Thousands of employees from about 200 universities across the country Wednesday gathered at the Ramlila Ground in Delhi and marched to parliament to press the government for hike in education funds.
The Rally was Organized By All India University Employees Confederation By its President Bhabani Hota , The University employees staged a mass-meeting at Jantar Mantar to press for their eight-point charter of demands,' Those who addressed the gathering were the Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader Basudeb Acharia, Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) leader Ram Vilas Paswan, and Congress leader Jagdambika Pal.
“The AIUEC has been pressing for allocation of six percent of the gross domestic product (GDP) for education”.
Former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi committed to allocate six percent but nothing of the sort was done, Again the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government committed to do so in 2004 in its Common Minimum Programme. However, the fund allocation is still only 2.6 percent, The demands include allocation of six percent of the gross domestic product (GDP) to education and saving of university education from the onslaught of private and foreign direct investment, among others,
'If private sector is given a free hand, large sections of the people in this country would be deprived of access to higher education which will not do any good to the country in the long run, Bhabani Hota said the employees were also opposed to private and foreign direct investment in university education.