Javadekar, non-controversial politician, new I&B Minister
New Delhi: The appointment of Prakash Javadekar as Union Information and Broadcasting Minister is dubbed as a right man at a right position as the Union Minister has been a stranger to controversies during the first tenure of Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government.
Along with I&B portfolio, Javadekar has also been given the charge of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change. Javadekar was rewarded with a Cabinet ministerial berth in the Modi government's second tenure for his hard work that led BJP to win 24 of 25 Lok Sabha seats in Rajasthan. The former HRD Minister was the poll in-charge of Rajasthan.
The 68-year-old, who has held several portfolios in the previous Narendra Modi government, has had a fairly non-controversial political career. The credit goes to Javadekar for controlling controversies in universities which were on the rise when he had taken over the reins of Human Resources and Development Ministry in July 2016.
As the universities were simmering over the controversies of Rohith Vemula suicide case, rollback of the four-year undergraduate programme (FYUP) in Delhi University, etc, Javadekar managed to control all such controversies.
Besides, the putting universities in order, Javadekar took several key initiatives during his tenure as HRD minister such as the establishment of Institutions of Eminence (IoEs), autonomy to IIMs, reduction in NCERT curriculum, mandatory teacher training and Higher Education Financing Agency (HEFA) to enable major investments for the creation of a high-quality infrastructure in premier educational institutions.
Also, under his leadership of the Environment Minister, India had participated in the United Nations Climate Change Conference in 2015 during which the Paris Accord was signed.
While taking over the charge, Javadekar on Friday invoked the curtailment of press freedom during the Emergency under the Congress rule to assert that media freedom is the essence of democracy. Speaking to reporters after taking charge of the ministry, Javadekar said that the government not only recognises
freedom of Press, but cherishes it.
"Press freedom is the essence of democracy and we not only recognise it, but we also cherish it. In the history of free India, only once this freedom of Press was curtailed and that was in 1975 during Emergency brought by the then Congress government," he said.
