Former Uttarakhand CM Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ appointed new HRD Minister

NEW DELHI, MAY 31: Dr. Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ has been appointed as the Union Minister of Human Resource Development. Dr. Pokhriyal has won the Lok Sabha election from Haridwar and has been given his first chance as a Minister in the Central government. Dr. Pokhriyal has also served as the Uttarakhand chief minister from 2009 to 2011.

Dr. Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank hails from Pinani village in Pauri district of Uttarakhand which has produced personalities like Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, Uttarakhand CM Trivendra Singh Rawat, army chief Bipin Rawat and National Security Adviser Ajit Doval.

Nishank holds a PhD degree from Hemwati Nandan Bahuguna Garhwal University and is a prolific Hindi writer with over 35 works to his credit, of which 10 have been translated into other languages. His works include novels, short stories, poems and travelogues. Nishank got into controversy during a debate in the previous Lok Sabha when he said, “All streams of science are dwarfed in stature when compared with the science of astrology. Astrology is the number one science for the entire world.”

It is expected that the after Agriculture sector, education is going to be among the priority areas of the NDA II Government. Some of the key areas Modi government will focus in its first 100 days are going to be unveiling of the new National Education Policy, which has been pending for nearly five years and has gone through various stages.

The other important development will be the announcement of names Institutions of Eminence (IoE), as the Empowered Expert Committee (EEC) headed by N Gopalaswami (Chairman)- former Chief Election Commissioner has submitted its final report in this regard in December 2018 to the Ministry. Faculty recruitment is also likely to be given a boost as the University Grants Commission has asked all the higher education institutions to fill up the vacant posts by conducting a special drive to fill five lakh vacant faculty positions in higher education. It is also like to push for greater autonomy of institutions in every area and give a fillip to research funding.
It is also to be seen how the Government moves in establishing Higher Education Commission of India (HECI) by replacing the UGC as a large section of academics have been vehemently opposing this move and establishment of a new robust accreditation system.

The Government has also put the Medical Council of India (MCI) under suspension as it plans to replace it with National Medical Commission (NMC) with an objective to remove the malpractices in the health care sector, rather than just focusing on granting permission to private medical colleges.

During NDA I, the government did come up with some highly ambitious plan to reform the higher education sector but it got embroiled in controversy one year down the line and lost stream. Some of the key decisions which happened during the previous government were the formulation of Indian Institutes of Management Act (IIM Act), creation of Higher Education Funding Agency, creation of national examination body, National Testing Agency (NTA), giving graded autonomy to institutions. In the school sector, it brought back the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) Class X board exam and established online academic depository for degree verification.