STAFF REPORTER
GUWAHATI: The one-month Bharat Yatra will commence on September 5 all over the country from Assam, Wagah Border, Somnath, and Kanyakumari in demands for the cancellation of the National Pension System (NPS).
Addressing the media, secretary general of the All India Primary Teachers Federation (AIPTF), Kamalakanta Tripathi, said the AIPTF represents 25 lakh teachers across the country. And we have been staging agitation since 2006 regarding the cancellation of NPS. We have created awareness among teachers and employees, and we have also pressured the state and union governments to cancel the NPS. We started our protest by submitting memoranda, and then later we took this Bharat Yatra step. Earlier, we initiated a Shiksha Yatra along with protest programmes in different blocks and districts at the state and central level. We protested for seven days at Jantar Mantar in Delhi for the cancellation of the NPS. On the other hand, in the month of February 2023, we initiated a door-knocking campaign, and after that, we came up with the Bharat Yatra programme. We are hopeful that this time the central government will hear our plight and understand the problem, and before the Lok Sabha 2024 elections, teachers and employees will get their demands fulfilled.”
Tripathi further said, “The Bharat Yatra will leave from Guwahati via West Bengal, Orissa, Jharkhand, Bihar, and Uttar Pradesh and reach New Delhi on October 5, where many teacher associations all over the world and representatives of education will be participating and a protest rally will be held. This yatra will demand the cancellation of the NPS, regularization of contractual teachers, the cancellation of the anti-teacher clause of the National Education Policy 2020 (NEP), and increased investment in public sector educational institutions.”
Addressing the media, AIPTE working president of the Northeast and secretary general of the Assam State Primary Teachers Association (ASPTA), Ratul Chandra Goswami, said an inauguration meeting of the Bharat Yatra will be held at Shilpgram, Guwahati, on September 5. This month-long journey to Delhi will be welcomed in Sonapur in Guwahati sub-division, Jagiroad in Morigaon district, Uriagaon in Nagaon district, Kuwonritol in Kaliabor sub-division, Bokakhat in Bokakhat sub-division, and they will be staying in Jorhat. Then on September 6, the journey will be welcomed in Jorhat Bypass and Jaji, and a welcome meeting will be held at Sivsagar. Then the journey will start from Sivsagar to Biswanath, where it will be welcomed at Borborua in Dibrugarh and Bogibeel in Dhemaji district. Dhemaji town and Borodlomi They will stay at Lakhimpur at night. Again, on September 7, the journey will commence from Lakhimpur Shiksha Bhawan, and then it will be welcomed at Narayanpur, Purpabori, Buroinodi, and Baghmari.
On September 8, the journey will be coming to Nalbari, where the journey will be welcomed in Mission Chariali at Tezpur, Dekhiajuli, Orang in Udalguri sub-division, Lalpur at Mangaldai sub-division, and Mangaldai, and they will be staying in Rangiya at night. A huge welcome meeting will be organized at Nalbari. After the meeting, the yatra will be heading to Kokrajhar. The yatra will be welcomed at Beskushi in Bajali sub-division, Bijni, Kajolgaon, and Siyalmari, and will be staying in Bongaigaon at night. Then on September 9, they will head to Bongaigaon and then directly head to Kokrajhar, where there will be the last welcome meeting. After the meeting, ASPTA will hand over the Rath to the West Bengal teacher committee at Srirampur Gate.
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