Bhubaneswar: Former students of Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) hailing from Odisha will soon launch a collective effort to help the state build a robust environment for higher education and foster inclusive development of its people. A decision to this effect was taken at the maiden annual convention of the Odisha chapter of the Alumni Association of JNU (AAJO).
The alumni meet, the first such initiative, came against the backdrop of a campaign that was intended to vitiate its democratic environment in recent years. Several speakers at the convention stressed on the need for the students to come together to fight this onslaught.
The convention which saw participation of several eminent alumni members including Science and Technology Minister Ashok Chandra Panda and state Chief Secretary Asit Kumar Tripathy, also decided to explore ways to build a digital repository of the vast body of research work that currently lie scattered in universities and institutions around the world.
Addressing the valedictory session of the day-long event at Geeta Govinda Bhawan here Panda highlighted the contribution the JNU students had made in different walks of life – from politics to policy making, social justice to creative thinking. “Students play a significant role in the society,” the minister said.
Tripathy, who studied political science at JNU, sought to highlight the democratic ethos and values of the university. “JNU is unique,” he said, adding whoever has gone there has became an activist for a cause. “I also became an activist. I also went to jail,” he said referring to the imprisonment of hundreds of JNU students during a student agitation in 1983.
“JNUites never bothered to organise in defense of their alma mater, because there was no threat. But today JNU is under attack. They want to kill the idea of JNU,” said Anand Kumar, professor of sociology and one of the most active voices of JNU.