Odisha govt sets up committee to discuss teachers' demand

With thousands of teachers in the state on strike for about a fortnight now, Odisha government today set up a seven-member minister-level committee to discuss their demand of full grant-in-aid.
"The government with the approval of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has set up a seven-member committee to be headed by finance minister Pradip Kumar Amat," School and Mass Education Minister Debi Prasad Mishra said in a statement in the Assembly.
Besides Amat and Mishra, other members of the committee are Law Minister Arun Kumar Sahu, Health Minister Atanu S Nayak, Food Supplies and Consumer Welfare Minister Sanjay Dasburma and Energy and IT minister Pranab Prakash Das.

Appealing to the teachers to go back to their schools, Mishra said the committee will recommend what best can be done to resolve the teachers problems. The final course of action will be taken as per the decision of the committee.
Of the seven different teachers organisations in the strike, five have already call off their agitation, the minister added.
About 40,000 teachers are on strike demanding full grant-in-aid and abolition of block grant pattern of payment to them.