Arjun clears air, says IIMC chairman stays

Union Human Resource Development Minister Arjun Singh today denied reports that Y.C. Deveshwar, the chairman of the Board of Governors of th...

Union Human Resource Development Minister Arjun Singh today denied reports that Y.C. Deveshwar, the chairman of the Board of Governors of the Indian Institute of Management, (IIM-C) Calcutta, had been removed by the UPA Government.

‘‘Don’t believe this kind of wrong information,’’ Singh said at the Kolkata airport after his arrival from Delhi. ‘‘We have appointed six new members to the board of governors because the six others they are replacing were not appointed legally,’’ Singh further said.

The HRD Minister appointed six new members on Saturday — Harshvardhan Neotia, director, Bengal Ambuja; Aveek Sarkar, editor, of Ananda Bazaar Patrika and The Telegraph; S.M. Dutta, former chairman, Hindustan Lever Ltd; G.P. Goenka, chairman, Duncan Industries; T.B. Singh, former chairman, Balco; and M.K. Dev, chairman, MP Windfarms, Bhopal.

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They have replaced K.K. Jagodia, Gaurav Swarup, S.B. Ganguly, O.P. Dantia, A.K. Agarwala and Hemant Kanoria — all industrialists.

It was Deveshwar who was in favour of a fee-cut at IIM-C, as suggested by then Union HRD minister M.M. Joshi, and he had framed a resolution to the tune. Arjun Singh said he had given 14 days’ time to a three-member committee of historians to review the portions introduced by the BJP government in history books.

He announced the formation of the committee headed by S.M. Settar, a leading historian, with the other two members being: Barun De, an expert in modern history; and G.S. Grewal, former V-C of Guru Nanak Dev University, Punjab. ‘‘There is a perception that objectionable parts introduced in the history books must be removed, and for this reason I have formed the committee. It’s up to the committee to decide, what has to be removed,’’ he said.

In this screengrab from a video posted on Sept. 4, 2025, Prime Minister Narendra Modi addresses the gathering during a meeting with National Awardee Teachers at his official residence, in New Delhi. (@NarendraModi via PTI Photo)

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