The Union Minister of State for Finance and Corporate Affairs, Anurag Thakur on Saturday said the Ministry of Finance has approved a grant of Rs 740.79 crore to develop a Central University’s campuses in Dehra and Dharamshala in Kangra district in Himachal Pradesh.
The Central University, announced by the then UPA government in 2007, has been functioning with a temporary campus near Dharamshala in the midst of tug of war between the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress over its location since 2010. However, BJP leader Anurag Thakur, who represents Hamirpur Parliamentary constituency (Himachal Pradesh) which includes the Dehra Assembly segment of Kangra, had pushed the case to have a campus in Dehra over the years. So finally, a decision was taken to have the campus at two locations, Dharamshala and Dehra.
Thakur hailed Prime Minister Modi for the grant of Rs 740.79 crore for the Central University. He said the Finance Ministry has approved Rs 512.37 crore as non recurring expenditure and Rs 210.55 crore as recurring expenditure for the Central University, which also includes Rs 17.87 crore expenditure incurred till 2019-20.
“We can see how the double engine of central and state governments in the education sector is pushing Himachal Pradesh to a new frontier to meet the demands of the 4th industrial revolution,” he said.
Thakur said the approval of grants for the Central University will boost the education sector in Himachal Pradesh. “In fact students will also benefit from the National Education Policy we announced recently, which is expanding the education sector and is also empowering India’s youth to become ‘future ready’,” he said.
He said the aim of the Modi government is to make India the world’s largest skilled workforce.