Kochi: The Union government initiated National Commission for Higher Education and Research (NCHER) Bill is faced with opposition raised by Nilotpal Basu, Communist Party of India - Marxist (CPI-M) leader. Mr Basu calls it an Obnoxious Bill that takes away all the powers of the state governments.
Mr Basu gave the inaugural address at a friendship conference held, regarding the 35th annual conference of the Confederation of University Employee Organizations (Kerala) at the Cochin University of Science and Technology on Friday i.e. April 9, 2010.
Commenting on the Bill, he said that it is like seven wise men, comprising a chairman and six members, have been told to decide what must be done in the higher education sector in India, according to the provisions of the Bill. He also added that the State governments would be prohibited from taking action, unless they got a go-ahead from the seven wise men that make up the committee.
As per sources, an attack on the states through some recent development in the education sector, such as the Foreign Education Providers Bill, had been initiated by the Union Ministry of Human Resource and Development (HRD). Mr Basu also pointed out that the quality of education in India cannot be improved through the Foreign Education Providers Bill. The number of Indian students between the age group of 18-23 who have access to higher education is comparatively much lower than those of the developed as well as developing countries.
