Learnings: Public Figures and Bureaucrats

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Governors, Chief Ministers and Education Ministers

Working in NCERT gave me opportunities to attend several meetings in Chandigarh, Agartala chaired by the Chief Ministers of Haryana and Tripura and Education Ministers, and a meeting in Port Blair chaired by the Governor.

I realised in every meeting that the perception of the public is generalised, which is generally biased. The Governors, Chief Ministers and Ministers cannot be relegated to being ‘incapable’ of taking tough decisions and people with ‘no understanding and intellect’. It is only when you interact with them in meetings, the way these are conducted, they surprise you by letting you know during interactions that most of them are well read and well informed. They conduct themselves with dignity. Many of them have an intellect of a high order. They come well prepared, follow the agenda, question inaction and take important decisions.

Senior Administrators

NCERT is the advisory body to MHRD for School Education. It has been an integral part of MHRD’s initiatives, research, training and academic support to States and Union Territories.

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Attending large meetings with senior and young officers with high level of efficiency helped me to come back with learning from each one of them. The meetings used to be conducted with professional seriousness. Many meetings would continue even after 9 at night. We never worried as we were busy reading agenda papers, listening to presentations carefully as we were expected to interact and invariably asked to give observations and comments at the end of each presentation. We had to remain focussed.

The beauty of these meetings was that when new officers joined, they had to participate fully, and never let anyone feel that they were ill prepared, except in one case when a young IAS officer of a State hesitated to present and defend his state’s case for approval of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan budget. He informed that he had joined only the previous week. The Secretary, who was chairing the meeting said that ‘no officer can ever say that, even if the charge is taken hours before the meeting. Each one of us is capable, we can handle anything any time, it is our training’.

I learnt so much from Ms Kumud Bansal, Mr Champak Chatterjee, Mr Rath, Ms Anshu Vaish, Ms Vrinda Sarup, Mr DK Sikri, Ms Anita Kaul and many other officers at the Centre and States, meetings chaired by Chief Secretaries brought in all the State Secretaries of almost every State Department. Each one came well prepared. The Chief Secretaries conducted the meetings meaningfully. I learnt something from every meeting!

When I was to take over as HoD of DEE at NCERT, I entered my office with an emotional breakdown, missing Devendra, collected the papers for my first big NCERT’s Annual Programme Advisory Committee. The learning from the MHRD meetings, to an extent, helped me to make the presentation in spite of the fact that I had taken over half an hour back.

The meetings of State Secretaries of Education and the Joint Review Mission (JRM) made me pick up so much.

It was a beautiful experience to have been treated with dignity and sensitivity by each one of you. Seniors treated their young colleagues and staff decently and with respect. The meetings in States and Union Territories with senior administrators was also a learning for me. We had to be well prepared and focussed in every meeting.

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Shakti Sinha

I know you since 1994 when you were in the Ministry of Urban Development. I used to come to you for discussions on Education. I was doing a study for UNESCO on ‘Rules and Regulations Impeding the Performance of Women Managers in Delhi and Maharashtra’. You were very helpful, fixed my meetings with Ms Kumud Bansal, Secretary Education, Maharashtra. We have remained in touch ever since. Your spontaneity in providing all support to NCERT team in Port Blair twice rescued us from many difficulties. You were the Chief Secretary of Andaman & Nicobar Islands then. You invited me to your office to discuss a number of issues related to the Island’s school education. When you came to Delhi as the Secretary Power, you were kind to have got Devendra’s cousin’s wife transferred to a school where she could manage with her kidney problems. She worked in the same school even years after a kidney transplant. You made it possible for her to continue with her job. You are currently Director of Nehru Memorial Museum and Library. I hope that you will be able to bring changes in an objective manner. You might find it difficult to resist the pressure. I have actually shared my fears with you whenever I meet you in Teen Murti Library. Nonetheless, you are creating an enabling environment for a dialogue among scholars. You are trying to invite the best. I particularly liked ‘The Ambassadors’ viewpoint, followed by ‘The Scholar’s viewpoint on South East Asia.

Thank you for your respect and sensitivity to respond.

Krishan Kumar

You were the chief commissioner for School Education of Punjab when I met you first in one of the MHRD’s meetings. I was impressed when I learnt that you come from a very humble background, your father was a small farmer in a village of a backward district, Charkhi Dadri, Haryana. You joined IAS after completing your engineering degree. I was in awe to discover your exceptional administrative skills, your pioneering effort in Nawan Shahar district of Punjab to raise the declining sex ratio. It was a challenge as Punjab had around 830 girls for 1,000 boys. During discussions with you, it was satisfying to know that you geared

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up the entire district administration to create effective positive sensitivity towards the girl child, the female foetus and the mother who was carrying it. Your vision of connecting the community, neighbourhood, families, hospitals and health centres with the district administration to monitor the entire period of nine months, ensured safe delivery of baby girls. You were so passionate and devoted to the cause that by the time you completed your tenure as Deputy Commissioner of Nawan Shahar, the skewed gender ratio improved moderately. You did a paper with me on female foeticide for the NCERT journal, The Primary Teacher.

I used to come for meetings to your office in Chandigarh. I saw groups of teachers, education officers, block development officers, representatives of community, each one coming with a problem or a complaint. By the time these meetings got over, solutions had been worked out. It was good to see the way you handled the Programme Advisory Board meeting in Amritsar with the Secretary, School Education, MHRD, and State Project Directors from other states. It was a treat to see your meticulous efforts – starting with picking us up from the airport. The arrangements, I learnt, were as good at railway station and even bus stand, stay in the most modern hotel of Amritsar, and visit to Shri Harmandir Sahib and Wagah Border were meticulously arranged. You were so much concerned about me especially when Secretary, School Education, Additional Secretary and I came from Delhi in the same flight. You kept waiting for my luggage so that I did not have to wait alone! The meeting was organised flawlessly. All your meetings, including teleconferences in Chandigarh were focussed and issue based.

You were posted in the Prime Minister’s office when you learnt about Devendra’s passing away. You found time to spend an hour with me in my NCERT office.

I am no longer with NCERT. I superannuated six year ago, but you respond to my calls to still provide support. This makes me feel blessed! You remain humble but effective in everything you do! You were Secretary Expenditure of Punjab government and now you are back to School Education as Secretary. You never hesitate to provide support when I need it. When I was in Chandigarh in September 2017, you spent almost two hours with me in UT Guest House discussing various social, educational and larger issues. You

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exhibit your exceptional quality of taking tough decisions when it becomes necessary after trying everything! You try to make sure that your decision is not biased.

Your dedication to the causes you take up is unparalleled. You are upright, you do not break under pressure. You take firm stand without worrying about the consequences. Thank you for making me a Jury Member for Punjab State Teacher Awards 2018 and 2019. It helped me to meet Shri Bansal, an Additional Sessions Judge who impressed me by his silence, speaking firmly only when necessary. The Chair was Shri CS Talwar, a retired IAS officer, presently Secretary of Punjab Red Cross. He conducted himself professionally with a purpose to be fair. I often found myself being taken to the world of intellect and scholarship as Mr Talwar came across as an extremely well-read person with a command on English, Hindi, Punjabi and Urdu languages. It was a humbling experience for me which brought in so much of learning. I could feel that Shri Talwar was transparent who would have never compromised with ethics and integrity!

Thank you Krishan for your respect and regard for me.

Mandip Singh Brar

For years, I participated in meetings of Haryana Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan as a member of its Executive Committee, General Council and Resource Group for finalisation of state’s materials for Teacher Training (2008–2013). Your professional skills in forming the Committee, giving respect to everybody’s point of view with patience and your inputs made me realise that if State Project Directors would be like you, things would move ahead. I learnt during our personal conversations that you excelled in all the examinations, including your first position in Law. I felt a void when you were posted as Deputy Commissioner of Yamuna Nagar. I missed your inputs which were meaningful. My association with you continues, discussing human values or issues which bother me. When I come to Chandigarh, you and your wife Ashima warmly provide support. You have always responded to my phone calls. You call back, if you are busy and you never forget to say, ‘Ma’am, if something is urgent, I can leave the meeting for five minutes, I

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can go out’. Such assurances give me strength to move on with the hope that young IAS officers like you and Ashima will surely bring sensitivity in administration.

You and I were attending the PAB meeting in Amritsar in October 2010. I was to attend Haryana SSA meeting the next day in Chandigarh. You instructed the driver to drive carefully. Your kind gestures move me deeply. Your message clearly comes across as ‘remain focussed to achieve your goal and pursue all that you need to do by staying calm, and never take advantage of the great reputation of one’s family’.

You helped me in transferring my husband’s share of land to my son. I did not for a moment feel hassled as you had deputed your officer to get the paperwork ready, carry out the essential formalities. You asked me to reach Sonipat District Court to sign papers only when you gave me the mobile number of your officer. He received me, got everything done without my feeling helpless with the pressure of formalities of being asked to come back again and again, the land was transferred.

My recent visits to your house made me realise how principled you and Ashima are. You are a passionate reader. You stay in your parents home. Meeting your mother was such a beautiful experience. Both the girls are growing beautifully. Both Ashima and you feel blessed as they keep guiding you. You both feel that their presence helps you and your two lovely fairies Shireen and Simran abundantly blessed to learn from their experiences. I came back worried about your health. Do not neglect your health for work. Learn from your seniors how they, somehow, find time to create a balance.

What I appreciate about you is that you remain humble and grounded and never get tired of responding to my phone calls.

Dr Maninder Kaur Dwivedi

You were one of the Directors in MHRD. I met you in one of the meetings of MHRD-World Bank and the biannual Joint Review Mission, where a large number of bureaucrats, representatives of World Bank, UNESCO and many other institutions were present. The representatives reviewed the programmes of School Education

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and the first few meetings of Subcommittee of Central Advisory Board on Education (CABE) on Continuous Comprehensive Evaluation. I remember one wrap up meeting of JRM where the review for NCERT’s International Evaluation Programmes of four States’ SSA initiative had an observation which was professionally not ethical. I requested the Team Leader what was essentially relevant academically and that the casual comments about NCERT’s International Evaluations be reviewed. I felt relieved when the Team Leader asked the member of the World Bank to have a careful relook to incorporate what I had requested as HoD and member secretary of NCERT-MHRD-TSA Evaluations. I had taken a stand for my institution and for the internationally acknowledged standards for Evaluation. I was relieved to find the expected changes made the next day. I acknowledged that I respected the Team Leader for letting me raise the issue, asking for a fresh review and the team member for respecting NCERT’s stand. I realised that no one had ego issues. It was a beautiful learning experience to see the objectivity of the bureaucracy, the academicians and the JRM team. Maninder, you never forgot to come to me after the meetings to say with a smile, ‘Ma’am, you convincingly put across all issues so well. You raise issues which are important and relevant with objectivity’.

You were a medical doctor, but moved to Indian Administrative Service. It is nice talking to you, years after my superannuation. You remain as affectionate and spontaneous as you were.

Dr Ariz Ahmad

You were one of the Directors in MHRD when I was a member of the Central Advisory Board on Education’s (CABE) subcommittee on Continuous Comprehensive Evaluation and its implementation. In its various meetings you surprised me by your depth of understanding of academic issues of school education. You are an IAS officer with a PhD in Physics. You have a deep knowledge of development in school education. I admired your ability to check the meetings from going out of control, in spite of the committee being a high powered committee with five education ministers of Assam, Bihar, Chhattisgarh and Haryana and selected Directors

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of SCERTs! The State Project Directors joined in the Bangalore meeting. The respect that you gave to Prof Panchpakeshan and me throughout, made us express our views strongly and to express our dissent during meetings and later in writing. We had the courage, we dared because we were always given time. Your administrative skills as a young IAS officer and your firmness in performing a task as daunting as this so well made me realise that the number of people who have the courage is getting less and less.

You always appreciate my brother Anand saying ‘Ma’am, Mr Sharma is an intellectual. He has the courage to raise important issues.’

Thank you for your respect, for ensuring academic rigour and for remaining in touch after the submission of Committee’s report.

Rakesh Kanwar

You are Secretary to the Governor of Himachal Pradesh with additional charge of Agriculture. Knowing you for years has been a blessings. I was impressed by your contribution to the State’s SSA as SPD. Your father taught me Political Science in Government College Shimla. He was a simple man and a very good teacher.

Thank you Rakesh for your regard for me.

Rajesh Sharma

You were a member of the MHRD-NCERT-TSA delegation to England, Scotland and the US which I was leading. I was impressed by your meaningful interactions during the meetings in London, Cambridge University, Glasgow, World Bank, Washington DC and Minnesota University. You conducted yourself with a sense of responsibility in all the meetings. You provided me a lot of support during this long tour. I am happy that you are now Secretary Finance of the Himachal Pradesh Government.

Thank you for your respect, Rajesh.