The alacrity with which the former HRD minister has jumped to the defence of the present incumbent — on the issue of offshore campuses for IIMs — may strain one’s credulity somewhat. But Murli Manohar Joshi and Arjun Singh have more in common than may be imagined if one went strictly by their political colours. Look at the way they both saw the rewriting of history textbooks as their ministry’s flagship project. Observe how they systematically planted their own people in every significant cultural or educational institution. Now please notice how they display a similar instinct to bury our Indian Institutes of Management.Joshi’s record on this score is of course impeccable. The last year of the NDA government was marked by the good professor’s spirited attempts to slash IIM tuition fees from Rs 1.5 lakh to Rs 30,000. No argument, no appeal to rationality, worked with him. It was pointed out at various fora, including in these columns, that India has better things to do with its money than subsidise an education in business management; that bank loans for poorer students was the rational way to deal with the problem of high fees, and so on. But to little avail. Joshi’s passionate espousal of cheap IIM courses did not even ensure him a electoral win in the last general elections. But he still hasn’t got the message, it seems, going by his recent reiteration that IIMs are the government’s handmaidens and should operate only in India. Perhaps he believes in the ancient adage that the best way to destroy an enemy is to make him a friend.The most effective response to HRD Minister Arjun Singh’s objection to an IIM being allowed to emerge in Singapore, came from the visiting Singapore minister, Goh Chok Tong, himself. The loss, he said, would be India’s. By insisting that IIMs operate within the national borders, the HRD ministry is in effect clipping their wings. The professional and financial dividends of being located in the academic centres of the world are immeasurable, and are just what institutions of excellence like IIMs require in order to deliver — not just in foreign locales, but within India.
