On last Saturday (November 23), the Union capital witnessed hundreds of students and teachers from Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) in company of fellow students from other universities and other Delhi based educational institutions marching from Mandi House to Jantar Mantar in protest against the draft hostel manual which has provisions for sharp hostel fee hike, dress code and curfew timings.
The JNU Students’ Union (JNUSU), leading the agitation, has been demanding the complete rollback of the hostel manual. The rationale of the JNU administration is that the fee has not been revised for the last 17 years and students point out to the fact that 40 per cent of students come from lower income background and therefore cannot afford such a sharp hike.
The new hostel charges require students to pay a service charge of Rs 1700 per month which previously did not exist. Rent for a single room has been stepped up from Rs 20 per month to Rs 600 per month. Rent for a double sharing room has been increased from Rs 10 to Rs 300 per month.
Members of the civil society and students’ wing of several political parties accompanied by citizens were present at the march in solidarity with the JNU students who have been protesting against the hike for over three weeks. Demonstrations in support of the struggling JNU students are also being held in other cities across the country.
While the draft hostel manual is the immediate precipitating factor of the ongoing student agitation at the JNU, unrest in the academic institution has been slowly but surely building up since this government came to power in 2014.
It found a concrete expression in February 2016 when JNU students had organised an event on Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru who was hanged in 2013. Event included a protest march in support of the “judicial killing of Afzal Guru” and in solidarity with the “struggle” of Kashmiri migrants from the valley.
The RSS backed youth organization ABVP in a bid to gain a foothold in the student politics of the university, staged a protest asking the university authorities to expel the organisers of the event on Afzal Guru. It was alleged that anti-India slogans were raised at the event which turned the narrative into a debate on nationalism. The JNU then came to be projected as a den of anti-national elements in some sections of media.
A case of sedition against former JNUSU president Kanhaiya Kumar. Other student leaders like Umar Khalid and others were also booked under different charges. Conflict around the JNU and other academic institutions is symptomatic of a larger issue also. The significance of the role played by education in shaping the thought process of the youth cannot be undermined and that is why it is determined to have a decisive say in shaping the young minds.
Since coming to power the Modi regime has introduced some fundamental changes in country’s education system in general and in higher education particularly that have led to unrest, disruption and disharmony in the higher academic sector. University Grants Commission’s (UGC) budget has been reduced by almost 55 per cent, which in turn has disrupted academic activities like seminars, research projects etc.
Several central universities like the BHU, AMU, Delhi University and JNU are confronting unrest. There has been a drastic cut in allocation of funds for the higher education. Almost 60 percent of academic posts are lying vacant in centrally sponsored colleges and universities and the same is true of the posts of other non-academic staff. Almost 40 percent of non-teaching vacancies are lying unfilled.
Through the proposed Higher Education Commission of India (HECI) 2018 bill, the government wants to end the role of the UGC making the educational sector free enterprise. If the proposed bill is passed by the two houses of parliament and becomes an Act then the UGC Act, 1956 will lapse into oblivion. There exists lots of apprehension and fear among the academic community related to the adverse impact it may have on the basic character of education in the country.
Ongoing agitation at the JNU that is evoking support in other sections of society needs to be seen and comprehended in this background which alone offers a clue to the government’s giving such a long hand to the JNU authorities to remain obdurate declining to talk or negotiate with protesting students’ community.
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Satish Misra was Senior Fellow at ORF. He has been a journalist for many years. He has a PhD in International Affairs from Humboldt University ...
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