‘UGC recognition harmed Gujarat Vidyapith’

How did the UGC recognition affect Gujarat Vidyapith?
In 1963 we had the UGC recognition. In my personal opinion as a social scientist,this created a problem for the institute. Dr Radhakishnan recognised that there were alternative centres of excellence,and in times of financial crises,perhaps government should support them and hence the concept of ‘deemed universities’.
But by doing that,the government rejected Gandhi’s thesis for higher education,because if they had not rejected it,then this would have been a university and others would be deemed universities. So what they basically told us was “You are also like a university.”

So the country decided that at no time will it declare Gandhian thought as mainstream thought.
By giving this recognition,they eventually killed these institutions. Gandhi’s idea was to build up an alternative that would impact the mainstream. But Gujarat Vidyapith,instead of leaving an impact on the mainstream,was impacted by the mainstream.

How did this dilution begin?
They started introducing post graduation,M Phil and PhD programmes – which means that the institute ceased to be just a college and the undergraduate programme was not really important anymore. So,with these postgraduate and doctorate courses,we got divided into these small departments that killed the all-round development we had. UGC laid down a number of requirements like the need for professors and so on. What happened in the process was that if you wanted a department,you needed a professor,who was not necessarily trained here,but one who came from the mainstream. So we had to draw professors from the mainstream,some of whom had scant respect for the Gandhian values we cherished here. So,there has been a systematic deterioration of the understanding of Gandhi at Gujarat Vidyapith by the teachers who came from outside.
The positive part of the story is the overall and overarching principles and objectives of Gujarat Vidyapith,which we will continue to cater to the rural people. We continued with khadi and our programmes of vocational education,hostels and life skills. We continued to inculcate these despite the curriculum and syllabus now matching with the mainstream universities. The education of the ‘heart’ continued,although we lagged behind in educating the ‘hand’. So,when any organisation dealing with issues in the rural areas hires people,they give priority to our students. So,our ability to maintain our rural outlook is what we have been able to achieve.

Some years ago,UGC had suggested that Gujarat Vidyapith tie-up with other institutions. Has there been any progress in this regard?
It is happening,but not in a formal way. Professors from IIM-A are bringing their students here to look at alternative models,telling them that there are other solutions. We are working on the same lines with IRMA too. We are not closed,and we should not be closed. But we will continue with our rural outlook,because we are arguing for a decentralised society,with decentralised production points. Why should people be so stressed by city life? It has a huge social cost.

Has the Gujarat Vidyapith model been replicated anywhere else?
As such there has been no replication of Gujarat Vidyapith,but there are independent colleges in different parts of the country where the founders studied or taught here. In Gujarat,you will see a large number of institutes that came up with the concept of “head,heart and hand”,although many of them are not higher education institutes.

How is Khadi relevant today?
People keep asking us,“Why do you keep doing this? At that time it was fine because you wanted to throw the British out.”
I have a simple arithmetic. A formula. Energy need. If everyone in this country was to make a metre of Khadi for our own clothes,and weave it by hand,how much energy will we save? We all think this is an idiotic solution,but it is not.
You won’t even need to have NREGA. Why don’t you just ask this country that whosoever will produce Khadi will get a production subsidy? Take the production of clothes we have today from the corporate sector and give it to the Khadi sector,and see how much energy we are able to save. But we can’t see this because we are overawed by the mainstream and we think the solutions are all technology-based. We forget that khadi is also a technology. It’s a beautiful technology. We will never give up khadi.