M Jagadesh Kumar: New Chairman of UGC

February 7, 2022

The Ministry of Education recently appointed Mr M Jagadesh Kumar as the new chairman of UGC. Jagadesh was serving at the Jawaharlal Nehru University as Vice Chancellor.

About the appointment

The appointment has been made for a period of five years or till he attains the age of 65 whichever is earlier. Before Jagadesh, Professor D P Siingh was serving as the chairman of UGC. He turned 65 and retired from office.

Jagadesh is to play a major role in the coming years in implementing the National Education Policy. Jagadesh appointment comes at a time when the Union Government is facing troubles in forming the Higher Education Commission.

Higher Education Commission

The commission is to subsume the bodies such as AICTE (All India Council for Technical Education) and UGC.

About Jagadesh Kumar

He was appointed as the Vice Chancellor of Jawaharlal Nehru University by the former President Pranab Mukherjee. He is an alumnus of IIT Madras. He did his PhD in IIT Madras and post doctoral research in Waterloo University, Canada. He is from Telangana. He is expert in karate. He served as a professor at the Electrical Department of IIT – Delhi.

Recent issues faced by Jagadesh Kumar

The Jawaharlal University students raised slogans marking the event of hanging Afzal Guru. Afzal Guru was a Kashmiri separatist. He was involved in the parliament attacks of 2001. He was hanged to death on February 9, 2013. The students protested against the judicial hanging of the terrorist. Jagadesh was against these protests and took actions against students involved in the protests. Students involved in the protest were detained.

Controversies around Jagadesh Kumar

Jagadesh is famous for the controversies around him. He passed orders prohibiting protest near the administration block. He invited Sri Sri Ravi Shankar to deliver lecture. He spoke about installing military tank in the university campus to bring patriotism in students.

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