Not just schools but even higher educational institutions including the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) and Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) were expected to organise programmes on December 25 to celebrate former Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee's birthday as ‘Good Governance Day.’
The Union Human Resource Development Ministry wrote to the All India Council of Technical Education (AICTE) last Thursday asking it to “instruct” all the institutions under its watch to observe Good Governance Day and send a compliance report.
A circular titled ‘Use of Technology and Innovations in Promoting Good Governance – Good Governance Day 25 posted on the AICTE website on the same day (December 11) but the link appears to have been removed after the row over the Government trying to eclipse the significance of Christmas with another event.
As per the letter of Additional Secretary (Technical Education) in the Ministry, Amarjeet Sinha, “a seminar on the topic of ‘Use of Technology and Innovations in Promoting Good Governance’ and a competition on Oratory (Bhaashan Shailee) are to be organised in all the Centrally Funded Technical Institutes (CFTIs) and AICTE.”
The letter also details the cash component of the prizes.
Besides the IITs and IIMs, the CFTIs include the Indian Institute of Science, and the National Institutes of Technology.
A regulatory body for professional education, AICTE’s writ extends to the entire range of technical courses on offer across the country.
The two events the Ministry wanted these institutions to organise on December 25 would have necessitated attendance by at least a section of the student community.
