Honorary Colonel rank for VCs of Jadavpur, Kalyani varsities

The Centre has conferred the honorary rank of Colonel in the National Cadet Corps (NCC) to vice chancellors of Jadavpur University and Kalyani University for their "sincere interest in the cause of improving quality of youth", official sources said here today.

The vice chancellor of JU, Suranjan Das, and the Kalyani University VC, Sankar Kumar Ghosh, who have been appointed Colonel Commandant of their respective universities, would be "honoured with the prestigious rank" on May 21 by Director General of NCC Lt Gen P P Malhotra at Fort William, the headquarters of the Army's Eastern Command.

Along with Das and Ghosh, the rank will also be bestowed upon six vice chancellors of other universities in the country in recognition of their contribution in "providing true education" to the youth and promoting the cause of NCC activities, they said.

Of the six other vice-chancellors from other parts of the country, five hail from universities in Maharashtra and one from Madhya Pradesh, they added.

Expressing his happiness over the honorary rank, Das said, "This award is not for me, it is in recognition of the holistic nature of West Bengal's higher education system.