HRD Ministry’s slackness in giving a final shape to the Indo-US joint initiative for academic excellence programme in central universities is said to have not gone down well with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, especially since there’s just a handful of days left before US President Barrack Obama descends here to take part in the Republic Day function.
The US had agreed to the proposal of Global Initiative for Academic Networks (GIAN) during the Modi-Obama meet in Washington. India had agreed to host about 1,000 science and innovation academicians from the US to teach here. “With this initiative, Indian students could experience the best of Indian scientists and US academicians,” said a HRD Ministry official.
The HRD Ministry was tasked to work on the modalities, draft proposals and financial aspects to invite US academicians on short-term basis at various institutions. However, it was on Monday that the Ministry went into an urgency mode after Modi is believed to have asked Irani to expedite the process in view of the fact it is on the agenda of his meeting with the US President.
Following Modi’s directive, while Irani cancelled all her meetings for the day, including one scheduled at FICCI on Swami Vivekananda, the Ministry convened an urgent meeting of select IIT and IIM Directors, JNU VC and representatives of a few central universities besides the UGC chairman to deliberate on the issue. HRD Secretary SN Mohanty tasked the IIT Kharagpur Director PP Chakraborty to draft the note pertaining to the crucial GIAN objective and also the financial aspects including honorarium for the visiting faculty.
However, a close aide of the HRD Minister maintained that she was not well and that is why all her day’s meeting had to be cancelled.
The idea of GIAN is a brainchild of Modi and he had personally discussed the idea with Obama, who extended his full support to India. GIAN is a talent pool of eminent scholars from India and abroad to teach at centrally funded institutions of excellence in India.
Following the Modi-Obama meet in Washington last year, a joint statement was issued then which stated: “The President (Obama) welcomed India’s proposal to establish the Global Initiative of Academic Networks (GIAN or knowledge) under which India would invite and host up to 1,000 American academics each year to teach in Centrally-recognised Indian universities, at their convenience.”