Modi faces flak of academicians on status of institute of eminence to non existing institute

Narendra Modi’s government decision to grant the status of institute of eminence to Reliance Foundation’s proposed Jio Institute has not gone down well with the academic community, with teachers’ associations and veterans of the field wondering why the step was taken.

Facing criticism, the government took a rescue course and said that this was done under the greenfield-or yet to come category which is different from the public and private institutions’ categories.

Former Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) Vice-Chancellor and eminent scientist S.K. Sopory said the very idea of a future institution being seen as institution of eminence did not make sense. “The most surprising is Jio Institute. It hasn’t even come up, which means there is no way of it proving itself,” he told a leading daily from New Delhi.

Jio Institute was the only one to be awarded the letter of intent in the greenfield category, where a condition was that the collective net worth of individuals promoting the institute should be more than Rs. 50-billion.

The decision has also seen opposition from other key voices in the academic world. Academic Ramachandra Guha tweeted, “This preferential treatment to an Ambani University that does not yet exist is shocking. Particularly when several first-rate private universities have been bypassed.” The Delhi University Teachers’ Association said: “The inclusion of clauses which allow paper proposals to qualify as an eminent institution is an academic corruption of the highest order.”