The flying start with which Union human resource development (HRD) minister Kapil Sibal began his term on May 22 last year, after having fairly successfully served as science and technology minister in the Congress-led UPA-I government (2004-09), seems to have come down to earth with a thump.
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When the UPA-II government was unexpectedly returned to power in New Delhi 16 months ago, Sibal — a top Supreme Court counsel who won from Delhi’s Chandni Chowk constituency under the Congress ticket with a thumping 2 lakh votes majority — reportedly turned down the law and justice portfolio in favour of the HRD ministry. Since then Sibal has been grabbing media headlines with audacious proposals to revolu-tionise Indian education. Among them: the Right to Free & Compulsory Education Act, 2009 (aka RTE Act), the Foreign Educational Institutions (Regu-lation of Entry and Operations) Bill 2009, the Education Tribunals Bill, 2010, the Prohibition of Unfair Practices in Education Bill, 2010 and the Medical Council Amendment Bill 2010 pending parliamentary approval.
However on September 24, the parliamentary standing committee on HRD declined to pass the ministry’s Prohibition of Unfair Trade Practices Bill 2010 and the Medical Council of India Amendment Bill, 2010 on the ground that its recommendations (every ministry is ‘attached’ to an all-party standing committee which scrutinises and tightens Bills drafted by the ministry for presentation and passage through both houses of Parliament) on the Education Tribunals Bill, 2010 had not been complied with by the ministry. In a report to Parliament, the standing committee recommended “a wider consultation process involving all the state and Union territory governments”.
The implicit reprimand delivered to Sibal by the standing committee and in particular the strong words used by K. Keshava Rao, a Congress party member of the standing committee which is chaired by influential Congressman Oscar Fernandes and also includes the party’s heir-apparent Rahul Gandhi, has prompted observers of the Delhi durbar to conclude that Sibal’s hyper-activity and headlines-grabbing has begun to get on the nerves of party members. During a heated debate on the deferment of the Education Tribunals Bill, Keshava Rao described Sibal as a “classic file-pusher” whose “thoughts run faster than his deeds”, adding that none of the Bills introduced by him, including the Right to Education Act, had yielded desired results. Moreover detailed reports of the standing committee versus Sibal stand-off in the Rajya Sabha seem to indicate that the high-profile minister’s honeymoon with the Delhi-based media is also over, as it has been over with the media beyond the Delhi imperium for some time.
Growing disillusionment of educationists, academics and principals across the country with the high-profile minister is not without cause. Many express surprise that despite Sibal having established an awesome reputation as a senior Supreme Court counsel, most of the Bills emanating from Shastri Bhavan, which houses the HRD ministry, are controversial, poorly drafted and likely to be struck down by the courts. For instance, the sole HRD ministry Bill enacted by Parliament into law — the RTE Act, 2009 — has provoked a spate of writ petitions for being unabashedly populist and oblivious of the fundamental rights of the country’s venerated legacy private independent schools. Naively, predat-ory government educrats have been let loose on private independent schools of centuries’ vintage prompting an experienced education consultant to describe the minister as “a bull in a china shop” (see cover story).
Moreover according to Congress party members, despite his legal background Sibal has failed to discern that the Prohibition of Unfair Practices Bill and the Medical Council Amendment Bill are intimately connected with the Education Tribunals Bill.
“The ministry under Sibal is unmindful of ground realities and is pushing a series of contradictory legislations aimed at providing a single framework for implementing the WTO agenda in higher education. All these Bills touted as reformist are heavily biased against actual stakeholders and meant to expand the power of government bureaucrats. Education is a serious proposition and needs a thorough understanding of the issues involved which the present minister seems to lack,” says Dr. Vijendra Sharma, a former DUTA (Delhi University Teachers Association) president.
Quite clearly the honeymoon period of the UPA-II government’s most hyper-active minister is over.
Autar Nehru (Delhi)