CHENNAI: Earlier in March this year, an official order stating that the government was planning to cancel funds for centres dedicated to studies on social exclusion across several universities hit the headlines. Swiftly, the University Grants Commission dismissed the document as fake and assured there were no such plans. However, researchers and staff at several of these centres are now alleging that they have not received their salaries over the last few months. They are worried if there is a ‘backdoor move’ to curtail the functioning of these centres that essentially focus on Dalit studies.
While some universities have blamed the UGC for underplaying the importance of these centres, Commission officials say funds may have been withheld due to a delay in submission of accounts by university centres.Either way, professors believe the role of research and work that comes out of such centres is weakened silently by financial instability and by branding them as controversial.“I have mortgaged my wife’s jewellery and taken loan to support my living as I have not received my salary in the last seven months,” said a professor from one of the centres who did not want to be named.
Salaries have not been credited for up to 10 months in a few other Central universities contacted by Express, leaving researchers and support staff scrambling to make a living.There are around 30 centres across the country. “The funds for this centre have always been unstable. Researchers and staff are penalised for lack of pressure on UGC to promote such a centre,” says Manipur University’s Prof Thiyam Bharat Singh.
There are around 30 centres dedicated to studies on social exclusion across the country. According to Manipur University’s Prof Thiyam Bharat Singh, “funds for the centre here have always been unstable. Researchers and staff are penalised for lack of efficiency of universities. There is also no pressure from UGC to promote such a centre.”Funding for the centres across the country ended in March last with the end of 12th five-year plan. Their continuation remained unclear until the HRD ministry issued a public notice on June 9 stating that all UGC schemes would continue till September 30. Beyond that, a decision would be taken after a review.
Professors and researchers at the centres blamed both the local university administration and UGC for underplaying the importance of such centres that produce research work on the marginalised and discriminated.
“Universities are not willing to pay out of their pockets. They wait for reimbursement from UGC because they fear the centre may be discontinued,” said Prof D C Nanjunda, who is part of the centre at University of Mysore. So, staffers have gone without salary for 10 months now.
“At first UGC asked us to wait for our salary between March and July to sort the confusion. There were further technical delays because of the SBI merger as IFSC codes of banks had changed. Other problems kept coming up later,” he said adding that staff of the centre have been forced to take loans to survive.
After the bank merger issues were resolved, some universities, including Jawaharlal Nehru University, started receiving funds while others did not.When contacted by Express, a senior UGC official said only universities that did not revert to the commission with the necessary documents may not have received funds. In order to get the grant, the university has to submit a utilisation certificate and expenditure statement for the centre. “Many centres are understaffed or have submitted unsatisfactory utilisation certificates,” the official said, adding continuity of any centre would depend on their accountability. “There is no such case where the funds were cut-off unlawfully,” the official claimed.
Prof Nanjunda concurred. He said the management sends only the salary expenditure and does not properly account for contingency and non-salary expenditure. “Buying stationery for the centre, reimbursement for research scholars, equipment fund and others were not properly accounted for and the management did not take enough interest in the growth of the centres.”