Students, teachers up in arms against Delhi govt’s fund freeze order, threaten intense stir
The Delhi government’s decision to stop grants to 28 Delhi University colleges sparked protests among groups of students and teachers on Tuesday.
The Delhi government funds 28 DU colleges, of which 12 colleges receive 100% funding from the state government and 16 receive 5% of their expenditure from the government.
On Monday, Manish Sisodia, the education minister of Delhi, took to Twitter to allege “unchecked corruption and irregularities” at these colleges and had said that he could not allow it to go on. In a series of tweets, he also said that he had asked the finance department to stop funding these colleges, “as DU not willing to form governing bodies for last 10 months.”
Members of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) and office bearers of the Delhi University Students Union (DUSU) gathered outside Arts Faculty in the North Campus and burnt an effigy of Sisodia.
“They had said they would build 20 new colleges. Instead, they are now closing down colleges,” said Amit Tanwar, DUSU president, while addressing the gathering in the midst of slogans ranging from ‘Manish Sisodia Murdabad’ to ‘Manish Sisodia sharam karo.’
Teachers of the National Dem- ocratic Teacher’s Front (NDTF) also staged a dharna. While calling the move ‘anti-teacher,’ ‘antistudents,’ ‘anti-employees’ and ‘anti-education,’ the president of NDTF also alleged that there were larger politics at play.
“They want to de-affiliate the 12 fully funded colleges through this. They will then try and get them under a state university, so that they can implement the 85% reservation for Delhi residents,” said AK Bhagi, the president of NDTF and a member of the executive council of DU.
“The executive council had received the names for the governing bodies at the colleges on July 13. Certain norms had been flouted, so the university had suggested that they would change their nominees to ensure that they fulfil the requirements. The special sub-committee had sent the recommendations within a week. The government and university are responsible for the delay,” said Bhagi.
Both the students and teachers have said they would try and get the order withdrawn. Tanwar has said that they would write to the DU vice chancellor to see if the issue can be resolved peacefully.
“If not, we will then stage dharnas, not on campus, but outside the residence of the ministers,” he said.
Jawaharlal Nehru University students on Monday held a protest against denial of registration to some students.
JNU students’ union president Mohit K Pandey was not allowed to register to continue as a student for this academic year as he refused to pay the fine imposed on him.
JNUSU said some of the members were fined ₹20,000 for protesting over the issue of missing student Najeeb Ahmad. “There are 5-6 other enquiries on every student and several false FIRs...this is all being done to shield massive corruption in the university,” the JNUSU said.
The university released a statement on “misinformation” campaign by a handful of students. The statement said that Pandey could have registered by paying the fine.
HTC