BBAU approves use of ‘chikan work’ for convocation attire

THE NEW DRESS WILL BE A TRIBUTE TO FORMER PRESIDENT APJ ABDUL KALAM WHO PASSED AWAY RECENTLY

LUCKNOW: The academic council of Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar University on Monday approved the use of Lucknow chikankari angvastra as their new convocation dress.

The new dress will be a tribute to former President APJ Abdul Kalam, said university’s registrar Sunita Chandra, adding that last month the University Grants Commission (UGC) had requested all vice-chancellors to promote the use of handloom fabrics for convocation gowns.

According to the commission, handloom fabrics will not only give a sense of pride of being Indian but will also be more comfortable in hot and humid weather.

“It was felt that greater use of handloom fabrics would promote the country’s handloom sector,” Chandra said.

A few days ago, Governor Ram Naik had asked the state universities to replace the existing ‘colonial era’ convocation gowns with ‘Indian attire’ as a tribute to Kalam.

In his convocation address at this university in 2010, Kalam had said that “the foreigninspired gown should go” while pitching for a more ethnic dress on the lines of Lucknow’s famous chikankari.

The university has also decided to hold bilingual admission tests so that applicants may write their papers either in Hindi or in English.

It has also decided to write back to the UGC that asked the university not to appoint research supervisors from other universities or retired professors