Thaindian News

New Delhi, May 25 (IANS) Water Resources and Minority Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid Wednesday defended Environment and Forests Minister Jairam Ramesh over his remarks on the poor quality of research and faculty at India’s top technical and business schools.

“The academic atmosphere in which free exchanges take place is different from formal official announcements that are made by ministers in their capacity. I think we should not discourage informal academic exchange of views, whatever those views may be,” Khurshid told reporters here.

He was asked whether Ramesh’s remarks violated ministerial responsibility and if the central government endorsed his views.

Ramesh had, on the sidelines of a function here Monday, said there was hardly any worthwhile research done at Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) or at the Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) and had blamed the faculty for the poor quality of work being done by these institutions.

“There is hardly any worthwhile research from our IITs. The faculty in the IIT is not world-class. It is the students in IITs who are world-class. So the IITs and IIMs are excellent because of the quality of students not because of quality of research or faculty,” Ramesh, who is an alumnus of IIT-Mumbai from where he did his Bachelor of Technology in Mechanical Engineering in 1975, had said.

His comments evoked sharp reactions from both the academia and alumni of IITs and IIMs, some in his favour and others against.

However, Khurshid felt ministers should not create controversies, but noted there was no point for “debate or conflict” on the issue.

“I do not think we are free to trigger controversies. Ministers know what they have to say. But academic freedom in an academic institution is different from what you say in press conferences,” he said.

Pointing out to the views expressed by Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal on the issues raised by Ramesh, Khurshid said he supported it.

Kapil Sibal had Tuesday said Ramesh has an opinion on IITs and IIMs and he should be allowed to have it.

“I support the HRD minister’s views that if somebody has familiar knowledge of an institution and he expresses his views, we should be enriched by those views. I do not think this is a point for debate or conflict,” Khurshid said.

Congress distanced itself from Ramesh’s remarks and lauded the institutions’ contribution to Indian academics, saying it was not necessary for everyone to speak on every subject.

Party spokesperson Manish Tewari Tuesday said that he was not aware of the context in which Ramesh had made his comments and whether it was quoted in context or out of context.

“But so far as IIMs and IITs are concerned, there is no question or ambiguity about their contribution to Indian academics and even to building some of the prime institutions around the world,” Tewari had said.