Varsities must be agents of social justice, says Vice-President

 Vice-President M Hamid Ansari made a veiled reference to controversies in universities and called upon academicians and policy-makers to deliberate on guidelines to streamline education in universities.

Delivering the valedictory address of the centenary celebrations of the University of Mysore in Manasagangothri here on Friday, he said a discussion on ‘what a university should be and what a university should not be’ must be initiated.

He said universities should act as agents of social justice and mobility to build an egalitarian society. “India should continue its character of being a neutral assembler of knowledge to meet the transitional needs of the nation,” he said and listed out the guidelines of the high-level task force constituted by Unesco and World Bank for model universities and urged policy-makers to emulate them.

Presiding over the ceremony, Governor Vajubhai Vala said, per capita courage and per capita character of the nation should be measured instead of dabbling with per capita income and other materialistic things for real prosperity. “Ours is a land of action, karmabhoomi, so knowledge should be converted into actions, which needs courage. Courage gives a person confidence. For actions to be fruitful, character of the people is vital,” he said.

Former prime minister H D Deve Gowda, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, District in-charge Minister H C Mahadevappa, Higher Education Minister Basavaraja Rayareddy, UGC Chairman Ved Prakash, Isro chairman A S Kiran Kumar, former governor of West Bengal Gopalakrishna Gandhi, honorary director of Centre for Human Genetics H Sharat Chandra, Vice-Chancellor K S Rangappa and registrars C Basavaraju and R Rajanna were present.