Stalin asks Centre to release ₹2,100 crore SSA funds after PM Modi claims transferring ₹3 lakh crore to Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to release Rs 2,100 crore funds pending under the Samagra Shiksha Scheme (SSA) to the state. The Centre had reportedly withheld disbursal of funds to Tamil Nadu over its disagreement to implement PM-Shri and three-language formula in the southern state.

 

The chief minister, in a memorandum to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, handed over by state Finance Minister Thangam Thennarasu on Saturday, the lack of funds "affects the future of lakhs of students." Stalin urged the Centre not to make the implementation of National Education Policy (NEP 2020 a condition for disbursal of funds. Stalin affirmed that Tamil Nadu will stick to its decades-long two-language formula of Tamil and English.

 

Modi is in Tamil Nadu to attend the 1000th anniversary of Rajendra Chola I. He dedicated development works worth ₹4,800 crore in Thoothukudi on Saturday. During his address on Saturday, Modi said in past 10 years, the Central government has transferred ₹3 lakh crore to Tamil Nadu through devolution—more than three times the amount disbursed by the previous dispensation. 

 

Stalin is currently undergoing treatment at a private hospital in Chennai after he complained of dizziness on July 21. In his memorandum, Stalin urged Modi to sanction Coimbatore and Madurai metro rail projects. The chief minister also urged Modi to take concrete steps to solve the challenges faced by Tamil Nadu fishermen. He urged Modi to conduct talks with Sri Lanka for release of fishermen and fishing equipment seized by them. 

India