NITI Aayog Meet: Odisha CM Raises Women’s Reservation, Education Issues

Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik raised several key issues during the NITI Aayog meet on Saturday. The meeting was attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Ministers, Chief Ministers of other states and members of the NITI Aayog.

In the meeting held virtually, the Chief Minister highlighted the issue of women’s reservation in legislature.

“National parties had promised women’s reservation both in Lok Sabha and State Assemblies. History will not forgive us if we renege on this commitment. This calls for a serious deliberation and taking it forward,” he said in his speech.

CM Patnaik also highlighted the gap in rural and urban areas in the education sector. He suggested for a re-evaluation of the examination system.

“Lakhs of our young people appear for national level exams every year – the UPSC exam, NEET, JEE etc. A criitical lool is needed to re-evaluate the examination pattern for these prestigious and highly sought-after exams. Should we not have the exams that focus on equality and attracting merit as opposed to exam patterns that are heavily dependent on highly paid coaching classes.”

“This will truly eliminate merit in the long run and deny justice to lakhs of our children who live in rural areas and don’t have physical or economic access to coaching classes,” he added.