Date:15/01/2004 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2004/01/15/stories/2004011507241300.htm

National

'IIM-A has an open mind on HRD Ministry proposal'

By Our Special Correspondent

The Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, N.R. Narayana Murthy, with the Human Resource Development Minister, Murli Manohar Joshi, in New Delhi on Wednesday. — Photo: R.V. Moorthy

NEW DELHI, JAN. 14. The Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Indian Institute of Management in Ahmedabad, N.R. Narayana Murthy, today sought to put a lid on the speculation of a battle royale brewing between his institute and the Human Resource Development Ministry by saying that IIMA was "a child of the Government."

Talking to presspersons here after a meeting with the HRD Minister, Murli Manohar Joshi, Mr. Murthy said the IIMA had an open mind on the Ministry's suggestion for an increase in the intake and rationalisation of fees. Asked whether any decision had been taken at today's meeting, he said that it was only a "courtesy call'' and no specific issues were discussed. The Minister, for his part, refused to say a word.

While the Ministry is confident that the IIMs will eventually fall in line and agree to increase the intake of students and accept the reduced fee structure under preparation, Mr. Murthy said the IIMA would provide more data to the Government and vice versa which, in turn, would become the basis for the final decision on the various issues of contention. He said Dr. Joshi was bound to take a decision that would be ``fair; one that would not mitigate the quality associated with an IIM education''.

Maintaining that he did not have the authority to take any decisions as he was not an "executive member'' of the Board, Mr. Murthy said IIMA had never rejected/returned any grant from the Government as had been reported by a section of the media. "The institute is a child of the Government. We are civilised people. We are not so arrogant as to return a grant from the Government. This institute was after all started because of the vision of Jawaharlal Nehru.''

Of the view that primary education ought to get the Government's priority attention, Mr. Murthy said the IIM corpus should be used only for the institution, and not diverted into other sectors. "There has to be accountability and the corpus should not be used like a consolidated fund'' into which anyone can dip.

While on the question of interference by the Ministry in the IIM curriculum, Mr. Murthy's answer was a clear no, he was not categorical in his answer to whether the Government was interfering with administration and admission matters. There was no such ambiguity in his contention that IIMs should remain elitist institutions, provided the elitism enabled them to be islands of excellence while remaining accessible to meritorious students from every segment of society.