HRD ministry may be in for a 'purge'

The outgoing Atal Bihari Vajpayee government's education policies are in for drastic change, with the human resources development ministry slated for a 'purge' under the Manmohan Singh government.

The Left parties have demanded a review of all the educational and cultural policies pursued by outgoing HRD Minister Dr Murli Manohar Joshi.

They have also demanded that a special panel consisting of education experts, scientists and political representatives be set up to review the functioning of the HRD ministry.

"The BJP government, especially Joshi, introduced archaic and obscurantist policies into education. The BJP introduced its communal agenda into school textbooks. The HRD ministry and all the education policies in the country need a complete overhaul," Communist Party of India General Secretary A B Bardhan told rediff.com

"The purging of the HRD ministry will not be easy as the NDA (National Democratic Alliance) government has been saffronising education for many years now. We want the new government to set up a panel to review the education policy and the functioning of various institutions," Bardhan insisted.

Senior Congress leader Arjun Singh is reported to be the frontrunner to head the HRD ministry.

The steps initiated by Dr Joshi, a senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader, came in for sharp criticism from some sections of the population -- notably the prestigious Indian Institutes of Management -- who celebrated his defeat in the Lok Sabha election from Allahabad.

Aggrieved sections, including the IIMs, have moved the courts with regard to Dr Joshi's policies. The Supreme Court is hearing a case in connection with the fee cut that the IIMs have been told to implement.

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Congress and Left parties also accused the NDA government of 'infiltrating RSS (Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh) functionaries and sympathisers' into institutions such as the National Council of Education and Research Training, University Grants Commission, Indian Council of Historical Research, Indian Council of Social Sciences Research and Indian Council of Philosophical Research.

The HRD ministry is also alleged to have introduced what the Left parties says is anti-secular ideology in the curriculum for school students and allegedly sacntioned the rewriting of history books on communal lines.

Despite protests, the UGC under the Vajpayee government introduced scientific courses in Vedic Astrology, Purohitya and Vedic Mathematics.