New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi shunted out Smriti Irani from crucial Human Resource Development ministry to low profile Textile ministry in a major cabinet reshuffle on Tuesday.
Irani, a Rajya Sabha MP from Gujarat, was hand-picked by PM Modi for the top job but her two years tenure as education minister was mired in controversies.From claims of possessing a Yale degree and then the move to overturn the FYUP course format at Delhi University against the wishes of the VC and UGC followed by open criticism of academics like Anil Kakodkar and lately her ire against ex-cabinet secretary TSR Subramanian did not add sheen to her profile
Her Ministry's diktat to put an end to German as the third language option. and to replace it with Sanskrit also caused furore with even German chancellor raising the issue with PM Modi.Then came the inept handling of Rohith Vemula case and JNU controversy. She was also accused of distorting facts while making a speech in Parliament over the issue. Irani's multiple twitter rants also worked against her as she was considered to be a woman who invites controversies.
Smriti Irani's transfer has come at a time when she was on the verge of making some sweeping changes in the sector — the biggest being the announcement of the new national education policy.
However, reports suggest that it was her minsitry's tiff with Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) over the degree of autonomy that the government’s proposed “world-class universities” should enjoy, that may have resulted in her exit.
The PMO and HRD Ministry were learnt to have had major disagreements over 13 provisions of the draft regulations for setting up 20 institutions of global standards. The “world-class universities” project was the biggest Budget announcement on education this year, with its progress being tracked closely by the PMO, according to Indian Express.
The PMO has told HRD ministry that even a softer version of the regulation as practised by the University Grants Commission (UGC) should be relaxed further.
There were also differences over the IIM Bill, with the PMO virtually blocking Cabinet approval for the draft law after the HRD Ministry did not relent to two changes proposed by it.
However, Javadekar's was working in sync with the PMO vision and strategy for environment even at the cost of facing flak from environmentalists who criticised him for doling out green clearances and prioritising projects over environmental concerns.
Javadekar's inclusion will speed up things in HRD ministry that takes a while to see impact of policy changes.
