Awaiting Enlightenment - II
A few years ago, I visited my alma mater IIT Bombay, my first visit in decades. I walked around the campus and was astonished and saddened by its collapse - the buildings were in disrepair, the hostels grimy and stained, the infrastructure was crumbling: the place, it seemed, was falling apart.
This began my efforts to get the campus back to the green, beautiful, well-tended place I remembered, and I funded various initiatives, with the help of the incredibly engaged director, Dr. Ashok Misra. I funded the renovation of my old Hostel 8, the setting up of a school for IT and a new IT incubation lab. The IIT management and I also co-funded a brand new pair of hostels to expand the cramped residential spaces, and these were built in record time—in less than two years.
The result? Annoyance in the HRD Ministry, and questions from the then HRD minister on why such ‘lavish’ buildings were built. Our top colleges and universities suffer tremendously from this perpetual second-guessing from the government and the bureaucracy, which demand permissions for the most mundane operations. Dr. Nayyar, the former vice-chancellor of Delhi University, often bemoans the complete loss of independence for the faculty, deans and senior management at universities. ‘Their actions hang on the utterances of our politicians. Everything is political.’ And in the midst of all this, the very purpose of the university, educating the student, has been entirely forgotten.
In recent years, Indian universities have seen a growth of funds from budget allocations, but they need much more than that for things to change. Simply providing our universities with more money is rather like buying new furniture for a condemned building. Unless the government takes to more serious reforms - appointing a super-regulator to replace the present, confusing array of bodies from the AICTE to the UGC, encouraging more private investment on colleges and loosening the red tape on their entry, bringing in more transparency to standards and college administration, and giving government-aided institutions much more independence - the decay will go on, without pause.
Tags: Hostel 8, IIT Bombay, IT
May 21st, 2009 at 1:01 am
Couldn’t agree more with you, Mr.Nilekani. I am glad you are writing about this topic now. Looking forward to more on it. I have just begun reading your book and it’s been engrossing so far.
Further, would love to read about your take on recent election results too.
May 21st, 2009 at 8:34 am
Not only the educational institutions… The hospitals, schools, roads, bridges, railways everything, u name it… are going from bad to worse… Visiting bangalore every year just reminds me about the astonishing rate at which the city is turning into a dust bowl… the bus conditions remain the same… if not worse, many a times the conductors still dont give tickets… Reminds me of my college days when i personally complained to BMTC about the culprits… no prize for guessing — “No response”… It only gets one more and more frustrated with our shoddy growth and unbelievable tolerance towards corruption… This makes my belief stronger and stronger that India cannot improve unless democracy is removed and some sort of institutional dictatorship is installed, preferably like the chinese…
May 21st, 2009 at 11:13 am
Ditto to cool geek. However, as an alternative to a Chinese style dictatorship, the recently elected Congress govt will find it very difficult to placate middle class citizens, on issues like political meddling in Uni’s, corruption wrt roads and highways. For example, Mamata Banerjee asking for the railways ministry would be a massive risk. I don’t think she performed very well the last time she occupied the chair..
May 21st, 2009 at 11:26 am
All of us know the situation. Really no point in reiterating the same, the question we should really be ask “what can we do improve this?”.
Its easy to point at somebody and say “hey, its your task, do it”. That works well in corporate culture, not quite with governance. What can we do, despite the apathy. How can we bring in the focus?. How can we contribute in doing so?.
May 21st, 2009 at 1:17 pm
Ten-on-Ten agreement on all the above experiences. The dilapidated state of affairs of our top notch educational institutions in our country speaks volumes about the apathy which most ‘netas’ harbour for the actual improvement.
Any attempt remotely to wake up from their inertia(of apathy of course) is met with stern ‘No response’.
I had recently been to one of the good engineering colleges in Pune,COEP, and spoke to a few professors over the near collapsing walls of the edifice. A clear tone of tied-hands came out.
Kudos,Mr.Nilekani to you in your untiring and honest efforts to do something for your alma mater
May 21st, 2009 at 1:24 pm
It only makes one wonder why govt gets into things they dont need to be in. Doesnt Freidman sound so appropriate these days, and to think we voted a populist leftist party back in with quota warts and all.
A friend in Scandinavia mentioned to me that while India preps the students for 10% of higher education, most developed education systems prep the same for 90% of practical life.
May 21st, 2009 at 1:39 pm
Just to elaborate the point on 90% tasks above, the teenage son of my friend helped him in redoing the entire house. The kid was able to work with wood, fashion custom clamps for complex joints creatively, and no he was no engineer, just normal school going kid. The kid is good in sports, can do very good practical math and not a one dimensional individual in any way. While, most educated people I know in India, including me, still cant make out when to use a screw vs a nail and how to weld.
May 21st, 2009 at 10:00 pm
Just out of curiosity, Mr Nilekani, would you know of any popular initiatives where a corporation has partnered - in the complete sense of the word - with universities ?
Say, an automobile company sponsors the research into a new engine, etc. Or, a company offers the legal/financial support in filing a patent for an invention made in the university.
Such initiatives would spur the students in actually learning than skimming pages of a book based on what question(s) is/are probable to appear in the exam tomorrow.
May 22nd, 2009 at 4:20 am
Mr Nilekani, clearly our political leadership is the biggest drag on the country. I am heartened that the Left and the non-performing regional parties were trounced in the latest election. However, I am still wary that Congress, which has been in power with clear mandates for all but two of its terms, 55 years out of 62 since Independence, has created an India which is only above sub-Saharan Africa in social indices. (not to mention just behind Iraq, as a victim of terrorism and which has lost 125,000 km2 since independence)
The latest act was Arjun Singh’s act to bring reservations into the IITs and premier medical institutions for the sake of vote bank politics. Clearly, this is wrong.
Can democracy result in measures for the long-term? Such as infrastructure building? Such as enhancing education? Such as not trying to keep people down and without access to good education.
It would be great if luminaries such as good self spoke out more against this. Or else, India’s best and brightest will continue to strive to get out of the country.
May 22nd, 2009 at 7:15 pm
Cool geek, Narendra: I hear this often from some friends and colleagues, but I disagree about the effectiveness of dictatorships. China’s is the only successful one - in other countries such a model has been quite disastrous. And China’s too, has had to account for many cruelties in its history. It was Churchill I believe, who called democracy the worst form of governance, except for all the others that have been tried out.
Pavan: Of course, we need action - but there is a limit to what the private sector and ordinary citizens can do, especially when laws in higher education prevent attempts at reform.
idontspam: I completely agree. Vocational education in India is in a mess, both outdated and irrelevant. The same goes for the large proportion of graduate degrees handed out in India - they don’t train the students for what they are ostensibly preparing for.
ನಾಗೇಶ್: IBM has a partnership of this sort with IIT Delhi. Its far more common in the US, and in the engineering specialties at the Ivy Leagues.
Sundar: I think its going to be a gradual process. Voter’s priorities determine who gets elected (or doesn’t). Caste-based priorities came about for a reason - when government dominated the economy, who got what, subsidy doleouts etc. were on the basis of which group was in power, since they favoured their own. (If you are interested, the Political Scientist Francine Frankel has written extensively on this. You can check out her book ‘India’s Political Economy’.)
In recent years however, as markets have deepened, voters have begun to insist on the things they need to access these markets - such as infrastructure and better education. But its taking time for political habits to change, and the wait is frustrating.
May 23rd, 2009 at 3:24 am
In addition to these, the glaring difference in the quality of education in govt and private schools is heart-breaking. Dismal performance of state board students in Karnataka speaks for itself. Students moving from govt schools to private schools are expected to fare better in their exams. How can this gap be bridged? This is something to ponder over too…
May 24th, 2009 at 4:00 pm
Dear Nandan,
Your book was unputdownable - and I read it inone stroke in a week’s time and sent copies to two of my friends in US and France.
Obviously you have done considerable research and
your knowledge on India, its shortcomings and strengths very deep and broad. I wish the Planning Commission and Govt of India will listen to you - and I find that the SSN about which you mentioned, had a budget allocation in the current budget.
May 26th, 2009 at 2:00 am
Nandanji,
Kindly, this is unrelated to your topic, but I figured you might find some interests in it.
I’m not certain who to reach with my idea, or where I can get governmental information. I want to invest in solar panels and hopefully provide power to places in India that need it, villages, slums etc. I see this Iran-Pakistan pipeline stuff going on and I think ideas like what I have with small business owners trying to reach a poorer crowd can make a huge difference. If you can refer me to people I can talk to in regards to doing this kind of work in India, I would be grateful. I don’t require capital, just some guidance on where to start the process. Hopefully someone that reads this board might be willing to point me in the right direction.
May 26th, 2009 at 6:34 am
Dear Sir,
This seems to be a solution to it but what if its not being heard at all.
Well, I need to know your views on some other issues also. Few weeks ago I read in a newspaper that the financial aid provided to the students in a government school would be now be given through a bank account. This seems to be a good steps to improve the financial knowledge among students at this tender age and also the parents who had not even stepped into the bank. This leads to the eradication of the corruption while disbursing the cash and ends up in saving up the study time curbed by this process.
Anyhow I hope this should be implemented well, coz, Indian politicians are the best planners but the worst implementers.
I think we should find more of the such small yet influencial steps to get more transperancy in the process of the state owned institutions.
May 26th, 2009 at 7:11 pm
Nandan,
We, as youngsters, admire and follow you as a leader.
Though the article brought the plight of students studying in one-of-the-most-toughest-to-get-into colleges, the article had a pessimistic feel to it.
We as lesser mortals can whine and cry, but talk of change and sense of direction should come from people like you, at the top of ladder.
Rather than the usual politiko bashing, we need to find ways to change the legacy, and ensure that redtapism/politiko control doesnt continues any further.
May 26th, 2009 at 10:37 pm
Great book and some fantastic thoughts…what’s surprises me is that Nandan has hadly discussed the scourge of corruption in our society, governance and just about any/every walk of Indian life. Coming from somebody like him, it would have had a meaningful impact on the readers and wider audience.
I really hope Mr. Nilekani was not trying to be politically correct whilst writing out his book !
PS. ‘From Third World to First’..Lee Kuewn Yu..the Singapore leader wirtes an entire chapter on corruption and how zero-tolerance towards this was one of the key pillars of Singapore’s success.
May 26th, 2009 at 10:41 pm
Great book and some fantastic thoughts…what’s surprises me is that Nandan has hadly discussed the sPPpPpPPPPPPourge of corruption in ou
$pir society, governance and just about any/every walk of Indian life. Coming from somebody like him, it would have had a meaningful impact on the readers and wider audience.
I really hope Mr. Nilekani was not trying to be politically correct whilst writing out his book !
PS. ‘From Third World to First’..Lee Kuewn Yu..the Singapore leader wirtes an entire chapter on corruption and how zero-tolerance towards this was one of the key pillars of Singapore’s success.
May 28th, 2009 at 6:40 am
I’d take these guys on a stroll across New England Ivey league. If Sloan, Harvard and Yale had a similar stance there would be no infrastructure here in the US that fosters growth, education and instigate the level of interest they do.
Its a shame, politicians would interfere and dare to term these improvements as lavish. Their ignorance is taking a severe toll on our Countries development.
When do we move to a age of high mass consumption, how long will we be part of a third world league. It hurts me and scares me. I want to return home but I am super paranoid when established business men are prevented from contributing to a cause, how much difference can I make on the country I love.
June 21st, 2009 at 10:43 pm
Nandan,
Do you think the money spent on upgrading the hostel 8 was the best use of it?In a country as resource deficient as India, do you think that you added sustainable value by doling out those resources. One would expect more imaginative approach from an entreprenure that believe in excellence. You understand very well that a stroke of pen is more important than thousands of crores of well meaning charity.Why not use the same money in commissioning well researched hard hitting studies that create a crescendo so big that even the deaf are forced to hear.Almost all of our premium educational institutes suffer from creaking infrastructure. Is it a problem of funding?Is not privatisation of construction and facility management the correct solution?Should not we do away with sarkari support staff and replace that with private contractors?
June 26th, 2009 at 4:43 pm
I was at the IITB Campus today morning and my first thought was how clean and green it is, especially in the rains. And the new hostel buildings are very stylish and a nice addition to to Powai lake front. One of my friends was considering marrying an IITB professor and after she visited his accommodation at IITB, she was really crestfallen. The point is that aesthetics is also a part of our life and a place of learning get enhanced if its architecture reflects that. It is good to see that the old run down hostels and accommodation at IITB are being renovated. I appreciate what you have done for your alma mater.
June 30th, 2009 at 6:01 pm
One of the greatest challenges in managing in India is managing the political component or interference. Dhirubhai Ambani is the true business Guru who worked as a part of the system - including political interferences - to achieve his objectives.
Sir - now with your new position as Chairman of the Unique Identification Authority of India, which is a Govt. position, managing the political component and at the same time, achieving your set objectives, will require all your tact. I pray for your success and glory, in the best interests of our country.