“The Government, however, should focus on imparting quality education to students so that they can climb out of poverty and flourish in life, instead of enabling them to get paper degrees. Most of the students coming out of colleges these days are unemployable,” Dr Narayan said while addressing a press conference in Hyderabad, organised on the eve of induction of Hymavati Sagi Potineni and Dilip Sankar Reddy into the party.

Welcoming both of them into the party fold, Dr Narayan said that they are highly talented and professionally successful Non-Resident Indians who returned to serve the country after giving up their lucrative jobs and a life of comfort.

Mrs Hymavati (36) who took her B. E. from JNTU, Hyderabad and MS from the University of Toledo, US, had served as a team leader in General Electric for two years and headed her own software firm for nine years. Mr Reddy obtained his B. E. in Computer Science from PES Institute of Technology, Bangalore and MBA from Booth School of Business, Chicago. He had devoted his life to promoting sustainable development and earned many recognitions and awards, according to a party press release.

“Mrs. Hymavati will work for the party in Sanathnagar constituency and Mr. Sankar Redy in Malkajgiri constituency. Both of them had associated themselves with the People for Lok Satta, an NRI organization earlier,” the press release informed.

Maintaining that the country today needed thousands of such people to transform the nature of politics, Dr. Narayan said that politics will remain rotten so long as men and women of competence and integrity do not enter politics and devote their time, energy and resources to cleanse it. "Mrs. Hyma and Mr. Reddy are sacrificing their today for a better tomorrow for the country," he said.

Replying to a question on the Government decision on tuition fee reimbursement for professional college students, Dr. Narayan recalled that it was the Lok Satta Party which had for the first time declared that no student who is eligible and has the desire to pursue higher education be denied the opportunity on the ground that he or she has no resources. “It was one of the 50 guarantees the Lok Satta Party incorporated in its election manifesto in 2009. Being smarter than most others, the then Chief Minister Dr. Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy chose to implement it. The Lok Satta Party welcomed the decision,” Dr Narayan informed.

Unfortunately, Dr. Narayan said, the Government fee reimbursement scheme has merely breathed new life into dying private colleges and the Arogyasri scheme into unviable private hospitals.

He demanded that the Government reimburse students' tuition fees to the extent it can and help them pursue higher education with bank loans, and interest subsidy, etc.