New central varsities for minority communities mulled
indiaedunews.net, Jan 16, 2010
New Delhi: If the new proposal by the Ministry of Minority Affairs comes into action then, the country could soon have a new model of central universities that offer preferential admission to students from minority communities which is not followed by any central varsity until now.
The proposal forwarded to the Law Ministry for inspection explores a central university model in public-private partnership mode (instead of total central funding), to come up on land donated by the Wakf Board in Rajasthan, Bihar and Karnataka.
Although offering admissions to both majority and minority students, the land for these universities will be given by the Musilm communities with the minorities getting the maximum share of seats.
They are expected to come up at Ajmer, Kishanganj and Mysore and are expected to get the maximum share of seats in these new varsities.
The Minister of Minority Affairs Salman Khursheed confirmed that the concept has been borrowed from Dr B.R Ambedkar University, which came up to educationally empower SC students.
While introducing this new proposal, the ministry seems to overlook the Supreme Court status which is still upholding its verdict upon the standing of the Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) as a minority institution.
Since the varsity came up under an act of legislature and does not conform to the requirements under Article 30 of the Constitution that allows the minorities to establish and manage minority institutions, it status stands disputed.
"The government can either wait for the Supreme Court's judgement or resort to setting up of new central varsities which can help the educationally deprived minority students," said Khursheed.
Plan to set up 3 central varsities on wakf land
Ecpnomic Times, Jan 14, 2010
NEW DELHI: The government is working on a proposal to set up three central universities in the public private partnership mode specifically for educationally backward Muslims. The ministry of minority affairs, which is spearheading the proposal, has suggested that these universities be developed on wakf land. The plan has the in principle approval of the ministry of human resource development and ministry of finance, and is being currently vetted by the law ministry.
These universities will be modeled on the BR Ambedkar University and the Indira Gandhi Tribal university.
Both are central universities which seek to primarily serve educationally and socially groups. “The proposed universities are somewhat different in that the beneficiary group is contributing to the effort,” minister of state for minority affairs Salman Khurshid said.
“This will be another model of setting up universities — public private partnership. The wakf board will donate the land on which these universities will be set up,” the minister said.
By opting to set up these universities on wakf land, the government hopes to pre-empt controversy over their minority status, thereby avoiding a legal controversy like the one Aligarh Muslim University has been embroiled in. The minority status of the AMU is a matter that is still being considered by the Supreme Court.
The university was stripped of its minority status first in 1968, then restored by Indira Gandhi in 1981. In 2006, the Allahabad High Court once again stripped the university of its minority status. It is argued that the AMU was set up by an act of legislature and not by a minority community. With the wakf board offering its land for the university, they become partners.
This would allow for classification as an institute set up for the promotion of educational interests of the weaker sections, as outlined in Article 46 of the Constitution. This would also allow the universities to set aside 50% of its seats for Muslims. The universities will be set up in Ajmer (Rajasthan), Kishanganj (Bihar) and Mysore (Karnataka).
The university in Karnataka will be called Tipu Sultan University of Science and Technology; the one in Kishanganj will be called Rafi Ahmed Kidwai University of Health Science; and the one in Ajmer will be named Khwaja Gharib Nawaz University.
The proposed universities would be “a right mix” of modernity and tradition. The decision to set up the minority universities followed several representations from religious leaders.
1 comment:
I travel to Kesinga, Bhawanipatna, Khariar etc very often. When I was a child, the Roads were very good and both sides were full of trees and forest and small ponds. It was taking almost 30/ 40 minutes to reach Bhawanipatna from Kesinga by a rickety Red Bus of State Transport. Recently I travelled on the same Road. The traffic is horrible and on the way, we crossed at least 12/15 Vedant trucks. The roads are very very bad. The jungle/ trees are not there. It took one hour to reach Bhawanipatna and after a lot of exexsion. This is the progress our Kalahandi is making??
In Sambalpur I travelled inside the town. It was giving a stinking smell as if garbage has not been removed for months together. The Roads are horrible with potholes and polythylene bags and Mud and what not including stray dogs.
I was only comparing my drive in Bhubaneswar and some parts of RKL, whre the Roads are beautiful, decorated and no signs of damages.
Is it the reward we are getting for Vendant/ new schools & Colleges if we can not keep our towns clean and can not make our Roads motorable. In Orissa are there only Bhubaneswar and Cuttack?? Others are not payng any tax and are they not their citizens??
Horrible Kalahandi. God only can save. The damages will be many fold if we do not rectify now. Let Vedant make world class roads to caryy Alumina but why they are damaging my childhood roads.
Kindly think over and you will find that, because we are Kalahndia or Bolangiria or Sambalpuria we are deprived of good facilities???
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