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Chandigarh: There may
be many aspirants eagerly wanting to occupy the chair of the
country's prime minister but a 'chair' in the name of incumbent
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh at his alma mater, Panjab University
(PU), here is waiting for a distinguished occupant.
The university, which has been unable to find a suitable person to
occupy the Dr. Manmohan Singh Chair in the Department of Economics
since it was instituted in 2009, has now decided to offer the
chair to Ajit Singh, an Emeritus Professor of Economics at the
University of Cambridge and a Life Fellow at Queen's College,
Cambridge, UK.
"The (PU) Syndicate has unanimously accepted the recommendation of
the committee chaired by Professor R.P. Bambah (former PU vice
chancellor) to extend an invitation to Professor Ajit Singh to
offer him Dr. Manmohan Singh Chair," a senior university official
said here.
Ajit Singh, an alumnus of PU itself, began teaching economics at
Cambridge in 1965.
"He has been a senior economic adviser to the governments of
Mexico and Tanzania and a consultant to various UN developmental
organisations, including the World Bank, the ILO, Unctad and UNIDO.
During his economics career in Cambridge, Professor Singh has
published several books and monographs as well as nearly 200
research papers, including 90 in refereed economic journals," the
Queen's College website states.
The varsity's move to offer the chair to Ajit Singh comes after it
failed to get the acceptance of Nobel laureate and leading
economist Amartya Sen. The chair was offered to Sen in July 2010.
The university, which is listed among the University Grants
Commission's (UGC) 'Centre of Excellence' category, has been
unable to rope in eminent scholars of varied fields to occupy
specially instituted chairs for high-end research work.
"Most of eminent people at the international level are not
interested to come here. The academic environment too on the PU
campus is not such that internationally renowned people would be
eager to come here," a senior faculty member from the social
sciences department told IANS, requesting anonymity.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had done his graduation (BA honours)
and masters degree from PU in the early 1950s. He later joined the
Department of Economics in PU and became a full professor at the
young age of 32 years. He left the university later.
"It looks like a healthy gesture that a renowned economist has
been invited for this chair. It will be a matter of pride for PU
if he accepts the invitation," sociologist Manjit Singh, a former
president of the Panjab University Teachers' Association (PUTA)
said.
Some of the faculty members on the campus are, however, sceptical
whether Ajit Singh will accept the invitation.
"Someone who has been associated with the University of Cambridge
for over 45 years may not accept this invitation," a faculty
member said.
The Dr. Manmohan Singh Chair is not the only one waiting for a
suitable candidate. Some of the other specially instituted chairs
in PU have been vacant for years. The vacant chairs include the
Guru Nanak Study chair, the Bhai Veer Singh chair (on comparative
literature), the Guru Ravi Dass chair (on Sant Sahitya studies),
the Shiekh Baba Farid chair (on medieval Punjabi literatrure), the
Tagore chair, the Mulk Raj Anand chair and the Dayanand chair on
Vedic studies.
As per university officials, a chair is created in the name of a
visionary, scholar or renowned personality on a particular subject
to provide a platform for research work.
"It was unusual for PU authorities to name a chair on a living
person (Manmohan Singh). My people have linked it to sycophancy,"
a senior PU official said.
Established in 1882 in Lahore city, now in Pakistan, PU was
re-located to its present sprawling campus in Chandigarh's Sector
14 and 25, in 1956 after the country's partition in August 1947.
It is one of the oldest universities in the country.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh leads the list of known alumni from
the university. Three of his present cabinet colleagues - Human
Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal, Urban Poverty
Alleviation Minister Kumari Selja and Parliamentary Affairs
Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal - are also PU alumnni.
Another past prime minister, Inder Kumar Gujral, is also an
alumnus of the university. Former president Shankar Dayal Sharma,
who died in 1999, was also from the university.
Other notable alumni from PU include: present Leader of Opposition
in Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj, her husband and former governor Swaraj
Kaushal, Nobel laureate Har Gobind Khorana, astronaut Kalpana
Chawla, first Nobel laureate from Pakistan Mohammed Abdus Salam,
country's first woman IPS officer Kiran Bedi, Haryana Chief
Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, Punjab Deputy Chief Minister
Sukhbir Singh Badal, Jammu and Kashmir Governor N.N. Vohra, actor
Anupam Kher and singer late Jagjit Singh.
(Jaideep Sarin can be contacted at jaideep.s@ians.in)
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