The monsoon session of the Jharkhand Assembly commencing from July 29 will focus on the education sector.

A notification was issued on Friday afternoon by the cabinet secretariat and coordination department after a formal order of Jharkhand governor Ramesh Bais on Friday which states that the Assembly session will continue till August 5. There will be no session on July 30 and 31 (Saturday and Sunday being holidays).

The first supplementary budget for the financial year 2022-23 would be tabled on August 1 followed by discussion on August 2.

“There are four bills related to education which would be tabled on the floor of the Assembly to get a clearance and sent to the governor for notification as an act,” said a source in the chief minister’s office in Ranchi.

The official confided that a bill to set up Skill Development University would be tabled in the Assembly in line with the focus on skill development of the chief minister.

“CM has been stressed on employment oriented higher education so as to provide employment opportunities for each educated and trained youths and the Skill Development and Digital University would be a step in this direction. It would be operated in collaboration with PReJHA Foundation (PanIIT Alumni Reach for Jharkhand Foundation — a joint venture between PanIIT Alumni Reach for India and welfare department of Jharkhand),” the official said.

This apart an ordinance would be tabled before the Assembly wherein University would be made an unit.

“As of now, it was the government department (higher education in case of universities) which was taken as a unit. With universities being taken as a separate unit the recruitment roster would make it possible for cadre based posts ensuring reservation as per norms,” said the official.

The official also said that a bill would be tabled for setting up Azim Premji University.

“This would be the third Azim Premji University in the country apart from Bangalore and Bhopal,” said the official.

Significantly, CEO of Azim Premji Foundation Anurag Behar had met Jharkhand chief minister Hemant Soren in December last year with a proposal to open a university in Jharkhand.

During the meeting Anurag Behar had reiterated the foundation’s resolve to play an active role in the development of education, quality education and improving the academic environment in Jharkhand. He had expressed an intent to open a university in Jharkhand and had informed that about Rs 1,200 to 1400 crore would be spent on setting up this university which will provide job oriented and quality education. The campus of the university will be spread over an area of 150 acres.

The corrected Pandit Raghunath Murmu Tribal University Bill 2021 which had been passed by the Assembly in its winter session (December 2021) but was returned by the governor earlier this year for correction would also be tabled in the House.

“The university will be constructed in over 20 acres of land at Hendaljudi in Galudih area of Ghatshila block of East Singhbhum district. The site is barely 40km from the industrial hub of Jamshedpur and is only 2km from NH-33 (which connects Bengal and Odisha to Jharkhand). We have selected the site which is nearly 60km from Bengal (Jhargram) and Odisha (Mayurbhanj) so that tribal students from both the states can also avail benefit from the varsity,” said a senior official.

Jharkhand cabinet on Friday evening approved an amendment in the Jharkhand University Act 2000 that paved the way for universities in the state to be considered as separate units instead of coming under higher education department. The bill will now be tabled in the monsoon session.

The cabinet also gave nod for operation of Jharkhand’s first skill development university at Polytechnic College in Khunti and approved setting up of Azim Premji University. Both the bills would be tabled in the monsoon session.

In other major decisions the cabinet sanctioned administrative approval for free electricity to those consuming 100 units of electricity and constituted a three member committee under development commissioner Arun Kumar Singh to inquire on the status of the old pension scheme before its implementation in the state.