IMPHAL, Jan 11: It is a privilege of Manipur that the Central government has upgrade the Manipur University into Central University and today it is one of the finest universities of the North Eastern Region.
This was stated by Union minister of DoNER and mines, B.K. Handique, who attended the 11th Convocation of Manipur University, as chief guest, held this morning at MU Centenary Hall.
Chief minister Okram Ibobi Singh attended as the guest of honour. Other dignitaries present included Prof. P.N. Srivastava, chancellor and Prof. Ch. Amuba, vice chancellor among others.
The chief guest in his address to the gathering said Manipur which figures among the list of high literacy states of the country could grow further, and in this regard, making the MU shine evermore is vital.
He also said students are the future of the society and true spirit of democracy is developed from the universities adding that they should not forget that the societies require an adequate return from students.
Handique further mentioned that the country being faced with various obstacles of high population, scarcity of waters and foods, shortage of natural resources etc need changes. This responsibility rests heavily on the shoulders of students, he said.
While expressing his appreciation of the diverse ethnic heritage and rich culture and tradition, the minister revealed that he salutes the spirit of the people living in the state for confronting various issues and challenges to bring normalcy in the state.
He expressed optimism that the people of Manipur and students will be co-operating with other states in the country as well as the government to make India a developed country under vision 2020.
The chief minister Okram Ibobi, urged the people of Manipur and the students who are pursuing their education in the university not to lose spirit that the state government has now washed its hands off the university after it became a Central university, for indeed the state government is monitoring the university often.
He also announced that the state government has taken an initiative to talk with the Central government to set up another Central university – the Indira Gandhi National Tribal University.
The chief minister today also congratulated the entire students community for taking the university higher to make it one of the best in the country.
Once the students have completed their studies they should work towards the developing the society to make “yesterday a memory and tomorrow a vision”.
He appealed to the people to co-ordinate and to face all challenges and the solve them to make Manipur a better place.
P.N. Srivastava the chancellor of Manipur University said that the MU which is now a Central university, is the second best among universities in the North Eastern Region.
Today the university has got various facilities and infrastructure to be able to compete with other universities of the country and has also received various projects with adequate amount of funds from the government of India, which many other universities in the North East states have not get yet.
He also maintained that there will be more departments in the university. He appealed to the students and the members as well as the head official of the university to work together and bring flexibility towards the development of the university.
The VC Manipur University Prof. Ch. Amuba in his address noted that three more departments namely sociology, environment and foreign language (which will be Korean and Japanese) will be introduced in the university shortly.
He said a sports complex would also be coming up inside the campus.
For the record, the university today gave away the degrees to 428 students who passed out their BA, MA and Ph.D from the MU during the academic session of 2006 to 2008 and degrees were given to the school of humanities, school of social sciences, school of science and school of medical science.