Mahatma Gandhi's varsity likely to be shifted out of Ahmedabad

Gujarat Vidyapith (GV), a deemed university, is said to have started looking for land to shift its campus from the existing location, where Mahatma Gandhi had established it back in 1920 during his stay in Ahmedabad. The varsity is currently located close to Sabarmati Ashram, which was also set up by Gandhi over a 100 year ago.

GV officials said that as per the plans, the existing varsity campus, spread over 21 acres, will be turned into a heritage center while the academic activities will be shifted to Gandhinagar in a whole new campus. Officials said that in trustees' meeting on March 27, two committees were formed to look for lands and review properties. The meeting was chaired by chancellor and Gujarat governor Acharya Devvrat.

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During the meeting, trustees also discussed receiving Rs18 crore compensation for the varsity's land acquired by the metro rail project. In the meeting, a three-member committee was set up headed by Dilip Thaker to look for new land. Similarly, another committee has been formed for reviewing restructuring groups of trustees, "equality and development", "property", among others.

Sources said that initially the funds received from metro authorities were to be used for developing the campus but now varsity has decided to buy new land. The buzz is that two other campuses of GV- Randheja and Sadra, which offer bachelors, masters and PhD programmes largely focussing on rural life, will be brought together as one campus.

Two of the trustees, DH spoke to, confirmed that "varsity is planning to shift its campus somewhere else in Gandhinagar." "There is nothing sensational about it. It is at a nascent stage." They said that plans are at discussion level but a decision in this regard is likely to be announced soon.

Another trustee requesting not to be quoted said, "When Gandhi started this varsity, it was in the middle of a village and his focus of education was village life. Today, the varsity is in the center of the city. We are trying to take it back to rural areas so that students can have the kind of environment that Gandhi had envisioned when he started it."

The campus is abuzz with shifting the entire campus outside Ahmedabad unlike what the varsity had planned several years ago. Officials said that earlier, the varsity had planned to shift some of its core courses to rural areas and sought land from the government. But, the idea never fructified. These core courses are social work, rural studies, rural economy and rural sociology.

Many varsity officials are skeptical about the move and said that "if the entire campus is shifted, Vidyapith will lose its heritage value."

Over the past few months, Vidyapith has been in controversy over the appointment of its chancellor Acharya Devvrat, who is also the governor of Gujarat. After the death of noted activist and founder of Self Employed Women's Association (SEWA), Ela Bhatt, who had tendered her resignation before her demise, Vidyapith officials led by former vice-chancellor Rajendra Khimani invited Devvrat to be appointed as chancellor.

Meanwhile, nine trustees of the varsity resigned in protest and wrote an open letter asking the governor not to accept the post as "it was (done) under crass political pressure" and "in total disregard of Gandhi’s values, methods and practices." While the controversy has died down, Khimani resigned following UGC's notice that he was not eligible for the post and was facing vigilance inquiry.