New Delhi,(BiharTimes): The top gun of Nalanda Mentor Group has fired. Prof. Amartya Sen, compelled by Bihar Times’ sustained campaign against irregularities and non-transparency in Nalanda University project, has responded on the subject. His interview published in the Saturday September 17, 2011 edition The Telegraph, Calcutta has been given not directly to media house but to Shreeya Sinha, a young award winning journalist associated with Asia Society, New York. The questions were juvenile rather than grueling, but perhaps that stemmed from the lack of facts in public domain besides Olympian stature of Prof. Sen. The University authorities have finally played their hands, and the cards are on the table. Bihar Times has analyzed Prof. Sen’s interview byte-by-byte on substantial issues raised by him.

1. The Nalanda University Act was passed in the Indian Parliament last November – It is pity that the mentor group chief is quoting a wrong date for passage of the Nalanda University Bill, 2010. The Bill was passed in August, 2010 (August 21 in Rajya Sabha; August 26 in Lok Sabha) and received Presidential assent on September 21, 2011 thereby becoming an Act. The University came into existence on November 25, 2010, when the Act was implemented, not in Nalanda district as the Bill mandates but in New Delhi.

2. “The Nalanda Mentor Group, which was authorised to make the selection, listed three names, including that of Dr. Sabharwal, but the government could have appointed anyone of the three. The government offered Dr Sabharwal the position of being vice-chancellor designate, to be followed by being vice-chancellor as the legal formalities of the university are sorted out”- Prof. Amartya Sen is unlikely to substantiate his claims. The Nalanda Mentor Group was never authorized for the task.The ‘terms of reference’ (TOR) enclosed with the then External Affairs Minister Mr. Pranab Mukherjee's letter to Amartya Sen on June 28, 2007 clearly spelt out the TOR to the mentor group. Selecting a Vice-Chancellor was not one of them. They were given eight-point TOR the last of which was to submit their recommendations in form of a final report within nine months from the date of the constitution of the Mentor Group. The Mentor Group never bothered to submit the final report even after three years, or till date. Its four ‘executive reports’ (more like minutes of meetings) the actual TOR remained largely unaddressed. But it seems they found time enough to choose a Vice Chancellor. Was there a public notification (it being a greenfield university of international repute)? Was there a website over which people could contact the NMG? Who and how were the prospective candidates contacted- over telephone? Who were there in the Selection Committee? Where and on which dates did the committee conduct its proceedings? Being a government project everything must be on paper. Is he ready to put everything on the University website? There is a problem – the University has still not got a website though money has been spent on vainly acquiring four domain names. But Prof. Sen is perhaps not aware of the reply by MoS, MEA Mr. E. Ahmed to a recent Parliament question in Rajya Sabha. The Minister clearly says the University has not appointed a V.C. Hence the questions of panel of selectors and short-listed candidates do not arise.

3. Dr. Sabharwal’s academic qualifications are excellent (one of our advisors on the academic side was Professor Andre Beteille, a world-renowned sociologist); her administrative ability is well established; she is totally committed to the Nalanda project; and her involvement with Bihar and willingness to be based in Nalanda contrasted sharply with some others who could have been considered for the position: This sounds like a ‘Breaking News’ that Andre Beteille, the world renowned-sociologist was involved in the Nalanda University project. Strangely, his name does not appear either in the Mentor Group or Advisory Council. It seems everyone else except world renowned scholars of Buddhist studies were involved with the project. Dr. Sabharwal is no doubt a Phd holder in Sociology. But it would really be a unique case where a Reader who has not taught at post-graduate level to be appointed a Vice Chancellor of an ‘international’ University. This is because her college LSR College for Woman, Delhi University does not offer postgraduate course in Sociology. What administrative experience she has in that capacity is something Prof. Sen can explain best. Things would have been easier if we had the CV of the VC on the website of the University. But that there is no website of the University, despite the first domain name being registered in December 2010, is a commentary on her administrative capability. Also her claims that Nalanda University being a standalone institution need not comply to any regulation tells a lot about her understanding of administration. She does not realize that she is answerable to CAG that will audit yearly accounts, to Parliament of India where a copy of the Annual Report will have to be laid, and the court of law. Her ‘willingness’ to be based in Bihar is not tested yet, because the headquarters are functioning from New Delhi. By the way, did not Amartya Sen find anyone from Bihar, which has proven fertility in case of academics and scholarship?

4. Members of the selection committee talked with at least 20 people, sought their advice and also checked their own interest in being considered for the position, including living in Nalanda, as and when it becomes a functioning reality. From time to time, reports on these consultations somehow got leaked in the Indian newspapers (even though the consultations and ascertaining of interest in being a resident vice-chancellor have sometimes been confused, in these reports, as “offers” having been made to this person or that).- The TOR did not authorize the Nalanda Mentor Group to scout for prospective Vice Chancellor. No newspaper has ever carried the report (despite Prof. Sen’s claim that the news of consultation get leaked into Indian newspapers) that who were there in the selection committee and whom they contacted? It belatedly came up last February that Ramchandra Guha and Pratap Bhau Mehta were also offered the post. Neither of these two, however, has confirmed the same. Taking Prof. Sen’s assertion on face value one gets an eerie feeling that the selection process for the Nalanda University Vice Chancellor was actually taking place in a highly secretive and opaque manner. This is, unfortunately, true about everything concerning Nalanda University, despite it being funded by Govt of India. Prof. Sen has not divulged the details of ‘Selection Committee’ and its procedures.

5. I was amused to see the report that an economics professor, to whom no offer of a job has (to the best of my knowledge) been made, had declared that he would not serve under a vice-chancellor who came from a position “below” that of a professor- Prof. Sen would have better re-read the text. He was perhaps referring to a statement in Bihar Times by Prof. N.K. Choudhary, Economics Department, Patna University that no senior academician would like to work under a Reader. Prof. Choudhary made a general statement and not a personal one. He already has a good job and strong clout in an established University. He is well-recognized in Bihar, unlike the VC designate of Nalanda University.

6. When Oxford or Cambridge deliberates on education in what they call “divinity”, they do not ask the Pope or the Archbishop of Canterbury to do the planning of religious education for them- Prof. Sen inadvertently proves again that he is steeped in western tradition. His model is Oxford-Cambridge-Harvard not Nalanda. Should Bihar like to emulate Oxford-Cambridge, in which there is no harm, it should demand for a Central University from the Minister of Human Resource Development. His Ministry has a Department of Higher Education, under which University Grant Commission is also included, and have proven expertise to set up a good university. It would be a hit from day one. But why beguile the people with the reverential tag of ‘Nalanda’? The Western Universities are not as profane as Prof. Amartya Sen want us to believe. While few Indian Universities (like Delhi University) offer studies in Buddhism, many western universities have ‘Divinity’, which is primarily based on Biblical scholarship. Their faculty members might not be pastors, priests, but they are not sociologists, historians and language teachers either. They have recognized degrees, going up to post-doctoral level, in religious studies. It is not entirely true that clergy do not teach in mainstream universities. A case in point Pope Benedict XVI (Joseph Ratzinger), who was ordained as a clergy in 1951, and then pursued an academic career in divinity until 1977 at University of Bonn, Friesing College and University of Munster in erstwhile West Germany. But did the Nalanda Mentor Group speak to any non-Bhikkhu Buddhist scholars either on Nalanda University?

7. The first two faculties to be started will be environmental studies and historical studies, to be followed by others such as information technology and international relations. The work in setting up these faculties is very much on the way- Now it is clear that Buddhism will have no place in Amartya’s Nalanda. What Bihar is going to have perhaps is Amartya Sen International University instead of Nalanda University. For Prof. Sen’s information ‘School of Information Technology’ has not been passed as the part of the Act. Buddhist Studies, Philosophy and Comparative Religions has been mentioned as the first one (Vide Clause 24). Pranab Mukherjee’s letter to Prof. Sen dtd June 28, 2007 also mentions about reviving Nalanda University as a centre of Buddhist and Secular learning. But Buddhist learning is unlikely to have any place in Amartya’s Nalanda. While Information & Technology would require significant amount investment and laboratory facilities Buddhist studies could be started easily. There are examples (Tibetan tradition) of students and monks studying under open skies
8. It is perhaps a matter of interest that when my friend Bimal Matilal was interviewed for becoming the Spalding Professor of Eastern Religion and Ethics (a post that he held for many years with great distinction), he was asked by the vice-chancellor of Oxford whether he thought it was a limitation that he was not religious himself: Here Amartya Sen tries to beguile us with his sophistry. It is none of late Bimal Matilal’s fault that the Spalding chair had been named in a peculiar way ‘Eastern Religion and Ethics’ in western academia. In that sense, every religion of the world including Christianity, Judaism, Islam and Zorastrianism originated east of Mediterranean. Should Bimal Matilal have known each one of them? The Vice Chancellor of Oxford is neither an easterner nor a man of religion. The current VC of Oxford University Dr. Andrew Hamilton is a man of Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry. Late Bimal Krishna Matilal (1935-1991) was fluent in Sanskrit from an early age, and had mastered Navya Nyay (logic) in proximity of traditional masters of the system. His method was very much eastern, rather than ‘orientalist’. He was in sharp contrast to Prof. Sen. Late Bimal Matilal perhaps gave the VC of Oxford a satisfactory answer. After all in six orthodox schools of Indian philosophy, while Atman is the common assumption, God is not. It is not necessary in the Christian sense of the term to be ‘god fearing’. But imagine Dr. Gopa Sabharwal, as VC of Nalanda University, asking any substantial question to a master of Buddhist tradition.


The top gun has fired, but actually, misfired. The cards on the tables turn out to be all jokers. On July 22 Amartya Sen delivers a lecture at Asia Society, New York titled Nalanda: World’s Oldest University and Contemporary Asia. The theme needs some correction. It was not Nalanda but Takshashila (Taxila), now in Pakistan, which was the oldest University of the world. But ‘second oldest University’ won’t make a good advertiser’s copy for ‘marketing’ Nalanda. Amartya Sen is on record for saying he want to ‘market’ Nalanda University in China, where ‘maximum number of Buddhists live’. Marketing is not what the great masters of Nalanda lived for. In a University that specialized on Mahayana doctrine of ‘Sky-Flower’, they were like flowers. When flowers blossom bees come.

Comment

comments...

Kudos to Bihar Times for exposing people who have made Nalanda University project as party making initiative. What was the rational for organising meeting in Newyork spending about 60 lacs. Does it have any connection to this University in anyway. Amartya is the real culprit with NK Singh. He should make cv of Gopa public. Lets see how Amartya responds in Asia Society lecture.

Rohit

......................................................................

BT is a happy hunting ground of some discarded journos who work for vested interests masqureading as 'people's voice'.
See how one of them proudly (albeit shamelessly) proclaiming, 'helping' someone during Lalu era. What was that 'help' he is talking about and what he wanted in return??
http://www.bihartimes.in/articles/amarnath/nalanda_in_media.html

If a (so called) senior journalist can writes this openly then god save Bihar.

I don't know what degree Gopa has but she has written many books such as "Ethnicity and Class" and "India Since 1947: The Indepenent Years". Can BT let know the readers what good these 'great journos' have done apart from moaning and groaning, and pleading to politicians for as small a favor as admissions to schools?

This entire story seems to be coming out of personal and professional envy of vested interest and BT is playing it for publicity. No body cares for Bihar. If earning 5 lacs per month is such an issue then just think what will happen if people start earning in crores. All big companies who we all so earnestly wanted to open shop in our beloved state will be hounded out by these types.

Talent has no boundry (to hell with Prof. 'ABC' Choudhary) and if our state wants to prosper all the best minds who want to come should be welcomed. Otherwise keep dreaming, scheming, screaming, and cursing (perhaps abusing).

Biharis have shown maturity in the past and I know they'll see the bigger picture instead of swayed by these vicious campaigns. And I am sure they will do the same this time around as well. As I said earlier only truth has temerity to stand the taste of times, be it Gopa, Amartya or these seemingly disgruntled journos.

Alok Singh, London

.............................................................................

Bihar Times(BT) should immediately stop this vitiated campaigns against Amartya Sen and Mentor Group of Nalanda International University. On the contrary, BT has no logical proposition to attack on the credibility and credentials of someone who is appointed as Vice Chancellor after much deliberations as suggested by none other than Amartya Sen himself. It is right that our obsession with the Degree System stop to look beyond what is considered as normative practices. These loathes over not being professor is totally unfounded, misconceived and shortsighted in nature. On the one hand we want to leap forward in higher education by opening NIU to world on the other hand we show the kind of mentality which does not have consonance with 21st century. BT has already reported that Ramchandra Guha and Bhikhu Parekh have shown unwillingness to accept post due to various reasons. Now if someone is appointed as V.C. who dared to accept variegated challenges and to stay in campus, what kind charges of complicity can be sued against Mentor Group? Without looking at the bigger picture we should not just indulge in criticism for sake of popularity and cultural sub-nationalism. I think this campaign to ask for proof of qualifications redirected to ask and introspect about our self and also think that what kind of message we are directing to world.

Most of pieces written here sat on the assumption of incompetency and negativeness of appointed V.C. who has to prove otherwise in day to day affairs of media gallery. This is nothing but credibility assassination of otherwise respected academic, and V.C. of N.I.U.. This is a sad commentary over media who raise the voice of ethics and values but does not provide time and space to others to prove opposite.

Ramjit Bharti
Indian Institute of Management Calcutta.

----------------------------------

I believe we should look towards the future, and adopt methods which may lead to the actual establishment of the university rather than just finding faults with heavyweights like Prof Amartya Sen and others.

Where are we heading?

It would be better to look for ways to ( a ) file PIL in courts, and ( b ) find out as to how were the audits of expenditures carried out all these times ?

I believe these two options may have teeth in them to force the Act passed
in the Parliament to be implemented.

There is enough of exploitation of Bihar and Biharees.

Anand M. Sharan, Canada