Y.K.GUPTA,pro-chancellorof
ShardaUniversity.gingin grossmisuse of fundsor
frauds. The Uttar Pradesh State
HigherEducation Board wasmade
thenodalagencyto implement and
regulatetheprovisions of thenew
lawandtake actionif necessary.
CHECKON‘ANTI-NATIONAL
ACTIVITIES’
Butwhatactually made everyonesit
up andtakenotewastheprovision
thateachuniversity hadto givean
undertaking againstindulging in, as-
sociatingwithor allowinganyanti-
national activitieson its premises.
Theproposed lawgives theState
governmentthepowerto revokea
university’sregistration if it is found
lackingon thisparameter.Thepro-
posedlawalsorequiresuniversities
to givean undertakingthattheywill
“preserve the secular, democratic
fabricandaspirefor universal broth-
erhoodandtolerance”andpromote
the ethosof nationalintegrityamong
students.
Sincetherewasmuchconfusion
on thisaspect, StateMinisterfor
Higherand Secondary Education
Dinesh Sharma,who is also the
DeputyChiefMinister, clarified on
June19 thattheStategovernment
hadreceivedcomplaintsof “anti-na-
tionalactivities”at someuniversities
thatcouldcausea “disturbance”in
theState. “Anything thatharmsthe
unityandintegrityof the country will
notbe allowed.Wehavecometo
unitethe countryandare committed
to checking such activities,” he said.
Reactingto thisannouncement,
the U.P.Private UniversitiesAssoci-
ationsaidthatwhiletheoverall in-
tention of the ordinance was
laudable, there wasno needfor it asthereweresufficientlawsto check
unlawful activitiestakingplaceany-
wherein the State,let aloneon uni-
versitycampuses.
PankajAgrawal, secretaryof the
association, said in a statement:
“Whywould anyuniversitylet its
campusbe usedfor anti-national
activities? Wewould neverlet our
educationalinstitutionsto be used
for anti-nationalactivities.Wepro-
motestrongvaluesamongstudents.
Thegovernment,in fact,shouldin-
corporate nationalismamongstu-
dentsin thecurriculumfromearly
schooldays.”Agrawalis also the
chancellorof ShriRamswaroopMe-
morial University, Lucknow. He
said:“Wehavealreadyincorporated
thesepointsin theconstitutionof
ouruniversity andabideby it.”
Balvinder Shukla, ViceChancel-
lor of Amity University, another
prominentprivateuniversity in U.P.,
said:“Therehavebeenno instances
of anti-national activityon ourcam-
pus.Wehavea strongvaluesystem
andwe celebrateRepublicDayand
IndependenceDaywithzeal. We
havealignedour curriculum that
givesemphasisto nationandcharac-
ter building. Weteachourstudents
to respectthelawof theland,”she
saidin a statement.
Y.K. Gupta, pro-chancellor of
ShardaUniversity, anotherpromin-
entprivateuniversityin theState,
said:“Thereare already enough laws
to controlsuch activities if needed.
Lawsto curbunlawful or anti-na-
tionalactivities whichapplyto all
citizensapplyto us alsoin the cam-
puses.So whereis the needfor hav-
ing a separatelawfor universities.”
In view of such wide-ranging
condemnation of theproposedlaw,
Governor RamNaikrefused to sign
theordinance. Senior U.P.govern-
mentofficialstoldFrontlinethatthe
Governor hadrefusedconsent on the
groundsthattherewasno causefor
urgencyto bringin an ordinance
sincethe sameCabinetthathadap-
provedtheordinancehadalsoap-
proved convening the Assembly
sessionfromJuly18. “Withonlya
monthto go for theAssemblyses-
sion,an ordinancecannotbe pro-
mulgated.Besides, the GovernoralsoBALVINDERSHUKLA,Vice
Chancellorof AmityUniversity.AMITYUNIVERSITY,NOIDA.