Smriti Irani controversy : Much ado about nothing
Smriti Irani controversy : Much ado about nothing
ASHOK B SHARMA*
Lot of eyebrows have been raised about the future of education in India under the dispensation of the new minister for human resources development who has not completed her graduation level study in formal education. This was fuelled by no other than a former minister and responsible spokesperson of the Congress party Ajay Makan soon after the former's appointment.
The Prime Minister Narendra Modi selected Smriti Zubin Irani 38 to be the youngest among the 23-member Cabinet and allotted to her human resources development ministry for effecting radical changes in the country's educational system.
Makan on May 27 had tweeted : "What a Cabinet of Modi? HRD Minister (Looking after Education) Smriti Irani is not even a graduate! Look at her affidavit at ECI site pg 11!"
Since Makan's tweet, the critics of Irani have gone viral in the social media and generated lot of unnecessary debate.
First, Makan should know before tweeting - who was country's first education minister and what was his educational qualification? Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, who was the first education minister, did not undergo any formal education. Maulana had theological education needed to become a clergy. However, Maulana acquired the knowledge of English, Hindi, Urdu, Bengali apart from Arabic and Persian. Reputed as a freedom fighter, a revolutionary and a journalist, Maulana, could shape the destiny of the country's education system.
Makan should know about the party he belongs to. He should know the legacy of his party. Congress had illustrious leaders like Pt Jawaharlal Nehru, Sardar Ballavbhai Patel, Govind Bhallav Pant, Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, Indira Gandhi. However, the weak leadership of today's Congress has reduced the party to shambles and leaders like Makan and others have no axe to grind, expect to go for Modi baiting.
Constructive criticism is always worthwhile. Modi baiters like Makan should know that we are in a parliamentary system of democracy where people directly elect their representatives and the majority party forms the government. It is the prerogative of the Prime Minister to allot portfolios to persons of his choice. Indian democracy does not prescribe any educational qualification as a prerequisite for candidates contesting in elections to Parliament and State Assemblies. Modi, in his selection of his Cabinet team, has not done anything unusual from the convention.
It is not that Modi Cabinet does not have highly educated ministers. It has a doctor like Dr Harsh Vardhan, eminent lawyers like Ravi Shankar Prasad, Arun Jaitley to name a few.
Is it necessary that an education/HRD should be an academician par excellence? Great poet Rabindranath Tagore did not have any university education, but did set up an university of world fame. Former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was once the student of the university set up but this great poet.
In the present day many universities are being set up by corporate houses and persons who are not academicians.
If we are to go by the logic that an academician should head the HRD ministry, then should the heavy industry ministry be headed by an industrialist, civil aviation ministry by a pilot, finance ministry by an economist. This is just not applicable to the present parliamentary democracy in India.
Smriti Irani in her affidavit before the Election Commission has said she has completed “Bachelor of Commerce Part – 1, School of Open Learning (Correspondence), University of Delhi – 1994.” This does not mean that with her wit and experience, the actress-turned politician will not be able to frame policies of the government for education and human resources development like her predecessors like Maulana Abul Kalam Azad and others.
(*The writer is a senior journalist on Policy & Strategic Issues. He is former Agriculture Editor of The Financial Express. He can be reached at - ashokbsharma@gmail.com Mobile phone no 09810902204)
No comments:
Post a Comment