Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s cousin Professor M Abdul Hussain Sikdar cum Vice Chancellor of Dhaka’s Atish Dipankar University of Science and Technology (ADUST) whose pre-registration for doctorate under Ranchi University’s (RU) Post Graduate (PG) Anthropology was recently approved has to overcome several hurdles in the coming days.
Though the Departmental Research Council (DRC) has approved his pre-registration for research on ‘Family Planning in Bangladesh’ under the guidance of former Anthropology head Dr Karma Oraon but officially he cannot begin the research on the same unless the PG Research board approves his topic and confirms that he has a Research Visa.
“like other pre-registered scholars, Sikdar has to submit five photo copies of his research synopsis, publication papers of his guide, No Objection Certificate (NOC) of his respective working organization along with a copy of valid research visa to the PG Research Board. The meeting of his Research Board has not been held in the past six months. Once it approves, then only Sikdar can easily undertake his research,” a senior officer of the university said.
Sources in the university mentioned that they are still not sure whether the Bangladesh VC had disclosed details about his visa in front of the DRC. The sources added, “The norms of RU clearly mention that a foreign scholar must have research visa since he or she is not judged on the basis of National Eligibility Test or any other fellowship entrance examination. If such a candidate procures a research visa within six months of his or her pre-registration, we can approve the registration. He can’t hold his pre-registration merely on grounds of a traveller’s visa.”
PG Anthropology department head Dr Kanchan Roy shared the hurdles being faced by Sikdar before his pre-registration in January this year. He said, “Sikdar was earlier registered under our former head VS Upadhyay who suddenly died. Then, it obviously created a problem forcing him to search for a new guide.” Recent media statements highlight that he could not complete his research work within the stipulated timeframe. As a result, he had to represent his research synopsis during a pre-registration PhD seminar at RU on January 29 wherein the DRC had approved his synopsis.
“The registration process is a time-taking affair,” said Dr Karma Oraon. Roy, on the other hand, maintained that Sikdar will be doing the second PhD of his life. He had done his first PhD from America on ‘Community Research in Valuation and Advance Communication’.”