Smriti Irani is bright, young, tenacious, beautiful, a very successful television star, a former member of parliament of India's upper house, the Rajya Sabha, and a former Vice President of India's Bharatiya Janata Party. She was sworn in Union Minister for Human Resources Development on 26 May 2014. Unfortunately, she finds herself caught in a brouhaha which is frankly, unnecessary, and has been catapulted into a state of intolerable cacophony by India's shrill electronic media. There are two issues here: the first, that she has no higher education; the second, that there is a disparity in the two affidavits about her educational qualifications.
Activist and recently appointed academic, Madhu Kishwar, seems overly upset about Ms. Irani's lack of an undergraduate degree. Ms. Kishwar is a supporter of India's new Prime Minister, Narendra Modi. Or, at least, she was, until yesterday. Are we supposed to infer, then, that folks with undergraduate or graduate degrees would automatically be able to understand and do justice to the multifarious educational needs of India? Had that been the case, why are there so many problems in India's educational system?
What is required in a successful minister, in any department, is a high degree of general intelligence, awareness and empathy, an openness and willingness to learn from successful examples, anywhere in the world, and, most importantly, the capacity to implement your ideas with integrity and a strong political will.
India's Congress party's spokesperson, Abhishek Manu Singhvi, amongst others, was vociferous in his attack on Ms. Irani's educational qualifications right until their beloved leader, Sonia Gandhi's educational qualifications were scrutinized, all over again. (Ms. Gandhi has a high school degree from a finishing school in the UK.) Therefore, Singhvi and his colleagues did a pretty hasty about turn. They changed tack when they recognized that calling credentials into question would leave them and Sonia Gandhi the most vulnerable of all.
Indira Gandhi was a high school graduate; and Steve Jobs and Mark Zuckerberg were college dropouts. Ms. Irani needs to be given a chance, and the electronic media needs to cool off. So does the Congress party. She hasn't been on the job for even forty-eight hours, and the folks who need to manufacture news cannot wait. After all, they need a story each night. Do all Ph.D's or MBA's have innate leadership and administrative abilities? Or, would they be able to handle an educational system as vast and complex as India's? I was pleased to hear Shailaja Chandra, a former top bureaucrat in Delhi, speak out in defense of Ms. Irani last night, basing her support on nearly forty years of working with leaders. Ms. Chandra was dismissive about the assumption that the lack of a degree cannot make you a good minister; or vice versa.
I am sure Ms. Irani will explain the disparity between her affidavits, in due course. And only time will tell us whether she has what it takes to be a successful Human Resources Development Minister. In the interim, she needs to be given a fair chance.
Activist and recently appointed academic, Madhu Kishwar, seems overly upset about Ms. Irani's lack of an undergraduate degree. Ms. Kishwar is a supporter of India's new Prime Minister, Narendra Modi. Or, at least, she was, until yesterday. Are we supposed to infer, then, that folks with undergraduate or graduate degrees would automatically be able to understand and do justice to the multifarious educational needs of India? Had that been the case, why are there so many problems in India's educational system?
What is required in a successful minister, in any department, is a high degree of general intelligence, awareness and empathy, an openness and willingness to learn from successful examples, anywhere in the world, and, most importantly, the capacity to implement your ideas with integrity and a strong political will.
India's Congress party's spokesperson, Abhishek Manu Singhvi, amongst others, was vociferous in his attack on Ms. Irani's educational qualifications right until their beloved leader, Sonia Gandhi's educational qualifications were scrutinized, all over again. (Ms. Gandhi has a high school degree from a finishing school in the UK.) Therefore, Singhvi and his colleagues did a pretty hasty about turn. They changed tack when they recognized that calling credentials into question would leave them and Sonia Gandhi the most vulnerable of all.
Indira Gandhi was a high school graduate; and Steve Jobs and Mark Zuckerberg were college dropouts. Ms. Irani needs to be given a chance, and the electronic media needs to cool off. So does the Congress party. She hasn't been on the job for even forty-eight hours, and the folks who need to manufacture news cannot wait. After all, they need a story each night. Do all Ph.D's or MBA's have innate leadership and administrative abilities? Or, would they be able to handle an educational system as vast and complex as India's? I was pleased to hear Shailaja Chandra, a former top bureaucrat in Delhi, speak out in defense of Ms. Irani last night, basing her support on nearly forty years of working with leaders. Ms. Chandra was dismissive about the assumption that the lack of a degree cannot make you a good minister; or vice versa.
I am sure Ms. Irani will explain the disparity between her affidavits, in due course. And only time will tell us whether she has what it takes to be a successful Human Resources Development Minister. In the interim, she needs to be given a fair chance.
