Dr. Vijay Bhatkar Is Set To Be The New Chancellor Of Nalanda University

Vijay P Bhatkar the famed computer scientist who led the development of India's first supercomputer, Param, is set to be the new chancellor of Nalanda University (NU). As of now Bhatkar is the national president of Vigyan Bharati, a science body of the RSS. Bhatkar was appointed by President Pranab Mukherjee in his capacity as the NU visitor on 27 January.

In his illustrious career, Bhatkar served as a member of the scientific advisory committee to the PM, and the governing council of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research. He was also a member of the IT Task Force in 1998 established by the then PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee. Bhatkar was awarded the Padma Shri in 2000 and the Padma Bhushan in 2015. In addition to that he has been honoured by the Maharashtra Bhushan Award, the highest recognition of the government of Maharashtra, in 2000.

Dr. Bhatkar confirmed to The Hindu , that he had received an email from the Ministry of External Affairs, the nodal ministry for the university. Dr. Bhatkar outlined his vision “to bring forward the universalisation of the mind that universities are for.” “Nalanda was the centre of knowledge in ancient India and we need to revive that,” he added.