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17/09/2011

Amartya Sen defends Gopa’s appointment

Patna,(BiharTimes): Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen, who heads the Governing Council (earlier Mentor Group), has defended the appointment of Dr Gopa Sabharwal, currently Associate Professor in department of Sociology at Lady Shri Ram College For Women, (New Delhi) as the Vice Chancellor of the upcoming Nalanda International University (NIU).



Speaking from Boston (US) for the first time in 12 days he said that Sabharwal's academic qualifications are excellent and her administrative ability is well established. She is totally committed to the Nalanda project.
In an interview to a US-based organization, Asia Society, he said that her involvement with Bihar and willingness to be based in Nalanda contrasted sharply with some others who could have been considered for the position.
Whatever be Dr Sen’s argument many scholars strongly criticize the appointment of Dr Sabharwal.

French Buddhist scholar Claude Arpi was quoted in the Times of India as saying: "A person without Buddhist links has been selected as the VC of the new Nalanda university; it’s a shame”.

The Chairman of New Delhi-based the Institute of Human Development, Alakh Narayan Sharma said: “She does not possess any intellectual stature among social scientists in the country.”

Former head of the department of History, Patna University, Surendra Gopal is also fo the same view. “To the best of my knowledge, she is not known among academia in social sciences. She has no experience to run a university like Nalanda.” He also expressed surprise over the non-inclusion of any scholar from Bihar as well as from Delhi in the NMG.

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