PM Modi to inaugurate Nalanda University campus in Bihar next week

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be in Bihar next week to inaugurate the campus of Nalanda University, named after the world-famous ancient seat of learning.

Officials of the state government and the central university held a meeting here on Saturday to oversee the preparations for the PM's visit, on June 19.

Dignitaries like Governor Rajendra Arlekar and Chief Minister Nitish Kumar are likely to attend the function where the Prime Minister is expected to spend an hour and a half.

The PM is likely to reach the venue by helicopter from the nearest airport at Gaya.

Situated less than 20 km from the Nalanda Mahavira, which has been declared a World Heritage site, the university was established in 2010, by an Act of the Parliament.

Earlier, a proposal to set up the international university, on the lines of the seat of learning that functioned till the 13th Century, had been endorsed by member countries at the East Asia Summit.

Prior to that, the then President APJ Abdul Kalam had proposed the revival of the ancient university in his address to a joint session of the legislature in Bihar.

The sprawling campus is spread across an area of about 450 acres, and the university offers several courses in Hindu Studies, Buddhist Studies and Comparative Religion, and Ecological and Environmental Studies.