SFI-AISF Appeal for Upcoming JNUSU Elections

8/3/2019 SFI-AISF Appeal for Upcoming JNUSU Elections

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Onwards to the JNUSU Elections 2012

Unlike the JNUSU Office-Bearers

from AISA the SFI-AISF leadershipdid not run away from the struggle to

restore the JNUSU Elections.

If the AISA had its way we would be

having AC/BoS Elections instead of

JNUSU.

Increase MCM and UGC scholarship

and number of RGNF and Maulana

Azad National fellowships in JNU.

Make scholarship disbursal time

bound.

The JNU student community would be voting to elect a new JNUSU on March 1st after agap of more than four years. The SFI-AISF appeals to the students to enthusiasticallyparticipate in the debate before the forthcoming polls and exercise their franchise inlarge numbers.

The Struggle for Restoration of JNUSU

The students of JNU have waged an arduous struggle for the restoration of JNUSU since2008. It is only because of a united struggle that the JNUSU elections have been restored.

The Youth for (In) Equality has made all possible efforts to scuttle the restoration of JNUSUElections. The restoration of JNUSU Elections is a fitting rebuff to the politics of YFE and itsallies.

When the Supreme Court stayed the JNUSU elections the incumbent JNUSU (2007-08) andthe Joint Struggle Committee was entrusted with the responsibility of leading the struggle forrestoration of JNUSU. The AISA had all four JNUSU

Office- Bearers in the 2007-08 JNUSU. None of theAISA led JNUSU Office-Bearers have delivered onthe mandate given to them for restoration of the

JNUSU Elections. After enjoying an extended stint inthe JNUSU till February 2010, the JNUSU OfficeBearers from AISA proposed that there should beelections to the Academic Council and Board ofStudies instead of JNUSU elections. If the AISA had its way, the studentcommunity would be having AC/BoS and not JNUSU elections today. Even till the lastsemester the AISA was trying to prevent JNUSU elections and mislead the students byproposing elections to some shadow body (option C). Organizations like the NSUI andABVP have not made any contribution for restoring the JNUSU. They showed their truecolours by opposing last months indefinite hunger strike which forced the administration tohold JNUSU elections in this semester.

On the other hand the SFI-AISF has provided leadership to the struggle forrestoration of the JNUSU and ensured that focus was never lost from the centralchallenge which faced the student community. Unlike the JNUSU Office Bearers fromthe AISA who ran away, the SFI-AISF leadership dug its feet and stayed back to lead thestruggle for restoration of the JNUSU.

After the AISA led JNUSU Office-Bearers abdicated their responsibilities; the SFI-AISFsuggested that the JSC should enter into a dialogue with the Amicus-Curiae for maximumpossible relaxations. It was the SFI-AISF leadership which persisted with thedialogue process with Amicus-Curiae and ensured that he filed his petition withexemptions in the Supreme Court. The consistent efforts by the SFI-AISF ensuredthat a broad based unity could be built among the students for the restoration of

JNUSU elections.

Issues before the forthcoming JNUSU

In the absence of an elected JNUSU, the student movement in our university hassuffered many setbacks. It is important that the newly elected JNUSU lives up to thechallenge of fighting for both student rights as well as carrying forward the strugglefor restoration of the JNUSU constitution. The forthcoming polls must debate the

vision which the newly elected JNUSU would have. To initiate this debate the SFI-AISFis putting forward some of the issues which are pertinent for the student communitytoday.

Increase Scholarships, ensure timelydisbursal of scholarships and stop fee hikes :

SFI-AISF


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Revitalize the GSCASH, Strengthen

EOO. Reduce viva-voce marks.

Recognize more Madrasas.

Ensure Remedial lectures in all courses.

Curb Dog menace. Increase Escort

allowance for PH students.

SFC Elections in all centres.

18.5 lakhs in the years 2006-07, 2008-09, 2009-10 and 2010-11 respectively as per variousAnnual Reports of the University. It shows that while the number of students has increasedthe expenditure on books has decreased. Dhaulpur House, the reading hall behind theuniversity should be modernized and renovated. Lending facilities should be provided in allCentre Specific Libraries. The University should evolve a mechanism through which booksissued by the students can be taken inside the library for reading.

Health Centre: The Health Centre should be 24x7. Basic diagnostic tests like X-ray shouldbe provided. Another ambulance should be provided.

Other issues:

Environment Policy : JNU has a large forest cover and comes under the environmentallysensitive ridge zone. The University should formulate a proper policy so that continuousconstruction does minimal damage to JNUs biodiversity.

Internet access in hostels: Universities like the Hyderabad Central University offer betterfacilities to the students in terms of internet access in hostel rooms. JNU should also providethis facility.

Hostels should be allotted to the new students at the time of registration .

Auditorium for cultural activities should be built in the university and easily accessible to thestudents

Better facilities for sports should be provided. The university should encourage sports teamsparticularly for women.

Better Transport facilities: The University should arrange for better transportfacilities. The administration must ensure intra university transit, metro feederbuses and better frequency of DTC buses on campus.

Start Courses in the North East India Studies Programme: The NEISP should start offeringcourses to encourage research on the issuesregarding the North Eastern region of the country.

Institutional Crisis in JNU : In the absence of JNUSU there has been a concerted attack on thedemocratic rights won by the JNU student movementover the last four decades. There have been attemptsto subvert the democratic academic space and the

progressive institutions of the university.

Revitalize the GSCASH: It is ironical that in a period when the number of girl students hassteadily increased in the university, gender sensitivity has seen a marked deterioration.

There has been a rise in incidents of sexual harassment, the most shameful being the MMSincident. GSCASH, which is one of the biggest achievements of the JNU student movement, isin dire straits today. The new JNUSU must work towards revitalizing the institution of GSCASH.More funds and adequate staff should be provided for the GSCASH. A gender survey shouldbe done to take up the issue of gender sensitization in a big manner.

Safeguarding the Socially Sensitive Character of JNU:The absence of an elected JNUSUhas emboldened a gamut of anti reservation and brahminical forces to wage attacks on thesocially sensitive character of our university. The JNUSU must fight against all kind ofdiscrimination against students from deprived backgrounds.

Reduce weightage of viva voce marks: The weightage of viva voice marks in theentrance examination should be reduced from existing level of 30 percent.

Implement Rangnath and Sachar Committee Reports: The University should takesteps to implement the recommendations of Ranganath and Sachar Committee reports.

Recognize More Madrasas: JNU recognizes 26 Madrasas under two categories foradmissions to BA 1st year. This number is 64 for Jamia Millia Islamia, which is also a centraluniversity. More Madrasas should be recognized by the university.

Ensure Remedial Lectures: Proper remedial courses should be started not just inEnglish language but also for the courses taught in different centres. The university musttake steps towards providing study material in vernacular languages.

Strengthen the EOO: The Equal Opportunity Office has to be strengthened to deal withcases relating to caste or religion based discrimination. Various complaints regardingcommunal or caste based violence have gone unpunished in the past. The EOO should begiven punitive powers to effectively deal with such cases.


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YFE has not done anything to address the

problems of Science Schools.

Placement cell and better lab facilities in

Science Schools.

What is the relevance of CPI ML

Liberation in our polity today?Why was the ML Liberation routed

in Bihar polls?

Remove grade point criteria for AC/BoS Elections: The new JNUSU should fight forremoval of the discriminatory grade point criteria in the Elections to AC/BoS.

Better facilities for PH and VH students: There continues to be apathy towards theconcerns of differently abled students. Immediate steps should be taken to control thedog menace on campus. The university should take steps to address this problem. Morescanned books should be provided for in the library for VH students and strength of HelenKeller Unit should be increased. The escort allowance given to PH students must beincreased. Transport facilities for PH students should be provided in campus. A scholarshiplike RGNF should be provided for PH students also. For orthopedically challenged students

better toilet facilities should be provided in hostels. Role of Student Faculty Committees: The SFCs were supposed to be an institution to

democratize the academic space in the university by acting as the link between students andteachers at the level of centres. Very few centres conduct elections to the SFC today. Manycases of victimization or high handed attitude of the centre authorities can be effectivelyhandled through functioning SFCs. The new JNUSU should ensure that SFC elections areconducted in all the centres.

Faculty evaluation from students, which was an old practice in JNU, should be restarted in allcentres.

The newly elected JNUSU should fight against the undemocratic attitude of hostel wardens,particularly in girls hostels.

Issues in Science Schools : There are a large number of Science students in ouruniversity. The YFE which used to get a large number of votes from Science Schools has notdone anything to address the problems faced by thesestudents.

In many Science Schools there is a complaint aboutthe undemocratic attitude of the faculty. The revivalof SFCs should be used to raise the concerns ofstudents.

Placement cells should be formed in all Science Schools.

Infrastructural facilities in laboratories should be improved. The CAG Performance audit had

found that there were a lot of irregularities in procurement and installation of equipments inthe Science Schools. Examination of the records of installation of equipments costing Rs 10lakh and above, revealed delay in installation of 30 equipments ranging from 3 to 22 months.One equipment costing Rs 13.94 lakh was lying uninstalled in School of EnvironmentalSciences since January 2009. Two equipments costing Rs 104.74 lakh were lying idle inSchool of Biotechnology since April 2008- January 2010. The newly elected JNUSU shouldactively take up these issues.

Defeat AISAs sectarian and bankrupt politics

While the SFI-AISF is trying to rally students on a positive agenda for the newly elected JNUSU,the AISA is busy doing slander against the SFI-AISF and the Left in its campaign. The AISA hasbeen distributing pamphlets targeting the SFI-AISF since October last year, even

before Amicus Curiae filed his petition in the Supreme Court!

Attacking the SFI-AISF and the Left is the only plank which the AISA has for the forthcomingJNUSU elections. The AISA should answer some specific questions before trying tomake the JNUSU elections a mudslinging competition against the Left.

What is the AISAs role in the struggle to restore JNUSU elections? Why did the JNUSU Office-Bearers from AISA run away from this struggle after enjoying an extended tenure till February2010? Why were their JNUSU Office Bearers absent from the crucial dialogue process withAmicus Curiae?

The AISA always considers the Left as its main political enemy. The present political situation inthe country is one where both the Congress and the BJP arefollowing the same anti-people neo-liberal policies. Any pro-

people alternative to the anti-people Congress and thecommunal BJP would have to be based on a unity of left-democratic forces. It is the Left in our country which isleading these struggles.


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Category

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

SC/ST23.73

24.13

23.86

27.09

22.99

26.02

PH2.87

2.482.99

2.92 2.472.43

OBC18.3

21.02

19.44

23.96

19.93

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Will the newly elected JNUSU fight for student

issues and restoration of the JNUSU constitution

or only rave and rant against the Left? How is

this going to help the JNU student movement?

The AISA wants us to believe that significant struggles

have only been waged for 5-6 years when AISArepresentatives were in the JNUSU. So the four decade

old legacy of the JNUSU is nothing. How sectarian!

Why did the proportion of SC/ST and PH students

decrease in the tenure of the AISA led JNUSU in

2007-08?

Why didnt the AISA led JNUSU oppose the illegaldiversion of OBC funds in August 2008?

What progressive politics does the AISA want to further by making the Left the main target ofits attack? The AISA should also introspect on the political relevance of the CPI ML Liberationin Indias polity today. Will the AISA explain to the students why did the ML Liberation see acomplete rout in Bihar, the only place where it had some presence?

In yet another show of sectarianism and desperation the AISA is trying to claim theentire legacy of JNUSU led struggles as its organizational achievements. One can onlyhope that the AISA leadership has notstooped to such low levels that it is trying to

suggest that since 1973, the JNU studentmovement only waged struggles for five-sixodd years when AISA representatives werein the JNUSU. To make such a claim is themost shameless effort to belittle the four decade old legacy of struggles led by generations ofstudents in JNU. Instead of making such absurd claims the AISA should answer for theperformance of its JNUSU in 2007-08 where the AISA Office-Bearers enjoyed anextended tenure till February 2010:

Compromise with Reservations and Seat Cuts: The AISA led JNUSU was elected on thebasis of a pro-reservation agenda. 2008 was the first time OBC reservations and seatincrease was implemented in JNU. The AISA led JNUSU backtracked on a written agreement of

implementing 27% OBC reservations in one go which the previous JNUSU had forced theadministration to agree to and agreed to only 12% OBC reservation. The AISA led JNUSU alsoaccepted a shift from offer system of admissions to a wait list system which led to seat cutsinstead of a seat increase and fall in SC/ST and PH reservation as well. The figures for JNUadmissions prove this point.

In M Phil/Ph D Courses there was a fall inthe number of admissions from 680 in2007-08 to 635 in 2008-09 because of theimplementation of Waiting List system.

The AISA refuses to accept seat cuts under thetenure of the AISA led JNUSU till date. The SFI-AISF representatives in the 2007-08 JNUSUstarted an agitation against the improprieties

in the admission process, which was later led by AISA Office-Bearers. The AISA led JNUSU failedto clinch this struggle. The performance audit by CAG nailed AISAs lies when it acknowledgedseat cuts in JNU. The performance audit says that 2112 more students could have studied in theUniversity during 2005-09, but were denied admissions.

Diversion of funds meant for OBC reservation and infrastructural expansion duringAISA led JNUSUs tenure: The CAGPerformance Audit indicted the Universityfor Inadmissible Expenditure out of OBCrecurring grant. It says, UGC Released

(June 2008) an amount of Rs 24.29 crore asfirst instalment for recurring expenditure forimplementation of OBC reservation. Therecurring grant included 5 years expenditure on salary of teachers, non-teaching posts andnon-salary/ other expenditure. The University, in turn, allocated (August 2008) Rs 21.80 croreunder recurring grant @ Rs 10 lakh each to 110 faculty members of science schools and Rs 3lakh each to 360 faculty members of non-science schools for expenditure on consumables,research materials.All this was done during the AISA led JNUSUs tenure, but no effort was made bythe JNUSU Office Bearers from AISA to fight against such improper practices.

The JNUSU under AISA failed to ensure punishment to ABVP goons who unleashed large scaleviolence during the Presidential Debate in the 2007-08 JNUSU Elections.

The JNUSU Office-Bearers from AISA failed to force the administration to roll back the hike inProspectus Fee in 2009 despite a massive student mobilization.

Like its refusal to answer for the absence ofAISAs JNUSU Office-Bearers in the struggle for


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restoration of JNUSU elections, the AISA does not want to be held accountable for these failuresin the tenure of its JNUSU.Repeated attacks on the SFI-AISF and the Left by the AISA is nothing but a ploy to hide its ownfailures in the JNUSU and struggle for restoration of JNUSU elections, and divert the debate in therun up to forthcoming JNUSU elections from genuine student issues to hollow anti-left rhetoric.

This can further AISAs sectarian politics but does not serve the interests of the studentcommunity.Will the newly elected JNUSU fight for student issues and restoration of the JNUSU constitution oronly rave and rant against the Left? How is this going to help the JNU student movement?

We appeal to the student community to reject such bankrupt forces and rally behindthe SFI-AISF in the forthcoming polls for a JNUSU which would fight for studentsrights and carry forward the glorious legacy of the JNU student movement.

Sd/- Zico Dasgupta, VicePresident SFI-JNUSd/- Durgesh, Secretary AISF-JNU

For a vibrant and fighting JNUSU rally behind the

SFI-AISF in the forthcoming JNUSU electionsWrite to us [email protected] IN NUSU on
mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]

Documents

SFI-AISF Appeal for Upcoming JNUSU Elections