Education Minister praises JNU for introducing counter-terrorism course

Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Friday backed Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) vice-chancellor (V-C) M. Jagadesh Kumar in the controversy over the new course on counter-terrorism meant for engineering students.

Congratulated Jagadesh Kumar and his team for introducing the course that has been criticised for singling out a religion as the only form of fundamentalist-religious terrorism, Pradhan asked that if MIT can discuss counter-terrorism measures, why can’t an Indian university do the same.

“JNU deserves appreciation, I extend my wishes to Vice Chancellor Jagadesh Kumar for starting such a course. When top global universities like MIT can have discourse and debate on terrorism and counter-terrorism, why cannot our varsities do the same,” he said during a meeting with vice chancellors.

Pradhan said that a fellow parliamentarian had written to him on the JNU course. He, however, did not name the parliamentarian. “During my interaction with US security experts, I understood how Internet and cyber world will be used increasingly for terrorism activities. Why cannot our students, engineering students learn this? At the end of the day, these students will deal with similar problem and find solution to such issues after they have graduated,” he said.

The academic council of JNU, in its meeting held on 17 August, had approved three new courses—“Counter terrorism, asymmetric conflicts and strategies for cooperation among major powers”; “India’s emerging world view in the twenty first century” and “Significance of science and technology in international relations”.

The course, ‘Counter Terrorism, Asymmetric Conflicts and Strategies for Cooperation among Major Powers,’ will be offered to students pursuing an