Bhubaneswar, Aug 31: Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Saturday proposed to change the name of Ravenshaw University.
"There is a need for a name change; What did Ravenshaw, after whom the university is named, do during the famine; the person who hurt Odias; is it a matter of pride; changing of name is my personal opinion," said Pradhan during a programme on self-governance day in Cuttack.
According to sources, Odia stalwart Maharaja Krushna Chandra Bhanjadeo of the then state of Mayurbhanj named Cuttack College as Ravenshaw College in 1878, after the departure of T.E.Ravenshaw as commissioner of Odisha.
Ravenshaw came to Odisha in 1855. During his time as the commissioner of Cuttack division, the famine killed about one-fourth of the population of Odisha mostly due to his negligence.
The institution became a university in 2006.