Will urge Centre to free Rajiv convicts, says DMK

Chennai: Dumping of NEET and waiver of education loans, besides the abolition of death penalty and release of the seven convicts in Rajiv Gandhi assassination case are among the prime pledges in the DMK manifesto released on Tuesday.

Releasing the poll document, DMK president MK Stalin said the party has all along opposed the Neet in Tamil Nadu and will take firm steps to get it abolished when the party participates in the next government at the Centre. The manifesto also promises steps for abolishing Article 356 that allows the Centre to dismiss a democratically-elected state government.

"The National Eligibility Entrance Test (NEET), which is being presently enforced for selection to admissions for graduate and post-graduate courses in medical colleges, is against the interest of the poor, rural and oppressed class students, across the country. In the interest of social justice, the DMK will strive for abolition of NEET forthwith," the manifesto said.

On the Centre-State relations, the DMK manifesto said it would strive for establishing 'Regional Council of States', declaring Tamil as co-official language in all Central Government offices in Tamil Nadu, accepting Tamil as court language of Madras High Court and getting reservation in appointment of eligible persons belonging to SC, ST, BC and MBC as judges in all courts.

Also, the DMK would urge the Centre to bring out required amendments to the IPC for the total abolition of death sentence, which has already been done away with in 150 countries.

The manifesto also promised pressure on the Centre for 'comprehensive' probe into purchase of Rafale fighter planes, enquiry into seizure of containers with huge currency of `570 crore and CBI probe into Kodanadu Estate murder and robbery, besides steps to get the Centre to accord full-fledged statehood for Puducherry.

"The DMK urges the Central and State governments to take appropriate action to release on humanitarian grounds the seven persons who were convicted in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case and are languishing in prison for more than 27 years," said Stalin, reading out from the manifesto.

The manifesto has also promised pressure on the Centre to ensure that the Central PSUs in TN should employ not less than 90 per cent of their staff from the state and also urge providing compensation for those who died during demonetisation.

Against the background of agitations by state government employees seeking reversion to the old pension scheme in place of the newly-introduced contributory scheme, the DMK chief said: "We will bring back the old pension scheme for both the central and state government employees."

The re-introduction of Administered Pricing Mechanism (APM) for petroleum products so as to protect the consumer from price fluctuation on daily basis and increase of exemption limit of Income Tax to Rs 8 lakhs are part of the DMK manifesto that also promised steps towards an acceptable GST rate to mitigate all problems through the GST council. The party would also work towards establishing separate budget for farmers and ensure waiver of all kinds of crop loans taken by small and marginal farmers.

On the women's front, DMK manifesto said it would push for installation of vending machines to provide free sanitary napkins to working women in Central Government offices, introducing martial arts for girl students in schools, passage of bill seeking 33 per cent reservation for women in Parliament and State Assemblies, besides a firm legislation against posting of any kind of obscene pictures of women on social media.