A digital billboard in Times Square, New York, lit up with a picture of the Ram temple model | ANI
A digital billboard in Times Square, New York, lit up with a picture of the Ram temple model | ANI
Text Size:

New Delhi: The Maharashtra Institute of Technology World Peace University (MIT-WPU) has announced a donation of Rs 21 crore for the construction of Ram Mandir in Ayodhya.

The private university was established by the MIT Group of Institutes, which runs several other education institutions in the state. MIT Pune became MIT-WPU in 2017 under the Government of Maharashtra Act.

According to the university’s statement, the amount of Rs 21 crore was contributed with support from the MIT-WPU (Pune), MIT Art, Design & Technology University (Loni Kalbhor), Avantika University (Ujjain, Madhya Pradesh), India International Multiversity (Pune) as well as 75,000 students and 5,000 teachers and other staff from MAEER’S MIT Group of Institutions.

An official note from MIT-WPU read: “For the sacred work of constructing the Ram Temple in Ayodhya, which is the spiritual capital of India, MAEER’S MIT World Peace University, Pune will contribute Rs 21 crores.”

Swami Govind Dev Giri, treasurer of Ram Janmabhoomi Teertha Kshetra Trust that is overseeing the temple construction, told ThePrint that MIT-WPU is the only education institution to have announced a donation so far.

“MIT has only announced to make the donation so far, they have not donated the money yet. Apart from them, no other education institution has come forward to donate money. Going forward, we will make an appeal to the society, including students and organisations to donate to us,” he said.

Founder and president of MIT-WPU, Dr Vishwanath D. Karad, in his statement said the money was being donated to carry out work in the name of 13th century saint Dnyaneshwar and 17th century saint Tukaram Maharaj, both from Maharashtra.

We are deeply grateful to our readers & viewers for their time, trust and subscriptions.

Quality journalism is expensive and needs readers to pay for it. Your support will define our work and ThePrint’s future.

SUBSCRIBE NOW

According to Dr Karad’s bio, he is a believer in Swami Vivekananda’s philosophy and is following his pursuit of “promoting value-based education”. A university statement claims that the institute aligns itself with Swami Vivekananda’s message that in the 21st century, India will rise as a Vishwaguru and guide the world towards happiness, satisfaction and peace.

The university has names like eminent scientists Raghunath Mashelkar and Vijay Bhatkar on its advisory board.

Calls for more donations

Meanwhile, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) has been appealing to people to donate towards the construction of the temple.

The foundation stone for the temple was laid last week, marking the start of the construction. The temple is expected to cost “several hundred” crores of rupees though no official estimates have been made public yet. The trust currently has just over Rs 15 crore in its corpus.

The VHP has started a campaign through its Facebook page, urging people to make donations.

Dr Surendra Jain, central joint general secretary of VHP, told ThePrint, “We have already appealed to the various sections of society to donate for the construction of Ram Temple. We cannot keep making separate appeals to education institutions and others. We have not appealed to any education institution for donation so far.”

A senior source from Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh said that it has also not made any appeals for donation and that any such appeal will be made only by the temple trust.

 

Subscribe to our channels on YouTube & Telegram

News media is in a crisis & only you can fix it

You are reading this because you value good, intelligent and objective journalism. We thank you for your time and your trust.

You also know that the news media is facing an unprecedented crisis. It is likely that you are also hearing of the brutal layoffs and pay-cuts hitting the industry. There are many reasons why the media’s economics is broken. But a big one is that good people are not yet paying enough for good journalism.

We have a newsroom filled with talented young reporters. We also have the country’s most robust editing and fact-checking team, finest news photographers and video professionals. We are building India’s most ambitious and energetic news platform. And we aren’t even three yet.

At ThePrint, we invest in quality journalists. We pay them fairly and on time even in this difficult period. As you may have noticed, we do not flinch from spending whatever it takes to make sure our reporters reach where the story is. Our stellar coronavirus coverage is a good example. You can check some of it here.

This comes with a sizable cost. For us to continue bringing quality journalism, we need readers like you to pay for it. Because the advertising market is broken too.

If you think we deserve your support, do join us in this endeavour to strengthen fair, free, courageous, and questioning journalism, please click on the link below. Your support will define our journalism, and ThePrint’s future. It will take just a few seconds of your time.

Support Our Journalism