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New Delhi: It seems ministers in the Narendra Modi government prefer foreign universities to Indian ones as many of them have sent their children abroad for higher education.

Of the 56 ministers in the PM’s Council of Ministers, 12 have sent their children to foreign universities.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah is, however, among those ministers who didn’t send their children abroad. Shah’s son, Jay, has done his BTech from Nirma University, Ahmedabad.

Railways and Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal’s daughter Radhika graduated from Harvard University in May 2019, while his son Dhruv has done BA in Economics from there and is now pursuing MBA from the varsity.

Information and Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javadekar’s son Apoorva has completed his PhD in Economics from Boston University.

Children of all the three prominent ministers in the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) — Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar — have got their degrees from foreign universities.

Singh’s younger son, Neeraj, completed his MBA from University of Leeds in the UK, while Sitharaman’s daughter Vangmayi Parakala completed her Master’s degree in journalism from Northwestern University, according to staff in the ministers’ offices.

Jaishankar’s son Dhruva completed his MA from the US’ Georgetown University and daughter Medha did her BA in cinema from Denison University.

All these three ministers, however, got their degrees from Indian universities.

Singh did his MSc in Physics from Gorakhpur University, while both Jaishankar and Sitharaman completed their higher education from Jawaharlal Nehru University.

Also read: Indians make up third largest foreign student population in UK after China, US

‘Oxford, Harvard have much bigger reputation’

Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad’s son Aditya Shankar, who practises law in India, did his LLM from Cornell University, while Health Minister Harsh Vardhan’s younger son, Sachin, has done a finance and accountancy course from Melbourne’s Monash University.

Food Processing Minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal’s daughter graduated from the London School of Economics and is now looking after the family business. Her daughter’s name could not be known.

Union Jal Shakti Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat’s daughter Suhasini, who is a shooter by profession, has completed her advanced diploma course in leadership from Oxford University.

Minister of State in DONER (Development of North Eastern Region) Jitendra Singh’s son Arunoday completed a certificate course in economic development from Oxford University.

Minister of State for Communications Sanjay Dhotre’s son Nakul studied engineering in California University and is now settled there, said a family member of the minister.

Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri’s daughter Tilottama graduated from the University of Warwick and then did her LLM from University College London (UCL). She is now settled in the US.

“It’s not that Indian education is below the standard, but if one gets admission in the world’s best universities, then everyone will love to complete their education there,” said a BJP minister, who didn’t want to be named.

“There is no denying the fact that Oxford, Harvard, Cambridge have a much bigger reputation. Except for IITs, IIMs, very few of our Indian universities can compete with good foreign universities,” added the minister.

Ministers whose children studied in India

HRD Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ has three daughters, and all of them studied in the country. His older daughter Aarushi graduated from Banasthali University in Rajasthan. She is now settled in Dubai.

His second daughter Shreyashi is a captain in the Indian Army. She has done her MBBS from Jolly Grant Medical College in Dehradun. The minister’s youngest daughter, Vidhushi, is studying law in Amity University, Noida.

Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan’s daughter is currently pursuing graduation from Delhi’s Lady Shri Ram College. Pradhan’s PA refused to disclose the name of the minister’s daughter.

Minister of Parliamentary Affairs Prahlad Joshi’s two daughters — Arpita and Anusha — have completed their higher education from Karnataka. Arpita has done Bachelor in Engineering, while Anusha has a fashion designing degree.

Minister of State with independent charge in the Ministry of Labour Santosh Gangwar’s daughter, Shruti, had studied in IIT-Roorkee and son Apoorv did his BTech from BIT-Vellore.

Minister of State for Jal Shakti Rattan Lal Kataria’s son Chandrakant has done his MBA from IIM. He has recently cracked the Haryana Public Service Commission and has been selected for the post of SDM. His daughter Vandana has completed her Bachelor of Engineering from Jalandhar.

MoS, Railways, Suresh Angadi’s daughter Spurti did her MBBS from Bengaluru.

Also read: 21% fewer Indian students went abroad last year as US figures saw biggest drop

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