including national topper Chitraang Murdia making it to the first 10 the just announced IIT-JEE results. Apart from Murdia (Udaipur), Govind Lahoti and Amey Gupta bagged second and eight positions. Kota city has produced a national topper after a gap of five years. The multi-million dollar coaching industry in Kota is a performance based sector and flow of students depends upon the overall success stories from here. So far, reports from different coaching centres in Kota said the city has a lion share in the number of successful students.

Jun 19 2014 : Mirror (Pune)

Snakebite-inundated rural PHCs find new saviour in Ayurveda

Nozia.Sayyed





As govt struggles with anti-venom supply, Ayurvedic tablet miraculously saves woman in Satara PHC, prompting Health Director to make it available across rural Maharashtra

When a 40-year-old female farmhand from rural Malharpeth in Satara was rushed to the area’s Primary Healthcare Centre (PHC) around one month ago, her chances of survival had already almost completely diminished — having suffered the bite of an extremely venomous Krait while working in a farm, she had been found unconscious and rushed to medical care, but was given only 20 minutes to live by local medical experts. In a last ditch attempt to save her life, an oral ayurvedic tablet — ‘Pinak’ — was administered.Miraculously, the woman began responding within no time, and her life was saved.
The exemplary incident sparked the interest of State Health Director Dr Satish Pawar, who is now involved in a bid to make the life-saving tablet available in the around 1,900 PHCs across Maharashtra. On Wednesday, Pawar confirmed, “We are planning to make this tablet available in all state PHCs in a month or two. After several meetings with Ayurveda experts, we realised that unlike Anti Snake Venom (ASV), which is compulsorily administered by experts or doctors, this tablet can be administered by anybody, like an Auxiliary Nurse Midwife (ANM) — this reduces the usage of and dependency on ASVs, as the tablet is handy and will be soon ubiquitous.” Elaborating on the incident, Malharpeth PHC medical officer Dr Rashmi Kulkarni, told Mirror, “The middle-aged patient was brought to us in an unconscious state and had just about 20 minutes left to live, as the poison had already spread through her system.
Moreover, since ASV injections were unavailable at that time, we were helpless. We had no choice but to call up Ayurveda expert Dr Geeta Pawar who had worked with Sassoon hospital and co-invented Pinak, which we had at the PHC.” She continued, “On her instructions, we immediately kept two tablets under the tongue of the patient — to our absolute surprise, the patient started responding 12 minutes later! We later sent a detailed report to the State Health Director, so that in cases where ASVs — which are often in short supply — are not available, this oral Ayurveda tablet with no side effects can be administered.” Kulkarni added that this is the first time an Ayurveda tablet had been known to replace an ASV.
State Deputy Director of Health Services, Dr Pandurang Pawar, said, “There are several remote areas — including the like of Ambegaon, Khed, Junnar,
Velha, Nandurbar, Gadchiroli, etc. -where snakebites are still frequently reported, and deaths due to delays in reaching hospital are common. ASVs are also often not available, and quite costly too, with each injection priced at around Rs 4-8,000. On the other hand, an Ayurveda tablet costs around Rs 400, and is much more easily available.“Dr Ashok Nandapurkar, a civil surgeon at Aundh Civil Hospital who also heads 21 rural hospitals in the state, told Mirror, “Shortages of ASVs are rampant -annually, we need almost 10,000 vials of ASVs per annum, and since only one pharma company, Haffkine, manufactures them in association with the State, we regularly experience shortages. In cases of snakebite -specially from a snake like the Krait -a neuroparalytic attack is imminent, and death is an almost 100 per cent guarantee; but for an Ayurveda tablet that is easy to administer. Treatment modules for snakebites are also something that are often missing -I myself have administered almost 60 ASV injections to one patient who suffered from a snakebite; in contrast, just giving two oral tablets seems very effective. This will not only save time, but also government expenditure.“
Pinak co-inventor Dr Geeta Pawar said, “Pinak was invented when I was heading the Ayurveda department at Sassoon General Hospital in 2005. It is a curative not only in cases of snakebite victims, but also works on scorpion and honeybee stings. Since it is purely herbal, there are no recorded adverse effects caused by this tablet. The clinical trial of this tablet took place at Sassoon in 20072008, when 30 snakebite victims reacted positively to it, and were literally saved by its administration.“
She added, “The tablet came about when we noticed a severe adverse reaction and worsening of a paralytic attack caused by ASV administration in a patient at a Karad PHC. Thereafter, it was our effort to create a drug that would not only save patients instantly, but would also have no side effects at all.“

Jun 19 2014 : The Economic Times (Delhi)

Why an IIT & IIM in Every State is a Tough Test





The Narendra Modi government wants an IIT and IIM in every state. The need is there, but setting them up is another matter. It takes resourcefulness, imagination and patience to build an ecosystem that matches the highest standards--in faculty, research, infrastructure, placementsexpected of the best universities, report Hari Pulakkat, Kala Vijayraghavan & Rica Bhattacharyya Another stated intention of the new government is 100 new cities. Could some of these develop around the new IITs and IIMs?

As a professor at IIT Kanpur, Sudhir Jain had disliked the idea of setting up a string of new IITs. That was seven years ago, when a fresh set of IITs were conceived by the government. But Arjun Singh, the then human resources development minister, persuaded Jain to take up the directorship of IIT Gandhinagar. After five years at the new institute, Jain has a different view on the topic. “You get a lot of freedom in a new institution and you can build something truly innovative,“ he says.A new government in Delhi is once again on an institution-building mood, and is planning to extend the founts of excellence in engineering and management education--the IITs and IIMs --to every state.
The numerical case to expand is compelling. Today, there are 17 IITs and 13 IIMs.
In 2013, for every 158 students who sat for the IIT entrance exam, only one made it.
In IIMs, it was one in 58 students.
India needs these two institutional systems of higher education to be bigger, a geographical expansion of the kind outlined --one of each in every state --is a real challenge if quality is to be preserved, more so for IIMs than for IITs. It will take great resourcefulness and imagination to pull this off, and Jain is attempting to do this at IIT Gandhinagar.
Jain loves to build things in his own way, stretching the notion of flexibility given to directors to its limits. Since his vision of a great IIT revolved around great faculty, he started looking for outstanding researchers regardless of their subject of expertise, even if the subject was not a traditional IIT discipline. One of his early recruits was a researcher in cognitive science, a young researcher called Jaison Manjaly. He hired three more young researchers after Manjaly joined; IIT Gandhinagar now offers masters and PhD programmes in cognitive science. “There is no reason for an IIT to stick to traditional engineering subjects,“ says Jain.
IITs have had some connection with social sciences right from their beginnings, but their reputation was built on core engineering disciplines. Moreover, each IIT was built on the other's image, with very little differentiation between them. Some of the new IITs are choosing to cut their own path, deciding to organise their institutions in novel ways. Most new IITs offer some unusual courses for an engineering institution. At least one, IIT Jodhpur, has done away with traditional structures and conceived a different way of organising itself. It has just four departments: biologically-inspired system science, energy, information and communication technologies, and system science.
Some new IITs are also struggling, but in the race to be world-class institutions, they are moving ahead of the new IIMs.
Although their new campus constructions were delayed, some IITs are now preparing to move into their new campuses.
IIT Hyderabad will begin moving after a month, and IIT Gandhinagar will move in December. IIT Mandi has been moving slowly into its own campus over the last one year. These IITs will be followed soon by those in Patna and Bhubaneswar. The IITs have also had better success in attracting new faculty, including directors.
By comparison, none of the new IIMs, even IIM Shillong, set up in 2007, has moved into a new campus. Also, they have remained small, with only 120 students on an average, against the 400-odd in the older IIMs. The average shortage of faculty -number of sanctioned posts versus vacant positions --is about 40%, say IIM officials.
The stark differences between new IITs and IIMs are obvious to observers as the government plans to set up new IITs and IIMs, and this difference reflects in the opinion of academicians within these institutions. While the IIM professors largely dislike the idea of IIMs in every state, there is general agreement within the IIT faculty that it is a very good idea.
Case For Expansion This difference has to do with the availability of experienced talent, as there is a higher supply of academic engineers than management professors in the country.
“We all think just opening IIMs and IITs in every state reduces their brand value,“ says Anindya Sen, dean academics, IIM Calcutta. “The big problem will be in getting infrastructure, good faculty and a good director.“
Engineers and scientists cite the extraordinary increase in demand--from both students and industry--for high quality engineers and researchers as a reason for expanding the IIT system. One yardstick is the gross enrolment ratio (GER) in tertiary education, which is a measure of the percentage of school passouts enrolling for higher eduation. When the first set of IITs was started, by the 1960s, India's GER in tertiary education hovered around 4%.
The last two decades have seen a spurt in GER for higher education in the country, and it is now around 24%. Since most institutions are planned looking into the future, we are looking at even higher GERs, as has happened in developed economies (See graphic). Says National Research Professor RA Mashelkar: “There has to be a 10-fold expansion in the IIT system if the GER increases 10 times.“
There is a clear demand for new institutions from industry as well. “While we need to concentrate on improving the IITs and IIMs,“ says Adi Godrej, chairman of the Godrej Group and the Indian School of Business, “expanding their numbers is also important if India's GDP has to grow at 8%-plus.“
Difference In IIMs And IITs We could argue similarly for the IITs and IIMs, but there are major differences between engineering and management research in the country that finally show up in the health of the new institutions. The IITs form a large system, with a substantial undergraduate base.
That system is boosted by a big network of tier-II engineering institutes, National Institute of Technology (NIT), formerly Regional Engineering College (REC), many of which are of good quality. By comparison, management institutions of high quality are fewer in number.
Moreover, a fair number of engineering graduates from the IITs and NITs finally go on to do a PhD, either in India or abroad. On the other hand, an MBA is usually an end in itself, and few students continue their education with a PhD in management. So, the country--any country for that matter--has a lower supply of management PhDs compared to engineering PhDs.
Although the demand is correspondingly low, it is more difficult to get good management PhDs than engineering PhDs.
As a result, the new IIMs have found it difficult to hire good faculty while the IITs have had better success, judging within the limitations all government institutions face. With exceptions, the new IIMs have had to either poach from other IIMs-with very little success--or hire some candidates with weak research credentials. Government officials who work with the IIMs say that it will take a long time before the new ones become world-class institutions. On the other hand, at least some new IITs have a shorter path to excellence, as many world-class engineering professors are willing to come back from abroad and join them.
IIM Hardsell Consider IIT Hyderabad, which started in 2008 and is now preparing to move into its new campus. It has 1,600 students and 130 professors. Only three of them came from another IIT, and that too for advantages of location. More than one-third of the faculty have done their PhDs abroad, and one-fourth joined after post-doctoral work abroad. So, the newer IITs have relatively young faculty, who have the opportunities and perhaps the motivation to prove themselves in a new institution. “We are like a startup,“ says IIT Hyderabad director Uday Desai. “We have young faculty who work like entrepreneurs.“
Situated near a high-tech and cosmopolitan city, IIT Hyderabad has an advantage of location. So has IIT Gandhinagar, which has had little difficulty in selling itself.
IITs away from the main cities have had problems in attracting faculty, and but not as much as the new IIMs.
For that matter, even venerable institutions like IIT Kanpur and IIT Kharagpur are now feeling the effects of being located in small towns, as the younger generation is as much interested in jobs for their spouses as they are in their own careers.
The small town labs of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) have similar experiences. All of this leads us to an overwhelming question: is it wise to start big institutions in small towns?
The experiences of the new IIMs tend to corroborate our negative feelings about small towns. For IIMs, campus recruitment is one sign of success. But several new IIMs, even IITs, received a lukewarm response this year from top recruiters, compared to their older peers, with annual packages as low as 4 lakh being offered.
Most new institutes are located in farflung places, with tough road or rail connectivity. “Hence, it is difficult for them to provide the culture and ecosystem that the brand IIM is known for,“ says Akshay Tandon, who is from the first batch of IIMKashipur, and was a member of its placement committee. “It is a tough ask for them to get recruiters on campus.“
IIM directors accept this argument.
Says Prafulla Agnihotri, director of IIM Trichy: “Location is critical to set up a high-quality institution which has access to the right infrastructure, good corporates, residential areas, recreational facilities, world-class schooling, and the ability to attract the best faculty from all over the world.“
Given these challenges, Sen of IIM Calcutta feels rather than extend that expansion and dilute the IIM brand, the government should promote a second tier of institutes along the lines of NITs, and build on existing resources. “One option could be to take the existing departments of business management or commerce within various universities that are lying near dormant and giving them a facelift,“ he says. “Make them strong by investing money, getting new faculty, giving better IT infrastructure and maybe also sharing faculty from the IIMs. This will get you more value of money than just trying to set up an IIM in every state.“
New Institutions, New Cities Remote location hasn't affected the IITs as much as the IIMs. One of the IITs, in Mandi, has flaunted its remoteness and turned it into an advantage. Mandi is situated in the Himalayan foothills. It has a scenic location and weather patterns quite different from the northern plains and the south, but has little by way of entertainment or other attractions. It is six hours from Chandigarh and an hour and a half from Kulu, the nearest airport.
To attract outstanding visiting faculty, IIT Mandi turned the usual semester season on its head. It works during the pleasant summer months and holidays during the cold winter. It sells itself as a retreat, somewhat like the California towns, and organises conferences where participants prefer to sit till the end. “We sell ourselves as the only IIT in the Himalayas,“ says its director Timothy Gonsalves.
With 600 students and 60 professors, IIT Mandi has a high student-faculty ratio.
It also specialises in Himalayan science and technology, and new materials for electrical, electronic and medical applications. Surprisingly, some Himalayan medicinal plants are useful for this application. Himalayan geology is another area of specialisation. Among other things, it also has a programme on next generation materials sponsored by Intel.
IIT Mandi has thus been able to attract young faculty educated in top institutions in India and abroad. Some new IITs have not had such success, but are still not too far behind, as many young researchers have been willing to join them after their PhDs.
In the future, smaller towns might leverage the IIT knowledge-base to develop into liveable cities, just as the Himalayan region is leveraging IIT Mandi for sound development. Will the new government use them to develop 100 new cities, another stated intention? At least some of the new cities can develop around new IITs.
In fact, experience in some countries has shown the value of a great educational institution in reinventing cities. The best example is Pittsburgh, which transformed itself from a steel city to a knowledge city, while Detroit struggled to recover from the loss of the auto industry. Pittsburgh has two world class universities--Carnegie Melon and the University of Pittsburgh-while Detroit has none. Is there a lesson for us here, as we build our twenty-first century cities?
hari.pulakkat@timesgroup.com