Of IIMs, IITs, FTII and ISI

On 26 June, I watched a webcast streamed from a classroom of the Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Ahmedabad, on a panel discussion on the draft IIM Bill designed by the Ministry of Human Resource Development. The panel comprised the current director of IIM-A, a faculty member, and a member of IIM Society. The webcast is still open for viewing at the following link: http://estv.in/iima. The panel discussion concludes with advice to Smriti Irani’s ministry to “Kill the Bill.” One should see the whole webcast to understand the logic behind this recommendation and how the panelists argue against the motivations of the government.

Concerned Indians need to seriously question what the Narendra Modi government is doing in all spheres of life, from the state-level bans on cow slaughter to the promotion of mythologies in education, to the demoralisation of excellent professional institutions like IIMs, Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), the Film and Television Institute of India (Pune), and the Indian Statistical Institute (Kolkata). Add to this list, the abolition of the Planning Commission and some more institutions that may be in the pipeline. There is a pattern, and it is worrying. Let us also not forget that the killers of rationalists like Narendra Dabholkar and Govind Pansare are still at large. Dabholkar and Pansare were institutions of excellence in themselves. When such systematic destruction of open society is underway, I wonder how one can practise and promote yoga and call Rajpath, Yogapath? The man behind this, Narendra Modi, is in vipassana (keeping quiet) mode these days and seems to still have hypnotised people who count on him. I hope that both will wake up from their yoganidra.