A good news came for education lovers and common people of Kishanganj a couple of days back from MP (Member of Parliament) Maulana Asrarul Haque Qasmi. The Congress MP from Kishanganj told that newly appointed Union Minister for Minority Affairs K Rahman Khan had made an announcement in Rajya Sabha on November 22, 2012 about setting up a Central University in the district. Named after great educationist Rafi Ahmad Kidwai the university will be established in 100 acre plot of land to offer education in the field of Science & Technology. Of course the news should be welcomed by all as it will push the educationally and economically backward district of Kishanganj in the path of development.
However, being an education lover and a resident of Kishanganj, I have keenly followed the proposal of Rafi Ahmad Kidwai University since its announcement in the year 2008. There are a number of constraints before the proposal of Rafi Ahmad Kidwai University in Kishanganj.
Actually in the light of the recommendations of the Sachchar Committee, which had mooted the proposal for establishment of universities in minority-dominated areas of the country, the proposal came from the then Minister of minority affairs Abdul Rehman Antulay during the UPA (United Progressive Alliance) I government. The ministry in its proposal identified three minority concentrated areas to set up three Central universities that included Mysore (Karnataka), Kishanganj (Bihar) and Ajmer (Rajasthan). The proposed names of the universities were Tipu Sultan University of Science and Technology in Mysore, Rafi Ahmad Kidwai University of Health Science in Kishanganj and Khwaja Gharib Nawaz University in Ajmer.
During Antulay’s tenure a group of Muslim scholars had met Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh and appealed him for expediting work on the universities where students from the Muslim community would be given preference. In 2009, Antulay lost the elections and Salman Khurshid was appointed new minister of Minority Affairs. Khurshid himself mentioned about the proposals of three universities in his public addresses before the minority community. But no any step was taken by his ministry to take the proposal ahead, neither it was given any shape to discuss the matter with state governments.
Authentic sources shared the proposal of minority affairs ministry in detail and said that it was requiring the clearance from the Union Human Resource & Development (HRD) Ministry along with fulfillment of essential formalites. As per proposal the Minority affairs minister was supposed to send a letter to the respective state governments for allocating 100 acres land from Wakf property lying in the district. If Walk property is not available with the proposed district, the required land can be provided by the state government from some other district. After receiving the 100 acres land from the Wakf Board the Minority ministry was supposed to forward the proposal to Union Ministry of HRD for getting clearance. In fact, the Maulana Azad Education Foundation was also involved in the project as a coordinator to get the land of the Waqf board.
Although the Waqf Council was initially in contact with three state governments over allocation of land for the universities, but it is yet to receive the 100 acres land. Even a senior official of Maulana Azad Education Foundation said that they need the support of state governments to give a shape to the proposal.
The recent statement of K Rahman Khan in the Rajya Sabha has given a fresh hope to the proposal of establishing Central universities in three states of the country. It would be not wrong to say it a double bonanza for the deprived district of Kishanganj and Seemanchal region of Bihar. Fact is that if said about the proposed Central University in Kishanganj only, but there is tough road ahead as per the norms of proposal. The proposed Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) centre at Kishanganj has witnessed a long series of ups and downs since the proposal was announced in the year 2008 in the form of agitations against Bihar government and lobbying by activists groups like Human Chain with the concerned ministries in Delhi.
Although the AMU administration has received 224.02 acres land at Kishanganj and also the President of India’s approval but the Centre Government yet to allocate the token budget of Rs. 50 crore. Similarly, the proposal of Rafi Ahmad Kidwai University has only been part of statements for past four years until and unless the ministry pushes ahead it to concerned stake-holders, it would be too early to say anything.
