Chennai,
The DMK on Wednesday targeted the
Centre at its general council meet over several issues and
asked it not to implement the National Education Policy 2020
and urged withdrawal of the draft Environment Impact
Assessment notification.
The party also condemned “taking away the social justice
rights of Other Backward Classes and the Scheduled Castes,” in
the Union Public Service Commission’s civil service
examinations for 2019 and demanded an inquiry.
The party’s meet here, chaired byparty president
M K Stalin reiterated its opposition to the NEP anddubbed
several proposals in the policy as “retrograde” and tantamount
to “slighting” states and “centralising” education.
Proposals like a higher education commission of India to
take varsities in the state under the “centre’s control,”
entrance exam for arts and science streams, nod for foreign
varsities, formulating syllabus at the Central level, and a
bid to “merge” the central institute of classical Tamil, an
autonomous institution, with a university were flagged by the
party as ‘unwelcome.’
The policy gave “prominence” to Sanskrit and showed a
“stepmotherly attitude” towards other Indian languages, the
party alleged.
The Centre was “interfering in the little education
rights” vested with the states which was “autocratic,” the
Dravidian party said in its meet, which was originally slated
to be held in March but deferred due to coronavirus pandemic.
“This general council urges the AIADMK government to
strongly oppose this policy (NEP) since it is against Tamil
Nadu’s two language formula.”
To empower states to have a better say in matters of
education, the DMK wanted education to be brought back to state list from the concurrent category of the Constitution.
Till such time the NEP was debated in Parliament by all
state parties, the BJP government at the Centre should not
take any steps for implementing the policy, a resolution
adopted in the meet said.
The DMK alleged it could see the 10 per cent reservation
for the economically backward upper caste people adversely
affecting social justice in every stage of the civil service
examination.
The party further alleged that be it preliminary, main or
the interview stage, the backward classes, SCs, STs were
relegated to a position behind the economically backward
sections.
Injustice was, hence, done and theexam resultwas
declared without transparency, the party claimed and demanded
an impartial and honest inquiry into the civil services exams
to render justice.
The party also opposed the draft EIA notification saying
it would dilute the existing environment protection laws.
“This meet condemns the BJP-led Centre,” another
resolution said for not releasing the EIA notification even in
Indian languages listed in the Constitution and for staging a
“drama” in the name of an “eyewash” public consultation.
The central government should unconditionally withdraw
the “undemocratic” notification since it was to encourage
projects that would wreak havoc on environment, farmers and
agriculture and also went against the rights of states, the
meet said.
The party welcomed a Supreme Court judgment on sub-quota
for Scheduled Castes and pointed out that the reservation for
Arunthathiyars within the SCs in Tamil Nadu was ushered in by
the DMK regime in 2009.
The DMK also hit out at the Centre for “overlooking”
alleged corruption in the AIADMK government and condemned the
AIADMK-led dispensation as well for its “failure” to manage
COVID-19 and levelled corruption charges against the state
government in floating bids for coronavirus related
activities.
Source: https://www.theweek.in/wire-updates/national/2020/09/09/mds10-tn-dmk-centre.html