BeyondHeadlines News Desk
New Delhi: Remarks on quality of faculties in the premier institutions like Indian Institute of Technology (IITs) and Indian Institute of Management (IIMs) by Union Minister for Environment Jairam Ramesh is drawing sharp criticism from the different spheres. Political parties, academicians and faculties have expressed their anger over the statement.
Hitting out at the under-estimating statement of Jairam Ramesh, Rajeev Pratap Rudy, spokesperson of BJP said “We cannot have world-class institutions unless we have world-class ministers. Ministers should refrain from making such statements.”
- IIT Delhi campus
Earlier, addressing the media on Monday Jairam Ramesh at New Delhi had said, “There is hardly any worthwhile research from our IITs. The faculty in the IIT is not world class. It is the students in IITs who are world class. So the IITs (Indian Institute of Technology) and IIMs (Indian Institute of Management) are excellent because of the quality of students not because of quality of research or faculty,”
Sharp remarks and criticisms by the faculties of the IITs and IIMs followed Ramesh’s statement. According to them, “A good artisan doesn’t not blame his tools. He (Jairam Ramesh) has crossed the limits. It’s a challenge to teach students who are sharp and bright.”
Reacting to the deprecating opinion of the Union Minister, Professor Anil Gupta, a faculty member at IIM Ahmedabad said, “Some of our best research institutions are government-run. He should not berate these institutions but rather look towards making them even more effective”
Jairam Ramesh found some support by his cabinet colleague, Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal. According to Sibal, “He is himself an IITian. He might be having inside knowledge. Even otherwise…do we have world-class institutions? As Education Minister, I am striving towards achieving world-class standards for our institutions. This is a fact that our institutions don’t figure in the top 150 list”
Ramesh is an alumnus of IIT Bombay from where he obtained his B.Tech degree in Mechanical Engineering in 1975.
Congress party too distanced itself from the words of its MP. Today it left Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh to fend for himself over the controversy surrounding his remarks that faculty of the premier IITs and IIMs are “not world class”, but attacked BJP for its scathing criticism on the issue.
“I do not know in what context and what circumstances Jairam Ramesh has made the remarks. Whether it has been taken in context or out of context, he is the best person to be really be able to answer this question,” party spokesperson Manish Tewari told reporters at the AICC briefing.
“So far as IIM and IITs are concerned, there is no question or ambiguity about their contribution to Indian academia and even to building some of the primmest institutions around the world.”
He was responding to questions on the remarks of Ramesh, which has evoked strong reactions from the academia and the main opposition party BJP.
Terming the BJP’s remarks as “naive”, Tewari said: “We do not appreciate unsolicited advice from third class people as to who should be first class or who should be third class.”
HRD Minister Kapil Sibal, however, seemed to agree with Ramesh. Responding to Ramesh remarks he said, “In the situation today, is even one of our institutions world class? If it is world class, it must be in the top 100, 150 institutions in the world. That is not evident.”
