Meanwhile, NCERT panel gets Arjun’s team of four

The HRD Ministry has replaced Murli Manohar Joshi’s appointees in NCERT’s highest decision-making body, its executive committee. Sources said the tenure of the nominees chosen by Joshi was coming to an end.

The old team was relatively low-profile, giving outgoing NCERT director J.S. Rajput a lot of leeway to run the institution as he chose to. In comparison, Arjun Singh has brought in people who are renowned for their work. The list of four nominees announced today includes renowned Hindi poet Chandrakant Deotale. Next on the list is Professor Mridula Mukherjee of the department of history at JNU. Mukherjee’s views on ‘‘communalisation of education’’ are known and she has written quite a few articles on the subject.

Anita Rampal, another nominee, was among research scholars recruited under a UGC scheme to promote research excellence but their services were terminated just when their promotion was due. Rampal is currently a professor with the department of education, DU. Her papers on primary education have been widely appreciated.

Dr M.P.Parameswaran, the fourth nominee, is from the Kerala Sastra Sahitya Parishad. He helped spread a science movement throughout Kerala and worked towards the Total Literacy Programme.