LU gets two new institutes

Vinod Gupta,son of Dr Girilal Gupta,had donated Rs 4.5 crore to the university in 2007 to build the institute in its new campus. Dr Gupta is an alumnus of LU and a close friend and batchmate of Dr Shankar Dayal Sharma.

“The donation was the largest financial help the university has received in its 87 years of establishment,” said Dr Manoj Dixit,director of the two institutes and head of department of public administration.

While inaugurating the building,Dr Gupta said: “I had studied in the university and am happy that about 70 years later,I have been able to give something back to my alma mater.”

A businessman based in USA,Vinod is the founder of Vinod Gupta Charitable Trust. It has financed the Women’s Polytechnic,Science and Technology Centre and Mass Communication Centre in Rampur Maniharan village of Saharanpur.

It has also funded the Management School and School of Intellectual Property Law along with a couple of hostels in IIT-Kharagpur. A student of IIT-Kharagpur,Vinod has also been instrumental in forming IIT-Foundation — an association of former IITians in the USA.

Stressing on the need to build an institute of democracy,Dixit said: “The diploma in democracy and governance has not found many takers in the last three years but we are planning to revise the course to make it more job oriented from the next session. A training programme for members of the state Assembly and gram panchayats is also being scheduled for next year.”

University Vice-Chancellor M K Mishra said LU was still suffering from a fund crunch. “The hostels need proper maintenance. After completing my rounds to all the hostels,I feel funds should be directed to hostels,” he added.