Varun Arya on why IIMs should not be subsidised

I’m learning more about Varun, and the more I read the more I like Varun’s ideas and work. Here’s an extract from his article he wrote in Economic Times critiquing M.M. Joshi’s decision to slash IIM fees from Rs 150,000 to Rs 30,000 a year. And reservations.

But first this:

Varun Arya spent most of his growing years in a 10×15 room that his family—parents and five brothers—called home. It had no electricity and the lantern light could never quite light up the muddy walls and floor, or Arya’s books, on which he sometimes had difficulty focusing. Not for lack of interest, but for lack of energy, since he had been working at a shop after school hours from the age of six.His wages provided a vital supplement to what his father, who studied only up to the second standard, earned through small-time businesses and the mother, who never saw the inside of a classroom, made by working in other households.

Rs 30,000 for an IIM degree?: It’s a retrograde step

Feb 13, 2004

One of the major arguments behind MHRD onslaught on IITs & IIMs has been that these are elitist institutions and the entire hypothesis behind its various moves is that those from poor background are unable to get into these institutions because of their high fees. Unfortunately for MHRD, this is just not true .

As someone has rightly said recently, in the history of IITs and IIMs, there has not been even a single student who was selected for admission in these institutions but could not study because of want of finances. I myself came from an extremely poor family, where in my childhood it was often that my family did not have even one meal a day. However, I could study at IIT Delhi because I got a merit scholarship from NCERT. At IIM Ahmedabad, I took a loan from State Bank of India and paid it back with interest within three years.

I am of the firm belief that reservations of all kinds existing for so long and continuing endlessly should also be done away with since these lead to avoidable complacency and undermining of people, positions and purpose.

All those who have the merit but not the means can always get scholarships and educational loans, which are now easily available specially for IITs & IIMs.

In the ongoing onslaught on IITs & IIMs, unless stopped and various retrograde steps reversed, everyone is going to be a loser including the government and the nation.

(The author is Director, Aravali Institute of Management Jodhpur)

My views

The solution is quite clear: that all universities be fully privatised and government introduce a low interest low for ALL students who qualify to universities. Students can return this loan through the income tax system. (See BFN for details).