THE BATTLE IS FAR FROM OVER!

After 12 days of hunger strike, the JNUSU yesterday had signed an agreement with the administration, the first clause of it being the issue of punishment to 11 student activists, including the President, General Secy. and Joint Secy. of the students’ union. As per the agreement, “The Vice Chancellor has agreed to reconsider the punishment based on the Proctorial decision with regard to the incident that took place on 19th February 2007 on receiving individual letter of regrets with an appeal from concerned students to enable them to register by 14th August 2007.”


Before the agreement was signed, an all organisation meeting was convened, where the JNUSU, involved organisations and victimized individuals participated. There was a majority opinion in favour of submitting the appeal. DSU has consistently been arguing against any individual ‘appeal’ from a principled position. But after the JNUSU decided in favour of the appeal, we decided to go with it for the sake of unity of struggle, albeit with a note of dissent.


So, as things stand now, the students have a promise of “reconsideration”, (not “revocation”) provided all the victimized students tender individual “appeals”. While JNU hopes that the VC will respond to the overwhelming public opinion from inside the campus and out, and revoke all punishments, the student community must remain vigilant. We must keep in mind that the struggle to get justice for victimized students is not over till all the punishments, all rustications and fines are revoked completely.


A significant step has been taken towards redressing the continual violation of labour laws in the campus. There has been an agreement that: “On workers’ right, the university will constitute a permanent committee with the representation of all the sections of University community within a month.” One hopes that the administration will be true to the time-frame agreed upon and empower the committee to redress the historic wrongs perpetrated upon the workers for years. We must also remember that no committee, however empowered, is a substitute for a
strong and ever-vigilant workers and students’ movement.

THE TRUTH IS BEFORE OUR EYES.

Dr Goebbles had hit upon the perfect formula for Nazi propaganda. Don’t tell small lies, he advised. Tell big lies. The bigger, the better. And shout it at the top of your voice. There’s no need to bother with niceties like evidence or documentation. Just shout as loudly as possible. Drown out all other voices. And if some ‘trouble-maker’ still insists on disagreeing, don’t hesitate, just reach for your gun. If it worked for Hitler, why shouldn’t it work for the JNU administration – thought the good doctor in the Pink Palace?

Honourable Dr. B.B.B. has chosen the right mentor in Dr. Goebbles. In a press conference the VC claimed (without batting an eyelid, we presume) that it’s all a lie – nothing ever happened … the administration has been an ‘exemplary’ employer. There have been no violations of labour laws or worker’s rights. And even if there have been, it’s not the responsibility of the JNU administration. That’s his response to the wide-spread condemnation of draconian punishment on student protesters and the scrupulously documented (both by students and independent human rights organisations) instances of labour law violations – call everything a lie.

According to media reports, he has “rubbished” claims that minimum wages are not paid and that labour laws are violated. Well, the VC is an honourable man. But, if he is telling the truth, then everyone else must be lying. The students who worked for so many months, painstakingly collecting information, fighting the contractor mafia, and even managing to squeeze out the legal minimum wage in a few instances – are all liars. JNUSU is lying. The UGBM was lying. The JNUTA is lying, as are eminent teachers like Avijit Pathak, K.J.Mukherjee, Jayati Ghosh, Kamal Mitra Chenoy, Charanjit Singh, C.P. Chnadrashekhar, Chaman Lal, Ayesha Kidwai, Mohan Rao, Neeladri Bhattacharya and many others. In fact, the entire Sociology faculty are liars, for they passed a unanimous resolution in their faculty meeting condemning the non-payment of minimum wage and demanding immediate revocation of all punishments. Eminent academicians and intellectuals, who have come out in support of the students and criticized the administration, people like Uma Chakravarthy, Anand Chakravarthy, Sumit Sarkar, Tanika Sarkar, Gautam Navlakha or B.D. Sharma (a former Vice-Chancellor himself) are all liars. The reputed Human Rights organisation PUDR (People’s Union for Democratic Rights), who had staunchly defended the rights of contract workers, have put together a damning fact finding report on the condition of contract labour in JNU, indicting the administration. They must be liars as well. The Karamchari Union, who has on more than one occasion shown their support for the movement, is lying. And then the contract workers, the most vulnerable section of the campus community, who has repeatedly complained about the pitiful and blatantly illegal treatment meted out to them, some of whom had been summarily dismissed and evicted from the campus for daring ask for what is their due, must be liars of the worst kind. The appalling condition of contract workers in JNU, that we see everyday before our very eyes, must be an illusion. Maya.

After the thick-skinned rhino, now’s comes the stick-your-head-in-sand ostrich avatar. In its initial Rhino avatar, the administration had stonewalled all demands and deputations, and requests for dialogue by students and workers apathy and naked contempt. Now, when its corrupt deals and illegal treatment of workers are out in the open; and it is isolated in the academic community, both inside the campus and outside, the administration has come up with an Oscar winning performance of hurt indignation, pretending that nothing has happened. Well, we have bad news for them: sticking your head in the sand doesn’t make the world disappear.

The documentation of the gross violation of labour laws is there for anyone to see. Better still, one can just take a walk around the campus and ask any contract worker. The VC has claimed that the university has an “exemplary” record with respect to contract workers. The record certainly is indeed “exemplary”, it is exemplarily shameful. The records collected by the students show that gross violation of labour law is the norm in most of the work sites.

Let us look at a few examples:

• November, 2006: 15 construction workers thrown out of School of Physical Sciences site for demanding that their daily wage be raised from Rs.65 to Rs.70 (the statutory minimum wage in Delhi then was Rs.127.40, now it has been raised to Rs.133.45). With the intervention of students, and after a bitter struggle, the contractor M/S Jia Lal Malhotra, was forced to pay arrears for the remainder minimum wage, despite the administration’s efforts to the contrary. But the 15 whistle-blowers were never taken back. With JNU engineering dept intervening and getting them sacked each time they found work in the campus with other contractors, the protesting workers were hounded out of JNU. In the course of student intervention, the records maintained by the contractor and endorsed by the administration were also found to be completely forged.

• December 2006. Two other contractors, Chaudhry (electric sub-station) and Nafeez (Lohit canteen) were also caught paying far less than minimum wage the students made a detailed documentation of muster rolls and corroborated that with worker’s testimonies. Following the student agitation, the contractors were forced to pay the legal wage for November, as well as arrears for the last two months.

• Vayudoot, one of the contractors for Safai karmcharis and gardeners, was supposed to pay Rs. 146.66 per day per person. Wage records revealed that they were actually paying between Rs.58 to Rs.103, with the majority of the workers getting something between Rs.75 to Rs.93. Vayudoot’s logic was that the amount stated in the contract included the agency commission. Following student agitation, in Jan 2007, Vayudoot paid Rs. 1,90,000 for wages previously denied and refund for wrongfully deducted amount for uniform. However, the employees who first raised their voice against the injustice were systematically retrenched. 30 gardeners lost their jobs.

• JNU’s contracts with Chase Detective Agency (signed by the Registrar) for library workers is itself violative of the Minimum Wages Act and the Contract Labour Act. The total amount specified in the contract for 20 workers for 31 days is Rs. 65,420. Clauses 7 & 8 of the contract state that this amount includes the ESI/PF deductions, bringing down the payable amount even lower. Moreover, the amount also includes cost pf equipment, as well as the contractor’s commission. Now, had the administration been following the law, just the wage amount would have come to Rs.78,998 (calculated at the lowest rate of Rs 127.40 per day, assuming all workers to be unskilled, which is not the case, as the staff includes a supervisor as well), instead of the grand sum of Rs. 65,420 which includes everything. Little wonder that Chase actually pays the workers an average of Rs.63 per day (less than half of the legal minimum).

After calculating the legal overtime wages, the minimum amount per month due to a cook in the hostel mess comes to around Rs.4850, whereas the helpers are entitled to a minimum of Rs.4300. In reality, the cooks in Mahi-Mandavi hostel are paid between Rs 3100 to Rs.3500, while the helpers are paid Rs. 2100. At Chandrabhaga and Lohit the wages are Rs. 2900 and Rs. 1900 for cooks and helpers respectively.

Not just denial of minimum wage, labour practices in JNU breaks almost every other aspect of the Labour law provisions. No muster roll is displayed at work site, there are no provisions of drinking water, toilets or rest-rooms, let alone crèches. Entitlements due to migrant workers are also not paid.

The question of principal employer: Education system in India has been built on the upper class, upper caste disdain for manual work. True to the tradition, the VC has completely washed his hands of the plight of the workers in the campus, and claimed that CPWD is the Principal Employer for most of the construction workers. The law however, disagrees. Under the Contract Labour Act, Principal Employer is any ‘establishment, any person responsible for the supervision and control of the establishment’ that is the beneficiary of the labour. In case of JNU, CPWD is simply a ‘service provider’, the executing agency. JNU is the beneficiary of the labour, and retains ownership, control and supervision over the assets created by it.

The law states that the Principal Employer is responsible for the contractor fulfilling all legal obligations. And is empowered and legally responsible to make payment of wages “in full or the unpaid balance due” to the contract labour employed. This amount can be recovered from the contractor by the Principal Employer. So, there’s really no way that JNU administration can hide behind the CPWD to cover up. Besides, what about the contract workers in Library and messes, who have nothing to do with construction or CPWD?

As the head of the establishment, the buck stops with the VC. The punishments for violating provisions regarding employment of contract labour (section 23 of Contract Labour Act) and Other Offences (section 24) is “imprisonment for a term which may extend to three months”.

The kangaroo court: When the administration itself stands accused of illegalities and corruption, and is not a neutral party, the proctorial enquiry could hardly be impartial. And it wasn’t. The enquiry proceeded despite student protest and UGBM mandate, and without any student testimony. The punishments were handed down completely disregarding the recommendations of the 3-member committee of teachers that was constituted to look into the matter.

It is indeed ironic to note that in the press release the administration is described as “magnanimous” and “charitable”, whereas the words reserved for the students were “criminal” and “illegal”. When the students are fighting for the right to dissent, seriously damaging their health in the hunger strike, the VC has only one word for them. That what they are doing is “illegal”.

Not a ‘small group’: The VC attributes student politics on this campus to a small group of students. We’d like to remind him that it was a UGBM of over 1000 students that demanded the scrapping of the nestle outlet. 800 students stayed awake till 7 am demanding the setting up of a mechanism for ensuring minimum wage and the scrapping of the proctorial enquiry. Thousands of students vote to elect their office bearers. Hundreds and hundreds of students have taken to the streets again and again for various issues. Is that a small group by any stretch of the imagination? On the contrary, it is a “small group” within the administration that is today trying to dictate over JNU. Hence the desperate attempt by the administration to divide the students by handing out differential punishments.

Right now, the administration is isolated. The students, teachers, Karmcharis and even outside public opinion is with the students and the workers. The only recourse left to the administration is display of raw power. But can brute force crush a united, resilient, democratic movement? The answer my friend, is blowing in the wind.

Do not let a single student be victimized

Do not let any student be evicted from their rooms on Friday,
or anytime in the future. Do not let a single student be victimized
for the collective movement against violation of workers’ rights.

Despite protests and condemnation from all quarters, the administration’s desperate efforts to terrorise the students continue unabated. Aggressive notices have been put up on doors and threatening letters from the chief of security (yes, the same Mr Cheema who stands guilty of abusing and beating up a dalit safai karamchari on trumped up charges) have reached the victimised students. They have been asked to vacate their rooms by Friday afternoon, or else the administration would break the locks and forcibly evict them. Under no circumstances should we allow that to happen.

The union has taken a clear stand; let all of us put that in practice: JNUSU has stated in unambiguous terms that it “refuses to accept the implementation of any punishment against students and urges upon all concerned students to stay in their rooms”. JNUTA and other eminent academicians too have strongly opposed these draconian punishments and demanded an immediate and unconditional revocation. The JNU administration, however, can give rhinos a run for their money when it comes to thick skins. We must remember how the administration has shown time and again its insensitivity and apathy to democratic processes and demands. The only thing that can stop them is active student mobilizations. So, we must make sure that JNUSU’s call is implemented on the ground. We, the students, must collectively oppose any attempt to implement any punishment.

A pathetic attempt to shift focus from the workers’ issue: The response of the administration reminds one of their friends, the contractor mafia. Workers were thrown out because they dared to ask for a wage of Rs 70 instead of the Rs 65 they were getting (the legal minimum wage, as you know, is Rs 133). And now, to safeguard the contractors and the corrupt university administration, students are being thrown out. It is significant that the administration till date has not admitted to or changed any of its illegal practices, despite overwhelming public opinion and the extensive evidence of malpractice collected by the students and democratic rights groups. Instead of stopping its illegal and inhuman treatment of workers, the administration is trying to muzzle those who point out that the emperor had no clothes.

If the right to dissent is lost, all is lost: What the administration is trying to do is crush all contrary, dissenting opinion. Now, a university is all about multiplicity of opinions, where different voices and opinions contend with each other. Political dissent of students is essential for any democratic campus, and is a major force for social change. And that’s what the administration is afraid of. The rustications and fines are not just an attack on 11 students, it’s an attempt to break student movements and undermine the union. If the administration is able to implement any of the punishments, on any student; if a single student is rusticated or a single paisa of fine is paid, it’d be an enormous setback for the Union and student activism, present and future. If JNUSU, the UGBM and the opinion of the campus community at large can be undermined at will, if activists can be penalized and thrown out every time the administration feels like it, then the entire culture of dissent will be lost. Not just the fight for workers’ rights, but all other struggles, be it for scholarships or charter of demands, will receive a severe blow.

So, oppose the draconian punishments whichever way you can. Register your protest at the marches, meetings and demonstrations, in the classrooms and in the canteens. Talk to your friends. Do not let any punishment to be implemented. When the chips are down, there is really one and only one force that can stop the administration’s attacks – the collective power of students.

Join the JNUSU demonstration at ad block on Friday at 10:30 am

United we stand against the authoritarian and anti-student administration

The JNU community will not let a single student be victimized for a collective movement demanding worker’s rights

After the JNUSU resolutions, the UGBM mandate and eventual revocation of suspension on students, the entire JNU community thought that the impasse of 19 February was resolved, though the issue over which the student agitation happened – implementation labour laws and ensuring dignity and rights of workers on the campus – remained unsettled, a subject of further movements and engagements. The sudden vicious attack on the students and on JNUSU was completely uncalled for and has only further exposed the dictatorial character of the administration. Evidently, the administration considers the campus its fiefdom and has scant regard for democratic procedures, student and community opinion or the unions.

This attack is not only unprecedented, the way it has been organised gives one reasons to believe that 19 Feb is just an excuse – the real intention of the administration is to smash student movements, crush all principled dissent in the campus and cripple the JNUSU. By deviously timing it during the holidays and handing out arbitrarily differential punishments to students, separating the Union office-bearers from other students, the administration is trying to divide the student community.

It is a clear signal that student movements and Union activity will no longer be allowed on this campus (or tolerated only as long as it remains token, confined within the strict boundaries imposed by the administration). It is a warning to all dissenters, present and future, and a declaration that the blatant violation of labour laws and the dignity of workers will continue as before, with the corrupt university officials and the contractor mafia enjoying the protection of the highest office of the campus. The rustication, out-of-bounds and fines target not only 11 students, but future movements and the future of movements in JNU as well. It targets the very texture of democracy and democratic movements in the campus.

This is why any form of punishment – rustication, out-of-bounds or fine – is completely unacceptable to the student community. Right now, the punishment is not an issue, it is the issue in the campus. Its outcome will decide how the struggle on other issues would or wouldn’t be fought. If JNUSU and the UGBM can be undermined and protesting students penalized at will by the draconian administration, then we have as good lost all future movements as well, be it for scholarships, workers’ rights or the charter of demands. Losing a single student, or paying even a single paisa of fine would mean that the administration have succeeded in destroying the spirit of collective movements.

So, accepting anything less than a complete and unconditional revocation of all punishments is not an option. And, as the UGBM mandate, as well as the agreements reached in All Organisation Meeting and the JNUSU meeting after the shows, the entire student community is united on this.

Now is the time for an inclusive and militant movement, now is the time for JNUSU to build an uncompromising fight as well as plan joint and coordinated struggle with the other representative organisations like JNUTA, JNUSA and JNUKA. The administration stands exposed before the student community – let us build a movement that harbors no illusion about this corrupt, undemocratic bureaucracy.

Despite a virtually empty, vacationing campus, the vibrant and well-attended protest march on Saturday night showed an overwhelming support for the rusticated students and a steely resolve that we will not let the administration get away with it – all punishments must be rolled back immediately. This spirited mobilization must be taken forward. We must ensure that as the next semester starts in July, Serohi, Puja, Ritupan, Vanessa, Banojyotsna, Rajesh, Kaustabh and Mangallam take their rightful place in the classroom and campus life with their head held high. Vanessa, who is currently a terminal student, must be allowed to appear for her M Phil admission interview. And not a single paisa must be extracted from Dhananjay, Sandeep and Jyotsna. And till the battle is won, JNUSU must lead the charge in ensuring that the out-of-bounds order is not implemented and the victimized students are not further harassed by the university bureaucrats and security people.

Oppressors understand only one language – struggle. Over time, the JNU administration has shown only indifference to various just and democratic student demands. And now it has taken the extreme step of trying to purge the campus of activists, collective movements and effective unions. The student community, the campus community will not be at the mercy of the administration’s terror tactics. We, the students, must give a fitting reply to this despotic administration. We must teach the administration that they can’t run this university by throwing out or fining our friends, or by continually denying our legitimate demands. We must teach them that JNU is a democracy, and will remain so despite the machinations of this power-crazed administration.

● NO RUSTICATION ● NO OUT-OF-BOUNDS ● NO FINES● NO PUNISHMENT FOR ANY STUDENT