Monks came forward and saved Buddhism in Sri Lanka in the past while it was driven out from India !!

Nalanda is believed to be the world’s first University and the largest Buddhist one at that. Situated in east of Patna in India it accommodated over 10,000 students and 2,000 teachers from Korea, Japan, China, Tibet, Indonesia, Persia and Turkey in its heyday. Subjects covered included science, astronomy, medicine and chiefly metaphysics and philosophy. Nagarjuna, a Mahayana philosopher and Dharmapala, the Brahmin scholar taught there. Hieun-Tsang, famous Chinese traveller and scholar stayed there. The university library had been the most renowned repository of Buddhist knowledge anywhere and its collection was said to comprise hundreds of thousands of volumes. Do you know what had happened to all that treasure and Buddhism in India after that?

First about what happened to Nalanda University. A Man named Bakhtiar Khilji, a military General of Qutb-ud-din Aybak, Turkic king who ruled a part of India from Delhi ransacked Nalanda and set fire to it in 1193. The university is said have burned for months.

Why do a military General want to desecrate and burn a peaceful and a serene monastery? To answer that question you’ll have understand the religion of the General and his gang who burned it; Islam. You’ll have to understand the mentality of Islamists. And for that you have to download copy of the Koran and read it. To assist you, let me say, over 60% of the Koran is not about Muslims but non-Muslims who their prophet named as unbelievers. Therefore non-Muslims like us have the rights know what Koran tells Muslims about us, unbelievers.

We ought to know that Koran tells Muslims about inferiority of non-Muslims. They must know that Koran compares non-Muslims to vile animals and Allah’s dark plans for their eternal torture. They must know Koran dehumanizes non-Muslims, describing them as “animals” and beasts; like in 98:6, 8:55, 7:166, 7:179 and etc. They must know that Koran tells Muslims not to take Non-Muslims as Friends; like in 58:22, 4:144, 5:51, 3:118 and etc. They must know Koran orders Muslims to fight unbelievers; 9:123 etc. They must know Koran tells Muslims that Allah curse other religions; like 48:28 etc. They must know that Non-Muslims are to be fought until religion is only for Allah; like in 8:39, 2:193 and etc. They must know that Koran says that people of other religions are to be violently punished in this world; like in 9:30, 4:76 and etc. non-Muslims must know that 19% of the Koran is devoted to violent conquest and subjugation of non-Muslim.

Monks at Nalanda never knew any of those Koran teachings. Indeed they may have been concern only about, as this writer says ‘compassion and love’ to others. And monks fled and Buddhism disappeared from India in the face of a crazy attacker.

It is absurd to expect this writer know about historical Muslim fanaticism or what had happened at Nalanda, when he considers all Muslims are peace loving egalitarians like smooth talking Imtiaz Bakir Markar. I am sure writer is clueless what Muslims had done to their own kind in this country. Would he otherwise preach us that all Sri Lankan Muslims are peace lovers?

Let me tell him first that Muslims in Sri Lanka are increasingly being coached under Wahhabis who themselves were indoctrinated in Medina and King Abdul Aziz Universities of Saudi on true Islam meaning Interpreting the Koran correctly. Bin Laden is a true Islamist. I bet the one who set the Boston bomb must be a true Islamist as well.

Whether we like it or not, Wahhabi Islam has become the trend in Sri Lanka for sometime now. We can feel of it more now from the Arab like cultural invasion. Wahhabis despise Sufis and for they think Sufis are not true Islamists.

A Sufi named Abdullah opened a Meditation Centre at Kattankudy in 1996. Wahhabis made an arson attack on the building on May 29 the same year. Abdullah died on Dec 6th 2006. Just nine days later, a Wahhabi mob invaded the Meditation Centre, knocked down the minaret and removed the body of Abdullah’s body and burned it. The houses of 117 Sufis were destroyed by the fire. Many Sufis fled the district, two were injured, and one lost an arm. Peace loving people. It won’t be long before Wahhabis take on Sinhala Buddhists on some pretext.

Now tell us; how do you compare that bit of Muslim act unleashed on a group of the same sect to action against all Muslims by all Buddhist organisations put together, eh? You are making a mountain out a molehole.

We have come to know true characters of candle light vigils. We don’t mind they stand with Wahhabis, only if they know what Wahhabis’s inside is like. Are you telling us that Monks have to be quiet when Mullahs of Wahhabi infested ACJU were roping every Sinhala manufacture to pay them millions and hang Halaal badge on their own produce? What do you mean by “hijacking the ideals of Buddhism”?

You may not know, but whenever there was a threat to the nation, Monks had come forward to tell us the truth and remind of the past and save the nation. That is exactly what BBS is doing now. Find an old book or a pamphlet and learn how Monks in this country saved Buddhism in the past while it was driven out from India.
Read more:-http://goo.gl/et52Y

Amartya Sen: Bureacratic delays in Nalanda

Noted economist and Nobel laureate Prof. Amartya Sen has blamed bureaucratic delays for the money sanctioned for the proposed Nalanda University not being made available for use to get the university going. He also

took a gentle swipe at Indian bureaucracy, saying that India is quite famous for bureaucratic control.
Without mincing words, the Nobel laureate told a large gathering at the capital’s Teen Murti House auditorium that while the funds had been sanctioned, it was “difficult to get it out of the kitty”. Asked how much money was needed, he responded by saying, “As much as we can get.”
The university being set up under an international initiative by the East Asia Summit with the ministry of external affairs involved in its setting up.
Prof. Sen, who is the chairman of the governing board of the proposed Nalanda University, was giving a presentation on it here on Friday evening. Asked when the first two of the seven schools that are planned for this university will come up, Prof. Sen said, “We will take charge of the students when we can take charge of the students.”
To another question on when teaching at the first two schools the university will set up will begin, Prof. Sen said, “As soon as we are in a position to move forward. While land for the proposed university has been provided by the Bihar government, it is learnt that those in charge of setting up this institution faced great difficulty in even getting the money to build a boundary wall around it.”
Prof. Sen also denied reports that former President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, who had been taking keen interest in the proposed university, has dissociated himself from the project as its first visitor. He said the decision was that the former President would be the first visitor and thereafter it was to be whoever might be the country’s President, the proposed university being a Central varsity.
However, he said: “Dr Kalam was not approached for six months and then requested to be visitor).” So Dr Kalam wrote to Prof. Sen saying that he felt that the work was intended for the President and had “moved some distance from being President”.
Read More: http://www.deccanchronicle.com/channels/nation/north/sen-bureacratic-delays-nalanda-145

Nalanda’s first step takes it to China

The reborn Nalanda University may not have its campus built as yet, but it renewed its historical links with China here today. A two-day workshop inaugurated by professor Amartya Sen at Peking University this morning marked new Nalanda’s first-ever academic activity.

“Old Nalanda flourished without borders, so will new Nalanda,” Sen told a distinguished gathering of academics and scholars who attended the workshop on “Historical and cultural interactions between China and India”.

The symbolism of new Nalanda’s first academic partnership with a Chinese university was highlighted by the former’s first vice-chancellor, Gopa Sabharwal.

But Sen’s inauguration of the workshop added a modern-day dimension to the historical links between India and China in higher education that Xuanzang’s visit to old Nalanda in the 7th century symbolised. The Nobel laureate was here to chair a meeting of the Nalanda University’s governing board.

Wang Bangwei of Peking University recalled that Sen’s grandfather, Kshitimohan Sen, had accompanied Rabindranath Tagore on his visit to China in 1924.

Sen’s inaugural speech at the workshop on “Higher Education in History: Asia and Europe” dwelt at length on ancient links between India and China in the fields of scholarship and pedagogy. Old Nalanda offered courses in higher education of which there was no parallel in Europe.

He, however, began his speech by presenting a very different picture of the state of higher education in Asia, Europe and the US today.

Quoting a report on the top 200 universities and other centres of learning today, he noted that only a few Asian universities — from China and Japan — figured on that list. There was none from India.

Yet, in history, Asia once led the way. Old Nalanda, which had 10,000 students at its peak and where students came from many countries, including present-day Turkey, represented “borderless knowledge”.

Nalanda of the 7th and the 8th centuries offered studies in a wide range of fields including religion, history, law, linguistics, public health, astronomy and medicine. Circumstantial evidence suggests, Sen said, that mathematics too was taught there.

Nalanda’s links with China were special as it was the only centre of monastic and higher learning outside China where Chinese students studied. “Education has to fight parochialism and (old) Nalanda was committed to it.” And, an Indian official was made the head of astronomical studies in China in the 8th century.

The idea behind reinventing Nalanda was not to “beat the West but to learn from its successes”. Global co-operation was key to new Nalanda’s success and Sen suggested that Peking University could serve as a collaborator for new Nalanda.

George Yeo, former foreign minister of Singapore and a member of the Nalanda international advisers’ panel, who also spoke at the inauguration of the workshop, said that there was hardly any conflict between India and China during their long and historical relationship. The “minor” conflict of 1962 was “largely forgotten” in China, although it remained a scarred memory in India.

Today, the interactions between China and the US have attracted global attention. But in the future, the “critical relationship”, Yeo said, would be between India and China. And this would be not just because of the large populations of the two countries or their economies but also because of their “intellectual firepower”.
Read More: http://goo.gl/0bTDu

Nalanda may be World Educational and Pilgrims Hub

Thousands of Buddhist pilgrims from Thailand and worldwide are flocking to the holy sites in northern India and Nepal in what is becoming one of the travel industry's biggest growth sectors: religious tourism.

The numbers are growing in line with significant improvements being made in infrastructure as well as the quality of supporting travel and transport arrangements. Roads, airports and railway services are being upgraded. Dozens of hotels have emerged. One of them in Bodhgaya is appropriately named "Thai International".

The circuit incorporates various holy sites in Bodhgaya, Sarnath, Rajgir, Varanasi, Nalanda, Lumbini, Kushinagar and Sravasti, all associated with places where the Buddha was born, preached, attained enlightenment and died.

Known as "Following the Footsteps of the Buddha", the sites attract several hundred people a day. Most appear to be Sri Lankans who also come in the low-season summer months to enjoy lower hotel rates and airfares.

In the winter, from October-March, the regular traffic includes Thais and visitors from industrialised countries, both regulars and new Buddhist devotees. Last week, my group alone included people from Mexico, Mauritius, Italy, Hong Kong, the UK, Canada and India.

Separately, two other large all-Thai groups were also travelling on the Mahaparinirvan Express, a special rail journey organised by the Indian Railways Catering and Tourism Corporation, a division within the massive Indian railway system that caters to foreign visitors.

The rolling stock is leased from the railway enterprise and the price of US$150 to $160 per person per night is affordable to a middle-class market, preventing it from becoming too elitist.

Leading one of the groups was Narierut Pantong, managing director of Nisco Travel, which specialises in Buddhist tours. She says that everything is getting better by the year: the roads, quality of hotels, food and the tour arrangements.

"When I started these tours several years ago, the toilets on the train were always in a mess, and the hotel food was terrible. Now the Indian Railways people have evaluated the feedback and taken positive steps," she says.

Nalanda, site of what is claimed to be the world's oldest university, has been cleaned up extensively, with security guards posted to stop graffiti scrawling, one of the biggest problems at the sites.

Thais are coming in droves, to the extent where the young urchins in one village near a holy spot can even now count in Thai. The entire area is dotted with numerous Thai temples and monasteries that are well-maintained, thanks to the huge funds coming in via donations as well as purchases of souvenirs, amulets and Buddha images.

At one stop just before crossing the border to Nepal, a temple that functions as a rest and refreshment stop is manned entirely by Thai monks.

In Sravasti, Uttar Pradesh, where the Buddha spent 25 monsoon seasons, a huge Buddha image and a 110-metre stupa now under construction are under the aegis of the World Peacefulness Foundation, whose chairman and patron is Maha Upasika Sitthipol Bankot.

The entire area of several thousand square metres began with the planting of 9,999 banyan trees, creating a natural forest and a fresh-water reservoir. A huge meditation centre houses six large halls of 3,000 capacity each.

The area boasts several more temples and monasteries of various Buddhist denominations from Sri Lanka, Japan, Korea, Taiwan and Tibet. Some are supported by governments but many are self-funded via donations.

But there is a considerable way to go. Some hardship is a necessary part of being on a pilgrimage. The Buddha sought to keep the focus on human suffering, and there is plenty of that in India, both in the villages as well as all along the roads and pathways.

Signage and waste disposal facilities are still poor. Civic sense remains a challenge. Garbage is strewn in many places, with plastic bottles even floating in the ponds at some sites. Beggars and vendors wait outside the holy spots, ready to swarm over pilgrims.

Carrying capacity will soon become an issue. The temple at Bodhgaya, the site of Buddha's enlightenment, can barely cope with the numbers and will soon face more pressure as the hundreds of daily visitors soon become thousands.

Indeed, Bodhgaya should see much improvement following a change of government in Bihar, long impoverished by the corrupt former administration.

Navigating this itinerary requires a good tour-management system so that devotees can remain focused on their primary purpose for being there.

Other states are also looking at starting similar rail journeys. Our tour included the head of Punjab Tourism, which sees high potential for a rail trip through Sikh holy spots, starting with Amritsar, home of the famous Golden Temple.
Read more: http://goo.gl/6zM2y

Nalanda - World Ancient Seat of Learning !!

Towards the Southeast of Patna, the Capital City of Bihar State in India, is a village called the 'Bada Gaon', in the vicinity of which, are the world famous ruins of Nalanda University.

Founded in the 5th Century A.D., Nalanda is known as the ancient seat of learning. 2,000 Teachers and 10,000 Students from all over the Buddhist world lived and studied at Nalanda, the first Residential International University of the World.

A walk in the ruins of the university, takes you to an era, that saw India leading in imparting knowledge, to the world - the era when India was a coveted place for studies. The University flourished during the 5th and 12th century.

Although Nalanda is one of the places distinguished as having been blessed by the presence of the Buddha, it later became particularly renowned as the site of the great monastic university of the same name , which was to become the crown jewel of the development of Buddhism in India. The name may derive from one of Shakyamuni's former births , when hewas a king whose capital was here.Nalanda was one of his epithets meaning "insatiable in giving."

This place saw the rise and fall of many empires and emperors who contributed in the development of Nalanda University. Many monasteries and temples were built by them. Kingarshwardhana gifted a 25m high copper statue of Buddha and Kumargupta endowed a college of fine arts ere. Nagarjuna- a Mahayana philosopher, Dinnaga- founder of the school of Logic and Dharmpala- the Brahmin scholar, taught here.

The famous Chinese traveller and scholar,Hieun-Tsang stayed here and has given a detailed description of the situations prevailing at that time. Careful excavation of the place has revealed many stupas, monasteries,hostels,stair cases,meditation halls, lecture halls and many other structures which speak of the splendour and grandeur this place enjoyed,when the place was a centre of serious study.

A large number of ancient Buddhist establishments, stupas, chaityas, temples and monastery sites have been excavated and they show that this was one of the most important Buddhist centres of worship and culture.Regarding the historicity of Nalanda, we read in Jaina texts that Mahavira Vardhamana spent as many as fourteen rainy seasons in Nalanda.

Pali Buddhist Literature , too, has ample references to Nalanda, which used to be visited by Lord Buddha. During the days of Mahavira and Buddha,Nalanda was apparently a very prosperous temple city, a great place of pilgrimage and the site of a celebrated university. It is said that King Asoka gave offerings to the Chaitya of Sariputra at Nalanda and erected a temple there.Taranath mentions this and also that Nagarjuna, the famous Mahayana philosopher of the second century A.D.,studied at Nalanda.Nagarjuna later became the high-priest there.

The Gupta kings patronised these monasteries, built in old Kushan architectural style, in a row of cells around a courtyard.Ashoka and Harshavardhana were some of its most celebrated patrons who built temples and monasteries here. Recent excavations have unearthed elaborate structures here. Hiuen Tsang had left ecstatic accounts of both the ambiance and architectureof this unique university of ancient times.

Modern historians have tentatively dated the founding of a monastery at Nalanda as being in the fifth century.However, this may not be accurate. For example,the standard biographiesof the teacher Nagarjuna, believed by most historians to have been born around 150 AD, are quite specific about his having received ordination at Nalanda monastery when he was seven years old. Further, histeacherRahulabhadra is said to have lived there for some time before that. We may infer that there were a monastery or monasteries at Nalanda long before the foundation of the later Great Mahavihara.

At the time Hsuan Chwang stayed at Nalanda and studied with the abbot Shilabhadra, it was already a flourishing centre of learning. In many ways it seems to have been like a modern university.There was a rigorous oral entry examination conducted by erudite gatekeepers,and many students were turned away.To study or to have studied at Nalanda was a matter of great prestige. However, no degree was granted nor was a specific period of study required. The monks' time, measured by a water clock, was divided between study and religious rites and practice.There were schools of study in which students received explanations by discourse, and there were also schools of debate, where the mediocre were often humbled, and the conspicuously talented distinguished. Accordingly, the elected abbot was generally the most learned man of the time.

The libraries were vast and widely renowned, although there is a legend of a malicious fire in which many of the texts were destroyed and irrevocably lost.
During the Gupta age,the practice and study of the mahayana, especially the madhyamaka, flourished. However, from 750 AD, in the Pala age, there was an increase in the study and propagation of the tantric teachings.This is evidenced by the famous pandit Abhayakaragupta, a renowned tantric practitioner who was simultaneously abbot of the Mahabodhi, Nalanda and Vikramashila monasteries. Also Naropa, later so important to the tantric lineages of the Tibetan traditions, was abbot of Nalanda in the years 1049-57.

Much of the tradition of Nalanda had been carried into Tibet by the time of the Muslim invasions of the twelfth century. While the monasteries of Odantapuri and Vikramashila were then destroyed, the buildings at Nalanda do not seem to have suffered extensive damage at that time, although most of the monks fled before the desecrating armies. In 1235 the Tibetan pilgrim Chag Lotsawa found a 90 year old teacher, Rahula Shribhadra, with a class of seventy students. Rahula Shribhadra managed to survive through the support of a local brahmin and did not leave untilhe had completed educating his last Tibetan student.
Read more: http://goo.gl/lR21L

Nalanda University to have IT faculty while reliving past glory !!

The proposed Nalanda International University, which aims to recreate the legendary 11th century institution, will adopt a forward looking approach by establishing a department of information technology, Nobel Luerrate Amartya Sen, who heads the university's governing board, said here Saturday.

"India has special skills in the field of IT. It would help in the skill development in Bihar. In fact, Nitish (Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar) has been very keen about it," he told TNN. He praised Kumar for being supportive of the university plans.

"We are also going to teach the glorious history of Bihar as part of the work in the faculty of historical studies," he said.

The Nalanda board, which met in Beijing over the past two days, decided to initially establish two faculties on historical and environmental studies and follow up the effort with more faculties on subjects like Buddhism and Comparative Religion, International Relations and IT. It also decided to go for an international competition to choose the architect for the university buildings.

Sen said the process of establishing the university has been greatly delayed by the ministry of external affairs, which failed to take timely decisions to release funds and resolves issues concerning the appointment of its vice chancellor.

"Nalanda has suffered because of complications at the MEA although there was an enabling act of parliament," he said. The university is also facing a media campaign at the local level in Bihar because some people are taking a parochial attitude towards it.

"A lot of lies have been spread about the Nalanda University," he said. Sen called on critics of the university in Bihar to eschew parochialism, and let it emerge as a world institution that would enhance the State's image as a traditional centre of learning. The university was seeking funds and educational excellence from all countries, he said.

The board has approved Gopa Sabharwal as vice chancellor designate but a formal appointment has been pending because of confusion about the role of former President Abdul Kalam, who was supposed to clear it as the First Visitor of the University.

"It was for the MEA to approach Kalam and clarify if he wanted to continue as First Visitor and it did not do that," Sen said.

None of Indian universities figured in the top 200 universities determined by a survey by the Times High Educational Supplement this month, he pointed out. The effort at Nalanda was to create a world class institution brining in the best of talent from all countries.

"We are inviting funds from all sources, wherever we can get. We can start more faculties if we can get more funds," he said. "We are particularly encouraged by the possibility that Peking University will serve as a collaborator," Sen said.
Read more: http://goo.gl/TyhsN

Kalam’s refusal to be Visitor at Nalanda International University questions its credibility!!

The preparations for revival of Nalanda International University and start its academic session in 2013 has received a major setback after former President APJ Abdul Kalam refused to be the first Visitor at the university.

Kalam’s decision has not only shrugged the much talked about project rather the whole plan is now tangled in various technical hassles.

The fate of the ancient university that is being revived in collaboration with16 nations and with a whopping investment of over Rs 1000 crores is now in limbo.

While Kalam has refused to be the first Visitor at the university, the appointment of the already chosen Vice Chancellor, Dr Gopa Sabharwal is also waiting for his approval, making her position questionable.

She has been fulfilling the responsibility as the varsity’s VC since October 2008 on the direction of the Foreign Ministry and the recommendation of the Mentor Group led by Amartya Sen.

Speaking to Dainik Jagran, Gopa said, “The government informed about Dr Kalam’s decision in the Interim Governing Board meeting held in Patna on July 6 to July 7. Then, Board Chairman Amartya Sen wrote a letter to Dr Kalam requesting him to take up the post but he expressed inability to accept the honour.”

However, the sources revealed that apart from technical hassles, existence of ego hassles between Kalam and Sen cannot be ruled out behind Kalam’s refusal. One of the reasons being cited is the Mentor Group not consulting him on appointment of the VC and other major decisions.

It is to be noted that Dr Kalam was behind the idea of revival of Nalanda University for which the Bihar government made a law to appoint him as the first Visitor at the varsity.
Read more:http://goo.gl/GBFl6

Amartya comes to NIU VC Gopa's defence

The appointment of Dr Gopa Sabharwal, currently associate professor at New Delhi's Lady Shri Ram College For Women in Sociology, as the vice-chancellor of the upcoming Nalanda International University (NIU) has kicked up a row in academic circles across the country. Scholars have questioned her 'academic' as well as 'administrative skill' to run a university like NIU.

But now, Amartya Sen, the Nobel Prize winning economist who was the chief of the erstwhile Nalanda Mentor Group (NMG) and is now the head of the varsity's governing council, has come to her defence.

Breaking his silence on the controversy from Boston, Sen, in an interview to a US-based organization, Asia Society, said that Sabharwal's academic qualifications are excellent and her administrative ability is well established. She is totally committed to the Nalanda project.

"Her involvement with Bihar and willingness to be based in Nalanda contrasted sharply with some others who could have been considered for the position," Sen said.

"The four primary considerations that the selection committee had, on the basis of the deliberations of the MNG, were: (1) academic excellence, (2) administrative ability, (3) interest in — and commitment to — the Nalanda university project, and (4) willingness to be based on the new campus in Nalanda to build an intellectual community there from scratch, and be fully involved with Bihar's problems and concerns," he said.

Sen added that members of the selection committee talked to at least 20 people, sought their advice and also checked their own interest in being considered for the position, with the requirement of living at Nalanda, as and when it (the varsity) became a functioning reality.

"The selection committee decided that the best feasible appointment would be Dr Sabharwal, but it was willing to accept the possibility of appointing some other person from a list of three it gave to the GOI (government of India). Dr. Sabharwal's academic qualifications are excellent (one of our advisers on the academic side was Professor Andre Beteille, a world-renowned sociologist) ...," Sen said.

However, French Buddhist scholar Claude Arpi told TOI over phone: "A person without Buddhist links has been selected as the VC of the new Nalanda university; it's a shame".

Former head of the department of history, Patna University, Surendra Gopal remarked, "To the best of my knowledge, she is not known among academia in social sciences. She has no experience to run a university like Nalanda. He also expressed surprise over the non-inclusion of any scholar from Bihar as well as from Delhi in the NMG.

Chairman of the Institute of Human Development, New Delhi, Alakh N Sharma had similar views, "She does not possess any intellectual stature among social scientists in the country."

Neeraj Kumar, president of the Society for Asian Integration, New Delhi, had a different take on the issue, "The new VC should be appointed as per Nalanda tradition — through a public debate among the contenders who fulfil the eligibility criteria."
Read more: http://goo.gl/S9GXc

Nalanda University: Nitish fails to change Kalam’s mind

With A P J Abdul Kalam dissociating himself from the proposed Nalanda International University, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Friday reached out to the former president in an attempt to persuade him to reconsider. Sources close to Kumar, however, said Kalam may not change his mind.

Kalam, who had been appointed the university’s first visitor, recently decided to disassociate himself from it. Nitish is learnt to have been taken by surprise as he had personally sought the former president’s services to push the university project. In fact, the project had got on track during Kalam’s tenure as president.

Kalam, it is learnt, offered all possible support from his side but politely excused himself from reconsidering his decision during his meeting with the CM at his residence in the Capital on Friday.
Read more: http://goo.gl/l6ssO

A Reader ‘appointed’ as VC of Nalanda International University

A Reader serving as the Vice Chancellor of an International University! Sounds somewhat grotesque, yet this is the fact.
If the RTI reply of November 22 last year is to be believed Dr Gopa Sabharwal, Reader in the Department of Sociology in the Lady Sri Ram College is the Vice Chancellor of the Nalanda International University, whose idea was conceived by the then President Dr A P J Abdul Kalam.

Though she has nothing to do with the Buddhist Studies, on which the University specializes, she as the VC draws a salary of Rs 5,06,513 per month, double than the VC of Delhi University. Not only that she and seven of her associates are drawing salaries since October 2010.


But that is not the strangest part of the story. What is ridiculous is that the Minister of State for External Affairs, E Ahamad, told Rajya Sabha on August 25, 2011 that no VC has been appointed by the government.


Interestingly, Dr Gopa did not meet the mandatory qualification set by the University Grants Commission (UGC) for the Vice Chancellors of the central and state universities.

Only a distinguished academicians with a minimum ten years of experience as a professor in a university can be appointed as the VC.

" Its shocking for all of us that how a mentor group headed by Prof. Amartya Sen recommended a candidate for the post of VC of Nalanda International University who is hardly known for his academic excellance or proven administrative capability. Can any senior academician would ever think of joining this university under current VC." said anguished economist Prof. N K Chaudhary.

The RTI reply was provided by none else but the Joint Secretary Nagendra Kumar Saxena of the same ministry. It revealed that on the recommendations of the Nalanda Mentor Group, Dr Gopa Sabharwal was formally appointed Vice Chancellor.


According to a report recently published in Tehelka magazine the government has spent Rs 2.11 crore on meetings held by a Mentor Group constituted under the chairmanship of Professor Amartya Sen in Singapore, Tokyo, New York, Delhi and Gaya to conceptualise establishment of the University.

As per the report the Group was formed in 2007 and was supposed to file a final report within a period of nine months, but it has not done so yet. The Parliament, however, enacted the law for it in 2010 which was notified on September 22, 2010.


But the moot question is how the a Vice Chancellor-designate was appointed even before the Act was notified for its establishment and that too at such a huge salary.


Not only that Gopa Sabharwal was appointed through an order issued by a Secretary in MEA on the recommendation of the Mentor Group.

Now questions are being asked as to who authorised the Mentor Group to recommend the name of the first VC of the university and why the ministry accepted the sole name proposed without seeking a panel of names required for such an appointment.


It is not only that: Dr Sabharwal picked up her friend Dr Anjana Sharma, an Associate Professor in Delhi University, as the Officer-on-Special Duty (OSD) on deputation, with gross monthly salary of Rs 3.30 lakhs, which is more than the salary of a Vice Chancellor in the rest of the country.


They also found nothing wrong in setting up headquarters of the university in a rented building in the R K Puram in South Delhi in January this year even though the Act specifically says the university’s headquarters shall be in Nalanda district in Bihar.

The Standing Committee of the ministry says in its report just tabled in Parliament that the Nalanda project was estimated in 2007 to cost Rs 1,005 crore but this may have to be revised, and that the same Mentor Group has now become the Interim Governing Board of the University. In its very first meeting in February last the Board, according to the report, nominated adviser committee and the two persons representing India in it are Ms Upinder Singh, daughter of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, and her colleague Ms Nayanjot Lahiri, who are not experts on any aspect of the Nalanda tradition or history.

Read more: http://goo.gl/sjv25

Reviving Ancient Glory : Nalanda International University of India

The name Nalanda in Sanskrit means “giver of knowledge”: a combination of “nalam” (lotus, representing knowledge) and “da” (“to give”). Nalanda University of yore was founded according to historians in the fifth century (427 A.D.) as a place of learning for Buddhist monks and is known to have been one of the first great residential universities in recorded history. Today Nalanda is a World Heritage site. The ruins of the monastery are located about 55 miles south east of the modern Indian city of Patna.

The University taught a wide range of subjects besides Buddhism including fine arts, medicine, mathematics, astronomy, war tactics, and politics. Over ten thousand students were taught by a faculty of 2000 in the idyllic forested green surroundings. The ruins at Nalanda even today attracts a large number of tourists.

As part of an international effort the world renowned ancient Nalanda university is now being revived with the setting up of a modern university as an international centre of excellence.

The Nalanda International University is scheduled to begin academic activities from the 2013-14 session from rented premises with two subjects - Historical studies and Environment and Ecological studies - till the construction of its own campus is completed work on which is continuing.

Way back in 2006 former President APJ Abdul Kalam while addressing the Bihar Legislature on March 28,2006 stressed the need for establishing a new Nalanda University that would be a place for meeting of minds from the national and international arenas, to carry out research that would link philosophy to science, to technology, economy and spirituality and integrate both ancient and modern thinking.

It was in the East Asia Summit held in Thailand in Oct 2009 that a decision was finally taken by the member countries which included the ten ASEAN countries and Australia, China, India, Japan, Korea, and New Zealand, to set up the university. Later several other countries including the US too has given its support to the move.


The Nalanda University Bill was cleared by the Indian Parliament in 2010 to set up the University with a cost of Rs.1005 crore.

The University is initially going to have schools for Buddhist Studies, Philosophy and Comparative Religions; Historical Studies; International Relations and Peace Studies; Business Management in relation to Public Policy and Development Studies; Languages and Literature; Ecology and Environmental Studies. There are also plans to add one on Information Technology.

Initially the Planning Commission has allocated Rs. 50 crore as endowment fund in the form of a special grant for the commencement of activities and till such time the Nalanda University becomes sustainable on its own.

Both the External Affairs Ministry which is acting as the nodal Ministry for this project and Bihar government are closely monitoring the development of this prestigious international project. The government . of Bihar has already acquired about 500 acres of land in Rajgir close to the original Nalanda. An international architecture competition is to be held to finalise the design of Nalanda International University.
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Prelude to an Asian awakening

The new Nalanda International University will ‘emphasise the importance of eastern intellectual endeavour’ and as the continent re-emerges on the world stage ‘its civilisational origins will become a subject of intense study and debate’, writes ardhendu chatterjee

AT the 98th Indian Science Congress held at SRM University in Kattankulathur near Chennai in the first week of this month, Nobel laureate Amartya Sen, head of the Nalanda Mentor Group, assured the nation that although restoring Bihar’s Nalanda University was a stupendous task given the hype generated over its revival and the huge expectation from the international community, the proposed university — a reincarnation of the world famous seat of learning in ancient India — was “being re-started right now”.
Although the new Nalanda International University was scheduled to be launched in 2009, issues like its basic structure and financial aspects have delayed its second coming. As creating an endowment of at least $1 billion for its re-establishment is badly needed, India’s dithering is understandable.
However, the Indian Parliament already passed the Nalanda University Bill with the Planning Commission following it up by earmarking Rs 50 crore “as endowment fund in the form of a special grant for the commencement of activities and till such time the Nalanda University becomes sustainable on its own.”
It deserves mention that former President APJ Abdul Kalam, during his official visit to Singapore in 2006, first floated the idea of the restoration of Nalanda University with all its pristine glory and excellence in a modern makeover. He then expounded his vision while addressing the Bihar Assembly. The Bihar government lost no time in taking up the matter in right earnest. It passed a bill in 2007 to establish Nalanda University and acquired about 500 acres of land in Rajgir, near the hallowed site of the ruined Nalanda University; acquisition of another 500 acres is also underway. It also succeeded in persuading the Centre to get involved in this massive project and take it over from the cash-strapped state.
The Centre agreed to shore up the state government move with financial support considering the international interest in the proposed university. The role of Singapore has been very commendable. Its sustained effort to spread the idea of the revival of the renowned seat of learning in course of “Nalanda Symposium” in November 2006 caught the fancy of East Asian countries, especially China, Japan and Korea. It also worked in tandem with Japan to raise resources to give a concrete shape to the plan. The move received a further fillip with the Japanese diplomat Noro Motoyasu’s announcement on 28 May 2007 that Japan would fund the university substantially.
The East Asia Summit, a conglomeration of Asean plus six countries ie China, Japan, India, Korea, Australia and New Zealand provided further boost to the project in 2007. Again in 2009, at its fourth summit, it made a fervent plea to its members to make “appropriate funding arrangements on a voluntary basis from government and other sources including public-private partnership” for this “non-state, non-profit, secular and self-governing international institution.”
The conglomeration decided to raise $500 million to build the proposed university and another $500 million to develop infrastructural facilities. A joint communiqué issued by Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his Chinese counterpart Wen Jiabao, who was on a state visit to India from 15-17 December last, also stated that China “welcomed India’s efforts to revive the Nalanda University. Both sides appreciated the work of the Nalanda Mentor Group and the progress made so far. India welcomed China’s contribution of $1 million for the university.”
The new university is likely to embrace the same seal of the ancient Buddhist University as its emblem in deference to its historic legacy.
The announcement of Professor Sen who has “the difficult task of chairing its interim governing body” comes as a fresh breath of air at a time when we do not care to respect the contributions of our centuries-old institutions of higher learning to the advancement of learning and dissemination of knowledge across the globe. The globe-trotting Nobel laureate is quite alive to the problems of re-establishing the university “after a 800-year hiatus”. His task is all the more unenviable in view of the complete faith reposed by his countrymen in his leadership, educational ideals and vision.
One, however, reasonably hopes that the university “aimed at advancing the concept of an Asian community... and rediscovering old relationships” will soon resurrect as an academic melting pot for students and teachers of the whole world as paucity of funds and bureaucratic red tape have not so far been a bottleneck to its restoration.
It is unfortunate that this ancient centre of higher learning, known as “one of the first great universities in recorded history” that served the international academic community for more than 700 years since its establishment in the fifth century ceased to exist after Afghan conqueror Bakhtiyar Khilji destroyed it in 1193. Otherwise, it would have been placed on the same pedestal as Oxford and Cambridge universities.
Nalanda could also be compared with the oldest European university at Bologna which, according to Professor Sen, came up when “Nalanda was more than 600 years old… Had it not been destroyed and had it managed to survive to our time, Nalanda would be, by a long margin, the oldest university in the world.” Nalanda was established some 500 years before the Al-Azhar University in Cairo (970 AD.)
It has been decided that the new university would have facilities “including the teaching of and research in humanities such as history, languages and linguistics and comparative religion, as well as the social sciences and the world of practice such as international relations, management and development and information technology”. It would have a School of Buddhist studies, philosophy and comparative religion; School of Historical Studies; School of International Relations and Peace; School of Business Management and Development; School of Languages and Literature; and School of Ecology and Environmental Studies. The visitor of the university would either be the President of India or any other person appointed by him. The university would function as a public-private partnership with funds to be provided voluntarily by the respective governments of the member states. The Mea is expected to relax visa procedures for foreign faculty and students visiting India in this connection.
Professor Sen must be aware that Bihar is now desperately trying to shed its age-old image as a lawless state. The state is registering exponential growth in economy under the dynamic leadership of Nitish Kumar. It has made tremendous headway in education as well with the math wizard and Super 30 founder Anand Kumar winning international accolades. So any effort to delay or dilute the project or shift any of its locations elsewhere would be counterproductive.
The project is expected be the lifeline of Bihar’s economy. It would revive Buddhist cultures, attract scholars from all over the world, promote tourism and develop the economic conditions of people living in the 200-odd villages near the site. The success of this academic venture will strengthen cooperation among the Asian countries and promote mutual understanding. To quote Singapore foreign minister George Yeo, also an NMG member, Nalanda International University would be the “icon of Asian Renaissance… as Asia re-emerges on the world stage this century, its civilisational origins will become a subject of intense study and debate. Asians will look back to their own past and derive inspiration from it for the future”.
Most importantly, it will emphasise the importance of eastern intellectual endeavour and ensure that human cultural understanding is not dominated by the Western civilisational model.
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Nalanda-The Greatest University of World !!

World Oldest university on earth is reborn after 800 years !!

Nalanda, an ancient seat of learning destroyed in 1193, will rise again thanks to a Nobel-winning economist-Dr. Amartya Sen.

During the six centuries of its storied existence, there was nothing else quite like Nalanda University. Probably the first-ever large educational establishment, the college – in what is now eastern India – even counted the Buddha among its visitors and alumni. At its height, it had 10,000 students, 2,000 staff and strove for both understanding and academic excellence. Today, this much-celebrated centre of Buddhist learning is in ruins.

After a period during which the influence and importance of Buddhism in India declined, the university was sacked in 1193 by a Turkic general, apparently incensed that its library may not have contained a copy of the Koran. The fire is said to have burned and smouldered for several months.

Now this famed establishment of philosophy, mathematics, language and even public health is poised to be revived. A beguiling and ambitious plan to establish an international university with the same overarching vision as Nalanda – and located alongside its physical ruins – has been spearheaded by a team of international experts and leaders, among them the Nobel-winning economist Amartya Sen. This week, legislation that will enable the building of the university to proceed is to be placed before the Indian parliament.

"At its peak it offered an enormous number of subjects in the Buddhist tradition, in a similar way that Oxford [offered] in the Christian tradition – Sanskrit, medicine, public health and economics," Mr Sen said yesterday in Delhi.

"It was destroyed in a war. It was [at] just the same time that Oxford was being established. It has a fairly extraordinary history – Cambridge had not yet been born." He added, with confidence: "Building will start as soon as the bill passes."

The plan to resurrect Nalanda – in the state of Bihar – and establish a facility prestigious enough to attract the best students from across Asia and beyond, was apparently first voiced in the 1990s. But the idea received more widespread attention in 2006 when the then Indian president, APJ Abdul Kalam set about establishing an international "mentoring panel". Members of the panel, chaired by Mr Sen, include Singapore's foreign minister, George Yeo, historian Sugata Bose, Lord Desai and Chinese academic Wang Banwei.

A key challenge for the group is to raise sufficient funds for the university. It has been estimated that $500m will be required to build the new facility, with a further $500m needed to sufficiently improve the surrounding infrastructure. The group is looking for donations from governments, private individuals and religious groups. The governments of both Singapore and India have apparently already given some financial commitments.

Mr Sen said the new Nalanda project, whose ancestor easily predated both the University of Al Karaouine in Fez, Morocco – founded in 859 AD and considered the world's oldest, continually-operating university, and Cairo's Al Azhar University (975 AD), had already attracted widespread attention from prestigious institutions. The universities of Oxford, Harvard, Yale, Paris and Bologna had all been enthusiastic about possible collaboration.

Some commentators believe a crucial impact of the establishment of a new international university in India would be the boost it gave to higher education across Asia. A recent survey of universities by the US News and World Report magazine listed just three Asian institutions – University of Tokyo, University of Hong Kong and Kyoto University – among the world's top 25.

Writing when plans for Nalanda were first announced, Jeffery Garten, a professor in international business and trade at the Yale School of Management, said in the New York Times: "The new Nalanda should try to recapture the global connectedness of the old one. All of today's great institutions of higher learning are straining to become more international... but Asian universities are way behind." He added: "A new Nalanda could set a benchmark for mixing nationalities and culture, for injecting energy into global subject. Nalanda was a Buddhist university but it was remarkably open to many interpretations of that religion. Today, it could... be an institution devoted to global religious reconciliation."

As Mr Garten pointed out, the new university will have much to live up to. The original, located close to the border with what is now Nepal, was said to have been an architectural masterpiece, featuring 10 temples, a nine-storey library where monks copied books by hand, lakes, parks and student accommodation. Its students came from Korea, Japan, China, Persia, Tibet and Turkey, as well as from across India. The 7th Century Chinese pilgrim, Xuanzang, visited Nalanda and wrote detailed accounts of what he saw, describing how towers, pavilions and temples appeared to "soar above the mists in the sky [so that monks in their rooms] might witness the birth of the winds and clouds".

Yet the project is not without controversy. Mr Sen was yesterday asked about reports that claimed the Dalai Lama, the Tibetan Buddhist leader who has lived for more than 50 years in the Indian town of Dharamsala, had been deliberately omitted from the project to avoid antagonising potential Chinese investors and officials. He replied: "He is heading a religion. Being religiously active may not be the same as appropriate for religious studies."
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International funding sought for Nalanda University: Amartya Sen !!

International funding will be sought for the proposed revival of the ancient Nalanda University, a global centre for learning, and Singapore Buddhist organisations have already offered donations for the construction of a world-class library.
“We will go for international fund raising,” Amartya Sen, chairman of Nalanda Mentors Group and Nobel economics prize winner, told reporters here Tuesday.

“The Singapore Buddhist community is making an important gesture to finance library,” Sen added. They have reportedly offered around $5-10 million (Singapore dollars) to finance the institution.

Sen said they were open to funding from both public and private organisations as well as religious institutions.

Pegged as a symbol of global cooperation in education, the Nalanda University, proposed to be set up in Bihar near the site where an ancient university flourished centuries ago, will have schools on Buddhist studies, philosophy and comparative literature, historical studies and ecology and environmental studies.

The Nalanda Mentors Group, constituted in 2007 and chaired by Sen, has been giving a concrete structure to the plan to revive the educational institution, which had attracted students from across the world in ancient times.

The mentors group held extensive two-day meetings here that was also attended by Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.

George Yeo, visiting Singapore foreign minister and member of mentor group, said that he hoped “that by East Asia summit, the bill will be passed and work will begin”.

He was referring to the proposed legislation to be tabled during the current parliament session which will govern the operations of the university.

Amartya Sen also introduced the new vice-chancellor designate for the university, Gopa Sabharwal, a sociology professor in Lady Shri Ram college.

“This is an exciting task and a huge responsibility. The primary task is to translate vision of Nalanda Mentors Group,” said Sabharwal.

Asked if Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama was associated with the project, Sen said: “No religious activist is involved in the process. This does not mean that they are out of the frame.”

Source: International funding sought for Nalanda University: Amartya Sen