Govt plans hostels for students of all castes

The state government will launch a pilot project to start hostel facilities where students of all castes can stay together, Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy said Tuesday.

The idea was mooted by Deputy Chief Minister G Parameshwara at the day-long meeting of deputy commissioners.

Parameshwara pointed out that student hostels are divided along caste lines. “We should have general hostels where everybody can stay. If this is successful, it can be scaled up,” Parameshwara said in the meeting.

Apparently, Parameshwara also came down heavily on Additional Chief Secretary (Social Welfare) M Lakshminarayana on the utilisation of SC/ST sub-plan funds. He demanded the officer to furnish information on how many Dalits had come out of the poverty line and how many have entered the higher education stream.