All said and done Baba Ramdev the self styled you-guru is an influencial person who has a way to get things done. His twists and turns are often effective but not always.
This was 2018. I was Secretary, School Education and Literacy in the Ministry of Human Resources Development (HRD). Ironically, at that time, all the news here was bad news. No one was bothered otherwise with education in the country though there was never any dearth of lip service. The only time there was interest was when education could be used as a tool for promoting a personal or political cause. And, in this context, there were many who had a personal and/or political axe to grind.
Baba Ramdev, a well-known Yoga guru who had given renowned FMCG multi-nationals a run for their money, was now venturing into the field of education. He was perhaps already into it, but now he wanted to make a difference. He revealed that there was no better way of influencing young minds in the country. He was perhaps right. His idea was to set up a Vedic Board.
Nothing was inherently wrong with this idea as, in a free country like ours, there were already a few independent Boards (Indian Council for Secondary Education is one of them). The problem arose when Baba wanted ‘his’ government to formally endorse it. Ironically, there was no provision under any extant law for formal registration of any Board by the government. The Boards, like the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE), and those in the States were set up by the respective governments (CBSE by the Central Government and State Boards by their respective State Governments). However, Baba was insistent that the endorsement should come from the Central Government.
The issue had been going on for a while but gained momentum during my tenure as Secretary, School Education and Literacy, Government of India. The key questions were:
In the absence of any law or regulation, under which provision would the government provide the desired registration?
- Why should the government enter into an area that was hitherto unregulated?
- Should legislation be enacted to facilitate a Board that was strictly a private entity?
- Would it be advisable to create a regime of registration of boards when it wasn’t really required?
My Minister, Prakash Javdekar was keen to help and find a way forward but understood the sensitivity of the issue and the implications of such a move. A firm believer in greater autonomy to educational institutions, he did not want to create an additional regulatory regime that would require registration of school boards.
Also Read: Prakash Javdekar – the minister who dared to defy the education mafias # 2
There was urgency and impatience evident on the part of Baba and his team. Meetings were held at various levels to push the issue. It was even indicated in a meeting that a permission should be granted even in the absence of any law/authority and if the issue came up before the courts it would be taken care of. However, for a change, bureaucratic hurdles came in handy. Despite all the pressure, the stand of the Ministry was very clear. There was no provision for either endorsement or registration of such a Board under the present dispensation. Baba was free to set up an independent Board like anyone else. It was also felt that bringing out legislation would add to the chaos that beset school education.
There was nothing strictly illegal about what Baba was suggesting. The problem was that there was no law and, to my mind, government and its officers could/should initiate actions only if they were authorized under law and not otherwise. However, the Baba and many of his followers thought that law or no law, his job was to be done. I thought otherwise and, in this case, if a law was to be enacted, it would unnecessarily consume time; as there were many other pressing issues lined up for consideration and action. Moreover, if such a law was enacted then the fate of all such private Boards those were already in existence would hang in balance.
It was later learnt that the Baba’s proposal fell through and the voluminous file of the Vedic Board was apparently consigned to the record room.
