Centre drops educational module for staff after CPI(M) protest

Centre has removed a distance learning module on 'Values in Administration' for government officials following CPI(M)'s objection to it that it was not based on constitutional values and demonstrated "shocking bias".
The issue was brought to the notice of the Minister of State for Personnel, V Narayanasamy, by CPI(M) leader Sitaram Yechury in a letter on August 31 in which he argued that the module contained "disparaging" remarks against Sikhism and Islam.
"I have had the issues examined and the module 'Values in Administration' has been removed from the list of modules offered by the Department of Personnel and Training," the Minister said in his reply to Yechury on September 9.

The Minister said he had also given instructions to the officers concerned that the other modules appearing on the department website be vetted carefully and that "any module, having uncalled for/objectionable content be removed forthwith".
Yechury had said that though the document's objective was to teach the supervisory staff of the government, it made no effort to base the values of the administration on the Indian Constitution and the principles of equality, fundamental rights and equity enshrined therein.
Instead, he said, the document talked about values derived from what the author calls 'Indian Insights of Human Values', which virtually identified them with Hindu religious texts and beliefs.

"The module shows a shocking bias. There are disparaging remarks on Sikhism and Islam, which in any case are not relevant to the subject matter - what constitutes values in administration.
"Neither is there any mention of the Constitution, the various guarantees given under it to the Indian people and what it enjoins on government personnel," Yechury had said.
He said the text also denigrated political parties and identified itself with the values intrinsic to the erstwhile princely rulers of states.