Headless for six months: Comi-tragedy at MU
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: July 25 2011 -
This is not a joke. And it is certainly not a buffoonery scene disguised as a comedy which was lifted from one of those Bollywood flicks but is very much a real life farce presented on the lawns of Manipur University with the people of Manipur having to bear the agony of sitting through it.
And unlike the Bollywood slap sticks which usually run for 180 minutes, the farce staged at MU has been going on since February this year with the intermission thrown in about two months back.
The last Vice Chancellor of the university, Professor C Amuba retired on January 22 this year and since then MU has been functioning without a regular VC , with the Pro-Vice Chancellor donning the shirt of the Acting Vice-Chancellor. The university has of course been functioning during the last six months.
Nothing big or important seems to have derailed in the absence of a regular Vice-Chancellor and in fact MU seems to be going ahead without too much of a hindrance during the last six months. However does this in any sense mean that MU should be allowed to function without a regular head longer ?
All indications say that this is likely to be the scenario and though the Search Committee finally got its act going and has submitted the shortlisted names of three contenders to the office of the President about two months back, nothing has been forthcoming.
Is it a case of immense faith placed on MU that there is nothing much to worry about over the absence of a regular VC or is it a case of “MU may go to hell, it does not concern me ?”
Can we really imagine Parliament to remain quiet if say Delhi University, Bombay University, Jawaharlal Nehru University or any of the other Universities in so called mainland India are left without a regular VC for over six months ?
The absence of a regular VC for over six months at MU is a reflection of where Manipur figures on the overall scheme of Delhi and its political leaders and no, there is nothing funny about this.
Manipur University was converted to a Central University on October 13, 2005, with the then President of India, Dr APJ Abdul Kalam giving his assent on December 28, 2005. Many saw the conversion as nothing short of an upgradation and there were reasons from it.
A person no less than the President of India became its Visitor and the Governor, who was otherwise the Chancellor when it was a State University, became its Chief Rector with another appointee as the Chancellor. The Vice Chancellor came next.
Gradually Manipur University began the dressing up exercise to ostensibly present a visage that a university ought to have and the concrete structures that came up, followed by the black topped road in addition to new, swanky buildings and drainage system stand as the living testimony of the fruits of coming directly under the Centre.
However as things stand today, the conversion of MU to a Central University seems to have come to a full stop with the rise of new structures and the freshly painted walls and fences.
Outward appearance can work only to a certain extent and in contrast to the new blocks, which are an improvement from the old structures, the finer meaning of a place of learning refused to stick to MU, something like the proverbial water running off the back of the duck !
The honeymoon with the status of a Central Government only lasted for some time and soon the reality check came knocking at the door and the internal rot within MU was clearly etched in all the crises that soon unfolded one after the other.
The absence of a regular VC for over six months is just the latest in the long list of the concrete structures which stand hopelessly unable to plug the loopholes through which the stink of the internal rot started wafting out. What possibly could be the reason for the unduly long time that it has taken for the appointment of a regular VC ?
Are there are any plausible factors for letting MU carry on without a regular VC for half a year and if not then why has there been no official explanation ? Or is it some classified information, which if it comes out in the open can jeopardise the internal security of the country ? Give us a break.
In Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh we have a man who takes immense pride in reminding anyone who cares to listen that his life began from the campus of a University.
That this sentiment finds no echo in Manipur University is again loaded with many of the unsaid but understood points.
The interference from the soiled hands has only compounded the matter.
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