Students were protesting the callous and indifferent attitude of the JNU administration and the Ministry of Education towards the 14-day hunger strike by the Jawaharlal Nehru University Students Union (JNUSU) on serious issues of the students. The health of those students protesting is deteriorating but there has been no response from the government. Students have been demanding that the JNU administration and the Ministry of Education take immediate meaningful decisions and respond to the demands of the students.

The major demands of the students include increasing the MCM scholarship from ₹2000 to ₹5000, increasing the Non-NET Fellowship to ₹20,000 to reduce the high cost of living in Delhi, opening a hostel to provide necessary accommodation for students, reinstatement of the JNUEE exam which has been marred by repeated failures and paper leaks under the NTA system, the recent failure of the re-examination on August 20, 2024 which is now going to be held, the failure of the NTA to deal with important examinations alone, preventing discrimination against students from disadvantaged sections, conducting caste census, implementing caste sensitization, restoring GSCASH in place of the ineffective ICC. Women students especially flagged the issue of the presence of a member of the teaching faculty accused of inappropriate behaviour on an adjudicating body for students.

Besides students under the JNUSU have also been demanding a revision of the National Education Policy (NEP) which is inherently discriminatory against marginalised communities and students. Increased and sustained funding is necessary to adequately support educational institutions and ensure that they can provide the necessary resources and facilities for students.

A video of the protest may be viewed here

Meanwhile the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM) has expressed its full support to this movement of students on behalf of the farmers of the country. In a statement issued by the umbrella organisation of over 300 farmer organisations on August 24, SKM states, “The farmers of the country can never forget the active support given by the JNU students to the farmers in the 13-month-long Delhi Morcha of farmers led by SKM. SKM has said that with every passing hour, the health of the hunger strikers is deteriorating. We appeal to all farmers-labourers-citizens of the country to support this just movement of students.”

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“My mother called after she got to know about the suspension and she sounded extremely upset, she asked me to go home and I said that’s what the administration has planned anyway — they are sending me home. She got angry and she put the phone down. Then I called my father and he told me that she was worried, so I said that this is part and parcel of our lives but what can we do? When I thought about this later, I realised how ModiJi makes a big deal out of the events when he meets his mother, takes her blessing before he does something. So, what about our mothers? Whatever educational policies he or his party has put in place, those have mostly cost the students and their families their livelihoods or education. If we are suspended it has a huge impact on our family as well,”

Soon after, within days, after the Jawaharlal Nehru University’s (JNU) Proctor’s Office academically suspended the current and former Students’ Union presidents, N SaiBalaji and GeetaKumari respectively, along with current Joint Secretary AmuthaJayadeep and numerous other students activists as they have proctorial inquiries pending against them, one of the suspended students,N SaiBalaji has penned down an open letter “filled with pain, anguish and disappointment” to Prime Minister NarendraModi. His letter states that the student community will keep fighting for truth and justice, seeking freedom from “Hindutva and corporate loot”.

The studentshave said clearly, with documented allegations, that the suspension is a result of the fact that they stood up against the unfair policies of the administration. Balajieven added that they were not allowed to register for the semester and the reasons given were that they had been academically suspended by the Chief Proctor’s Office. This letter is a response to these unfair practices combined and more, says Balaji.
“My mother called after she got to know about the suspension and she sounded extremely upset, she asked me to go home and I said that’s what the administration has planned anyway — they are sending me home. She got angry and she put the phone down. Then I called my father and he told me that she was worried, so I said that this is part and parcel of our lives but what can we do? When I thought about this later, I realised how ModiJi makes a big deal out of the events when he meets his mother, takes her blessing before he does something. So, what about our mothers? Whatever educational policies he or his party has put in place, those have mostly cost the students and their families their livelihoods or education. If we are suspended it has a huge impact on our family as well,” says Balaji.

“I am the only one in my family who has completed his graduation and is a PhD scholar, both my parents are only graduates. They wanted me and my brother to study as much as we want and they worked really hard to help us achieve our dreams. Now, when they saw this they were simply heartbroken. It’s just not my family that is getting affected, there are thousands and lakhs of students and their families who face the same — some are not able to secure a seat at a top university because of unfair reservation, unable to pay the fees because of the massive fee hike, unable to get quality education due to lack of teachers. Thus it is the whole system that these people have destroyed,” he adds.

The letter states that the ruling party, the RashtriyaSwayamsevakSangh (RSS) and its party workers has time and again celebrated the ethos and spirit of Manusmriti.

“ModiJi, the organisation you cherish to belong to — RSS — has time and again celebrated the ethos and spirit of Manusmriti. In 1949, through its official magazine RSS manifested its love for Manusmriti and its hate for Indian constitution where it called principles like equality and others not part of Indian culture. The antagonism towards our constitution from RSS and BJP has been evident through statements of yours MPs, Ministers, and party members, not to miss RSS stalwarts.

“It’s not ironical that the first notice I got in March 2016 was for burning those texts of Manusmriti on International Women’s day which were completely anti-women and anti-Dalit. It is in this context, Rohith’s suspension and later his institutional murder have to be remembered. It was a message to students and people in general who resisted RSS’s Hindutva filled idea of India that you will be shown your place i.e. on the street, marginalised, along with all state propaganda against you,” reads the open letter.

Balaji says that he was inspired by RohithVemula and that’s why he does what he does now. “Rohith’s mother, Radhika Ma, once told me that I shouldn’t study at the university as they could throw me out or even get me killed as they did to her son. And she said then that she wouldn’t send her younger son to study at a university at all. It is such a painful thing for a mother to say. These families, their pain is not justified, so that’s why I thought I will write this letter because people need to read this even if the PM has a busy schedule and he might not,” concludes the current JNUSU president.

The entire letter may read and viewed here

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In a shocking development in the country’s premiere institution Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), incidences of leaked question papers and questions replicated from guide books, have come to the limelight. The JNU students’ union (JNUSU) alleged that questions in the examination for two linguistic courses and economic courses were copied were from websites that provide study material.

This development comes on the heels of introduction of online Multiple Choice Questions (MCQ) based papers for the JNU entrance examination (JNUEE) instead of a mixture of subjective and objective questions in the offline question papers. The entrance examination has also been outsourced to the National Testing Agency (NTA) for the first time. The evaluation has been outsourced to another external and private agency. The JNUSU has alleged that the decision to go online was taken “unilaterally” by the Vice Chancellor Jagadish Mamidala.

“Question papers of these courses were found copied from different available sources. Large chunks of questions were found to have been copied from various websites. Many questions are vague, often phrased poorly, but worse, others have more than one correct answer”, noted the JNUSU president Sai Balaji.

The JNUSU has demanded a “judicial probe” into the incident.

On June 11, the JNUSU had claimed that the questions in the entrance exam for the Centre for Economic Studies and Planning (CESP), were taken from substandard websites.
 

Note: Some questions are available at multiple websites.
Ques.1-
1. https://www.chegg.com/homework-help/sally-two-art-projects-due-tomorrow-5-hours-completeproject-chapter-7-problem-4mcq-solution-9780072900279-exc
Ques. 2-
1. https://www.chegg.com/homework-help/questions-and-answers/jacqui-decides-open-businessearns-50-000-accounting-profit-first-year-deciding-open-busin-q16688511
2. https://quizlet.com/287719762/econ-the-cost-of-production-flash-cards/

For more examples, see the attachment

Interestingly, a lot of the questions, the JNUSU found to be copied from various websites and UGC-NET papers. It said that many questions were vague, framed poorly and some even had more than one correct answer.

“The Linguistics MA and MPhil papers were plagiarised and copied massively from various sources. The linguistics questions have been found to be copied verbatim or nearly verbatim from R Gupta’s Popular Master Guide UGC-NET Linguistics Paper II and III 2015 edition.”

Previously, a student had written to the VC of the varsity and claimed that the exam papers of BA First year cluster one of Russian, French, Spanish and German held on May 28 were found circulating on May 28.

The Union also claimed that students had to face difficulties at various stages of the entrance examination process right from the application till the online test.

It said, “Wide-scale errors in the answer key provided by the NTA have been reported by students. Rather than correcting these flaws, NTA through a public notice on June 6, sought challenges to the answer key with a processing fee of Rs. 1000,” they claimed.

Instead of correcting the flaws, the candidates were merely given a short notice of 48 hours to challenge the answer key and moreover they were required to pay an exorbitant amount of Rs. 1000 for each question challenged. Moreover, the procedure to address the challenge wasn’t specified and the declaration of result was scheduled for June 10, a day after the deadline for the challenges was to lapse. The JNUSU said this posed “mounting challenges” in front of candidates even if they knew the answers were wrong.

The union also highlighted that how, in the absence of the JNU represenetatives during the conduct of the exam [in the background of the outsourcing of the exam to NTA] reports of “malpractice and cheating” were brought to the Union’s notice.

It also alleged that the JNU VC “tampered” with faculty selection committees, “forgetting politically biased faculty appointments done, where even individuals with well documented reports of plagiarism have been appointed and given top administrative posts.”

It said that the JNU VC lacked seriousness in dealing with the malpractice.

The Union also took a dig at the absence of criticism from the student wing of the establishment, Akhil Bharatiya Vidhyarthi Parishad (ABVP) and their conspicuous silence on the matter. It said, “ABVP and JNU VC share the common vision of destroying JNU.”

“The JNUSU demands restoration of JNU’s time tested offline entrance system having a suitable mix of subjective and objective questions.

“We also demand that the JNU vice-chancellor must immediately step down taking responsibility for this shocking leak, massive copying of question papers from online question banks and ruining careers and lives of students,” the union said. The varsity has not responded to any of the questions raised by the Union.
 

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Interview with Jignesh Mevani, N Sai Balaji
Interviewed by Paranjoy Guha Thakurta

Jignesh Mevani and Sai Balalj argue why substantial section of the youth are going to vote against the Narendra Modi and Amit Shah led Bhartiya Janta Party.

Courtesy: Newsclick.in

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New Delhi: Jawaharlal Nehru University Students’ Union (JNUSU) General Secretary Aejaz Ahmad Rather has alleged the faculty of Center of Law and Governance Prof Amita Singh called him a terrorist. He has lodged a complaint against Prof Amita Singh of the CSLG/JNU in Equal Opportunity Office, National Commission for Minorities and Delhi Minorities Commission.
 
The incident took place on Wednesday near the School of Sanskrit Studies when Rather was having tea with friends and CLJ faculty Amita Singh, who was en route to her department, had a verbal exchange with them.
 
Aejaz said in a report, “I was having tea with three of my friends and suddenly Amita Singh came in her car and started asking us for our identity and when we confronted her, she started hurling abuses towards us and said that you guys are terrorists and responsible for the bomb blast in this country. Termites like you needed to be cleaned up from this country. After that, I said fine whatever you wanted to say you have told us, and then we left from the place.”
 
A JNUTA Press statement on December 27, 2018, had stated that, “The JNUTA is extremely shocked and condemns in strongest terms the comments made by Prof Amita Singh, Chairperson, SCDR, in which she allegedly addressed JNIUSU General Secretary, Aejaz Ahmed Rather, in the presence of other students, as someone who ‘looks like a terrorist who has committed ten bomb blasts.”
 
The JNUTA statement added, “This alleged behaviour by Amita Singh is clearly against the mandate provided by the JNU Act and disrupts the process of teaching and learning in the JNU campus. Prof Singh’s conduct is unacceptable, shameful, and is completely unbecoming of a teacher. JNUTA stands in solidarity with Rather.”
 
As per the statement, JNUTA demanded a formal inquiry to look into the incident to prevent such attempts of disturbing peace of the campus which is aimed to deliberate profiling and criminalization of JNU community.
 
Singh demanded the immediate resignation of Jawaharlal Nehru University Teachers Association (JNUTA) President Atul Sood after this statement was issued against her.
 
Full text of the complaint filed by Rather:
 
Subject: Complaint against Prof Amita Singh
 
Sir/Ma’am
 
This is to bring to your notice the disturbing events of December 26, 2018, and to lodge a complaint against Professor Amita Singh of CSLG for hurling Islamophobic abuse at me.
 
On December 26, at about 2:30 pm, I and a few other students were having tea next to the road near the Jungle hut canteen, near the School of Sanskrit Studies. One student was sitting on a chair on the edge of the road. Suddenly a car came and he stood up and moved the chair away so as not to obstruct the car. However, the car stopped and Professor Amita Singh of the Centre for the Study of Law and Governance (CSLG), who was driving the car, started enquiring about us. To our shock and disbelief, she started raising questions about our social background. She asked for our names, demanded that we show her our identify cards, and, in a brazen display of arrogance, made comments about our religious backgrounds.
 
Since Professor Amita Singh holds no authority to demand us to prove our identity, we refused to do so. Given that I am General Secretary of JNUSU and a known activist, Professor Amita Singh would have known me. I am well known among students and faculty members. I have had several encounters with Professor Amita Singh in protests and meetings with administrative staff, and have every reason to believe that she was well aware of my identity. It was entirely on purpose, and with a clear agenda to provoke me, that she repeatedly asked for my identity and made communal hateful comments regarding my religious background. She even suggested that I had come there at the behest of some other Muslim students. She named several Muslim students who were not even present there.
 
However, showing complete lack of sensitivity and decency that is expected of a teacher in a prestigious institute such as JNU, she made the following derogatory remark about us: “You people are outsiders, look very vulgar and uncultured, and lack a minimum audacity to be a JNU student.” In disbelief about what we heard from a senior faculty in JNU, we humbly replied that it is unbecoming of a JNU professor to behave in such a manner with students using such abusive language.
 
I would like to emphasise that, despite the humiliation we faced at the hands of Prof. Singh, we behaved in a very humble and sombre manner. However, she kept hurling abuses at us and kept insisting that we show her our identity cards. Having been a student of the university for many years, we are well aware of the functions and jurisdiction of the faculty members as well as students. When Prof. Singh persisted with her forced interrogation, we asked her as to what authority did she have to demand us to show our identity cards and why should we as registered students agree to such surveillance.
 
Professor Amita Singh took this as an opportunity to personally target me and started making anti-minority and Islamophobic comments towards me. To utter shock and horror of everyone present there, Prof. Singh said, “from your appearance, it looks like you are a convict in ten bomb blast cases and that is why you are not telling your name”. I was shocked at being subject to such discrimination and humiliation for my social and religious background by such a senior professor of the university. Given my state of shock, other students who were present there just took me away from the spot.
 
Given this context, I would like to lodge a complaint against Prof Amita Singh of the Centre for the Study of Law and Governance for hurling Islamophobic abuses and comments at me, and for engaging in religious profiling and targeting of students. Amita Singh’s actions have deeply affected me as, coming from a difficult background, it has taken a lot of struggle to be able to come to study at a university like JNU. If a member of JNU faculty is making me feel like an outcast, questioning my social background, it is not just violation of my Fundamental Rights that the constitution provides through Article 15, but also a violation of human rights.
 
Reserving my right to seek remedy at other fora, I demand that the Equal Opportunity Office of the university must immediately institute an inquiry and take disciplinary action against Prof Amita Singh according to rules of the university.
 
Thanking you
Yours sincerely
Aejaz Ahmad Rather
General Secretary,
JNUSU
 

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New Delhi: The Jawaharlal Nehru University Students’ Union (JNUSU) expressed their solidarity with the Kisan Mukti March, November 29-30, Delhi.
 
In a press note, they stated that “Over 300,000 farmer suicides in the past twenty years and increased migrations driven by the collapse of livelihoods are reflective of the deep crises of declining productivity, ascending poverty and increased dispossession that plagues the rural economy.”
 
They wrote that the Swaminathan Commission had identified the issues affecting farmers in the country including issues of institutional credit, unfinished agenda of land reforms and water crisis. Over a decade has passed and the recommendations of the Swaminathan Commission are yet to be implemented. Successive central and state governments have failed to address the issues concerning farmers in the country. Consistent anti-farmer policies are reflected in the collapse of the village society and agrarian economy. The current government also cannot shy away from its responsibilities towards those engaged in one of the largest sectors in terms of employment in the country.
 
The All India Kisan Sangharsh Coordination Committee (AIKSCC), representing over 200 organisations, has given a call for the Kisan Mukti March to the Parliament demanding a special session of the Parliament on farmer’s issues in the country. This demand for the special parliament session has arisen after continuous protests, petitions, demands from distressed farmers, labourers, several other sections of the population that derive their livelihood from agriculture and related activities. The march will provide a broad platform for the peasants, working class as well as the middle classes to come together and demand the rights of the agricultural workers, farmers, peasants affected by the policies of successive neoliberal governments, JNUSU said.
 
“The Farmers’ Freedom from Indebtedness Bill, 2018 and the Farmers’ Right to Guaranteed Remunerative Minimum Support Prices for Agricultural Commodities Bill, 2018 have already been placed in the Parliament and seeking approval. The parliamentary session should ensure the passage of these bills. The focus needs to put on the issues of women farmers, Adivasi and Dalit farmers in the country,” they said.
 
“The JNUSU gives its complete solidarity to the Kisan Mukti March and vouches to participate in all the struggles seeking redressal of farmers’ concerns in the country,” they stated.
 

The post In solidarity with Kisan Mukti March: JNUSU appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Representation Image            Image Courtesy: AP
 
New Delhi: The Jawaharlal Nehru University Students Union (JNUSU) has invited people to join the effigy burning of Modi Sarkar on October 3, Wednesday, at Sabarmati Dhaba in JNU at 6 pm, to protest the violence on marching farmers.
 
“On 2nd October, thousands of farmers under the banner of the Bharatiya Kisan Union were brutally lathicharged, tear gas shells were fired and stopped at Delhi-UP border as they tried to reach Kisan Ghat in Delhi to register their demands before this government. They have been walking since 10 days. Instead of listening to the demands, the Delhi Police was ordered to use brute force to stop the tide of protesting farmers. The last four years we have seen a protracted crisis in Agrarian India, which has seen huge protests across the country from Maharashtra to UP.

However the Modi led BJP government has only been busy giving benefits to his friends, the Ambanis and Adanis,” the invitation said.
 
“Let it be known, a grand unity of farmers, workers and students is emerging across the country and no amount of force can stop this tide from sweeping away the RSS-BJP government in the near future. The JNUSU strongly condemns the Modi Sarkar and Delhi Police for this use of brutal force on those who have built and fed the people of this nation. We, therefore, appeal to the students to join the Effigy Burning at Sabarmati Dhaba, Tomorrow, 3 October, 6:00 pm,” they said. 

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Representation Image

New Delhi: In June 2018, Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) announced that it will conduct its entrance exams online. The JNU student’s union has raised some pertinent questions about the safety of holding the exams online and how it could be a massive scam in the making.
In a release, the JNUSU said that the democratic process was being violated in imposing online mode for JNU Entrance Exam (JNUEE.)

“Conduct of exam outsourced to private vendors, with admin demanding answer keys months before exam- violating the existing time-tested robust procedures- raise serious concerns about breach of security. MCQ format is partial and negates a comprehensive evaluation of analytical, writing and other skills which are so very necessary, particularly in Humanities and Social Sciences. Students from distant areas and marginalised backgrounds will be heavily discriminated against as online exam necessarily requires good internet connection in the area as well as computer proficiency as an additional skill for the examinees,” were some of their concerns.

JNU administration pushed ‘online examination’ onto the agenda of the last Academic Council meeting and declared it to be ‘passed’ unilaterally ignoring the dissent of the majority of the house and refusing to discuss the questions raised by teachers about both procedural violations and substantive questions about online examination.

Even after reports of plagiarism against two faculty members, the VC continued to retain them in the Online Exam Committee and accepted their recommendations.

The question paper has to be set and given by October 8. If they are not ready, non-JNU ‘experts’ who have already been handpicked by VC (no procedure/rule been cited for the same) will set the papers.

The new move will also up the risk of paper leaks. “Are we not aware of massive glitches and leaks in NEET, SSC and even in the recently held DU online exams? So why is VC so keen to make JNU’s time-tested robust and esteemed entrance process and future of thousands of aspirants vulnerable to malpractices, leaks and glitches,” the JNUSU release asked.

They further asked, “What was the need to switch to an online mode that would be exclusionary for deprived sections of society especially people coming from rural areas both in terms of access and affordability? Isn’t the online exam doubly discriminatory towards students from distant areas and marginalised backgrounds, since it necessarily depends on good internet connection in the area as well as computer proficiency as an additional skill for the examinees.”

JNU conducts exams for 169 academic programmes in offline mode in 72 centres across 54 cities.

Full text of JNUSU’s concerns:

JNU VC’s Push for Online Mode in JNU Entrance Exam – A Massive Scam in Making
 

• All statutory rules and democratic process being violated in imposing online mode for JNUEE.
• Question setting sought to be outsourced, thereby trampling upon the rights of JNU’s faculty and departments, and JNU’s academic integrity on the one hand, and on the other, opening up the possibility of leaks and other malpractices. Further, JNU cannot hold those accountable who are not its employees!
• Why call it JNU Entrance Exam anyway, Mr. VC, if questions are being set by your handpicked ‘experts’ from outside JNU?
• Conduct of exam outsourced to private vendors, with admin demanding answer keys months before exam- violating the existing time-tested robust procedures- raise serious concerns about breach of security.
• MCQ format is partial and negates a comprehensive evaluation of analytical, writing and other skills which are so very necessary, particularly in Humanities and Social Sciences.
• Students from distant areas and marginalised backgrounds will be heavily discriminated against as online exam necessarily requires good internet connection in the area as well as computer proficiency as an additional skill for the examinees.

JNU administration in a hasty and illogical way has decided to impose online examinations as the mode of entrance examinations for admissions for academic year 2019-20. However the online entrance examination is nothing short of a massive scam in the making, that’s going to engulf JNU and future of thousands of students.

First and foremost, the proposal for online examination came up with the JNU VC forming a committee with some teachers as its members, which recommended that JNU should change its entrance examination into complete online mode. The committee submitted its recommendations not to Centre Chairpersons as is the norm, but only to Deans of various Schools. The meeting of the Deans of Schools – which doesn’t have any legal standing to deliberate or decide on this agenda – passed the recommendations, noting the dissent of two Deans.
Two members of the committee, Krishnender Meena and Anuja, are accused of massive plagiarism in a detailed investigative report published in a reputed news portal. Despite this information being in the public domain for months now, the JNU VC retained the composition of the Committee and accepted its recommendations.

Now in a completely brazen and even more surprising move, JNU administration pushed ‘online examination’ onto the agenda of the last Academic Council meeting and declared it to be ‘passed’ unilaterally ignoring the dissent of the majority of the house and refusing to discuss the questions raised by teachers about both procedural violations and substantive questions about online examination.

It is important to note that it was in this AC meeting that JNUSU was illegally debarred from attending, citing some proctorial notices which were, by the way, served to JNUSU weeks after the AC! At any rate, proctorial notices cannot take away JNUSU’s democratic rights of representation. It was in the absence of JNUSU that the agenda was placed and unilaterally imposed on JNU. This only shows how tactically admin used debarring of JNUSU  from the AC to get the online exam proposal imposed on JNU like its various anti student policies.

In meetings called by the Deans of three Schools later for implementation of this illegal circular, some extremely alarming information about the JNUEE exam has been imparted. The Deans have asked Centres to set up exam committees within a week as instructed by the administration.

Below we share some of the damning aspects that have come to our knowledge
1. Entrance exam will be of two hours and 70 marks, for all programmes for which JNUEE takes place, in all streams. Multiple shifts will be held. 
2. In the case of M Phil exams, an additional 30 marks will be earned by the candidates through interview (15 marks) and an essay question that can be set on the same day as the interview (15 marks).
3. Entrance exam of MA will be based only on the exam paper – 70 marks and 70 questions.
4. Each exam paper will be set by a three member committee. The coordinator of each committee will pick the questions out of a question bank and will provide these in a pen drive that Admissions branch will give, and later store securely.
5. Whats most surprising is the fact that JNU VC has constituted an “experts panel” from outside JNU who will also be responsible for preparation of the question paper! Questions in the question bank will be provided not only by JNU faculty but by “experts from across the country in addition to JNU faculty” (AC Minutes Page 8, Item 4)
6. The answer key should be given well in advance i.e. with the question paper to the JNU admin in a pen drive and a sealed cover, which was not the earlier practice. Earlier the centre would keep the answer key safe and would bring it to the evaluation centre, circulate and take it back after all entrance exam papers are evaluated. Never was the answer key given to JNU admin in advance.
7. The corrections will be done by the machine, based on the answer key.
8. The question papers are to be readied by October 8. If they are not ready, non-JNU ‘experts’ who have already been handpicked by VC (no procedure/rule been cited for the same) will set the papers.

JNUSU’s Questions to VC:

• What was the need to switch to an online mode that would be exclusionary for deprived sections of society especially people coming from rural areas both in terms of access and affordability? Isn’t the online exam doubly discriminatory towards students from distant areas and marginalised backgrounds, since it necessarily depends on good internet connection in the area as well as computer proficiency as an additional skill for the examinees?
• Let us note that JNU’s admission policy categorically states: “(JNU will) take special measures to facilitate students and teachers from all over India to join the University and participate in its academic programmes.” (From JNU Admission Policy). Isn’t then the online mode a direct violation of the very principles which govern our admission policy and the all India character of JNU’s admissions?
• Why was such a decision taken in absence of JNUSU in an AC meeting and why was JNUSU never invited till date for any meeting regarding online entrance examination?
• Why is it that even after reports of plagiarism have come up against two faculty members, the VC continued to retain them in the Online Exam Committee and accepted their recommendations?
• Why is the VC so keen on assigning question paper setting to his handpicked ‘outside experts’? Through which process is this ‘outside expert panel’ being chosen? Isn’t it violative of the rights of our faculty, centres and above all JNU’s academic integrity? Why call it JNU Entrance Exam anyway if questions are being set by VC’s handpicked ‘experts’ from outside JNU?
• Further, apart from question paper setting, by handing over the conduct of entire exam to a private vendor, isn’t JNU administration risking the possibility of a massive paper leak? Will the administration make the name and details of the tender public? Why so much secrecy in the conduct of the examination?
• Doesn’t such outsourcing open up possibility of leaks and other malpractices? How will JNU hold those accountable who are not its employees?
• Are we not aware of massive glitches and leaks in NEET, SSC and even in the recently held DU online exams? So why is VC so keen to make JNU’s time tested robust and esteemed entrance process and future of thousands of aspirants vulnerable to malpractices, leaks and glitches?
• After submission of questions to JNU admin, we are told that JNU administration will study all the question i.e. “proof read” them from 8th Oct to 22nd Oct. Why should the administration proof-read questions submitted by JNU teachers, that too with the answers in their hand?!
• Further, why is the administration demanding the answer keys months before the holding of exams, in gross violation of JNU’s existing time tested robust rules to guard against leaks and compromises? The admin’s claim that the answer keys will be opened in front of school/spl centre representatives is not good enough, as it interestingly excludes centre level representatives and paper setters. VC has shown that he imposes everything just with the ‘approval’ of his chosen few, and hence the proposed scheme appears dubious and compromised from the word go.
• On what academic rationale and logic is the JNU admin forcing Social Science and Humanities departments to frame question as MCQs? Not even IITs in India have MCQs as exam module for Social Science and Humanities Departments.
• Is JNU VC planning to destroy deprivation points across the board from BA, MA, to MPhil-PhD? The concerned proposal doesn’t talk about how deprivation points will be taken into account?

Like Modi personally negotiated and signed the Rafale deal which has turned out to be a biggest defence scam in Indian history, the JNU VC too has personally and unilaterally moved to push the online mode of JNUEE. He formed the ‘committee’ with faculty members facing serious charges of plagiarism, took a so-called ‘decision’ in an AC meeting that debarred JNUSU, did not take opinions of centres and chairpersons, didn’t place it before standing committee of admissions, is asking for the answer key well before the examination, wants a panel of ‘experts’ (handpicked by VC without any rule or transparency) from outside JNU for setting of question paper. These and other instances of arbitrariness only suggest the possibility of a massive scam with JNUEE.

There seems to be a massive scam in the offing, with the JNU VC displaying inordinate haste and trampling upon all statutory rules and democratic consultation, making the whole process even more suspicious. JNUSU demands the proposal to be immediately withdrawn and the existing system be continued.

N Sai Balaji, President, JNUSU    
Sarika, VP, JNUSU   
Aejaz, Gen Secy, JNUSU   
Amutha, Jt Secy, JNUSU
 

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After being comprehensively rejected by the students of Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) in the union elections held on September 14, and despite its attempt to hijack and sabotage the counting process, a group of ABVP activists and their non-student cronies continued their violence on the campus on September 16, hour after the results were declared. The latest reports indicate that they even threatened to kill the newly elected union president when he went to file a complaint at the local police station on September 17.

The Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) is the student wing of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). It thus represents and pursues the Sangh Parivar ideology openly, the target of its activities being students, especially in universities and colleges. They also act like storm-troopers of the Sangh, with a long history of active participation in Sangh- organised or inspired interventions. In this context, the violence unleashed by ABVP in JNU is not surprising, though it is unprecedented as far as JNU is concerned.

What lies behind the ABVP‘s violent tactics in JNU? There are two reasons contributing to their stance. One is frustration at being unable to gather sufficient support in the university to win the students’ union elections and the second is that they are functioning under a larger plan of the Sangh Parivar to destroy JNU’s democratic culture. The first is a current reaction, the second is an ongoing process unveiled after the Modi government came to power in 2014 and which has developed into a multi-pronged effort to take over the administration, divide and cow down the academic community of teachers, students and staff. This second dimension is what distinguishes the current events from being the usual student politics where losers create a ruckus.

ABVP Losing Ground Everywhere
The ABVP has suffered a string of defeats in students’ unions across the country this year. It lost elections in Uttarakhand, Punjab, Rajasthan, JNU, Maharashtra, and Kerala, to name a few. Not that they lost all the elections – they won in Delhi University, for instance – but the reverses were notable and definitive. The trend is so widespread that it has to be linked to the rising disillusionment with the Modi government caused by its policies. Rising joblessness, failure of programmes like Digital India or Make in India, attempts to foist obscurantism in the name of ‘nationalism’, interference in university affairs, and spreading corruption are some of the issues that have affected even the middle class from which a large number of students in higher education are drawn. Besides these, the Modi government’s anti-Dalit and anti-Adivasi policies, its failure to curb violence against women and its pandering of violent lynch mobs too have damaged its image in the eyes of the students. Importantly, there has been a rise in the cost of education flowing from the Modi government’s insistence on cutting allocations for education while pushing privatisation as the substitute. All this has angered the student community.

Contributing to this discontent is the Modi government’s clear approach of intolerance towards democratic institutions and processes. Its appointment of various Sangh Parivar loyalists to academic posts (including the current JNU Vice Chancellor), its disregard of protests and differing voices, its tendency to use the police and other coercive instruments to suppress protests, especially of students, have shaken the students community.

Put all this together and you will find it not at all surprising that the ABVP – openly tom-tomming the virtues of Modi and his government – has ended up in a dead end. Students are more enlightened than many, unlike what the Sangh Parivar would like to think or admit.

JNU – An Experiment That Failed
JNU has been a special case as far as the ABVP/RSS/BJP is concerned. Situated in Delhi, right under the nose of the Modi government, its progressive values and output were a prime target for the reactionary Hindutva forces. The strategy of uprooting them could be described as a twin approach of a takeover of the administration going hand in hand with a takeover of the student community. The first has been largely accomplished by installing a pliant VC through whom a slew of appointments, changes in functioning, subversion of established democratic norms, shackling and regimenting of teachers etc. has been done over the past few years. This has not been easy because there is relentless resistance from both teachers and students. But if you have a shameless and committed agent, with full backing from the top, to carry out the plan, then widespread damage also counts as success.

It must be mentioned here that what has been experimented with in JNU in terms of administrative changes is also a model that the BJP government wants to foist on the rest of the country’s universities. It is facilitating the road to greater private/corporate intervention in financing and managing higher education. This in turn is part of what the advanced countries of the West are demanding through World Trade Organisation, etc.

The other prong of the strategy – takeover of the student community – has backfired horribly for the Sangh Parivar. It was perhaps hubris that led the strategists of the BJP/RSS to think that merely injecting some pseudo-nationalism into the mix and backing it up with force (whether police or rowdies) would do the trick. It didn’t.

In 2016, the manufactured incidents of ‘anti-national slogans’ led to widespread violence and chaos with false charges against many students. ABVP was at the forefront of the whole conspiracy. Yet, the very next year, the ABVP failed in the union elections. The failure has been confirmed with their humiliating defeat again this year.   

Meanwhile, not only have Left and progressive forces consolidated in JNU but an even wider unity has emerged as the anchor to the resistance against creeping Hindutva. Teachers and students and university staff have joined together in this fight.

The Fight Is Not Over
Student unions are instruments of struggle. A Left victory in JNUSU means that the fight against the RSS/ABVP and against the policies of the Modi government will continue with vigour. With general elections ahead in 2019, the Modi Sarkar and, of course, the RSS and ABVP were hoping that student union victories will help boost their image. Defeat does not mean that they have folded up, as shown by the post-result violence in the campus. And, neither does it mean that new shenanigans will not be trotted out by the Sangh Parivar to continue the subversion of JNU. But, the renewed mandate in JNU, as also in dozens of universities and colleges of the country, shows that Modi and his Sangh Parivar face a formidable challenge in the coming days. 

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Image: PTI

The JNU Election Committee said in a statement that it suspended the Counting temporarily, “JNUSU EC 2018-19 hereby brings to the immediate notice of media friends that during the counting process, which had begun yesterday (14th September 2018) at 10 pm has been suspended due to forcibly entering into the counting venue and attempt to snatch away the sealed ballot boxes as well as ballot papers from our counting centres. This was in addition to intimidation and violence on our Election Committee, including on our female members led by a Presidential and a Joint Secretary candidate”

Students from Left student unions alleged that the ABVP created a ruckus and indulged in vandalising stuff. They said, “The counting process, which began on September 14 at 10 pm has been suspended due to forcible entry into the counting venue and attempts to snatch away the sealed ballot boxes as well as ballot papers from our counting centres.”

A student updated, “ABVP breaks into the counting process, heckles the Election Committee, attacks the members, damages property and harasses students. Election Committee is deeply shocked and has demanded unconditional apology from ABVP so this act is not repeated, but they have refused to issue anything.

The student community stands with Election Committee and unequivocally condemns the violence and urges them to take appropriate action on these goons and their candidates”

As per the students’ testimonies, students including women faced intimidation. The Left Unity claimed that, “Around 4:00 am, ABVP broke the glasses of the School of International Studies building. EC stopped the counting indefinitely.”

Reportedly ABVP counting agent didn’t make it on time. And the ABVP president alleged later that their counting agent wasn’t called.

In a collective statement, representatives from a number of other parties including the Left bloc, NSUI, BAPSA and others have demanded that “the ABVP members- Saurabh Sharma, Raghavendra Mishra, Akhilesh Pathak and others vacate the counting venue immediately to allow the election process to continue”.

“The ABVP’s acts constitute a serious violation of the election process. The ABVP by indulging in violence has not only disrupted the counting process but also sought to undermine the sanctity of the student EC whose decision is abided by all organisations,” the joint statement says.

The voter turn-out in the current election was 67.8%, which is being seen as the highest in the recent years with over 5000 students casting their votes.

All India Students’ Association (AISA), Students’ Federation of India (SFI), Democratic Students’ Federation (DSF) and All India Students’ Federation (AISF) have come together to form the United-Left alliance.

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