The Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) is allegedly involving private consultants for policy making while keeping out representatives of faculties of public funded universities, teachers and office bearers of Delhi University (DU) have alleged.
However, a senior MHRD official denied the charge. “It has become a fashion to criticise any progressive step of the MHRD. The ministry has no business promoting private consultants or public consultants; the ministry is only concerned with promoting better higher education in the country. All the allegations are baseless,” the same senior MHRD official told The Sunday Guardian. “The MHRD recently floated a tender for hiring public relations agencies, and you will not believe that the step is facing massive criticism from a section of teachers of public funded universities. The ministry is giving a fair share to all stakeholders in policy-making initiatives and it will be a phoney assumption that experts are only working in public funded universities,” the MHRD official said. However, Rajesh Jha, one of the Executive Council (EC) members of DU, alleged: “Private universities have acquired a greater role in the policy making process of the MHRD and, comparatively, the participation of public funded universities has been reduced to nearly zero. In order to provide benefits