The government's populist agenda of forcing the IIMs and other business schools to slash their rates in line with its recommendations, just ahead of elections, may soon usher in their decline. A report by Uday Chatterjee

HRD minister Murli Manohar Joshi's agenda for the Indian Institutes of Management and the Indian Institutes of Technology is hardly as hidden as his party's agenda, which dodges in and out from behind the National Democratic Alliance agenda. And what one can see of Joshi's agenda is not a welcome sight.

Joshi has made no bones about the fact that he wants more control over these institutions, if necessary by hostile means. Towards this end, he summoned the directors of the six IIMs last week and issued a fatwa declaring that the IIMs' annual course fee be reduced from Rs.1.5 lakh to Rs.30,000. Further, to establish that he would henceforth call the shots, Joshi ordered the six IIM directors to report compliance of his edict.

The HRD ministry in its order to the directors of the IIMs said that the decision of reducing the fee was taken after considering a recent Supreme Court ruling (on the fee structure for professional colleges) and a review of the U R Rao Committee's recommendations (on the intake of students in professional colleges).

It hardly mattered that Rao himself is reported to have stated that his recommendations were meant for institutes affiliated to the All India Council of Technical Education and not the IIMs or IITs. He clarified in Bangalore that his report pertained to the over-900 other management institutes and 1,200 engineering colleges in the country. What is worse is the denial of this report to the IIMs.

Observing that the fees charged by the IIMs at Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Kolkata, Lucknow, Indore and Kozhikode were exorbitant, the ministry pointed out these institutions were funded by the central government and their financial requirements were met through the Union Budget.

The release from the ministry further said, "After careful consideration of all aspects, it has been decided that the fees for the post-graduate programmes in the IIMs should be fixed at Rs.30,000 per annum. No other charges or fees should be levied from students, except mess charges."

The sources of revenue for the IIMs are course fees, research, executive management programmes, consulting fees, interest earned on corpus funds and grants received from the government. For the IIMs at Ahmedabad, Bangalore and Kolkata, which were established much earlier, course fees account for around 25 per cent of their total income. For the IIMs at Lucknow, Indore and Kozhikode, established later, course fees comprise nearly 50 per cent of total income.

The country is justifiably proud of the excellent track record of the IIMs. To impart world-class quality management education to its students, the IIMs spend three to four lakh rupees per student every year. The student pays 1.5 lakh and the IIMs and the government foot the rest of the bill. Now, to meet the shortfall due to the reduction in fees, the IIMs will have to have their representatives lobbying permanently in the corridors of the HRD ministry. Not exactly very edifying for an institution of excellence!

Nothing could have suited Joshji better. And to prepare for this eventuality, he has asked the former comptroller and auditor general of India, V K Shunglu (who is investigating the CAT scam) to find out how much money the IIMs really require to impart world-class management education at their campuses. 

Joshi seems to be harbouring doubts about whether a sum of Rs.4 lakh is really required to offer a type of education where the only tools you require are text books and note books and not expensive laboratories and production equipment as in science and engineering courses. And so, logically what the IIMs actually require, according to him, was something that would bring down the cost per student per annum substantially. This will enable him to force these institutes to dilute their standards to double the intake of students - a masterly stroke, executed at a time when it could yield handsome dividends - it's election time.

The HRD ministry has announced that it does not plan to interfere with the IIM curricula, but would "advise" them regarding specialisation in courses. Yet Joshi himself has stated that "We want the number of students to increase and have also suggested changes in the curriculum."

Ever since Joshi entered the HRD ministry he has been rightly or wrongly suggesting changes in curricula to suit a certain colour - be it changing the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) textbooks or singing Saraswati vandana in schools. And given Joshi's penchant for all things swadeshi, students at the IIMs can soon expect to read courses like - how about 'The Importance of Astrology in Business Forecasting'?

The students, faculty and alumni of the IIMs, who know a thing or two about excellence in educational institutions, are outraged. A survey carried out among the students at IIM Ahmedabad showed that 90 per cent of the students are against the reduction of course fees as, they fear, it will compromise the quality of their education.

A similar survey amongst students at IIM Kolkata has also brought out stiff resistance to Joshi's moves. An overwhelming 90 per cent of the respondents felt this "intrusion" would only lead to a fall in the standards of the IIMs. Almost 89 per cent opposed the decision to slash fees while 90.27 per cent expected a fall in academic standards if fees were reduced. And 79.10 per cent affirmed the current fee structure was affordable, given various sources of funding, while 77.11 per cent felt the facilities provided on the campus would be drastically affected if the government decision was implemented.

The poll also revealed that over 53 per cent of the students were from modest, middle-class backgrounds with annual family incomes below Rs.300,000. Those from families with income above Rs.500,000 were just 16.68 per cent.

Prof. B.K.Sinha, who retired from IIM Kolkata, says the institute had been operating independently on its 1981 budget. Ever since the IIM budgets were frozen by the government in 1990, they started increasing fees to improve their corpus. After 12-13 years, he wonders, why does the government want to "lend a helping hand"?

The students selected by the IIMs pass through a rigorous combined admission test (CAT), and entry is based entirely on merit. They are the cream of the nation and it is for the benefit of the nation that the government and India Inc. - which is on the threshold of emerging as a key player in the globally competitive markets - that the best talent be nurtured with the best education. Here compromising on costs will be counter productive.

For a deserving student, the fee is not an impediment to joining an IIM. Scholarships and loans on easy terms are available and, given the reputation and brand that the IIMs have built over the years, the students are able to repay the loans in no time after the institutes place them in lucrative jobs even before their graduation.

The fee structure of institutions like the IIMs and the IITs are decided by the board of governors of these institutes, which comprise distinguished personalities from industry and education. Till date, no one has quarrelled with the fee structure - not even the government.

To be sure, the government grants funds and it has the right to know where the money is going. The government is also accountable to Parliament, which has the right to ask questions. But this has been going on for over 40 years and till now no one has even raised a finger on the workings of these institutions. The sudden change of tack on the accountability issue suggest the propagation of an agenda

The much-revered N R Narayana Murthy, chairman and chief mentor of Infosys, who is also chairman of the board of governors of IIM Ahmedabad, came out in public expressing his dissent on the ministry's moves - ironically at a convocation at IIM Bangalore, on 17 February. He called the ministry's decision "retrograde, appalling and not based on data".

It is now for the discerning public, students, faculty and industrialists to take the cue from Narayana Murthy and build strong public consciousness and opinion, which alone can stop the marauding minister in his tracks.