As part of commemoration of the 150th anniversary of India's First War of Independence, the Union government has decided to establish 12 Chairs in different universities in memory of freedom fighters.
The Ministry of Culture has set aside a corpus of Rs. 2 crore for each university.
The Chairs will be established in memory of Shaheed Bhagat Singh at the Jawaharlal Nehru University; Bahadur Shah Zafar, General Shah Nawaz and Shaheed Kartar Singh Sarabha at the Indira Gandhi National Open University; and Saifuddin Kitchlew, A.M.Khwaja, M.A.Ansari and Rafi Ahmed Kidwai at the Jamia Millia Islamia University.
Funds for these universities will be released this week.
The Delhi University will have Chairs in memory of Aruna Asaf Ali and Tatia Tope.
The Vikram University at Ujjain will establish a Chair to commemorate Chandra Shekhar Azad, while the Veer Kunwar Singh University at Arrah in Bihar is expected to come up with a similar proposal. Funds for these two could not be released as they had not come out with final proposals.
The mandate of these Chairs is related to research in and broader areas of the freedom struggle.
Compilation of memoirs and books related to the freedom movement and the personalities after whom the Chairs are named and their associates will be given priority.
It will facilitate coordination of work in their area and draw expertise and inputs from academics and experts from the government and non-governmental sector.
