Jamia V-C Najma gets Padma Shri
Professor Najma Akhtar, Vice Chancellor of Jamia Millia Islamia, has been honoured with Padma Shri in Literature and Education.
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She is the first woman in Jamia history of more than 100 years to have won the Padma Shri. Professor Akhtarul Wasey is the first Jamia teacher to have won the prestigious award in 2013.
Akhtar was appointed as the VC of Jamia in April 2019 and she was the first woman of any Central university to have achieved this record.
It was in the same period when Delhi saw protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act in December.
After getting the award, she said: “I was not aiming to get it. In the last one year, the university has been achieving great heights. The VC is given the responsibility as well as the blame. I knew people are recognising my work. I am obliged that the Prime Minister and the President are recognising my work. I am extremely grateful. Everyone puts in hard work but not everyone gets recognition.”
The university informed netizens about the development on twitter. “It is a matter of great pride for the @jmiu_official that Vice Chancellor Prof. Najma Akhtar has been selected for #PadmaShri Award for her distinguished services in the field of literature and education,” Jamia tweeted.
This year the list consisted of four Padma Vibhushan, 17 Padma Bhushan, and 107 Padma Shri Awards. Out of 128 awardees, 34 are women and the list includes 10 persons from the category of Foreigners/NRI/PIO/OCI and 13 posthumous awardees.
