Tamil Nadu: DMK Unhappy With Governor RN Ravi After His Remarks On 'Investment Climate' And 'Employability Of Graduates'

The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) has criticised Governor RN Ravi for his remarks made during a recent conference of Vice-Chancellors of state and private universities.

Governor Ravi, while speaking at the conference said that it was not enough to go abroad and meet investors in order to attract investments to the state. He added that it was important to develop a conducive environment for investors.

The DMK has seen the remarks as criticism of Chief Minister MK Stalin’s recent visit to Singapore and Japan.

Finance Minister Thangam Thennarasu and Health Minister Ma Subramanian have said that the Governor should not have made such remarks. Thennarasu said that Governor Ravi was using the Raj Bhavan to make ‘political comments.’

He asked whether the Governor thought the same about Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visits abroad during his tenure as Chief Minister of Gujarat.

During his address, Governor Ravi also spoke about the need to make the education system useful for the needs of the present day, i.e., teach students about the latest technologies like Artificial Intelligence (AI). 

Further, he said that it is unfortunate that due to a lack of requisite skills, many graduates are unable to find suitable employment.

He added that while the state had done well in making students access basic education, it has to work hard on making higher education in line with the job market.

Speaking about the need to have textbooks in Tamil and other regional languages, he said that English was acting as a deterrent for a lot of students from disadvantaged backgrounds from pursuing higher education. 

Regarding the remarks on education, Thennarasu said that the recently released NIRF rankings have shown that institutions in the state have done well.

The DMK has been at loggerheads with Governor Ravi on a number of issues like his remarks on the Thirukkural, Sanatana Dharma and Tamizhagam, with the most recent being the allegations of the 'two-finger test' being conducted on minor daughters of the Podhu Dikshitars of Chidambaram as part of an investigation into complaints of child marriage.