Parliament LIVE | Pradhan: Repeatedly wrote to TN CM to join NEP
Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan replied to the discussion on the working of the Education Ministry in the Rajya Sabha
Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Tuesday (March 11) said he repeatedly wrote to Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin urging him to join the National Education Policy (NEP) and PM SHRI.
Also read: CM Stalin vows TN will reject NEP, cites BJP’s hostility towards Tamils
Replying to discussion on the working of the Education Ministry in the Rajya Sabha, Pradhan said, "I do not dispute that the NEP has an ideological commitment which is our pride in Bharatiyata and our culture. This is why course books under NEP have to be prepared in 22 languages."
"I told him (Stalin) that Tamil Nadu has always been a pioneer in education," Pradhan said.
He added that the Chief Secretary of Tamil Nadu wrote back to me saying Tamil Nadu is "very keen to sign the MoU for establishing PM-SHRI schools in Tamil Nadu" and that "in this regard a state level committee has been constituted and based on the committee report MoU will be signed for 2024-2025".
DMK MPs protest
Earlier on Tuesday, Kanimozhi and other DMK MPs staged a protest within the Parliament premises over the NEP, the three-language policy, and against Pradhan over his remarks in Parliament on Monday calling the Tamil Nadu government “dishonest” and the people of the state “uncivilised”.
On Monday, Lok Sabha proceedings were adjourned for about 30 minutes after DMK members staged protests over Pradhan’s remarks that the Tamil Nadu government was “ruining” the future of the students of the state by taking a complete “U-turn” on the issue of implementing the PM Schools for Rising India (PM SHRI).
“The Tamil Nadu government had initially agreed to sign the MoU. But now they have changed the stand. Many non-BJP-ruled states, including Karnataka and Himachal Pradesh, have signed the agreement,” he said. “They (DMK) are dishonest and they are ruining the future of the students of Tamil Nadu. They are doing politics,” he added.
Taking strong exception to the minister’s remarks, DMK members registered strong protests by raising slogans against the central government. After some time, Birla adjourned the House till 12 noon. Monday was the first day of the second half of Parliament’s Budget session.
Opposition walks out of Rajya Sabha
In Rajya Sabha, Opposition parties led by the Congress staged a walkout after their notices for discussions on issues ranging from “duplicate” voter ID cards to US funding to voter turnout were rejected, even as Union minister JP Nadda insisted that the government was ready to discuss any issue, provided they were under the rules.
The Opposition MPs raised slogans after the deputy chairman of the House, Harivansh, said a dozen notices under Rule 267, which calls for setting aside the business of the day to take up discussions on urgent matters, have been rejected. Citing the rejection, Harivansh did not allow Leader of Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge to make his submission.
The opposition MPs then protested for a while before staging a walkout.
Notices by Opposition
Earlier, Harivansh said 12 notices had been received under Rule 267. Tiruchi N Siva of DMK, CPI’s Santosh Kumar P, Vaiko of MDMK, CPI’s PP Suneer, and P Wilson of DMK demanded discussions on concerns regarding the upcoming delimitation exercise in the southern states.
Trinamool Congress members Saket Gokhale and Sagarika Ghose, along with Pramod Tiwari and Ajay Maken of the Congress demanded discussions over the alleged lapse by the Election Commission in issuing multiple “duplicate” voter ID cards across states.
While Sanjay Singh of AAP demanded a discussion on the financial loss incurred by the small investors due to the continued decline in stock market indices, Ramji Lal Suman of the Samajwadi Party called for a discussion over a statement made by US President Donald Trump on American funding to increase voter turnout in India.
V Sivadasan of the CPI(M) wanted to raise issues faced by Anganwadi and mid-day meal workers.
In this Parliament session, the government is expected to get the Finance Bills passed, while the Opposition will look to confront it on Waqf Bill, NEP, delimitation, and US tariffs, among others. Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is also scheduled to table the Budget for Manipur, which is now under President’s Rule.
Also read:
Budget session: 'EPIC' showdown in the offing; Budget, Waqf Bill govt's top priorities
Hindi imposition 2.0? NEP brings TN language warriors back to forefront
Union Cabinet clears 14 changes to Waqf Bill proposed by JPC
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Live Updates
- 11 March 2025 9:09 AM GMT
BJP MP flays Opposition parties for creating ruckus
BJP MP Praveen Khandelwal says, "Useless ruckus is being created by Opposition parties on NEP. We all know what was the syllabus during the Congress regime. We heard about the praises of Mughals, Britishers, but we did not hear much about the heroes who got martyred for the country. NEP is a universal document, it is for all the states. But there is also some responsibilities of the states, but many of them are playing politics over it. This is like playing with the future of students. It should not happen."
- 11 March 2025 9:03 AM GMT
Congress opposes Immigration Bill in Lok Sabha
Opposing the bill at the introduction stage, Manish Tewari (Congress) said the bill is violative of multiple provisions of the Constitution and various laws.
He said the bill violates the principle of fundamental rights and the government may use the provisions of the proposed law to deny entry to those who are not in sync with the ideology of the ruling dispensation of the day.
Saugata Roy of the TMC said the proposed law could prevent inflow of talent from outside in various fields.
In his remarks before formally introducing the bill, Rai said the draft law seeks to correct overlapping and duplicate provisions in prevailing laws governing immigration and foreigners in the country. (PTI)
- 11 March 2025 9:01 AM GMT
Immigration and Foreigners Bill 2025 introduced in Lok Sabha
The Immigration and Foreigners Bill 2025 was introduced in the Lok Sabha today, aiming to modernise and consolidate India’s immigration laws. The Bill will grant the Centre certain powers to provide for the requirement of passports or other travel documents in respect of persons entering into and exiting from India. However, the introduction of the bill is likely to witness objections by the Opposition MPs.
- 11 March 2025 8:57 AM GMT
Tamil Nadu will never accept NEP: Kanimozhi
Kanimozhi Somu says the Centre withholding funds to Tamil Nadu is a case of denying principles of cooperative federalism, infringing on rights of the state and deliberately destabilising the State. The DMK MP reiterates that Tamil Nadu will never accept the NEP and will continue it's resistance to Hindi imposition and the three-language formula.
- 11 March 2025 8:55 AM GMT
Kanimozhi targets Centre for 'infringing on federal rights'
DMK MP Dr. Kanimozhi NVN Somu slams Centre for infringing on federal rights and autonomy of states. Somu says Tamil Nadu has been a forerunner in the field of education and among the top states in literacy in India; it has been following a two language formula for decades with a strong emphasis on inclusive education and access to quality education in Tamil and English but it is being punished today for this through the NEP and delimitation. Somu accuses Centre of social injustice and says TN has never accepted NEP but "only promised to come back with views after scrutinizing the NEP". Somu insists the TN government had informed the Centre that it doesn't want to implement the NEP and there was no question of the government having ever told the Centre otherwise.
- 11 March 2025 8:54 AM GMT
RJD MP slams Dharmendra Pradhan over NEP row
On war of words between Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan and DMK MPs over NEP and three-language policy, RJD MP Sudhakar Singh says: "Dharmendra Pradhan's academic ability is not enough for him to work as country's education minister. The minister who is unaware that education and skill are two different issues, he is trying to modify the universities - which are our knowledge centres - into vocational courses."
- 11 March 2025 8:48 AM GMT
TMC MP slams Centre's 'biased approach' towards minority-run institutions
Trinamool Congress MP Ritabrata Banerjee slams Centre's discriminatory attitude towards minority-run educational institutions and says the BJP president and Leader of the House JP Nadda studied in one such institute and should be asked to explain whether he received excellent education or not at that school. Banerjee also flayed NCERT for mass deletion of content from textbooks which had sought to promote scientific temper, inclusivity, respect for India's traditions, Constitution and freedom struggle.
- 11 March 2025 8:46 AM GMT
BJP MP targets Karnataka govt over gold smuggling issue
Taking on the gold smuggling issue, BJP MP Jagadish Shettar says, "Ranya Rao issue is very serious, the matter was handed over to the CBI. The CBI has to take it very seriously. Because in newspaper it appeared that two cabinet Ministers of the Siddaramaiah government are involved in this. Now there is denial, the Home Minister and Chief Minister have to say that there is no such involvement, who has given the authority to DK Shivakumar, only to safeguard his Ministers who are involved, he has given this statement."
- 11 March 2025 8:45 AM GMT
TMC throws weight behind DMK
TMC MP Kalyan Banerjee says, "All India Trinamool Congress support supports the stand taken by DMK. Yesterday, I was there in the House, and the language used by Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan was deprecated. It is unexpected that a central minister would use this language for the people of Tamil Nadu. I demand that either he apologises or he is removed as a minister from the cabinet. The PM should hear what your ministers are saying. Their words and body language are highly depreciable. TMC stands for the people of Tamil Nadu and the DMK party itself."
