Prof TB Subba takes charge as new VC of Sikkim University

ANUSHA GURUNG
GANGTOK, 18 Oct: The Induction Programme for Sikkim University’s new Vice Chancellor Professor Tanka B Subba and the annual awards ceremony was held today here at Chintan Bhawan.
The new VC, Prof Subba, was a Professor in the Department of Anthropology and former Dean of North Eastern Hill University, Shillong and is an honorary Director of Indian Council of Social Sciences North East zone. Prof Subba is a respected academic, well known for his work on sociology and anthropology of the ethnic communities of the Eastern Himalaya.
Addressing the faculty and students at the close of the programme which stretched the whole day, Prof Subba kept his address very brief and outlined the his priorities and approach to the responsibility he now shoulders.
Keeping his address short and witty, Prof Subba thanked the SU faculty and students and the Sikkimese and congratulated his predecessor for the achievements he has secured for the new university, admitting that “the bar” has been set high for his tenure here. However, he added, the evolution will continue and pointed out that everything, systems and institutions, should continue evolving... changing and improving.
He commented that there were some programmes at the SU which were definitely good and will be retained, adding that some schemes/ programmes were not so good and will be reconsidered and rounded up by stressing that some practises/ programmes were unacceptable and will be “discontinued and abandoned”.
Concluding his address with the admission that the process of evolution will require support from all quarters, he qualified his comment by stressing that support will be called in not just from the employees and students of the university, but also the Sikkimese at large, the media and the ruling government.
Earlier, Registrar, Sikkim University, Prof Jyoti Prakash Tamang, presented the achievements of the former Vice Chancellor. “Today is a historical day for Sikkim University since this is the last official address by the founding Vice Chancellor Prof MP Lama, who has faced many hurdles in establishing this university”, Mr Tamang said.
Prof Lama, who also addressed the induction programme, spoke at length about all the university has achieved under his stewardship and delved at length how the university has been denied its campus land at Yangang thus far.
In his a presentation on “Ethos, Vision and Orientations and Achievements of Sikkim University”, he said that “Sikkim University is truly a national university with local ethos”.
“Our mission is to make Sikkim University known for academic and research excellence. Earlier, our colleges did not have proper teachers or even basic infrastructure. You will find a huge difference in the colleges today”, said Prof Lama.
“People say that this university is against the local people which is not at all true, in fact, 58% of the non-teaching staff are from the state itself,” he added. On transparency, he contended that this has been consistently maintained and stated that SU is the only University that has used 94% of development grants; except for the land, he stressed.
Land allocation for the university has been a hotly contested issue between the university, the land owners and the State Government.
On the land issue, he said that many people thought it would not be possible for the university to function without a dedicated campus, “but we showed that without land also we can do everything”.
“We don’t destroy the identity of the people who give their land. In fact we conserve it, as they are giving land for a constructive purpose and not for a destructive purpose. In the next few months the University will definitely get the land as I am now leaving,” he added.
He thanked the visitors, HRDD Government of India, University Grants Commission for their “unstinted support, unflinching loyalty and warm fellow feeling”.
A film on Sikkim University by the Films and Television Institute of India [FTII] was also screened on the day. A book titled “Climate Change and Sustainability in the Mountain Areas: Scope and challenges for regional cooperation and integration” was released by Prof Subba and Prof Lama.
Awards were given to the best teachers, best students, best photography awards while students who have spent the most time in the library and people who have done selfless service till date were also awarded.