Jalgaon University will be renamed

Mumbai: The state cabinet has agreed to recommend the promulgation of an ordinance renaming Jalgaon-based North Maharashtra University as “Poetess Bahinabai Choudhary North Maharashtra University”. The demand was put forth by former revenue minister Eknath Khadse who hails from Muktainagar, Jalgaon, along with other leaders and organisations.

The North Maharashtra University was established on August 15, 1990, after being separated from the parent Pune University. The demand to rechristen it has been there since many years now. Bahinabai, used to compose songs in two dialects i.e. Khandesi and Varhadi and lived to become a renowned poetess of the 19th century despite being an illiterate cotton farmer from Jalgaon district. Mr Khadse and a few other MLAs had raised the issue in the Assembly during the budget session and the CM assured them on March 22 this year that the varsity would be renamed accordingly.

The higher education department prepared a proposal in this regard and sent for approval to the state cabinet. The proposal was approved on Thursday in a meeting presided over by the CM. The government will now recommend promulgating the ordinance to the governor, and an amendment will be made to the Maharashtra Universities Act. Senior officials said that the renaming would take place on August 11 on the occasion of Bahinabai’s birth anniversary.

Meanwhile, in another decision, the cabinet approved a revised salary hike for the Bombay High Court desk officers, on par with the desk officers in the state secretariat. The cabinet also gave a go ahead to facilitate the disbursal of pending scholarships to students belonging to the backward classes, for the academic year of 2017-18, the official in the CMO informed.