Barring a couple of them, all others have proved themselves to be useless endeavours and a drain on public resources. They do neither research nor training.
Successive governments have started one or two such institutions under each government department with an outlay of Rs 5 crore to Rs 10 crore. They mark their presence in the initial years by organising a seminar or some other gimmick that ensures them news space.
Most of these institutions do not have enough researchers or the funds for it. They are just a space to reward the relatives and supporters of ministers and other political leaders. Retired government employees and teachers have found these places as a cozy well-paying post-retirement destinations.
The government is spending about Rs 70 crore on these fruitless endeavours.
Take the case of the Centre for Parliamentary Studies, for instance. I came across this institution only last year during data collection for an evaluation of the Kerala Legislative Assembly. It does not even have a website. But it has a director and staff who are provided with cars and other facilities.
A journal they had published gave valuable insights into their working. Not a single article in the journal concerned the assembly or parliamentary proceedings. The reasons is simple. The head of the institute hardly had any expertise on parliamentary affairs. But he could get his friends to write on coconut cultivation, pineapple planting and Kudumbashree.
Of course, there are institutions which do a fair job. Even these centres seldom excel beyond an average level. The Centre for the Development of Imaging Technology (C-Dit) is an institution with the potential to achieve global excellence. But it does not even have a well-functioning governing body. Many of the professionals have left the centre, reducing the institution to work as a contractor for the government.
There are many institutions which share a similar predicament. The Kerala Archaeology Department lacks any professional archaeologists. Even the employees are not clear on their routine other than drawing the salaries.
What can be done?
The government can form a committee of experts in each field to evaluate the institutions’ relevance. Scrap the institutions which serve no purpose. Merge those whose works overlap. In case of professional institutions, hire professionals through a selection panel of experts after notifying the post at the national level. Avoid squeezing in party loyalists.
All institutions should follow a performance index. Form an accreditation wing in the Higher Education Department to evaluate the research and training centres’ performance and give them certification. Ensure that these institutions find other sources of revenue than the government.
(The writer is a consultant and former director of the United Nations Development Programme)