Meanwhile Mr Nitish Kumar drew flak from academics and a section of media in Bihar. He appeared on the defensive from day one, trying to deflect the charges on to the Centre. He contended that it is a Centre’s project and his government has nothing to do with the controversial aspects of the project.

The disorganized protests against the Chief Minister could be attributed to the fact that he was the mover and driver of the project. It is still etched in public mind that his government brought the University of Nalanda Bill, 2007 in Bihar Legislative Assembly. His representative N K Singh was responsible for the Centre taking up the project. The Nalanda Mentor Group was appointed by the MEA on Singh’s recommendation, and he himself was a part of it.

To be fair to him, he had suggested the name of noted historian D N Jha in the Mentor Group. But the Centre avoided empanelling Jha on learning about his controversial thesis on beef-eating in ancient India. This is plainly stated in Singh’s note.

The MEA cannot pretend to be a holy cow now. It was the Ministry’s incompetence that resulted in the Nalanda mess we are currently in. The Ministry has evidently bitten more than it could chew.

Establishing and maintaining Universities are not authorized functions of the MEA under Government of India Allocation of Business Rules, 1961 (as amended up to July 31, 2011). It is logical because the MEA has no monitoring and enforcing agency unlike the UGC under Ministry of HRD.

Yet, the Ministry took up two universities South Asian University and Nalanda University in 2007. The Nalanda University project was entrusted to the MEA by Principal Secretary to PM at a meeting held on February 13, 2007. Initially the MEA had in mind the model of South Asian University. The University was envisaged to be based upon intergovernmental agreement amongst various member states of the East Asia Summit.

This is clear from a comprehensive note dated June 6, 2007 signed by Biren Nanda, Joint Secretary (South), MEA currently the Ambassador of India to Indonesia.

This arbitrariness is what the MEA and PMO might have to answer for. The MEA never fulfilled its obligation of pursuing any intergovernmental agreement.

Nalanda University was never on the agenda of Foreign Minister or Foreign Secretary level talks. However, the Waterloo was at home front. Having no competence for establishing a University, the MEA relied completely on the shadowy entity called Nalanda Mentor Group. None of them, except N K Singh and MEA’s official representative, were based in India. Nor had they themselves any experience of developing universities.

They would converge at Singapore, Tokyo and New York at their convenience though at the cost of Government of India. This was actually the reason why the deliberations got inordinately delayed. But in deference to their high stature, the MEA kept mum even while they submitted no final report in three years.

Though NMG did not file a structured report, it found time to select a Vice Chancellor, something it was not authorized to do. On August 3, 2010 Prof Amartya Sen himself introduced Dr Gopa Sabharwal as the Vice Chancellor designate of Nalanda University. This militates against his recent claim at Asia Society, New York that he had submitted three names to the Government of India including Dr Sabharwal for the coveted post.

Dr Sabharwal was appointed as Vice Chancellor-designate through a letter signed by then Secretary (East), MEA on September 9, 2010 even before the Nalanda University Bill, 2010 received Presidential assent. Unlike in a government appointment letter, it is not an Office Order, nor was its copies endorsed to anyone else. It has now become obvious that neither the Visitor Dr APJ Abdul Kalam nor the President of India was aware of the inside working of the Nalanda University.

The MEA’s role in the Nalanda University project was reduced to that of a financer and arranger. It hardly had any control over the project descending into profligacy. It was akin to Sports Ministry losing control over Organizing Committee of Delhi Commonwealth Games which became a fiefdom of Suresh Kalmadi. The affairs of Nalanda University have now been tagged to Public Policy and Research Division of the MEA and placed under Joint Secretary, Dr Jitendra Nath Mishra, who recently returned from Cambodia, where he was the ambassador. It remains to be seen whether that scholarly bureaucrat can ensure transparency in the project. The MEA seems to have realized its mistake.

According to sources there is discontent inside the Ministry. Like in the case of CWG’s Organizing Committee, the Government of India is pumping money. But the University has become a private fiefdom where neither UGC regulations nor recruitment rules nor salary structure is applicable.

The protests in Bihar aimed at Chief Minister Nitish Kumar have virtually ensured that the project would not move forward on ground level. But MEA culpability remains to be established and responsibility fixed.

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