Union Budget brings hope as well as despair for Rajasthan

JAIPUR: It might have been a faux pas on the part of those who prepared the text of the interim Union Budget presented in Parliament on Monday by External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee, but listing Rajasthan among the States where IIMs (Indian Institutes of Management) are to be opened this year has brought both hope and despair to the people here.

The initial excitement over the prospect of getting an IIM—soon after the commencement of an IIT, though yet without a decision where it would be located—in Rajasthan vanished on Tuesday when the authorities in the Union Human Resource Development Ministry made it known that they had no prior knowledge about the IIM proposal for Rajasthan and are not prepared for supporting it.

As for Rajasthan figuring among the three other States—Haryana, Jharkhand and Tamil Nadu— in the speech of Mr. Mukherjee, Ministry sources are unable to provide any convincing explanation.

Talking about higher and technical education, Mr. Mukherjee had said in his speech: “Teaching is expected to commence in four of the six new Indian Institutes of Management, proposed for the Eleventh Plan period from the academic year 2009-10. These are in Haryana, Rajasthan, Jharkhand and Tamil Nadu.”

The Union HRD Ministry maintains that in the Eleventh Plan period there is no provision for an IIM in Rajasthan.

The States scheduled to have IIMs during the period are Meghalaya, Tamil Nadu, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Uttarakhand, Haryana and Jammu and Kashmir. Among them, an IIM commenced functioning in Shillong (Meghalaya) the previous year while the other States are in the process of acquiring land and meeting other conditions.

Goof-up or not, Rajasthan is unlikely to give up what has been promised to it in the Union Budget speech, especially in an election year. “We don’t know anything about it being a mistake. The fact is that Rajasthan deserves an IIM. It is geographically the biggest State. The HRD Ministry should make provisions for setting up one here,” said Shanti Dhariwal, Rajasthan Minister for Industries and Higher Education, when contacted by The Hindu on Tuesday.

Not that Rajasthan has done well in accepting and accommodating centres of learning and excellence so far. The IIT sanctioned for the State by the Centre is functioning from outside (attached to IIT, Kanpur) as the politicians here have not yet settled the debate over which place it should be located in.