Bhubaneswar: There was a second brainstorming session on MERU (Multidisciplinary Education and Research University) with a select group of interested academicians and other intelligentsia at BJP Odisha Party Conference Hall here on 24 December.
Prof Chitta Baral, Professor of Computing and Augmented Intelligence of Arizona State University ( author of one the four papers that led to the development of Chatgpt ) initiated the idea of MERU and pointed out that the need of establishment of MERU is already outlined in New Education Policy , 2020.
He elaborated the idea of world class Multidisciplinary Education and Research University further at ancient centres of learning in Bharat .
Prof.Baral pointed out that one MERU will need about 10,000 to 15,000 crores and four MERUs will require about Rs40000-Rs60,000 crores . He explained that crowd funding for Ayodhya Ram Temple was very successful and four times the fund required for Ram Temple construction was contributed people of Bharat and outside Bharat .
It was pointed out that it would be possible to raise funds through crowd funding the country and Indian diaspora and CSR funds of companies . However , Government of India has to notify suitable legislations for MERUs and provide seed money .
The concerned State Governments can help through seed money and also give land required for the MERU .
Dr Damodar Acharya , Ex Director , IIT , Kharagpur and Ex Chairman , AICTE appreciated the idea and gave valuable inputs on the contours of such world class Multidisciplinary Education and Research Universities at different ancient centres of leaning in Bharat .
Prof D Mishra , Ex Chairman , IIT ( ISM ) and Prof Prafulla Mishra , Ex Chancellor , Central University of Patna also elaborated on the idea further and the steps to be taken for the same .
Dr Kapileswar Mishra and Prof Rabindra Nath Pati also gave valuable new ideas.
Ace Administrator and Director SAIL, Ashok K Tripathy, and Sudarshan Nayak , Ex-IAS pointed out about the roles of Government of India and concerned State Governments for the proposed MERUs and how we should go for demanding such Universities at Puri and other learning centres .
Saffron Veteran, Sajjan Sharma pointed out the need for further public awareness on MERUs and how we should go about spreading information about it in digital and print media.
It was finally decided that a comprehensive memorandum should be finalised soon and submitted to Chief Minister, Odisha, Union Education Minister , Dharmendra Pradhan, Prime Minister and President of India .
