By TwoCircles.net Special Correspondent
In a recent development the Ministry of Minority Affairs has urged to take over the off-campus centres of Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) outside Aligarh at Murshidabad (West Bengal), Mallapuram (Kerala) and Kishanganj (Bihar). Informed sources said that Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) will hand over its three centres to the Ministry of Minority Affairs (MoMA) for their upgrade as independent universities.
AMU Murshidabad campus [TCN Photo]
The new development related to AMU centres somehow came as a shocker for those wishing to see campus of legendary AMU outside Aligarh. Mohd Mudassir Alam, an AMU old boy and resident of Kishanganj said, “I was dreaming to see a replica of Aligarh Muslim University since it was announced four years back. I have been deeply attached with both AMU and Kishanganj, hence it become more important and a matter of pleasure for me to see a centre here at Kishanganj. However, the proposal of Minority Affairs Ministry has literally shattered my dreams and many thousands like me.”
Further Mudassir said, “all know very well the response of the Minority Affairs Ministry when it comes to action regarding implementation of educational projects and schemes. Still the proposal of opening three minority universities namely Rafi Ahmad Kidwai University at Kishanganj (Bihar), Tipu Sultan University at Mysore (Karnatak) and Khwaja Gharib Nawaz University at Ajmer (Rajasthan) is hanging in balance. There is hardly any development in the project since it was announced around four year back by the former Minister Salman Khursheed.” “Neither the ministry nor the concerned state governments and wakf boards have taken any bold step to set up the earlier declared minority universities. Now taking over the AMU centres can be called an ambitious step without any foothold at the ground zero,” mentioned Mudassir.
AMU Registrar Captain Shahrukh Shamshad in his statement to media said, talks are on with MoMA in this regard for handing over our three existing centres to them for developing as independent universities. The ministry has given us such a proposal and we are considering it. It is likely that they will be handed over to the ministry. He said, AMU Court, the apex body of the university, too, has given its consent during its meeting held on June 12
At present, the academic session is going on at the Mallapuram and Murshidabad centres while the Kishanganj centre is still under construction. Their funding is done through separate allocations done by the Ministry of Human Resource and Development. “Once they are separated, their funding and control will be directly done by the government. Then AMU will have no control over them. They will be independent universities,” added Shamshad.