The 45th annual convocation of the Indian Institute of Management,Ahmedabad (IIM-A) was held on Saturday with 424 students graduating from five different programmes. In their addresses during the ceremony,both the chairman of the IIM-As Board of Governors and the director of the institution strongly advocated the grant of autonomy to the institution as well as the removal of stringent regulations in the countrys education sector. Vijaypat Singhania,chairman of IIM-As board of governors introduced Dr C Rangarajan,the chief guest at the function,as a person who fought for de-regulation that loosened the strangulating controls that governed our system. If it can work in the fiscal field,I want to suggest we give it a shot in the field of education as well. Let the government free it from the strangulating controls at all levels, Singhania added. However,Rangarajan,who is also the chairman of the Prime Ministers Economic Advisory Council,did not comment on the issue. Instead,he spoke about the need for a balanced view in the stringency of regulations in all aspects of the economy,especially in light of the recent recession and globalisation. IIM-A Director Professor Samir Barua echoed Singhanias views: If autonomy is withheld,future generations will hold us responsible for sowing the seeds of demise of some of the excellent public institutions of higher learning we have in the country today.
