With the poll scene warming up, Union Human Resources Development Minister Murli Manohar Joshi has discovered the political shades of the Mandal Commission controversy through his decision to reduce fees of the Indian Institutes of Management.
The issue can trigger an elite vs others discussion in urban areas and be interpreted as a move to deepen access of the poor to centres of education hitherto the preserve of the privileged.
The IIM Controversy: Complete Coverage
That Joshi is set to realise this potential is evident from the manner he promises to take the issue to a logical end -- to the peoples' court.
"There are deep-seated vested interests, which do not want that IIMs relate to the real India," he told Business Standard in an exclusive chat, indicating that he was trying to create access to management education for a large section of people, but the elite was resisting the endeavour to provide common people entry to an exclusive club.
Joshi believes that he has been vindicated by the Supreme Court's observations on Monday that not only questioned the locus standi of petitioners challenging the government decision to reduce the fee but also made critical references to the "elitist" approach of the IIMs.
The HRD ministry is enthused particularly by the apex court direction to the IIMs to submit their balance sheets before the court and explain reasons for charging such a high fee.
The ministry is working overtime to bring out facts, which repudiate the contention of those supporting high fees.
"The scrutiny of the balance sheets will expose many skeletons in the IIMs' cupboard," said a senior official of the HRD ministry.
Sources said the facts and figures marshalled by the ministry contradicted the IIMs' claim that the high fee was essential for providing quality education.
A study of the financial status of privately-run business schools indicated that the average cost of business education ranged between Rs 20,000 and Rs 40,000, said an official. "These institutions generate surpluses for the future expansion as well," he added.
But in the IIMs, education costs around Rs 400,000 per students (Rs 150,000 as fee and Rs 250,000 as the government support).
"Profiteering is the only rationale for keeping fees so high. This is against the national education policy and the apex court judgment," said an official. The Rs 90 crore (Rs 900 million) reserve created by the IIMs reflected this tendency, he added.
The ministry has also made comparisons between the IIMs and state-funded business schools in the US to highlight that while in the US public institutes charge only a quarter of the fee charged by private institutions, the IIMs are around ten times costlier than private business schools in India.
Joshi plans to use this logic during the election campaign to convince people that he is fighting for allowing the mass access to higher education by freeing it from the clutches of a few.
His insistence that the IIMs must shed their elitist approach and develop managers for agriculture, co-operatives and municipal corporations, is calculated to get peoples' support. As the issue continues to gather storm, Joshi is expecting to reap a political windfall.
