Excelsior Correspondent
NEW DELHI, July 19: In a rare gesture, the first of its kind in the history of Indian Parliament, Union Minister Dr Jitendra Singh, who is also an eminent Professor of Diabetes / Medicine, was felicitated here today by the Union Human Resource Development Ministry on the occasion of “Guru Purnima” along with some other Members of Parliament who happen to be distinguished Professors in their respective fields.
At the initiative of Prakash Javadekar, who recently took over as Union Minister for Human Resource Development (HRD), a brief ceremony was held in the Parliament House which was attended, among others, by some of the senior Educationist / Professor – Parliamentarians, including Dr Karan Singh, Dr C.P. Thakur, Dr. P.J. Kurien, Dr. Subramanian Swamy, Prof. (Dr) Saugata Roy and others.
Speaking on the occasion, Prakash Javadekar said, soon after he took over the portfolio of HRD, he realized that the basis of good education was a teacher whom we could follow and respect, and therefore, it occurred to his mind that on the occasion of “Guru Purnima”, some of the eminent teachers who are Members of Parliament should be felicitated and honoured, so that it could inspire the urge for learning and inheriting the virtues of the “Guru”. He said, there are sizeable number of MPs in both the Houses of Parliament, who have been Post-Graduate, Post-Doctoral teachers or Professors at different points of their life, but this fact is not widely known.
Javadekar hoped that by starting this tradition of honoring the eminent teacher-Parliamentarians, a message will go out that the Parliament today has a very high level of literacy and in addition to large number of professor-teacher members, there is a much higher number of members who are holding Post-Graduate qualification.
Dr Jitendra Singh, while speaking to the media after the ceremony, thanked Prakash Javadekar and said, the programme organized by him may also help in brushing aside a wide spread perception in certain sections of society that most of the Parliamentarians are either illiterate or half-literate. He said, in addition to Professors and teachers, there are about 20 postgraduate Medical Doctors in the Parliament today, which is also a reflection of the new trend, wherein many professionals and experts in their respective fields are opting for a career as Parliamentarians.
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