Exhibition to commemorate 150the year of Presidency Universities

New Delhi, Jan 10 (UNI) Planning Commission member Bhalchandra Mungekar today said all the needs and requirements of the Culture Ministry would be taken care of when next year's budget is finalised.

Addressing the inaugural function of the exhibition commemorating 150 years of the three Presidency Universities at Calcutta, Bombay and Madras (1857-2007), Dr. Mungekar said India was proud of its higher education system which coincided with the first freedom struggle of the country in 1857.

He said the contribution of Calcutta, Madras and Bombay Universities was of immense importance in spreading the higher education in India.

''Today we have 350 universities, 17000 colleges and more than nine lakh university students, but still out of every 10th student there is one student from one of these three universities,'' he observed.

Mr Badal K Das, Secretary, Ministry of Culture, said the role of university education in the socio-economic transformation of India could not be ignored.

''The country is on the threshold of a knowledge society, and it would be worthwhile to peep into the past and see how momentous decisions were taken in the normal transaction of government business,'' he said.

''Alumni of Calcutta, Madras and Bombay Universities are virtually Who's Who of the Indian nationalist movement and our intellectual and scientific leadership,'' he added.

National Archives Director General K Jayakumar, who is also Joint Secretary, Culture Ministry, informed that his Ministry is planning to establish a network of State Archives and digitisation of records in the 11th Five-Year Plan to provide better access of information to research scholars.

He said all efforts would be made for the modernisation of the National Archives for better and optimum utilisation of available materials and records.

The exhibition which is being held at the National Archives of India here will remain open for public till January 31,and it will also travel to Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai.

UNI