Tricolour to fly high in central varsities

All Central universities including the Jawaharlal Nehru university (JNU) will soon be flying the National Flag atop a 207 feet tall pole.

This resolution was passed at a meeting of the vice chancellors presided by Human Resource Development Minister Smriti Irani here.

This comes at a time when some Left-backed JNU students are accused of being “anti-nationals”. The arrest of JNU Students’ Union president Kanhaiya Kumar had sparked a major political row and nationwide outrage.

“At a central place at every university, the National Flag will be flown prominently and proudly,” the ministry said in a statement.

The Tricolour, weighing 35 kg, will be flown atop a 207 feet tall flag pole at all the 46 Central universities like the one installed inside the Central Park in Delhi’s Connaught Place in March last year, an official told Deccan Herald.

The ministry also said that the proposal for hoisting of the National Flag was moved by the vice chancellors and not the government.  

At the meeting which was primarily called to review the mechanism created for addressing the complaints of caste and community-based discrimination, it was decided that Central varsities will ensure a “transparent proactive mechanism” for grievance redressal of the university community, including students, staff and faculty.

The universities were asked to take steps to appoint an anti-discrimination officer to address the complaints from students, teachers and other staff.

To ensure that no student is deprived of higher education due to language limitation, it was decided that universities will make arrangements for teaching in English and an Indian language “as applicable to the state.”