Why a Minister should take political and moral responsibility

Will the resignation of Dharmendra Pradhan as the Union Education Minister bring back demands that the political leadership take moral responsibility when a serious policy failure impacts ordinary citizens and causes lives to be lost? If the resignation is not to be forgotten as a one-time victory against an intransigent government, then we must debate why Mr. Pradhan had to go and what his resignation might achieve.

India boasts of being the largest democracy in the world. A democracy is tested not merely by the elections but by the manner in which the elected accept responsibility when public institutions fail. This is at the heart of the repeated crises surrounding national competitive examinations. Leakages, failures of systems and other irregularities in key competitive examinations affect millions of young people whose careers, years of preparation, family resources, and mental well-being are tied to the credibility of public examinations.