NEW DELHI, JULY 22
While Jawaharlal Nehru University stood second in National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) for 2022 and Jamia Millia Islamia bagged the third position in NIRF ranking, the budgetary allocations of JNU in fiscal 2021-22 has almost remained static compared to the previous year but funding of JMI has come down by about Rs. 68 crores in 2021-22 when compared to budgetary allocation in the previous fiscal.
According to details, overall funding of JMI increased from Rs. 264.48 crore in 2014-15 to Rs. 411.10 crore in 2021-22. But the budgetary allocations in 2021-22 fiscal was lower than that in 2020-21 which was Rs. 479.83 crore. The percentage of Muslim students in Jamia is about 63 per cent against 34 per cent Hindus and others account for the rest.
The funding of Aligarh Muslim University also came down sharply from Rs. 1520.10 crore in 2020-21 to Rs. 1214.63 crore in 2021-22. While JMI has been allocated Rs. 105.95 crore for the first quarter of the current fiscal, AMU has been provided Rs. 302.32 crore in the first quarter of the current year. In AMU, the ratio of Hindu-Muslim students in science stream is 60:40 while in B.Tech, Hindu students are 70 per cent and Muslims 30 per cent. Similarly, in MBBS, 85 percent students are Hindus and only 15 percent are Muslims. However, percentage of Hindus in arts subjects is less than Hindus.
Giving these details based on government’s reply to the questions raised by Congress MP from Kerala TN Prathapan, The Wire reported that funding increase in case of JNU among five central universities – JMI, AMU, Rajiv Gandhi University (RGU), Itanagar, Banaras Hindu University and JNU – was the lowest during the period between 2014-15 and 2021-22. According to figures doled out by the government in response to Congress MP’s questions, the total increase in funding for JNU in the last seven years was merely Rs. 70 crore.
However, BHU and RGU witnessed the biggest increase in funding in case of central universities. According to the government reply in Lok Sabha, funding of BHU jumped from Rs. 669.51 crore in 2014-15 to Rs. 13,03.01 crore in 2021-22, an increase of Rs. 633.50 crore.
In case of Rajiv Gandhi University, the funding increased from Rs. 39.93 crore in 2014-15 to Rs. 102.79 crore in 2021-22, which is an increase of about 250 per cent.
The ministry of education, according to report, replied that “the allocation of funds is made on the basis of requirements projected by the university and expenditure incurred during the previous year as well as the availability of funds.”
Vice-chancellors of JMI and AMU could not be contacted despite several efforts. JMI public relations officer Ahmed Azeem, in reply to a written question, told India Tomorrow that VC Najma Akhtar was in a meeting and he would get her reaction when she became free. There was no response to a written question from any AMU. No one at JNU picked up the call to respond the queries.
(With special arrangements with indiatomorrow.net)
