Why Smriti Irani’s educational qualification is a non-issue ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Congress general secretary Ajay Maken should have ideally been the last person to complain about the educational qualifications of the new HRD Minister Smriti Irani when his own boss, Sonia Gandhi, literally ran the entire country without even clearing the 10th standard. Just imagine, from external affairs to public health to infrastructure development to welfare and whatnot, on her own and through the NAC, she had the leash on every Government and administrative mechanism. According to Dr Subramanian Swamy even the educational qualifications of Rahul Gandhi are not beyond doubt. Even when it comes to their educated lots, the former Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh who can easily be termed as one of the most educated and qualified politicians in the contemporary world was of not much use for that matter. It’s now public, how the Finance Minister managed finance and the Law Minister managed the law. So one of the Congress persons raising a hue and cry over the matter of how educated or uneducated the BJP HRD Minister is, is quite laughable. It’s the same mentality that prompted one of them to make fun of a particular chaiwala – a remark that probably cost them dearly. Aside from constantly trying to launch the Akaash tablet and pass absurd cyber laws prior to that, what exactly did the previous HRD Minister do despite having degrees from the so-called elite institutions? But seriously, does it matter? Are Smriti Irani’s educational qualifications or lack of them going to have a bearing on how she performs in the office? It depends on her approach, and also the leadership around and behind her. Yes, the HRD Ministry is a serious issue because it more or less deals with the intellect of the country. Her decisions will be affecting every person in the country directly or indirectly. The entire education system has been subverted and one needs to have a clear, farsighted vision to clear the mess. Congress should introspect before questioning Smriti’s qualification: But then this is not a unique situation. In the previous Governments, especially led by the Congress, portfolios were rarely assigned according to educational qualifications and subject matter expertise. Finance Ministers had finance degrees sometimes and the Law Ministers had law degrees and sometimes Health Ministers had the associated degrees, but it wasnt something written in stone. Portfolios could be assigned randomly or according to who was lobbying for whom. Or to quote Manmohan Singh, most of the portfolios were dependent upon the coalition compulsions. It wasnt necessary that a Minister in-charge of a particular portfolio had a degree in that subject. Aakash’s fate uncertain as Government admits ‘failure’: Politics, as someone wise has said, is the art of the possible. This is what politicians do, they make things possible, they make things happen. She will have the best minds in the country working with her, constantly providing her guidance and the needed expert advice. On her part, she will have to provide strong political will and clear vision. She will be acting as a catalyst. She will be the one who every morning will be getting everyone together. She will be the link between the senior decision-makers and the experts working with her. She will be the one holding people working under her responsible. She will have to broker many deals and walk through many logjams. Her leadership, negotiation and management abilities will be tested on these grounds. The qualified people, the “educated” people, people who have really worked in the trenches of scholarly minefields, will be taking care of the cerebral side of the Ministry. As a politician, who has a grip over what her party stands for and what are the country’s larger goods, she will be bringing into it a politician’s perspective. If she does that, she will be delivering as a Minister. Mulling increasing spending on higher education: HRD Minister Smriti Irani Wisdom is always more important than education. You can acquire education in any manner. You can cheat through your exams. You can mug. You can get lucky and get in your exam papers exactly the questions you have prepared for. If you are in UP or Bihar, you can even get someone else to appear for your exams for you. If you don’t want to do even that, you can simply purchase a degree. Education, although important, is not an all-encompassing qualification. Wisdom, on the other hand, is. If you have wisdom, if you are not qualified, you know how to access that qualification. If you don’t have the expertise, you know how to access that expertise if you have the wisdom. As long as Smriti Irani acts wise, as long as she can differentiate right from wrong, it doesnt matter what degrees she lacks.
Posted on: Tue, 12 Aug 2014 05:08:00 +0000
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