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Institutional meltdown
Farzand Ahmed
April 23, 2010
The suicide by Shrinivas Ramchanderan Siras has stripped away the veneer of a 90-year-old institution which is now in the news more for its electronic surveillance than its intellectual environment. Even as its Vice-Chancellor (V-C) P.K. Abdul Azis faces serious charges of corruption which are being investigated by a panel of two retired judges, four senior Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) officials-Proctor Zubair Khan, Deputy Proctor Farid Khan, Public Relations Officer Rahat Abrar and the V-C's Media Advisor NAK Durrani-are facing charges under various sections of the Indian Penal Code for criminal trespassing, physical assault and forcible disturbance of privacy rights. With its 400 security guards, eleven local intelligence units and 57 high-powered CCTV cameras monitoring the movement of its 1,100 teachers and 38,000 students, the university has completed the transition to becoming an enclave of paranoia.
AMU
AMU's imposing gate may be one of the few good things left about it.
AMU is no stranger to trouble. In the last 15 years, it has been closed down indefinitely six times. Three murders have taken place inside and outside the campus since September 2007. Violence reached a new level when on the night of September 16, 2007, students burnt down the V-C's Lodge, the proctor's office and the staff club to protest the murder of fellow students.
In the same month, women students indulged in violence on the basis of rumours that a student had been raped. The university was closed and the students' union was scrapped. In another incident in October 2009, students launched an agitation demanding the ouster of the V-C. The provocation was the killing of B.Sc student Shahnawaz Alam near the Aligarh railway station. The administration cracked down to quell the student agitation, closing the university and asking the students to vacate hostels.
Rahat
"AMU took action against Siras because according to its statutes what he had been indulging in was gross misconduct. Teachers should remember they are role models."
Rahat Abrar, PRO
But even for a central university in steady decline, this may well be the lowest point. Teachers don't have individual chambers for their academic work and there are no restrooms for the women faculty but the university was able to spend Rs 10 crore on installing CCTVs. In most departments, M.Phil classes had been stopped as students were forced to go in for Ph.Ds instead.
Likewise, in the Modern Indian Languages Department, which teaches seven regional languages, there are hardly any students as they are not encouraged to pursue different languages. Students are not allowed to raise any questions. Even meetings held on the campus to exchange views are now subject to police monitoring.
Prof
File pic: Professor Siras in front of AMU
As if having a network of intelligence- local intelligence units and CCTVs everywhere-was not enough, the authorities have stepped up moral policing of students and teachers, of the kind responsible for Siras' suicide. In a resolution, the Aligarh Muslim University Teachers' Association (AMUTA) demanded a judicial probe into the Siras episode, with the chief judicial magistrate ordering that an FIR be lodged.
Abrar, one of the officials named in the FIR, however, maintains that the teachers have to be role models. Sheikh Mastan, chairman of Modern Indian Languages, points out that though the letter revoking Siras' suspension was issued on April 5 it reached the department on April 8, a day after Siras was found dead.
According to Tariq Islam, who teaches philosophy, over the years AMU has turned into an island that lives in the dark ages. It used to produce historians, sportspersons, scientists, writers, artistes and film personalities but now people talk only about goons and guns. And the Siras case preceded by the V-C's decision to have 57 CCTVs installed on campus indicates that a 'madrassa mentality' is being imposed.
Former AMUTA president Naeem Ahmad Khan says under the illiberal environment on campus, everyone seems to have stopped thinking about academic excellence. He says in the past AMU used to groom leaders but since the campus became a kind of barracks everyone lives in a state of fear.
What's wrong with AMU?
Point
Counterpoint
Ever since P.K. Abdul Azis joined as V-C, he has turned the AMU campus into a 'police state'. It began with violence. The V-C's Lodge was set ablaze. There were reports that criminal elements frequented the campus and even stayed in hostels.
Azis is the first V-C to face corruption charges and the first against whom the President has ordered an inquiry. A fact-finding committee is already at work to probe the charges.
Why is the administration not investing in improving the infrastructure of the campus? An expert committee is already preparing a master plan for the restoration of the heritage buildings in the AMU campus and upgrading the existing infrastructure.
Is the plan to have an outside campus a conspiracy to destroy AMU? It was a well thought decision of the University court,the executive council and the academic council to establish five AMU centres at Bhopal, Kishanganj, Murshidabad, Mallappuram and Pune. AMU has already submitted to the Human Resource Development Ministry a proposal for the establishment of five centres at a total investment of Rs 2,000 crore, with an estimated cost of Rs 400 crore per centre.
But the V-C doesn't agree. All these ugly developments struck the campus when Azis was vigorously trying to get his agenda for 'academic rejuvenation' implemented. He invited the teaching and research community to recapture the spirit of inquiry that was once the hallmark of AMU, hoping that the university would unlock its academic potential with fresh optimism, discipline and diligence. The attainable goals included the submission of at least 500 Ph.D theses by the end of each year, the submission of research projects by at least 500 teachers to various national and international funding agencies with a target of Rs 200 crore for conducting new research in areas of national and regional importance, and the publication of at least one research paper annually by every teacher in the university in a peer-reviewed journal of international repute. Eager to change the face of AMU and the perception of the world about the university, Azis signed MoUs with several leading universities, among them John Hopkins and New York universities.
Jamshed
"CCTVs are aimed at creating an atmosphere of suspicion and fear among students and teachers. Their voices are suppressed so they can't demand better facilities."
Jamshed Siddiqui, Secretary, AMUTA
Even critics like Islam agree that the decline started in the 1990s when academics surrendered before the authorities. By 1992-93, goondaism on the campus in the name of student unions had crossed all limits. Taking advantage of this, successive V-Cs stopped all academic activities; even permission to hold seminars was denied.
When Azis took over in June 2007, the turbulence was at its height and he felt an iron fist was the only answer. Abrar says the decision to install electronic surveillance was taken after the burning down of the V-C's Lodge. "The Executive Council decided to revamp security on the campus and found that cameras were already installed in Delhi University and iit Delhi to keep a check on sexual harassment. The CCTVs are only aimed at campus roads, halls and hostel gates."
Vice-Chancellor
Vice-Chancellor Abdul Azis
Between 1995 and 2000, when Mahmood-ur-Rehman was the V-C, four closures took place. IAS officer Naseem Ahmad had to resign just before completing his tenure. As National Convener of the Aligarh Movement Foundation, Omar Peerzada says AMU, the grand institution of Muslim dreams, has been lying wounded for decades. What's worse, he points out, it's a "self-inflicted wound".
In the past too, hostels have been attacked by a group carrying AK-47s, rifles and kattas; teachers have been assaulted by students; Registrar Faizam Mustafa's house was attacked and his family providentially escaped. Then there was the murder of Manzar Safi within the hostel room and so on.
But AMU's tragedy lies in its inception. Parcham Party of India Chief Salim Peerzada, an AMU alumnus, traces the history to the 1920 Act through which it was upgraded as a university having a distinct minority character with the teaching of theology as a must. Since the Congress was against this, in 1951 the teaching of theology was made optional.
Elizabeth
"By turning the campus into a police state, authorities have caged the soul of AMU. How can students achieve excellence without academic freedom and free exchange of views?"
Elizabeth Mariam, Student
In 1965, the Centre through an ordinance annulled the past act and took over all powers. This led to a movement with Muslims being made to think that Congress had destroyed the last sign of Muslim nationalism. Indira Gandhi promised to restore AMU's minority character and the act in 1972 took away its autonomy. But in 1981 through an amendment, the government restored its position "to promote the educational and cultural advancement of Muslims of India".
At the heart of the problem is the 1981 Act whose Section 19(3) gives emergency powers to the V-C. According to a study by researcher Jasim Mohammad, one V-C used this emergency power 2,755 times while V-C Hamid Ansari used it 1,823 times and Mehmood-ur-Rahman used it 3,906 times. The V-C's emergency powers had made the administration autocratic and created a huge chasm with the students-teachers community. But until AMU is given a drastic shakedown, the police raj ends and academic freedom is restored, no emergency powers will be enough to implement Azis's academic agenda.
Farzand Ahmed, India Today, April 23, 2010
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