Mother of all management

THE UNION minister for human resource development's election-eve decision to slash Indian Institute of Management (IIM) fees by a third has created a storm. The most vocal lot are the faculty and management of the premier schools, and industry captains, who employ their products. The reaction from the minister and his party collegues is expectedly holier: the poor must get access to specialised higher education! Can anyone deny that? Critics have attributed a conspiracy motive: its autonomy ended, the IIMs will now depend on state funds. An acceptable argument in the current Indian scenario, indeed!