Visva-Bharati University

Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level : Vishwa Bharati University

Mains level : Not Much

The Calcutta High Court has directed that there can be no protest by the students within 50 meters of academic buildings at Visva-Bharati University.

Visva-Bharati is a central research university and an Institution of National Importance located in Shantiniketan, West Bengal, India.
It was founded by Rabindranath Tagore who called it Visva-Bharati, which means the communion of the world with India.
Until independence, it was a college.
Soon after independence, the institution was given the status of a central university in 1951 by an act of the Parliament.

The origins of the institution date back to 1863 when Debendranath Tagore was given a tract of land by the zamindar of Raipur, zamindar of Kirnahar.
He set up an ashram at the spot that has now come to be called chatim tala at the heart of the town.
The ashram was initially called Brahmacharya Ashram, which was later renamed Brahmacharya Vidyalaya.
It was established with a view to encouraging people from all walks of life to come to the spot and meditate.
In 1901 his youngest son Rabindranath Tagore established a co-educational school inside the premises of the ashram.
From 1901 onwards, Tagore used the ashram to organize the Hindu Mela, which soon became a center of nationalist activity.