For, though Joshi insisted that the ``non-official'' recommendations circulated along with the ``official'' agenda of the conference were not even at the stage of implementation, it is clear that the ``expert groups'' invited had the blessings of the Ministry.

These experts had attended a three-day National Conference on education reforms in August where these suggestions were made -- among them that Sanskrit should be made compulsory till Class XI and housekeeping should be included in the curriculum for girls. Even a cursory reading of the 60-odd names on the list (apart from institutions such as the Ramakrishna Mission, Chinmaya Mission, Kendriya Sanskrit Pratishthan and DAVColleges) reveal several friends of the BJP family.

Some have already been accommodated in other councils and committees formed by the Government. Kirit Joshi, president of the Dharam Hinduja International Centre, has found a place on the governing council of the Indian Institute of Advanced Studies, Shimla. J S Rajput, chairman of the National Council for Teachers' Education, has found a place on the Committee to Operationalise Suggestions to Teach Fundamental Duties to Citizens of the Country, which is Joshi's attempt to evaluate NCERT textbooks.

Among the institutions are several which are clearly inclined towards the Sangh Parivar. For instance, Ram Prabhash from the Sanatan Dharam Institute, New Delhi; R C Niyogi from the Hardwar Akademi; R C Verma from the Columbia Foundation School; G K Kanwar from the Society of Jain Schools; Jaidev Sahni from the Education and Training Sansthan; Nripendra Narayan Chattopadhyay from the NC Institute (West Bengal); M P Jain of the Kendriya Jivan VigyanAkademi; and Mahavir Aggarwal, senior reader, Gurukul Kangri.

Among the other `education experts' are names such as: Moolshankar Upadhyay, visiting faculty, National Institute of Cooperative Management; Padmanabha Vasudeva, education and vocational training consultant; and Onkar Singh, Delhi Sikh Mission. Moreover, Calcutta-based industrialist and Chairman of the Friends of Tribal Societies, C D Chitlangia, will make a presentation at the conference on the opening day, a precedent-setting move that Joshi defended by saying a ``new Government has the right to do new things. His is an non-government organisation that has set up 1,300 schools in tribal areas and plans to spread to 5,000 villages''.

The list also included retired officials of state departments of education, CBSE chairman, pro VC Garhwal University, VC Bombay University, and the director (projects) Hamdard Education Society.

Joshi said in a ```federal polity suggestions invited from various quarters had the right to be discussed anddeliberated''. He said they would be placed before the State government representatives so that a consensus could be arrived at on the eradication of illiteracy as well as the free and compulsory primary education.

As for suggestions of housekeeping being included in the curriculum for girls, he said ``if people from NCERT and the Ramakrishna Mission place such suggestions, what can we do. These are not ordinary, simple persons''. As for rewriting textbooks in Rajasthan, he said ``there is no harm if the RSS chief Rajendra Singh's chapter is included in a science text. He was my teacher and no less a person than Professor C V Raman examined him and said he was good. Joshi further added, " In 1965, I also wrote a chapter on nuclear power for a textbook in Uttar Pradesh. The Congress was in power then. Should all scientists and artists stop working because they are affiliated to the RSS?''

He also said ``pseudo-secularism has dragged the country towards minorityism''. But he insisted he wasnot committed to Hindutva in the education system, merely the BJP's national agenda for governance. As well as the educational development of women, scheduled castes, scheduled tribes, minorites and ``other weaker sections''.