I met Dinesh Singh for the first time in 2011, just months after he had taken over as Vice Chancellor at the University of Delhi (DU). Today, with a show-cause notice by the HRD Ministry looming large over him, Singh’s term as the VC may soon end unceremoniously.
Singh succeeded Deepak Pental at a time when DU (as it’s popularly called) needed someone to shake it out of its millennial stupor. It seemed he had a few plans for the University, which his friends in the then UPA government - Union HRD Minister Kapil Sibal and Minister of State for HRD Shashi Tharoor - had given their consent to.
What followed was novel, and impressive.
The new VC asked a few of us journos over. Took us with him to some of DU’s best and most ramshackle colleges. The idea was simple - speak to students, seek their inputs on how his administration could make DU a better place.
Singh walked into classrooms, bathrooms and laboratories, with a determination to make a difference writ large on his face. He listened, even gave out his email ID for anyone to reach out to him. These tours actually became a bi-annual affair. Dinesh Singh was emerging as the students’ VC.
“Some of these colleges, classrooms and bathrooms are in a terrible state. No wonder there is absenteeism. Some professors have not come to work, we will take action against them. Trying to take on board all students because they are our future.”
- Dinesh Singh in August 2011.
DU had never had a VC so clued in and eager to transform the University.
And then, it went pear-shaped.
The visionary, stopped listening. More so, if someone disagreed.
In late 2012, I quizzed Dionesh Singh on why he was unwilling to discuss the points that the Delhi University Teachers’ Association (DUTA) was making about the Four Year Undergraduate Programme (FYUP) which he was on the verge of introducing.
The programme will hugely benefit students. Nobody understands that. I have consulted those who needed to be consulted. It is not surprising that some people are not on board.
- Dinesh Singh, 2012.
As Singh got mired in controversy, he started to avoid the press. The Vice Regal lodge - his office and residence - often bore a deserted look.
The FYUP issue soon went horribly awry for Singh. Signature campaigns did the rounds urging him to revoke the programme. But Singh had no response, blaming teachers and students for the impasse.
If you want to react even before something has taken off, then there is not much to be done...
I have tried getting the importance of FYUP across to the teachers who oppose it and why it is important for the students. But now, there is not much left to do.
- Dinesh Singh, 2013-14
And then, with little explanation, the FYUP was scrapped. Dinesh Singh, just shrank in stature.
The arrival of Smriti Irani in the HRD Ministry has not helped. The show cause notice is a clear indication that he is not wanted. With no friends - political or academic - backing him, he now has just a fortnight to go before the HRD Ministry comes to a decision on his ouster.
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