It is, the Minister informed, under construction and would become operational soon. This assurance can only be taken with a pinch of salt. A report of the Nalanda Mentor Group had claimed in May 2008 that a website was under construction. Three years seems to have made little difference.

An International University running without a website appears bizarre. In today’s world virtual presence is as much important as real presence. Launching of a website is not critically dependent upon the uploading of its contents. A website could be soft-launched with skeletal generic contents and contact details; additions can take place as time goes by. A project backed up by the rich heritage of ancient Nalanda International University should not be at a loss for generic contents.

Now some startling revelations regarding the Nalanda International University’s website has come out. The University has registered at least four qualified domain names since its inception but refrained from launching a single website. All these were registered with IN registry (India's official.in domain registry) through government registrar ERNET, the exclusive web registrar for academic, educational and research organization. Two of these domain names have suffixes ‘ac.in’ and two ‘edu.in’. The domains like ac.in (for academic institutions), edu.in (for educational institutions), res.in (Indian research institutes), gov.in (government of India), mil.in (Indian military) are reserved for qualified organizations and could not be squatted upon by unauthorized persons unlike in the case of .in, org.in, co.in etc.

The first of this domain name viz. nalandauniversity.edu.in was registered on December 16, 2010 in the name of Nalanda University located at 1st Floor, Indian Building Congress, R.K. Puram Sector Sec-VI, New Delhi-110 022. The web administrator is Dr. Gopa Sabharwal who used her personal gmail ID and mobile number for registration. No landline or Fax number are mentioned. The other three - a) nalandauniversity.ac.in b) nalandauniv.ac.in c) nalandauniv.edu.in were all registered on single date May 18, 2011. The registrations are all in the name of Nalanda University located at the aforesaid address with administrator’s name is Dr Anjana Sharma. The telephone number indicated is 011-65657549 and Fax no- 11-26181941. The registrant’s email is shown as nalanda.univ.edu@gmail.com. This is by far the first official mail address of the Nalanda University available to the outside world.

All these registrations are valid for five year each. But currently the status of each is inactive, being not linked to any server. Inquiries with ERNET, New Delhi reveals that registration for .edu.in, ac.in and res.in cost Rs.3000/- each for a period of five years. Squandering away Rs. 12,000/- may be a peanut for the project estimated to cost more than Rs. 1000 crore (in 2007). But the concern is that such arbitrary wastage may be trendsetter for the whole project. It appears there is none in the MEA to monitor the project. Though four domain names have been registered they have not been linked to an IP address that a website might become operational. By contrast, Delhi University has single domain name registered viz. du.ac.in but its website is powered by three servers. Jawaharlal Nehru University has one domain name jnu.ac.in and its website is powered by two servers. But Nalanda University has strangely not subscribed to any server despite four domain registration.

The absence of Nalanda University's website is not merely a hindrance to its publicity and outreach. It raises serious questions about transparency and accountability as well. The authorities remain beyond the reach of people whether by post, phone & fax and e-mail that needed to be notified on a website forthwith. None of these are available on the website of the MEA either. It raises the suspicion that the University has too many irregularities too hide. The four inactive domain names are just a few skeletals to tumble out of .IN registry's cupboard.

For latest Parliament questions on Nalanda University- a) http://www.mea.gov.in/mystart.php?id=220118152 b) http://www.mea.gov.in/mystart.php?id=220118166
To look up domain registry addresses go to- http://inregistry.in/WHOIS%20Search

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