The Hindu : Kerala News : CPI to back inclusion of Act in Ninth Schedule

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Monday, Jul 26, 2004

Kerala

Kerala

CPI to back inclusion of Act in Ninth Schedule

By Our Special Correspondent

THIRVUANANTHAPURAM, JULY 25. The State CPI leadership has made it clear that the party will support the Antony Government's efforts to get the Self-Financing Colleges (Regulation of Admissions and Fee Structure) Act in the Ninth Schedule of the Constitution.

The CPI leader in the Lok Sabha, P.K. Vasudevan Nair, and the CPI State secretary, Veliyam Bhargavan, told a news conference here today that they expected the Chief Minister, A.K. Antony, to take the initiative in the matter. "It is not enough if the CPI or the other Opposition parties supports the move, the initiative should come from the Government," they said.

Mr. Nair, who visited the home of Rajani, the Dalit engineering college student who had committed suicide, this morning, said the situation at the girl's home was heart-rending. Rajani's parents were heart-broken by their daughter's death and pained more by the remarks made by the Minister for the Welfare of Scheduled and Backward Communities, M.A. Kuttappan, about their daughter. Mr. Kuttappan, he said, had no right to remain in office even for a moment.

Help for Rajani's brother

The CPI leaders said the party would offer all support possible to Rajani's brother, who had secured admission for a hotel management course. They justified the student stir across the State as being an angry response to the death of the Dalit girl, but felt that the attacks on vehicles should be avoided. There was no need to indulge in vandalism and arson on an issue over which everybody was agitated, they said.

They came down heavily on the Malankara Orthodox Church leadership for its attempts to get the Self-Financing Colleges Act rejected by the Centre and said no bishop or Church functionary should be under the illusion that they would be able to defeat the will of the people on such issues.

Blame on MPs

On the Chief Minister's allegation that MPs from Kerala were scuttling the State Government's attempts to secure Kerala's due from the Centre, Mr. Nair said the Government's attempts to save its skin by blaming the MPs would serve no purpose. The MPs from Kerala were doing their best to serve the State's cause. They had raised the question of farmers' suicide in Parliament as part of such efforts. After initially denying that any farmer in Kerala had committed suicide on account of financial difficulties, the State Government had now admitted that some farmer suicides in Wayanad were due to financial reasons, he pointed out.

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