New Delhi, August 06: With the approval of the Central Universities (Amendment) Bill, 2021 in the Rajya Sabha on Monday, the way for the establishment of a Central University in Ladakh has been cleared.
However, this bill was already passed in the Lok Sabha and today it has been approved by the Parliament with its passage in the Upper House of the Parliament.
A provision has been made in this bill to establish a central university in the Union Territory of Ladakh. A provision has been made in this Bill to name this proposed University as “Indus Central University”.
Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan laid the Bill on the Table of the House for discussion and passing amidst uproar and ruckus in the opposition.
He said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had announced the establishment of a Central University in Ladakh on the occasion of August 15th last year, after which the Central University was being established.
The Union Education Minister said that the university to be built in Ladakh will have arrangements for the education of 2500 students.
During this, members of opposition parties including Congress, Trinamool Congress, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) were shouting slogans in the house regarding Pegasus espionage case, farmers and other issues. The bill was passed amid the uproar.
The Objects and Reasons for this Bill states, “There is no University in the Ladakh region. Therefore, the Government has decided to set up a new Central University in the Union Territory of Ladakh, to ensure to increase access and quality of higher education and to promote opportunities for higher education and research for the people of the Union Territory of Ladakh. Can go this will also fulfill the regional aspirations in the years to come.” The infrastructure for the University will be set up in two phases with a budgetary provision of Rs 750 crore for seven years. The expenditure in the first phase of four years would be around Rs 400 crore and in the second phase of the remaining three years the expenditure would be around Rs 3590 crore. This expenditure will be met from the Consolidated Fund of India through the budgetary provisions of the Ministry of Education.
