On Sam Pitroda’s insistence, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has reconstituted the NKC, expelling PM Bhargava and including two new faces.
CHENNAI: The war between the National Knowledge Commission (NKC) chairman Sam Pitroda and vice-chairman PM Bhargava has finally claimed a seat, with Bhargava getting the marching orders. On Pitroda’s insistence, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has reconstituted the NKC, expelling Bhargava and including two new faces.
The NKC, constituted to guide India into a “strong and vibrant knowledge economy”, had come in the eye of storm after Bhargava blew the whistle on NKC’s alleged incompetence (first reported by DNA on Jan 7, 2007) early this year.
Higher education has been the topic of bitter fights between Pitroda and Bhargava, the helmsmen of PM’s pet commission, with Bhargava insisting that the NKC’s letters and reports include marks of dissent from the members. Pitroda allegedly sent some letters to the PMO without Bhargava’s knowledge.
The fight reached its nadir when Pitroda asked for Bhargava’s resignation, which the latter refused, insisting that the order should come from the Prime Minister.
That has finally happened, after Pitroda gave an ultimatum of “either him or me” to the PM. Though the decision to remove Bhargava was taken in mid-April, the official letter from the Planning Commission on the reconstitution of NKC reached Bhargava’s office in Hyderabad only on Friday.
Bhargava had remained belligerent till last month when R Gopalakrishnan, joint secretary, PMO asked him to put in his papers. Even after Prime Minister’s principal secretary TKA Nair informed Bhargava on April 17 about the decision to remove him, Bhargava said he would wait for the official letter. The letter, curiously enough, took 25 days to reach. Bhargava confirmed the news.
“My office has received the letter. I am in Bangalore and I haven’t seen the letter. Anyway, I don’t earn my livelihood from the Commission,” he told DNA.
“Unfortunately, a person who has established himself by lying continues to be at the helm of NKC. The PM could have removed Sam and me (if the fights were the reason). There are hundreds of better people than us who deserve to be there,” Bhargava said.
The tenure of the NKC, constituted on June 13, 2005, comes to an end in October 2008. Other members Ashok Ganguly, Deepak Nayyar, Jayati Ghosh and Nandan Nilekani continue in the reconstituted NKC while the new members include director of the Indian Institute of Science—Bangalore, P Balram and Tata Institute of Fundamental Research associate professor Sujatha Ramdorai.
The post of vice-chairman remains vacant.
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