Central Universities made accountable to Parliament

New Delhi, Oct 23 (UNI) An amendment Bill, seeking to make five central universities accountable to Parliament, was passed by the Lok Sabha today by voice vote.

The universities are the Benaras Hindu University, Delhi University, Jawahar Lal Nehru University, North-Eastern Hill University and Hyderabad University.

The legislation--the Central Universities Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2008 -- was passed by the Rajya Sabha earlier.

The Bill binds these universities submit to both Houses of Parliament their annual reports and audited accounts.

Responding to the debate, Minister of State for Human Resource D Purandeswari said the legislation regarding the Right to Education was under active consideration of the Government.

Seeking cooperation from the States, the minister said six per cent of the GDP allocation to the Education sector could only be made if the State Government also made their contribution liberally.

She also announced that plans were afoot to open about 1000 technical institutes in country through private-public cooperation.

Earlier, participating in the debate, several members urged the government to set up central universities in their respective states.

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