Nita Ambani set to become a visiting professor at BHU – her competition for the post were Gautam Adani’s wife Priti and Lakshmi Mittal’s wife Usha

• Nita Ambani, a philanthropist and the wife of Asia’s richest man Mukesh Ambani, is set to become a visiting professor at the prestigious Banaras Hindu University.
• However, the students of the university are up in protests against the appointment of Ambani.
• Along with Ambani, the other two names being considered were Priti Adani, wife of industrialist Gautam Adani, and Usha Mittal, wife of steel baron Lakshmi Mittal.

Nita Ambani, an entrepreneur and philanthropist and the wife of Asia’s richest man Mukesh Ambani, is set to become a visiting professor at the prestigious Banaras Hindu University. Ambani has been sent a proposal by the university’s social sciences faculty to be a visiting professor at the Centre for Women’s Studies and Development.

However, the students of the university are up in protests against the impending appointment of Ambani. According to reports, 40 students gathered in front of the Vice Chancellor Rakesh Bhatnagar’s house in the campus on Tuesday to protest against the appointment.

Authorities confirmed in media reports, that along with Ambani the other two names being considered are Priti Adani, wife of industrialist Gautam Adani, and Usha Mittal, wife of steel baron Lakshmi Mittal.

To be fair, the ladies run the corporate social responsibility wings of the conglomerates of the families they belong to.

Nita Ambani has made a name for herself through her various ventures in education, philanthropy, and of course, cricket. She is the chairperson and founder of the philanthropic organisation Reliance Foundation, which is the corporate social responsibility (CSR) arm of the Reliance Industries. She also runs and owns the IPL (Indian Premier League) franchise Mumbai Indians.

Priti Adani is the chairperson of the Adani Foundation, which works for the development of education, community health, sustainable livelihood development and infrastructure development. Meanwhile, Usha Mittal has set up several educational institutions across the country.

However, Reliance Industries in a statement to ANI has dismissed the reports of her joining the university as 'fake'. The Banaras Hindu University too has now denied the same and said that it has not sent an invite to Ambani.

But the dean of the department at BHU had earlier said that they were just following the tradition of the university. “Following the BHU tradition of involving philanthropic industrialists, we sent a letter to the Reliance Foundation asking Nita Ambani to join the Women Study Centre as a visiting professor so that we can benefit from her experience. We did this because the Reliance Foundation has done a lot of work in the field of women empowerment,” Kaushal Kishore Mishra, dean of the faculty of social sciences told the Indian Express.

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