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Journalism of Courage
The universities of Bihar have been under some manner of permanent investigation for the last several years, and one damning indictment only adds more weight to the preceding ones. The more urgently the need for radical reforms, the more disinclined the system is in wanting to change.
Until the early 60s the system of higher education in Bihar was not exactly avante garde but was nevertheless not lagging far behind its time. Colleges of Patna University—whether dedicated to arts or science, engineering or medicine—commanded recognition across the country. Even mofussil districts could boast of at least one college, which produced an IAS officer once in a while, and sent many more to other services and professions. But the surface calm was deceptive and the ubiquitous incursion of politics, which in Bihar often means the struggle for supremacy of castes, had began to assert itself.
In 1975, the education administrators of Bihar discovered the wisdom of financing higher education primarily out of the exchequer grants-in-aid. Between 1947 and 1975, 17 colleges were taken over by the government; between 1975 and 1978 the number was 286. Many of these colleges would fall in the category of colleges of which the V.S. Jha Committee report says, ‘‘Starting a college is a gainful business, provided you are a political boss or a public nuisance.’’ Given the great demand for education such institutes, started in gross violation of rules, would nevertheless, find admission seekers flocking in great numbers.
College teaching became a sought after source of employment for the mediocre wives and heirs of illustrious people, but it proved to be a great demotivator for the deserving who had deliberately opted for teaching as a career. There was a marked deterioration in quality. It also killed private initiative and led to the retreat of the scholarly community. Politics led to the induction of its closest ally: Crime.
It seems not much notice was taken of the Jha committee report and the progressive deterioration gathered momentum. The investigation into the fraudulent award of one such MA degree to an influential person under the orders of the division bench of the hon’ble Patna High Court in 2000 pointed to the academic underworld where vice-chancellors, judges, senior all India service officers, and academic ‘‘don’’ or ‘‘don’’ academicians are on easy terms with commerce.
The Jha report, when referred to during the investigation, gave a curious sense of deja vu and the extant investigation amassed more evidence of the same under more varied genre. Asked to broadbase the investigation, the investigating team was constrained to put before the court its moral dilemma. The chain of corruption was so long that who should be called into account and how had become a problem.
The investigation also debunked the myth of paucity of funds. From 1995 to 2000, Bihar’s expenditure on higher education was much higher than some of the progressive states and in one particular year it was very close to the NEP recommendation of 6 per cent of total outlay. Seminal to the issue was the flight of capital to the buccaneering ways of the elite. Their sins are now visited on their children who flock to educational centres of Delhi, Pune, and Bangalore and even smaller places like Kota and Bhopal seeking admission. Finding their own world destroyed, they are forced to become refugees.
The writer is a senior police officer
