JNU teachers warned of salary cut for strike
NEWDELHI: The Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) administration has warned that teachers participating in a strike called by their association will not be paid salary or allowances for the duration of the protest, and may even face punitive action.
The JNU Teachers’ Association (JNUTA) called for a strike from Monday to Wednesday to protest the alleged police brutality on Friday and the autonomy status granted to the university.
A notice issued by the registrar’s office on Monday asks “all faculty members who intend to participate in this strike” to either email him or submit a letter addressed to him. “Under the principle of “no work no pay”, such faculty member(s) found to have participated in the strike will not be paid pay and allowances for the days of the strike. It is also proposed to take action against those faculty members who will participate in the strike under the provisions of FR17(A) along with all its attendant consequences,” the notice reads.
The provisions allow the authorities to deem the period during which any employee “remains absent unauthorisedly or deserts the post” as causing an interruption or a “break in service of the employee”.
This seems to be the latest in the crackdown by the administration against dissenting faculty members after the replacement of seven chairpersons and a dean for not complying with the attendance mandate and a 14-member committee that has been constituted to make recommendations to frame rules and regulations for staff.
The JNUTA said it was an attempt to implement the Central Civil Services (Classification, Control and Appeal) rules (CCS (CCA) Rules), which prohibits criticism of the government.
Members of the administration, including the registrar, were unavailable for a comment.
In a separate statement, JNU said the decisions “regarding holding of M Phil/phd viva through video conferencing, mandatory attendance for students and delinking of M Phil/ PHD programmes, etc.,” which students and teachers opposed, were taken after a due process and cannot be rolled back.
“Every time, the administration just comes out with another threatening letter instead of talking to us about the issues. This just another example,” Sudhir Suttar, JNUTA general secretary, said. NEWDELHI: Scientists from institutes from across India have extended support to eight Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) students, who have accused a professor at the university’s School of Life Sciences of sexual harassment.
The scientists said in a statement sexual misconduct should not only be condemned but “it should invite black-listing from serving on scientific committees, receiving funding, awards and election to academies.”
A group of women faculty from the university started a signature campaign on the issue and received support from 165 scientists.
The statement said scientific research in India, particularly its higher echelons, remains predominantly the preserve of men. “What adds to this power and authority is the need for mobilising large amounts of funding required for experi- mental research which the scientist or laboratory head provides,” the statement said. The petitioners include scientists from JNU and institutes such as the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, the National Centre for Biological Sciences, the Indian Institutes of Technology and the Indian Institute of Science.
“The authorities should take stern steps...incidents of sexual harassment happen in sciences and other fields of studies and it needs to be addressed,” said one of the signatories,
Krishnendu Sengupta, a senior professor at Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science, Kolkata.
Tejinder Pal Singh of Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai, said he supports the students as it is difficult for women students to speak up, especially in sciences.