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| Some JU campuses are nothing more than jokes | | | Early Times Special
JAMMU, Aug 10:
During the past few years, Jammu University has expanded at an exponential rate. Dozens of private B.Ed. colleges affiliated to the university brought in crores of rupees into the university kitty.
At least half of these colleges, perhaps more, are owned by politicians, cutting across party lines. A fairly large number of National Conference and Congress leaders have stakes in these colleges which attract students from outside the state in large numbers. Besides these colleges, the university has also added new departments in the campus during this period.
During Mr Ghulam Nabi Azad’s tenure as chief minister, after he took over from Mufti Mohammed Sayeed in November 2005, the university also opened new campuses. These campuses were planned for Kathua, Udhampur, Doda, Rajouri and Bhaderwah.
Till date, however, except for the Bhaderwah campus, none of the campuses has taken any concrete shape. And if the Bhaderwah campus has indeed become a reality, it is more to Mr Azad’s credit than the university.
In Kathua, the land for setting up the campus has not been identified so far. Initially, there were reports that the campus would be set up towards north of the National Highway near Janglote village near the district town of Kathua.
The proposal was sabotaged by some powerful businessmen and politicians, according to a legislator from the district. The legislator alleged that hundreds of kanals of land had been identified for making the campus a reality but the plan was shelved due to vested interests.
On paper, the Kathua campus is functional but without Jammu University constructing any building or creating other necessary infrastructure. It is run from the premises of a private college which has graciously given some rooms etc for running MBA classes. The faculty for this prestigious course is hired locally, on ad hoc basis, year after year, and it appears that this ad hocism is there to stay.
In Udhampur, there is no academic activity worth the name at the designated campus area because it is yet to take off. Every now and then, some university academicians visit the town, draw TA/DA, discuss plans which have not fructified nor are they likely to, according to university insiders.
Some university officials admitted that the decision regarding a possible Udhampur campus was motivate by politics and did not take into account the ground realities. Of course, in the coming years, the university may create some infrastructure here with the help of the Army for defence studies. For the present though, the outlook is not very bright on that count as well, they pointed out.
The mountainous Doda district town was to have a satellite campus of the university but the launch of the satellite seems to have been postponed indefinitely, an official of the higher education department said. The allocation of funds, identification of land, courses to be offered etc, has not happened so far. Nor is it likely in the near future, he said.
Incidentally, the Higher Education Minister, Mr A G Malik, had visited the area some days ago to review the works.
The meeting was attended by the local MLC, Mr. Khalid Najeeb Suharwardy, Deputy Commissioner Doda, Syed Sharif-ud-din and other senior officials. The Minister assured the officials that their demands will be considered favourably and further action in this behalf shall be taken at the earliest.
Some academicians in the university said these assurances are unlikely to be fulfilled in a hurry as the Chancellor, Mr N N Vohra, has taken a very dim view of these campuses. As Governor, Mr Vohra is the ex officio Chancellor of the university and he had visited these campuses to review ongoing works.
It is believed that Mr Vohra had recommended the closure of some of these campuses saying the resources of the university were being spread too thin. However, the Chief Minister, Mr Omar Abdullah, reportedly told Mr Vohra that he did not want to create a political storm by doing so.
As such, for now, these campuses appear destined to stay but any significant investment or improvement is unlikely. In that case, these campuses would only lead to criticism of the university and unlikely to prove to be of any use to the locals.
Amitabh Mattoo, during his tensure as Vice-Chancellor of Jammu University, had conceptualized these campuses. He also claimed credit for expanding the university left, right and centre.
His successor, Professor Varun Sahni, finds himself being criticized for failing to give the required push to these campuses. The Udhampur campus, for now, appears to be the best bet as some activity is likely there in the near future. Other campuses appear doomed to continue in an inglorious manner.
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