Centre gives nod for National Tribal University in Chhattisgarh

Raipur, Sept 10: The Centre has given its nod for setting up a National Tribal University in Chhattisgarh's insurgency-hit Bastar region to facilitate research and development of tribal culture and dialects.

"The Central government approved the proposal of Chhattisgarh government during a meeting of state's Chief Minister Raman Singh and Union HRD Minister Smriti Irani in New Delhi," a state government spokesperson said.

"The consent was given to commence the functioning of the university from the next academic session," he said.

During the meeting, Singh said that the university will greatly benefit the people of tribal-dominated Bastar in preservation of culture, traditional and natural resources, besides from the education point of view, he said.

Moreover, the institution will also help in study and research of the region's varied bio-diversity. The Centre has also agreed to provide UGC's 'one time catch up grant' for providing monetary help for development of three newly opened universities in Bastar, Sarguja and Bilaspur following a demand made by the state in this regard, the spokesperson said.

The chief minister informed the Union minister that the state has 'Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalayas' under Sarva Siksha Abhiyan in 94 development blocks and sought sanctions for establishing it in the remaining 54 blocks too.

Irani assured Singh that the Ministry will sanction opening of more such schools in 31 tribal development blocks in the first phase while the remaining blocks will be covered in the next phase.

A delegation of HRD Ministry officials will soon visit the state for inspection of sites suggested by Chhattisgarh for setting up Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) in the state, he said. Several proposals related to school and higher education in the state were also approved during the meeting, where senior officials of Chhattisgarh were also present, he added.

PTI