Osmania a battleground of ideas: Jaipal Reddy

​Hyderabad: Former Union Minister S Jaipal Reddy on Wednesday said Osmania University has been a battle ground of ideas that produced a galaxy of leaders across political parties. He called upon the students of the Osmania University, which has produced many luminaries, to strive for a glorious future of the society.

Speaking at a seminar on ‘Role of Osmania University in Telangana and National Building’, the senior leader said that he had a 60 years old association with the university. He said the university produced leaders like P V Narasimha Rao, M Channa Reddy, N Bhaskar Rao, Virendra Patil, N Kiran Kumar Reddy, S R Chauhan who served as the Chief Ministers and also the present Chief Minister of Telangana K Chandrashekar Rao.

Reminiscing his days at the university, he said the seven years he spent studying in the university helped him building 50 years of successful and fruitful life. Jaipal Reddy said P V Ranga Rao, former Prime Minister P V Narasimha Rao’s son, was his first friend.

He had the opportunity to develop a relation with the former Prime Minister through Ranga Rao. P V Narasimha Rao had advised him to read the ‘Discovery of India’ by former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru. The former Union Minister said he remained a follower of Nehru throughout his life and was sceptic if P V Narasimha Rao continued to be a follower of Nehru.

He further added that during his studies in Osmania University he developed friendship with revolutionary poet Varavara Rao, Communist leader C Raghava Chari, Member of Parliament K Kesava Rao, and the then ABVP leader C Narayana Das. Their friendship continued in spite of political differences.

Prof K Nageswar Rao, Editor of The Hans India, said Telangana has been looking at the Osmania University for solutions to several problems. Though the State has a fastest growing economy and per capita than the national average, the human development indices were quite disparaging.

However, it does not mean that there would be no job opportunities but the opportunities would be available to highly skilled manpower. Universities should rise up to the challenge of developing highly skilled human resources, he added.

Former vice chancellor of OU Prof Suleman Siddiqui said there is a need to establish incubation centres in the University. The history of the University could be divided into three phases like the period from 1918 to 1947, 1947 to 1965 and from 1965 to 1993.

Siddiqui said the once in a year evaluation should be changed for throughout the year which would benefit the students and help them in developing more skills. He said the marks should be divided into 5 divisions like project work, annual exams, monthly exams and others.

He advised the university to open a 24x7 facility centre, central placement cell, training in English language, change in the pedagogy and establishment of finishing schools for the benefit of the students.

Director of IICT Prof S Chandrasekhar said Osmania University has given birth to many research institutions like DRDO, IICT, NIN and others. It was instrumental in developing NGRI and observatory. Chandrasekhar said with the help of Osmania University, the scientists have developed drug from snake venom and medicine for Malaria. He said Osmania has produced about 26,900 scholarly articles and about 5,000 research papers.

Former vice chancellor Prof T Tirupati Rao said Osmania should be strengthened with professors as many have retired. He said infrastructure of the university should be developed. Telangana Social Welfare Residential Educational Institutions secretary R S Praveen Kumar said OU should be open for the visit of the students. He wanted the university to provide good teachers.

Former Vigilance Commissioner Ranjana Kumar, Prof S M Arif and others spoke on various topics in the seminar. The guests were felicitated by the vice chancellor and registrar.