AGARTALA: Former Tripura minister and senior Congress leader Sudip Roy Barman, on Tuesday, lashed out at the central government’s policy of conducting entrance exams for admission in general degree colleges.
Sudip Roy Barman termed the move as an “obvious attempt” to deprive the underprivileged section of the society from pursuing higher education.
He made an appeal to the student organizations of Tripura, irrespective of political affiliations, to come forward and protest the move.
“The way this new system is being introduced, the doors for higher education will be permanently closed for a section of students,” Sudip Roy Barman said.
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He added: “According to the guidelines, the exams will be held online in two exams centers here in Tripura. I want to ask, how many schools in Tripura have adequate infrastructure to impart basic computer knowledge. How many students have access to smartphones and internet in the interior villages? The motive is clear: the central government wants access to higher education to be restricted.”
Accusing the central government of taking the side of corporate run private universities, the senior Tripura Congress leader said: “The students who will not get admission in government colleges, where will they go? They have to take admission in the private colleges adding an extra burden on their parents.”
On the other hand, Congress Working Committee (CWC) member and AICC in-charge for Tripura – Dr Ajoy Kumar said: “Tripura government is doing injustice to the tribal population. Despite being a substantial 33 percent of the total population, they are not getting adequate share of the state budget for development and welfare.”
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He added: “The disparity is visible as only Rs 400 crore is allocated for tribal areas out of 26,000 crore state budget.”
On being asked about Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s recent statement of Hindi being introduced as a means of connecting language, Kumar said, “BJP-RSS have their own plans for India. They want to impose their thought process on everyone.”
“As per the data available with me 78 percent of the Indian women are non-vegetarian, 75 percent of men like non-veg food in their everyday platter. Now, the RSS wants that all become vegetarians and people from all communities speak Hindi. They may feel so but the concept of India that is based upon Unity in Diversity contradicts their ideology. India will not remain India if they transform it their way,” Kumar said.