The Indian Institute of Management Bill, 2015, which seeks to 'regulate' the premier management institutes in the country, has been heavily criticised as an attempt to encroach upon the institutes’ autonomy.
The veterans see it as a fight for power. The government, which had funded these institutes to grow in the interest of society and business education, seems to be getting lured by the power that the institutes have earned through their global reputation and brand name.
In an interaction with BusinessLine, Prof Samir Barua, former Director, IIM-A, said, “IIMs have had to fight for autonomy in every political regime. IIMA's apprehension about giving up autonomy has been the possibility of mis-directed enthusiasm for intervention by the government. The government after all is represented by a few individuals who occupy the decision-making positions at any point in time," said Barua.
Loss of Autonomy
What could be the fundamental basis behind the government's repeated attempts to snatch away autonomy of the institutes? To that, Barua responds, “It’s a question of power. The HRD ministry controls all the Centrally-aided 50 or so institutions. Of these, the 13 IIMs are the ones that are essentially run by their respective boards. And barring three (IIM - A, B, C), the government continues to fund the rest. When they fund, they would want to regulate. It is like he who pays the piper, calls the tune,” said Baura, who was the Director of IIM-A during the period November 2007- March 2013.
It was during Barua's tenure that the autonomy issue heated up post the RC Bhargava Committee recommendations, wherein it termed IIMs as public institutions and thus IIMs could not expect to be fully independent of the Government. During his tenure, the IIM Bill 2012 was introduced and was considered as a threat to the autonomy of the institute.
Recalling one of his interactions with the then Union HRD minister, Kapil Sibal, Barua said that a suggestion was made to make the Bill applicable to only those IIMs which received government funding. The suggestion would have allowed IIM A, B and C to retain their autonomy as enshrined in their respective MoAs and Rules. On that occasion, IIM-A succeeded in getting government approval for a revised MoA that provides for far greater autonomy than any other IIM including IIM-B and IIM-C. No other IIM has the extent of autonomy that is enjoyed by IIMA. “Thus, the loss of autonomy for IIM-A will be far greater than for any other IIM,” said Barua.
While there is a threat to the autonomy, the new draft IIM Bill 2015 also proposes to allow IIMs to award degrees. “The government is giving us an option that we are not craving for. We are very happy with the diplomas we award. Our diploma is much better recognised and valued than degrees that may be awarded by other schools,” says Barua.
Meanwhile, he also suggested alternate ways to make IIMs capable of granting degrees. “Without putting IIMs under AICTE or establishing them through an Act of Parliament (as is being sought now), the government can recognise the older IIMs (and other centrally-funded institutes such as IISc, Bangalore the older IITs) as institutes of national importance, based on their achievements and academic standing. It could permit these institutions to grant degrees. Such a proposal is likely to be supported by all parties,” suggests Barua.