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Returning from consultations with Union government in New Delhi, Tamil Nadu Governor R N Ravi will preside over a two-day conference of Vice-Chancellors, V-Cs, of Tamil Nadu universities at Raj Bhavan on April 25 and 26.

A press release says that the conference is organized by the Raj Bhavan, Tamil Nadu. The state higher education minister who serves as pro-chancellor of many of the universities or officials have been invited for the meeting. But the conference will be addressed by M Jagadesh Kumar, former V-C of Jawaharlal Nehru University and present chairman of University Grants Commission, and Sridhar Vembu, CEO of Zoho Corporation, a software firm.

M Jagadesh Kumar, former V-C of JNU and present chairman of UGC. Photo Credit : Wikipedia

Jagadesh Kumar’s tenure at JNU was marked by action against students for alleged sedition, disappearance of student Najeeb Ahmed and the 2020 attacks on JNU campus. Jagadesh Kumar has a Chennai connect in that he did his BTech, MTech and DTech at IIT-Madras. During his doctoral days, he was active in the public opinion forum, Vigil, championed by the RSS.

Sridhar Vembu, one of the leading software entrepreneurs of India and a billionaire business magnate, is founder and CEO of Zoho Corporation. His participation in an RSS event in 2020 created a controversy.

Sridhar Vembu, founder and CEO of Zoho Corporation.
Photo Credit : Twitter

The aim of the conference is to come up with ideas and action plan on two topics: “India’s Role in emerging New World Order” and “India to be World Leader by 2047,” according to a Raj Bhavan press release.

The release says that V-Cs of all state universities, central universities and private universities in Tamil Nadu are participating in the conference along with their professors and associate professors.

Governor R N Ravi has been at loggerheads with the state government especially when it comes to matters dealing with higher education. Among a clutch of Bills passed by the Tamil Nadu government that he is sitting on includes several relating to state universities of which he is the chancellor.

Sridhar Vembu, one of the leading software entrepreneurs of India and a billionaire business magnate, is founder and CEO of Zoho Corporation. His participation in an RSS event in 2020 created a controversy.

Reacting to this, education activist Prince Gajendra Babu says that the the post of chancellor of state universities that the governor holds is only an ex-officio post. “Policy decisions can emerge only in the council of ministers and Governor cannot impose his will on the people of the State. Raj Bhavan is organizing a conference without the participation of the state higher education Minister is nothing but running a parallel government,” he says.

West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar  had invited chancellors and V-Cs to a meeting on December 20, 2021 but none turned up, citing Covid. A similar situation was faced in January, 2020 when vice-chancellors of state universities were invited. “These developments are alarming and indicate rule of the ruler and not of law. Such a scenario cannot be countenanced,” he said in a videographed address. The video showed that chairs arranged for the meeting at the Raj Bhavan were empty.

 

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