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Akhilesh renames Kanshi Ram Urdu University

July 31, 2012 14:53 IST

After renaming eight districts carved out by his predecessor Mayawati, her bete noire and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav on Tuesday ordered that the name of an Arabic and Persian University in Lucknow also be changed.
 
At a meeting of the cabinet, it was decided to rename the Kanshi Ram Urdu, Arabic and Persian University after famous Sufi saint Khwaja Moiuddin Chishti.
 
The entire cabinet reportedly agreed that it was inappropriate to name a university devoted to the promotion and development of Urdu, Arabic and Persian after Kanshi Ram, a Dalit leader and Mayawati's mentor, as he had nothing to do with these languages.

Khwaja Moiuddin Chishti was a highly revered Sufi saint and an exponent of these languages.
 
In another significant decision, the cabinet gave its nod to keeping the institution of Lokayukta beyond the purview of the Right to Information Act, 2005.

The cabinet also decided to link all villages (gram panchayats) of the state to Lucknow through broadband lines.

"This is being done to push the chief minister's plan to promote e-governance across the sprawling state," a spokesman told rediff.com.

Sharat Pradhan