The HECI Bill may not allow the Centre to monopolise control, but it will definitely allow it to exercise more power. With the Centre monitoring such activities, one does not know if the body can function autonomously. If the aim was to ensure transparency and improve the global rating of Indian universities, the Union government could have made modifications to the functioning of the University Grants Commission. An attempt to restrict state power will weaken federalism.
The proposed UGC replacement — the HECI bill — will definitely have repercussions on the academic system of the country. Once established, the HECI would just be the regulator, while the HRD would be in control of funding, increasing the danger of political influence on academics. The Centre would release funds, thus having the universities at its disposal. Any benefit it proposes in autonomy would be undercut by political interference which would restrict free thinking of the students.
While the UGC as an autonomous statutory body restricts the role of the government despite being appointed by it, the HECI would hand over a lot of power to the Central government, increasing its role in the functioning of academic life. The HECI bill would largely threaten the autonomy of the Indian institutes of higher education and allow the Central government to monopolise control. Such a reform feels opaque, lacking transparency, and anti-democratic.
The HECI allows the Central government to monopolise control over the academic life of the country in two ways. Firstly, the carrot and stick approach of rendering institutions not meeting standards would make them financially paralysed, as grants would be directly taken care of by the MHRD. And then, the autonomy which the MHRD will have within the HECI and its decision-making process will further strengthen the government's objective of monopolising control over academic life.
