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| STATE GOVT ON BACK-FOOT | | JU’s Center for Exclusion Studies, Deptt of Journalism hang in balance | |
Early Times Special
JAMMU, August 2: The State Government has been stalling the creation of a Centre for Exclusion Studies at Jammu University for the last three years. The centre, if and when set up, will carry out research and offer teaching programmes on marginalized sections of society.
The centre is meant to carry out research on marginalized sections like Gujjars and Bakerwals, Gaddis (sheep-rearing community) and members of the Scheduled Castes (SC) etc in a holistic manner.
The research, inter-disciplinary in nature, will focus on the specific problems faced by these marginalised communities and in devising solutions. Researchers drawn from the field of political science, history, economics and law will be involved in the running of this centre.
Over three years ago, the University Grants Commission (UGC) had given the necessary approvals for setting up this centre at Jammu University when Amitabh Mattoo was the Vice-Chancellor.
The UGC had agreed to fund the centre for the first five years, as is the norm in such cases. In schemes of this nature, the state governments are expected to take over the financial burden after five years.
The requisite number of positions, including one of post of a director (professor), two readers and three lecturers, have already been sanctioned/approved by the UGC. However, Jammu University can start this centre only after getting the concurrence of the state government.
Despite tall claims made by the National Conference-led government about treating the Jammu region and the Kashmir valley at a par, it appears now that efforts are on to sabotage the setting up of the Centre for Exclusion Studies.
Very little, if any, research work has been done so far on the marginalized sections of people in J&K. The new centre would have changed that and brought in necessary funds and top academicians for quality research.
In fact, the centre can develop into a full-fledged department if the university gets adequate backing from the state government. For this, the state government and the academic council of Jammu University are competent to take the requisite decisions, according to academicians.
Incidentally, financial commissioner cum secretary of the finance department of the state government is also the ex officio financial advisor to the university. The post is presently held by Mr Sudhanshu Pandey, who took over from Mr B B Vyas, some time ago.
The files pertaining to the government concurrence are reportedly pending in Mr Pandey’s office.
It is considered a matter of honour and prestige for any university to be chosen in this manner by the UGC to offer course modules in any given field.
Incidentally, the Gujjars were conferred the benefits of being a Scheduled Tribe (ST) community during the Governor’s rule during Mr G C Saxena’s tenure. Mr Saxena had used the legislative powers the Governor enjoys in the absence of a democratically-elected government.
Subsequently, the Gujjar community has been getting the reservation benefits under ST category in government jobs and educational institutions. This has helped in the emancipation of some members of this community.
Gujjar leaders rued the fact that no democratically elected government has deemed it necessary till date to give ST status to their community at the political level. The restoration of democratic governments since 1996 has seen no forward movement in terms of affirmative actions being granted to the marginalized sections, they pointed out.
This dragging of feet by the state government on the issue of the setting up the centre for exclusion studies has led to some questions being asked by the university academicians. The most important question being asked in the academic circles is whether the government wants to allow any research on the marginalized sections of J&K at all.
Presently, there are three Gujjar ministers in the Omar Abdullah government. They are Mr Taj Mohiuddin, Mr Mian Altaf Ahmed and Mr Aijaz Khan. All these Gujjar leaders had contested and won from general category constituencies since there are no ST constituencies in the state.
The Deputy Chief Minister, Mr Tara Chand, belongs to the SC community but has not been taken into confidence on the subject of setting up the Centre for Exclusion Studies. There are six other MLAs who have won from reserved (SC) constituencies in the 87-member Legislative Assembly of J&K.
These leaders have been championing the cause of the marginalized sections of J&K and the Centre for Exclusion Studies at Jammu University can only advance their cause. But the manner in which the state government is handling the issue, it is unlikely that the university will be able to start the centre any time soon.
It may be mentioned here that a proposed Department of Journalism at the University of Jammu is also hanging in balance. A couple of years ago, the then Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad had announced the setting up of a department of journalism in Jammu University. For this, he had announced the sanctioning of a corpus of Rs 1 crore from the State funds. The announcement was made when a Chandigarh-based newspaper had launched its Jammu edition and Mr Azad presided. Mr Azad’s promise remains unfulfilled till day because there was no follow-up from either the university or the state officials.
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