The headlines-grabbing former chief election commissioner T. N. Seshan, still remembered as the watchdog of political correctness who sent shivers down the collective spine (if any) of politicians during his tenure as CEC, is alive, well and now an educationist in his new avatar as chairman and dean of the MIT School of Government (MITSOG), Pune. Sponsored by the Maharashtra Institute of Technology, Pune (estb. 1983), the flagship institution of the Maharashtra Academy of Engineering and Education Research, Seshan claims MITSOG is the first institution in Asia to offer formal education in social and political leadership to acquaint aspirants with the perils, pitfalls and trapdoors of Indian politics.

The school which commenced classes on August 15 with a first batch of 60 students has roped in the executive director of Pune’s MIT, Rahul Vishwanath Karad as its executive dean and boasts an impressive visiting faculty comprising several hardy perennials. These include L.K Advani, Mani Shankar Iyer and Margaret Alva, and promising young achievers like Rahul Gandhi, Jyotiraditya Scindia, Milind Deora, Navin Jindal, Sachin Pilot and Akhilesh Yadav.

Modelled on the lines of Harvard University‘s John F. Kennedy School of Government, MITSOG’s one-year postgrad residential diploma course is split into three semesters, each of 115 days with nine core compulsory subjects to choose from, including the Constitution of India, the five-tier structure of government, budget and finance, the Indian economy and communication (with special emphasis on public oratory and management). Optional subjects include planning, the legal system and corruption. Not that students will be poring over voluminous texts day after day. According to Seshan the stress is on practical training and national and international study tours, the cost of which is included in the Rs.2.75 lakh per year fee package.

However, there’s no campus placement or recruitment. All the institute promises is to churn out knowledge driven leaders of tomorrow whose governance will help professionalise Indian politics. With disciplinarian Seshan having designed the curriculum, there is a possibility of the emergence of a new class of politicians. At least they will lead the public up the garden path with greater finesse and refinement.

Departure from tradition

Academics in the wild east state of Bihar (pop. 86 million)- India’s most backward province by every known yardstick- are not known for their scholarship. But they are reputed for their innovative skills, especially in matters related to examination scams, fudging mark sheets and treading untrodden ways. This perhaps explains why the underground Ghorasahan University is sited in Bihar’s Champaran district near the Nepal border. Its distinguished alumni have made their mark as far afield as Delhi, Chennai, Chattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh.

The Bihar Police stumbled upon Ghorasahan University earlier this year when they arrested an evidently not-so-successful graduate, one Ganga Sagar Sah in Delhi with a cache of over 100 stolen mobile phones. Preliminary police investigations (which will be heard of no more) indicate that the university has been operational for three years during which 200 students have graduated with degrees in pick pocketing and thievery.

Ghorasahan students are reportedly put through a rigorous study programme. The academic year comprises four semesters of three weeks each. In the first semester, students learn to prepare detailed notes of their targets — buildings, shops, trading houses, corporate establishments etc. In the second semester, students receive exhaustive training in information gathering. In the third semester, they go out on “field assignments”, learning to sleep on pavements in the vicinity of target establishments and understanding their security routines. In the fourth and final semester, students learn over a dozen breaking and entering techniques.

Education loans are available to students by way of deferred fees to be reimbursed from future earnings and campus recruitment by Bihar’s notorious gangs, and often political parties, are celebratory annual events.

But then Bihar has a tradition for academic innovation. Nalanda, reportedly the world’s first university, now closed for business, was sited here.

Also read: Nalanda University

Wafting ill wind

Sometimes an ill wind sweeping through organisational corridors blows a lot of good. This is undoubtedly a sentiment to which Dr. Glenn Christo, vice-chancellor designate of the ambitious new Martin Luther Christian University of Meghalaya (MLCU) subscribes.

For almost two decades Christo served as planning director of the Bangalore and Manipal-based Manipal Education & Medical Group (MEMG)- India’s largest private sector provider of professional (medical, engineering, business management, pharmacy, nursing) education which has 55 teaching-learning institutions under its umbrella. As such Christo played a pivotal role in engineering the expansion of MEMG which currently has fully-fledged state-of-the art campuses in Nepal, Sikkim, Malaysia and Qatar.

But circa 2003, D.A. Prasanna former chief executive of Wipro-GE Medical, an individual with no previous experience of the education sector, was somewhat ill-advisedly appointed chief executive of MEMG. In short order, Prasanna fired Christo and John Stanley, finance director of the Manipal Group replacing them with handpicked favourites. Fortunately Prasanna’s stint as CEO was short-lived and he was replaced last year by Dr. Ranjan Pai who had been deputed to start up and operationalise the Melakka-Manipal Medical College in Malaysia.

Meanwhile Christo who attempted but failed to set up a Lutheran University based in Chattisgarh which was struck down with a few hundred other private universities by the Supreme Court, spent an interregnum in the wilderness until he was recently catapulted into the position of vice-chancellor of MLCU, backed by the powerful US-based Lutheran Church, which will be the first private university in Meghalaya. MLCU which has received all the necessary clearances from the Central and state government is all set to commence classes on October 17.

Indeed an ill wind which has wafted Christo high.