Comments
Under pressure even from the BJP leadership, the HRD Ministry has offered a formula for ending the three-month-old students’ strike at Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU). Under the formula, the hostel fee will be revised from ₹10 to ₹300 (for double rooms) and from ₹20 to ₹600 (for single rooms). The University Grants Commission (UGC) will bear the cost of the proposed services and utility charges.
The students, however, are insisting on a “complete rollback” of the fees and action against JNU Vice-Chancellor M Jagdesh Kumar.
Students with whom BusinessLine spoke said they will discuss the offer from the Ministry at the general body meeting of all departments and, later, at a meeting of all the students. The leaders of various student organisations on the campus, except the Sangh Parivar’s ABVP, will discuss the formula and then the JNU Students’ Union (JNUSU) will make a draft resolution which will be debated among the students.
Earlier, HRD Secretary Amit Khare held a meeting with the JNU Vice-Chancellor, Rectors and Registrar and also met a delegation of JNUSU led by its president Aishe Ghosh. The Ministry said the JNU authorities informed the HRD Secretary that the administration is taking steps to implement the decisions arrived at at the ‘Record of Discussions’ held on December 10 and 11 at the HRD Ministry.
Kumar informed the Ministry that the administration has issued a circular clarifying that service and utility charges for the hostel residents are not being billed on the students. “UGC has been requested to bear the cost of these charges. The same was also communicated to the JNU students during the meeting with Secretary today (Friday). A meeting was also held by the Secretary, MHRD (Ministry of HRD), with Chairperson, UGC, Dr DP Singh, today to discuss the matter. The MHRD has asked UGC to provide necessary funds in this regard,” said a government statement. Khare appealed to the students to withdraw their agitation based on this new stand of the Ministry. Apart from Opposition parties, former HRD Minister and senior BJP leader Murli Manohar Joshi had also demanded the removal of Kumar.
Meanwhile, the Delhi police told reporters that Ghosh is one among nine suspects in the JNU violence case. “Of the nine, seven belong to Left-leaning student organisations while two are affiliated to Right-wing students’ body,” DCP (Crime Branch) Joy Tirkey, who is investigating the case, said. He reiterated the JNU administration’s charge that Left-leaning student organisations have been preventing other students from registering for the new semester.
Comments
COMMENT NOW
Comments
Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.
We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of TheHindu Businessline and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.