Dhinakaran calls for immediate commencement of caste survey in Tamil Nadu
The Hindu
T.T.V. Dhinakaran demands caste census in TN; O. Panneerselvam urges CM to resolve secondary grade teachers' agitation. Dhinakaran cites DMK's manifesto, Kulasekaran Commission, 69% reservation policy to stress need for census. Panneerselvam calls for regularisation of part-time teachers.
AMMK general secretary, T.T.V. Dhinakaran, on Tuesday demanded that the DMK government initiate steps immediately for a caste survey, as was done in Bihar.
In a statement, he referred to the ruling party’s manifesto for the 2021 Assembly polls and said that it seemed as if the government had not undertaken any measures in line with its manifesto.
The Kulasekaran Commission, which was constituted during the previous AIADMK regime headed by Edappadi K. Palaniswami to collect caste-wise data in Tamil Nadu, had also ceased to exist, he pointed out.
A caste survey has become imperative to ensure that various welfare measures reached all sections of society, and in order to defend the 69% reservation policy of the State, Mr. Dhinakaran said.
In another statement, the AIADMK’s former coordinator, O. Panneerselvam, referred to an ongoing agitation by secondary grade teachers and part-time teachers, and called upon Chief Minister M.K. Stalin to have discrepancies in norms concerning the promotion of secondary grade teachers resolved, and to regularise the services of part-time teachers.
While residents are worried over deaths due to diarrhoea in Vijayawada, officials still grapple to find the root cause. Contaminated drinking water supplied by VMC officials is the reason, insist people in the affected areas, but officials insist that efforts are on to identify the disease and that those with symptoms other than diarrhoea too are visiting the health camps.