NEHU Tura campus turns 20

TURA: The Tura campus of North Eastern Hill University (NEHU) celebrated its 20th year on Tuesday.
Sharing his experiences, the first Pro-Vice Chancellor of the Campus, Prof. Milton Sangma who also led the movement for creation of a campus at Tura, said it was a long and arduous struggle to convince the Union Ministry of Human Resources Development (MHRD) then to create another campus of the same university in the same State.
But some faculty of NEHU and the Garo Students’ Union persisted with their demands with the latter even staging a 24 hour fast at the Polo Grounds in December, 1995.
At the time S.C. Marak was the Chief Minister of the State with a Congress-led government at the Centre.
It was in 1995 that Madhav Rao Scindia, the then Union HRD Minister, visited Shillong. The NEHU Teachers’ Association, the NEHU Students’ Union, the Academic Council and others met Scindia and convinced him to agree to a campus at Tura.
Scindia acceded but on the condition that the campus should start with two subjects namely Mathematics and Economics with Statistics.
This dampened the spirits of the people of Garo Hills as they were keen to start with English and Garo languages.
After a long and protracted negotiation Prof. Milton Sangma who led the initiative and his team were able to get the UGC to agree to the campus opening with the above two departments.
The then Vice Chancellor, Dr. B. Pakem constituted a committee led by Prof. Jhunjhappa, Dean of Physical Sciences to formalise the entire process of setting up the new campus.
On February 16, 1996 then Prime Minister (L) P.V. Narasimha Rao accompanied by then Finance Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh inaugurated the Tura campus. Today the campus offers ten courses in nine departments including the Dept. of Management Studies.
Pro VC, Prof Singaiah, while addressing the students and faculty on the occasion said that they need to embrace human values and contribute their mite to building the university brick by brick. He said the campus has also got Post Graduate Research students from abroad and this leads to diversity in learning experiences.
“We are trying our best to look after the welfare of our employees and early completion of staff quarters. Since so much time is consumed in providing answers to RTI queries we have decided to keep a suggestion box so people can state their grievances. I am a dreamer and will do my best to uplift this campus to its best tradition,” Prof Singaiah observed.
Earlier, Patricia Mukhim, Editor, The Shillong Times, who was invited as special guest, exhorted the students to engage in critical thinking and push the boundaries of their curiosity. She challenged the faculty to be mentors and academic midwives who will help in the birth of new ideas and guide the students through the intellectual birthing process. “Mentors do not teach but help students to find their way,” she said.
Others who spoke on the occasion included Dr. J.N. Nayak, Registrar NEHU, and Raksan Marak, a non teaching staff.
The present NEHU Tura campus is located at Chasingre in a sprawling 300 acre prime land.