Instituting change

The Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Contemporary Studies (RGICS) was set up as part of the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation (RGF) with great fanfare. But, now, the whole project seems to have fallen into disarray. The institute, which used to do some cutting-edge thinking on contemporary issues, didn’t have a full-time director till former vice-chancellor of the National Law University G Mohan Gopal took over in July this year. There hasn’t been a Rajiv Gandhi Memorial lecture since 2008. And many of the RGICS earlier partners don’t know that they are still listed as partners on the institute’s website, although they haven’t worked together for several years! However, there are two changes: Priyanka Gandhi Vadra is now named Executive Trustee and the RGICS has begun accepting money from governments — not just Indian but foreign as well.

When Manmohan Singh became Finance Minister in the P V Narasimha Rao government he had included in his first Budget a funding of Rs 100 crore (Rs 20 crore each year for five years) to RGF. But the foundation turned down the grant because Sonia Gandhi was angry at the protests when the announcement was made. Now, however, RGF has begun accepting money not just from the Indian but also the Chinese government — a sum of $300,000 was given by Hu Jintao and Wen Jiabao during their visits to India to initiate “a series of collaborative programmes” on India and China!

The good news is, under Gopal (who was also a former member of SEBI) the RGICS has many plans up its sleeve - including functioning like the think tank it is meant to be. Watch this space for more !