Guwahati: Refraining from directly charging universities and colleges of churning out ‘protestors and agitators’, Union Minister for Rural Development Jairam Ramesh on Saturday said the institutions should concentrate on producing more academicians and researchers, particularly in North East region.
Speaking at a programme organised by the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), Guwahati campus, here, Ramesh said, “The institutions must produce more academicians and researchers, not protestors and agitators, which this region anyway has in plenty.”
“The region doesn’t need any more protestors; it needs scholars and researchers,” he said.
Stressing on the role of academicians in nation-building, Ramesh said, “India needs independent scholars, who are politically unbiased and can lead for change and progress.”
Highlighting the importance of social sciences and institutes like the TISS that offers such courses, Ramesh urged students and young scholars to take up programme evaluation issues.
“For instance, crores of rupees are coming to the NE region for providing safe drinking water and sanitation facilities. There can be programme evaluations by the academicians and students,” he said.
The Union Minister added, “We now do only post-mortems, the need is for concurrent evaluation by independent organisations.”
He also warned against “growth skeptics’ being produced by social services studies.
“Social services courses have produced a large number of growth skeptics. There is a need for faster economic growth, not just inclusive growth, otherwise the problems of poverty and backwardness cannot be addressed,” Ramesh said. The Union Minister reiterated his stand on need for better faculty at the best institutes of the country, along with the best students.
Ramesh also said the North Eastern states of India, though politically linked to the mainland, have greater stake in terms of economy with its neighbouring countries.
He pointed out that the geographical proximity of the region with numerous nations of the Asian continent placed it in an advantageous position to extract maximum benefits with greater economic ties with these countries.
‘Assam needs greater integration with rest of the country in the economic front; but it also needs such links with its neighbouring nations,’ Ramesh said.
He added, ‘In fact, the state of NE are politically integrated with India but could do with more economic integration with its neighbouring nations.’
The Union minister also emphasised the need for ‘independent scholars’ in the country who are ‘politically unbiased and can lead in change and progress’ and said the universities and colleges had an important role to play.
He was speaking at a programme organised by the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), Guwahati campus, here as part of this day-long visit to the city. (UNI)