Kapil defends bill for ‘future’

New Delhi, 1 Sept: Human resource development minister Kapil Sibal today said politics should be kept away from education, after failing to push through a key education reforms bill in the Rajya Sabha.

The educational tribunal bill, which provides for setting up tribunals to settle disputes arising in education, was yesterday deferred to the next session after leaders from the Opposition as well as the ruling Congress opposed it in the Rajya Sabha.

“The bill has been deferred further for discussion. It will be discussed in the winter session. It is about the future of India, not the Congress party or the BJP. I wish there should be no partisan approach in education,” Sibal said.

Congress leader K. Keshava Rao was among the leaders who spoke against the bill during the discussion in the Rajya Sabha, where the government does not have a majority. He said Sibal’s bureaucratic machinery was struggling to keep pace with his thoughts.

“I am ready to take any responsibility. If anybody is saying I am responsible, I am ready to accept that,” the HRD minister said.

Sibal yesterday met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh after the bill was deferred. “I informed him about what happened in the House. That is my duty,” he said.

The bill was first introduced in the Lok Sabha on May 13. It was then referred to the department-related parliamentary standing committee on HRD, which in its August 20 report criticised the ministry for rushing the legislation without adequate consultation. But the Union cabinet on August 23 rejected the committee’s recommendations and cleared the bill for re-introduction in Parliament. The bill was passed in the Lok Sabha last week.

At present, there are 504 university-level institutions and 25,951 colleges across the country with 1.36 crore students. Any dispute arising in any of these institutes will be settled by the proposed tribunals at the Centre and in the states, the bill says.

The parliamentary committee said private institutes, the Medical Council of India, the Dental Council of India and central educational institutes were not consulted on the bill. However, the HRD ministry argued that state governments had been consulted and there was no adverse comment from any.

Sibal said he had consulted all parties, but did not want to “criticise anybody”.

“Criticism will bring about more anger and division. I do not want anger or division or politics,” he said.


The Telegraph