Government is toying with the idea of coming out with an ordinance to set up a women's university in Rae Bareli, Uttar Pradesh, named after Indira Gandhi as a Bill facilitating establishment of the varsity lapsed with the end of the 15th Lok Sabha.
The Indira Gandhi National University for Women Bill, 2013 was listed for the last day of the extended winter session in Lok Sabha on February 21 but could not be taken up.
The Bill had proposed the university in Congress chief Sonia Gandhi's Lok Sabha constituency Rae Bareli to provide higher education and research facilities to women.
Given the significance attached to it, an ordinance route is being thought of with utmost priority and it could be sent to the Cabinet soon, said sources in the HRD Ministry.
The Bill was one of the 10 legislations of the HRD Ministry that lapsed with the end of the 15th lok Sabha.
The other important legislations relating to HRD Ministry, which faced similar fate, included the Foreign Educational Institutions (Regulation of Entry and Operations) Bill, 2010, The National Accreditation Regulatory Authority for Higher Educational Institutions Bill, 2010 and The Educational Tribunals Bill, 2010.
The aim of the proposed university for women is to facilitate girls, especially those from disadvantaged sections cutting across social and religious categories, to enter into higher education.
According to the Ministry, Rae Bareli was chosen for the university as it was an educationally backward district and ideally suited for location as it was the political constituency of Indira Gandhi, the first woman Prime Minister of India.
The estimated expenditure for setting up the proposed University during the 12th Plan is pegged at Rs 500 crore.
