By TCN news
Lucknow: State government on Thursday appointed former IAS officer Anis Ansari interim Vice-Chancellor (V-C) of Uttar Pradesh Urdu Arabi Persian University in Lucknow. Ansari who was a chief secretary level officer in state government will have a tenure of three years.
The foundation stone for the university was laid by Chief Minister Mayawati on her birthday on 15 January 2010. The university will be offer high quality research and education opportunity for national and international students in Urdu, Arabic and Persian. The university will also grant affiliation and assistance to several minority institutions offering similar courses across the state.
The university will come up on Lucknow-Hardoi road at an area spanning pver 11.182 hectares. The total estimated cost of the project is Rs 181.72 crores. The building of the university will be in sync with the Arabic and Persian culture which will include a five storey administrative building, six storey teaching block, guest house, community centre, hostel, bank, post office, canteen, shopping centre and other facilities.
Anis Ansari who will be the first V-C of the university has completed his studies from Aligarh Muslim Universityand has served as a faculty member in AMU between 1969-72. His thesis for Phd in economics has been submitted in Lucknow University (LU). An IAS officer of 1973 batch and has served in important departments as Panchayti Raj, Planning, Rural Development, Energy, Tourism before retiring as Agriculture Production Commissioner (APC ) of the state.
Besides it, Ansari is also an accomplished poet and has eight collections to his credit. The prominent among them include Sharey Sarab (1981), Suraj Ka Safar (1982), Jung Aur Mohabaat Key Darmiyan (1986), Agley Mausam Ki Khushboo (1995), Zindagi Wasl Hai (1997), Teesrey Din Ka Sooraj (2001), Dard Abhi Mahfooz Nahi (2008) and Tere Wasta Rota Hoon Zameen (2009). He has been awarded with Firaq Gorakhpuri Award, UP Urdu Academu Award, Imtiyaz-A Mir Award, Jai Shanker Prasad award, Maulana Mohd Ali Jauhar Award, Urdu Award award and many more.
Mr. Ansari recently launched Muslim Dalit Reservation Movement to lobby for reservation for Dalit Muslims.