Fraudulent activities by Reliance

Editor,  

Reliance has asked its customers to port their numbers to other service providers. Being a former client of Reliance ( Assam Circle),  I applied for Mobile Number Portability from Reliance to Vodafone. It’s now over a month and there is no formal communication from any service provider relating the status of my MNP. When I asked Vodafone they said that my application is rejected due to wrong port code. In spite of providing all information and paying all my bills, Reliance is troubling its old customers.  Reliance was charging security money when the post paid connection was taken but they are not mentioning about returning that amount. Reliance Communication is really harassing its customers. Is the government authority aware of this? I appeal to the concerned authority to make some provisions to help out the existing customers get their portability as soon as possible. No communication for over a month is a problem and entails loss of business for each of us. Reliance or any other service provider must be transparent in the process and they must inform customers about the status of any application. It is difficult to locate any office of Reliance to get an update. This means they are not transparent with the customers. I have paid bills to Reliance without getting any service from them.  The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) should intervene and help out the customers to get number portability at the earliest.

Yours Etc

Ranjan K Baruah

Nayanpur, Guwahati

India’s ranking among world universities

Editor

India has been facing considerable challenges in getting recognition for her première institutes in the world university rankings for decades. Many are upset about this and think that the international accreditation and evaluation agencies are not fair towards Indian institutions. Very few in India are actually aware of the deplorable conditions of Indian universities that look superb only from the surface! The factors behind the chronic diseases of Indian universities are listed below:

1. Poor management and acute politicization of the funding, monitoring, evaluation and accreditation agencies in India is directly and indirectly impacting on the quality of education and research in universities across the country.
2. Unimaginable political influences within institutes of higher learning disturbing educational growth, culture and lack of proper management.
3. Negative influences of ruling political parties in the daily running of the institutes across India.
4. Most appointments in Indian universities are purely political, resulting in hiring of below average faculty with questionable credibility, accountability, expertise and necessary experience. The dedicated, apolitical, teaching and research minded faculty remain an ‘endangered’ group and are actually marginalized, pushed and overpowered by political appointees in most institutes.
5. The top management is too busy catering to their political masters; having little or no attention in upgrading university capability and infrastructure for decades.
6. Most heads of institutions have political loyalties hence universities have little opportunities of any independent decisions and development.
7. High level of corruption, nepotism, existence of self-destructive students, faculty and non-teaching staff unions.
8. There is very little or no awareness among Indian universities regarding the necessary parameters for international rankings, as a consequence they are unable to take appropriate steps to improve the ranking and visibility of the university. Many universities feel that having a clean campus, proper facilities for car parking and modern gymnasium facilities etc are essential components for international recognitions; which is light years away from what the actual requirements are.  
9. Poor quality publications.
10. Lack of credible international research collaborations.
11. Poor track record of attracting international students in most campuses.
12. Lack of available state sponsored international fellowships/scholarships for deserving candidates to go overseas for gaining valuable research experience in famous international campuses, and even those rare ‘geniuses’ that are selected have ‘admirable’ political contacts;
13. Most campuses do not even have the vision, funding, contact or credibility to attract reputed speakers from top overseas institutes to come and make a presentations in their campuses.
14. Private universities are being recognized as new frontiers of Indian education. Unfortunately, private Indian universities are money making machines with nice campuses and fat tuition fees. Majority of them have zero vision or credibility or interest to develop into world class campuses other than making huge annual profits for the business groups running these universities under some so called education trust. These universities are just factories churning out graduates in exchange for a fat tuition fee; that’s all. A publication brings nothing for them; but an additional student helps in lifting their bank accounts. Expecting private universities to make any change to the deplorable quality of Indian education system is a distant dream.
15. Under such a destructive atmosphere with every political party both at the Center, State and Union Territory being hell bent upon influencing the top institutes in India in their own color; it will be super challenging for any Indian university to make to the top global list.

Yours etc.,
Saikat Kumar Basu
Lethbridge AB Canada