During the week, the humblest tax-payer in India grappled with the nitty-gritty of e-filing of IT-returns (AY 2013-14) the UPA Government gifted a virtual ‘tax haven’ status to the Nalanda University.  The prospective academic biggies of the Nalanda University will benefit from the decision at the cost of taxpayers. This might not fit the exact definition of the term used in the financial world. But those tax havens at least have some financial brains and benefit from other people’s money. But here is a curious case where the Government of India would allow tax exemption to foreign and Indian academic staff of Nalanda University after paying them extraordinarily high salaries out of the public exchequer.

The Cabinet had cleared the decision on June 28.  A Headquarters Agreement to this effect was signed between Foreign Secretary Ranjan Mathai and Amartya Sen, Chancellor, Nalanda University on July 21, 2013. Journalist Tavleen Singh who fortuitously was present at the Taj Hotel that Sunday had wondered at the tamasha. In her column, Our Socialist Royalty, she wonders why the ceremony was being held in a plush hotel rather than Bihar Bhawan.

As one who has tracked the Nalanda University project for the last few years, I am hardly surprised. The Nalanda Mentor Group meetings (on which MEA splurged around Rs 2 crore in 2007-08) were also held in plush hotels of Singapore, Tokyo and New York. There was little willingness of the part of Amartya-led mentor group to even to tour Nalanda district. They visited Nalanda as late as February, 2009. They were not bothered about the grainy realities of Nalanda district while holding meetings in Singapore, Tokyo and New York. Then suddenly our Vice Chancellor Gopa Sabharwal and her friend turned OSD (Official on Special Duty) Anjana Sharma realised that toilet facilities were not appropriate in Rajgir (the spot chosen for Nalanda University). This lack of facility was cited before the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs (in 2012) as a prime reason for Nalanda University functioning from New Delhi. It is a pity that Sen’s much vaunted Bihar model of development could not produce tolerable toilet facilities in Rajgir.

Theoretically, there was nothing wrong if tax exemptions were granted when a number of east Asian states were providing money to Nalanda University’s kitty. But that dream has soured long ago. No foreign nation has come forward to commit any money to the project. China donated merely $1 million (Rs 5 crore then) in November, 2011 to be used exclusively for building a Chinese style library. Donations — mostly pledged, not given — are hardly mention-worthy. Most of the nations have nice encouraging words, since they cost nothing. For all practical purposes, it is the Government of India that funds the Nalanda University. Allowing high salaries is apparently not enough for attracting the best faculty. They have also to be allowed tax exemption.

But, pity, where are the students going to come from? Has any survey been done on which nations are likely to send their children to Nalanda University? There is no such study. It is the perfect example of ‘Amartyanomics’ — high on spurious assumptions, deficient at ground-level work. The faculty recruitment in Nalanda University will reportedly commence soon. But one wonders why no rules and procedures for faculty selection have been formulated in the statutes of the University. Is this not an indication that arbitrariness and favouritism will have a field day at Nalanda University, as is evident by the appointment of the Vice Chancellor Gopa Sabharwal?

The ancient Nalanda University which produced an illustrious line of scholars, including Arya Deva, Dharmapala, Chandra Gomin, Shilbhadra, Shantarakshita, Padmasambhava Buddhakirti and Atish Dipankar was known for giving to the world. They all practiced humble living and high thinking. In fact, the most popular meaning of Nalanda is ‘giving incessantly’. But the mandarins of the current Nalanda University believe in ‘taking incessantly’. Tax exemption is the latest. The tax-payers will underwrite the largesse.