DR. M.H. JAWAHIRULLAH' S SPEECH IN TAMIL NADU ASSEMBLY ON URDU ACADEMY AND NECESSITY OF A WOMEN'S COLLEGE IN AMBUR

SPEECH OF DR. M. H. JAWAHIRULLAH, MLA  of Manithaneya Makkal Katchi participating in the Tamilnadu Assembly debate on demands for grants for Higher Education stated the following.
(the speech was given in Tamil; here you find the translation of the Tamil Speech in English)

Honourable Speaker,



I also warmly welcome the gesture of the State government to issue 41 government orders to implement the 42 announcements made regarding Higher Education during last year. While appreciating the policy document on Higher education for boldly stating that during the 12 th Five year plan (2012- 2017) that Higher Education would be made available to the entire population I would also like to suggest some measures towards that goal.

In the Government Aided Colleges the teaching and non- teaching vacancies due to retirements, voluntary retirements and death of staff in service have not been filled up for a very long time. Hence I request the Government to fill the teaching and Non-teaching vacancies in Government Aided colleges.

(The Honourable Higher Education Minister intervenes and assures that 3120 teaching post and 1258 non teaching post would be filled)
The post of Assistant Professors of Urdu have not been filled for a very long time and hence I request the Government that posts of Assistant Professors of Urdu should be filled.

(The Honourable Higher Education Minister intervenes and assures that posts of Assistant Professors of Urdu will also be filled.)
The Non Salary Grant has not been sanctioned for Government Aided Colleges for the Past 15 years . I request the Government to sanction the Non salary grant to colleges that have completed Government Audit.

The minority educational institutions established under Article 30 of the Constitution should be provided with Minority Character Certificate without any difficulty.

(The Honourable Higher Education Minister intervened and assured that the procedure would be simplified and the Minority Character Certificate would have to be procured for five years rather than annually.)
I request the Government to implement reservations in Deemed Universities. At this juncture I should point out that when self-financed colleges were introduced in Tamil Nadu the then chief minister Dr. MGR insisted that there should be reservation in Self Finance Colleges which will enable the downtrodden students to get the benefit. Taking this as a role model the Government should introduce reservation for Backward Classes and Scheduled classes in Deemed Universities.

Honourable Chief Minister in 1996 while attending a Ifthar Function at SIET College (now Justice Basheer Ahmed Sayeed College), Chennai made an announcement that Urdu academy would be formed to promote Urdu Language. As a result the Tamil Nadu State Urdu academy was established. But during the previous DMK regime not even a single meeting of Urdu academy was held. I request the Government to sanction an office with a permanent Registrar or Secretary and I also request the Government to sanction a one-time grant of Rs: 1 crore for Urdu Academy.

I request the government to consider establishing a Women's college in Ambur and also repair the dilapidated buildings of the Sethupathy Men's College in Ramanathapuram. I also request that the government should introduce B.A. English, Tamil,B.Sc (Chemistry) and M.A (Tamil) and M.com in Ramnathapuram Government Womens' college.

The Government should take strict action to ensure that Self-Financed Colleges Teaching and Non -Teaching staff are treated according to the Tamil Nadu Government Private Colleges Act 1977.

Moreover, the Government should also ensure that Free Laptops and other student welfare schemes are made available to the students of Self- Financed Colleges .

While I appreciate the novel features introduced by this government to improve the skills of the students I will request that the Government publish study books and resource books in Tamil through Tamil Nadu Text Book Corporation, as 70% of the students have their school education in Tamil Medium Schools and find it difficult to cope with higher education textbooks in English

(English Translation by Prof. D. Abdul Fazal, Department of History, Islamiah College, Vaniyambadi)

UNION BUDGET 2012-13: NOT COMMON PEOPLE FRIENDLY

UNION BUDGET 2012-13: NOT COMMON PEOPLE FRIENDLY


V.M. Khaleelur Rahman

The Union Budget for 2012-13 presented by the hon’ble finance minister Mr. Pranab Mukherjee on March 17, 2012 has burdened the people with the highest ever indirect taxes to the tune of Rs.45,940 crore by increasing and also widening the scope of service tax and excise & customs duties. The savings to the people in changes made in direct taxes is only Rs.4,500 crore. In other words the budget has given this amount and taken away Rs.41,440 crore.

Many consider this budget as the consequence of the weak UPA government facing multiple political problems and much talked about 2G scam and that no other government would have done better in the present situation as it needs revenue for its developmental projects. However the fact is that there is little for the common people in the budget. The 2% increase in the service tax is a big burden on them. The government should have found some other ways for revenue rather than taxing all including the less income groups.

The IT exemption limit for taxpayers raised from Rs.1,80,000 to Rs.2 lakh which means a saving of Rs.2000 is considered negligible and it is felt that it should have been at least Rs. 3 lakh in the present situation when prices of essential commodities have gone up considerably.

In the new income tax slab, the tax rates are as follows:

Income between Rs.200,001 to Rs.500,000 – 10%, between Rs.500,001 to Rs.10,00,000 – 20% and above Rs.10,00,001 – 30%

The 30% tax bracket now at Rs.10 lakh and tax exemption on interest up to Rs.10,000 on savings bank account are of course beneficial to the high income groups. Other benefits for taxpayers include a) The Rajiv Gandhi Equity Savings Scheme which seeks to encourage the flow of savings in financial institutions and improve the depth of capital market. It has a lock-in period of three years. It will allow for income tax deduction of 50% to new retail investors who invest up to Rs.50,000 directly in equities and whose income is less than Rs.10 lakh b) availability of tax benefit to senior citizens at 60 instead of 65 years and c) a deduction of Rs.5,000 for preventive check-up expenses allowed within health insurance benefit.

But as regards the Rajiv Gandhi scheme, some people question why investors should be lured to invest in highly risky equity investments with attractive tax concessions.

However the budget has taken away the benefit of additional deduction for infra bonds of Rs.20,000 and the IT officers are empowered to reopen assessments pertaining to foreign assets for up to 16 years instead of the present 6 years.

While consumers can be happy now that the limit for payment of service tax on apartment maintenance has been raised from Rs.3,000 to Rs.5,000 per month, silver jewellery exempted from excise duty, duty free baggage allowance at airports increased from Rs.10,000 to Rs.35,000 and excise duty on branded readymade garments reduced from 4.6% to 3.7%, enhancement in service tax from 10.3% to 12.36%, raise in excise duty on cars of 1500cc and above to 27%, increase in basic customs duty from 60% to 75% on imported SUVs worth over $40,000 (3000 cc or more for petrol, 2500cc or more for diesel) and 100% increase in customs duty on high purity gold in various forms are their losses in the present budget.

As far as investors are concerned, reduction of securities transaction tax on delivery based deals to 0.1% and more options for investing in tax free bonds (NHAI and Hudco) are their gains. Here again they have lost much as TDS has been made mandatory for sale of immovable property of over Rs.50 lakh in urban areas and Rs.20 lakh in rural areas, 1% tax collection at source by seller for any sale in cash valued over Rs.2 lakh of jewellery, bullion etc., TDS for interest from debentures if amount exceeds Rs.5,000 and no tax sops for only 10% instead of 20% for new insurance policies with annual premium over 10% of sum assured excluding loyalty bonus.

The advantages for businessmen are: withholding tax on interest on ECBs reduced from 20% to 5% for power, airlines, roads etc. for 3 years, a year’s extension for exemption under Section 80IA for power firms, also for lower tax on overseas dividend and small service provider exemption increased from Rs.10 lakh to 50 lakh and their disadvantages are: alternate minimum tax now on partnerships, sole proprietorships too, all foreign assets must be declared, penalty up to 90% on undisclosed income found during search and I.T. Act amended retrospectively to tax “offshore M&A deals” involving transfer of assets in India.

The finance minster has also announced that Credit Guarantee Fund is to be set up to reduce the risk of banks. It is reported that it may make the banks reduce the rate of interest on educational loans.

There is appreciation for the financial sector reform measures in the budget like permitting qualified foreign investors access to bonds market and steps to be taken to make IPOs easily available to retail investors in small towns. But there is little for hard working farmers and women. In short the present budget is pro higher income groups and not common people friendly.

(VMK in Indian Leather, April 2012)

ISLAMIA COLLEGE VANIYAMBADI

A BRIEF HISTORY OF ISLAMIAH COLLEGE VANIYAMBADI


By V.M. Khaleelur Rahman

Islamia College, Vaniyambadi was the first college established by Muslims in Tamil Nadu. A brief history is as under:

It is on record that the Muslims of Vaniyambadi established the Vaniyambadi Muslim Educational Society (VMES) in 1901 and Islamiah Elementary School in 1903 inspired by the message of Sir Syed Ahmed Khan. The school developed well and became popular by the great efforts of Janab T. Hajee Badruddin saheb, Janab Malang Hayath Batcha saheb, Janab T. Ameenuddin saheb and Janab Malag Ahmed Batcha saheb and the full fludged Islamiah High School came into existence in 1912.

His Excellency Lord Pentland, the then Governor of Madras Province laid the foundation stone for Islamiah College as per resolution passed by the VMES and with large hearted donations from the Muslim philanthropists the college came into existence in 1919 and got recognition in 1921. The building in which the college is functioning today was inaugurated by Nawab C. Abdul Hakeem saheb who gave a munificent donation of Rs.50,000 to the Society.

The Muslims of Vaniyambadi were instrumental in making the Muslims of Tamil Nadu realise the importance of modern education. Thank Allah there are many science and arts and engineering colleges established and run by the Muslims of Tamil Nadu. Of course what is conspicuous by absence is a medical college established and run by Muslims here. There is an urgent need for the community to ponder over it and do the needful at the earliest. It is noteworthy that in the other three Southern States – Kerala, Karnataka and Andhra – Muslims have established Medical colleges.

Now Islamiah College is a full fledged high grade science and arts college offering many undergraduate and post graduates courses in many disciplines. It has also been recognized as a research institution for Ph.D in commerce, physics, chemistry and mathematics. It is now affiliated to the Thiruvalluvar University.

The college has well-ventilated spacious lecture halls, well equipped laboratories, library with excellent books, Dr. Allama Mohammed Iqbal Auditorium, two storey Malang Endowment Hostel etc. and it was accredited by NAAC with ‘A’ grade.

The College has been providing higher education to the people of all castes and communities without any discrimination whatsoever right from its inception.

(writer’s e-mail id: vmk1234@yahoo.com)

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------