news details |
|
|
| Quota won`t slash opportunities for general category: PM | | |
New Delhi, Aug 31: With moves on to bring yet another Quota Bill, this time to reserve seats in unaided educational institutions, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today sought to allay apprehensions of general-category students, saying opportunities for them would not be curtailed.
"Our approach on this (quota) issue is two-fold -- first of all we must not do anything which will reduce educational opportunities for children other than those belonging to the backward classes," he told students of Lady Shri Ram College during a brief question-answer session with them.
The government, he added, instead aimed to provide students from backward communities with access to "genuine" opportunities that empower them to realise their "inherent development potential".
Singh's comments came in the wake of HRD Minister Arjun Singh's announcement yesterday regarding plans to bring in a bill aimed at providing OBC reservations in unaided educational institutions as well.
The Prime Minister pointed out that only 10 per cent of the population of backward communities had access to college education at present.
"Let me say that the quality of opportunity has to become a living reality. And if it is to become a living reality, it is very essential that people belonging to all sections of society should have access to quality," he remarked.
The Prime Minister supported OBC reservations in educational establishments as a means to help the country move ahead as a "cohesive society". "If India is to move as a cohesive society, we have to strengthen those at the lowest rung of the social and economic ladder. We have to empower them to realise their destiny. Economic criteria also have a role," he said.
Women`s Reservation Bill expected in next par session: PM
PM Manmohan Singh today said he hoped a bill aimed at granting reservation to women in Parliament and in state legislature would be introduced in the next session.
"I sincerely hope that in the next session of Parliament, we will be able to bring forward legislation to reserve seats in Parliament for women," Singh said in his address at the Lady Shri Ram College here.
The Prime Minister, who was guest of honour at the golden jubilee celebrations of the college, attributed the delay in bringing in the bill to the time consumed in evolving a political consensus on the matter. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
