Rohit Thakur criticized the previous BJP Govt for leaving a legacy of economic chaos in Himachal
Education Minister Rohit Thakur today in a press statement criticized the previous BJP government for leaving a legacy of economic chaos, neglect, and missed opportunities for the people of Himachal Pradesh. Thakur pointed out that the Congress government inherited an overwhelming debt burden of Rs. 75,000 crore from the so-called ‘double-engine’ government, leaving the state’s economy in a complete mess.
Education Minister Rohit Thakur accused the previous BJP government for its handling of the education system, calling it a ‘tragic legacy’ and the Congress government was now tasked with fixing their haphazard management. The state’s education system, under the BJP was in a deplorable state where the education system ranked a dismal 21st in the National Achievement Survey of 2021, a sharp drop from its once-glorious standing of 3rd rank,” Sh. Thakur said. “We have inherited a situation where 350 schools were functioning without teachers 3,400 schools had just one teacher and over 12,000 teaching posts in the education sector were vacant. It is truly remarkable how, under the previous government’s tenure, the state’s educational performance plummeted so spectacularly. As per Asar’s report the Performance Grading Index once a point of pride was nosedived to a dismal 18th position. By the end of their term class 8 students were struggling to read a basic class 3 textbook. In stark contrast the present congress government had developed 850 institutions as Centre of Excellence to ensure quality and inclusive education for children in the state.
The Congress government has committed itself to implementing transformative reforms across all sectors and has taken swift and decisive action in this regards. A historic decision was made to fill 15,000 teaching and non-teaching staff posts, with 3,200 teachers recruited through batch-wise and 2,800 more were being recruited through Rajya Chayan Aayog. The BJP’s failure to address the teaching crisis has had a lasting impact on the state’s educational standards, and the Congress government is now working hard to remedy this. He said the Cabinet has given approval to fill 700 PGT and 6200 NTT and would be recruited soon. We have decided that there will be no transfer of teachers in government schools during academic session to ensure that students receive good education. Other than direct recruitment thousands of other posts have been filled through promotion.
Unlike the BJP, which left no efforts to fill vacancies our government has appointed 120 college principals and 483 assistant professors in a bid to address the severe educational crisis through direct recruitment and promotion basis bringing an end to the stagnation caused by the previous government.
The Congress government has also fulfilled its election promise to introduce English-medium education from the very first grade in government schools. Additionally, Rajiv Gandhi Day-Boarding Schools, equipped with state-of-the-art technology are being established in every Assembly constituency. He said that our Government had also launched the Dr. Y.S. Parmar Vidyarthi Rin Yojana, which offers loans of up to Rs. 20 lakh at a nominal interest rate of just 1 percent, and has now been extended to students from economically weaker sections pursuing education abroad.
He said that the present congress government has also started ‘Mukhyamantri Sukh Shiksha Yojana aimed at providing financial assistance to widows, destitute women, divorced women and disabled women for the education and welfare of their children. An annual allocation of Rs. 53.21 crore has been set aside for this scheme.
We launched the ‘Bal Poshtik Aahar Yojana’ for students in 15,181 schools, benefiting 5.34 lakh children with additional nutrition like boiled eggs or fruits. The state has allocated Rs. 12.75 crore for this initiative. To address the irregularities we have started DBT scheme for Smart dresses and started training programmes besides exposure visits for teachers and students in and outside country. We have started agriculture and horticulture as an additional subject in schools and started cluster system in schools. We were rewarding teachers for their contribution in the education sector and enhanced prize, diet and travel allowances of sports personalities.
In our first cabinet meeting, we restored the old pension scheme, benefiting 1.36 lakh employees, but Rs. 9,200 crore remains unresolved. The state was hit by a devastating disaster causing massive loss, with no help from the Centre. Our government allocated Rs. 4500 crore relief package from its own resources, while the BJP played politics, presenting wrong figures sparing centre to render any help to state. Rs. 9000 crore disaster relief was still lying pending with the central government.
Turning to agriculture Sh. Thakur said that the Congress government’s efforts to support the state’s farmers. He said that Himachal Pradesh has set the highest support price for wheat and maize in the country, purchasing wheat at Rs. 40 per kg and maize at Rs. 30 per kg from farmers engaged in natural farming. He further emphasized that 36,000 farmers are now connected to natural farming, which is creating a reliable income stream for them.
He said that to address the long-standing demand of Horticulturists the present congress government have introduced universal cartons from this apple season, benefiting growers, and set a minimum support price of Rs. 12 kg for apples, mangoes, and citrus fruits. We have restored the subsidies on pesticides which were scrapped by the previous government. A sum of Rs. 163 crore had been released to clear all outstanding payments to apple producers under the Market Intervention Scheme (MIS), including Rs. 90 crore that remained unpaid by the previous Jai Ram Thakur government.
The Congress government has also introduced a Minimum Support Price (MSP) for milk, making Himachal Pradesh the first state in India to do so. The MSP for cow milk has been raised from Rs. 32 to Rs. 45 per litre and for buffalo milk from Rs. 47 to Rs. 55 per litre. In addition, a state-of-the-art milk processing plant is being developed at Dhagwar in Kangra under the Him Ganga Yojana.
The Central Government’s exclusion of Himachal Pradesh from the Rs. 3,296 crore special Assistance for Capital Investment Scheme disregards the state’s pivotal role in India’s tourism. Despite initiatives like Buddhist circuits, eco-tourism, and Kangra’s designation as the tourism capital, Himachal’s efforts under Chief Minister Thakur Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu were undermined.
He said that the BJP leaders were making all efforts to destabilize the Congress government by fairing up one or the other issues to defame the Congress government and create unnecessary controversy. Their insecurity over the growing popularity of the congress government has led them to misguide the central leadership and defame the state,” he remarked.
The Education Minister expressed confidence that the Congress government’s efforts would continue to lead the state towards a brighter and more prosperous future.
