A crucial meeting next week of a monitoring committee for minority education has been postponed apparently due to the prolonged absence of the HRD Minister from office and the inadequate reflection in the agenda note of the advances made in the field.
The meeting of the National Monitoring Committee for Minorities' Education, which was scheduled for Oct. 31, would have taken into consideration a status report on the schemes for advancement and discussed the scope for the strengthening of various existing programmes for the benefit of students.
HRD Minister MM Pallam Raju's absence from office ever since he tendered his resignation over the Union Cabinet decision in favour of a separate Telangana state was one of the factors behind the meeting getting postponed, sources said.
Raju's resignation has not been accepted by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. Sources, however, maintained that he has started functioning from his official residence and is going through Ministry files.
Uncertainty also prevails over his presence at a meeting of the directors of the National Institutes of Technology with the President here on Nov. 7 and 8.
About 30 directors will be attending the meeting.
