From 50 Years Ago: Student Indiscipline.

Uttar Pradesh is by no means the only state to suffer from student indiscipline. Equally ugly outbursts by students and similar rowdyism have been witnessed in other states. But Uttar Pradesh combines the distinction of having the largest number of universities in any state in India with that of having the worst university scandals. The latest is the closure of the Allahabad University by the Vice-Chancellor following student agitation; the takeover of the university buildings by the District au-thorities; the closing of all schools and colleg-es in the city and the district for a week by the Director of Education; peremptory orders on the students to leave their hostels within fortyeight hours; and elaborate police arrangements, along with the promulgation of Section 144 by the City Magistrate, to maintain order in the university quarters. The official announcement was cryptic: “As the prevailing conditions in Allahabad University continue to be far from normal, the Vice-Chancellor under his emergency powers has declared the closure of the university”. While in Allahabad it is the Vice-Chancellor who closed the University, and dispersed the students, in Benares, a year ago, it was the President of India who, “suspended the autho-rities of the university” on the recommenda-tion of the Mudaliar Committee which had investigated the university affairs. The uni-versity of Aligarh, also in Uttar Pradesh, has come into the news about the same time for grave financial irregularities and mis-management of public funds. What precipi-tated the crisis in Allahabad and forced the Vice-Chancellor to take such an extreme step?