37. At this juncture the Chairman (Shri Rajmangal Pande) had to leave due to exigencies of work and the meeting proceeded under the chairmanship of Shri Kanti Biswas, Education Minister, West Bengal.

38. SC, ST and Women : Report of the working group on women's education and on disadvantaged groups like SC, ST, Minorities, etc., was presented by Slid A. K. Misra, Rapporteur of the working group.

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39. Dr. Adiseshian criticised the clubbing of Women with SCs, STs and other disadvantaged groups. It was agreed that in future women's education would be deliberated upon by a separate working group. The CABE noted that the report of the working group had endorsed several recommendations (1 to 102) of the Report of the Acharya Ramamurti Committee. As the Board had not yet considered the Acharya Ramamurti Committee and a CABE Committee is being set up to go into the recommendations of Ramamurti Committee, it was considered inappropriate at this stage to endorse the recommendations of the Review Committee and thereby pre-empt due consideration of the Report. Hence the working group's report was adopted with the deletion of those portions which endorsed the recommendations of the Ramamurti Committee.

40. Policy and Planning : The Report of the working group was presented by Shri Ashok Saikia, Rapporteur of the group. In the course of discussion Education Minister, Karnataka said that the Central Government should set up some specialised institutions in the States as deemed universities. He added that he would send a detailed note on the subject to the Union Education Minister. Education Minister, Bihar pressed for a CABE Resolution in favour of establishment of a Central University in Bihar. It was decided that a group may be set up by the Chairman, CABE to go into the whole matter of setting up of Central Universities. Dr. Saraswati Swain expressed disagreement with the recommendations of the group in regard to securing external funds for basic education. Education Minister, West Bengal (Shri Kanti Biswas) and Dr. M. S. Adiseshiah also expressed reservation in this behalf. CABE took note of these observations but adopted the report of the working group on policy and planning as presented.

41. Wrap up of the discussions : Shri Anil Bordia mentioned that the CABE had made valuable recommendations in several areas of education including resources for education, Centrally Sponsored Schemes, processing of the reports of the Ramamurti Committee and the Gnanam Committee, micro-planning for universalisation of elementary education, restoration of academic calendar, adult literacy and equalisation of educational opportunities. The recommendations of CABE were relevant not only to the Central Government but also to the State Governments as well as to all persons and organisations engaged in the field of education.

The meeting ended with a vote of thanks to the Chair.