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| Conciliate angry Jammu by appointing Dogra as VC of CU | | |
ET REPORT
JAMMU, Mar 30: Jammu-based student organizations are up in revolt against the J&K Government, the State Governor and the Union Government. Why because they have come to believe that the authorities in the State and at the Centre have joined hands against the Dogras of Jammu to ensure the appointment of controversial persons like former Vice-Chancellor of Jammu University Amitabh Mattoo; Vice-Chancellor of Islamic Technical University, Kashmir, Sidiq Wahid; and former Vice-Chancellor of Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Technical University N K Bansal as Vice-Chancellor of the Jammu Central University.
Their belief, coupled with the apprehension, has stemmed from the reports that emanated from New Delhi and were published prominently by a section of the Kashmir-based and Jammu-based print media. They have organized a number of press conferences on the issue and warned the authorities that any move on their part to impose an outsider on the university would force them to start a mass agitation in Jammu. Theirs' is only one demand: Appoint a Dogra as the Vice-Chancellor of the Jammu Central University.
The argument advanced by the agitating student organizations is: If all the Kashmir-based universities, including the Kashmir Central University, could have locals as their Vice-Chancellors, why can't the Jammu-based universities be given Vice-Chancellors belonging to the Jammu province? Yet another argument these organizations have advanced is that the appointment of outsiders as Vice-Chancellors of the University of Jammu, Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Technical University (Katra) and Agriculture University (Ranbir Singh Pura) ignoring the claims of the local bright and promising academicians was a deliberate affront to the self-respect of the Dogras and that they would not allow the Vice-Chancellor of the Jammu Central University to function if he/she is an outsider and non-Dogra.
A number of smaller political groups have also joined the agitating student organizations and expressed almost similar views. The student community of the Jammu province cannot be taken lightly. It has always fought for the Jammu cause and achieved their demands. The establishment of Jammu University, the opening of medical and engineering colleges and the setting up of Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Technical University and Agriculture University are all their contributions.
The appointment of Singhal Committee in 1998 was also the immediate fall-out of its relentless campaign against the anti-Jammu admission policy pursued by the state-run medical and engineering colleges. It was the pressure of the agitating student community that had made the Singhal committee recommend admission policy similar to the one followed by the Universities of Jammu and Kashmir. It had recommended that all the seats available in the professional colleges, located in Jammu province, should be reserved for the Jammu province and all the seats available in the Kashmir-based professional colleges should be reserved for Kashmiri students.
The situation in Kashmir is far from normal. The authorities cannot afford to witness a similar situation in Jammu province. Hence, the State Governor, the State Government and the Union Government have to take note of the fast-deteriorating situation in Jammu province owing to the eruption of a bitter controversy relating to the appoint of Vice-Chancellor of the Jammu Central University. They should ensure the appointment of a Dogra academician as Vice-Chancellor. Such a gesture would go a long way in conciliating the angry Jammu.
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