"Some people in Tamil Nadu are opposing it for political purposes": Dharmendra Pradhan on row over NEP's three-language policy

Speaking in Haridwar, Uttarakhand, Pradhan emphasised that all Indian languages have equal rights and should be taught uniformly. He clarified that the NEP's three-language policy doesn't impose Hindi as the sole language, contrary to concerns raised by some in Tamil Nadu.

"National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 should give importance to Indian languages... All Indian languages have equal rights, and all should be taught in the same way. This is the objective of the NEP. Some people in Tamil Nadu are opposing it for political purposes. We have not said anywhere in the NEP that only Hindi will be taught...," said Pradhan.

The Tamil Nadu government has strongly opposed implementing the New Education Policy (NEP) of 2020, raising concern over the "three-language formula" and alleging that the Centre wants to 'impose' Hindi.

Earlier, Tamil Nadu CM Stalin urged the people to "rise" to defend the state in a fight against the delimitation of constituencies and the three-language policy.

Stalin criticised the three-language policy, saying that it had resulted in the centre withholding the state's funds and that delimitation would now 'affect' the state's representation.

"Their three-language policy has already resulted in the withholding of our rightful funds. Likewise, while they claim they will not reduce Tamil Nadu's parliamentary seats, they are unwilling to assure that the representation of other states will not be disproportionately increased. Our demand is clear - do not determine parliamentary constituencies based on population alone...We will never compromise on Tamil Nadu's welfare and future for anyone or anything...Tamil Nadu will resist! Tamil Nadu will prevail," Stalin said.

Further, when asked about the avalanche in Mana, Chamoli Pradhan stated that most individuals affected by the avalanche had been rescued. At the same time, search efforts for the remaining people are ongoing.

Acknowledging Uttarakhand's vulnerability to natural disasters, he noted that landslides remain a significant challenge in the state. However, the state government has implemented effective measures to address such calamities.

"I can say with great satisfaction that most of the people have been rescued, and the search for the rest is ongoing... Uttarakhand is a disaster-prone state; landslides are a challenge here. But the government here has made good arrangements to tackle these incidents."

Meanwhile, Chamoli District Magistrate Sandeep Tiwari spoke to ANI about the development in the avalanche incident and said, "The operation was completed at 5:30 pm today, and out of the 54 Border Roads Organisation workers who were trapped there, 46 have been rescued safely, and there have been 8 casualties."

"The district administration got full support from the central government and the state government, due to which this operation was successful. The bodies will be handed over to their families after completing the legal formalities," he said.

The body of the eighth worker missing in the Mana (Chamoli) avalanche incident was recovered by the Army on Sunday afternoon during the ongoing search operation, officials said.

Earlier in the day, three more bodies were found as rescue teams continued searching for the last missing worker."All 54 persons have now been rescued or recovered. This marks the culmination of the Mana Village Rescue Operation," said Lt Col Manish Shrivastava, PRO (Defence), Dehradun.

According to officials, the search operation resumed on Sunday morning to locate four missing workers believed to be trapped under the snow after an avalanche hit a Border Roads Organisation (BRO) project site in Uttarakhand's Chamoli district on February 28.

With this, the death toll has risen to eight. Four workers had died on Saturday.

The bodies of the BRO workers retrieved from the avalanche site were airlifted today and brought to the Joshimath military hospital, officials said.

A total of 54 workers were buried when the avalanche struck on the morning of February 28. Army, ITBP, Air Force, NDRF, and SDRF personnel conducted rescue operations over the past two days.

The SDRF team continued searching the site using victim-locating and thermal imaging cameras.A Drone-Based Intelligent Buried Object Detection System was brought to Joshimath today and deployed at the avalanche site in Mana to assist in the search operation.

Uttarakhand State Disaster Management Secretary Vinod Kumar Suman stated earlier that favourable weather conditions aided the search and rescue efforts. (ANI)