Ministry of Minority Affairs has begun consultations with Ministry of Human Resource Development for a central legislation to establish six central universities at places pre-dominantly inhabited by the minority population.In an exclusive interview to All India Radio correspondent Manikant Thakur,the Minority Affairs Minister K Rehman Khan said that these universities are to come up at Murshidabad in West Bengal, Malappuram in Kerala, Kishanganj in Bihar, Ajmer in Rajasthan, Srirangpatna in Karnataka and Raebareli in Uttar Pradesh.Dismissing remarks from certain quarters that no exclusive minority university can be established by an act of Parliament,Dr.Khan said that only 50 percent of the seats will be reserved for minority students and rest will be available for others.
The minister also disapproved of the contention of BJP on the naming of the proposed university at Srirangpatna after Tipu Sultan saying that Tipu's contributions to Indian freedom struggle are beyond dispute.
Our correspondent reports that the expert committee of prominent educationists, headed by Professor S Thorat, former chairman, UGC, and presently the chairman of Indian Council of Social Science Research has said institutions be set up as central universities with their focus on minorities, instead of minority institutions as proposed.The committee submitted its report to the minority affairs ministry last month.
The full interview in English can be heard tonight in our programmes 'Spotlight' and 'News Analysis' at 0915 PM on FM GOLD 106.4 megahartz and on Rajdhani channel.The interview in Hindi can be heard at 0735 PM on Indraprastha channel