The General Council of the Dravid Munnetra Kazhagam has called for the appointment of a committee of experts to review the allocation of powers between the Centre and the States, and suggest Constitutional amendments to eliminate the present “concentration of powers” in the hands of the Centre. In a resolution adopted to-day [October 15], the Council said that in spite of the efficiency of the State administration, progress on development programmes could not be achieved to the desired extent on account of accumulation of powers with the Central Government. It pointed out that there was a similar feeling in several other States also. In another resolution, the General Council protested against the policy of the Central Government on the official language issue, and said that the Centre was creating “confusion, conflict and misunderstanding” on the issue through its words and deeds. It endorsed the Madras Government’s memorandum on the language issue, which, it said, offered concrete and constructive suggestions for a solution of the problem. The Council appreciated the feelings of the student community in Tamil Nad against “imposition of Hindi” and advised them not to resort to direct action like strikes and demonstrations to protest against Hindi, but leave the matter to the State Government which was also keen on finding a satisfactory solution to the language problem safeguarding the interests of the Tamil people. By a third resolution, the Council conveyed its sympathies to South Indians affected by the Shiv Sena movement in Bombay and expressed its gratitude to the national leaders and newspapers which had condemned these anti-social activities. It urged the Central Government to immediately ask the Maharashtra Government to take effective measures to curb the activities of Shiv Sena. The Council, which concluded its two-day session here this afternoon [October 15], adopted over 80 resolutions dealing with the various national and State problems.
