In the Bill’s Statement of Objects and Reasons, the government has said, “The vice-chancellor is the principal executive and academic officer in the state-funded universities of Rajasthan. Looking at the existence of guru-shishya parampara in India since ancient times, the state government has decided to change the nomenclature of vice chancellor and pro-vice chancellor in the Hindi version…”

The Bill, expected to be passed during the ongoing Budget Session of the Rajasthan Assembly, was criticised by Opposition leader Tika Ram Jully of the Congress, who said that instead of changing names, the government should start changing the way things work.

“They have started a tradition of changing names while they should be changing the education (system) to improve it. Are our universities and institutions doing the research they should be doing? And on the other hand, they want to appoint VCs who lack experience,” he said.

He alleged that the name changes were being done for political gain “while the need is to focus on improving the state of universities”.

However, Manoj Dixit, vice chancellor of Maharaja Ganga Singh University, Bikaner, called the change “a step in the right direction”.

“This proposal is not new. It is already in place in some states, including Maharashtra, and many universities across the country. The ancient concept is that when thousands of students used to study under an acharya, it used to be called a gurukul, and it used to have a kulguru.”

Last year, the Madhya Pradesh Cabinet, too, passed a similar proposal.

“When the term vice chancellor came, its Hindi was written as kulpati. However, it didn’t reflect (the position) appropriately, nor was it good from a gender point of view. Hence, there was a demand for long (for change). Moreover, the political will to make this change was lacking,” said Dixit, who also holds the additional charge of Rajasthan University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Bikaner.

Om Thanvi, former vice chancellor of Haridev Joshi University of Journalism and Mass Communication, Jaipur, said that like kulpati had become a widely accepted Hindi term for vice chancellor, vishvidyalaya had become an established term for university. “The gurukul and kulguru are associated with ancient India, while vishvidyalaya is a modern concept and lends itself to a wider philosophy,” he said. According to him, the change will send a message “that we are patronising a particular kind of ideology”.