Visva-Bharati University

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

• 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.

Its history

• 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.