By Thomas Scaria
Bengaluru, Feb 26, 2022: A Carmelite of Mary Immaculate priest was on February 26 conferred the honorary title of Colonel Commandant by the federal Ministry of Defense.
Father Abraham Mani Vettiankal, who serve as the vice chancellor of the Christ University in Bengaluru is the first Indian Catholic priest to get the honor for his outstanding contributions to the promotion of National Cadet Corps and National Service Scheme in the Christ University in the past decade.
The official piping was performed by Lt General Gurbirpal Singh, the director general of NCC at a ceremony conducted at the Parachute Regiment Training Center, Bengaluru, the capital of the southern India state of Karnataka.
Awarding this honor, Singh said the recognition was conferred to Father Abraham in recognition of being the first university in the country to introduce NCC as a credit course and for promoting its students to join the Indian Defense Service.
“The Christ University has promoted NCC as a priority program resulting its members joining the armed and paramilitary forces in significant numbers as well as for providing infrastructure and facilities for NCC training at the University Campus,” said the director general.
Father Vettiankal told Matters India that the recognition was for the Christ University and he received it on behalf of the deemed university.
“Over the past years, we have given top priority to prepare our students to the administrative or defense services, other than encouraging them to go abroad,” said the priest.
Only three universities have been selected for the honor this year, and the Christ University was the top among them in terms of promoting students to NCC and thereby to the Defense Ministry, the vice chancellor said.
The priest, who received the special dress code in Khakhi pants and shirt and ornamental signs, at the ceremony, said he had introduced compulsory village exposure and serving in rural areas for its students to form them as socially sensitive citizens.
Christ University has upheld the aims of the National Cadet Corps to develop character, commandership, discipline, leadership, secular outlook, adventure and the ideals of selfless service among the youth of the country.
The vice chancellor said its NCC wing has devotedly trained the cadets to imbibe and be a responsible citizen of the country which has been opened to both for male and female students.
Father Mathew Chandrankunnel, the former director of the Ecumenical Christian Center in Bengaluru, said Father Vettiankal deserves the honor as he has made remarkable contributions to the Defense Ministry by promoting hundreds of students to the service of the country.
CHRIST (Deemed to be University) was born out of the educational vision of Saint Kuriakose Elias Chavara, an educationalist and social reformer of the nineteenth century in the southern Indian state of India. He founded Carmelites of Mary Immaculate, the first Catholic indigenous congregation in 1831 which manages the Christ University.
Established in 1969 as Christ College, the university undertook path-breaking initiatives in Indian higher education with the introduction of innovative and modern curricula, imparting holistic education. The University Grants Commission of India conferred autonomy to the college in 2004 and identified it as an institution with potential for Excellence in 2006.
One of the first institutions in India to be accredited in 1998 by the NAAC, Christ University has the top grade ‘A’ in the 4-point scale. It has more than 27,000 students pursuing various disciplines.