How Amartya Sen Nearly Crippled Nalanda University’s Revival

On 19 June 2024, Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the new campus of Nalanda University (NU) in Rajgir, Nalanda.

The idea for reviving the historic NU was put forward by former President Dr A P J Abdul Kalam in 2006. Nitish Kumar quickly pounced on the idea and provided land for the university on war footing.

The Manmohan Singh government then established a “Nalanda Mentor Group (NMG)” on 28 June 2007. It was tasked with providing governance structure, framework and structure of international cooperation and partnership among others. Amartya Sen was chosen as its head.

Sen’s appointment was controversial from the word go. His views on the Islamic invasion of India effectively created an intellectual shield for the oppressors. Despite that, intellectuals of the day did not raise their voice.

In his July 2011 letter sent to the minister of external affairs (MEA), S M Krishna, Dr Kalam said that posts like chancellor and vice-chancellor should be reserved for persons with extraordinary intellect and management expertise. He also advocated for both of them to be present in Bihar full-time.

Dr Kalam was probably hinting towards Sen holding the meetings for NMG in places like New York, Delhi, Tokyo and Singapore. Sen also paid only customary visits to Nalanda in nearly a decade-long tenure. No wonder, things never really got going during his tenure.

According to the CAG audit, NMG was required to submit final recommendations within nine months of its formation. The apathy was such that even after three years (36 months), ‘mentors’ led by Sen failed to submit the report.

The official response from the Manmohan government was that its terms of reference were extended under Section 8 of the Nalanda University Act, 2010.

Even if we assume that Sen’s actions were legitimised through the Act, there are cases of ignorance, bordering criminal misconduct.

NMG headed by Sen took key decisions like the formation of statutes, rules and regulations, and the creation of posts in NU among others between 2010 and 2016.

The problem is that NMG’s terms of reference (TOR) did not contain such recommendations.

In August 2010, the same NMG recommended Gopa Sabharwal (again against TOR) for the post of vice-chancellor. It even proposed a hefty salary of Rs 3.50 lakhs per month along with other allowances for the same. MEA agreed to pay Rs 2 lakhs plus allowances and Sabharwal joined as vice-chancellor on 8 October 2010.

In February 2011, NMG, discharging its duty as governing board increased Sabharwal’s salary to Rs 3.5 lakhs, which Sabharwal herself got reduced to Rs 2.5 lakhs in October. CAG noted that “arbitrary enhancement of approved salary resulted in excess payment of Rs 37 lakhs to the VC during March 2011 to February 2016.”

CAG also did not agree with the way in which schools were being established.

"The university failed to establish schools in time and could not start the construction of university campus work," the CAG report revealed.

Seven years after the report, things have changed quite a lot. The dreams of revival have survived the onslaught. More students, more faculties and world-class facilities are new priorities for the administration.