REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE OF MEMBERS OF PARLIAMENT AS HIGHER EDUCATION 1964.

 HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

India has a tradition of scholarship. From time immemorial this country has attached importance to a search for higher knowledge and its difiusion. We had in ancient India universities such as those at Nalanda and Takshila. According to Heuan Tsang, Nalanda University alone had 12,000 students. We gather from the historical material available to us that the teacher-pupil ratio was 1:10 at Nalanda. Knowledge, both temporal and spiritual, was imparted in these institu- tions of higher learning and it is well known that the ancient Hindus had made significant advances in mathematics, astronomy, medicine and philosophy. Before the advent of British administration in this country and particularly during the Mughal period, this country had a magnificent system of 'Madarasas', 'Makhtabs' and 'Pathshalas' where higher education was imparted in the literatures and the sciences of those days.

2. The British advent in India made a change in the pattern of the educational system followed by our country. In its early years the East India Company took hardly any interest in helping the foundation of any educational institutions in this country. The Regulating Act of 1773 passed by the British Parliament made considerable changes in the government of this country as it provided it with a Governor-General who had an Executive Council to assist him for managing the administrative affairs of Bengal and other parts of the country which had come under the control of the East India Company. The earliest institution founded by Warren Hastings, the first Governor-General of this country, was the Calcutta Madarasa in 1781. It was followed by the establishment of the institution known as the Sanskrit College at Banaras by the acting Governor-General Mr. Jonathan Duncan. These institutions, however, concentrated on oriental learning. It was under the persuasive eloquence of Lord Macaulay, helped and aided by Raja Ram Mohun Roy and other Indians of progressive and modern outlook that the decision to introduce in India education on western lines was taken in 1835 by the East India Company. Whatever may have been the motives guiding the British administrators of those days, the decision must be regarded as a landmark in the history of this country in evolving a system of education suited to modern requirements. Soon after the first War of Independence and the transfer of power from the East India Company to the British Crown, the Calcutta University war, established in 1857. Universities were also established in Madras and Bombay in the same year. Colleges sprang up in various parts of the country where English education was imparted. Progress in this direction was slow but the efforts of government were aided in this respect by Christian missionaries and non-official Indian agencies.

3. The question of education in all its aspects was reviewed by the Commission of 1882. A university was established in the Punjab in 1882. It must be made clear that the system of Government, in which the people of the country had hardly any share, evolved by the British was completely unitary-the so-called provinces being subject to the control of the Governor-General who had to take orders from the Secretary of State, who as a Member of the British Cabinet was res- ponsible to the British Parliament for the good government of this country. Advantage was taken of a few facilities offered for higher education by some Indians belonging to the well-to-do classes. The period saw the growth of public opinion and the rise of the national movement. The British administrators of those days were alarmed at the rise of an educated class saturated with national ideas which they looked upon as a source of potential danger to their interests as an alien power in India. They had no love for the new middle class which was springing up as a result of contact with modern thought. In 1902 a Universities Commission was appointed by the Government of Lord Curzon, to go into the question of university education, which, it was felt, was producing a class of elements discontented with British ad- ministration. Ostensibly with the object of improving the administration of the universities and the education imparted by them, the Indian Universities Act was passed in 1904 in the teeth of strong opposition from Nationalist India, for its effect was to officialise the university bodies which were controlling the universities and colleges in this country. In 1909 the Minto-Morley Reforms were effected but while expanding the Councils and recognising a system of elections with separate special electorates for Muslims and admitting Indians in the Executive Councils of the three Presidencies and Constituting Executive Councils for the provinces and the Centre, it did not bring about any change in the relationship of the Government of India to the provinces or of the Government of India to the Secretary of State. This position continued until the advent of the Montague-Chelmsford Reforms in 1919. India continued to be governed from the White Hall but during this period the Banaras Hindu University which represented a great effort at providing this country with a University, basically non- official in character, was established. In 1877 or thereabouts the Anglo-Muhammadan Oriental College had been established by Sir Syed Ahmed but it was not until 1920 that the Aligarh Muslim University came into existence.

4. The period of the first world war (1914-18) was marked by considerable unrest in this country. There was an insistent demand for what was in those days called Home Rule and in a memorandum pre- sented on behalf of 19 Members of the Viceroy's Legislative Council, a plan was put forward for a type of diluted autonomy for this country. On the 17th August, 1917, a statement was made in the British Parlia- ment declaring the objectives of British policy by Mr. Montague the then Secretary of State for India. The statement declared the goal of British policy to be the gradual development of self-governing institutions with a view to progressive realization of responsible government

in India and the increasing associations of Indians with every branch of administration in India as an integral part of the British Empire. The goal was, however, to be achieved in successive stages and Britain reserved to herself the right of deciding the pace of each advance, the criterion for which was to be the cooperation received from the people working the Consitution.

5. The Montague-Chelmsford Reforms and the Government of India Act, 1919, based upon them, while visualizing at some unforeseeable future a self-governing India which would achieve Dominion Status, as an integral part of the British Empire did not establish what might be called a federal or even quasi-federal system of government. The Montague Act, however, introduced a system of diarchy in the provinces and while reserving many major subjects including law and order in the hands of Governors vested with complete powers of affirmative and negative legislation in respect of reserved subjects, transferred education to the control of Ministers responsible to Provincial Legislatures. What was done by the Act was devolution of authority subject to the reserved powers of Governors and their responsibility in the ultimate analysis to the Secretary of State remaining unimpaired.

6. The transfer of education to Indian hands led to many changes in the Acts governing the universities in many States. Courts or Senates were made more representative of educational and public opinion and in some of the universities, a system of Vice-Chancellors elected either by the Court or by the Executive Council, subject to the approval of the Governor who was to be the Chancellor and Visitor, was introduced. As a result of the Montague Act, the Government of India ceased to have any direct responsibility for education and it became a provincial subject. One of the members of the Viceroy's Executive Council, however, had charge of education for the Centrally administered areas and the education department was expected to keep in touch with educational systems in the provinces and supply them with such information as they required. This position continued until the Government of India Act,1935,which envisaged, subject to reservations and safeguards, a federal system of government in this country to which the Indian States would accede by duly executed instruments of accession. The Simon Commission (1927-1929) which was a purely Parliamentary Commission, considered the question of future constitutional advance. Nationalist India withheld its co-operation with it on the ground that it was a completely British Commission. The Commission had a special Committee presided over by Sir Philip Hartog to advise it on education. It is not necessary to make any reference to the recommendations of this Committee, but it may be mentioned that previous to it an important event in the educational history of this country was the report of the Sadler Commission on the Calcutta University (1917-19). Though the Commission was appointed to enquire into the affairs of the Calcutta University, its recommendations were of a far reaching character and it continues to be a classic on educational matters even to this day.

7. In 1921, the Central Advisory Board of Education was appointed. It was dissolved after two years but revived in 1935. The function of this Board was to offer expert advice on all important educational matters that were referred to it and to conduct educational surveys, whenever required.

8. The first Conference of Indian Universities was held in Simla in May, 1924. One of the recommendations of this Conference was the creation of a Central Agency in India (a) to act as inter- university Organisation and bureau of implementation, (b) to facilitate the exchange of professors and students, (c) to assist in the co-ordination of university work and the promotion of specialisation of functions, (d) to assist Indian universities in obtaining recognition for their degrees, diplomas and examinations in other countries. As a result of this recommendation, the Inter- University Board of India was set up. The Board has, since then, acted as a forum for discussion on university problems.

9. Immediately after the attainment of Independence in 1947, the Constituent Assembly, set about the task of framing a constitution for India. When the Constitution was being framed, the role of the Government of India in education came up for discussion and it was decided that education including universities, subject to certain pro- visions, should be a State responsibility. While deciding to include education in the State List, the Founding Fathers were anxious to safeguard the interests of higher education including research and scientific and technical education. Accordingly, the following Entries relating to education are included in the Seventh Schedule of the Constitution :

LIST I-UNION LIST

63. The institutions known at the commencement of this Constitution as the Banaras Hindu University, the Aligarh Muslim University and the Delhi University, and any other institution declared by Parliament by law to be an institution of national importance.

64. Institutions for scientific or technical education financed by the Government of India wholly or in part and declared by Parlia- ment by law to be institutions of national importance.

65. Union agencies and institutions for-

(a) professional, vocational or technical training, including the training of police officers; or

(b) the promotion of special studies or reserach; or

66. Co-ordination and determination of standards in institutions for higher education or research and scientific and technical institu- tions.

LIST II-STATE LIST

11. Education including Universities, subject to the provisions of Entries 63, 64, 65 and 66 of List I and Entry 25 of List III.

LIST III-CONCURRENT LIST

25. Vocational and technical training of labour.

10. There is no reference to the co-ordination and determination of standards in the Government of India Act of 1935. It is thus clear that the Founding Fathers took a far-sighted view of the future of higher education in this country. Their aim was that the country should maintain the highest possible standards in higher education and research and that they should not be lower than international standards. The co-ordination of facilities and determination of standards in institutions of higher education is thus exclusively a Central responsibility. This makes it incumbent on the Government of India to take a direct interest in the affairs of all universities. To discharge these functions efficiently and effectively, the Government of India constiuted a University Grants Commission in 1952. Later, the Commission was converted into a statutory body, by an Act of Parliament, in 1956. Attention may be invited to Section 12 of the University Grants Commission Act, 1956, which provides, inter alia, that:--

"it shall be the general duty of the Commission to take, in consultation with the Universities or other bodies concerned, all such steps as it may think fit for the promotion and co-ordination of University Education and for the determination and maintenance of standards of teaching, examination and research in Universities."

The Commission is empowered to inquire into the financial needs of universities and allocate and disburse out of its funds grants for the maintenance and development of Central universities and also for the development of State universities or for any other general or specified purpose. Section 29(1) of the University Grants Commission Act, 1956, lays down that :-

"in the discharge of its functions under the Act, the Commission shall be guided by such directions on questions of policy relating to national purposes as may be given to it by the Central Government."

We are told that there has been no occasion for the Central Government to exercise this power, so far.