Harvard Doesn't Matter, Saraswati Shishu Mandir Does.

It doesn't matter what you speak but how much you speak. Knowing well that this strategy works quite effectively in India, a prattling PM Modi gave another shot of Tequila to the woozy population of India. He said "Harvard doesn't matter, Hard work does". It was not just a jibe on nobel laureate Amartya Sen who has been associated with Harvard but targeted all the leaders of opposition who have a degree from foreign universities and had criticized the demonetization. Harvard became the poor guy.

This binary could only amuse those who do not understand the meaning of higher education, who has not understood the implications of research. Any thing that happens, happens. This is not just a populist statement made for a political purpose but an ideology which is in principle, "anti-rational". An ideology that demeans quality education, an ideology that trivializes higher education, an ideology of anti-intellectualism. An ideology of RSS that vilifies anything foreign. Ask them about Saraswati Shishu Mandir, they will uphold it in pride with a chest not less than 56" wide.

Connect the dots and you will find what has BJP government done, by the virtue of their anti-education ideology, to an already crippled education system of India. Soon after coming to power they cut the education budget of India. The scholarships earlier being given to the research students for pursuing M Phil and PhD were cut down. A lady with unknown number of forged degrees was made the Human Resource Development Minister of India. All this exposes the idea of Modi led NDA government towards education.

From a cart puller to a marketing guy, from a labor to an engineer from a student to a teacher and from a donkey to a Prime Minister every one works hard. What matters is not the hard work but the quality of work. Hope PM will understand this before the national elections of 2019.

And indeed the hard work did not pay off, the GDP went down as foretold by the "Harvardians" which was later confirmed by SBI report, the markets collapsed and it is going to take at least 6-9 months for the economy to come back on track. Therefore, Harvard matters.

For now I give him 25/100 for his partially correct statement. Yes, hard work matters but Harvard matters too and what matters the most is the quality of work.