Punjab’s foremost university, and only the second in the world to have been named after a language, Punjabi University, Patiala, is in dire straits. For a university that could single handedly claim to have looked after the entire Malwa belt of Punjab, it is sad to see its professors and staff fighting for salaries, wages, grants on a monthly basis.

In this animated discussion with Principal Tarsem Bahia (retd), a veteran of University senates and syndicates; Dr Anupama Uppal, a well known agriculture economist teaching at the Punjabi University; and Dr Avneet Pal Singh, Secretary, Punjabi University Teachers’ Association, we zero in on where things went wrong, and the circumstances in which the varsity finds itself today.

A story of government grants becoming a mere trickle, the university being burdened with tasks it wasn’t meant for, a continuous shift away from the mandate, and the crushing realities of higher educational institutions buckling before market forces, the debate underlines the sorry state of a campus that was once considered a nursery of grand ideas.

Now, there’s talk of how to get rid of some colleges that have been dragging down the varsity, the scams that were probed but no one was ever punished, irregular appointments, civil service officers becoming vice chancellors, and much more that has gone rogue.

Is there still hope for this university? Are the dons fighting for only their salaries? Is it the soul of radical Punjabi intellectual tradition that is at stake? And why is it that all we hear is about the crisis of monthly salaries?