‘Will take up Section 144 issue with V-C’

In response to a question raised by one of the students on the Punjab Civil Services Act 2011,Captain Amarinder Singh very strongly said that it is an illegal act with no legal sanctity. “The Act is totally wrong and once if we come to power,it will be reviewed,” he added. He began his address by highlighting the fact that 70 per cent population of India is below forty years and therefore we need to concentrate on them so that this country can make progress in a better way. For this purpose,primary,middle and secondary education in Punjab needs to be strengthened so that foundation of education is strong.

He also addressed the problems related to youth including increasing prevalence of drug addiction,unemployment,poor quality of education and lack of sports facilities. “It is a tragedy for Punjab that a large population of the state’s youth is affected by the problem of drug addiction. In the absence of a national drug policy,the issue of drug pedaling cannot be controlled. We strongly suggest such a policy to be in place,” he said.

Further,speaking on the problem of private technical institutions and private universities mushrooming in the state affecting the quality of education being provided,he said that the bottleneck of unemployment cannot be denied despite a large number of institutions but the government has no role to intervene in the private universities which offer a wide range of options to the students.

‘Was not invited to Royal UK wedding’

“Though I got to know from the High Commission that we would be invited for the royal wedding at the Buckingham Palace,I never got any invitation. The reason could be anything,perhaps,I am friends with the older generation and since the function involved the newer generation,they might have missed me out,” replied Captain Amarinder Singh when asked by the Newsline.