COMMENTARY
Bharat Nirman: A Stocktaking
Mala Lalvani
A prominent feature of Budget
2010, like the previous United
Progressive Alliance budgets, is
the continued support to the
Bharat Nirman – a programme
which has come to occupy an
important part in the UPA
government’s thrust on rural
development. This article
attempts a stocktaking exercise of
this initiative, and in doing so, it
draws attention to areas where
mid-course correction is called for
if the increased budgetary
allocation is to translate into a
de facto improvement in rural
infrastructure.
Sincere thanks to Abhay Pethe, Ajit Karnik
and Romar Correa for their comments and
suggestions. The usual disclaimer applies.
Mala Lalvani (mala.lalvani@gmail.com) is with
the department of economics, University of
Mumbai.
Economic & Political Weekly  EPW   April 24, 2010  vol xlv no 17
T
he Bharat Nirman programme,
which has identified six thrust areas
of rural infrastructure, formed the
core of the United Progressive Alliance
(UPA) government’s agenda to bolster rural
development. The Union Budget 2010-11
was no exception. It promised continued
support to this programme and an alloca-
tion of Rs 48,000 crore (4% of total
e­xpenditure). With Phase I of this pro-
gramme completed in 2009 and Phase II
having begun in 2009-10, the agenda set
out in this article is to take stock of the
performance in terms of the targets and
achievements of the programmes under
Bharat Nirman. As an aside it would be
interesting to see if allocation to the line
department of agriculture has been sacri-
ficed at the altar of Bharat Nirman!
Budgetary Allocations to
Agriculture
Rural development was identified as one
of the priority areas by the UPA govern-
ment under the umbrella programme of
Bharat Nirman in 2004. While the good
intent in having a focused agenda is un-
questionable, it would be interesting to see
if its presence has affected the shares allo-
cated to the line department of agriculture
and allied services which is the mainstay of
improvement in rural incomes. The allo­
cation to agriculture and allied services as a
percentage of the gross domestic product
(GDP) reached a peak in 2008-09, i e, in
the first year of the fiscal stimulus but
since then we witness a declining trend
(Figure 1).
A look at the break-up of Figure 1: Agriculture and Allied Services as Per Cent of GDP: Pre and Post Fiscal
Figure 1: Central Government Allocations
the shares allocated to Pre- and Post-Fiscal Stimulus (% of GDP)
agriculture and allied ac- 3.00
tivities into revenue and 2.50
capital account clearly
2.00
shows that the already
1.39
low shares allocated to 1.50
capital expenditures in 1.00
agriculture have dipped
0.50
sharply in 2009-10(RE)
and 2010-11(BE) (Table 1, 0.00
Pre-Stimulus Stimulus Year 1 Stimulus Year 2 Rollback Year 1
Pre-Stimulus (2007-08)Stimulus Year 1 (2008-Stimulus Year 2 (2009- Rollback Year1 (2010-
p 21). Given the UPA’s (2007-08) (2008-09)
c­ ommitment to rural development as sig-
nalled by the initiative of Bharat
Nirman, this trend reversal comes as a bit
of a surprise. Clearly, for all-round rural
development, higher allocation to agricul-
ture, especially higher capital expendi-
tures must be forthcoming.
Evaluating Bharat Nirman
According to Prime Minister Manmohan
Singh, Bharat Nirman was intended to
be “a time-bound business plan for action
in rural infrastructure for the next four
years” (2005-09). However, the program­me
has continued beyond 2009 as Phase II,
and has come to occupy ­centre stage of
the UPA government’s policy ­initiatives.
Conceptually, Bharat Nirman was a
good idea as it listed out six core infra-
structure sectors in rural areas that need-
ed attention, viz, roads, electricity, water
supply, telephones, irrigation and hous-
ing. For each of these sectors, flagship pro-
grammes were initiated. For the first time,
setting specific quantitative targets for
public programmes and their achieve-
ments took place on such a large scale in
the Indian policy forum. This sent out a
clear signal of instilling accountability
and pinning responsibility – most certain-
ly a commendable governance initiative.
Given that the programme has now run
over the initial five-year tenure the time is
opportune to take stock and assess the
physical achievements.
A snapshot of the overall achievement
vis-à-vis the quantitative targets set out
by each of the six programmes has been
put together in Table 2 (p 21). A detailed
year-wise achievement has been tabulated
in the Appendix (Tables A1 to A9, p 23).
In the remainder of this section we dis-
cuss the performance of each of these
programmes, and also draw attention to
Stimulus
to Agriculture and Allied Services –
2.49
1.78
1.56
09) (2009-10
10 RE) RE) (2010-11
11 BE) BE)
19
COMMENTARY

20 April 24, 2010  vol xlv no 17  EPW   Economic & Political Weekly
 COMMENTARY
Table 1: Allocations to Agriculture and Allied Activities (on Revenue and Capital Account, % of GDP) per cent of the completed and 16% of the
Pre-Stimulus Stimulus Year 1 Stimulus Year 2 Rollback Year1
2007-08 2008-09 2009-10(RE) 2010-11(BE)
on-going works have been found unsatis-
Agri and allied on revenue account as % of GDP 1.38 2.48 1.78 1.55 factory by the national quality monitors
Agri and allied on capital account as % of GDP 0.007 0.014 0.002 0.003 (NQM) on inspection of (the road construc-
RE-Revised Estimates, BE-Budgeted Estimates. tion work under) PMGSY during April 2008
Table 2: Achievements under Bharat Nirman (Detailed Tables in Appendix) to May 2009” (Business Standard 2009). It
Target Variables Overall Achievement is important to note that while it is the
2005-06 to 2009-10 (%)
centre which provides 100% finance for
Roads: PMGSY (2005-06 to 2009-10) New Construction 62.17
construction of rural roads under the PM-
Upgradation 93.35
Coverage of habitations 58.74
GSY, the primary responsibility to ­ensure
Housing: IAY (2006-07 to 2009-10) Houses constructed for rural BPL families 60 the quality of the construction works and
Telecommunication:Village Public Telephones Villages covered 92.5 maintenance of roads lies with the states.  
Irrigation: AIBP Irrigation potential 73.0 The shortage of contractors to undertake
Drinking Water: ARWSP Un-covered habitations 98.86 rural works is a critical constraint in certain
Slipped-back habitations 108.07 states though relaxation in the bidding ca-
Quality affected habitations 142.85 pacity and packaging of works has helped
Total 119.73 marginally in overcoming the problem. The
Power: RGGVY Electrification of un/de-electrified villages 61.9
constraint of inadequate availability of
Intensive electrification 29.7
trained human resources has been sought
Rural households 25.7
to be overcome through need-based train-
BPL households 38.4
BPL stands for below poverty line households. ing programmes and almost 20,000 engi-
neering personnel have been trained so far.
some lapses that have been highlighted in the citizens section (omms.nic.in). OMMAS Further, the government is now looking to
the few evaluation studies or reports that incorporates advanced features like e- build rural roads on the public-private-
could be accessed in the public domain. payment, password protected PDF files, partnership (PPP) mode. However, for
While some of these reports are state- interactive reports, etc. private developers to enter the rural road
specific, the essential points made are by We find that the achievement record for construction sector an assurance of a fixed
and large applicable to most other states in upgradation is fairly good at 93% but for return would be needed (GOI 2010).
the country. new connectivity it is only 62% (Table A1) Measures to improve the performance
and for habitations to be covered the of the PMGSY must tackle the problems of
1 Roads (Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak achievement rate is under 60% (Table A2). underutilisation of funds, poor quality of
Yojana: PMGSY): The Ministry of Rural Moreover, we find that in some years the roads constructed and lack of incentives
Development was to ensure that every achievement was well below 50% while in to attract private participation. Thus, the
habitation with population exceeding some other years it was even higher than third challenge that the finance minister
1,000, and every habitation in hilly and the targeted amount. Clearly such erratic mentioned in his budget speech – weak-
tribal areas with population exceeding performance defeats the very purpose of nesses in government systems, structures
500 is connected with an all-weather road setting out targets. Thus, even if we keep and institutions at different levels of gov-
by 2009. This was expected to generate aside for a moment the quality aspect of ernance, appears to be at the heart of
multiplier effects in the rural economy by the roads constructed, the overall physical ­underperformance in PMGSY.
linking production to markets and servic- target achievement rate approximating
es. Targets were set out in terms of new 60% for new connectivity and for habita- 2  Housing (Indira Awas Yojana: IAY):
connectivity, upgradation and habitations tions covered is well below satisfactory. This is a flagship scheme of the Ministry of
to be covered. An online management, On the financial front, expenditure as a Rural Development to provide financial
monitoring and accounting system proportion of the amount released has assistance to the BPL households in rural
(OMMAS) has been developed by the been 73% during the period 2003-04 to areas for construction of a dwelling unit.
e-governance department of the Centre 2008-09, ranging from a low of 48% in The cost of this project is shared between
for Development of Advanced Computing, 2008-09 to a high of 95% in 2006-07. Fur- the centre and states on a 75:25 basis.
and it is one of the biggest databases in ther, the amount released is seen to be The achievement of this programme has
­India. The system manages and monitors merely 60% of the sanctioned amount been somewhat erratic ranging from a
all the phases of road development right (Table A3). Thus underutilisation of funds low of 3.8% in 2007-08 to a high of
from its proposal mode to road completion. and procedural delays appear to be ram- 100.44% in 2008-09. For the period be-
The OMMAS system also has a separate pant and are most certainly a reason for tween 2006-07 and 2010-11 the overall
module to track the expenses made on the underachievement of targets. achievement has been 60% (Table A4). In
each road. Based on the data entered by On the quality front, the union minister 2008-09 the utilisation of funds was 73%
state and district officers, OMMAS generates of state for rural development Pradeep but the physical target achieved was 100%.
detailed reports which can be viewed in Jain Aditya said in the Lok Sabha, “Nine The year 2007-08 was a particularly bad
Economic & Political Weekly  EPW   April 24, 2010  vol xlv no 17 21
COMMENTARY
year when only 3% of the target was
achieved and only 5% of the funds were
utilised. Clearly under-utilisation of funds
seems to be the rule rather than exception
with almost all ­flagship programmes. The
outcome budget of the Ministry of Rural
Development for 2007-08 shows that 1.55
million houses were constructed under
the scheme in 2005-06 as against the
target of 1.44 million. However, the moni-
toring reports of the ministry for the
period show that in several states, the
guidelines were not followed, resulting in
a number of deserving families being left
out (Nichenametla 2007).
An evaluation study of the IAY for Jam-
mu and Kashmir in 2009 provides some
insight into problems that are likely to be
present across the board in all states.
Some of the main findings of the study
are: (i) involvement of local Members of
Legislative Assembly in the selection of
beneficiaries, (ii) No standard economic
criterion was followed to identify the ben-
eficiaries leading to some above poverty
line families being included as beneficiar-
ies while not all BPL families were covered,
(iii) Community facilities such as internal
roads, drainage, drinking water supply,
etc, and other common facilities were not
provided to IAY dwellings, (iv) Lack of co-
ordination among various agencies in-
volved with implementation of sanitation,
water supply, smokeless chulla schemes in
the state, and (v) No clear-cut directions as
to which type of houses need upgradation
(Planning Commission 2009).
Thus, apart from smoothening the pro-
cedures for the release of funds, some spe-
cific measures that need to be taken to
make the IAY a greater success are more
stringent norms for beneficiary selection,
clearer directions on the houses in need of
upgradation, development of community
facilities like roads, water, sanitation, and
greater coordination among the agencies
involved with these associated services.
3  Telecommunication (Village Public
Telephones: VPTs): The significance of
enhancing rural connectivity can hardly be
over emphasised. The Department of Tele-
com in the Ministry of Communications and
Information Technology was given the re-
sponsibility of providing telephone connec-
tivity to the villages that remain uncovered.
22
The achievement under this component
has been very good with 92% of the target
being met (Table A5). This has been one of
the success stories of Bharat Nirman.
4  Irrigation (Accelerated Irrigation
Benefit Programme: AIBP): The Ministry of
Water Resources in collaboration with state
governments took on the responsibility for
the creation of an additional 10 million hec-
tares of irrigation capacity by the end of
2009 through major, medium and minor ir-
rigation projects complemented by ground
water development. The overall achieve-
ment on this count seems to be reasonable
at 73%. In the last two years (i e, 2007-08
and 2008-09) the achievement rate seems
to have fallen considerably as compared to
the first two years (2005-06 and 2006-07)
to 60% and 66%, respectively (Table A6).
The findings of the Auditor General of
Rajasthan would be indicative of the po-
tential problems that are likely to exist in
most states, viz, improper selection, lack
of planning, financial mismanagement
and execution (Government of Rajasthan
2005-06). The execution problem includes
lack of construction of Jaisamand dam up
to safety level, extra cost of Rs 60.17 lakh
and liability of Rs 46.87 lakh, avoidable
extra expenditure, irregular payment of
price escalation and huge gap in irrigation
potential targeted, potential created and
its utilisation (ibid).
The Eleventh Plan document points out
that the completion rate has been quite
satisfactory in respect of AIBP-assisted
minor irrigation schemes as these have
low gestation periods. However, the per-
formance of major and medium irrigation
projects in terms of completion of the
projects as well as the potential creation
has not been very satisfactory. The Plan
document suggests that the allocation to
AIBP during the Eleventh Plan should be
increased but with much more effective
monitoring, using remote sensing data to
incentivise the central funds flow to the
states. Also, it suggests that states should
shift to “fixed-time fixed-cost” and a
greater emphasis on participatory
irrigation management, including col­
lection and retention of water rates by
water user associations, to reduce the
gap between potential created and the
­actual utilised.
April 24, 2010  vol xlv no 17  EPW   Economic & Political Weekly
Thus, in addition to the procedural de-
lays in the flow of funds, which have been
consistently noticed in other programmes,
the AIBP suffers from the problem of time
and cost overruns and shortage of com-
munity participation.
5 Drinking Water (Accelerated Rural
Water Supply Programme: ARWSP):
Performance on this front seems particu-
larly good with more than 100% of the tar-
get being achieved in case of all categories
and nearly 100% in case of coverage of un-
covered habitations. While 108% of the
target has been attained in case of slipped
back habitations and 142% in case of quali-
ty-affected habitations (Table A7), the fact
that there are “slipped back” and “quality-
affected” habitations itself indicates that the
scheme falls short on quality and does not
pay adequate attention to maintenance,
thus allowing habitations to slip back. The
average proportion of slipped back habita-
tions is as high as 65.45% (Table A8).
An evaluation has been undertaken for
a rapid appraisal of the implementation
status of sub-mission projects (SMP) under
the ARWSP to address problems relating to
quality of drinking water in rural habita-
tions. The overriding objective of the SMPs
is to provide safe drinking water in quali-
ty-affected habitations. The major find-
ings of the study are (a) in some states,
there is evidence of quality-affected habi-
tations, but no SMP has been taken up. The
focus of the state government is more on
coverage of habitations in the rural areas
rather than on quality, (b) the data on
­expenditure under the quality head were
not available for all states. In majority of
the cases, this was due to absence of
s­eparate data maintenance system for
SMPs. Further, it felt that lack of aware-
ness about the possible benefits from the
contamination-free water supply was evi-
dent among majority of the beneficiaries.
The awareness was very high only in cases
of West Bengal and Andhra Pradesh. This
evidence brings out the need for introduc-
ing strong information, education and
communication component (IEC) so that
people can join hands with the govern-
ment in maintaining the infrastructure
and ensuring availability of contamina-
tion free water (Society for Development
Studies 2006).

The Eleventh Five-Year Plan document
notes that sustainability of the ARWSP has
emerged as a major issue and the Plan
aims at arresting the slip backs. The Plan
document also draws attention to the im-
portance of convergence, ensuring com-
munity participation, and an IEC cam-
paign. Further it also emphasises the sig-
nificance of community involvement. It
says, “While our programmes have elabo-
rate guidelines for community involve-
ment, it is obvious that field-level adoption
is far from satisfactory” (Planning Com-
mission 2007, vol 2, p 165).
6  Electrification (Rajiv Gandhi Grameen
Vidyutikaran Yojana: RGGVY): The aims
of this programme are (i) electrifying all
villages and habitations as per the new
definition, (ii) providing access to electric-
ity for all rural households, and (iii) pro-
viding electricity connection to BPL fami-
lies free of charge. The achievement is
62% for un/de-electrified villages; 30%
for intensive electrification and as low as
25% for rural households and 38% for BPL
households (Table A9).
In its presentation to the Planning Com-
mission, the power ministry listed out cer-
tain factors that have resulted in delays,
including issues like delay on the part of
states in preparing the BPL lists to be pro-
vided connections, in issue of panchayat
certificate for village electrification and
land acquisition (Ojah 2008).
The Eleventh Five-Year Plan document
draws attention to the fact that non-avail-
ability of electrification materials due to
sudden demand has contributed to under-
achievement. It also emphasises the need
for fully operationalising the franchisee
system for revenue collection and viable
tariff as the key to sustaining the power
supply in rural areas.
Thus, the overall picture that emerges
from a stocktaking exercise of the Bharat
Nirman is that despite the fact that
Phase I of the programme is over, there
are many general and specific problems
which continue to plague the programme.
These are by and large procedural, imple-
mentation and delivery-level problems
which have resulted in underachievement
of targets. In some programmes there
appear to be problems in the design of the
programme itself (such as lack of clarity
Economic & Political Weekly  EPW   April 24, 2010  vol xlv no 17
on upgradation of houses in IAY). In some
others the quantitative targets reveal only
half truths (such as wrong selection of
beneficiaries in IAY or no indication of
cost and time overruns in case of AIBP).
Conclusions
If a higher allocation to Bharat Nirman in
every budget is to translate into improved
Appendix
Table A1: PMGSY Targets and Achievements of Road Length
Year New Connectivity (Km) Upgradation (Km) Achievement/Target (%)
Target Achievement Target
2005-06 15,492.5 18,054.3 11,393.9 3,898.1 116.54 34.21
2006-07 35,182.2 21,422.85 54,669.257 44,306.65 60.89 81.04
2007-08 43,989.9 21,901.76 59,316.284 58,145.386 49.79 98.03
2008-09 35,220 24,026.36 52,720 48,668.82 68.22 92.32
2009-10 24,000 10,262.29 16,000 26,167.39 42.76 163.55
2005-06 to 2009-10 1,53,884.6 95,667.56 1,94,099.441 1,81,186.349 62.17 93.35
http://www.pmgsy.nic.in/bharat_nirman.asp
Table A2: PMGSY Targets and Achievements of
Habitations Covered
Year Target Achievement Achievement/
Habitations Target (%)
2005-06 1,484 10,409 91.49
2006-07 16,130 8,275 51.30
2007-08 20,071 7,040 35.08
2008-09 18,100 11,395 62.96
2009-10 13,000 3,284 62.96
2005-06 to 2009-10 68,785 40,403 58.74
http://www.pmgsy.nic.in/bharat_nirman.asp
Table A3: Expenditure as Per Cent of Release
in PMGSY
Year Exp as % of Release
2003-04 81.17
2004-05 71.77
2005-06 81.18
2006-07 95.31
2007-08 64.80
2008-09 48.57
Average 73.80
http://www.omms.nic.in/government/security/login/
dologin.asp#
Table A4: Achievement and Targets of Rural Housing
for BPL under IAY
Year Target Achievement Achievement
as %
of Target
2006-07 15,33,498 14,48,818 94.48
2007-08 21,27,722 82,090 3.86
2008-09 21,27,165 21,36,574 100.44
2009-10 40,52,243 22,94,767 56.63
2006-07 to
2010-11 98,40,628 59,62,249 60.59
http://rural.nic.in/rural/stmonth1.aspx?flag=2
http://rural.nic.in/IAY/Framemon.asp
Table A5: Status of VPTs
No of villages to be provided VPTs
under Bharat Nirman 62,302
VPTs provided (nos) 61,526
Achievement/Target (%) 92.54
Source: http://www.dot.gov.in/uso/implementationstatus.
htm (Table 1A).
COMMENTARY
rural infrastructure on the ground, it is
imperative that detailed stock check of the
programmes be undertaken so that mid-
course correctives can be initiated. Evalu-
ation studies, based on both primary and
secondary information at regular intervals
and preferably by independent agents,
could be made an integral part of the design
of all such programmes. This suggestion is
Achievement New Upgradation
Table A6: Achievement and Target in Irrigation
Potential (AIBP) (million hectare)
Year Target Achievement Achievement/
Target (%)
2005-06 1.9 1.69 88.95
2006-07 2.4 1.96 81.67
2007-08 2.85 1.7 59.65
2008-09 2.85 1.9 66.67
Total 10 7.3 73.00
http://wrmin.nic.in/bharatnirman/CumAch2005-09.pdf
http://wrmin.nic.in/bharatnirman/target_national_yearwise.htm
Table A7: Achievement and Target in ARWSP
Year Uncovered Slipped- Quality Total
Habitations Back Affected
Habitations Habitations
Target
2005-09 55,067 3,31,604 2,16,968 6,03,639
2005-06 Target 11,897 34,373 10,000 56,270
Ach 13,131 79,544 4,550 97,225
2006-07 Target 18,120 40,000 15,000 73,120
Ach 12,440 89,580 5,330 1,07,350
2007-08 Target 20,931 84,915 49,653 1,55,499
Ach 11,457 75,201 94,130 1,80,788
2008-09 Target 16,763 1,01,733 99,402 2,17,898
Ach 17,412 1,14,037 2,05,930 3,37,379
Achievement/Target 98.86 108.07 142.85 119.73
http://rural.nic.in/latest/BharatNirman_QuartlyReport.pdf
Table A8: ARWSP – Proportion of Slipped-Back and
Quality-Affected Habitations (%)
Year Slipped-Back Habitations Quality Affected
Habitations
2005-06 54.93 35.94
2006-07 81.81 4.68
2007-08 83.45 4.97
2008-09 41.60 52.07
Average 65.45 24.41
http://rural.nic.in/latest/BharatNirman_QuartlyReport.pdf
Table A9: RGGVY – Achievement and Target as in 2010
Target Achievement Achievement
Coverage in Nos (%)
Electrification of un/
de-electrified villages 1,18,499 73,357 61.9
Intensive electrification 3,54,375 1,05,213 29.7
Rural households 4,14,55,745 1,06,46,046 25.7
BPL households 2,46,06,500 94,52,281 38.4
http://rggvy.gov.in/rggvy/rggvyportal/plgsheethome3.jsp
23
COMMENTARY
based on the observation in the preceding
paragraphs that in some instances macro
level quantitative targets reveal only half
truths. In fact, making evaluation studies
at regular intervals, preferably by private
independent organisations (like universi-
ties or other acade­mic institutions) man-
datory would strengthen the culture of ac-
countability and transparency.
Some other principles which could im-
prove performance of the programmes
under Bharat Nirman are community
i­nvolvement, private sector participation
and incentive compatible reward systems.
Community involvement and participa-
tion would instil a sense of “ownership” –
non-governmental organisations can play
a pivotal role here. In fact, this provision
‘Universities’ in Need of Reform
Attar Rabbani
A sad state of affairs is revealed
when one studies the situation
vis-à-vis higher education in
“state universities”. A decisive
shift in higher educational
policy towards reforming the
state universities is required,
particularly in the context of
the recent debates on the rise of
“deemed-to-be-universities”.
Attar Rabbani (prince_rabbani@yahoo.com)
teaches political science at Ismail Yusuf
College, Mumbai.
24
exists in some of the programmes but has
not been implemented. Specific incentives
for private sector participation, possibly in
the nature of tax breaks, would most cer-
tainly help motivate private players. Final-
ly, introducing a set of incentive structures
which would reward performance (if not
penalise non-performance) would go a
long way in improving performance.
References
Business Standard (2009): “Road Construction Works
under PMGSY Unsatisfactory: Minister”, 17 July,
available at http://www.business-standard.com/
india/news/road-construction-works-under-pm-
gsy-unsatisfactory-minister/16/47/68078/on
(viewed on 13/03/10).
GOI (2009-10): Quarterly Report of Ministry of Rural
Development (2nd Quarter of 2009-10), available
on http://rural.nic.in/latest/BharatNirman_
QuartlyReport.pdf
T
he last four years have seen a
number of new initiatives under-
taken by the central government
towards reforming university education.
Two committees, the National Knowledge
Commission (NKC) and the Yashpal Com-
mittee have both made a number of sig-
nificant recommendations towards im-
proving university edu­cation. This period
has also seen a huge investment in higher
education. The Eleventh Plan allocation
towards higher education is a whopping
Rs 84,942.79 crore, a very high increase as
compared to the p­revious Plan. This com-
mentary analyses the situation in higher
education in general and also the contro-
versies vis-à-vis deemed universities.
‘Deemed Universities’
What exactly is a deemed university? Sur-
prisingly, the answer seems to be a bit
vague. According to Section 3 of the Uni-
versity Grants Commission (UGC) Act,
19561 the central government may, on the
advice of the UGC, declare, by notification
in the official gazette, that any institution
for higher education, other than a univer-
sity, shall be deemed to be a university for
the purposes of this Act. On such a decla-
ration being made, all the provisions of
April 24, 2010  vol xlv no 17  EPW   Economic & Political Weekly
– (2010): Economic Survey 2009-10, Ministry of Fi-
nance, New Delhi.
Government of Rajasthan (2005-06): “Performance
Review”, Audit Report (Civil), available on http://
www.agraj.cag.gov.in/agca/Chapter-3.pdf
Planning Commission (2007): Eleventh Five-Year Plan
(2007-2012), Volumes I, II and III, New Delhi.
– (2009): Evaluation Report on Indira Awas
Yojana: Jammu and Kashmir, Programme Evalu-
ation Organisation, available on http://plan-
ningcommission.nic.in/reports/peoreport/peo/
peo_iay.pdf
Nichenametla, Prasad (2007): “Indira Awas Yojana
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this Act shall apply to such institution as if
it were a university within the meaning of
clause (f) of Section 2 which2 states that,
“University” means a University established
or incorporated by or under a Central Act, a
Provincial Act or a State Act, and includes any
such institution as may, in consultation with
the University concerned, be recognised by
the Commission in accordance with the reg-
ulations made in this behalf under this Act.
The Radhakrishnan Commission on
university education in its report (1948)
devoted a chapter on deemed universities.
It says,
During the earlier years of the nationalist
movement a number of institutions of high-
er education were established independent
of the government and its support, deter-
mined to work out their own destinies in the
spirit of free India. Though their difficulties
and discouragement were great and the
mortality among them high, a few of them
survived and have justified the heroic strug-
gle they made.
The commission suggested that in o­rder
to give these institutions university status
the government may consider adopting
the method of creating universities by
charter. As a consequence, a provision
was included in the UGC Act of 1956 that
the institutions which have unique and
distinct character of their own could enjoy
the privileges of a university w­ithout los-
ing their distinct character and autonomy.
In the first 10 years after the enactment
of the UGC Act, eight institutions were no-
tified as deemed universities. In the 1970s,
the UGC decided that notification under