Maharashtra progressing on various indices of education, says Devendra Fadnavis

Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis. File Pic

Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has said the state is progressing on various indices of education, even as NCP president Sharad Pawar has expressed concern over the state's performance as per a central grading index.

Devendra Fadnavis on Sunday stressed Maharashtra is performing well on the education front.

Sharad Pawar has written to the Maharashtra government expressing concern over the state's performance on the grading index.

"Union human resources ministry has released Performance Grading Index 2.0 which shows Maharashtra has slid from the second position to the seventh one. It is very unfortunate that Maharashtra has failed on improving the quality of education," Sharad Pawar stated.

When asked about the issue, Fadnavis said, "The valuation system has used 10 grades. In the first five grades, no state has secured a place. Punjab and Chandigarh are in the sixth grade and Maharashtra is in the seventh one. It means Maharashtra is actually on the second position."

"Excluding Punjab, Rajasthan and Gujarat, Maharashtra is progressing ahead. The situation is not that Maharashtra has slid on these fronts," he said and claimed a survey for the same was carried out during the tenure of the erstwhile Maha Vikas Aghadi (government).

"But who was in power is not important," Fadnavis added.

Meanwhile, The Opposition camp including Shiv Sena (UBT), Congress, and the NCP (Sharad Pawar group) on Sunday boycotted the customary tea party hosted by the Maharashtra government on the eve of the state legislature's monsoon session, starting Monday.

The tea party was attended by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, Dy CM Devendra Fadnavis, and other Cabinet colleagues, including newly-inducted Deputy CM Ajit Pawar of NCP and ministers from his camp.

Earlier in the day, a meeting was organised by the Leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Council Ambadas Danve, who belongs to Shiv Sena (UBT), which was attended by Congress legislative party leader Balasaheb Thorat and Nationalist Congress Party's Jayant Patil.

Notably, the post of the Leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Assembly is lying vacant after incumbent Ajit Pawar of NCP resigned recently and joined the Shiv Sena-BJP government as Deputy Chief Minister. Eight other MLAs of Ajit Pawar's camp were sworn in as ministers.

(With inputs from PTI)