New Delhi: On Wednesday, the Ministry of Defence responded to an exclusive story published by The Reporters’ Collective. The story revealed that at least 62 per cent of the 40 new Sainik Schools were awarded to the Sangh Parivar, other Hindutva organisations, politicians of Bharatiya Janata Party and its friends and allies.

In the privately circulated press note, the ministry claimed the story was based on ‘unfounded’ ‘insinuations’.

The Collective’s story is based entirely on data and details provided by the same ministry under the Right to Information (RTI) Act. The ministry has not refuted any specific assertion, data or fact revealed in the story. The Collective stands by its story in its entirety.  

The ministry chose not to publish its press note on the Press Information Bureau website. Instead, the unsigned press note, without the regular markers of a Union government document, was sent informally to select journalists who regularly report on the ministry. It was subsequently cited in news stories this morning. 

The press note said, “Articles have appeared in certain sections of the Press insinuating that New Sainik Schools are being allocated to institutions based on their political or ideological affiliations. Such insinuations are unfounded.” 

In the note, the ministry insists that schools were selected after a ‘rigorous selection process’, with the involvement of school evaluation and approval committees. The committees, it said, included officials like District Magistrates, principals of existing Sainik Schools or Navodaya Vidyalaya, Joint Secretary of the Sainik Schools Society, Secretary of the Central Board of Secondary Education and one eminent educationist.

It is important to note that the RTI questions sent to the ministry specifically asked for details of committee members, their submitted reports, and scheme-specific memos, reports, and correspondences. The requested information in the RTI was denied by the ministry. The ministry claimed disclosing such information would prejudice the selection of entities who get to run the Sainik Schools.

“The view and recommendations during internal assessments are not brought out in public domain as this may adversely affect the process of selecting new Sainik Schools and prejudice the entire selection process.” the ministry said in the RTI reply.

The ministry’s response was in breach of the RTI law. 

The request to furnish details of the schools that applied for affiliation was declined as well. In its press note, however, the ministry said that “over 500 applications have been received and scrutinized.”

The Defence ministry’s press note does not refute any fact mentioned in The Collective’s story. But it merely repeats the points about financial assistance and incentivisation – cited from Sainik Schools Society’s policy wordings – mentioned in the story.

The note ends by saying that the “political or ideological affiliation or otherwise of the applicant institution does not influence the selection process”. The claim, however, falls flat when the ministry data shows at least  62 per cent of agreements were made with entities of political or ideological affiliation. 

This is an issue pointed out by educationists and retired officers of the Indian armed forces, and even expressed in press releases of political parties in the opposition.

In a press release, the Communist Party of India (Marxist) expressed deep concern about the “move which reinforces the trend of communalising education” and “impacting the high secular standards of our military establishments.” Congress party called it a conspiracy to establish the hate ideology of RSS in the armed forces.

“When the government hires an employee, it conducts police verification. And if the MoD is saying that the political or ideological background of the organisations/individuals entering into an agreement with the ministry doesn’t influence the selection process, it is a comment in bad taste,” Prince Gajendra Babu, an educationist with the State Platform for Common School System - Tamil Nadu told The Collective. “It is the duty of the government to check whom they are permitting to run Sainik Schools, and what the purpose these schools will serve.”

These political and ideological affiliations overlap in some cases mentioned in the story. For instance, Hindutva ideologue Sadhvi Ritambhara who runs the Samvid Gurukulam Girls Sainik School in Vrindavan, Uttar Pradesh holds significance in BJP’s political scheme of things. Her closeness with the ruling party is evident from the fact that Home Minister Amit Shah had visited her in Vrindavan to wish Ritambhara on her birthday. And, her Sainik School was inaugurated by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, an event in which UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath was present.