UGC Calls for Removal of ‘Muslim’ and ‘Hindu’ from University Names
- An audit conducted by a special committee on several universities including AMU and BHU suggested that Hindu and Muslim be taken down from its name.
- The HRD Ministry had directed UGC to conduct the audits in April 2017.
A government probe/audit of central universities has come out to suggest that the words ‘Hindu’ and ‘Muslim’ be dropped from the names of Banaras Hindu University (BHU) and Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) to reflect their secular character. The suggestion is included in an audit of AMU by one of those five committees constituted by the UGC (University Grants Commission) on April 25, 2017. The committees were constituted by UGC as per the instructions from the HRD Ministry to probe the complaints of irregularities against the ten central universities across the country.
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Besides AMU, the institutes that underwent academic, research, infrastructure and financial audit by the committees include: -
- Hari Singh Gour University (Madhya Pradesh)
- Central University of Jharkhand
- University of Tripura
- Mahatma Gandhi Antarrashtriya Hindi Vishwavidyalaya (Wardha)
- Central University of Jammu
- Central University of Rajasthan
- Pondicherry University
- Hemwati Nandan Bahuguna Garhwal University (Uttaranchal)
- Allahabad University
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The committee that inspected AMU suggested that the varsity must be named after its founder (Sir Syed Ahmed Khan) or it can be just called as ‘Aligarh University’. The committee also recommended the similar change of name for BHU.
The committee termed AMU as ‘feudal’ in nature and suggested for measures to empower and uplift Muslims on the campus. However, the committee refrained itself from commenting on the minority status of the varsity since the matter is sub-judice.
The committee also suggested for tweaking of appointment process of Vice-Chancellor of AMU which is currently different from other central universities. The audit also recommended for an increase in tuition fee with an objective to improve the internal resources of the varsity.