NEW DELHI, FEBRUARY 3: Reversing its earlier decision, India plans to withdraw from its list of offers to the World Trade Organisation a provision that would have allowed foreign universities free entry into the country. The Union Commerce Ministry is to take the revised proposal to the Cabinet Committee on WTO to rescind the list approved of last July.

It was after the July approval that the Indian delegation informally extended a commitment to the WTO whereby foreign educators would gain entry to India with the sole condition being that their fees would be fixed by the government or its agency, so that their entry did not lead to profiteering.

However, no formal offer had been made and the talks are still to be concluded , said sources.

Last month, the Ministry of Human Resources Development approached the Commerce Ministry to reverse the country’s position, since education was the least committed area after the audio-visual sector.

The ministry said that there was no need to make a hurried offer when others were dragging their feet. The only nations pushing for liberalisation in this area were education exporters like the US, the UK, Australia and Canada—none of which expect any outsiders to make incursions into their turf.

The ministry also suggested that the country adopt a ‘‘cautious approach’’ considering that other countries in the Third World and among Muslim nations as well had told the WTO that they would not open their education sector as doing so would affect local political and cultural sensitivities.

Both the government’s Left allies as well as the BJP have been harping on the ‘cultural insensitivity’ of foreign education to prevent the UPA government from letting foreign universities in.

The withdrawal of the offer would now mean a limited entry for the foreign educational institutions, with the government enacting a bill to regulate their entry, operations, as well as their fees.