The appointment of two-term BJP MP and Vice President of the Delhi and District Cricket Association (DDCA), 68-year-old Chetan Chauhan, as the new chairman of the Board of Governors of the National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT) has opened a Pandora’s Box. The government’s decision to bring in Chauhan has drawn a lot of flak, coming as it did on the heels of other such appointments of party loyalists to key posts in educational institutions and other prime agencies, with very little or no credentials. Completely shocking were the pronouncements by Chauhan, “This is a Government of India appointment. The names [for the post of chairman] are sent by the ministry of textiles… preference is given to people in the party (BJP)”, and that he “will spend 60% of the time in DDCA, 20% at NIFT and 20% in my business." The Textile Minister’s reaction that one should give at least three months for Chauhan to perform adds salt to the wound.
NIFT, an autonomous body under the ministry of textiles set up in 1986, has 15 centres, with two more sanctioned for Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir, enrolling over 2,700 students through a national entrance test every year. The NIFT Act 2006 prescribes that the chairperson of the Board of Governors should to be “an eminent academician, scientist or technologist or professional, to be nominated by the Visitor” of the institute, who is none other than the President. The appointment of the chairman and non-official members of the Board of Governors of the NIFT is decided after the name is proposed by the Union textiles minister and approved by the President. The Board of Governors is the apex authority for administrative and financial decisions of the institute. Of these, the chairman directly heads the Standing Committee on Establishment Matters. The government logic doesn’t hold much water as an experienced fashion and textile industry professional would have given the needed direction the institute is lookingfor.
A country that needs serious focus on design education has a man at the helm, who admittedly doesn’t have great knowledge and insight on fashion, and neither the time. Almost all prestigious government backed ‘institutes of national importance’ are in dire need of funds and seeks a revamp in terms of infrastructure and quality of education and the case of NIFT is no different. The same establishment is pushing heavily for Skill India, that aims to skill 40 crore Indians by 2022. A huge paradox indeed.
