No final decision yet on grant-giving functions being transferred to Ministry, says MHRD

NEW DELHI, JULY 2: The Union Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) has issued clarification regarding apprehensions on the shift of grant-giving functions to the Ministry, under the proposed Higher Education Commission of India (HEI) Act 2018. The Ministry has termed the apprehensions as purely ‘misplaced’.

As per the MHRD, Government is keen to ensure that the grant-giving process shall be purely merit-based, online and objective that assures both transparency and efficiency with the least human interface.

There are schemes being run by the Government under which grant is passed on to the institutions directly without going to the regulatory bodies. The Ministry communique reads, “Such IT systems are already operating in managing much bigger funding schemes like IMPRINT and RUSA flawlessly, and therefore can be put in place to manage the UGC schemes easily.”

The MHRD has clarified that no such final decision has been taken to shift the grant function to the Ministry.

It further states that this is to assure that if there is a successor system to the current grant-giving system of the University Grants Commission (UGC), the same will be operated in the most unbiased and impartial manner. The apprehensions in this regard are purely misplaced, it added.