JRN RVD University Udaipur
Historically, Rajasthan has been a paradise for knowledge seekers, as it has
a rich and Royal cultural heritage in the form of manuscripts, historic
documents, icons, epigraphs and monuments. Late Manishi Pandit Janardan
Rai Nagar's initiative and vision led him to start the Prachin Sahitya Shodh
Sansthan in 1941 to preserve, edit, translate and publish old manuscripts.
Probably, it was a unique Institute of its kind in Rajasthan, which was
established for the conservation of cultural heritage.
After the historic event of the unification of Rajasthan, 'Hindi Vidyapeeth'
added new dimensions to its basic objectives. It became a leading NonGovernment Organisation during the course of its journey and the founder
Pandit Janardan Rai Nagar renamed it as Rajasthan Vidyapeeth.
Early sixties proved to be the landmark in the history of Rajasthan Vidyapeeth
when it decided to meet the challenges, which started springing up after
independence. The first Prime Minister had deep faith in democracy and he
decided to spread the message of sharing responsibilities at the grass-root
level. As a result the Panchayati Raj institutions came into existence.
Rajasthan Vidyapeeth also decided to join hands with the GOI to share this
responsibility and established Community Centres Department and
JanataCollege during the Second Five-Year plan. The objective was to provide
benefits to the people of remote villages. It was the beginning of the fullfledged Institute of Adult & Continuing Education. During this period,
Vidyapeeth started the new unit, which is called JANPAD, with the objective
of propagating the knowledge of day-to-day local and national affairs for the
urban society through black-board / broadcast service mass communication
being the aim.With the dawn of independence, there was a dire need to
provide opportunities for higher education to the underprivileged section of
the society, specially in the Tribal belt. The EveningCollege
(ShramjeeviCollege) was the outcome of this idea. The basic objective of
establishing the Evening (Shramjeevi) College was to admit the students who
worked during day-hours and wanted to educate themselves for better job
opportunities. During this period Rajasthan was also emerging as a potential
state of Union Government of the India. Availability of trained professionals
for industry / business was the urgent need of the time.
Keeping this in view, Vidyapeeth initiated a Postgraduate course in the
discipline of Social Work (MSW). Today, a large number of its alumni are
working in various positions in Personnel and Management field throughout
the country and abroad.
A number of other institutes like HigherSecondary School, Secondary School,
Post-basicSchool and the Centre for Fine Arts were also started by Vidyapeeth
to provide education to all the sections of the society. The College of Teachers'
Training was another major event on the path of progress of Vidyapeeth
during the seventies.
A special feature of Rajasthan Vidyapeeth administration is what we call the
'Janatantriaya Shilanyas' (Democratic Foundation), i.e. its democratic way of
life and work. Vidyapeeth is organized and run entirely by its workers and its
basic philosophy is to provide opportunity of participation to each worker in
the decision making process through various constituent bodies. The entire
administration is divided into three-spheres or streams-social, educational
and general management administration. Each of these spheres has its own
elected or nominated leader and body for the management of its affairs.
The prestige enjoyed by it during all these years is reflected in the fact that
eminent personalities like Late Shri Bhopal Singh, Maharana of Mewar, Dr.
Karan Singh of Kashmir, Shriyut Srimannarian, Mahapandit Shri Rahul
Sankrityanan, etc. have graced the chair of Chancellor of Rajasthan
Vidyapeeth. The eminent persons, who visited Vidyapeeth, include Pandit
Jawahar Lal Nehru, Jai Prakash Narain, Vinoba Bhave, Mrs. Indira Gandhi,
Dr.Rajendra Prasad and Dr.Radha Krishnan. Col. Tod completed his historic
book 'Annals and Antiquities of Rajputana' during his stay in the campus of
this institution.
The year 1987 was the landmark in the history of Vidyapeeth when the
Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India and the
University Grants Commission granted it the status of a Deemed-to-beUniversity. Since then, a number of different types of courses, including
professional ones, for the benefit of the society, have been launched. Its
guiding objectives have invariably been to provide research based qualitative
education to community through preservation and conservation of our sociocultural values.