World chess champion Vishwanathan Anand left the venue of International Congress of Mathematicians (ICM) in Hyderabad without complaining about not receiving the honorary doctoral degree promised by the university but with the satisfaction of having defeating 38 of the math brains out of the 39 he played against.
The bureaucracy in Delhi had raised questions about Anand’s citizenship which led to delay in processing documents related to this issue. As a result of this delay the University of Hyderabad could not grant Anand the honorary doctoral degree that it had promised him.
Kapil Sibal , the Human Resource development minister ran to do some damage control and personally apologized to the chess hero this morning. He was also quoted saying, “We’re ready to hand over the degree to him whenever he wishes.” This statement of the minister has again brought to the fore front a mindset that smothers academic liberty in the Nation.
Awarding such prestigious honors should not be the business of the ministers and the bureaucracy but that of the universities. But Mr. Sibal has exalted himself and gone one up by declaring in public that it is he who decides the course of action of universities of the country.
The sycophantic academic ambiance of the country has trained the varsity officials to not challenge rules which have been designed to chain up the academic environment. One senior official was heard insisting that Vishwanathan Anand is “Spanish” displaying his confusion about the chess champion’s country and place of residence. The Hyderabad University cited Rule 29 (1) of its statute in order to justify its approach to Union ministry. The rule is freely written that had the varsity been independent minded, it would have faced no problems conferring such degrees on its own. But the variety chose to play safe and forwarded the proposal hoping early clearance from the ministry.
Delays were caused by the HRD ministry and by the time the all the details were furnished the prestigious convocation had got over. Academicians questioned the involvement of the President and the ministry in issues of academic concern. Deepak Pental, Delhi University Vice Chancellor said that awarding honorary degrees should be at the discretion of the university and its chancellor. Agreeing to the same, the Vice Chancellor of Jawaharlal Nehru University, B.B. Bhattacharya said that there was no such uniform rule and that at JNU they give out their own degrees.
The fiasco at Hyderabad was a shameful incidence for Indians as British universities became appalled at the suggestion of seeking government approval on the list of people the universities wished to honor. Prestigious universities like Oxford and Cambridge clearly stated such issues to be an internal matter with the government playing no role in it. it’s the members of the panel who decide to whom such awards should be conferred upon. Earlier this summer Mahatma Gandhi’s grandson Rajmohan Gandhi was also awarded by Liverpool Hope University which also stated the system as that of other British Universities.
The question over India’s academic environment’s freedom still remains unresolved. We are hoping that in the years to come we will grant more autonomy to our academic institutions to avoid such a shameful incidence once again.
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