Delhi University has formed a 17-member committee to establish a centre for “Hindu Studies” to introduce courses about the “history of Hindus" in the varsity, an official said.

However, an academic council member questioned the necessity to have such a centre.

The panel will be headed by DU Director of South Delhi Campus Prakash Singh.

Singh said a need was felt in the university for a Hindu studies centre.

“There are around 23 universities across India that offer courses in Hindu studies. DU also thought it must also have a centre for Hindu studies," he told PTI.

"We have a centre for Buddhist studies but not a centre for Hindu studies. We thought let’s see whether it is viable to open a centre for Hindu studies," Singh added.

He emphasised that the panel would focus on first checking the viability of the centre and then introduce courses accordingly.

“First we will introduce courses in postgraduate and research and later we might introduce UG courses," Singh added.

The committee will decide how many courses will be introduced and whether courses will be introduced this year or next. The panel also plans to present the framework before the academic council in the near future, he further said.

However, an academic council member has opposed the need for the centre.

"Where are other centres, Sikh, Muslim and other centres. The university must also open courses for these other religions," the council member, who did not wish to be named, said.

Singh said it is wrong to link it to any religion as “Hindu is a way of life”.

“Unfortunately, we only see religious part of Hindu, Hindu is a way of life. Religion is only an aspect of it, we have thousands of years of history. The centre will focus on this aspect," he added.

Besides Singh, the committee members are Prof Payal Mago, Director, Campus of Open Learning; Prof K Ratnabali, Dean, Academic Affairs, Dean, Faculty of Science, Dean, Faculty of Social Science, Dean, Faculty of Arts; Prof Seema Bawa, Head, Department of History; Prof Sangit Kumar Ragi, Head, Department of Political Science and Prof Anil Kumar Aneja, Head, Department of English. Prof Ranjan Kumar Tripathi, Joint Dean of Colleges; Dr Jaswinder Singh, Principal, SGTB Khalsa College; Prof C Sheela Reddy, Principal, Sri Venkateswara College; Prof A K Singh, Head and Dean, Faculty of Commerce; Prof V S Negi, EC Member, Shaheed Bhagat Singh Evening College; Dr Aditya Gupta, Department of Philosophy; Dr Prerna Malhotra, Department of English and Sh Jay Chanda, Joint Registrar (Academic) are also part of the panel.