The News Minute | February 20, 2015 | 8:10 am IST
Nobel Prize winner Amartya Sen has announced his decision not to opt for a second term as Chancellor of Nalanda University, adding that the reason for this move - is the current government.
Saying that it was hard to continue as the government in power wanted him to “cease being the Chancellor of Nalanda University after this July”, he in his letter to members of the governing Board, wrote that it was an unanimous decision for him to continue, reported The Hindu.
Since neither President Pranab Mukherjee nor the Ministry of External Affairs replied to this decision, he decided that the government didn't want the post in his favour.
He also mentioned that President Mukherjee had taken a “deep personal interest in the speedy progress” of the university’s work, hence it could be concluded that something was holding him back from making a decision in the issue.
In his letter that he shared openly, he said that even though the institution did not envisage political interference in academics , he felt that the government could convert an academic issue into a issue of political dispensation.
A copy of the full letter written by him can be found here.