HRD ministry plans to impose gurudakshina.

Byline: Sakina Yusuf Khan

: The ministry of human resource development wants to turn the clock back, to ancient times. So what if it can't turn universities into gurukuls, it can at least impose a gurudakshina tax.

That's exactly what it plans to do - make employers across the board deposit the equivalent of the first salary of their new recruits into a kitty called the Bharat Shiksha Kosh as gurudakshina, in return for measly tax benefits.

Preposterous? UGC acting chairman Arun Nigvekar considers it ''perfectly justified''. ''The hiring institutions owe the skills of their employees to the government which has provided them education,'' he explains.

''It should therefore be obligatory for employers - private or government - to pay back this debt by contributing to the Bharat Shiksha Kosh. I would suggest employees, too, contribute their first salary to the Kosh as a token of their commitment.''

Is it workable? Would employers and citizens be willing? ''The problem is that people are ready to shoot down an idea without considering it positively. The negative mindset has to change before the Kosh can become a reality. It would be a sort of finance corporation for promoting education and giving soft loans to students,'' says Nigvekar.

The UGC has almost finalised its details and wants it implemented at the earliest possible. Those at the receiving end of the proposed move are understandably unhappy. ''In the name of 'commitment' ...