As the social media went abuzz with the news about Jio Institute being given “Institute of Eminence”, my thoughts immediately went to 2001-02, when Reliance had set up its first “Greenfield” University in Gandhinagar – Dhirubhai Ambani Institute of Information and Communication Technology (DA-IICT). I was a scientist working as Project Leader at Institute for Plasma Research, Gandhinagar on Nuclear Fusion. One day, on my office table, I saw a two page write-up about DA-IICT along with a Call for Faculty. Salary being offered at that time was nearly 2-3 times compared to what was being offered in Govt Systems. I looked at and ignored it since I was interested in carrying forward my work on Nuclear Fusion (I was probably the first person from India to have done PhD in Nuclear Fusion) and did not bother to respond to the call.
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