By IANS,
Lucknow : Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati Friday named a full-fledged university after the mother of her blue-eyed party general secretary Satish Chandra Misra, who has shot to fame as the Bahujan Samaj Party’s Brahmin mascot.
Named after Misra’s mother, late Shakuntala Misra, a homeopathic physician, the university is described as the first of its kind in Asia to be devoted exclusively to the physically challenged.
Mayawati was earlier slated to inaugurate the university, located on the outskirts of the city, at a formal function. A special helipad had been set up to facilitate her landing. However, the chief minister declared the university ‘open’ at a low-key function at her official residence here instead.
Addressing the small gathering, which included a handful of ministers and officials, Mayawati said her government had taken several decisions with a view to providing better educational opportunities for physically-challenged students at all levels, and these decisions were implemented in record time.
She said: “While carrying out various works for the betterment of the physically-challenged persons, it was felt that there was no special institute for providing higher education to the disabled children according to their requirements.”
The foundation of the Shakuntala Misra University was laid on Oct 9, 2008 – the second death anniversary of BSP founder Kanshi Ram.
Spread across 175 acres, the university has received financial allocation of Rs.397 crore in the first phase. Fifty percent seats in various courses are reserved for physically-challenged children. Of these, half the seats are reserved for visually challenged people, for whom Satish Misra had already been undertaking certain activities through his NGO.
During the current session of the university, six courses were introduced, including B.Ed. and two diploma level courses.
Separate departments related to four types of disabilities have been set up. Courses recognised by the Indian Rehabilitation Council would be conducted through these departments.
Emphasising that the state government was sensitive towards the welfare of physically-challenged people, the chief minister described the setting up of the university as a major step towards making them self-reliant.
She said, “When I came to power for the first time in 1995, my government set up a separate Disabled Welfare Department, which was the first of its kind in the country. And during my second stint in 1997, I decided to give three percent reservation to physically-challenged persons in all government jobs. And when I became chief minister for the third time in 2002, my government set up an intermediate college for visually impaired students.”
She said now on coming to power for the fourth time in May 2007, she enhanced the monthly pension of disabled people from Rs.150 to Rs.300.