The best thing that has happened to Indian education in recent times is for Kapil Sibal to be appointed Minister for Human Resource Development. And, he has hit the ground running. Within weeks of his appointment there is evidence of new thinking, new policies and new energy. So much energy that the dead roots of the system appear to be stirring to life after long seasons of morbidity. This is excellent. But I am beginning to worry that our energetic new Minister could be falling into the clutches of manipulative mandarins whose main expertise lies in clipping the wings of ministers who try to fly. Why do I say this? Because the Minister seems to be doing too many things without focussing on the crux of the problem. The crux is that Indian education remains a victim of the licence-quota-permit raj.

When this uniquely Indian system of government control was at its zenith everything in India was kept in short supply. Telephone connections, electricity meters, cars, scooters, gas cylinders, DDA flats, passports. Sugar, rice and all things nice. Having begun my journalistic career in those bad, bad days, I remember well that I had to beg an MP to get a telephone despite a press quota. And then beg another to get me a gas connection. As for my first passport, it would not have been possible if I did not know someone who knew someone who knew a high official in the Government of India. Luckily those bad old days are gone but the one thing that remains a tool of official patronage is education. Legion are the parents who beg at the doors of some powerful politician or other to get their child into a good school. This happens because good schools are in horribly short supply.

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