The recession-proof education sector — and in particular institutions of professional education — has attracted politicians of all ideological hues and stripes with a growing number of them promoting schools, colleges and institutes of professional education across the country. Among them:
Chhagan Bhujbal. The incumbent deputy chief minister of Maharashtra, Bhujbal is founder chairman of the Mumbai Educational Trust (MET, estb.1989) which manages 12 MET colleges in Mumbai, offering management, pharmacy, medical sciences, and computer science programmes to over 25,000 students. In November 2007 the trust inaugurated its state-of-the-art Bhujbal Knowledge City spread over 34 acres in Nashik.
Ranjit Deshmukh. A former minister of agriculture in the Maharashtra state government (1999-2001) and former chief of the Congress party in India’s most industrialised state, Deshmukh promoted the Vidya Shikshan Prasarak Mandal (VSPM) in 1971. Since then, VSPM has promoted 50 educational institutions including the N.K.P. Salve Institute of Medical Sciences & Research Centre, VSPM College of Physiotherapy and a D.Ed. college in Nagpur.
D.Y. Patil. A former member of the Maharashtra legislative assembly, Patil is founder trustee of the Dr. D.Y. Patil Pratishthan (estb.1984) which runs the D.Y. Patil Deemed University, Pune. Currently this deemed (privately promoted) university offers study programmes in architecture, engineering, medicine, dentistry, ayurveda, homeopathy, nursing, physiotherapy, law, management, biotechnology, and pharmacy to 35,000 students from across the country.
Patangrao Kadam. Currently the incumbent minister for co-operation, relief, rehabilitation in the state government of Maharashtra, Kadam founded the Bharati Vidyapeeth in Pune in 1964. Currently the trust runs 17 colleges offering medical, homoeopathy, nursing, law, physical education, IT and biotechnology study programmes.
Dr. Jeppiaar. The chief whip of the legislative assembly in the government of Tamil Nadu during chief minister M.G. Ramachandran’s regime, Dr. Jeppiaar founded the Jeppiaar Educational Trust in 1987, which established the Sathyabama Engineering College (granted deemed university status in 2001).
Akhilesh Das Gupta. A Samajwadi Party MP, former Union minister of state for steel and former mayor of Lucknow, Das Gupta manages the Babu Banarasi Das Group of Educational Institutions (estb. 1998). This Lucknow-based group has grown rapidly to include six colleges of engineering, dental sciences, pharmacy, architecture, business management and computer science.
A.C. Shanmugan. A former member of Parliament, Shanmugan is chairman of the Dr. MGR Group of Colleges comprising 19 institutions of higher learning in Tamil Nadu. They include the Dr. MGR Educational and Research Institute (a deemed university), Moogambigai College of Physiotherapy, Grand Institute of Fashion Technology (all in Chennai) and the Rajarajeswari Medical College & Hospital, Bangalore.
S. Jagathrakshakan. A member of the eighth and 14th (current) Lok Sabha, Jagathrakshakan is vice-chancellor of the Bharath (deemed) University, Chennai. Established in 1984 by the Lakshmi Ammal Educational Trust, Bharath University offers medical, engineering, and dentistry programmes. The trust also runs two medical and one dental college in Tamil Nadu.