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DU Employees Suffer As the Delhi Government Fails to Pay Salaries

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Over 2,700 teaching and non-teaching staff of 12 Delhi University (DU) colleges did not get salaries for the last two months as the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Government continues to withhold release of funds over non-formation of Governing Bodies (GB).

Out of the 28 DU colleges, 16 get only 5% of their funds from the Delhi Government while 12 receive 100% funding.

The GBs, comprising members nominated by the university and the Delhi Government, take all decisions for the smooth functioning of a college, including the appointment of teaching and non-teaching staff.

Some Principals of various colleges across DU wondered why the GB term could not be extended. “In the past, the term has been extended for almost six months. It can also be done now until the process of formation of the Governing Body is completed,” said a Principal whose college receives 100% funding. “The government should understand that we have to pay salary to the staff and their arrears.”

Dhananjoy Shaw, Principal of Indira Gandhi Institute of Physical Education and Sports Sciences (IGIPESS), said the fund crunch has affected student activities as well. “We haven’t been able to pay salaries to our staff for two months. Since some student activities had been planned before, we are executing them at the lowest possible cost,” he said, adding that managing day-to-day expenses will be difficult from October.

A contrary argument came to the fore when an official in the Delhi Government said that DU is insisting on not forming GBs in these colleges. “It is clear that there is an attempt to shield colleges from accountability and intent to continue corruption,” the official said.

“I am able to manage our daily expenditure somehow as this is not my only income source. But there are many employees whose day-to-day expenditures depend completely on their salary. Due to the ego clashes between the Vice Chancellor Yogesh Tyagi, and the AAP Government, it is the employee who is suffering.” another DU official grieves. 

In a protest organised by Delhi University Teachers’ Association (DUTA), outside Vidhan Sabha on Friday, staff members said that “uncertainty in getting salaries has led to crisis” in these 12 colleges. “The worst-hit are the teaching and non-teaching staff working on ad hoc or contract basis,” DUTA said in a statement.

Delhi University College Karamchari Union (DUCKU) plan to sit on strike on 1st and 3rd October. 

The Vice-Chancellor and Arvind Kejriwal did not respond to requests for comment.

 

Feature Image Credits: DNA India

 

Bhagyashree Chatterjee 

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DUTA Opposes High-Rise in North Campus, Students Approach PM Over Safety

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The Delhi University Teachers’ Association (DUTA) on Thursday, 12th September, raised its voice against the construction of a 39-storey high-rise housing society at the North Campus citing safety and privacy concerns.

DUTA has opposed the construction of a 39-storey building in North Campus saying it “would significantly alter the social and cultural landscape of Delhi University” and also compromise the “safety of women students”. The building is coming up adjacent to Vishwavidyalaya Metro Station, near Gate Number 3 and 4. DUTA also stated that the land originally belonged to the Ministry of Defence and was acquired for public purpose by the state government for the construction of metro station by Delhi Municipal Rail Corporation (DMRC).

Consequently, the DMRC sold two-thirds of this land by granting perpetual lease of ninety years to a private builder called ‘Young India’, in the guise of property development and by changing the land use from “public and semi-public facility to residential”, the DUTA alleged.

Sudhanshu Kumar, the Vice President of DUTA, stated, “This is the height of privatisation. It (building) would seriously compromise the safety and privacy of women students on campus as it stands in close proximity to several hostels that house women. It would also pose a serious safety issues for all students on campus, restricting their right to move freely in their own campus. It is clearly a ghotala committed by the State Government, DMRC and ‘Young India’.”

DU had also written to the Prime Minister’s Office, the Home Ministry, as well as the Ministery of Defence on this matter. Officials said that the proposed building is not viable keeping in mind security concerns for the North Campus students, since the building will have a bird’s-eye view of five of the girls’ hostels on the campus – Miranda House Girls’ Hostel, the Central Institute of Education, University Hostel for Women, Meghdoot Girls Hostel and the Girls’ Hostel of the Department of Social Work; apart from several other University buildings.

They said that there is already a severe paucity of spaces for students on campus, for their accommodation, recreation and for other academic activities and the use of this space for a residential complex is questionable in its intent. The Association has also notified that it “will take up the matter with the President of India, who is the visitor to the University”, in conversation with the Dainik Jagran.

Meanwhile, women living in the varsity’s 20 hostels have written a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, raising concerns over the construction of the high-rise building in the campus, saying that it will “infringe their privacy” and “prejudice the security” of students.

Image Caption: Female students, living in the campus’s 20 hostels, have written a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi raising concerns over the construction of the high-rise building in Campus. Image Credits: Jagran Media
Image Caption: Female students, living in the campus’s 20 hostels, have written a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi raising concerns over the construction of the high-rise building in Campus.
Image Credits: Jagran Media

The letter reads, “…it (the construction of the structure) would directly infringe the privacy of all the women’s hostel in close proximity to the land, it would prejudice the security of the students who attend departments and colleges in North Campus, since being a private structure the activities that will take place in the building will not be open to public censoring and if such a building is to be constructed in the University area, it would curtail the students’ freedom to move around the campus…”

DU also insists that the construction of this building will come in the way of the Master Plan of Delhi, 2021, that has been envisaged for the city’s infrastructure. Moreover, according to the documents accessed by Mail Today, 228 trees have been felled for the construction of this building.

Feature Image Credits: DU Beat Archives

 

Bhavya Pandey

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Bhagyashree Chatterjee

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DUTA Seeks Kejriwal’s Help on the Salary Probe

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On Monday, 9 September, 2019, the Delhi University Teachers’ Association (DUTA) corresponded to the Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal regarding the issuance of salaries for the employees of the 28 colleges that are either fully or partially funded by the Delhi government.

The complaint is lodged with regard to the payment of due salaries owing to the stoppage of grants by the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) relaxation. Where the formation of governing bodies prompted a deadlock between the University and the city government, the accusations from both ends claim to have delayed the process further.

Although, earlier in June Deputy Chief Minister and Education Minister Manish Sisodia directed the Education Secretary, Sandeep Kumar to ensure the release of funds for three months to the 28 colleges, the employees of the 28 partially or fully funded colleges, under the Delhi government are constantly being subjected to delayed payments of salaries and other remunerations due to prolonged stoppage of grants by the AAP dispensation, said according to a letter by DUTA.

“You would agree that this action of denial of salaries to the teaching and non-teaching staff of these colleges amounts to a violation of basic human rights. Your reasons, whatsoever they may be, do not warrant such an assault on the living conditions of the employees,” it said.

It further quoted, “The government must also immediately release funds for the additional posts that are to be created for the teaching and non-teaching staff in the wake of the EWS reservations. ”

With these delays affecting the teachers of the institution directly, the futility in their responses have apparently affected the students of the varsity as well.

The necessary increment in the number of students across all disciplines under EWS have resuscitated all the aforementioned colleges with additional funds for salaries and infrastructural development to add for the proper functioning of the colleges with regard to academic and administrative responsibilities, says the association. While, some of the new courses that are incepted after receiving the necessary approvals designated in the administration, most of them are devoid of funds and appointment of teachers required for continuation of these courses.

“They (DU) are not forming governing bodies. They are deliberately not doing it because they want to do wrong appointments. They should bring governing bodies and let those bodies decide. How can we give funds when they are not bringing governing bodies?” says Deputy CM Manish Sisodia in response to this issue.

Where the University claims to have formed a committee to look into the issue, it has further speculated the matter and has stated some names to the government concerning the issue.

Where the twelve colleges that are fully-funded by the Delhi government includes Indira Gandhi Institute of Physical Education & Sports Science, Shaheed Sukhdev College of Business Studies, Shaheed Raj Guru College, Deen Dayal Upadhyaya College, Dr Bhim Rao Ambedkar College, Acharya Narendra Dev College, Bhagini Nivedita College, Keshav Maha Vidyalaya, Maharaja Agrasen College, Aditi Mahavidyalaya, Mahirishi Balmiki College of Education and Bhaskara Charya College of Applied Science

The sixteen partially-funded colleges are namely, Shivaji College, Motilal Nehru CollegeLaxmi Bai College, Shaheed Bhagat Singh College, Maitreyi College, SPM College for Women, Satyawati College, Vivekananda College, Rajdhani College, Kamala Nehru College, Gargi College, Swami Shardhanand College, Kalindi College, Bharti College, Sri Aurobindo College, and Delhi College of Arts and Commerce.

It is however paradoxical that in a recent tweet by the Delhi CM on the account of Teachers’ Day, he claims to be indebted to the teachers for their contribution in building the society, the DUTA probe sends his words otherwise.

Feature Image Credits: DU Beat Archives

Faizan Salik

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Police Searches DU Professor’s House Regarding Elgar Case

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At 6:30 a.m. on Tuesday, 10th September, the Pune police searched the residence of Hany Babu, a professor in the English Department of the University of Delhi (DU), in relation to the Elgar case.

On Tuesday, 10th September 2019, Pune police conducted a series of searches in the residence of Hany Babu, a professor in the English Department of the University of Delhi (DU), in Noida, Uttar Pradesh. The searches were conducted in connection to the Elgar Parishad case of 2017. He was investigated due to alleged Maoist links. Though no arrest was made, this development was confirmed by Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP), Shivaji Pawar.  “We have conducted a search operation at Babu’s residence in Noida in connection with the Elgar Parishad case registered at the Vishrambaug police station in Pune,” Pawar told India Today, adding that police have recovered some electronic devices.

The Elgar conclave was held on 31st December 2017, to commemorate the battle of Koregaon-Bhima, and the speeches made during this conclave aggravated the caste violence around the Koregaon Bhima village in the district on 1st January 2018. This led to the death of one person, and several others were injured. Police have arrested nine persons related to the case so far.

Professor Hany Babu’s Public Statement on the police intimidation and raid at his house read:

“I am Hany Babu, residing with my family in Noida. I have been teaching at the English Department in the University of Delhi as an Associate Professor for close to a decade.

At 6:30 AM in the morning, 20 people knocked at my door, claiming that they belonged to the Pune Crime Branch. Five of them were in uniform, the rest were in civil clothes. I was told that they wanted to conduct a search of my residence. When asked for a search warrant, I was told that there was none and that this case doesn’t need one. Following this, I requested for some form of identification to be shown to me. An officer with the name Dr. Shivaji Pawar showed me his ID. After this, the officers entered my residence and looked through every room of my apartment. The search went on for six hours, at the end of which they said they would be seizing my laptop, my hard disks, my pen drives and books. They made me change the passwords of my social media accounts and my email account. They have complete access to my accounts now through the changed passwords and I no longer have access to these accounts. I would like to state that as a teacher, my work is heavily dependent on what I’ve saved in my laptops and external hard disks. It also contains the research work that I’ve been pursuing for years. This work is not something which can be duplicated in days. These are years of my hard work. I don’t understand how a government agency can seize my work without providing me the reasons for it, or the basis on which a search was conducted at my residence. They did not have a search warrant with them and they did not explain further as to why they don’t possess the same. While the search was ongoing, they also seized the phones of my wife and my daughter, barring us from communicating with our friends.”

In a press release by Delhi University Teachers’ Association (DUTA), Rajib Ray, the President of DUTA condemned the act, claiming that such raids without search warrants are against the very essence of democracy, individual freedom, and open the door for planting evidence.” He also states that such intolerance towards criticism and dissent was the basis for the insidious attempt that was made last year to amend the Delhi University Act and apply ESMA, and that “this attack on academic freedom and freedom of expression will be opposed tooth and nail by the teachers of Delhi University and other academic institutions in the country.”

The search operation has been met with a massive uproar. A protest was organised on 11th September near the Faculty of Arts, North Campus, to raise questions on the essential nature of dissent in a politically active space like DU, and its lack thereof in the face of desperate attempts to annihilate contrasting voices. This is the latest case in a series of witch-hunts aimed at making the college spaces more “positive”.

Feature Image Credits: Hindustan Times

Shreya Juyal

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Rajib Ray Elected As DUTA President For Second Term

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Rajib Ray, on Friday, was elected as the president of DUTA for the second term, defeating AK Bhagi by 269 votes.

Rajib Ray was elected as the president of Delhi University Teachers’ Association (DUTA) for the second term, on Friday.

Ray, belonging to Left-affiliated Democratic Teachers’ Front (DTF) defeated right-affiliated National Democratic Teachers’ Front’s (NDTF) candidate AK Bhagi by a margin of 269 votes.

Elections took place on Thursday with a turnout of 82.36 per cent where Ray managed to win 3,750 votes in comparison to Bhagi’s 3,481 votes. 518 votes were found to be invalid, according to officials.

Speaking on his victory, the second time DUTA president said, “It’s a significant win for me and the DUTA because, despite getting little relief in the last two years, teachers have kept faith on the Union.”

Ray elaborated upon the issues faced by teachers of the varsity and laid out his plan for the tenure as he said, “I have to enable all DUTA Executive members, regardless of their political or ideological affiliations, the most confident and conducive ground to fearlessly raise issues and work for teachers.”

“The union and this University owe a lot to the contribution of our colleagues who have been working on a temporary and ad-hoc basis. They deserve to be absorbed in permanent jobs. DU teachers also need time-bound promotions and seniority restored to them. That is non-negotiable. DUTA will put a focused effort in this direction”, he further added.

Further augmenting his vision for the teachers, he said, “Teachers are extremely unhappy with the NEP in its present form. We will continue to put pressure on the Government to be more open-minded about the policy framework and make changes that are genuinely pro-teacher. The educational policy must strengthen the public-funded system rather instead of weakening its foundations.”

Rajib Ray was elected as DUTA president in 2017 as well. The tenure of a president lasts for two years.

 

Featured Image Credits- Democratic Accent

Image Caption- Rajib Ray belongs to left-affiliated Democratic Teachers’ Front (DTF).

 

Shreya Agrawal

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Impact of the Syllabus Controversy on the English Department

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The English Department of the University of Delhi (DU) continues to be negatively affected by the Syllabus Controversy. 

The Executive Council of DU has approved the syllabus for English for the first semester, but this approved syllabus continues to be a mystery for not only the students, but also the professors. In fact, even the Head of the English Department, Professor Raj Kumar has not been made privy to the new syllabus. This continued delay with regard to the syllabus has now moved beyond ideological and ethical debates, and has started to negatively impact the students, causing mass worry and frustration across the University campuses. 

In most colleges, professors have started to teach the first-year students the old syllabus, but they are not sure about whether what they are teaching the first-year students is going to be relevant to them with respect to the upcoming examinations. Priyanshi Banerjee, a first-year student of English at Lady Shri Ram College, said, “No one seems to know anything about the new syllabus and this is causing a lot of problems for us first-years. Examinations are not going to get postponed, but considering the current slow pace of studies I don’t know how we are going to manage to complete our course work.”

Students are not even able to procure the books being taught currently because the bookstores in the college campuses are not stocking them, because of a lack of clarity with respect to the prescribed texts. Shyla Sharma, another first-year student of the English Department, said, “All of us are very anxious. It is very odd for us to see other department’s students going about their course work when we don’t even know what our syllabus is. Even the professors seem upset and lost, and this is causing a lot of confusion. We don’t even have all of our books yet, as we have been told not to buy them. I hope the syllabus is soon released.”

In spite of the mass tension, an academic debate in the midst of the syllabus controversy continues to flourish. Royina Chhabra, a first-year student of the English Department, said, “Restrictions are being put on our academic freedom. We should have a right to study what we want to, especially our history and culture irrespective of whether it is good or bad. How else are we supposed to learn and think for ourselves? This entire controversy is taking a huge toll on our education.” Many students also seem to be specifically upset about the negative debate with respect to the exclusion of the Queer Literature Paper. A first-year student of the English Department, who wanted to remain anonymous, said, “Queerness is a part of our lives. Section 377 no longer criminalises homosexuality, so why is our education system doing so? In fact, I believe that it is the responsibility of our education system to educate people about queerness because most people in India aren’t aware of, or comfortable about it. The fact that our new syllabus is probably going to be politically motivated and authoritarian in nature highly antagonises me.”

The Syllabus Controversy began when right-wing organisations like the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) objected to the English Department for including certain study material relating to caste and gender in the new syllabus. Specifically speaking, they had an issue with the story Manibein alias Bibijaan in which the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and the Bajrang Dal are portrayed negatively, with respect to the 2002 Gujarat riots, and the inclusion of the depiction of Hindu deities in queer literature by taking references from texts like Bhagvath Puran, Sankar Puran, and Shiv Puran. Counter-protests for academic freedom by organisations like the Delhi University Teachers’ Association (DUTA), Students’ Federation of India (SFI), All India Students’ Association (AISA), Krantikari Yuva Sangathan (KYS), and Pinjra Tod soon followed, leading to ideological and educational confrontations. This controversy has led to the syllabuses of many subjects not being released, even though the new academic year has already started. 

Feature Image Credits: Sriya Rane for DU Beat

Juhi Bhargava

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No Congress Supported Candidate for DUTA President Post

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No candidate supported by the Indian National Congress is contesting elections this time for the post of Delhi University Teachers’ Association’s President.

For the upcoming Delhi University Teacher’s Association (DUTA) Elections for the year 2019-2021, no candidate supported by the Indian National Congress is standing up for the post of President. Senior Congress leader, Kiran Walia said that the party didn’t want to divide secular forces and so chose to keep away from the DUTA polls.

Mr. Ashwini Shankar, the Chairperson of Indian National Teachers’ Congress (INTEC), the official Congress teachers group at the University of Delhi also commented on the issue. He said, “With the country in such turmoil, we wanted to put our best foot forward. Academics for Action and Development support our ideology and so this time we have decided to join our forces and support their candidate, Aditya Narayan Misra. He is a strong candidate and we have faith in him.”

The INTEC has, however, put up three candidates for the 15-member Executive Council. Walia, with full confidence said, “We have fielded three EC candidates and all three are likely to win.” These candidates are Vivek Chaudhary, sitting secretary in DUTA, Udayvir, a teacher of Electronics at Acharya Narendra Dev College, and Pradeep Kumar, History teacher at Zakir Husain College. She said that she does not believe that the ideology of the Congress party has lost its relevance in the University campus as a result of the recent Lok Sabha and State Elections.

Rasal Singh, member of the Academic Council, however, believes that the result of the DUTA Elections will reflect on the upcoming Assembly Elections. “The Modi factor will impact this election too and the outcome will impact the Assembly elections as the DUTA election reflects the mood of the intellectuals.”

The DUTA Elections 2019-2021 are going to be held on 29th August 2019, and the votes will be counted on the same day.

Feature Image Credits: The Indian Wire

Juhi Bhargava

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DUTA Protests Over Unresponsive Government and Administration

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The Delhi government turned a blind eye to the written request made by the ad-hoc teachers of the University to ensure the renewal of their term from 20th July 2019 and demand funds for the creation of new teaching posts. In retrospection, the office bearers, the karamcharis and the active faculty members of the Delhi University Teachers’ Association flocked the streets in front of the University Grants Commission office to express their discontent and demand immediate action.

On the 16th July 2019, the office bearers, members of the Delhi University Karamchari Union along with the members of the Delhi University Teachers’ Association (DUTA) protested  against the government and the University administration.

The protest started around 11:30 a.m. on Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg and carried on till 01:30 p.m. Chants of azaadi, “DU VC Down Down!”, “UGC Barbaad Ho!”, and “Hum Apna Adhikaar Maangte!” echoed as a handful of students and a large group of teachers joined the protest led by DUTA President, Dr. Rajib Ray, and DUTA Treasurer, Dr. Najma Remani, to protest the existing system ad hoc appointments, rampant corruption in the provision of Development Fund to colleges by the Vice Chanellor,  and demand timely promotions, permanent appointments for job security and service benefits, release of grants for creating new teaching posts and accommodating the Economically Weaker Section (EWS) expansion and to force stop the commercialisation of Higher Education imparted at the University of Delhi by pestering colleges to accept loans from Higher Education Funding Association (HEFA) for funding expenses on infrastructural development.

The past three weeks have remained flooded with tense conversation between DUTA and the Delhi government. On talking to professors about their struggle, Dr. Debolina, an ad-hoc professor at Ramjas College said, “The administration is just trying to create a huge pool of disposable people which it can use and then throw away when it gets a cheaper substitute. I have no security of my job as a professor; I don’t get any perks, any promotions, or service benefits. We have been protesting this culture of ‘demanding gratitude’ and ‘forcing obedience’ on us for a while now and there has been no response. If I don’t have a job for the next three months, I am going to fall in the EWS category.”

“The Delhi government has finally agreed upon paying the salaries of professors in 12 colleges funded by them and its 5% share of the development expenses but that is not enough. The 12 colleges including some premier institutions like Vivekanand College and Moti Lal Neru College also need funds for facilitating the EWS expansion and to have a higher teaching staff to meet the greater student intake in this academic session. None of this has been addressed by the Deputy Chief Minister, who also holds the Office of the Education Department, at the DHE meeting held on 12th and 15th July respectively. Although they have made a verbal commitment about releasing the 2nd tranche of OBC expansions, there is still no paperwork for it,” said Dr. Rajib Ray, President of DUTA.

Dr Swati, a professor from the Department of Germanic and Romance Studies said, “I have been on an ad-hoc appointment in the department for 12 years, and every time the University releases the applications for making permanent appointments, they refuse to entertain past experience. This has forced me to be working on such an uncertain job where I don’t know whether I will be teaching the students I am teaching now, at this time next year. Somewhere this has also impacted student psychology because they see their teachers coming and going after break-years.” “This has further created a situation where students have now started to make a choice of college not according to the best faculty but according to the most stable faculty,” said Dr. S. K. Kaushik, Professor of Mathematics, Kirori Mal College, further adding that the sole reason for this is the ‘absence of willingness of the government and the University administration’.

Despite the blazing heat, all professors matched their voices in solidarity against the fraudulent system of the University. Seeing ‘gurus’ demanding their rights, it makes one wonder, is this system really democratic and fair? If it is, then why does this democratic system turn a blind eye to the cause of its building blocks? Will the system not collapse if these building blocks disintegrate? Time will tell us, whether DU too will collapse in its essence like other Central and State Universities, or will its prestige, that comes from its strong, qualified experienced and highly intellectual teaching staff, be maintained.

Feature Image Credits: DU Beat Archives

Yaksh Handa

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Year end: Protests that shook DU this academic year

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Delhi University has an active atmosphere of protests almost every other week or month. Hence, protests have almost become a part of DU life! Here’s a throwback at some impactful protests that shook DU.
Library Union
Deriving from a letter to the VC (Vice Chancellor) the Delhi University and Colleges Library Employees Association (DUCLEA) protested early in August to initiate the implementation of the Recruitment Rules Review Committee Rules and the ACP/MACP Pay Scale Committee Report. A lot of other demands like removal of library attendance system from college libraries were also raised. However, the familiar stalling of rightful demands has led to the stagnation of the report for over 18 (now 26) months.
year end 1Featured Image Credits: Namrata Randhawa for DU Beat
DSJ 
Constantly headlining the campus news flash, Delhi School.of Journalism has seen one of its most charged years given to resistance, as yet. The struggles of DSJ students to attain a reasonable quality of education by requesting the concerned authorities to justify the hefty fees were multiple but in vain; ineffective due to  delay in “administrative/authoritative approval”. A month later in September, 2018, inability to fulfill the previously promised valid concerns of the students led to another round of suspension of classes and oppression of the crusaders protesting in the DSJ campus.
year end 2
Feature Image Credits: Neerav
Young India Adhikar March (YIAM)
Inspired by the Kisan Mukti March, this march saw students from all over the country marching from the Red Fort to Parliament Street on the 7th of February.
year end 3Featured Image Credits: Jaishree Kumar for DU Beat
People’s March
Barely a fortnight after YIAM, students, teachers and unions marched in solidarity from Mandi house to Parliament Street to protect public higher funded education. The march was led by Delhi University Teachers’ Union (DUTA) along with various other organisations.
year end 4Featured Image Credits: Adithya Khanna for DU Beat
V-Tree Protests at Hindu College 
On 14 February, massive protests erupted in an attempt to disrupt, if not stop, the annual ‘Virgin Tree pooja’ tradition of Hindu College. Members of Pinjra Tod, SFI and Hindu College Progressive Front jointly protested and clashed against supporters of the pooja, mainly students of the Boys’ Hostel. The protests, widely covered by the media, had led to a few scuffles.
year end 5Featured Image Credits- Prateek Pankaj for DU Beat
Mathematics Department Protests 
Mass failures in the examinations for MSc Mathematics had rocked the department. They received their results on 8 February and had started protesting on 14 February. The protesters demanded to be shown copies of the answer sheets along with an independent investigation, among other things. Various other departments in addition to the Mathematics Department and organisations like AISA, SFI, KYS, and DSU joined the protests.
year end 6Featured Image Credits- Anoushka Sharma for DU Beat
DRC hostel protests
On the 23rd of February, protests broke out at the hostel gate of Daulat Ram College after mishaps at the college hostel and the rampant culture of hatred and sexism. The protesters demanded basic rights which were being violated by the DRC hostel board.  The fight continued on to the next day, the 24th, when residents marched from their hostel gate towards the Vice Chancellor’s office and staged a sit down.
year end 7
Featured Image Credits- Pragati Thapa for DU Beat
DUTA Protests 
The Delhi University Teachers’ Association had carried out sustained protests since the beginning of the year and even before that, against issues like the 13 point roster system, privatisation and the needs of ad-hoc teachers. Human chains, candlelight marches, ‘total strikes’ and a ‘Bharat Bandh’ were few of the measures adopted by the association and its supporters. The protests succeeded in bringing an ordinance by the government on 8 March to restore the old 200 point roster system.
year end 8
Featured Image Credits-  DU Beat Archives

Cover Image Credits- Pragati Thapa for DU Beat

 

Kartik Chauhan

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DU Risks Fund Cuts; MoU Still Not Signed

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University of Delhi stands at the risk of getting its funds curtailed due to the non-signing of the Memorandum of Understanding  with the centre and the University Grants Commission.

University of Delhi (DU), once again, stands on the verge of fund cuts. This time around, it is due to the non-signing of Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the centre and the University Grants Commission (UGC).

As reported by the Hindustan Times, the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) and the UGC entered into a pact with varsities laying down several parameters for them, during the last academic session. The MoUs lay down achievement targets and also form the basis of grants allotted to the institutions. The various parameters highlighted in the pact are related to the various targets, such as filling up vacancies, utilisation of resources, output targets in terms of programme of work, and action plan among others.

Rule 229(11) of the General Funancial Rules states, “autonomous organisations as also others with a budgetary support of more than INR five crores per annum, should be required to enter into a MoU with the administrative ministry or department, spelling out clearly performance parameters, output targets in terms of details of programme of work and qualitative improvement in output, along with commensurate input requirements.”

The rule further states, “The output targets, given in measurable units of performance, should form the basis of budgetary support extended to these organisations. The roadmap for improved performance with clear milestones should form part of the MoU.”

DU remains the only significant exception among all the 40 central universities which have signed the MoU with the centre and the UGC. Thus, it stands at a risk of getting its funds curtailed.

A senior official from UGC discussing the issue and the University’s stand on the same said, “Like last year, the tripartite MoUs are being signed again and most varsities have already entered into these pacts. However, DU continues to be an exception. Since, the varsity has not signed it, its funding can be curtailed. However, in a recent meeting the Vice Chancellor has assured that he would try to get the proposal cleared through the varsity’s executive council to pave way for the pact to be signed.”

The risk stands valid  ‘technically’ but the same issue arose last year when DU failed to sign the MoU. But, keeping in view the interest of the students, UGC didn’t take the step ahead in curtailing the funds. But, if the same leniency would be granted to the University this time around too is something which looks doubtful.

If this step of stopping the funds of the University is indeed taken, the students are bound to get affected as the subsidized fees of DU has made it possible for various students from relatively low income families to access the academics and facilities due to their merit. But, curtailing of funds would see a sky high increase in fees, making it almost impossible for such students to sustain in the University.

Finding the clauses and demands of the MoU unacceptable, Saikat Ghosh, a member of the academic council of Delhi University spoke to DU Beat. He said, “DU is entitled to adequate public funding as it is a premier public university imparting higher education to lakhs of students.The MHRD cannot bully DU into accepting unreasonable parameters and targets – that is simply bureaucratic interference of the meanest kind. As a public university, DU should not be browbeaten into accepting the clauses that demand incremental hikes in student fees and self-financing courses. DU has the statutory freedom to decide on its own targets and achievement parameters. It will not sign an MoU that encroaches on this freedom and allows politicians, bureaucrats and industrialists an upper-hand over its students and teachers in decision-making. The MHRD’s threats are condemnable and will continue to be resisted.”

On talking to DU Beat, Abha Dev Habib, a member of Delhi University Teachers’ Association said, “DUTA has been opposing signing of Tripartite MoU. The meeting of the Executive Council where it was placed was stalled. Tripartite MoU aims at restructuring higher education in terms of their funding. Central and State Universities are being arm twisted in signing this MoU, which requires universities to steadily increase student intake and fees. However, there is no commitment to provide grants for additional infrastructre or teaching- non teaching staff to cater to any such increase in number of students. This MoU is a way  of withdrawing public funding and pushing the burden of maintaining or expanding Central and State universities on parents and students.”

The University and the UGC need to come in a common agreement so as to safeguard the interests of the students.

Feature Image Credits: Niharika Dabral for DU Beat.

 

Shreya Agrawal

[email protected]

 

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