The hunger strike called by JNUSU at the administration block has entered its tenth day today. Many of the demands raised through this strike are very crucial for democratising the nature of higher education imparted in the campus, which include the demand for implementation of 27% OBC reservation at one go, as well as for the recognition of Aleem-Fazil certificates by JNU. Another important demand is the implementation of 3% reservation in teaching posts for PH category students according to the roster system. The present agitation acquires more significance in light of the upcoming Academic Council meeting of 30 April where decisions on many of these demands will be taken. All the above demands, if implemented in letter and spirit, will go a long way in making JNU much more democratic than it presently is.
The strike also incorporates the long-standing demand from the student community at large to punish the perpetrators of repeated violence and vandalism after a free and fair enquiry. They have so far been protected by the administration simply because they belong to the ABVP who has strong clout in the administration. No disciplinary action has been taken on these right-wing criminals who were previously involved in the last Presidential Debate attack, and many other counts of violence against common students, the latest being the beating up of Chandrashekhar during the Chandrabhaga Hostel Night. The administration must reconstitute the present Proctorial Board which looking into the last incident. Mr. Sanjay Bharadwaj, who was an ABVP activist in his JNU student days and was implicated in many cases of sexual harassment and faced disciplinary action, is today a member of this Proctorial Board! It is for everybody to guess what will be the outcome of this enquiry if people with such credentials are given the responsibility to judge these culprits. The administration therefore must reconstitute the Proctorial Board by throwing out Mr. Bharadwaj from the Board, and ensure an impartial enquiry.
There are also the other important demands in the JNUSU Charter of Demands on which the administration is yet to give any concrete and written commitment. The demand for opening the JNU Health Centre for 24-hours and on Sundays has been raised on several occasions in the past without any positive result. The administration have been passing the buck to UGC, claiming that there is not enough funds to dispense the UGC Scholarship from July 2005. When the administration has no dearth of funds to spend on unnecessary heads such as benches and gardening etc in its drive to make JNU a ‘world-class’ university, it is strange that it does not show any seriousness to meet the genuine demands of the student community. In fact the administration started the first formal negotiation with the Union only yesterday, on the 9th Day of the strike. This attitude of the administration is nothing new for the student’s movement of JNU, which has confronted and fought for every genuine issue and clinched victories in the past by forcing an unwilling administration. We have seen from our experience in the past that only with active mobilisation and participation of large numbers of students rallying behind the JNUSU could we force the administration to accept our demands.
The strike also incorporates the long-standing demand from the student community at large to punish the perpetrators of repeated violence and vandalism after a free and fair enquiry. They have so far been protected by the administration simply because they belong to the ABVP who has strong clout in the administration. No disciplinary action has been taken on these right-wing criminals who were previously involved in the last Presidential Debate attack, and many other counts of violence against common students, the latest being the beating up of Chandrashekhar during the Chandrabhaga Hostel Night. The administration must reconstitute the present Proctorial Board which looking into the last incident. Mr. Sanjay Bharadwaj, who was an ABVP activist in his JNU student days and was implicated in many cases of sexual harassment and faced disciplinary action, is today a member of this Proctorial Board! It is for everybody to guess what will be the outcome of this enquiry if people with such credentials are given the responsibility to judge these culprits. The administration therefore must reconstitute the Proctorial Board by throwing out Mr. Bharadwaj from the Board, and ensure an impartial enquiry.
There are also the other important demands in the JNUSU Charter of Demands on which the administration is yet to give any concrete and written commitment. The demand for opening the JNU Health Centre for 24-hours and on Sundays has been raised on several occasions in the past without any positive result. The administration have been passing the buck to UGC, claiming that there is not enough funds to dispense the UGC Scholarship from July 2005. When the administration has no dearth of funds to spend on unnecessary heads such as benches and gardening etc in its drive to make JNU a ‘world-class’ university, it is strange that it does not show any seriousness to meet the genuine demands of the student community. In fact the administration started the first formal negotiation with the Union only yesterday, on the 9th Day of the strike. This attitude of the administration is nothing new for the student’s movement of JNU, which has confronted and fought for every genuine issue and clinched victories in the past by forcing an unwilling administration. We have seen from our experience in the past that only with active mobilisation and participation of large numbers of students rallying behind the JNUSU could we force the administration to accept our demands.
But unfortunately in the present struggle the JNUSU have so far failed to ensure a larger involvement and active participation of the student community. It might at first appear that on most of the demands the administration has no real difference of opinion with the JNUSU. However, yesterday’s meeting has shown that the administration is reluctant to favourably consider and give commitments on the demands of the agitation, especially on the demand for reconstituting the biased Proctorial Board. Even after acknowledging the mounting academic pressure in this time of the semester, given the very crucial nature of the demands raised, DSU calls upon the student community to rally behind JNUSU and participate in large numbers in the ongoing struggle to ensure that the demands raised are decisively clinched.
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