Tussle over the Rajasthan Teachers’ Eligibility Test (RTET) now goes into the Legislative Assembly and leading to chaos during the Question Hour.
It was National People’s Party (NPP) legislator Kirori Lal Meena who sought clarification on the government’s stand on the RTET. As the debate grew louder, Meena and the Congress legislators, unhappy with the government’s response, staged a walk out.
“It was you (BJP) who assured to abolish the RTET during the election campaign. Now, tell us when would it be abolished?” Meena said. He found support from Congress legislators, particularly Dheeraj Gujjar, who raised slogans demanding that RTET be abolished.
State education minister Kalicharan Saraf informed the House that while the process of recruiting 20,000 teachers on the basis of the RTET was on, the state government had also formed a committee to review the policy on RTET. He denied that the BJP had ever promised to abolish the test completely. Besides, Saraf also denied reports that he had himself said that it cannot be abolished. “The matter is sub judice. Moreover, the government has already formed a high-level committee, which will submit its report soon. The government will take a decision on the basis of the report,” Saraf said.
However, Saraf’s reply led to an uproar among the opposition benches with Meena raising concern over the fate of the teachers belonging to the reserved categories. Despite the minister’s assurance that nobody would have to suffer, the demand for abolishment of the test grew louder. Meena supported by another Independent legislator, Hanuman Beniwal, and Congress legislators, including Gujjar, walked into the well of the House as a mark of protest. This led to an uproar in the treasury benches as well with the legislators from both the sides blaming each other over the RTET and of misleading the voters.
As the protesters staged a walk out, state parliamentary affairs minister Rajendra Rathore said the Congress was to be blamed for the dilemma over the test as it had introduced RTET in the first place. “They were the ones who were unjustly introduced RTET and are now blaming us for trying not resolving the issue,” he said.
Earlier, the House witnessed a lengthy discussion over the decline in the number of people employed under the MGNREGA since 2009 and shortage of funds for the scheme. Rural development and pachayati raj rminister Gulab Chand Kataria informed the House that the state government was considering connecting the MGNREGA will the MP-MLA funds and assured employment within 15 days on enrollment of a worker. “Low wages are a major reason that the labourers are driven away from the scheme. In 2008-09, Rs 6,175 crore was spent on MNREGA, while in the current year till December 2013, it was only Rs 2,039 crore. This is expected to touch about Rs 3,000 crore by March end,” he told the House.
src: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/jaipur/Ruckus-over-RTET-in-House-Meena-Cong-legislators-stage-walk-out/articleshow/29323456.cms