HRD Ministry approves budget for Kurukshetra University’s infrastructural development

The Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) has given its final approval to a grant the numeration of Rs 100 crore to Kurukshetra University (KU) for the infrastructural development. As per the report by The Tribune, Prof Manjula Chaudhary, KU’s nodal officer for the Rashtriya Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan (RUSA), a centrally sponsored scheme, on stated yesterday that the MHRD has given the approval on the grant during a meeting on November 17 to develop KU as a centre of excellence.

Professor also claimed that there was concern initially that KU might lose Central funds as the state’s oldest university did not fulfil the criterion of regular faculty members, a key prerequisite for getting special financial aid. “The authorities were informed that the university was marginally short of faculty strength to avail funds, but the MHRD approved KU for financial assistance,” she claimed.

“The university had started appointing regular faculty members, but by that time the MHRD had filed a special leave petition in the Supreme Court regarding implementation of the reservation policy,” she stated. “Instructions were issued by the UGC a few days ago to universities funded by the Centre to indefinitely postpone the hiring of teachers,” she added.

Earlier this year, on March 20, the UGC agreed on full autonomy to 62 higher educational institutions across India, including KU, in recognition of high academic standards. “Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to launch RUSA in January to boost academic infrastructure. We expect official completion of the procedure by that time,” stated Prof Manjula Chaudhary.