Preoccupied with lavishly expending public money on foreign tours, private airline, and an array of perquisites of office — check out total outlays under the head of establishment expenditure in the Central and state government budgets — the 18-20 million neta-babu brotherhood, which has ruled the country with an iron hand since independence, changes of government notwithstanding, isn’t aware that the ground beneath their feet is shifting. It’s now obvious that the brotherhood’s control-and-command power is in inverse proportion to its project execution capabilities. Consequently under every metric of socio-economic development, 21st century India is a laggard in the global development race.

This is most evident in the education sector. Only recently has the country’s youth begun to appreciate the dire consequences of the mess in education. The phenomenal rise of the Cockroach Janata Party (CJP) which has clocked up over 22 million youth followers on social media within a matter of weeks, is an outcome of this belated awareness exacerbated by the callous response of the establishment — Chief Justice of India, Surya Kant recently described unemployed youth as cockroaches, parasites and troublemakers. The Rt. Hon. CJI seems unaware that India’s globally unique phenomenon of 40 percent unemployed college/university graduates is not their fault, but the direct consequence of a strictly government controlled education system divorced from the requirements of Indian industry and economy.

Despite this being painfully evident, the BJP/NDA government — now in its third term in office at the Centre — has made no real attempt to reform Indian education. On the contrary, NEP 2020 imposes a range of government controlled supervisory bodies to ‘regulate’ floundering higher education institutions when the need of the hour is to grant them autonomy and leave education to educationists. Little wonder that the CJP’s top-most demand is resignation of Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan who during his decade’s rule of the ministry, has presided over a series of exam scandals and scams with equanimity and utter lack of accountability.

Sir: The ground beneath is beginning to rumble!