Critically examine why the draft Institutes of Management Bill, 2015, drafted by the Human Resource Development Ministry, is being criticised by many academics. Do you find merit in their criticism of this Bill? Comment. (200 Words)

Ans:

Theproposed IIM Bill 2015 proposes to grant statutory status to thirteen existing
Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) and declare them as Institutions of
National Importance to enable them to grant degrees instead of certificate and
Post Graduate Diploma, which lacked universal acceptability in the field of
academia and research.

The bill has been criticized on account of sweeping government control which will extend to an entire range of strategic and operational decisions of the institutes .Some of the proposed changes are :

1 Any change in curriculum, fees, course, remuneration, etc will need Center's approval.
2 Center will determine director's powers
3 Center will look into building maintenance
4 Board may lay down criteria to be followed by the Director but if they are
unsatisfied they should recommend inquiry against him to the Center
5 Pay variable pay to the director on basis of performance

I think the Criticism has merit because loss of autonomy of the IIM board to choose its director would mean institute will be centrally–governed rather than board governed. A centrally appointed director will be more accountable to the government than to its board. Also the emphasis is more on uniformity across the IIMs which ignores their diversity.

Government focus should be on creating more
number of institutes. Arm twisting in administrating a few premier institutes
will not help it to realise its goal of skill India.