Rajya Sabha member and CPI (M) leader Sitaram Yechuri lashed out at the Central government for citing budget crunch as the reason for not implementing the Right to Education Act passed in the Parliament. He also slammed the government for allegedly putting the RTE Act on the back-burner, for the simple reason that it would cost the exchequer Rs.1.75 lakh crore for its implementation for five years.
It was in this context that the CPI (M) leader pointed out that had the UPA government prevented the 2G scam which made the exchequer reportedly lose Rs.1.76 lakh crore, there would not have been any paucity of funds for the implementation of the Act.
Participating as the chief guest in the inauguration of the three-day State convention of the United Teachers’ Federation (UTF), Yechuri said there was absolutely no dearth of funds or resources in the country and pointed out that what the country lacked was the political will to properly tap and judiciously utilise them for the welfare of the poor and deprived sections.
He said it was strange that the government should consider the ‘tax concessions’ being provided to the corporate sector as ‘incentives’ and dub the same as ‘financial burden’ when it came to providing subsidies to the poor and the downtrodden.
Price rise
Referring to the unabated escalation in the prices of essential commodities, unemployment and more importantly the suicides by farmers steeped in debt-traps, Yechuri regretted that no serious political debate and discussion which the issues merited were being held to find the policy alternatives. It was in this context that he pointed out that teachers should play a pro-active role in the emergence of political alternatives.
CPI (M) MLC and educationist, K. Nageswar, addressing the session said according to the government’s latest decision, nearly 3,000 schools were set to vanish into thin air and asked whether it was a sin bringing school education into the ambit of ‘Amma Hastham’ scheme being implemented by the Kiran government amid a lot of publicity blitzkrieg. Among the other participants were State CPI (M) Secretary B.V. Raghavulu, former MLC Dachuri Rami Reddy, Chairman of the Teachers’ JAC Gopal Reddy and MLCs—Vithapu Balasubramanyam and Y.Srinivasulu Reddy.
