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New Delhi:
The new
vice-chancellor of Jamia Millia Islamia may have his share of
critics who resent bureaucrats taking over academic positions, but
IAS-turned-energy economist Najeeb Jung is not letting that get to
him. Instead, he’s concentrating on his plans for the university —
and he has several.
One from the
original class of the legendary K Rau (of Rau’s Study Circle fame
that civil service aspirants swear by), he is very grateful to his
“guru and mentor” for the coaching and support which ensured that
the entire batch of 20 students that year — 1972 — “made it, and
they are all part of the establishment somewhere today”.
Inspired by
the model of Rau’s Study Circle, Jung wants to turn the coaching
centre for civil services at Jamia Millia into a top-class unit. He
wants it “to set targets of at least 10 students who make it each
year”.
Besides being
a bureaucrat, Jung has also served with the Asian Development Bank
and done a stint with Reliance before pursuing a doctorate in Energy
Economics at Oxford University. Now at Jamia, Jung is spending his
first few days meeting students, visiting hostels and getting a feel
of the 90-year-old university. He is not in a hurry, he says, nor is
he keen to reverse his predecessor Mushir-ul-Hasan’s projects.
But would he
consider renaming the Arjun Singh Road? “No. There are several
buildings here with different names. It has happened and why would I
want to fiddle with it or change it?” he says.
Among Jung’s
many plans, does he have one on how to deal with the university’s
various lobbies? “What I will do is not have my own group. That is
the only way of dealing with groups or lobbies. I am clear I want to
encourage research and teaching. I don’t want any undesirable
characters in the university.”
It was a year
ago that Jamia was embroiled in an unseemly controversy over the
Batla House encounter that also involved students from the
university. Jung is clear that the Batla House encounter was an
“aberration”. “It has not happened in the 90 years of this
university. My boys and girls come from and live in adjoining areas,
so there is a context of things outside the university. There are
several old boys who continue to live in adjoining areas, so there
is a sense of ownership they have over the university, a
relationship which is quite natural. But I would like to insulate my
students from any instability and disturbance that takes place there
so that classes go on and academic schedules are not disrupted.”
Though he is
aware of the problems students face in finding accommodation outside
the university, Jung says: “Even in university towns like Oxford and
Cambridge, it is impossible to have all students on campus. Some
will have to live outside. What we need to reduce is the stress
these young students go through.”
Jung, in fact,
has a radical plan. “I am keen to invite private sector builders to
build rooms outside the university and we would guarantee that a
certain number of students live in them. They will be neat and
clean, even if basic. That will change many things in our students’
lives.”
Jung, who
hails from an old Delhi family of freedom fighters, says his
nationalist moorings are “a perfect fit with Jamia Millia’s roots”.
On the demand to grant the university a “minority” character —
something that has plagued V-Cs ever since the university’s
executive council passed a resolution in 1995 to that effect — Jung
says: “Jamia is a central university, formed by an Act of
Parliament... As far as the call for granting it minority status
goes, that is something that the community as a whole would need to
negotiate with the government of the day.”
(Courtesy:
Indian Express)
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