The country is on the throes of an unprecedented crisis as the future of a number of aspirants to medical profession hangs in balance. National Testing Agency (NTA) carries out the entrance test for entry to medical colleges all over the country through National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET). Unfortunately, there were allegations of leakage of the test paper this year. The Education Minister, Dharmendra Pradhan initially denied all such allegations but as more and more evidence emerged about the paper leak, he took the moral responsibility. However, unlike some of the Ministers in the past who offered to resign while taking moral responsibility of ‘mishaps’, no such offer has so far been made by the current Education Minister. I will be surprised if such an offer is made by him in the future even though the opposition is now baying for his blood.
My assessment of Dharmendra Pradhan is based on what I saw of him in my capacity as Coal Secretary, Government of India from 2014 to 2016. At that time, Dharmendra Pradhan was Petroleum Minister and I had the occasion to interact with him on a number of occasions. Having interacted with a number of other Ministers in the NDA government, I found him totally different from his other colleagues in the Cabinet. I outlined my experience with him in my recently released book, “Encounters with Politicians”. The related excerpt is reproduced below:
“The State of Odisha contributed to 25 percent of Coal Production in India and housed Mahanadi Coalfields Limited segment of Coal India Limited (CIL). In view of the fact that coal was available almost at the surface, the cost of mining was also low. However, there were huge local issues that prevented optimum utilization of this natural resource. Consequent to the crisis on the coal sector during 2013-14, all efforts were being made to augment coal production in the country. As a part of these efforts, I used to travel frequently to the State. As mentioned in the chapter on Naveen Patnaik, the State Chief Minister was extremely forthcoming in resolving the local issues despite not being a part of National Democratic Alliance government at the centre. The real problems in the region were created by the Union Petroleum Minister, Dharmendra Pradhan. He apparently had an axe to grind in the local politics as he hailed from Odisha and had ambitions for the top post in the State. I tried to bring this to the notice of the Coal Minister, Piyush Goyal who happened to know him well but to no avail as every time I broached this issue with him, he just smiled and did nothing. The problems remained where they were and were a source of embarrassment to me when I discussed issues with the State Government. I then tried to take up the issue directly with Dharmendra Pradhan but to no avail. In fact, he got extremely upset at my raising such an issue. There were other common issues between the Coal and Petroleum Ministry that he headed. Unlike other Ministries, including the Ministry of Environment and Forest, with whom even more contentious issues were resolved, there was an ongoing battle to resolve issues with Petroleum Ministry. This was indeed an exception in the NDA government where most of the inter-ministerial issues were resolved quickly and amicably. As mentioned in another chapter (of the book), there was indeed an adversarial relationship between the Centre and non-NDA ruled States but at the Centre Narendra Modi had ensured that Ministries worked in tandem. I could never fathom why Dharmendra Pradhan was an exception.”
I have often wondered why Prakash Javdekar, an extremely competent, versatile, soft-spoken yet purposeful Minister was shifted out of Education Ministry (erstwhile Ministry for Human Resource Development). Under his able guidance, the Ministry was getting transformed with the revamping of Sarv Shiksha Abhiyan and his indulgence with the State Governments. I experienced it first hand as he was attempting to get the Department of School Education back on track.
Also Read: Prakash Javdekar – the minister who dared to defy the education mafias # 2
The Ministry changed hands on a few occasions thereafter finally ending up with Dharmendra Pradhan who quite ironically came from Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas. He has been there for a while but the Government seems to be struggling to implement one of the finest policies, National Education Policy, that any government has had. As Education is in the Concurrent List, implementation of any scheme or policy entails intensive engagement with the States. The benign Prakash Javdekar had all the credentials to get the States on board. Going by my personal experience with Dharmendra Pradhan, I am not very sure about his capability to get down from the high pedestal he usually occupies to partner with the States. He must have already discovered that education is far more slippery than oil and requires different attributes altogether.
