Madan Mohan Malaviya has become the only Hindutva icon to find a mention in the Railway Budget with Union Minister Suresh Prabhu announcing that a chair would be set up in his name at Banaras Hindu University (Indian Institute of Technology).
“The government of India has conferred Bharat Ratna on Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya. To mark the centenary celebrations of Banaras Hindu University, we propose to set up ‘Malaviya Chair’ for Railway Technology at IIT (BHU), Varanasi. This chair would help develop new materials to be used in all assets of the Railways,” the minister said in the Lok Sabha.
Prabhu also announced the establishment of an innovation council, Kayakalp, for business re-engineering and introducing a spirit of innovation. “Every dynamic and thriving organisation needs to innovate and re-invent its practices.
In accordance with the vision of the prime minister, we intend to set up an innovation council called Kayakalp for innovation, technology development and manufacturing.” Four centers at “select universities” to promote fundamental research on railways will also be established in 2015-16, he added.
Informing the Lok Sabha about the progress made on the Railway University proposed by his predecessor D V Sadananda Gowda in Parliament last year, Prabhu said: “We are in the process of setting up a full-fledged university during 2015-16.”