Agartala, Jul 27 : Looking forward to take up a course offered by Indira Gandhi National Open University (Ignou) abroad? You can choose Nagaland - a relatively new country included in the prestigious university's website.
Unbelievable? Not really. Till Tuesday afternoon, the drop down menu of the "fees" section on the university's website, giving country-wise cost of each programme, identified Nagaland as a separate "country" and placed it in between USA and Ivory Coast.
Though Ignou corrected the mistake by evening, there was a volley of criticism from various quarters of society earlier in the day as soon as the matter came to light. Angry and sarcastic comments like "we are more than willing to hand it over to whoever wants it" and "typical mainland ignorance" started flooding social network sites and there was a great hue and cry everywhere.
"This is absolutely disgraceful. This is a faux pas par excellence," said Ezaz Hazarika, a former police officer and now a security expert of a foreign company.
When the matter was brought to the notice of Kishore Ambuly, the secretary of higher education (Tripura), he feigned ignorance. "I shall look into the matter," said Ambuly. Congress Legislature Party leader Ratan Lal Nath said he would take up the matter with higher authorities in New Delhi.
The mistake assumes significance not only for lack of knowledge on the part of the authorities concerned but also for the fact that it is likely to used by anti Indian elements active in the region, especially Naga militant outfits. KS Chakraborty, the director of Ignou's Agartala centre, also feigned ignorance about the faux pas.
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