Daijiworld Media Network – Bangalore (SP)

Bangalore, Oct 30: Speaking after inaugurating the 20th conference of Karnataka History Congress, organized on Thursday October 29 by the department of history, Bangalore University here, state governor H R Bharadhwaj expressed the opinion that the politics the government indulges in, while appointing the vice-chancellors and registrars to universities, works to the detriment of the education system.

“The process of selecting the vice-chancellors should be conducted in such way that there is no scope for partiality or nepotism. The elected vice-chancellors should be allowed to function independently, without bringing any kind of political pressures on them. Including me, no one should poke their noses in their routine affairs. They should be allowed to function without any kind of pressure,” he felt.

Bharadhwaj said that he is not happy with the functioning of any of the universities in the state. He felt that the universities have forgotten about their responsibilities. “The universities, which have the onus of shaping the future of the students and of the country, have been playing with the lives and future of the students, which is tragic. The people are shocked to learn about the increasing incidence of student suicides. Caste politics in the universities is a widely known fact,” he stated.

Bharadhwaj pointed out that the Mysore University, which had earlier been talked of highly, has been hitting the headlines for political games. Kuvempu University too is in the news for wrong reasons, he said. He felt that this situation has arisen, as the people have forgotten the ideal preached and practiced by great men like saints, philosophers, Shankaracharya, Madhwacharya, Ramanujacharya etc., who lived in Karnataka.

Retired vice-chancellor of Tumkur University, Prof O Anantaramaiah, while speaking on the occasion, requested that an early investigation be conducted into the case of missing files in Tumkur University.