I distinctly remember my first job interview as a trainee reporter in 2012. One of the interviewers remarked that I was the first hire from Osmania University’s journalism department in four or five years. I never really understood what it meant until later in my career when I began covering OU. It was then that I saw the plethora of issues plaguing the campus, which has suffered a conspicuous decline in quality over the last few decades.
So when Telangana Chief Minister Revanth Reddy announced Rs 1,000 crore for Hyderabad’s Osmania University last week, along with a vision to develop it into a “world-class” institution, it was a welcome step. After all, OU—and specifically the historic Arts College which houses half the departments—is the face of Telangana.
While OU has produced some of the most notable people in our country, including former Prime Minister PV Narasimha Rao, cricket commentator Harsha Bhogle, and filmmaker Shyam Benegal, it has fallen from grace in recent decades.
This was mainly due to funding issues. Back in 2012-13, before Telangana was carved out of Andhra Pradesh, Osmania University saw a sharp drop in funding. The state released just Rs 166 crore even though salaries and pensions alone came to Rs 238 crore. At the time, there was a widespread perception that OU was not well looked after due to anti-Telangana bias in Andhra Pradesh.
Yet, even after Telangana came into being in 2014, not much changed. OU continued to face funding problems and staff shortages. The hostels are reportedly in a woeful condition, with waterlogging, poor sanitation, and lack of drinking water.
Also Read: Hyderabad’s supper clubs are for the rich and young. They don’t want to meet others in bars
Fought for Telangana, reaped no benefits
Osmania University was founded in 1918, after the Hyderabad state’s last Nizam, Mir Osman Ali Khan, passed a farman in 1917 to establish it. It originally had Urdu as its medium of instruction, which was changed to English in 1948.
For decades, it was an intellectual hub that could compete with the institutions elsewhere in India. Even today, many of the country’s best journalists come from my department at OU. But that crop belongs to an earlier generation. I haven’t seen many contemporaries, or even students from batches after mine, match that quality.
But academia alone did not define OU’s identity. The university has long been a home for thousands of aspirational students from districts across the state. Many are first-generation graduates who come with hopes of securing government jobs after completing their studies. This mass character is why OU became the hub of protests for Telangana’s statehood, first in 1969 and again from 2009-14. The bifurcation finally happened in 2014 but, ironically, it did not usher in a better era for OU.
The university’s students have always been anti-establishment, and that did not change after Telangana was formed. The very students who were core to the statehood demand eventually became enemies of Telangana’s first CM and Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) supremo K. Chandrasekhar Rao (KCR). He rarely visited the university during his tenure from 2014-23, largely because he faced protests over the BRS’s failure to fulfill promises regarding government jobs.
Ahead of the 2023 state elections, the Congress promised to bring change for Osmania University but disappointment was already setting in, especially after budget allocations did not meet expectations.
Therefore, it was a big moment of reconciliation when Revanth Reddy announced the Rs 1,000 crore funding for the upgradation of Osmania University.
Also Read: 174-yr-old Munshi Naan demolished for Hyderabad metro. Breading bad with history
A long way to go
As things stand, the situation is dire. Out of the 1,260-odd sanctioned teaching positions, only about 35 per cent are filled with regular faculty members, while the rest are managed by contract staff. The Osmania administration and successive state governments have essentially failed to replace senior professors as they retire. This is a primary reason why academics have suffered and why students often take admission into OU for granted.
Many classrooms, especially in the social sciences, see slim attendance. There is virtually no consequence for skipping classes, and unless students themselves show initiative, the atmosphere seems lax.
Today, OU and its affiliated colleges in Hyderabad (and Telangana) are far from being able to compete with institutions from other states. In fact, the University of Hyderabad and the English and Foreign Languages University (EFLU)—both central government institutions—are considered much more prestigious.
If anyone is responsible for the deterioration of Osmania University, it is the state. While we could earlier blame the erstwhile Andhra rulers, that excuse no longer applies. Hopefully, CM Revanth Reddy is serious about rebuilding the university because, without intervention, this historic institution will slowly fade into a ghost of its former glory.
Yunus Lasania is a Hyderabad-based journalist whose work primarily focuses on politics, history and culture. He posts on X @YunusLasania. Views are personal.
(Edited by Asavari Singh)