BackColleges were told to observe good governance day on 25 December
HRD ministry had issued notice on 11 Dec asking colleges under AICTE to organize events in institutes on Christmas
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New Delhi: As more details emerged on Tuesday on the human resource development (HRD) ministry’s plans for Christmas, HRD minister Smriti Irani’s denial of a Times of India report began to sound hollow.
It emerged on Tuesday that the ministry’s higher education department had issued a circular dated 11 December asking over 10,000 professional colleges regulated by the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) to celebrate good governance day on 25 December and furnish a compliance report to the ministry.
On Monday, Times of India reported that Navodaya Vidyalaya Samiti, an autonomous body under the HRD ministry that runs a chain of high-performance schools, had issued a circular on 10 December asking its schools to celebrate the birthday of former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and freedom fighter Madan Mohan Malaviya as good governance day on 25 December by organizing events.
Irani took to Twitter to claim the report was wrong and that all events were “online", and that no school would be open on Christmas, a public holiday. A subsequent explanation was that all Navodaya Vidyalaya Samiti schools work during public holidays. Given the original circular’s emphasis on various events and request that photographs and reports of events organized be sent, this doesn’t seem to have cut much ice with anybody and opposition parties continued to disrupt proceedings in Parliament on Tuesday over the circular.
Meanwhile, the other circular dated 11 December, details of which emerged on Tuesday, asks centrally-funded technical institutes and All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) regulated schools to observe the good governance day.
“The birth anniversary of Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee, former prime minister of India, will be observed as Good Governnance Day on 25th December, 2014. On this day, a seminar on the topic of ‘use of technology and innovation in promoting good governance’ and a competition on Oratory are to be organized in all the centrally funded technical institutes (CFTIs) and AICTE," said the circular, signed by Amarjeet Sinha, additional secretary, technical education. The circular, a copy of which was sent to AICTE, the technical education regulator of India, further said: “I would request you to instruct all institutions under your purview to observe this day as good governance day and send a compliance report from them on observance of ‘good governance day’ and on holding of oratory competition in your institute."
By Tuesday afternoon, AICTE had disabled the circular on its website. A ministry official said, speaking on condition of anonymity, that his department might not follow up on the circular, given the controversy.
In Rajya Sabha, Communist Party of India (Marxist), or CPM, parliamentarian Sitaram Yechury brought a copy of the circular issued to the Navodaya schools and wanted it to be placed on the table of the House. Parliamentarians of several parties like the Congress party, the Samajwadi Party, the Bahujan Samaj Party, Janata Dal (United), and Trinamool Congress joined to raise the issue, expressing concern that such incidents can vitiate the communal atmosphere. The opposition demanded a reply from Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The Rajya Sabha, where the ruling National Democratic Alliance government is in minority, was adjourned twice in the pre-lunch session and later for the entire day on the issue. The Lok Sabha continued to function.
Finance minister and leader of the upper House Arun Jaitley said there has been a rule in Navodaya schools since 1987 that requires them to be functional on all holidays.
The CPM, in a separate statement, condemned Irani’s statement, which it termed untruthful regarding the circular and questioned her accountability. “Thus the minister has wilfully tried to conceal the facts. This is an addition to the wholly unconstitutional effort to push a divisive agenda on a day which is a holiday celebrated by the Christian community as a holy day. The PM should inform the nation through Parliament what action he intends to take against the minister," the statement said.
Such developments are affecting the image of the government, according to S.L. Rao, a Bengaluru-based sociologist and former director general of the National Council for Applied Economic Research.
“No doubt at all it affects the image of the government," Rao said. “They (opposition) are the main cause for this disruption but let’s not forget that the BJP did the same thing during the previous government."
Rao sees a way out in Modi accepting opposition demands that he speak on the subject. “The PM should agree to their demand and address Parliament," he said. “He should take the issue head on."
PTI contributed to this story.
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