MUMBAI:
Shiv Sena leader Aaditya Thackeray has urged the Centre to impose a ban on the production, possession and sale of single-use disposable plastic items across India by 2019. Besides, he has demanded a law to govern pre-primary education and compulsory self-defence training for girls in schools.
Aaditya, president of the Sena’s youth wing, was in New Delhi to meet Union Minister for Road Transport & Highways Nitin Gadkari, Minister for Human Resource Development Prakash Javadekar and Minister for Environment Harsh Vardhan to discuss issues on education and environment.
“After the Maharashtra government’s law banning single-use disposable plastic, a few other states such as Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha and Tamil Nadu have announced to ban single-use plastic in the coming months. So, I have requested the Union environment minister to bring in a law to ban plastic across the country. He has supported it and promised to bring a law,” said Aaditya.
In his meeting with Javadekar, the Sena leader also raised the issue of bringing in a law for pre-primary education and compulsory self-defence training for girls in Class VIII, IX and X. “There is no law for pre-primary education. The child is expected to know poems and parents are expected to have certain educational and economic status. This prevents many from attaining quality eduction in our country. So, there should be a law for pre-primary education,” said Aaditya.
He further said that forced donations and interviews of parents on the basis of economic strata and education must be made a crime and punishable by law. The Sena leader also suggested that the government must make it mandatory for schools across the country to teach all children the meaning of “right and wrong touch”, especially for boys, from Class V. “Besides, there should be compulsory basic self-defence training for girls in Class VIII, IX and X,” he added.
