Now, Maharashtra education minister’s degree under cloud
Reports claim Tawde has obtained degree from an unrecognized university
Mumbai: Maharashtra education minister Vinod Tawde has joined the ranks of politicians whose educational qualifications have been questioned.
Marathi news channel Mi Marathi claimed that Sant Dyaneshwar Vidyapeeth, from where Tawde said he completed his degree in electronics in 1984, was never registered with the higher education departments of Union and state governments and, in 2005, the Bombay high court specifically banned the institute from handing out degrees.
On 9 June, Delhi’s law minister Jitender Singh Tomar was arrested by the police for his fake degrees. Similar questions have been raised about Union human resource development minister Smriti Irani’s claim that she has a degree from Yale University in the US.
Last week, the Maharashtra unit of the Congress party raised doubts over the educational qualifications of another minister. The Congress alleged that state water supply and sanitation minister Babanrao Lonikar, in his affidavit filed before the Election Commission, has claimed that he had appeared for part 1 of a BA course when he had just cleared fifth standard.
Tawde, in a statement, said: “I have not hidden anything. I have clearly mentioned in my election affidavit from which institution I completed my engineering education. And as I was aware about the fact that the institution from where I have passed is not recognized by the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), I never claimed benefits which a graduate gets while obtaining a passport and I also never registered myself as a voter from the graduate constituency of the state legislative council."
A graduate’s passport comes with the stamp: emigration check not required (ECNR) if it was issued before 2007. However, after 2007, the system was changed and only a non-graduate’s passport is stamped emigration check required (ECR).
After Congress raised doubts about Lonikar’s qualifications, he claimed he had cleared Yashwantrao Chavan Open University’s entrance exam, which allows those who have not completed education up to Secondary School Certification (SSC) or matriculation to take admission to degree courses. After clearing the exam, he said he enrolled for a BA course but was not able to clear Part I.
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