The Maharashtra fiasco demonstrates it is time for the Union HRD ministry to start working on the contours of the single board, by talking to state governments and debating its relative merits and demerits. Care has to be taken that federalism and regional culture are not seen to be trampled upon and that any existing Central board, which can hardly be a paragon of perfection, does not find itself automatically elevated. The sooner the HRD ministry moves on this the better because it will be a long haul.