‘New Disease’: Nirmala Sitharaman, S Jaishankar and 16 politicians whose children studied abroad

By Nithish K and Pritha Roy Choudhury

NEW DELHI: Vice President Jagadeep Dhankhar described the desire to study abroad being a “new disease” affecting Indian students but it turns out, his own daughter has been afflicted by it. Kamna Dhankhar, completed her MBA from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, US.

In striking contrast to Dhankar’s position on studying abroad for the rest of the country's aspirants, an analysis reveals that a large section of children of India’s top political leaders, including ministers and parliamentarians, opted for higher education abroad.

“There is another new disease among children – of going abroad. The child enthusiastically wants to go abroad, he sees a new dream; but there is no assessment of which institution he is going to, which country he is going to,” said Jagadeep Dhankar, in Rajashthan’s Sikar, on October 18. Dhankar even blamed aspirants pursuing a foreign education for causing “forex drain or brain drain”.

He said: “They have created a hole of USD 6 billion in our foreign exchange. Imagine if 6 billion US dollars are funneled into improving the infrastructure of educational institutions. Where will we stand? I call this a forex drain and brain drain.”

In July, the education ministry told parliament that 8.94 lakh Indians left to study abroad in 2023; according to a private “student mobility report”, 13.24 lakh Indians left to study abroad in 2022.

The USD 6 billion translates into roughly Rs 50,000 crore – larger than the central government’s higher education budget, which stood at Rs 47,619.77 crore for the 2024-25 financial year. The budget for school and higher education together was Rs 1.48 lakh crore.

Congress leader Jairam Ramesh countered saying: “Students going abroad is not the disease, it's merely a symptom of a diseased education system, one that is getting worse by political interference".

“Actually, it is an old disease that has afflicted students for many decades. I too contracted the virus in 1975, but recovered in time to come back to India in 1980,” Ramesh added.

But this is a bit of a plague across party lines, both in the ruling party – the Bharatiya Janata Party – and in parliament.

Given below is a list of serving or former ministers and members of parliament whose children, at various points, “contracted the virus” and studied abroad. Many of them remain abroad.

• Jagadeep Dhankhar | Vice President of India: Daughter Kamna Dhankhar holds an MBA from the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, US

• Nirmala Sitharaman | Finance minister: Daughter Parakala Vangmayi studied at the London School of Economics, UK

• Piyush Goyal | Commerce and industry minister: Both children Dhruv and Radhika Goyal studied investment banking at Harvard University, USA.

• S Jaishankar | External affairs minister: Son Dhruva Jaishankar studied MA in Security Studies at Macalester College and Georgetown University, USA

• Dharmendra Pradhan | Education minister: Daughter Naimisha Pradhan studied Master of Law at The Fletcher School at Tufts University, Massachusetts, US

• Rajnath Singh | Defence minister: Son Neeraj Singh studied MBA from Leeds University, UK

• Smriti Irani | Former information and broadcasting minister: Both children Zohr and Zoish Irani studied at The British School, New Delhi, with Zohr reportedly exploring overseas universities; stepdaughter Shanelle Irani studied LLM at Georgetown University, US

• Shivraj Singh Chouhan | Minister of Agriculture and Farmers' Welfare: Son Kartiyeya Chouhan studied LLM from University of Pennsylvania, US

• Jyotiraditya Scindia | Civil aviation minister: Son Mahaaryaman Scindia studied MBA at Yale University, USA

• Ravi Shankar Prasad | Former Minister of Law and Justice and Minister of Electronics and IT: Son Aditya Shankar studied law at Cornell University, US

• Prakash Javadekar | Former environment and forests minister: Daughter Apoorva Javadekar completed her PhD from Boston University, USA

Also read India-Canada row hits admissions; students, study-abroad consultants fret

• Hardeep Singh Puri| Former Indian Diplomat: Daughter Tilottama Puri studied Bachelor of Arts (BA) at Warwick University, UK

• Gajendra Singh Shekhawat | Minister of Culture and Tourism: Daughter Suhasini Shekhawat studied at Oxford University, UK.

• JP Nadda | Health minister: Son Harish Nadda studied law at University of London, UK

• Mulayam Singh Yadav | Samajwadi Party founder and former defence minister: Son and former Uttar Pradesh CM Akhilesh Yadav studied Master's in Environmental Engineering from University of Sydney, Australia; other son Prateek Yadav studied MBA from Leeds University, UK

• Vasundhara Raje Scindia |Former Chief Minister and member of parliament, son Dushyant Singh did his MBA in hotel management from Johnson & Wales University, USA.

• Ajit Singh | Founder of Rashtriya Lok Dal and former MP: Son Jayant Chaudhary studied Master’s in International Relations from London School of Economics, UK

• Harsh Vardhan | Former minister of health and family welfare: Son Sachin Vardhan studied finance and accountancy at University of Melbourne, Australia