Mysuru: Transformative potential of universities is acutely needed in societies like India where we struggle against societal inequalities and deep-seated prejudices, said Vice President of India Mohammed Hamid Ansari.
Vice President Hamid Ansari speaking on the occasion
Addressing the valedictory function of the Centenary Celebrations of University of Mysore on Friday he said, “One hundred years is an important milestone in the life of any institution. Especially in the case of a university which ignites the light of knowledge in the minds of men and women. For the past hundred years, University of Mysore has been contributing to the making of India’s knowledge society. Thousands of students and scholars have passed through these hallowed portals. The genesis of this university lay in the extraordinary vision of two individuals, the then Maharaja of Mysore, Nalvadi Krishnaraja Wodeyar and M. Visvesvaraya, one of the most brilliant engineering minds that India has produced. It was the first university in India outside of the British governed areas. Today, it has grown into one of India’s largest, providing higher education to about 85,000 students of which over 10,000 are postgraduates. Some 1400 students from 50 foreign countries are also enrolled at the picturesque main campus and various satellite and extension facilities”.
He said that in this ‘age of information’, few would dispute the importance of universities. However, recent events in our own country have shown that there is much confusion about what a university should be or should not be.
The Vice President said that universities can be agents of social justice and mobility. He further said that they can foster fraternity and contribute to social and cultural vitality and build an egalitarian society. A university that moulds itself only to present demands is the one that is not listening to its historians. He also mentioned that history is most illuminating when written with the full consciousness of what people wrongly expected to happen. Universities are also forums of free speech and debate. They can act as both the weather vanes and safety-valves of political dissent and direction, he added. The Vice President cautioned that suppression of such discourse only breeds mistrust and begets social malcontent.
“The universities, even as they valiantly play the role of ‘growth engines of the society’, have a larger, long-term and transformative role to play. The transformative potential of universities is acutely needed in societies like India where we struggle against societal inequalities and deep-seated prejudices. Our Constitution in its Preamble, promises to the citizen of republic, social, economic and political justice as well as equality of status and of opportunity. It seeks to promote fraternity among them while assuring liberty of thought and expression,” added Ansari.
Governor of Karnataka, Vajubhai Vala; former prime minister, H.D. Deve Gowda; Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, Minster of Higher Education Basavaraja Rayareddy, PWD and district -in-charge Minister H.C. Mahadevappa, Chairman of University Grants Commission, Ved Prakash; Vice Chancellor of Mysuru University, K. S. Rangappa, Registrar of University of Mysore, Basavaraj and other dignitaries were present on the occasion.
Statue of Nalwadi Krishnaraja Wodeyar unveiled
The long-felt need of every Mysurean and students of the University of Mysore was at last fulfilled, that was the demand for a statue of the founder of the Univeristy of Mysore Nalwadi Krishnaraja Wodeyar in front of the Crawford Hall. The statue made up of bronze is eight feet tall. The pedestal on which it is installed is also eight feet. The 600 kg bronze statue has been sculpted by Varaprasad from Hyderabad and it costs around Rs 65 lakh. Vice President Hamid Ansari unveiled the statue on the day Nalwadi Krishnaraja Wodeyar gave his assent for the formation of the University of Mysore.
