"Minor thing," says IIM Bangalore Professor on row over Mann Ki Baat study

New Delhi: Amid the row around the study related to the societal impact of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s radio programme Mann Ki Baat, the professor of the “Decision Sciences” wing of IIM Bangalore Saturday termed the entire controversy “unnecessary” as a minor thing.

A headline in the Bengaluru-based news outlet, TheNewsMinute, on Friday, insinuated that PM Modi was wrong to claim that IIM Bangalore was involved in the Mann Ki Baat study. 

Headlined “IIM Bengaluru says they have no information on Mann Ki Baat study shared by PM Modi”, the TNM report was based on a post by an X user who cited a purported RTI reply to claim that IIM Bangalore was unaware of such a study being commissioned by the institute.

PM Modi on October 3, wrote on X, “Today, as #MannKiBaat completes 9 years, here is an interesting study by @TheOfficialSBI and @iimb_official which highlights some of the themes covered and their societal impact. It is amazing how we have celebrated several life journeys and collective efforts through this medium.”

Quoting the PM’s post, an X user Deepak Malghan shared the purported RTI reply suggesting that such a study may not have been commissioned.

An RTI response from IIM Bangalore suggests that it is unaware of such a study being commissioned by the institute. https://t.co/s1dHVli5Up pic.twitter.com/0GhnxZzZOy

— Deepak Malghan (ದೀಪಕ ಮಲಘಾಣ್) (@deepak_malghan) November 2, 2023

Malghan’s post attracted a lot of replies from X users in a manner his post was intended to.

In an exclusive conversation with NewsDrum, Dr Pulak Ghosh, who headed the “Decision Sciences” team involved in the study, said that the question of permission from IIMB did not arise as this was a purely academic research study. 

“It was not commissioned and not a consulting project by IIMB. So, permission from IIMB does not arise,” Professor Ghosh said.

Explaining how it works, the Professor said, “Any faculty of IIMB can take up any research or policy study based on his/her research interest and publish. They don't need IIMB permission to take up any such study. This is the case in this study also. It was neither commissioned by IIMB nor it was a consulting project taken up by IIMB. For a purely academic research project, by IIM faculty, one does not need Institute permission.”

When asked if such studies could still be credited to IIM Bangalore and whether PM erred in calling it an IIMB study, Professor Ghosh explained that when a faculty publishes studies in top journals, academically we not only say that the faculty published, but also say IIMB has published in that top journal.

“That's why names of individual faculties were also given in the study,” he said.

Terming the entire controversy unnecessary, Professor Ghosh said, “I guess we should concentrate on the content rather than this minor thing.”