Leading educationists have urged Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik to impress upon the Union Government to set up a Central University at Puri on the line of the Benaras Hindu University (BHU).
The academicians, while complementing Patnaik for his proactive efforts and regular letters to Central Ministers, including Prime Minister Modi, leading to the establishment of several Centrally-funded institutions like NISER, IIT, IIM, and IISER in the State, have requested him to take a similar initiative for a BHU-like institution at Puri, which is an ancient knowledge centre.
In several seminars and meetings on the occasion of the 50th annual convention of the Odisha Society of the Americas (OSA) and also in various e-forums there were discussions for a BHU-type Central University in Puri.
Leading non-resident Odia (NRO) Chitta Baral said Odisha urgently needs a BHU-type broad-based Central University.
The BHU is a unique university in India that has a wide array of programmes including Languages, Science, Commerce, Liberal Arts, Medicine, Law, Agriculture, Engineering, Education and Performance Arts.
Puri is an appropriate location for the purpose as it is one of the four Dhams institutionalised by Adi Shankara and has the history of being an ancient centre of knowledge in India.
Various priests, preachers, tourists, poets, saints, seers, teachers, devotees and thinkers visited and some stayed over in Puri and left their imprints on this holy town.
They included Adi Shankara, Narahari Tirtha, Nimbarka Acharya, Jayadeva, Sri Krishna Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, Vishnuswami, and Madhvacharya. Even now, Puri has 752 monasteries and many Kotas, Jagas, Akhadas and ashrams.
Last year during his visit to Puri, President of India Ram Nath Kovind had described it as an ancient centre of knowledge and specifically said that it was used to be called Vidya Nagari and India's Kashi of the East.
Prof Baral said, “We think that these attributes will appeal to the current Central Government very much. In addition, Puri's proximity to Bhubaneswar will take the existing knowledge ecosystem of Bhubaneswar one notch higher.”
In case anyone points out that Odisha was already given a Central University in Koraput, one must counter that since that time Bihar has been given as many as six Central Universities at Gaya, Motihari, Nalanda, Kishanganj, Vikramshila and Pusa. Thus, Odisha’s plea for a BHU-type Central University in Lord Jagannath’s abode is reasonable and appropriate.
Prof Baral observed that timing plays a vital role in such efforts.
During the initial one to two years of the previous Union Government, many new Central institutions and
universities had been declared; and in 2014 and 2015, Odisha was granted an IIM and an IISER.