The 207-feet Monumental Flag in Connaught Place, that has become an object of attraction in the premier business district in central Delhi, was installed in 2014.
New Delhi:
Flying the national flag prominently in the campus, on a 200-feet mast, is must for every central university, the Union human resources development ministry said today amid the massive controversy over alleged anti-India protests at Delhi's prestigious Jawaharlal Nehru University.
The flags, signifying a "strong India" will instill a "sense of unity and integrity" among students and the JNU also will be expected to follow it since it is a Central University, officials said.
The government claimed it was not a "top-down" order but one 46 university vice-chancellors proposed on their own at a meeting held in Surajkund today with HRD minister Smriti Irani. The meeting, scheduled earlier, had been postponed in the aftermath of the death of Dalit scholar Rohith Vemula at the University of Hyderabad.
One of the 12 resolutions taken at the meeting was that hoisting national flag in colleges will become "compulsory", said Harish Chandra Singh Rathore, the vice chancellor of South Bihar university.
"At a central place at every university the national flag will be flown permanently and proudly," the ninth resolution stated.
Sources tell NDTV that the HRD minister had asked why there shouldn't be flags on campuses like the one at Delhi's Connaught Place. The giant flag at the heart of Delhi was the brainchild of Congress lawmaker and industrialist Naveen Jindal.
Mr Jindal thanked the minister with a tweet, saying:
But others, like former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, questioned the move.
The decision comes amid the ongoing crisis over the raising of anti-national slogans at an event in JNU and the subsequent arrest of its student union leader Kanhaiya Kumar.
Mr Kumar, journalists and students have been beaten up by lawyers in the premises of a Delhi court during the hearing of his bail plea.
The flags, signifying a "strong India" will instill a "sense of unity and integrity" among students and the JNU also will be expected to follow it since it is a Central University, officials said.
The government claimed it was not a "top-down" order but one 46 university vice-chancellors proposed on their own at a meeting held in Surajkund today with HRD minister Smriti Irani. The meeting, scheduled earlier, had been postponed in the aftermath of the death of Dalit scholar Rohith Vemula at the University of Hyderabad.
One of the 12 resolutions taken at the meeting was that hoisting national flag in colleges will become "compulsory", said Harish Chandra Singh Rathore, the vice chancellor of South Bihar university.
"At a central place at every university the national flag will be flown permanently and proudly," the ninth resolution stated.
Sources tell NDTV that the HRD minister had asked why there shouldn't be flags on campuses like the one at Delhi's Connaught Place. The giant flag at the heart of Delhi was the brainchild of Congress lawmaker and industrialist Naveen Jindal.
Mr Jindal thanked the minister with a tweet, saying:
The National Flag shall encourage youth and students to rise above religious and political lines and be united.
- Naveen Jindal (@MPNaveenJindal) February 18, 2016
But others, like former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, questioned the move.
If hoisting the flag was all it took to address feelings of alienation problems of Kashmir & North East would have been solved decades ago.
- Omar Abdullah (@abdullah_omar) February 18, 2016
I'm all for innovative solutions but let's not kid ourselves that slogans heard in #JNU or #Jadhavpur will disappear with this HRD order.
- Omar Abdullah (@abdullah_omar) February 18, 2016
The decision comes amid the ongoing crisis over the raising of anti-national slogans at an event in JNU and the subsequent arrest of its student union leader Kanhaiya Kumar.
Mr Kumar, journalists and students have been beaten up by lawyers in the premises of a Delhi court during the hearing of his bail plea.
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