Isaac Gomes
After 37 days of protests, slogans and student gatherings, the Cockroach Janata Party (CJP) led agitation at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar was called off on July 25, after Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan resigned and the government accepted their demands amid the NEET-UG paper leak controversy.
During a very recent media presentation Lok Sabha Opposition Leader Rahul Gandhi claimed that 152 exam leaks have taken place over the last 10 years of NDA rule, affecting 7.5 crore students with zero major convictions. Prior to that AICC secretary Gopinath Palaniyappan accused the Union Govt of failing to stop the question paper leaks and irregularities in various national-level admission tests. “NEET examination system has become a scam that mainly benefits coaching centres while genuine students and their families suffer,” he alleged.
He told reporters in Mysuru that although the Union government spends around Rs 1.36 lakh crore on the education sector every year, middle-class families spend even more on coaching classes, exam fees and preparations. He claimed that since 2014, around 152 paper leaks have taken place in exams like NEET, JEE and CLAT, showing serious problems in the examination system. “The Union Govt must take responsibility for this failure,” he said.
On the other hand the CJP has come under scrutiny after videos showing some of its members dancing at a Delhi hotel to celebrate their victory following Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan’s resignation sparked widespread debate online. Videos showing members of the CJP celebrating at a Delhi hotel have divided opinion across social media, with critics questioning whether such festivities were appropriate after weeks of protests that witnessed violence and injuries.
BJP Rajya Sabha MP and senior advocate Mahesh Jethmalani criticised the gathering and also questioned the funding of the movement in his twitter as below: “Seriously? The CJP leadership throwing a victory party at a hotel! After Delhi witnessed days of violence, these so-called youth activists switched on the music and began dancing. More serious questions: Who funded the travel, food, accommodation, equipment and logistics throughout this agitation? Who financed the people who kept Delhi on the boil?”
Amid the din and bustle in both the houses, a stricter anti-paper leak bill – the Public Examination (Prevention of Unfair Means) Amendment Bill, 2026 – was passed by the Lok Sabha on July 29 and the Rajya Sabha the next day. The original anti-paper leak law (the Public Examinations [Prevention of Unfair Means] Act) was passed in February 2024. Although the leader of the Opposition in Rajya Sabha Mr Mallikarjun Kharge contested that the hurried passage of the bill will result in a defective law.
Before we talk of stopping paper leaks in competitive examinations, there is an urgent need to bring about a sea-change in India’s educational system. For this, both the Union and State governments must make it mandatory for all their ministers and government officials to educate their wards in government schools, colleges and universities. If this is not done, government educational institutions beginning with rural primary schools, will languish for lack of basic infrastructure/ amenities, namely standardised classrooms with proper light and ventilation, safe school building, safe drinking water, separate girls’/women’s toilets and sanitary napkin dispensers for girl students. Smart classrooms, high-quality audio-visual tutorials and modern infrastructure to facilitate students’ learning in rural and remote areas should also be added.
But the above metamorphosis for Common Good (Sabka Saath Sabka Vikas) looks a far cry when almost all top ministers and government officials’ children study in elite foreign schools/colleges/universities. If this trend persists, improvement of our education system and fool proof conduct of examinations will be only on paper as the kith and kin of the powers that be wouldn’t be affected! A look at the following instances will be an eye opener:
1. Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan’s daughter, Naimisha Pradhan, completed a Master of Laws degree from Tufts University in the USA.
2. Former Education & Minority Affairs Minister Smriti Irani’s stepdaughter Shanelle Irani completed her Master of Law degree at Georgetown University Law Centre in Washington, D.C. Her son Zohr Irani graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Management from Warwick Business School at the University of Warwick, UK.
4. External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar’s son, Dhruva, holds undergraduate and postgraduate degrees from the United States: a Bachelor of Arts in history and classics from Macalester College and a Master of Arts in security studies from Georgetown University. His other son Arjun graduated with a BA from New York University.
5. Nirmala Sitharaman’s daughter Parakala Vangmayi studied economics and social sciences from London School of Economics, UK. She earned a Master of Science degree in Journalism from the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University in the United States.
6. Piyush Goyal (Minister of Commerce and Industry): son Dhruv and daughter Radhika both studied at Harvard University, with Radhika also studying at Oxford.
7. Rajnath Singh (Minister of Defence): son Neeraj Singh completed an MBA at the University of Leeds in the UK.
8. Shivraj Singh Chouhan (Minister of Agriculture): Eldest son Kartikey earned a master’s degree in law from the University of Pennsylvania.
9. Jyotiraditya Madhavrao Scindia (Minister of Communications & Development of Northeastern Region): Son Mahanaaryaman graduated from Yale University, and daughter Ananya Raje graduated from the Rhode Island School of Design.
10. J.P. Nadda (Minister of Health, Chemicals and Fertilizers): Son Harish earned a master’s in law from the University of London.
11. Hardeep Singh Puri (Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas): Daughter Tilottama graduated from the University of Warwick and then did her LLM from University College London (UCL). She is now settled in the US.
Would it be too much to expect that the wards of our well-connected ministers give up their cosy life and come back to India to fulfil our PM’s dream of “’Atmanirbhar Bharat’? Even in the Indian budget allocation, education is given a low priority! Central allocation accounts for roughly 2.6% of the overall Union Budget. The result, we have a continuous brain- drain, with our top brains making America and other western countries rich and powerful!
On our education system, readers may also refer to the views of Bishop Lourdo Anandam of Sivangangi Diocese Tamil Nadu, on whether educational institutions are adequately preparing young people for responsible citizenship and moral leadership. He asked, “Have we trained them to compete but not to care? To consume but not to contribute? To achieve but not to serve?”
On Thursday 30 July, speaking in Sambhajinagar, Maharashtra, CJP’s Abhijeet Dipke remarked, “The way students were attacked by Delhi Police and the blood of protesters was shed could not have happened without Home Minister Amit Shah’s orders.” He also targeted Prime Minister Narendra Modi and mocked, “I think Prime Minister Modi is doing a good job as job as Social Influencer now. Therefore, should step down from the Prime Minister’s chair and hand over the country’s responsibility to another leader.”
He reiterated, “Just as Dharmendra Pradhan was made to resign, the government itself will be changed if necessary. If the need arises, the movement will expand to a much larger scale in the days to come.” The question that also arises, is it the CJP’s ultimate aim to dislodge the NDA government?
* The Kolkata based writer is the Secretary of the Indian Catholic Forum. The views expressed are personal
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