An unexpected development but few could (legitimately) find fault with it. The Prime Ministers orders for scrutiny of the academic qualifications of government officials have set many pulses racing and many observers wondering. Though the hunt for fake degrees amongst our legislators wasnt started exclusively by the bureaucrats but they sure were enjoying it. Well, what goes around, comes around and it is certain that the hunt for fake degrees amongst civil servants would yield many a casualty.
Any measure of accountability and this is one is good for governance in the country. Everyone would have anecdotal evidence of some fellow or the other landing a government job on the basis of a degree he didnt have. But the political class sees this step as more than mere accountability. They see it as retribution against the dreaded establishment on the issue. Now that may be all well and good but the bureaucracy isnt the only component of the aforementioned elusive entity and it certainly, certainly isnt the principal component either. The principal component of the establishment has at least its degree bit sorted out. And as for the establishment-driven mass media, the ones doing all the egging on in the fake degree cases, well, the issue doesnt really affect them at all; some of the best political analysts in the country are undergraduates and theyre quite open about their academic qualifications or lack thereof.
Exposing journalists wont be scandalous revelations either way. Reading too much into the step, therefore, really wont do much good. With the fake degree cases, the political class had, and continues to have, an embarrassing case on its hands; one that wont go away if other groups are implicated as well. In the meanwhile, however, it is hoped the Higher Education Commission pulls no punches and starts the exhaustive hunt from its own cadre.
