Thread on #InstituteofEminence and the #Jio drama. Stay with me till the end, if you can pls.
1. How do we define Crony Capitalism? When the govt makes rules that favour a few and gives these few an unfair (but, by virtue of these crafted rules, now legal) advantage over others.
1. How do we define Crony Capitalism? When the govt makes rules that favour a few and gives these few an unfair (but, by virtue of these crafted rules, now legal) advantage over others.
2. What was the govt's idea behind #InstituteofEminence? To unshackle higher education from UGC's regulations and monitoring.
Why? Coz govt believes these UGC regulations are bureaucratic, cumbersome and hold higher education institutes from delivering with flexibility
Why? Coz govt believes these UGC regulations are bureaucratic, cumbersome and hold higher education institutes from delivering with flexibility
3. Then, why not just wait and unshackle all of them? Why select only 5 running institutes to be free and another non-existent one to develop free of regulation?
4. In coming days, the govt is going to squeeze the rest hundreds of other higher education institutions of funds, turn their grants into loans and require them to seek more funds from market. Yet all of them would continue to be regulated by one or the other bureaucratic regimes
5. This would make life of these institutions more difficult (as if they are doing great right now) while the chosen few shall prosper free of regulatory oversight (at least financially). This is what an unfair advantage etched by the govt in the laws looks like.
6. This is what as my friend @misraudit said, is regulatory capture by the powerful over a weak govt. This unfair advantage over the rest, etched in rules, is worth it all, the super rich pvt players, whether its Reliance or Manipal, know. That's why they hankered for it...
7...Even when there is no money from the government to go with it. They get to grow taller in the higher education market by state fiat.
8. The non existent colleges getting the tag is plain stupid. Came out of an awkward arrangement govt tried to provide for a few to bypass UGC.
9. Is their any direct written proof of Reliance's #Jio institute being favoured by Modi? Of course not. But if you are asking for it from journalists you are only fooling yourself and your friends/readers
10. Instead ask the Modi govt to put all the applications, all minutes of proceedings and meetings, all deliberations in public domain - as the RTI Act requires. Especially records of all that transpired on it in the PMO. Stop blaming just the HRD ministry or minister for this.
11. Better still. Knowing the govt wont disclose voluntarily - it never has, file an RTI for it and put it in public domain - including a possible refusal of govt to share. Wait. Why am i telling you to do it? I shall do so today. And report back to you with the results.
End.
End.
Oh, and do tell particularly where you disagree. I would learn.
