KU to get Rs 100 cr from Centre

Vishal Joshi

Tribune News Service

Kurukshetra, November 28

The Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) has accorded final approval to a grant of Rs 100 crore for Kurukshetra University (KU) for infrastructural development.

Prof Manjula Chaudhary, KU’s nodal officer for the Rashtriya Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan (RUSA), a Centrally sponsored scheme, on Wednesday said the MHRD okayed the grant during a meeting on November 17 to develop KU as a centre of excellence. She said there were apprehensions initially that KU might lose Central funds as the state’s oldest university did not fulfil the criterion of regular faculty members, a key prerequisite for getting special financial aid.

“The authorities were informed that the university was marginally short of faculty strength to avail funds, but the MHRD approved KU for financial assistance,” she pointed out.

“The university had started appointing regular faculty members, but by that time the MHRD had filed a special leave petition in the Supreme Court regarding implementation of the reservation policy,” she said.

“Instructions were issued by the UGC a few days ago to universities funded by the Centre to indefinitely postpone the hiring of teachers,” she added.

On March 20, the UGC accorded full autonomy to 62 higher educational institutions across India, including KU, in recognition of high academic standards.

“Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to launch RUSA in January to boost academic infrastructure. We expect official completion of the procedure by that time,” said Chaudhary.

She said KU had proposed developing five research centres worth Rs 35 crore using RUSA funds. These projects were on Tuesday approved by the Academic Council.

Proposed projects 

• Centre of excellence for research on Saraswati river: Will work to identify palaeochannels and geoscientific research to establish course and characteristics of ancient river system
• Centre for advance research in earthquake studies: Will have 24x7 monitoring of seismic activities and preparation of earthquake hazard map for the state and adjoining areas
• Centre for applied biology in environment sciences: Will focus on climate change and environment pollution assessment and management
• Centre for information technology and automation: This collaborative centre will work on data and business analytics, Internet etc
• Centre for advanced material research: Will utilise the ion beam centre to study functional molecules, optical materials and nanostructures