Indian Institutes of Management bill 2023

The government has shown courage in seeking to restore accountability in the IIM system  

 In 2017, Parliament passed the Indian Institutes of Management (IIM) Act

1 The Act, which hugely expanded the autonomy already enjoyed by the IIMs

 2 It requires the Board of Governors (BoG) of the IIMs to make  independent review of the institutes at least once every three years and place the report in the public domain.

3  Six years on, very few of the 20 IIMs have done so

 Among the top four IIMs, only the review report of IIM Bangalore is available on the website. 

The 2023 Bill 

 No government can take kindly to non-compliance with an Act of Parliament. The 2023 Bill seeks to take back from the IIMs the powers that the government ceded / provided  in 2017. 

The government seems to have judged that a dangerous governance vacuum has been created in the IIM system in the years since it relinquished control over these institutes.

Provisions of the Bill

The 2017 legislation 

1 was an extraordinary act of self-abnegation / not accept by the government. 

2 All key appointments

— of the chairperson and board members, the director and the chairperson of the Coordination Forum of the IIMs — were left to the BoG.

3 The government reduced the presence of the Central and State governments on the Board from four members to two.

The 2023 Bill seeks 

1 to undo many of the provisions of the earlier Act.

2 It creates the post of Visitor -  the President of India. 

The Visitor will appoint

• the chairperson of the BoG,
•  one nominee on the selection committee for the director,
•  and the chairperson of the Coordination Forum for the IIMs. 
• He or she will also approve all director appointments. 

• The Visitor can initiate any review of or inquiry into the affairs of an institute and remove the director on his or her own.

reason 

 1 government has been unhappy with the IIMs for their lack of responsiveness to queries and suggestions in recent years. But there is more to the about-turn.

2 There has been turbulence in the IIM system 

• At IIM Ahmedabad, faculty and alumni were up in revolt against the then director’s decision to change the institute’s logo, 

• and to demolish the Louis Kahn structures on the campus which are widely regarded as among the architectural marvels of our times.

 3 At IIM Calcutta

the majority of faculty signed a petition against the director’s way of functioning. 

The BoG took the extraordinary step of curtailing her powers following which she left before the end of her term. 

4 At IIM Rohtak

 the government is locked in a legal battle with the institute over the director’s continuance in office. 

5 evidence suggests that some IIMs lower in rank have become petty tyrannies  / अधिकार करने के लिए निर्मम और अन्‍यायपूर्ण बलप्रयोग in which the director holds unchallenged sway. 

6 There has also been a relentless rise in the fee for the MBA course, which is not related to the costs of the course.

7 The IIM Act created a situation where there were no meaningful checks and balances on the director. 

The absence of norms on key matters, such as the 

• appointment of dean, had been evident even in the years leading up to the IIM Act as the government increasingly adopted a hands-off approach. 

8 दो सरकारी नामांकित व्यक्तियों ने निष्क्रिय भूमिका निभाई 

निदेशक एक बीओजी के प्रति जवाबदेह बन गया जिसमें दो सरकारी नामांकित व्यक्तियों ने निष्क्रिय भूमिका निभाई। उद्योग जगत के व्यक्ति, पूर्व छात्र/पूर्व छात्र आदि, जो बोर्ड के बाकी सदस्यों में शामिल हैं, की अपने संबंधित संस्थानों में कोई हिस्सेदारी नहीं है और आवश्यक निरीक्षण करने के लिए कोई प्रोत्साहन नहीं है।

Many ask: how do private universities in the U.S. fare so well under boards of trustees? 

1 There are several reasons. Private universities are funded through large endowments /donation of money ; the state supports research. 

2 They are not in the game of making large profits on their academic courses. 

3 Boards are manned by large donors who have a deep emotional connect with the institutions. 

4 Educational institutions operate in a competitive environment that imposes almost the discipline of financial markets on boards. These factors don’t operate here.

Government control

our goverment doing good ? 

1 The state-controlled universities in the California systemwhere the Governor of the state often sits on the board, are among the best in the world. 

2 Government control has not kept the IITs from creating a brand that is way above that of the IIMs. 

सरकार का यह कदम शायद मध्यम वर्ग के उन वर्गों को पसंद नहीं आएगा जो कम से कम एक बच्चे को अग्रणी आईआईएम में दाखिला दिलाना चाहते हैं। 

हालाँकि, अब तक का फैसला यही होगा कि सरकार ने आईआईएम प्रणाली में जवाबदेही बहाल करने का साहस दिखाया है।

 किसी भी सार्वजनिक संस्थान को लोकतांत्रिक जवाबदेही के सिद्धांत से छूट नहीं दी जा सकती। और सरकार और संसद के प्रति जवाबदेही बिल्कुल भी जवाबदेही न होने से बेहतर है।