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 2:14 PM
Pradhan: You can't fool the people of TN all the time
Pradhan: You can abuse me, call me any derogatory word, call me a fool but you can't fool the people of Tamil Nadu all the time.
- 11 March 2025 2:12 PM
Pradhan says 774 schools in TN teach Hindi
1,460 CBSE schools are there in Tamil Nadu, of which, 1,411 schools teach Tamil, all teach English, and 774 schools teach Hindi, given permission by the Tamil Nadu government. This is the reality of Tamil Nadu today, says Pradhan
- 11 March 2025 2:11 PM
Pradhan: There are 1,500 minority schools in TN
Pradhan said, "I fail to understand what is their problem. Those advocating two-language formula, in their own schools Tamil is declining and a colonial language is increasing... There are 1,500 minority schools in TN, in 900 schools Telugu is the language, in 300 schools Urdu is the language, in others there is Kannada and Telugu, so 3 language formula is already there."
- 11 March 2025 2:10 PM
Pradhan: We respect Tamil Nadu
In a swipe at the Congress, Pradhan says DMK is wary about the three-language formula because they were conned by some people on this earlier (the Congress-era plan to implement three-language formula) but I want to say we don't have those plans. I am proud of Tamil, it is an ancient language. The NEP also says that in Tamil Nadu, language of instruction will be Tamil. The Sengol in Parliament is our understanding of the culture of Tamil Nadu. We respect Tamil Nadu.
- 11 March 2025 2:10 PM
Pradhan: Repeatedly wrote to TN CM urging him to join NEP
Pradhan says he repeatedly wrote to Tamil Nadu CM urging him to join NEP and PM-SHRI, says I told him TN has always been a pioneer in education. He adds the CS, 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".
He added that the DMK claims they were not consulted on NEP. Mr Kasturirangan had consulted with everyone and formed NEP 2020... I want to make it very clear that under NEP neither Hindi nor English, no language has been imposed on anyone.
- 11 March 2025 2:09 PM
Pradhan: Modi has repeatedly said Tamil is an ancient language. It is nobody's monopoly
Pradhan in RS: Here and in Tamil Nadu, some things have been going on. Today, in this House, Kanimozhi said some things. Yesterday in the other House also, another Kanimozhi said some things. I respect both of them but I want to say there are times when you have to face the truth.
Dr. Kanimozhi was saying certain things. Let me tell you some things. We have never stopped any funds for Tamil Nadu. On March 15 last year, I wrote 5 letters to the CM of Tamil Nadu. There were a total of 13 communications between Centre and the TN goven. On 15 March 2024, Chief Secretary TN, wrote to us about establishing PM SHRI schools and he wrote that TN has always been committed to provide enhanced quality education to its students by implementing impactful steps in education sector.
I also appreciate that.
Our government has never had any confusion about Tamil Nadu. It was our visionary leader Narendra Modi who organised the Kashi Tamil Sangamam, Tamil Surashtra Sangamam.
Modi has repeatedly said Tamil is an ancient language. It is nobody's monopoly.
They also can't teach us how to treat women. What did they do to Jayalalithaa in the Tamil Nadu Assembly?
PM Modi is the only PM who envisioned an international Centre of Tiruvalluvar in Singapore. Truth is bitter.
Tiruchi Siva interjects Pradhan, demands Pradhan's comments be expunged.
Pradhan retorts truth is bitter, these people live in glass houses... no one had the right to outrage the modesty of Jayalalithaa but the truth is truth and you (DMK) have to accept that.
- 11 March 2025 1:45 PM
Pradhan: Congress sheds crocodile tears
Pradhan in RS: Digvijaya Singh and Priyanka Chaturvedi talked about the ASER report. I want to highlight some points. As per ASER, indicators in most categories have improved. The ASER report praises the NEP. Digvijaya Singh also says there is a stench of communalism in NCERT textbooks today. I want to say that the clique which wrote about Gandhi's assassination in 2005 wanted to paint a certain community in poor light. Is it right to teach students that a person from Brahmin community assassinated Gandhi? Ritabrata Banerjee said NCERT has removed mention of jan andolans. Yes, I agree we have done that because we don't believe naxalism, people who picked up guns against the State, should be taught in schools. The NCERT also made some mistakes during Covid, I agree, but those mistakes have been rectified.
Digvijaya Singh also raised the issue of vacancies in teacher appointments. I want to tell him that in Kendriya Vidyalaya, we have appointed over 33,000 teachers as against 19,000 during the UPA government, in Navodaya we have appointed 7000 teachers, in higher education during UPA regime, of 16000 sanctioned posts in central universities - 57 per cent SC, 63 per cent ST and 60 per cent OBC posts were vacant. Manoj Jha talked about NFS. I want to tell him, this practice of declaring quota seats as NFS and then converting them to General category was a Congress era practice; for the first time since independence it was PM Modi who abolished NFS conversion to general category. Now, if a candidate is NFS then the post stays vacant and is not filled by general category. The Congress sheds crocodile tears on this issue because they did not take this initiative when they were in power.
Ritabrata Banerjee talked about funds being held back from Bengal. I don't want to go into details but CAG special audit showed how their government was misusing those funds to pay for other things. I want to ask you (Trinamool), where is your (former) education minister these days (referring to the jailed Partha Chatterjee); what were those heaps (of cash) recovered from him... I don't know what to say when they talk about education
- 11 March 2025 1:22 PM
What Pradhan said in Rajya Sabha
Key quotes from Pradhan's speech in Rajya Sabha
* 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
* The PM believes that certificates and degrees have their own importance, but equally important are aspirations, skilling, job creation and technological advancement. AI in education, increasing seats in IITs, PM Research Fellows, are all part of this vision.
* Participation at entry level in school education is on the rise
* Increasing teaching staff capacity is our priority. Tailormade steps for teachers capacity building underway in consultation with state
* India is a multilingual country. As of today, NCERT has prepared a primer in 104 languages to ease education for children who speak different languages
* Constituent Assembly had detailed discussions on language. I am an Oriya, I belong to the first language-based state of the country. Lot of members have spoken about the language issue in NEP. The Leader of Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge said, "we want to divide the country on the basis of language". This is absolutely wrong. The LoP himself comes from a region that is multilingual. Why are we stuck here (on the language debate). We believe in Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam, not division.
* The country is facing certain challenges today, which is why education and skill development are crucial. Some people said here that we have cut spending on research. I want to inform that in 2015 this country had 1,45,000 research publications but today we have 2,73,000 research publications; engineering specific research has seen a 165 per cent increase which is why today patents and start ups are on the rise in India today, there has been a 93 per cent growth in patent filing, 250 institutes of excellence and 300 universities now have an R&D cell. We are creating a new India and this isn't happening because of the monopoly of some language but because NEP is encouraging multilingualism.
