Raju Bista moves Private Members’ Bill on Central university in Darjeeling in Lok Sabha

EOI, DARJEELING / KALIMPONG, 4 AUGUST 2023 : M.P. of Darjeeling Raju Bista on Friday introduced a Private Member's Bill in Lok Sabha for the establishment of a Central university in Darjeeling. 

Introducing the Bill, Bista said Darjeeling, Kalimpong, and Kurseong were home to some of the oldest and most renowned schools in India. In recent years Siliguri and Mirik, too, had also made significant strides in terms of school education. But, the region still lacked institutes of higher education and learning of international caliber. Lack of proper higher education facilities in the region had resulted in a massive brain-drain.

“The best and the brightest from our Darjeeling hills, Siliguri, Terai and Dooars region are forced to take their knowledge, skills and passion elsewhere.”

The establishment of an institution of higher and technical learning in Darjeeling had been a long-standing aspiration and pertinent demand of the people of this region, he said: “The establishing a Central university in Darjeeling will enable our region to become a hub for higher education in India, and an important education center in all of South and South East Asia. ACentral university in Darjeeling will greatly complement PM Narendra Modi's' Act East Policy', and help India build stronger ties with South Asian and Southeast Asian nations.”

He said a Central university in these hills would “go a long way in addressing the educational needs of the youths from our region, and can play a pivotal role in ensuring the planned development of the entire north Bengal region."

"I strongly feel that the earlier a Central University is established in Darjeeling, the faster the future of youths will be secured, hence I placed the Central Universities (Amendment) Bill, 2022 in the Parliament today," he added. 

He was hopeful that the Centre would take cognizance of the issue and announce the establishment of a Central university in Darjeeling, along with the announcements concerning permanent political solution and scheduled tribe status for 11 left-out Gorkha communities, he said later.

The BJP MP also raised the issue of implementing the minimum wage act for the workers of the tea gardens. 

"Under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, our government has passed legislations aimed at modernising the labour sector, providing better wages, living and working conditions, social security and health facilities in the form of four Labour Codes: Code on Wages; the Industrial Relations Code; the Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code and the Code on Social Security," he said. 

Bista alleged that the West Bengal government was sitting on the issue and  hence depriving the tea garden workers of the hills. 

"Labour is a concurrent subject, the respective state governments are entrusted with framing the rules for implementing these codes. Other states have framed the required regulations under the new labour laws, the West Bengal government has failed to do so. 

This has prevented the workers from our tea gardens and cinchona gardens getting fair wages and deprived them of decent living conditions," he said.

The MP welcomed the judgement of the Calcutta High Court directing all teagarden to pay wages at the rate of Rs 250 per day from June 1, 2023, including arrears. More importantly, the High Court has also directed that the West Bengal government take immediate steps to finalize the Minimum Wages within the next six months." 

Despite adopting many delaying tactics, the Trinamool Congress-led state government cannot hold back the rights of the tea garden and cinchona garden workers forever. It (West Bengal) should ensure an expedited increase in the salary of the tea garden workers with immediate effect, same as other sectors in West Bengal, so that the tea garden and Cinchona plantation workers from Darjeeling hills, Terai and Dooars are also able to live a decent life," said Bista.