The financial crunch that Jadavpur University is reeling under featured prominently in vice-chancellor Suranjan Das’s convocation address on Saturday.
Das accused central institutions for being stepmotherly towards state universities.
“Let me record the distress that Jadavpur University shares with other state universities of the country about the alarming decline of funding from the UGC and other federal bodies. Our university’s receipt in the financial year 2021-2022 indicates how contributions from the UGC and other central bodies dwindled to 2.5 per cent while that from the state government rose to 94.20 per cent,” Das said.
Among those hearing him was governor C.V. Ananda Bose, the JU chancellor.
The Telegraph had reported on October 30 that Das had in a letter to the state government pointed out that the state, too, had reduced grants in the 2022-23 financial year by about Rs 7.50 crore, compared to what was sanctioned the previous year.
On Saturday the VC, however, harped on the lack of support from the central government and sought intervention from the chancellor.
“Chancellor Sir, you will be happy to know that Jadavpur University was one of the 10 universities to be recommended for the grant of the status of the Institute of Eminence by the Government of India. But it remains a matter of deep regret that the recommendation is yet to be transformed into a reality. Chancellor Sir, on behalf of the university, could I make an earnest request to you to use your good office to enable the university to receive the academic status that it richly deserves?” Das said.
When The Telegraph later asked the VC why he was not vocal about inadequate support from the state government in his address, he said: “We have recently got Rs 6 crore from the state government as an additional grant. We will get more.”
JU was seventh on a shortlist of 10 “public institutions” drawn up by an empowered expert committee of the UGC in July 2018 for the tag of eminence. The tag would have resulted in a grant of Rs 1,000 crore over five years.
JU had then missed out on the funds as the UGC had selected three institutes — IISc Bangalore, IIT Bombay and IIT Delhi — from the list. The following year, JU again missed out.
In August 2019 Bengal’s then education minister Partha Chatterjee objected to the sudden slapping of a condition that the state government would have to provide more than a matching grant to make JU eligible for the tag.
Nothing has happened since and the stand-off has not been resolved.
