Former Union Minister Santosh Gangwar has recently taken over as the new Governor of Jharkhand. The veteran political leader cum administrator in his new avtaar also happens to be the chief of all State universities as the Chancellor of Universities of Jharkhand.
In the parliamentary system of governance, most departments of the state government are headed by Ministers and the Governor has no more than nominal role to play. But as regards Higher Education, the Governor as the Chancellor is the be-all end-all. Sadly though most Chancellor’s in Jharkhand, including Gangwar’s immediate predecessor Dr. C. P. Radhakrishnan and his predecessor, Mr. Ramesh Bais appeared disinterested in University matters, thereby, adversely affecting higher education in Jharkhand.
After taking charge as the Governor of Jharkhand Mr Gangwar has interacted with the media on occasions and some of his statements on higher education have come out in the public. Most of what he has said is no different from what his immediate two predecessors had also been saying. By the nature of their similarity it appears that these statements are based on the briefings of officials in the Rajbhawan. Naturally, these have failed to generate any enthusiasm.
What the higher education fraternity of the state want to hear from the new Chancellor is how soon he is going to appoint Vice Chancellors in four state universities and two Pro Vice Chancellors against posts that are vacant for more than a year now. Teachers of universities and colleges would want to hear how soon he is going to restore vacations that his predecessor had unilaterally curtailed in violation of UGC regulations and University Acts and statutes. The higher education fraternity, more the students, would want to hear from him when he is going to take initiatives for appointments of regular teachers and non-teaching staff against the huge vacancies in the universities across Jharkhand. Then of course there is the issue of backlog of promotions. In neighbouring state Bihar even teachers appointed in 2003 have been promoted as Professors. At Jharkhand, those appointed in 1981 and 1996, despite fulfilling all requisites, are lurking to get promoted as Professors. Meanwhile many have retired. Some are no more.
These are not the only issues. There are more. But how does a Chancellor come to know of the real issues. Well he has to hold meetings with stake holders i.e. with teachers, non-teaching staff and students. But this has never happened in Jharkhand.  At times we do hear of some meetings held at Rajbhawan over issues of Higher Education. Who attends these meetings? All, except the stake holders.  A good many officials, Vice Chancellors and Pro Vice Chancellors attend.
Who decides the agenda of such meetings? It is surely not the stake holders. As such lengthy discussions are held on non-issues as the core ones either get left out or are attended in haste. Until this change, can the Higher Education scenario in state be overhauled? The answer lies in the future and with Mr. Gangwar. Will he or will he not!