SRINAGAR: Jammu and Kashmir has two operational Central Universities, established in 2009 and 2011, while Sindhu Central University in Ladakh was established in 2021, according to information placed before the Lok Sabha.
The details were provided by Minister of State in the Ministry of Education Sukanta Majumdar in reply to Lok Sabha Unstarred Question No. 1283, answered on July 27, 2026, raised by Brijmohan Agrawal on Central University infrastructure.
The annexure to the reply identified the Central University of Kashmir, with its transit campus at Sonwar, Srinagar, as having been established in 2009, and the Central University of Jammu, located at Bagla (Rahya-Suchani) in Samba district, as having been established in 2011.
The reply also recorded Sindhu Central University in Ladakh as having been established in 2021. The Union Government said that over the last five years, two Central Universities had been established in the country—Sammakka Sarakka Central Tribal University in Telangana and Sindhu Central University in the Union Territory of Ladakh.
Nationally, there are 57 operational Central Universities, of which 47, excluding Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU), fall under the administrative purview of the Ministry of Education. At present, 3,09,542 students are enrolled in these 47 Central Universities.
The Ministry said all Central Universities are statutory autonomous organisations established under respective Central Acts of Parliament and operate under their Acts, Statutes and Ordinances. They are authorised to take administrative and academic decisions with the approval of their respective statutory bodies.
Except Sindhu Central University, all Central Universities under the administrative control of the Ministry of Education are currently offering undergraduate programmes, the reply said.
On infrastructure, the Ministry said Central Universities have undertaken various environment-friendly initiatives, including rooftop solar power generation, solar water-heating systems, rainwater harvesting, wastewater and solid-waste management, plantation and biodiversity conservation.
The reply, however, did not provide separate details of eco-friendly campus projects or green-energy hostels specifically under development at the Central University of Kashmir, Central University of Jammu or Sindhu Central University.
It said the Ministry had provided financial assistance to the Central University of Odisha for establishing a green-energy building. Guru Ghasidas Vishwavidyalaya in Chhattisgarh had identified requirements for strengthening its campus drainage, academic and residential infrastructure and hostel facilities.
