Welcoming the government’s stand to protect the autonomy of States in higher education, CPI national secretary D. Raja on Sunday called on the DMK to join hands with Left parties and oppose the Congress in the coming budget session of Parliament.
He said the Union government was ignoring the federal structure of the Indian polity through its unilateral announcements in higher education. He cited the proposed National Commission for Higher Education and Research (NCHER) Bill and the proposed three-and-a-half year rural medicine course as examples. Appreciating the Tamil Nadu government for its rejection of these proposals, he said it was the duty of the Union government to take the States into confidence on major policy decisions, especially in subjects under the Concurrent List.
Speaking at a seminar organised by the Doctors’ Association for Social Equality against the rural medicine course, Mr. Raja said the course would discriminate between the rural and the urban people and said the government should instead concentrate on ramping up existing services including the public health centres and place qualified people in the villages. He said the Left would also attack the government for its anti-farmer policies in raising fertilizer prices and its inactivity in dealing with price rise.
He argued that in the name of combating the naxal menace, the government had been hurting adivasis and giving away the forest lands on which they lived to multinational companies.
He asked the government to take steps to ensure equal political rights for Tamils in Sri Lanka and to reassess the Katchatheevu agreement to protect the rights of Indian fishermen.
