New Delhi: The much-delayed Sammakka Sarakka Central Tribal University, which was promised as part of the bifurcation of erstwhile united Andhra Pradesh in 2014 is all set to become a reality. Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Monday introduced a Bill in the Lok Sabha to establish a central tribal university in Telangana.
According to the statement and objects of the Central Universities (Amendment) Bill, 2023, the establishment of "Sammakka Sarakka Central Tribal University" will cater to the regional aspirations for years to come. The proposed institution, it said, will increase access and quality of higher education and facilitate and promote higher education and research facilities for the people of Telangana.
It will also promote advanced knowledge by providing instructional and research facilities in tribal art, culture and customs and advancement in technology to the tribal population of India. "Apart from bringing focus to tribal education, the central tribal university shall carry out all educational and other activities like any other central university," it read.
The issue hogged headlines after Prime Minister Narendra Modi promised its establishment in the thick of the election campaign in Mahabubnagar. It was a part of the other major promises like the sanction of a national turmeric board and the issue of further Terms of Reference (ToR) to the existing Krishna Water Disputes Tribunal-II (KWDT-II) under section 5(1) of the ISRWD Act for its adjudication between the States of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh (AP).
Reacting to the development, Rani Rudrama Reddy, a spokesperson of the BJP, said, “The party has always stood by its words. The Centre also delivered the turmeric board and gave a railway manufacturing unit to Kazipet. We made a tribal woman the first president of the country.”
The establishment of a central tribal university in Telangana is obligatory under the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2014. The Central Universities Act, 2009, was enacted to establish and incorporate universities for teaching and research in various states. The law is tweaked from time to time.
