Rajeev Ranjan Roy's Report in The Meantime, Bangalore
At the turn of the new century, Jamia Millia Islamia University has a militaryman, Lt. Gen M.A. Zaki (Retd.) as its vice-chancellor (VC). By any yardstick, this is not a good omen for an academic institution, which had been founded on a liberal ethos ..
Spread over 200 acres, the Jamia is at present home to over 12,000 students. The ills that have crept into this erstwhile magnificent centre of learning are enormous. Says a former professor Jamia: "Since the early 1960s, the Jamia has been reeling under corruption, favouritism and nepotism. Ultimately, these shattered the very academic fabric of the university. From time to time, efforts were made to maintain its dignity as a central university, but without much success". Though the present VC is said to have cracked his whip on such practices, most teachers feel that these have taken a more surreptitious form. Classes have become truly rare. A number of teachers are said to be running their own private businesses. "Truant teachers are not new in Jamia ... claims a senior professor. "Teachers close to the power centres of the university are a law unto themselves ... A university functionary adds that such practices are common especially in departments where there are very few students.
In fact, the Jamia is being treated as a private fiefdom by a section of teachers, most of them from the Aligarh Muslim University. Those from other universities like the Jawaharlal Nehru University and the Delhi University are a microscopic minority. "This crossbreeding between the Jamia and the AMU is a threat to the university's healthy atmosphere ...
Jamia's administrative set-up is ravaged by fissures Says a former professor of Jamia: "People from Aligarh and Meerut have virtually usurped it. They fight to have their say in every affair". For the teaching community, it is indeed an ominous sign.
Another disturbing development is the growing chasm between students from Bihar and eastern Uttar Pradesh .. Then there is the growing rift between Muslim and non- Muslim students ...
The university has other more palpable shortcomings like poor hostel accommodation inside the campus. For the 12,000 strong student community, there are just four hostels ... Of these, event he largest, the S.R.K. Hostel, can accommodate only 200 students. But, the administration is yet to come up with plans for building a few more hostels, despite the availability of land ..
A large tract of university land has been under possession of encroachers right from the 1950s. According to a rough estimate, the Jamia has already lost landed property worth over Rs.100 crore apart from the land under dispute. Former vice-chancellor A.J. Kidwai tried to recover some of it without success. The present VC has recovered 47,000 square yards of the land so far.
There is no record with the university authorities on the amount of land under unauthorised encroachment ... To boot it all, the local populace manages to butt its nose in the day-to-day functioning of the university. Till 1952, Jamia was a voluntary organisation, surviving on donations from local Muslim leaders and organisations. After that, it began receiving government grants, and in 1958 was accorded the recognition of a central university ... The Muslim leadership is yet to reconcile to losing control over the institution, a prime reason behind the endemic tension in the Jamia ...
There are obvious signs of degeneration everywhere in the university that came into being in response to a call by Mahatma Gandhi to boycott all British aided educational institutions. Stalwarts like Maulana Mahmud Hasan, Hakim Ajmal Khan,+ Dr. Ansari and Dr. Zakir Hussain put their heart and soul into its growth. Today, Jamia is a shattered dream, promoting rank vice and pettiness in the name of higher education. "It is not the Jamia its founders had dreamt", says an old timer.
A.W.B. Quadri, who was with the Jamia's Department of Education from 1953 to 1992, does not mince words when he says that the university is in no way comparable to other central universities in the country. "Without any commitment and devotion, how do you expect Jamia to scale new heights of success?"
(Source: The Meantime, 11 November, 1999)
