Govt: DU to name new colleges and centres after Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Arun Jaitley, and Amartya Sen among others

The names of Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Arun Jaitley, Amartya Sen, and Savitri Bai Phule are among the personalities that have been discussed as possibilities for naming upcoming Delhi University colleges and centres after.

Delhi University's Executive Council had last year passed a resolution that the upcoming colleges and centres may be named after Swami Vivekananda, Sushma Swaraj, V D Savarkar, and Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel.

In response to a question in the Lok Sabha on this decision, the Ministry of Education Monday submitted other names were also suggested.

Congress MP from Kerala, Kodikunnil Suresh had raised a question in the Lok Sabha on this decision asking if the government proposes to revisit the "policy of naming colleges after individuals with contested legacies" or "promulgate a standard benchmark for the process with Standard operating Procedure to avoid supra-policy decisions by the executive councils of universities".

The ministry responded to the question posed by Suresh saying DU is competent to take all academic and administrative decisions with the approval of its statutory bodies.

Delhi University is working on setting up two facilitation centres to cater to the needs and requirements of students staying in far-flung areas of Delhi and the National Capital Region (NCR) as the first steps towards starting new colleges.

The two centres are proposed to be set up on the plots of land allotted to DU in Najafgarh and Fatehpur Beri.