Kalahandi: The Kalahandi University at Bhawanipatna will now be known as Maa Manikeshwari University. The University Grants Commission (UGC) has approved Odisha government’s suggestion to change its name.
In this regard, UGC has also written to the state Higher Education department (DHE) and the University, reported The New Indian Express. The Kalahandi University is included in th
e list of state (public) universities established in accordance to the UGC Act of 1956.
The Government Autonomous College, Bhawanipatna, was granted unitary university tag by the Odisha government in 2019. In the same year, it was made an affiliating university.
The process to rename the university had started in 2023. Its new name is based on the name of the presiding deity of the district.
Sachidananda Mohanty from the UGC, who had visited the university last year, had learnt about the pending proposal of its renaming. He, therefore, intervened and guided the authorities in taking up the matter with the UGC. Mohanty was the former vice-chancellor of the Central University of Odisha, Koraput. He is currently a national fellow at the Indian Institute of Advanced Study.