The Delhi police has come down heavily on the students of Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) once again as they were marching towards Rashtrapati Bhavan to register their protest against the almost 300% fee hike imposed on them by the Inter Hall Administration.

This is the 42^nd day of the JNU agitation against the fee hike.

Reports say that at first the students weren’t allowed to march towards the Rashtrapati Bhavan, but after negotiations with Delhi police officials, the students were given a designated place outside Sarojini Nagar to hold their dharna.

The police resorted to lathi charge when protesting students tried to cross the Bhikaji Cama Place metro station that had been cordoned off by the police, when they tried to take a different route to Sarojini Nagar. Speaking to media channels, student leader Aishe Ghosh said that the police have singled out students and detained them after the lathi charge in which many students have been grievously injured.

#Live | The national capital witness massive drama after @DelhIPolice lathi charge at the students of JNU who protest against the fee hike in the campus.

TIMES NOW’s Waji & Kangana with ground details. Listen in. pic.twitter.com/jvqi7CcALH

— TIMES NOW (@TimesNow) December 9, 2019

The students have been on a month-long protest against the fee hike which the university has refused to roll back. The university had offered a peace making gesture in the garb of an amendment, but students claim that the move was simply an eyewash to take away the attention from their protest.

Shame on you Delhi Police

Once again @DelhiPolice lathy charged peacefully marching JNU students

Education is our constitutional Right. We will not go back an inch until you withdraw the draconian IHA manual#JNUProtests #JNU pic.twitter.com/fAhFkQy3Xz

— Vishnu Prazad (@Vishnu_Prazad) December 9, 2019

The Jawaharlal Nehru University Students’ Union (JNUSU) had earlier written to the President Ram Nath Kovind demanding an immediate rollback of the fee hike, the resignation of the Vice Chancellor and the withdrawal of all police cases lodged against the students.

On Monday morning, December 9, the police had increased security around JNU and appealed to the students to not resort to violence. Entry and exit points of the Udyog Bhawan, Lok Kalyan Marg and Central Secretariat Metro stations were also closed over concerns that the students may use the intra-city rail system to make their way to Rashtrapati Bhawan, reported NDTV.

JNUSU President N Sai Balaji who has been detained along with some other students has accused the administration of lying that the students had boycotted their exams. He has asked why the administration is not revoking the fee hike. He also said nobody from the MHRD or the university has come forward to discuss the issue.

There is heavy police presence at the site and while some students have been dispersed, most of them have been illegally detained and taken to separate police stations so that they can’t gather back and stage a protest.

This is the second time in the last forty days that the students have endured a lathi charge by the police. The first time around too there had been several casualties and students had accused the police of manhandling and assaulting them.

Currently, there is a standoff situation between the students and the police with the students that their detained fellow mates be immediately brought back to wherever they were taken.

The JNU and other public funded universities have been a haven for children from economically backward sections of society. The students have been unrelenting in their quest for affordable education, especially because the fee hike was an autonomous decision of the university and it didn’t take the opinion of the main stakeholders – the students’ view into account. Since the protests have erupted, the Vice Chancellor Mamidala has refused to meet with the students and listen to their demands.

The students had started on a peaceful march to the Rashtrapati Bhavan to make their pleas heard to the President against the draconian IHA manual which they saw as a last resort after the concerned authorities had shown indifference to their plight. There has been no decision made on the rollback yet. However, it is to be seen whether or not the second atrocious attack of the police will dampen their spirit and tire them out in their fight against the system.

Related:

Students, Cops clash at JNU on convocation
JNU admin moves Delhi HC against students, JNUSU and police
Police brutality in the wake of peaceful JNU protests
JNU: Students march towards Parliament, teachers ask VC to step down
“Fee hike rollback is fake”: JNU students
JNU clashes reveal the government’s skewed priorities on higher education

The post 2nd lathicharge in 40 days on JNU students by Delhi Police appeared first on SabrangIndia.

The Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) student protests against the imposed fee hike by the Inter-Hall Administration entered its 24^th day today. Though the agitation has taken a violent turn and many students have been injured in the fight for their rights, they have not lost their will to stand for the right of affordable education for all.

And in this fight, they have garnered support from not only their teachers, but also from students in universities from all over the country. On Wednesday, students from Delhi University (DU) protestedthe lathi charge their JNU counterparts were subject to by the police. The DU students who came out in support of JNU, protested against the New Education Policy calling it an ‘attempt’ to privatize education, reported the New Indian Express.

The Left-backed All India Students’ Association (AISA) that led the protests along with other student’s organisations supported the agitation against the Draft New Education Policy and the “brutal repression of the protest by Delhi Police and the government”.

Dissenting against the new education policy, they raised “anti-police” and “anti-government” slogans in support of their JNU counterparts who became victims of a ruthless baton charge by the Delhi Police on Monday.

Covering the Chhatra Marg and passing through the Campus Law Centre, students gathered in large numbers in dissent of the “draconian New Education Policy which acts as a stepping stone towards privatisation of public education”, burning effigies of the ruling government and the Delhi Police.

The Delhi Police was present in high numbers at the DU campus and students alleged that they were barricading the boundaries of the Arts faculty to stop students from marching into the campus. The police however denied the allegation saying that they were only there to ensure that the march of the DU students goes off peacefully.

Mumbai University students detained

The Mumbai Police on Wednesday, detained students from the Kalina campus of the Mumbai University who were holding a “peaceful” demonstration in support of the JNU students, and also against the “institutional murder” of 19-year-old Fathima Lathif from IIT-Madras.

Organised by the Maharashtra Joint Action Committee for Social justice along with students of the university, the protest saw students with banners showing solidarity for the ongoing resistance in JNU over the fee hike.

The police “forcefully detained” Avinash Kumar and Baban Sopan Thoke, after which Avinash, who belongs to the Disha Students Organisation, was taken to the Bandra Kurla Complex (BKC) police station, reported Mumbai Live.

Avinash said, “… they targeted me saying that I was from JNU and took me away. We are not criminals. A policeman in a threatening tone, told me that you don’t understand our power.”

Baban, an MA History student, alleged that he was manhandled by the police and that the students were treated like ‘gundas’ before being taken to the police station.

The All India Students’ Federation (AISF) Mumbai Secretary Aamir Kazi had informed that they attained permission to hold the protest. However, their permission was revoked and Sections 144 and 149 were imposed on Tuesday evening.

The students also demanded justice for Fathima Lathif whose suicide over harassment and religious discrimination in IIT-Madras was dubbed institutional murder by her fellow students. Fathima was found hanging from the ceiling fan in her room on November 9. The police found a note in her mobile phone where she had held responsible one faculty member for being the cause of her death.

JNU inspires IIT-Guwahati

Inspired by the fearless protests of the JNU students, students from IIT-Guwahati carried a silent candlelight vigil for one of their professors Dr. Brijesh Kumar Rai, who was ousted from the university after he unleashed the illegal activities of higher-ups in the institution, including those of the Vice-Chancellor.

The students formed an “I support Dr. Brijesh Kumar Rai” social media page to create awareness about the injustice and corruption in the varsity.

The students have also uploaded a YouTube video where Rai talks about the overall corruption riddling the institution and illegitimate practices in staff selection as well.

Protests erupting throughout universities in the country, be itIIT Delhi, IIT Madras or IIT Guwahati, may be for different reasons, but their end goal is to question the slow build-up of power structures in the system. Therefore, even as a proto-fascist regime attempts to shake the very foundations of education, fearless students have taken up the fight against privatisation and to prevent a right-wing and its sycophants from gaining control over what is free and fundamental to all – affordable education for one and all.

Related:

Students across Mumbai come out in support of Fathima Latheef, JNU students
JNU admin moves Delhi HC against students, JNUSU and police
Police brutality in the wake of peaceful JNU protests
JNU: Students march towards Parliament, teachers ask VC to step down
“Fee hike rollback is fake”: JNU students
JNU clashes reveal the government’s skewed priorities on higher education
Protesting JNU students target media, target female journalists
JNU Protest: May Have to Quit After Fee Hike, Say Students
Students, Cops clash at JNU on convocation

The post Delhi University condemns lathi charge on JNU students appeared first on SabrangIndia.

The students of the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) have demanded the resignation of Vice Chancellor Mamidala Jagadesh Kumar whom they hold completely responsible for the current violence being unleashed on them.

The students’ union, however, expressed its trust in a “high power committee” the human resource development ministry had set up on Monday to find a solution, and which the students will meet on Wednesday, reported The Telegraph. The committee is headed by a former acting chairperson of the University Grants Commission, VS Chauhan and includes current Commission Secretary Rajnish Jain and the Chairperson of the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) Anil Sahasrabuddhe.

On Wednesday morning, the 42 elected students’ union councillors and union office-bearers will meet the ministry committee, which held the first round of meetings with the university administration on Tuesday evening. The panel is expected to hand in its report within three days.

“We will cooperate with the committee,” Danish said. “We hope they will understand the hardship of the students and recommend a complete rollback of the hostel fee hike.”

On Monday, a students’ union team had met a joint secretary of the HRD ministry.

The students’ union has demanded reservation in hostel seats for students from socially backward sections, and a new manual prepared in consultation with the students.
 

Admin goes to court

Slighted by the decision of the Ministry of Human Resources and Development (MHRD) to review the fee hike, the JNU administration has moved to the Delhi High Court seeking proceedings of contempt against Delhi Police, students and leaders of the JNU Students’ Union, reported News 18.

The university has accused the JNUSU leaders of allegedly violating the High Court’s earlier ruling which restrains any act of protestation within 100 metres of the administrative block of the university. It said that the police also violated the court order by failing to maintain law and order in the university by removing the blockade around the administrative block.

The plea, alleging that the protests had stopped the day-to-day functioning of the varsity, by the JNU admin came in on Monday, after the students broadened their call for affordable education by marching towards the Parliament where they were stopped, detained and beaten up by security forces.
 

Police brutality reported by students

Many students have been injured in the violent clashes that ensued between them and the police. At a campus news conference that the students’ union held on Tuesday, many recounted their horrific encounters with the police.

“Male police manhandled and groped female students and the behaviour of the state machinery on unarmed students is beyond shameful,” a students’ union statement said.

The teachers, some of whom too were assaulted on Monday after they came to the protest site to interact with the students, held a march on the campus on Tuesday to condemn the police action.

“Today, we demanded the removal of the vice-chancellor,” said Mohammed Danish, students’ union joint secretary.

“He is entirely responsible for the present movement. Even though our agitation has reached the 23rd day, he did not bother to meet us once.”

The Delhi Police has also been accused of brutally beating up visually impaired students. Shashi bhushan Pandey, who was inhumanely beaten up, was asked why he was protesting if he was blind. The JNU Visually Challenged Students Forum and the National Platform for the Rights of the Disabled (NPRD) condemned the “insensitive attitude” of the police.
 

In solidarity with JNU

JNU’s fight for freedom of thought and quality education has been a long one. But in this fight, it is not alone. Apart from the professors of the varsity supporting their students in the fight, JNU has garnered immense support from other universities in its call for affordable education for all.

Students from Wardha’s Mahatma Gandhi Antarrashtriya Hindi Vishvavidyalaya marched in support of the JNU students and fiercely condemned the lathi charge by the police. Tushar, an MA student of the university said that every attack on the students protesting the fee hike will prove to be the last nail in the coffin against the government opposing their agitation.

Another MA student Kanupriya Devendra said that it is right for the students to fight for their rights and every student must do so, or else the death of public institutions would be inevitable.

Shubham Jaiswal, a researcher from the Peace Studies department criticised the fee hike stating that 70 percent of the country’s population were farmers, labourers and people with small businesses. Studying at such esteemed public universities will only go on to live honourable lives and become citizens contributing to the welfare of the state.

Ravi, a researcher from the Social Work department said that the government is appointing people with a ‘Manuvadi’ ideology to the universities where they are imposing self-established rules without the consent of the students thus leading to the institutional deaths of students like Rohith Vemula, Payal Tadvi and Fathima Lathif.

They also condemned the police attacks on Unnao farmers who have been demanding fair compensation for their land acquired for the Trans Ganga Hitech City in Uttar Pradesh.

Students from Punjab University have also lent their support to JNU students. “If we don’t stand in solidarity with fellow public universities, then who will stand with us in our time of need?” said Amandeep from Punjab Students’ Union (PSU) Lalkaar. According to Amandeep, JNU stood in solidarity with Punjab University in 2017,when a similar protest took place over the issue of a proposed fee hike between the ranges of 40 per cent to 1100 per cent at PU. After violent protests erupted at the university, the fee hike was restricted to 10 per cent.

Universities like the Benaras Hindu University (BHU), Visva-Bharati University and Delhi University have also seconded JNU’s demands.

The agitation of the JNU students who have been fighting for a complete rollback of the fee-hike is set to enter its 24^th day soon. It has garnered support not only from its teachers, but also from other universities across the country. Yet, even after the intervention by the MHRD and the aggressive turn that the protests have taken, their one demand has not been met with yet – a dialogue with the Vice Chancellor. In all the 23 days of the protest, the VC has refused to relent and meet with the students, only putting forward his messages in print and through video.

Related:
Police brutality in the wake of peaceful JNU protests
JNU: Students march towards Parliament, teachers ask VC to step down
“Fee hike rollback is fake”: JNU students
JNU clashes reveal the government’s skewed priorities on higher education
Protesting JNU students target media, target female journalists
JNU Protest: May Have to Quit After Fee Hike, Say Students
Students, Cops clash at JNU on convocation

The post JNU admin moves Delhi HC against students, JNUSU and police appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Thousands of Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) students, carrying placards and chanting slogans marched towards Parliament in the first day of the Winter Session on Monday, demanding a total rollback of the hostel fee hike, The Indian Express reported.

The students sat at Safdarjung Tomb, demanding a release of those detained and a meeting with the officials of the ministry. The Delhi Police said that the students were not given permission for the march and attempted to stop the marching students at Ber Sarai.

According to reports, JNU students were lathi charged and several others detained as they started their march towards the Parliament. In light of the protests, Section 144 was imposed in New Delhi. Several officers in plainclothes brutally assaulting students and manhandling women during the protest.

“Is lathi charge and breaking heads of JNU Students, and leaving them bloodied the humanity of the Delhi Police? When they were thrashed by lawyers, they remembered the dignity of the uniform? Don’t such incidents stain the uniform?” Delhi’s ruling Aam Aadmi Party’s Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh tweeted.

Senior CPI leader Sitaram Yechury said that such a massive deployment of forces was not seen even during the Emergency.

JNU under seige; such a massive deployment of forces was not seen even during the Emergency.
A peaceful protest march to Parliament against the unprecedented fee hikes is being focibly stopped by the police.
Strongly condemn this denial of basic democratic right to protest. pic.twitter.com/Fdhoj62wBN

— Sitaram Yechury (@SitaramYechury) November 18, 2019

The JNUSU has put forward its demands – the first of course being the total rollback of the fee hike and the second being the JNU students union and the JNU Teachers’ association must be treated as stakeholders.

Students, who this time around revived the ‘Azaadi’ slogan for the fee hike, sustained injuries in the lathi charge by the police. Yet, they asserted that they would not relent until the government withdrew the hike.

Last year, the police had run riot at a JNU rally against alleged sexual harassment by a teacher and cuts in admissions. An inspector was then suspended for molesting a woman reporter, and a woman news photographer was beaten and her camera snatched by cops.

Monday’s march had been the first protest for Sachin Kumar, 18, son of a single mother who works for a daily wage in Churu, Rajasthan. Kumar, pursuing a BA in the Russian language, is the students’ union’s youngest councillor.

“We didn’t expect such a brutal response to a peaceful march. All our parents are watching TV and are calling us to say, ‘Stay behind the march’,” Sachin said.

“I studied at a Navodaya Vidyalaya, and subsidised education is my only option. This violence only strengthens our resolve to fight back till we ensure that our affordable hostels remain that way. The government wants to deny this because we are publicly funded and yet dare to question them.”

At ACP office Badarpur. At the thana here, 70 students, women students’ clothes torn, bleeding injuries, possible broken bones or tissue injury. No medicine, no first aid, no water, no food. @DelhiPolice what are you doing???? #JNU pic.twitter.com/zumDpAAWVl

— Kavita Krishnan (@kavita_krishnan) November 18, 2019

Shame on Delhi Police and the brutality they inflicted on peaceful students. We are protesting for affordable education.
You have no excuse for this behaviour @DelhiPolice #jnuprotest #EmergencyinJNU #FeesMustFall pic.twitter.com/xSTeVG2Lpt

— JNUSU (@JNUSUofficial) November 18, 2019

Shashibhushan, elected JNUSU councillor rushed to AIIMS. He is visually challenged but that didn’t stop the police from stamping his chest with boots!

Dear @DelhiPolice even ur children wont be able to enter the univ if fee hike isn’t rolled back. Remember that! #EmergencyinJNU pic.twitter.com/T2NvCvihdw

— Umar Khalid (@UmarKhalidJNU) November 18, 2019

This is how Delhi Police beaten up JNU students who are demanding rollback of increased Fee.

Hello @IPSMadhurVerma , These students don’t have families?? They don’t have Human Rights???#EmergencyinJNU pic.twitter.com/N89NXrePV7

— Md Asif Khan‏‎‎‎‎‎‎ آصِف (@imMAK02) November 18, 2019

JNU students are a beacon of hope. Taking blows on their bodies, they march forward for a better future for all, for everyone’s right to education. Shame on you JNU VC, for bringing this situation where students are being brutalized for demanding their basic right #EmergencyinJNU pic.twitter.com/6JxZlx7ien

— Umar Khalid (@UmarKhalidJNU) November 18, 2019

JNUSU vice president Saket Moon said, “The police is telling us they will take a delegation to meet HRD officials. We will decide on sending a delegation only after our fellows detained at unknown locations are released. We want representation in the HRD panel.”

Earlier in the day, the Ministry of Human Resource Development appointed a three-member committee to recommend ways to restore normal functioning of the JNU which has been witnessing periodic protests by students over a variety of issues.

The right to protest is a democratic right in India. Today, the JNU students were only marching towards the Parliament to make their pleas heard and demand affordable education for people from all sections of society. But the brutal and unnecessary force shown by the military on higher orders of the government and the refusal to accept students as stakeholders in the education system, show the travesty of the workings of the same in India.

What’s worse is the continued silence of the Vice Chancellor. He knows that one statement by him regarding cooperation with the students will bring the whole situation under control and soothe the frayed temper of the protestors. Since no word is coming in from him, would it be safe to assume that the Modi-Mamidala connection is right and he is a explicit contributor to the current circumstances?

JNU students have been on strike for the last three weeks after the introduction of a new hostel manual that almost doubles the hostel fees, raising them above the annual stipend of Rs 60,000 a non-NET fellowship brings.

Union human resource development minister Ramesh Pokhriyal had been stranded at JNU’s convocation for several hours last week because of protests outside.

Although Pokhriyal and the University Grants Commission secretary has met the protesting students, vice-chancellor M. Jagadesh Kumar has confined himself to issuing appeals to the students in print and video to call off the agitation.

The varsity had approved the changes at an executive council meeting held outside the campus, offering a rebate to “below poverty line” students — an outdated categorisation that is currently not defined.

“My mother earns only Rs 2,300 a month but she would still not qualify under the BPL category, which is defunct anyway,” Sachin said.

While the police blocked the student march at JNU’s gates, the HRD ministry constituted a “high power committee” around 11.30am to talk to the students and university authorities and recommend ways to end the agitation.

The committee members include former commission chairperson V.S. Chauhan, current commission secretary Rajnish Jain and the All India Council for Technical Education chairperson Anil Sahasrabuddhe.

Related:

JNU: Students march towards Parliament, teachers ask VC to step down
“Fee hike rollback is fake”: JNU students
JNU clashes reveal the government’s skewed priorities on higher education
Protesting JNU students target media, target female journalists
JNU Protest: May Have to Quit After Fee Hike, Say Students
Students, Cops clash at JNU on convocation

The post Police brutality in the wake of peaceful JNU protests appeared first on SabrangIndia.

The Delhi Police filed an FIR against unidentified persons on Sunday for alleged vandalism at the Jawaharlal Nehru University’s administration block during student protests. The university administration has claimed that the students defaced the property when they were protesting against the increase in the proposed fee hike by the Inter Hall Administration. Protesting students have strongly rebutted this.

Students had pasted posters with slogans such as “No to fee hike” and “Reject Hostel Manual” on the walls of the administrative block of the university, a traditional method of protest at JNU. They have staunchly denied allegations of ‘defacing’ a platform on which a yet-to-be-unveiled statue of Swami Vivekananda stands. Some students had also entered the administrative block on Wednesday and allegedly painted messages on the door of Vice Chancellor M Jagadeesh Kumar’s office. Such messages were also painted at the rector’s and registrar’s office.

Students responded thus to the slew of criminal complaints with slogans and key campaign points:

• Modi Government wants students Jailed for demanding Affordable, Accessible and Quality Education For All!_
• Modi-Mamidala Duo wants students behind bars for asking why are they making JNU the costliest among Central Universities through fee hike?
• Let’s Assertwe are 8,500 students, Fighting to Save our Right to Education! Then why this motivated targeting and victimisation of students and present and former JNUSU office bearers? Doesn’t it speak volumes of the real political agenda of the VC and Co.?
• The JNU VC MamidalaJagadesh Kumar, an “agent” of the Modi Government, has filed targeted motivated FIR for protesting against aRs 62,000-70,000 fee hike from the present Rs, 30, 000-35,000 fee structure.
• The entire 8,500 student strength of JNU have been resisting the illogical fee hike in the name of utility charges (electricity and water bill), service charge (salaries of hostel workers and maintenance of hostel), increase in room rent and other hostel related fees.
• 40% of student in JNU come from families whose annual income is less than Rs 1,44,000. The farcical concession given by JNU Admin to BPL families means their annual hostel and mess bill after the fee hike and partial rollback means they need to pay RS 47500-49300, which is 176% to 183% of their income.
• We would like to ask the Delhi Police, is it a crime to demand answers about this illogical fee hike? Unfortunately the Modi Government wants students opposing the destruction of public funded education to be jailed. It wants to bulldoze public funded Higher education, to pave the way for foreign and corporate-run profit minded universities!
• When our Universities have been turned into prisons, the students will turn prisons into our libraries.
• Condemning the FIR, we demand  “Complete Roll Back and Roll Back For All” of the fees.*

  Post Script:
   

• Has any ABVP student been named in the FIR? ABVP has been claiming to be part of JNU students movement. Is there a special treatment for ‘His Master’s Voice’?
• We have time and again said the students of JNU haven’t vandalised or defaced the Vivekananda statue. We condemn the vandalisation in the strongest terms.
• JNU VC and his cohorts along with a few media channels have been trying to divert the debate towards statue vandalism.Why? It is not difficult see the compulsions of the VC&Co.
• JNU VC lost his moral authority when he shifted JNU convocation to AICTE away from JNU campus. The entire world saw how thousands of JNU students fearlessly took on the combined might of the VC, Police and the Govt. JNU VC lost the legitimacy and narrative so badly. So much so that he held even JNU Executive Council meeting 18km away from JNU!

So, in order to save his face, he has been

              >> ‘using’ MHRD to push the false narrative of ‘partial roll back of fee hike’

              >>‘using Godi media” tirelessly to spread the narrative on statue vandalism

              >> and‘using’ the Delhi Police to slap selective FIRs to derail the raging movement.
 

The Chief Security Officer of the university had filed the complaint and reportedly submitted photo and video evidence to the police after which an FIR was registered. Two additional complaints were filed against the defacement of the Vivekananda statue by Professor Buddha Singh, the chairman of Swami Vivekananda Statue Installation Committee, and the BharatiyaJanataYuvaMorcha. Professor Singh has asked the police to register an FIR under Section 426 (punishment for mischief) and other relevant sections of Indian Penal Code and under relevant provisions of Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act, 1984.

In his complaint he also said that there were objectionable and political remarks written on the base of the statue, targeted at a political party and a group of people donning “saffron clothes”.

Student organisations havecriticised the registration of the case citing that the Modi government is trying to make JNU the costliest public university through the fee hike. It has said that 40% of the students in JNU come from families with an annual income of less than Rs. 144,000. The preposterous concession given by the administration to the Below Poverty Line (BPL) families means that their annual hostel and mess bill, even after the ‘rollback’ will shoot up to Rs. 47,500 – Rs. 49,300 which is 176% to 183% of their income.

Apart for demanding a complete rollback and the rollback of fees for all, the AISA has questioned the involvement of the students of the AkhilBharatiyaVidyarthiParishad (ABVP) who have claimed to be part of the JNU students’ movement, asking of any of them had been named in the FIR. The AISA has clarified that the students of JNU hadn’t defaced the statue of Swami Vivekananda and it was the VC, along with a few media channels who were trying to give a negative spin to the students’ protests.

The student agitation had taken a turn for the worst last week when the Delhi Police used water cannons to disperse protestors. The VC’s decision was also condemned by the Teachers’ Association who have now asked him to step down from his post.

The students have planned a long march to the Parliament to further their protest and get the government to order the IHA for a complete rollback in the fee hike.

Related:

“Fee hike rollback is fake”: JNU students
JNU clashes reveal the government’s skewed priorities on higher education
Protesting JNU students target media, target female journalists
JNU Protest: May Have to Quit After Fee Hike, Say Students
Students, Cops clash at JNU on convocation

The post FIR against JNU students protesting against fee hike, allegations of ‘defacing’ Vivekananda statue appeared first on SabrangIndia.

The Jawaharlal Nehru University Students’ Union (JNUSU) has asked students of other universities to join its march towards the Parliament on Monday, November 18, to protest against the fee hike and other issues affecting higher education. It also appealed to students outside Delhi to organise agitations on November 18 to mark a National Day of Protest, “to safeguard education as a right, and oppose its transformation into a commodity“.

The police have deployed its Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) to stop the long march for affordable education and they have locked the students in the campus.

JNU students have taken to twitter to share live updates and unveil the scare tactics of the government.

Unacceptable scare tactics being used by the State machinery to stop a handful of students from walking to parliament and demanding affordable education for all. Students locked inside campus by men in uniform. Is this Democracy? #EmergencyinJNU #FeesMustFall @ndtv @MirrorNow pic.twitter.com/Y2gTTH7dfh

— Senjuti (@BeArgumentative) November 18, 2019

43% of students of JNU have an annual parental income of less than ₹ 1,44,000 and the proposed fee hike will make the annual hostel fee ₹ 66,100 for Single Seater and ₹ 62, 500 for Double Seater#EmergencyinJNU#AffordableEducation@DrRPNishank @mamidala90

— Arish Rehman Khan (@arishrehmankhan) November 18, 2019

Students from BPL category with parental monthly income of Rs 2250 will pay atleast Rs 4108. Where is the consideration for them. And when students protest, this is what we are greeted with.#EmergencyinJnu pic.twitter.com/r5OmN7Ysan

— Mayur Kumar (@Mayur_Kumar1990) November 18, 2019

#jnu Students protest against fees hike, library and Hostel curfew timings and Hostel manual peacefully. Students march to #Parliament so that issues can be taken to the Prime Minister and MPs #EmergencyinJNU #JNUProtests @RahulGandhi @guptar @INCSCDept @Mayawati @jyotiyadaav pic.twitter.com/ahd4zimqVC

— Neeranjan Rao (@emir_neer) November 18, 2019

Meanwhile, the JNU Teacher’s Association (JNUTA) has given a befitting reply to the Vice Chancellor M. Jagadesh Kumar after he wrote to them seeking their cooperation in maintaining a peaceful academic atmosphere in the JNU campus.

D.K. Lobliyal, President JNUTA and SurajitMazumdar, Secretary JNUTA have written to the Vice Chancellor and clearly stated that they “couldn’t disagree more” with his ‘appeal’ to make extra effort to convince the students that the changes in hostel charges are not only reasonable but vital for the financial viability of our hostels.

The letter by the teacher association read, “We cannot disagree more with the view that the changes in hostel charges are reasonable and necessary. We are all well aware of what our students are going through presently and the idea of urging them to accept such an exorbitant hike is reprehensible to us. Secondly, we hold you, and the Administration led by you, responsible for the disturbed atmosphere of the campus today. It is the Administration’s decision to impose in a highhanded manner the hike in charges and its consistent refusal to have any dialogue with the students that is the root cause of the present crisis.”

The letter also stated that there was no explanation given as to why the current protocol was shelved in favour of a self-financing system. Asking the VC the cause behind the move, they questioned the claim about the dearth of funds. “Is there some sudden cut in funds and if so, should it not be your responsibility as VC to appeal to the UGC and MHRD and to press on them the need for additional funds? If there is such a dearth of funds, how did the expenses on security increase by leaps and bounds in the last few years and why is so much being spent on introducing biometric systems in the University? Why did your Administration compel the University to accept transferring the responsibility of conducting the entrance examinations to the NTA, a move which has more than doubled the expenditure on these examinations? Is the burden of these several crores also going to be transferred to students?”

The teachers also spoke about the laughable ‘concession’ offered by the university for students from underprivileged backgrounds and accused the VC and administration of taking arbitrary decisions without consulting either the academic council or the teachers. They said that the current fee hike was just another abominable decision in a long list – seat cuts in research programmes, arbitrary changes to admission processes, disciplinary proceedings against faculty members and the abolition of GSCASH among others.

Strongly condemning the leadership, the teachers have asked Kumar to step down from the post of the VC. “We see the hike in hostel charges as another big step in the same direction of destroying the character of JNU as a public institution. The teachers of JNU who have seen this process unfolding before their eyes have through a public inquiry and through their referendum already expressed their clear opinionthat it would be in the best interests of the University that you step down from your position as Vice- Chancellor.”

The protests at JNU have been going on for almost three weeks without any conclusion. The situation had turned violent in the past week, with the students, police and media clashing with each other, While the administration claims to have announced a rollback in the fee hike, the JNU students claim that the same is only a sham and are demanding that there be a complete reversal of the same.

Related:

“Fee hike rollback is fake”: JNU students

JNU clashes reveal the government’s skewed priorities on higher education

Protesting JNU students target media, target female journalists

JNU Protest: May Have to Quit After Fee Hike, Say Students

Students, Cops clash at JNU on convocation

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After two weeks of protests, thousands of students took to the streets on Monday against the massive fee hike in Jawaharlal Nehru University. The students allege that the new hostel manual approved by the administration proposes 400% hike and recommends curfew timings. The students say that the move will be catastrophic and will cause mass dropouts in the campus. Here’s their story

Courtesy: News Click

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The JNU student community “makes a fervent appeal” to the administration “to desist from the unlawful occupation and blockade of” top administrative posts in view of the fact that these posts are established to serve public interests and not for gaining political mileage and fuel personal egos.

Fifteen days have passed since “the students who have been sent by their parents from different parts of the country to study and research in JNU” have been engrossed in a blockade to protest against the May 2016 UGC Gazette; however, the Vice Chancellor has not addressed the students even once! Despite several letters from Teachers and Students requesting a meeting, the Vice Chancellor has refused to engage in any dialogue and instead of communicating a concrete time and date for such a meeting, he has only engaged in creating a facade of appeals and requests by misusing the university website, student mailing lists and the media for personal media attention!

The student community feels that the Vice Chancellor and his counsel must step down in view of the confusion they are creating through their appeals. In one appeal (14-2-2017), the Vice Chancellor claims: “Any individual faculty member or student interested in meeting the VC and the JNU administration are most welcome to meet and share their views”. However, when so many students of his university express their desire of “meeting and sharing their views with the VC”, his registrar says in the next appeal (21-2-2017) that “The best of dialogues can take place only between student representatives and Administration officials. But the agitating students are insisting that the Vice Chancellor must come and answer questions at mass gathering of students!” He goes on to call this desire to meet “unreasonable and quarrelsome”: “It is like asking for public trial of the Vice Chancellor for seeking to implement the UGC Gazette notification on M. Phil/PhD admission!”(23-2-2017) The JNU Student community is “aghast” at these attempts at playing victim and creating unnecessary panic. The “laughable” appeals are “condemnable” as it is already clear to the student community that rather than engaging in any productive dialogue to resolve the present crisis, the administration is more interested in staging a drama to show fake concern over the dysfunctioning of the administrative block!

Recognising that academic, financial and other academic work (related to fellowships, PhD Viva, Mark sheets and Degree Certificates, salary bills, and essential services like medical bills) were getting affected due to the blockade, the students decided to open the Ad block phase wise till the 2nd March. However, the Vice Chancellor directed the staff to not enter the premises till he and his counsel are allowed to enter. The Student Community is quite amused to see this display of egoism which just shows that the VC is himself interested in continuing the blockade and delaying important work and decisions to gain media mileage as a victim of agitating students!

This only pushes the student community to wonder: Does the Vice chancellor even “care for the thousand plus contractual labourers who have suffered” because of his silence on the UGC Gazette issue? Does he wish to resolve this issue or just wants to “continue shedding crocodile tears by invoking “social justice” arguments” in his appeals? Does he worry at all “when the university has lost huge sums of money, that that are actually the country’s taxpayers’ money” due to his silence on the UGC Gazette issue and his unprincipled blockade of communication and democratic procedures? Does his office “respect academics, when official papers of faculty and students related to their academic engagements in India and abroad are not processed” due to his denial of communication with agitating students? Who will be responsible when students from marginalised communities will not be able to apply to JNU because of the implementation of the UGC Gazette? Who will be responsible when the three part exam will completely dilute the quality of research in JNU? Who will be responsible when the high viva-voce weightage will continue to encourage discrimination against students from different social backgrounds? All these repercussions “are ironically not considered law and order problems” by the JNU Administration!

Hence, the JNU Student Community is of the opinion that the Vice Chancellor and his office have made a mockery out of all ‘democratic’ procedures and modes of communication. They are only interested in spreading myths about democratic dialogue while being absolutely rigid and resolute to pursue their own agenda, that is, ignore the Abdul Nafey Committee recommendations and implement the anti-student May 2016 UGC Gazette. In the past 15 days, they have only insulted adult, conscientious students of their university by calling them “unruly”, “unreasonable” and their demands “ridiculous”, “illogical”, “mindless” and “unwarranted”.

“Before the students, teachers, staff and karamcharis of the university lose their current level of tolerance and patience” at an administration that is so unresponsive to their demands, the Vice Chancellor should abandon the unlawful path of conceit and accept their demands in a reconvened Academic Council meeting:

– Implement the Nafey Committee Recommendations
– Scrap the draconian UGC Gazette Notification
– No seat cut at any level of admission
– Roll back fee hike
– Reject 3-level qualifying exam for M.Phil/PhD. admission
– Implement minority deprivation points
– Implement reservations in direct PhD. Admission
– Implement OBC reservations in faculty posts

“JNU has been a great source of inspiration to millions of students and teachers of other educational institutions of the country for decades”. “But the mode of…” administrative highhandedness that the Vice Chancellor and his counsel have been demonstrating for close to a year “…is anything but inspiring”! It has only pushed students to engage in strong forms of protest like gheraos, protests and blockades and the administration is solely responsible for creating such an environment. Hence, the JNU Student community yet again makes an appeal to the administration to keep the interests of students above narrow political gains, personal media mileage, alleged victimhood and opportunism and pay heed to the demands of students from diverse social and economic backgrounds, and immediately end the occupation and blockade that the administration is hell bent on imposing on different levels of higher education!

“JNU Student Community”
*This appeal simply reworks the numerous appeals issued by the administration towards a more truthful account of what has been happening in JNU since 10th Feb 2017. All the quotations are from appeals on www.jnu.ac.in.
 

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“JNU admin will continue to put sense in this small group of unruly students by talking to them. If it fails law will take its course,” said JNU Vice Chancellor M. Jagadesh Kumar in a Twitter post.

He said the university officials will meet the “unruly” students, but they will have to vacate the administrative block first.

But the students are adamant that they won’t cow down till the VC meets them. “We will not leave the administrative block till the time the VC meets us,” Rama Naga of AISA.

JNU Students Union (JNUSU) General Secretary Satarupa Chakraborty appealed to the vice-chancellor to “appear” before the students as soon as possible.

“We had made it clear to the Vice Chancellor that he will have to meet the delegation of all students of JNU since all of them will be affected by this draconian UGC notification. But until now, he has not made any appearance in front of the students who have been eagerly waiting since Thursday. We appeal the Vice Chancellor to appear before the students as soon as possible,” she said.

Hundreds of students from different schools and centres of the varsity led by the JNUSU thronged to the building on February 9 night after the UGC gazette was “undemocratically and unilateral” passed in the Academic Council meeting by the Vice Chancellor “without any discussion”. This was repeatedly opposed by the Academic Council members, said the students.

The protest reached its maximum on February 10, completely occupying the administrative block.

The agitating students argued that they were literally forced to take this step after all democratic measure, including peaceful protest, memorandums and pleas by JNUSU, failed to have desired effect on the JNU administration – which is “deaf-ears” and “indifferent” towards their demands.

They said that the new admission policy for entrance to M.Phil/Ph.D made “in lieu” of UGC Gazette Notification announced in December last year will result into a “massive” seat cuts and would simultaneously close the doors of JNU for Dalit, backward and marginalised section of students.

While the administration said that the “students’ representatives are welcome to meet the JNU administration for a discussion, the students, however, declined to vacate the venue unless the Vice Chancellor meets and listen to them.

The students have also alleged that the JNU administration under its Vice Chancellor is acting blatantly under the “dictates of right regime at the Centre”, which is upon “destroying the age-old structure of the JNU which is its strength”.

On its part, the JNU administration said that students have forcibly occupied the administrative block and prevented the entry of staff and officers, terming the blockade as “unlawful” and “unjust”. The administration requested the students to immediate vacate the administration building and let the university function normally.

The administration has also called the agitation “unwarranted” reiterating that the “progressive admission policy” of the JNU will be retained within the framework of UGC Regulation 2016.

“The JNU administration has given an appointment to the JNUSU representatives for a discussion on the admission policy on the basis of written demand from JNUSU president. It is unfortunate that he refused to even accept the letter mentioning the date and time of the meeting,” said a press release from administration.
 

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इसके साथ ही बहुजन छात्रों को उच्च शिक्षा से वंचित करने वाला काला कानून बनाने वाले MHRD और UGC के विरोध में नारे लगाये गए। छात्रों ने हैदराबाद वि.वि. के कुलपति  अप्पा राव के खिलाफ भी जमकर नारेबाजी की। साथ ही उन्होंने रोहित एक्ट लागु करके रोहित बेमुला को जल्द से जल्द न्याय देने की मांग की।

JNU आंदोलन को समर्थन देने के लिए बाबासाहेब भीमराव अंबेडकर विश्वविद्यालय, लखनऊ से जल्द ही छात्र दिल्ली के लिए कूच करेंगें। AUDSU संगठन के सभी सदस्यों ने एक आवाज में कहा कि, JNU में यदि बहुजन छात्रों का निष्कासन वापस नहीं हुआ और आंदोलनरत छात्र दिलीप यादव और राहुल सोंनपिम्पले सहित अन्य छात्रों को यदि न्याय नहीं मिला तब JNU, UGC, MHRD का चक्का जाम कर दिया जायेगा।

Courtesy: National Dastak

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