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| JU's program on Public Policy Making raises many an eyebrows | | Ambitious HoD aiming entry into corridors of power? | |
Abodh Sharma
The decision of the university of Jammu to start a PG program in Public Policy Making has raised many an eyebrows inside and outside the campus. While questions are being raised on the timing and the hush- hush manner in which the program was started, the decision is also being seen as yet another attempt by the recently appointed head of the department Economics Prof. Dipankar Sen Gupta who has been known for making attempts to break into the inner power circles of the state.
The very timing of the initiation of the program is being questioned given the fact that the sanction was accorded to it after the culmination of the entire admission process of the university which was undertaken as a mass exercise in the form of JUCET conducted in all the districts of the province. This implies that many a students who would have been genuinely interested in the program had already opted for other available courses in JU and other universities. "The decision is ill timed as the JU appeal committee has given its final verdict and all the seats in all the academic departments have been filled up," said a senior member of faculty pleading anonymity. Not just the timing of the beginning of the program is being questioned, the fact that all the 25 seats have been made self financing seats has also come under sharp criticism. "It means that only those who can pay up the huge course fee can opt for the program and there is no place for the meritorious and the outstanding" he added. "The faculty in the department of Economics was divided over the inception of the program as many opined that a paper on public policy making could be introduced in the existing MA Economics program" he divulged further.
Sources in the University however express their apprehensions that HoD had gone overboard to get the program initiated to use it as a tool to get closer to the realms of power in the state. "He has on several previous occasions tried to use university as platform to develop an affinity with the power centres of the state. A seminar on ruling National Conference's political doctrine of Autonomy to J&K organised by him was one such attempt" said another senior member of the faculty. "This program shall provide him a platform to organize similar seminars to further his ambitions " he added.
It is pertinent to mention here that elevation of Deepankar Sen Gupta, as professor by the then Vice Chancellor Prof. Amitabh Mattoo allegedly ignoring all norms and eligibility criteria had also raised many an eyebrows in the university. |
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