RAJ KUMAR
Ranchi, Dec.23: When Pt Raghunath Murmu Janjatiya Vishwavidyalaya Bill, 2021 was passed by the state assembly paving the path of a full-fledged state-run tribal university in Jamshedpur it was expected that the state government competing with the union government on the front of promotion of education among tribals will come out with a better idea to spread education but when talked to some those in favour of a tribal university they pointed out loopholes in the bill saying it is not according to their expectations.
“In the faculty of science, the tribal university of Jharkhand has only two departments, medicinal, aromatic and agricultural plants, and traditional treatment department and Rural and Forest Management and Environment science and law department. Jharkhand has a large scope in the field of biotechnology, and ethnomedicine. But the same has not been included in it. Apparently, those who drafted the bill had no idea about tribal land,” Vasvi Kiro, a tribal activist also working in the field of ethnomedicine said.
Arun Oraon, the son-in-law of Kartik Oraon, a Congress ideologue who played a vital role in the establishment of Heavy Engineering Corporation, supported Kiro saying that exercise of establishing a university is good but perfunctory at best as it will not help tribes to compete with the world.
“Kartik Oraon had planned to establish a Shakti Niketan on the border of Bihar and Madhya Pradesh on the pattern of Shantiniketan when Arjun Singh was chief minister of Madhya Pradesh. His dream was to impart education at par with Cambridge and Oxford to the tribals,” Oraon said.
Former Gumla MLA Shivshanker Oraon, who is also making efforts to establish a tribal university in Jharkhand, echoed the same.
“It is a university like other universities of the state. It is being made tribal-centric only to appease tribals, nothing else. While my concept of the tribal university is like BHU, JNU, Jamia Millia, AMU in which all faculties are in one campus,” Oraon said.
The former MLA said he is searching the documents by which Kartik Oraon had planned to establish Shakti Niketan along both sides of Sankh River which earlier came under the jurisdiction of Bihar and Madhya Pradesh and now comes under the jurisdiction of Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh.
“As far as I remember 1248 acres of land was being provided by Madhya Pradesh for the establishment of an educational institute of high repute to be spread in 3000 acres area,” the former MLA said.
Founder of Jharkhand Jungle Bachao, Sanjay Basu Mallick, welcomed the tribal university bill but at the same time talked about making it prestigious.
“It should be at par with Indira Gandhi National Tribal University, Amarkantak, wherein the faculty of science, department of biotechnology, botany, zoology, chemistry and environment science should also be included,” he said.
