PM Narendra Modi Inaugurates New Campus of Revived Nalanda University

On Wednesday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi declared that the opening of Nalanda University's new campus will make the day extremely significant for the education industry.

Modi posted on X, the former Twitter platform, saying, "Today is a very special day for our education sector." Today, at approximately 10.30 am, the new Nalanda University campus in Rajgir will be opened. Nalanda shares a close bond with our magnificent region. The university will undoubtedly make a significant contribution to meeting young people's educational demands.

The resuscitation of this historic center of study has not been without its challenges. It was the vision of the late President APJ Abdul Kalam and was initiated in 2007 with the passage of the Nalanda University Act, 2010.

A synopsis of Nalanda University's recent past

In 2006, President Kalam proposed the concept of recreating Nalanda institution, which is thought to be the first residential institution in history, during a joint session of the Bihar Vidhan Mandal.

The Bihar Legislative Assembly approved a law authorizing the establishment of the new institution a year later.

The Nalanda Mentor Group was established in 2007 by the Manmohan Singh government. Nobel laureate Amartya Sen chaired the group, which also included NK Singh, Lord Meghnad Desai, and professor Sugata Bose.

The Nalanda University Bill was approved by both Houses of Parliament on August 21, 2010 in the Rajya Sabha and August 26, 2010 in the Lok Sabha.

The grounds behind Kalam's disassociation from the initiative, which he did on September 15, 2011, as a guest of Nalanda University, were never disclosed.

On November 25, 2010, when the Nalanda University Act was passed, the Bihar government donated a 455-acre tract of land for the university's establishment. Gopa Sabharwal, a former sociology reader at a college affiliated with Delhi University, was named first vice-chancellor on Sen's proposal.

With 15 students and 10 staff members, Nalanda University began its inaugural academic session on September 1, 2014.

Renowned opponent of Prime Minister Narendra Modi Amartya Sen informed the university board in February 2015 that he was resigning from his position as chancellor. He mentioned "political meddling."

Sen wrote, "It is formally the case – given the legal provisions (some of which surviving colonial days)– that the government can turn an academic issue into a matter of political dispensation if it feels unrestrained about interfering, even though the Nalanda University Act, passed by Parliament, did not, I believe, envisage political interference in academic matters."

In Pilkhi, a Bihar town close to the ancient Nalanda site, late President Pranab Mukherjee laid the cornerstone of the permanent campus on August 27, 2016.

Mukherjee terminated the Nalanda Mentor Group on November 22, 2016. In two days, Sabharwal was instructed to leave the office.

George Yeo, Sen's replacement and a former Singaporean foreign minister, resigned as vice-chancellor three days later, claiming he was not included in the decision to call a meeting of the board again.

The historic Nalanda was a worldwide organization.

An international university, Nalanda University existed in antiquity. Students from Southeast Asia were drawn to China, Central Asia, and West Asia by it. At its height, it had 1,500 teachers and 10,000 students, 252 of them were from outside of India.

Archaeologist K.K. Muhammed, who produced a documentary about the university, also stated that a Sumerian ruler had given four towns to it.

Founded in the Gupta period, the old university's downfall is thought to have begun with a raid by Bakhtiyar Khalji in the year 1200.

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