Guwahati: The appointment of ‘outsiders’ to lead centrally funded higher education institutions in the Northeast has raised concern among the region’s academics.
Currently, there are a total of 28 centrally funded top academic institutions in the eight states of the Northeast and most of them are headed by ‘outsiders’.
Ready for a challenge? Click here to take our quiz and show off your knowledge!
The central education institutions include one IIT, eight NITs, three IIITs, one Central Institute of Technology, nine central universities, one central Agricultural University, one NIPER, one NERIST, one IIM, one NIFT and one Medical Science institute.
“It is very deplorable how academics from Northeast are systematically deprived by appointing and bringing in people to head these institutions of the region,” a faculty member of Tezpur University said requesting anonymity.
He claimed a strong anti-Northeast lobby is working against the scholars and academicians from the region.
Ready for a challenge? Click here to take our quiz and show off your knowledge!
He alleged that many outsiders, who lack expertise, were appointed to head institutions.
Although eligible candidates were available from the region for the post of Director of IIT Guwahati, after the retirement of Prof Gautam Barua as the head of the institute, they were not even short-listed for interview, the faculty member said.
Similarly, despite having eligible candidates from the region, a new Director of IIT Manipur was appointed last year from South India, who doesn’t have any experience in the IIT/IIIT/NIT system, he said.
Prasenjit Biswas, who teaches philosophy at North-Eastern Hill University (NEHU), Shillong said, “As per as central universities are concerned, the selections should be on the best-qualified candidate on a national basis.”
“The central government has its own perspective in choosing a person so there comes a bit of politics or a nature of political appointment” Bi added.
He further said that as per UGC rules, high moral integrity and academic calibre are required for selection.
“Now on the ground, it may not be following in every case but in certain cases, it is followed,” Biswas added.
Akhil Ranjan Dutta, a professor at Gauhati University said, “When the Gauhati University was established in 1948, there were discussions to appoint a vice chancellor from outside the state. But it was Mahatma Gandhi and other senior leaders’ advice that it would be appropriate for a university of a particular state or region needs to be led by a person from the region itself who understands the culture, demographic composition, literary tradition, intellectual tradition and so,” Dutta said.
“Of late, particularly with the establishment of the central universities, the VCs have been appointed from outside the states in both central as well as state universities. This has been because of the political orientations and not because of any academic merits,” he said.
Dutta said that in a similar case, there was a lot of resistance when one such VC was appointed at a university in Manipur.
“In my opinion, a vice chancellor should be appointed based on academic merit and commitment to education as well as greater social needs from within the state or the region,” he added.
List of Heads of the Institutes
Director of IIT Guwahati:
Prof. Parameswar K. Iyer (Officiating Director)
Directors of IIITs in the Northeast:
IIIT Guwahati: Prof Gautam Barua
IIIT Senapati, Manipur: Prof Krishnan Baskar
IIIT Agartala: Prof H K Sharma (Mentor Director)
Current Directors of 8 NITs in Northeast:
NIT Silchar: Prof Rajat Gupta
NIT Arunachal Pradesh: Prof Pinakeshwar Mahanta
NIT Manipur: Prof Goutam Sutradhar
NIT Meghalaya: Prof Bibhuti Bhusan Biswal
NIT Mizoram: Prof S Sundar
NIT Nagaland: Dr S Venugopal
NIT Tripura: Prof H K Sharma
NIT Sikkim: Prof Mahesh Chandra Govil
Vice Chancellor of Central Universities in Northeast:
Rajiv Gandhi University, Arunachal Pradesh: Prof Saket Kushwaha
Tezpur University: Prof Vinod Kumar Jain ( completed his term in September 2022)
Assam University, Silchar: Prof Rajive Mohan Pant
NEHU, Shillong: Prof Prabha Shankar Shukla
Manipur University: Prof N Lokendra Singh
Mizoram University: Prof KRS Sambasiva Rao ( last VC)
Nagaland University: Prof Jagadish K Patnaik
Sikkim Central University: Prof Avinash Khare
Tripura University: Prof Ganga Prasad Prasain
Vice-chancellor of Central Agriculture University, Imphal:
Prof Anupam Mishra
Director of NIPER in Assam: Dr U S N Murty
Director of NERIST in Arunachal Pradesh: Prof H.S. Yadav
Director of NEIGRIMS: Dr Nalin Mehta
Director of IIM, Shillong: Prof D P Goyal,
Director of NIFT, Meghalaya: Dr Arindam Das