The Hindu : New Delhi News : Fulfil promises, SFI tells Centre

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Thursday, Feb 21, 2008
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New Delhi

Fulfil promises, SFI tells Centre

Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI: Ahead of the last budget of the United Progressive Alliance Government, activists of the Students’ Federation of India on Wednesday marched from Mandi House towards Parliament to press the Union Government to fulfil the promises made in its National Common Minimum Programme.

Addressing the students, all-India general secretary of SFI K.K. Ragesh condemned the UPA Government for “not honouring the promises” made in its NCMP in 2004 and urged it to honour all those commitments in this budget itself

“The Government should not allow foreign education institutions into our country as they are a threat to our intellectual self-reliance. The Government can only ignore the demands of the students at its own peril,” he said.

SFI president R. Arun Kumar demanded that the Government immediately scrap “the 60 per cent marks condition that it had imposed on sanction of scholarships to the students belonging to Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes categories.

Some of the main demands raised during the protest included spending 6 per cent of the Gross Domestic Product on the education sector; implementation of recommendations of the Sachar Committee report to address the educational status of minority students; and bringing all private and self-financing educational institutions under government regulation.

The students’ outfit also demanded increasing the coverage and the number of Maulana Azad Scholarships for minority students.

Students of Jawaharlal Nehru University, Jamia Milia Islamia and Delhi University participated in the march.

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