Education minister Bratya Basu has accused the Centre of discrimination for excluding state-aided universities from the list of “Hub and Spoke” institutions under the Partnership for Accelerated Innovation and Research (PAIR) programme, despite several of them meeting eligibility criteria.
The Union education ministry had initially shortlisted Jadavpur University (JU) among 30 potential “Hub” institutions nationwide. As a Hub, JU would have received ₹30 crore to provide academic leadership to six institutions under its guidance.
The university presented its credentials twice to the ministry — once in Delhi and later in Bangalore — to secure this recognition.
Calcutta University was also shortlisted as a potential “Spoke” institution, one of six that JU would have guided. However, when the final list was announced earlier this week, none of Bengal’s state-aided universities made the cut.
“Several universities of our state are eligible to become Hub and Spoke institutions. Yet none of them have been recognised. We strongly condemn the discriminatory attitude of the Union government towards West Bengal,” Basu wrote on X, sharing lists of the selected institutions.
NIT Rourkela was instead named the Hub institution for Eastern India — a position JU had sought.
BJP leader Sukanta Majumdar, the Union minister of state for education, did not respond to requests for comment.
Professor Partha Pratim Roy, who was part of the JU team that presented in Bangalore in March, said they had prepared three projects for which they could provide guidance: artificial intelligence, advanced materials, and environment and sustainability.
“It is unfortunate that JU, in spite of its stellar performances in education rankings, was not considered as a Hub institution,” said Roy, a professor of physics.
JU was the only state-aided Bengal university shortlisted for Hub status. Meanwhile, Calcutta University, Burdwan University, Kalyani University, Sidho Kanho University, Sikkim University, and University of Meghalaya were all shortlisted as potential
Spoke institutions to be assisted by JU.
The exclusion is particularly notable given JU’s strong performance in the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) — ranking second among state public universities and ninth overall in the university category last year, continuing its “top-notch performance” from previous years.
This marks a continuing pattern, as JU was previously not considered for Institute of Eminence status despite being shortlisted.
“This constant denial of recognition forced the education minister to accuse the Union government of pursuing a discriminatory attitude,” a senior education official said.
