Ministers with Foreign Education in India's Council of Ministers in 2012

Ministers with Foreign Education in India's Council of Ministers in 2012

As India celebrates its NRIs, PIOs, OCIs in its 11^th Pravasi Bharatiya Diwas in Kochi, Kerala from January 7 to 9, 2013, it is worth knowing the current members of India’s governing Council of Ministers who have received foreign education like the historical names who achieved high aspirations for themselves and all Indians from 1913 to 2012.
Indian Leaders with Foreign Education listed below have the role models to follow who were also educated in the United Kingdom and the United States. The current leadership with foreign education has the  challenge to meet today’s problems which relate to governance as against an opportunity to govern oneself which leaders like Mahatma Gandhi Ji and Chacha Nehru Ji, among millions of others, achieved for India and the world. Those are millennial goals and the leaders fighting for Swaraj got it.
It is notable that most of today’s leaders received their foreign education in the United States whereas most before the Independence were educated in United Kingdom. The shift from UK to USA began in the 1950s and accelerated in the last fifty years so that there are almost 100,000 Indians studying in the United States in 2012.
History will judge how the current leadership with foreign education did in making wise decisions and implementing them to achieve the stated goals of  growth and its equitable and fair distribution for all Indians as equal human beings under the constitution in a democratic system with equal rights, opportunities, and access to private and public goods and services.
There are 81 ministers in the Council of Ministers in December 2012; 14 have foreign education as listed below with their portfolios and the countries where they received their education:

1.      Dr. Manmohan Singh,  Prime Minister; Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions; Ministry of Planning; Department of Atomic Energy; Department of Space - United Kingdom

2.      Dr. Montek Singh Ahluwalia, Deputy Chairman, Planning Commission - United Kingdom

3.      Shri Palaniappan Chidambaram, Minister of Finance - United States

4.      Shri Salman Khurshid, Minister of External Affairs - United Kingdom   

5.      Shri Ajit Singh, Minister of Civil Aviation – United States

6.      Dr. M. Mangapati Pallam Raju, Minister of Human Resource Development – United States

7.      Shri Kapil Sibal, Minister of Communications and Information Technology –United States

8.      Shri Jairam Ramesh, Minister of Rural Development – United States

9.      Shri Paban Singh Ghatowar, Minister of State with Independent Charge in the Ministry of      Development of Northeastern Region  and Minister of State in the Ministry of Parliamentary    Affairs – United Kingdom

10.  Shri Jyotiraditya Madhavrao Scindia, Minister of State with Independent Charge in the Ministry of Power – United States

11.  Shri Sachin Pilot, Minister of Corporate Affairs – United States

12.  Dr. Shashi Tharoor, Minister of State in the Ministry of  Human Resource Development – United States

13.  Shri Abu Hasem Khan Choudhury, Minister of State in the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare - United States and Canada

14.  Shri Milind Murli Deora, Minister of State in the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology and the Ministry of Shipping – United States

Some historical great minds and giants of the struggle for freedom, with foreign education, are listed below for easy reference and inspiration.

1. Mahatma Gandhi – United Kingdom

2. Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel – United Kingdom

3. Pt. Motilal Nehru – United Kingdom

4. Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru – United Kingdom

5. Dr. B.R. Ambedkar – United States and United Kingdom

6. Muhammad Ali Jinnah – United Kingdom

7. Vijayalaxmi Pandit – Switzerland

8.  Indira Gandhi – United Kingdom and Switzerland

9. Jaiprakash Narayan – United States

10. Rajiv Gandhi – United Kingdom

11. Rabindranath Tagore – United Kingdom

12. Sri Aurobindo – United Kingdom

13. Krishna Menon – United Kingdom

14. Muhammad Iqbal – United Kingdom and Germany

15. Ram Manohar Lohia – Germany

16. Bipin Chandra Pal – United Kingdom

17. Dadabhai Naoroji – United Kingdom

18. Subhash Chandra Bose – United Kingdom

19. Surendranath Banerjee –United Kingdom

20.  Romesh Chander Dutt –United Kingdom

21. Beharilal Gupta –United Kingdom

22. V. V. Giri – Ireland

23. K.R. Narayanan –United Kingdom

24. V.K. R.V. Rao – United Kingdom

25. Raj Krishna – United States