[buzzeG]

Originally Posted by the 'masala' telegraph

Haste lands IIMs in admission muddle
OUR BUREAU

New Delhi, April 12: IIMs, the iconic schools that produce the best managers in the country, have landed themselves in the middle of a poorly managed show.

The management schools today sent a letter to the Centre, requesting it to consider a proposal to remove the uncertainty surrounding the admission process that has been frozen in the wake of the quota case.

However, before the letter was despatched, IIM Ahmedabad declared that the results of the general category would be announced on April 21.

The content of the letter and the gist of IIMA director Bakul Dholakia’s announcement were more or less the same but his tone and timing created an impression that the institutes and the Centre are back on a collision course.

The human resource development ministry had asked the IIMs last week to keep in abeyance the results of both general and OBC categories. The Centre wanted the freeze to be in place till the Supreme Court cleared the air on an order that stayed the introduction of the OBC quota from this year. The Centre is expected to move the court any day.

In Delhi, Dholakia’s statement came to be seen as an ultimatum. “An order should be treated like an order,” a source said, making little effort to mask the anger in the ministry.

Both sides are now hoping that the court will lift the cloud fast, defusing a situation that could develop into a confrontation reminiscent of the autonomy battle when Murli Manohar Joshi headed the ministry.

Some officials in the other IIMs are questioning why Dholakia did not “consult” them before going public with information that was still to be communicated to the Centre.

Even as Dholakia was talking in Ahmedabad, IIM Bangalore director Prakash Apte was busy putting final touches to a letter he had been authorised to write to the ministry on behalf of all six IIMs.

“All the six directors had a teleconference on April 10, where they expressed concern that top students would go to other B-schools if the IIMs did not release their final lists soon,” a director said.

It was decided that Apte — on behalf of all IIMs — would write to the ministry asking it to consider a proposal to declare general category seats on the basis of last year’s format.

“The seat increase planned would be kept on hold as per the court orders. That way, we would not be violating the orders, but would also be saving ourselves,” the director said.

According to an IIM Bangalore official who has seen Apte’s letter, the proposal mentions a plan. “After 10 days, we will go ahead” with the declaration of the general category lists, if the Centre did not get back by then.

“We had never discussed that anyone would go to the media like this,” said a furious Devi Singh of IIM Lucknow.

At IIM Calcutta and Bangalore, too, the sentiment was no different. First, they said, there was “no collective decision” to declare results without the ministry’s consent. “That was the very reason the letter was framed. Otherwise, we could have released the results straightaway,” an IIM Calcutta official said.

“Because of Dholakia’s comments, our proposal will be seen as a decision.”

Dholakia told The Telegraph that he was “not looking for a confrontation with the Centre at all. My statements are being misunderstood”.

talk bout the media fuelling the fire!! dont these guys have any spine to take a stand on an issue.. tryin to get some statements from unnamed sources.. without even realising what damage they are doin..

they should rather be standing by the iim decision and puttin pressure the other way.. that is a constructive role that media needs to play.. all they seem to want is sensationalize the whole issue.. without caring a **** bout the repercussions..

it does not take gr8 intelligence to understand that the delay is not doing any gud to anyone (perhaps other than the politicians)..

why blow up issues out of proportion then?

[lone.verse]

Originally Posted by ashish abraham

in this scenario, i think the best thing that could happen is for the SC to vacate the stay. That is the best solution i guess since a majority(including the minorities!) of ppl will be happy with it.. increase in seats, implementation of OBC quota.. n d best of them all.. we wil get our results quickly!

Dude...
Today, if people like you decided to take landmark decisions like these, then instead of just 150 students getting into a lot of trouble in 2007, more than 150 thousand people will curse you for taking away the opportunity they worked for and deserved in the coming years. The Supreme Court is not around to make people HAPPY, as has been stated so naively here. It exists to protect the interests of the people, and to uphold the spirit of the constitution and the law of the land. If it were to hurry along an important decision like this for the sake of making the so-called majority happy, people would be left with no hope for justice.

Please think twice before making irresponsible statements like this at such a crucial and tense time.

[ismbaneeded]

Not sure whether to believe these articles about rift between IIMs, but Mr Dholakias statement regarding 9 days delay made no sense to me. If the IIMs are firm on coming out with first list (if nothing works out between SC and Govt) that could have been done yesterday or at the max by Monday. Why 9 days?

Moreover all this letter writing things these directors are talking about and putting the blame on SC / Govt, could not they have been pro-active and written this letter 10 days back. What was stopping them?

[freestyler]

Originally Posted by ismbaneeded

Not sure whether to believe these articles about rift between IIMs, but Mr Dholakias statement regarding 9 days delay made no sense to me. If the IIMs are firm on coming out with first list (if nothing works out between SC and Govt) that could have been done yesterday or at the max by Monday. Why 9 days?

Moreover all this letter writing things these directors are talking about and putting the blame on SC / Govt, could not they have been pro-active and written this letter 10 days back. What was stopping them?

People, try and understand that the IIMs have no intention to get into a direct confrontation with the HRD Ministry. They have waited for further orders from the ministry till the scheduled date (12th April).
When they did not get any response, they decided that they had to take a firm stand and make their position clear.
And they have set a deadline for themselves and let it known to the Govt and the public. What 9 days does is that it gives some time to the Ministry to try and resolve the issue.
Even the IIMs would prefer a scenario wherein this matter is resolved during this time.
No IIM director is putting the blame on anyone. And the proactiveness that you are talking about could have landed them in trouble as that would have meant a direct confrontation.
All they are saying now is... Look we have waited long. We are willing to wait for 9 more days. If it can be resolved during this time, well and good, otherwise we have to get on with it.

The media too is hell-bent upon sprucing up the story.
We, the people of India, love controversy and spicy news. Every issue is blown out of proportion and looked at from an emotional perspective, as though human egos are always involved.
The nation can do well without all the politics and the diktat from the government, it can do well without the media "reports" that fuel controversy, it can do well without the public maintaining a cynical vision at everything.

Why can't for once we understand the limitations that the IIMs are functioning under and appreciate the clear stand they take? The IITs are faced with a similar dilemma, but there is no clear communication from them in this regard. I, in no way, intend to demean the IITs. All I'm saying is that the IIMs always display clear vision and, on this occasion, are being vocal about their concerns.

It's not easy for them to do their jobs.
For everyone's sake, let's for once accept whatever decision they take.

Disclaimer: Totally my opinion. I know there will be as many opinions as there are people in this country. I do not intend to hurt anyone's opinion. I'm just plain disappointed at the reaction of the general public and the media.

[neutral]

Originally Posted by ismbaneeded

Not sure whether to believe these articles about rift between IIMs, but Mr Dholakias statement regarding 9 days delay made no sense to me. If the IIMs are firm on coming out with first list (if nothing works out between SC and Govt) that could have been done yesterday or at the max by Monday. Why 9 days?

Moreover all this letter writing things these directors are talking about and putting the blame on SC / Govt, could not they have been pro-active and written this letter 10 days back. What was stopping them?

I dont think there is any kinda rift between IIMs, thats sole creations of media to hype the matter and make the issue more melodramatic.

But the things u say of doing it in 2 days instead of 9 days isnt appropriate. Though even i m desperate to get the results but at such higher levels things dont move in a day or two.
As far as talk of autonomy goes, IIMs r autonomous to the extent in Academic matters (course structure, fees, admissions etc) but not in each n every matter, primarily in policy matters where govt takes the decision.

The board of governor of each IIMs figure at least 4-5 secretaries and they r there to server the purpose of govt.

[coolstar]

Originally Posted by ismbaneeded

Not sure whether to believe these articles about rift between IIMs, but Mr Dholakias statement regarding 9 days delay made no sense to me. If the IIMs are firm on coming out with first list (if nothing works out between SC and Govt) that could have been done yesterday or at the max by Monday. Why 9 days?

Moreover all this letter writing things these directors are talking about and putting the blame on SC / Govt, could not they have been pro-active and written this letter 10 days back. What was stopping them?

The wait is really frustrating for the entire student community and we do have many opinions in this matter. But there are some dynamics which are not known to the student community like the grants and other permissions which are helpful to the iim's. Today they are not autonomous, which, makes them dependent on the government for many things. Inspite of all these they are trying to help in the larget interest of the student community. So the iim's have chosen a better way of doing things. A softer way of dealing things without affecting both the government and the student community.

[ismbaneeded]

Originally Posted by neutral

I dont think there is any kinda rift between IIMs, thats sole creations of media to hype the matter and make the issue more melodramatic.

But the things u say of doing it in 2 days instead of 9 days isnt appropriate. Though even i m desperate to get the results but at such higher levels things dont move in a day or two.
As far as talk of autonomy goes, IIMs r autonomous to the extent in Academic matters (course structure, fees, admissions etc) but not in each n every matter, primarily in policy matters where govt takes the decision.

The board of governor of each IIMs figure at least 4-5 secretaries and they r there to server the purpose of govt.

Mate, the desperation is over. It might come back on 20th.
I also dont agree with media on the news of the rift between the IIMs.
However Mr Aptes approach makes more sense than taking a firm stand which IIMs have taken. And if they are sure of taking such a firm stand, then the 9 days delay aint gonna help the relation between IIMs and the Govt, nor is it helping the students cause.
ISB students would have gone ahead and paid their fees and so will the XL students.

[neutral]

Originally Posted by ismbaneeded

Mate, the desperation is over. It might come back on 20th.
I also dont agree with media on the news of the rift between the IIMs.
However Mr Aptes approach makes more sense than taking a firm stand which IIMs have taken. And if they are sure of taking such a firm stand, then the 9 days delay aint gonna help the relation between IIMs and the Govt, nor is it helping the students cause.
ISB students would have gone ahead and paid their fees and so will the XL students.

Yes Mr. Apte's approach is more pragmatic and intelligent.

Though Mr Dholakia might not hv intended to confront the ministry but the media has projected it that way and now even ministry will view it that way. Moreover IIMs r talking to a high-headed group wch comprises of "IAS" N "Politicians" and being in a PSU i know how they function.

However as of now its just waut n watch till 11 am 21 April.

Hope there is some solution till then. Even if the Quota stalemate continues by then, ministry wudnt let the admisison process delay further under pressure from several quarters but in the end some heads will roll. whose ??? that we have to see...

[Ostrich_Egg]

In this quota war i guess we have three sides....

The good, the evil and the STUPID


The good would comprise of us students hoping for a verdict in our favour as well as a speedy resolution( priority in the same order) + The the supreme court + and our teams new star member Mr Dholkia


The Evil....lets not get into it...


The stupid?? who else but the press....who did not have an opinion when the results got postponed, did not have any students opinion or students side story to cover. But as soon as the IIM's had a stand to take, the very next day they call them a mismanaged organisation. The person writing the story of the iim directors sulking made them look like characters who had jumped out of the star plus 8 o clock soaps.

The news sounded like a page 3 gossip colomn article....

Media should stick to wat they do best ie cover the ash abhi and the mangli thing.

[ismbaneeded]

Important question people. Has the Min of HRD approached the SC today?