No MCI, No UGC; Minister wants to have his way

Strange are the ways of functioning in the power corridors, so it seems. Instead of curing the disease, its symptoms are treated more often than not. When the issue of the capitation fee in medical colleges erupted in the media, suddenly the powers-to-be wanted to be seen in the media with their own wish list. Not only an ambitious blue print for reforms in the higher education mooted out, it was conveniently leaked to the media as well. The moot point here is what was the need to have a super regulator in the first place.

This attempt to remote control the academic institutions is nothing but an anti thesis of democracy, where the jurisdiction of independent bodies is being curtailed. After all, democracy is the art of decentralization of the power and not to decentralize it. If there are reports of corruption in states, should it mean that the centre should take charge of the states as well? What is the guarantee that the proposed super regulatory authority will be corruption free?

The basic tenet of democracy and the conventional wisdom suggests that power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. If there has not been a fool proof system in the admission procedure of medical colleges despite of so many regulatory bodies playing their role, how will the new super regulator do it without any check and balance mechanism.

Actually the whole business of getting into independent bodies is borne out of the desire to control the institutions. Not very long ago, the then Union Health Minister A Ramdoss tried his best to control the All India Institute of Medical Sciences by curtailing the wings of then AIIMS chief Dr Venugopal Rao. The move failed, thanks to the apex court intervention. And now is there another move to take control of the independent bodies, like the Medical Council of India, the University Grants Commission and the Bar Council of India. However, conventional wisdom would suggest that the centralization of power only adds to more corruption, but then probably wisdom has no place in the megalomaniac society.