Tricolour to Fly ‘Proud’ Atop 207 Ft Mast in Central Varsities

The decision was taken in vice chancellor conference attended by Union Human Resource Development minister Smriti Irani.

In an attempt to evoke students’ patriotic spirit, the BJP-led government has made it mandatory for each central universities in the country to fly an Indian flag on a 207-feet high mast.

This comes at a time when a student leader in Delhi’s Jawaharlal Nehru University is under arrest for sedition after anti-India slogans were allegedly raised at a campus event in memory of Parliament attacker Afzal Guru.

The Tricolour, weighing 35 kg, will be flown atop a 207 feet tall flag pole at all the 46 Central universities like the one installed inside the Central Park in Delhi’s Connaught Place in March previous year, an official told Deccan Herald.

Despite the Opposition’s criticism of the flag issue, Thursday’s decision is understood to be reflective of the government’s resolve to adopt an aggressive posture on the issue.

Agitation at Hyderabad University went on for several days after Dalit scholar Rohith Vemula committed suicide. The first one will be hoisted at JNU.

“To encourage love for your country you should hoist the national flag”, he added.

The meeting was called to discuss measures aimed at fostering an inclusive character in the universities and strengthen grievance redressal mechanisms.

In order to keep pace with the emerging knowledge society worldwide, new courses were also proposed, including on foreign languages, new media and youth, inter-faith studies, dialogue of cultures and civilisations, women and entrepreneurship, epidemiology and public health, gerontology and diaspora studies.