BENGALURU: In a first, the state government is crowdsourcing ideas from young professionals in order to set up the Bengaluru Ambedkar School of Economics. BASE, inspired by the iconic London School of Economics, was planned during Dr BR Ambedkar's 125 birth anniversary in 2016. While the young professionals are not being given a job, their vision is expected to conduct the birthing of the institution.For a start, the government has opened in retired IAS officer Anup K Pujari , who has reached out to postgraduate professionals in economics, mathematics, statistics, physics, law or computer sciences.These postgraduates, in the age group of 21­30, are expected to commit at least a year and work independently in a digital environment. The reward: A consolidated salary of Rs 30,000 a month and “a rare opportunity to be part of the team that would set up this new institute,“ reads a note put out by the government. “Pujari is helming the entire effort. He was the only one willing to stick his neck out to drive the project,“ said a senior official. Pujari, a 1980-batch Karnataka cadre officer, holds a PhD in economics from Boston University and taught economics at the Harvard Kennedy School. He did not wish to speak.The BASE will come up on a 43 acre plot on the Jnanabharathi campus and will function under Bangalore University before becoming autonomous in a few years. The state cabinet has approved Rs 150 crore for construction of its campus, and another Rs 150 crore as corpus. It will begin academic operations this year itself, authorities said. Pujari could be named its first director. Last year marked the centenary of Ambedkar's first visit to the London School of Economics (LSE), where he registered for a master's degree. LSE is to mentor the Bengaluru school by recommending courses and syllabus. This mentorship and the idea of roping in youngsters, however, will have to go through the academic rigmarole of Bangalore University, experts point out.“All the bosses of Bangalore University will also be bosses in BASE, and we know how universities work. They are stuck in the clause of syllabus, where very little innovation is possible,“ said former ISEC director RS Deshpande, who was part of a four-member expert committee to work out the modalities of BASE.Suma M Singh, head of the economics department at Mount Carmel College , shared the concern. “Failure of our public universities is largely attributable to outdated curriculum and faculty.BASE must build an institution with a world-class process and adopt innovative teaching-learning methodology.“