PaRCha - JNU - All Organisations - 2013 ID-56032
.
,,,>~co/.· -.
...>4..... _...._..
i2hiuic<i'#··h .s. ... ~a,....._~ n a '1 ...... -~'-·-.
-. .
.
.
T he Legacy of the JNU Students~ Movement and .
the Current Juncture .
.
The legacy of the forty-year old history of the JNU students' JTIOVement has been one of militant struggles 31.08.2013 ~hat ~'-'rce-?dect if"\ ar:ivancing students: rights. While ~aking up .the day-to-day iss'Jes concern!ng common student::; nnd f:ghting .to address them effectively, it nlso soughtto lin!< up these struggles with broader struggles outside. The JNU Students' Union (JNUSU) was creat~d by the students themselves without any intervention ~y the University administration. The Constitution of the JNUSU was also drafted by the students. and was ratified in September 1971 . These factors relating to its origin gave the JNUSU an autonomy which enabled it to wage effective struggtes and to resist administrative crackdowns, ensuring that the Union could .not be banned even during the Emergency:even .as ~tudent leader~ were put behind bars amidst <:1 massiyc police cmckdown on the compus. .
. . ... . . .
Th:..: H~~tei Agitation led by the JNUSU in 1998-99, a11d the Cun~nt Siiuaiion: A Siurk Contr~st .
.
In stark contrast to the negligence of the AISA-Ied and DSF-AISA-Ied Unions on the issue of hostels today is the way in which the JNUSU under the leadership of SFI waged a massive struggle in 1998-99 when the avajlability of hostel seats became a burning issue. The agitation led by the SFI-Ied JNUSU was characterised by massive student support, but the Vice-Chancellor simply refused to.speak to the JNUSU. Following a 14-day hunger strike, 63 students were .
.
arrested and 14 students including 3 office-bearers of the JNUSU were illegally detained in Tihar jail for three days. All sections of. the JNU community -students, teachers and karamcharis·-rose in. unison against the high-.
.. handedness of the administration, forcing it to back down and to accept the demands of the students. Temporary aGc:urrJIIJudatidn was provided to students without hostels, and 4 new hostels -Mahi-Mandavi, lohit, Chandrabhaga and Yamuna -along with a second wing to Tapti hostel were constructed as a result of the agitation. .
Contrast this with the current situation, when the students' movement in the campus is delicately poised with the .
.. residential character of our campus coming under threat. The scale of this year's hostel crisis is one of the biggest in the university's history. If last year's trends hold with regard to the number of outstation students, nearly 1300 students ,_..:~t!!rl :-0-m~!n withoL!t hostP.Is throughout this year. The implications of the crisis are serious and profound. The :-clatlvely luv.: ftje:::,. lhe availability of relatively cheap accommodation a: !U the provision of scholarships Si..H.:h ~s iViCM have enabied s1udems from ~he most deprived backgrounds to come and study in JNU. The impact of the hcs~e! crisis has been the most severe for such students, who find it difficult to afford renting out private accommodation outside. The hostel crisis also threatens to adversely affect the diverse and representative character of our student popuiation, as "lhe avgilabiiity of hostels has been an important factor in ensuring that students from various regions of the country could come and study in JNU. Students belonging to deprived sections have also been hit by anomalies in hostel allotment whid1 amount to an outrageous deniJI of social justice, which m;.;st be unitedly and resolutely fought. .
Administrative Apathy and Negligence by Unions from 2007 onwards .
The process of implementation of 27% OBC reservation began in 2008. There was also 54% seat increase along with this, and the intake of students was bound to go up substantially. Both the administration and the AISA (which led the JNUSU from 2007 to 2012) were well aware that accommodating the increased intake of students would require a big expansion of hostel facilities. JNU had received funds in order to build sufficient infrastructure (including · hostel~) in o~der to accommodate the increased intake of students But os the C/\G report on JNU rc·.tc(]lcd, the fur.ds iTteant for infrastructure expansion were diverted for foreign trips, seminars etc.; a big chunk of funds was also left unspent. The AISA-ied union was caught sleeping all through this period, and did nothing to ensure that the funas were utilised for the purposes they were meant for. Yet, when questioned, the previous JNUSU President from AISA KePt statmg the lame excuse that a hostel cannot be built in six months (the term of the previous JNU~u). rgnonno the !uny ienure in the Union enjoyed by the AISA in the previous years. After having abdicated the responsibility to-take cognizance of the issue well in advance and pushing for the construction of new hostels, the AISA-Ied union was satisfied arguing for more dormitories which turned out to be congested, unhygienic and virtually uninhabitable spaces . .
Neg!!gence by the Unioo continues during the DSF-AISA-Ied JNUSU's tenure: In the run up to last year's JNUSU elections, AI SA claimed that "proposals for construction of 7 new hostels'' have been included in JNU's 1i, plan proposal (AISA pamphlet dated 6.9.2012). No effort was made for these "proposals" to be materialized in real terms. The agitation led by the DSF-AISA-Ied JNUSU in the very next month (October 2012) ended without any concrete assurance regarding the construction of hostels -the JNUSU's agreement with the administration merely said oattempt will be made to build two hostels by 2014 based on the funds made available in the 121h Plan." .
The relegation of the issues of hostels to the background, as if it deserves only a lower priority, has characterised the tenures of both the AISA-Ied and the DSF-AISA-Ied Unions. The Union refused to even raise the demand for alternative accon;tmodation to students without hostels (something that SFI has consistentl raised since September 2012) during the October 2012 agitation. Further, the issue of hostels hardly figured :in .
, . .
.
.
PaRCha - JNU - All Organisations - 2013 ID-56032
.
,,,>~co/.· -.
...>4..... _...._..
i2hiuic<i'#··h .s. ... ~a,....._~ n a '1 ...... -~'-·-.
-. .
.
.
T he Legacy of the JNU Students~ Movement and .
the Current Juncture .
.
The legacy of the forty-year old history of the JNU students' JTIOVement has been one of militant struggles 31.08.2013 ~hat ~'-'rce-?dect if"\ ar:ivancing students: rights. While ~aking up .the day-to-day iss'Jes concern!ng common student::; nnd f:ghting .to address them effectively, it nlso soughtto lin!< up these struggles with broader struggles outside. The JNU Students' Union (JNUSU) was creat~d by the students themselves without any intervention ~y the University administration. The Constitution of the JNUSU was also drafted by the students. and was ratified in September 1971 . These factors relating to its origin gave the JNUSU an autonomy which enabled it to wage effective struggtes and to resist administrative crackdowns, ensuring that the Union could .not be banned even during the Emergency:even .as ~tudent leader~ were put behind bars amidst <:1 massiyc police cmckdown on the compus. .
. . ... . . .
Th:..: H~~tei Agitation led by the JNUSU in 1998-99, a11d the Cun~nt Siiuaiion: A Siurk Contr~st .
.
In stark contrast to the negligence of the AISA-Ied and DSF-AISA-Ied Unions on the issue of hostels today is the way in which the JNUSU under the leadership of SFI waged a massive struggle in 1998-99 when the avajlability of hostel seats became a burning issue. The agitation led by the SFI-Ied JNUSU was characterised by massive student support, but the Vice-Chancellor simply refused to.speak to the JNUSU. Following a 14-day hunger strike, 63 students were .
.
arrested and 14 students including 3 office-bearers of the JNUSU were illegally detained in Tihar jail for three days. All sections of. the JNU community -students, teachers and karamcharis·-rose in. unison against the high-.
.. handedness of the administration, forcing it to back down and to accept the demands of the students. Temporary aGc:urrJIIJudatidn was provided to students without hostels, and 4 new hostels -Mahi-Mandavi, lohit, Chandrabhaga and Yamuna -along with a second wing to Tapti hostel were constructed as a result of the agitation. .
Contrast this with the current situation, when the students' movement in the campus is delicately poised with the .
.. residential character of our campus coming under threat. The scale of this year's hostel crisis is one of the biggest in the university's history. If last year's trends hold with regard to the number of outstation students, nearly 1300 students ,_..:~t!!rl :-0-m~!n withoL!t hostP.Is throughout this year. The implications of the crisis are serious and profound. The :-clatlvely luv.: ftje:::,. lhe availability of relatively cheap accommodation a: !U the provision of scholarships Si..H.:h ~s iViCM have enabied s1udems from ~he most deprived backgrounds to come and study in JNU. The impact of the hcs~e! crisis has been the most severe for such students, who find it difficult to afford renting out private accommodation outside. The hostel crisis also threatens to adversely affect the diverse and representative character of our student popuiation, as "lhe avgilabiiity of hostels has been an important factor in ensuring that students from various regions of the country could come and study in JNU. Students belonging to deprived sections have also been hit by anomalies in hostel allotment whid1 amount to an outrageous deniJI of social justice, which m;.;st be unitedly and resolutely fought. .
Administrative Apathy and Negligence by Unions from 2007 onwards .
The process of implementation of 27% OBC reservation began in 2008. There was also 54% seat increase along with this, and the intake of students was bound to go up substantially. Both the administration and the AISA (which led the JNUSU from 2007 to 2012) were well aware that accommodating the increased intake of students would require a big expansion of hostel facilities. JNU had received funds in order to build sufficient infrastructure (including · hostel~) in o~der to accommodate the increased intake of students But os the C/\G report on JNU rc·.tc(]lcd, the fur.ds iTteant for infrastructure expansion were diverted for foreign trips, seminars etc.; a big chunk of funds was also left unspent. The AISA-ied union was caught sleeping all through this period, and did nothing to ensure that the funas were utilised for the purposes they were meant for. Yet, when questioned, the previous JNUSU President from AISA KePt statmg the lame excuse that a hostel cannot be built in six months (the term of the previous JNU~u). rgnonno the !uny ienure in the Union enjoyed by the AISA in the previous years. After having abdicated the responsibility to-take cognizance of the issue well in advance and pushing for the construction of new hostels, the AISA-Ied union was satisfied arguing for more dormitories which turned out to be congested, unhygienic and virtually uninhabitable spaces . .
Neg!!gence by the Unioo continues during the DSF-AISA-Ied JNUSU's tenure: In the run up to last year's JNUSU elections, AI SA claimed that "proposals for construction of 7 new hostels'' have been included in JNU's 1i, plan proposal (AISA pamphlet dated 6.9.2012). No effort was made for these "proposals" to be materialized in real terms. The agitation led by the DSF-AISA-Ied JNUSU in the very next month (October 2012) ended without any concrete assurance regarding the construction of hostels -the JNUSU's agreement with the administration merely said oattempt will be made to build two hostels by 2014 based on the funds made available in the 121h Plan." .
The relegation of the issues of hostels to the background, as if it deserves only a lower priority, has characterised the tenures of both the AISA-Ied and the DSF-AISA-Ied Unions. The Union refused to even raise the demand for alternative accon;tmodation to students without hostels (something that SFI has consistentl raised since September 2012) during the October 2012 agitation. Further, the issue of hostels hardly figured :in .
, . .
.
.