Saturday, 21st September, saw a series of protests concerning the Jadavpur University unrest in West Bengal. On one hand, All India Students’ Association (AISA), Pinjra Tod, and Students’ Federation of India (SFI) protested against the actions of Babul Supriyo and Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) supporters at the Jadavpur University. On the other hand, ABVP protested against left terror and condemned the heckling of Supriyo.
On Saturday, 21st September 2019, two protests broke out in the Faculty of Arts, North Campus of the Delhi University (DU). The first protest was organised by Pinjra Tod, AISA, SFI along with other left supporters, condemning the actions of the ABVP supporters and Babul Supriyo at Jadavpur University. In response, a counter-protest was held by members of the ABVP, calling for an end to “Left Terror” and “Red Terror” across the country, condemning the heckling of Supriyo at Jadavpur University.
The left-leaning parties and Pinjra Tod arrived at the Faculty of Arts first. The protest, planned for 12 p.m, began at 12:15 p.m. because the police force present on the venue impeded it. After reconciliation with the police force, the left began their protest surrounded by barricades with slogans like, “ABVP ki gundagardi, nahi chalegi! (Hooliganism by ABVP would not be accepted!)” and “ladenge tumse kadam kadam pe! (We will fight against injustice every step of the way!)” Outside these barricades, ABVP supporters began their own protest, condemning and to stop leftist and red terrorism, and violence, while chanting, “Desh ke gaddaro ko, goli maaro saalo ko! (We need to kill off the traitors!)”
Following this, the Akshit Dahiya and Shivangi Kharwal, the President and Joint Secretary of Delhi University Students’ Union (DUSU) respectively, addressed the crowd. Thereafter, ABVP proceeded to move closer to the leftist protest and burnt effigies with “Left Terror” and “Red Terror” written on them. When the effigy burning did not faze the leftist parties, the ABVP supporters went closer to barricades and shouted slogans like, “Bharat mata kiJai! (Long live Mother India!)” and “Left Unity Muradabad! (Go down Left Unity!)” This resulted in the leftist parties and Pinjra Tod to turn to the barricades and chant, “Azadi!”
Sidharth Yadav, Delhi State Secretary of the ABVP, told DU Beat, “The incident is shameful! Does the freedom of expression allow anyone to pull [a] union minister by his hair? Tear a guest’s shirt? Manhandle a woman? Is what left did in Jadhavpur University not mob lynching? It’s high time we stop our selective outrage and expose such people. The left only believes in violence and this is what they have done in Kerala, bengal, JNU; wherever they are in power. We won’t tolerate this in DU. DU stand with Jadhavpur University and the space of debate and dissent won’t end here.”
While Kawalpreet Kaur, President of AISA, commented, “From JU to DU, wherever there is a strong students’ voice against BJP’s anti-people and anti-student policies, BJP government unleashes an all out attack on campus democracy.” She also added that DU students stood up when ABVP had vandalised a seminar in Ramjas College, and will also stand up against ABVP’s hooliganism across the country.
We contacted members of the SFI and Pinjra Tod for detailed responses, but they were unable to provide a comment on the same.
Feature Image Credits: Gauri Ramchandani for DU Beat
Following demands to rename the Delhi University Students’ Union (DUSU) Office after VD Savarkar, the DUSU has now installed a pillar with the busts of Savarkar, Subhas Chandra Bose and Bhagat Singh in the campus, creating a new row.
In an incident that is causing a new controversy in the University of Delhi (DU), the DUSU– led by the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), the students’ wing of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS)– on Tuesday, installed the busts of VD Savarkar, Subhas Chandra Bose and Bhagat Singh on a pillar outside the Arts Faculty Gate No. 4 in the North Campus. This development comes a week after the student party raised a demand to christen the DUSU Office as ‘Veer Savarkar Bhawan’.
This episode has created a new row in the University circuit. The conflict has arisen because firstly, the DUSU allegedly not followed the proper procedure behind the installation of the busts, and secondly, the opponents of this move are raising a more fundamental criticism that placing Savarkar along with Subhas Bose and Bhagat Singh is unjustified.
“Anti-national step”
In what seemed like giving the ABVP a taste of RSS and BJP’s own medicine, the Indian National Congress (INC) backed National Students’ Union of India (NSUI) called the move made by the DUSU an “anti-national step” and an example of “sheer pseudo-nationalism”.
Saimon Farooqui, the National Secretary of the NSUI, said, “ABVP has always considered VD Savarkar as their hero. [In spite] of him begging for mercy in front of the English Government, the ABVP wants to promote his agenda. We should never forget that he opposed Quit India Movement and refused from unfurling Tiranga, hence demanding for Hindu Rashtra. Comparing Savarkar to Shaheed Bhagat Singh and Subhas Chandra Bose is an insult to our Martyrs and their freedom struggle. Naming the august office of representatives of the students of one [of] the best universities after an anti-national person will bring disgrace to the university. It is an example of sheer pseudo-nationalism of ABVP. I, on behalf of NSUI strongly oppose this anti-national step.”
Similarly, on the issue of naming the DUSU Office after Savarkar, Sumit Kataria, the Delhi State Vice President of the Students’ Federation of India (SFI), the party affiliated to the Communist Party of India (CPI), said, “They [DUSU] are not making any new institution and are just renaming an already existing one. All these are just political gimmicks by ABVP to cover up the fact that they have not done anything for the welfare of the student community over the past one year since the DUSU elections are around the corner. Also, this is just a part of their agenda of rewriting Indian history. Savarkar was a traitor to the Indian freedom struggle as he wrote many mercy petitions to the British and had pledged his allegiance to the British rule. Also, his views are completely against the idea of a secular democratic India. Naming DUSU office after such a person should be opposed at any cost and it will be.”
Akshay Chauhan, a student of History at Hindu College stated “I must say Bhagat Singh has died today. To be venerated with a Hindu nationalist who was in cahoots with the colonialists, Bhagat Singh died a shameful death.”
“Youth icons”
Not all were condemning the move of the DUSU. Professor Rasal Singh, a Member of the RSS-affiliated teachers’ organisation, National Democratic Teachers’ Front (NDTF), said, “All three [Savarkar, Bose, Bhagat Singh] are great youth icons. It is high time for the youth to get inspired by them and inculcate those values for which they lived and died.” Prof Singh had contested for the post of the DUSU Vice President on an ABVP panel in 2000.
However, given that many contested and criticised Savarkar’s very ideals and actions, was it justified to consider him a hero? “Yes definitely,” replied Professor Singh, “This is distorted history [written] by communist and colonial historians. That’s why we demand rewriting of history with nationalist perspective.” He asked in return, “Members of DUSU, which is [the] largest students’ union in the country and ABVP, which is [the] largest organization of students in the world feel that Savarkar is a national hero. [Then] what’s the issue? [Do] not they represent youths of this country?”
DU Beat had previously quoted Siddharth Yadav, the ABVP Delhi State Secretary, as saying, “Our University has forgotten the heroes of our freedom struggle. If studied thoroughly, he [Savarkar] is the true inspiration for youngsters.”
Question of procedure
According to a report in The Indian Express, “The pillar came up overnight and, by DUSU’s own admission, without permission from university authorities.” The report stated that a guard, supposedly on duty outside the Arts Faculty Gate No. 4, had said, “a mini-truck was brought in a green tent-like structure around 2 am [on Tuesday], which was set up outside the gate and surrounded by ABVP activists. Around 9.30 am, the structure was removed to reveal the pillar.”
Shakti Singh, the DUSU President in the aforementioned report, stated “We have written to university officials several times asking for permission to set up such a monument — last November, this March, April and again in August — but we got no response. So we decided to go ahead and do it ourselves,”
The condemnation (and approbation) towards the installation of Savarkar’s bust alongside those of Subhas Chandra Bose and Bhagat Singh was largely partisan. However, concerns regarding the adherence to the proper procedure were raised by even those who fundamentally supported the idea of installing the busts. Despite hailing the move itself, Professor Singh said, “However, I feel laid-down procedure should have been followed for this installation.”
Mr. Yadav, regarding the question of procedure, said, “ABVP is of the clear view that the busts should be installed in Delhi University campus only with the permission of the Delhi University Administration and other concerned authorities.” Despite reiterating the claim of the DUSU that their demands had been “completely ignored” by the administration, he added that “ABVP has clarified to the [DUSU] that the busts should be kept in the DUSU office till the permission is granted and the busts should be installed only after the due permission of the administration.”
The land on which the bust has been installed falls under the jurisdiction of the North Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC), as reported by the Indian Express.
Protest against the bust
The Indian Express had quoted Akshay Lakra, the NSUI Delhi Unit President, as saying, “If the statues are not removed within 24 hours, we will launch a strong protest.”
Then, early morning on Thursday, NSUI activists were seen approaching the Arts Faculty Gate where the pillar was installed. TheTimes of India reported that the incident took place between 2-2:30 AM. Mr Lakra, who was leading the members of the student party, first garlanded the busts of Bhagat Singh and Subhas Chandra Bose and then tore off the garland from Savarkar’s. He then went on to place a garland of shoes around Savarkar’s bust but was stopped by the security personnel present there. With the garland of shoes off the bust, Mr Lakra then defaced it with what looked like black ink. The bust was, however, found clean in the morning today.
Akshay Lakra, NSUI Delhi President, was seen defacing the Savarkar bust around 2 AM. Image and Video Credits – Amarjeet Kumar Singh, AISA
It should be noted that these recent developments have come up when the DUSU elections are just around the corner. The University announced on 20th August that while the last date for filing nominations is 4th September, the polling will take place on the 12th of September.
Feature Image Credits – Kawalpreet Kaur – Delhi President, All India Students’ Association – via Facebook
The party members of Chathra Yuva Sangharsh Samithi (CYSS) protested in front of the Arts Faculty today. They demanded a reduction of fees and, hostel facilities for the he OBC and EWS category students.
CYSS, the student wing of Aam Aadmi Party, held a protest in the Arts Faculty. The protest began at 11:30 in the morning continued till three in the afternoon. The protest saw many party workers with banners and posters, shouting various kinds of slogans.
The march was being led by, Delhi-region State President, Mr. Sumit Yadav. The protest was organised against the fee hike in various colleges and the lack of admissions of students of OBC students postgraduate hostels. It aldo focused on the provision of admissions to OBC and EWS category students in law and other postgraduate courses.
The University had recently increased the fee in various colleges like Mata Sundari. The lack of reservations has been an issue in the University of Delhi (DU) hostels where students are given seats on rank and vacancy basis making it impossible for students of reserved categories to secure admissions in hostels.
However, other than these issues, the issue of a young Muslim girl wanting to seek admission was also raised.
Afshan, a postgraduate aspirant, wanted to seek admission in DU after completing her graduation from Zakhir Hussain College. She believes that she was prohibited from giving her entrance because of her name which indicated she was a Muslim.
In addressing the gathering and DU Beat, Afshan said in her speech, translated from Hindi here- “I graduated a year back in 2018 from the University, people here say things like ‘Beti Padhao, Beti Bachao’ yet I have been struggling for two years now for getting my admission done. There was a girl in Unnao who was silenced for asking justice and that’s what they are doing to me. I wanted justice for my education and my leg shivers stating what they’ve done to me. I’ve been blackmailed and told they will ruin my documents as well. I filed a complaint, yet there is no investigation. They say they’ll abduct me. I feel shivers down my spine.”
She later tried to get in the conference hall of the University, yet she was stopped. There were policewomen ready to tackle her. After a long quarrel, she was finally admitted in the conference hall.
Later, DU Beat interviewed Mr. Sumit Yadav, Delhi-region State President. He stated, “DU is considered one of the best institutions in the country. All the students across the country even people from rural places of Delhi like Najafgarh choose DU because they get a great education at lower price. Now due to privatisation, they’ve increased the prizes. Our party has always been against privatisation and we’ve been raising our voices for the same.”
The various slogans shouted out were “Chhatro par ab reham, karo fees hamari kam karo ( Have some mercy on the students, reduce fees now)” and “Rehne ko awas chahiye humko Chathrawas chahiye (We need shelter to stay, we need students to have homes)”. They also had slogans critiquing the Vice Chancellor’s inability to provide adequate hostel facilities.
The Party members marched towards gate number four but were stopped by the guards and were not permitted to cross. The situation turned hostile when members tried to climb the gates and cross it over. The guards were forced to push them back.
“We are protesting here against the fee hike in various colleges which has been implemented this year, that is from ten thousand to twenty-five thousand rupees. It deters students from poor backgrounds from courses diversity courses as they cannot afford such high fees. We are also protesting again courses as of hostel facilities because of which students are exploited by PG owners to pay very high fees,” said Mr. Hariom Prabhakar who is the General Secretary of CYSS, while in conversation with DU Beat.
The continuing problems related to admissions in the varsity have raised several questions on the functionality of the administration.
Student organisations Akhil Bhartiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) and National Students Union of India (NSUI) of the University of Delhi (DU) have voiced their concerns and demonstrated against the DU Vice Chancellor regarding the difficulties faced by students during the time of admissions. The demonstation also sought to question the fee hike that has taken place for almost all courses in the University.
ABVP has voiced the concerns of the students by protesting at the Arts Faculty, addressing various issues related to admissions. The increment in college fees has been challenged along with irregularity in Sports Category admissions. Provision of admission by accepting undertaking, and introduction of EWS category in M. Phil/ PhD admissions has been requested. Importantly, inadequate arrangement in colleges for parents at the time of the admission process are some of the issues amongst other key issues that have been raised by the ABVP.
They (ABVP) has brought into the limelight how the admission staff in colleges who were admitting students to the first cut-off were not aware of the rules prescribed by the University. This caused problems in the smooth functioning during the admissions process. Admissions of students were also cancelled due to loopholes in the admission process.
Siddharth Yadav, the State Secretary of ABVP Delhi, said that if the demands are not met within the time period of ten days, then there will be more resolute protests against the administration.
DUSU President Shakti Singh also highlighted the issue of fee hike by saying, “There has been an arbitrary unaccounted fee increase in many DU colleges.” The issue Ramjas College’s fee hike has been previously reported on by DU Beat.
A memorandum to the Dean of Students Welfare had been submitted after the protest ended by the the ABVP delegation.
Attempts have been made by the student organisations so that the DU admission process does not become tedious and burdensome for the students. The true effects of the protests remain to be seen.
Student organisations have organised multiple protests till now, raising various demands related to the admission process and alleged fee hikes. In the series of protests, a one-day hunger strike was called on 20th June.
Following the protests of 11th June, 14th June, and a press conference and dharna on 19th June, the protesting student organisations sat on a hunger strike on 20th June against what they have called a “faulty admission process” and fee hike. The hunger strike went on from 10 am to 10 pm in front of Gate No. Four of the Arts Faculty building, and saw the participation of seven student organisations – All India Students’ Association (AISA), Bhagat Singh Chhatra Ekta Manch (BSCEM), Collective, Krantikari Yuva Sangathan (KYS), Parivartankami Chhatra Sangathan (Pachhas), Pinjra Tod and Students’ Federation of India (SFI).
A total of seven students, one from each organisation, sat on a hunger strike. These included Amarjeet from AISA, Nishant from BSCEM, Udita from Collective, Rohit from KYS, Aman from Pachhas, Diya from Pinjra Tod, and Varkey from SFI.
A press release issued by AISA stated, “The registration fees for OBC category has seen a drastic increase and is placed at INR 750, whereas the EWS category pays INR 300; the criteria for both being an income of below INR 8 lakh per annum.” The press release further mentioned about the previous protests and read, “Seeing disappointment again on the 19th, students decided to take up the method of hunger strike. From today (20th June), Amarjeet from AISA with six other students began the hunger strike and shall continue until the Vice Chancellor comes out and talks to the students.”
A press release had been issued by SFI also on 19th June, which read, “Activists of SFI and other organisations held a press conference and dharna (on 19th June) at gate number four of Arts Faculty, University of Delhi, protesting the fee hike of the OBC registration and faulty admission process. A delegation from the protestors met the Deputy Dean of Students’ Welfare, and submitted a memorandum. He made several verb promises, but nothing concrete came of it. By 4:30 pm the students were attacked by the security guard(s) and removed from gate number four. Later the police also intervened in the matter and attempted to intimidate the students. The protesters have decided to move for a hunger strike from tomorrow.”
Diya Davis from Pinjra Tod, one of the protesters who sat on the hunger strike, told DU Beat, “This (the hunger strike) was after the protest outside the Office gate (of the Dean of Students’ Welfare) was forcefully disrupted by the security personnel the previous day. Protesters were forcefully removed from the protest site on 19th June. There was no response from the admin.” She also said that the students were removed from the protest site “using force by the security guards”, on 19th June.
Another protester, Aman Bhartiya from Pachhas, remarked regarding the strike, “It was hoped that someone will come from (the) administration to discuss the issues, but unfortunately it did not happen. So we are now going to file a PIL (Public Interest Litigation) within 1-2 days. Also a mass protest has been called for, by all student organizations, on 24th June.”
DU Beat had reported about the previous protests and the demands raised. These have majorly centred around the differential fee requirements of students from Other Backward Classes (OBC) and Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) categories. Other demands include: setting the entrance exam question paper in Hindi as well; providing “proper facilities” at the exam centres; revoking the fee hike in Ramjas College & Bharati College, and other related issues.
Read the previously published reports here for a comprehensive and chronological understanding of the protest:
The protesting organisations are now planning to take the matter to the courts by filing a PIL. A larger protest has also been scheduled for 24th June.
Feature Image Credits: Amarjeet Kumar Singh from AISA
Citing non-cooperation by the authorities as the reason, Dean and Head of Faculty of Law, Professor Ved Kumari resigns.
In a shocking turn of events, Dean and Head of Faculty of Law, Professor Ved Kumari has resigned from her position on Tuesday, 18th June.
Professor Kumari, who assumed the post on September 2nd, 2016, resigned three months prior to her term-end, citing “non- cooperation of the University authorities and illegal/ arbitrary actions of Professor-in-charge, Campus Law Center.”
In her letter addressed to the Vice Chancellor of the University, she writes, “I regret to say that despite doing my best, I have not been able to succeed and secure the best interest of the Faculty of Law in the last two years and nine months.”
In her letter, she made some shocking revelations which lead to her resignation.
She accused the institute and the authorities for allowing students with even 31 per cent attendance to take exams, and in this allowance, serving injustice to the hardworking students who attend the class regularly.
She also revealed that fake records of tutorial classes were maintained in the institute.
According to Professor Kumari, she has “repeatedly felt embarrassed and humiliated at no action and no response,” to her calls, letters, personal meetings as the Dean and Head by the University authorities, when asked for necessary action to be taken.
She believes that nothing will change in the coming three months and thus, she has decided to resign before her tenure ends.
Speaking to the dismal state of affairs at the Faculty of Law, she says that the institute deserves immediate support from the authorities to deal with the numerous issues hovering over it.
This is not the first time that one of the most prestigious law institutes of the country, Faculty of Law, has been embroiled in a controversy.
Last year, the institute came into the media’s scanner after LLB entrance exam and LLM semester exam papers were leaked.
University of Delhi (DU), in collaboration with the Dean of Students’ Welfare Office, organised an interactive counselling session for this year’s undergraduate admissions at Conference Centre, North Campus today. Similar sessions will be held on the 3rd and 8th of June in North Campus and 4th to 10th June in South Campus colleges.
A panel consisting of Dr Manoj Kumar Khanna, Principal of Ramjas College, Jaswinder Singh, Principal of Sri Guru Tegh Bahadur Khalsa College, Keval Arora, Professor of English at Kirori Mal College, few members from the Grievance and Admissions Committees, among others, was present at Conference Centre, North Campus today for an interactive question-answer session. The aim of this conference was to acquaint the aspiring students with the admission procedure, and also to address their queries.
The programme was scheduled to be held between 10 a.m. and 1 p.m.; however, owing to the large number of students, it went on till almost 2:30 p.m. An enormous number of students flocked to the Centre today – so much so – that all of them could not be accommodated in the auditorium and had to be addressed to in shifts.
Among the congregation were parents of the aspirants, eager to get their doubts cleared. Arushi Gupta, an aspiring student, and her mother said they were satisfied with the answers that the panel provided them with.
Helping the panel was a group of 15 volunteers from various colleges across DU. They estimated to have answered as many as 400 questions collectively during the session, and were willing to sacrifice their break for the same. According to Varun Pradhan, a volunteer and student of Motilal Nehru College (Evening), the most common question was regarding the calculation of Best of Four percentage.
When asked about how the overall increase in 12th class percentage would affect the DU admissions this year, the answer from the volunteers was that they expected higher cut-offs. Interestingly, Pradhan also suggested that the number of registrations is expected to be lesser since the registration began much after the Central Board of School Education (CBSE) announced the results. He argued that the students who scored below a certain percentage might not apply in the first place.
The panel and volunteers alike also had to answer a new set of queries due to the changes that will be implemented from this year. These include DU’s affiliation with CBSE in getting the mark sheets, consideration of Modern Indian Languages as academic subjects, Economically Weaker Section (EWS) quota, etc.
Also seen at Gate number 4 were members of Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), including Sidharth Yadav, the State Secretary of the students’ party. They were providing information in terms of the changes that the admin has come up with, water and chairs, etc. to those who had come to the conference.
It would be safe to say that the session accomplished much of what it had aimed to. The only dissent perhaps would be the fact that it was accessible to mostly students from Delhi and the NCR because it is highly improbable for outstation students to come to the national capital before the announcement of the first cut-off.
On 17th May, three activists from the Students’ Federation of India (SFI) were allegedly attacked with lathis by unidentified men at the Faculty of Arts after they were protesting along with the St. Stephen’s College Staff Association. They blamed Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) for the attack.
Three SFI activists, who wish to remain anonymous, were allegedly attacked by goons when they were resting after a protest by the St. Stephen’s College Staff Association. One of the activists suffered head injuries.
An activist recalls the ordeal, “It was raining, suddenly almost five people with faces covered with handkerchief came and asked whether we were from SFI. When our answer was affirmative, they first abused us and then attacked us with the lathis they had with them.” He added that one of them tried to attack the female activist, but she was standing far away and started calling for help. “After seeing people coming towards us, the attackers fled.”
In the social media posts, SFI has blamed ABVP for the attack. “Yes, it can’t be proved, but it is obvious,” claims one of the activists. “They first identified us as members of SFI and then attacked us. It is a sheer display of their money and muscle power.”
A police complaint has been filed at the Maurice Nagar Police Station in lieu of the incident, however, the activists don’t have a lot of faith in the authorities either. “We were attacked after the Virgin Tree protests at Hindu College, we have been attacked at the Vishwavidyala metro station, we had photos, videos and even CCTV footage of the incident. Yet, the police failed to take action.”
Refuting allegations, Sidharth Yadav, Delhi State Secretary of ABVP denies allegations. “Time and again they come out with their own thought-out incidents followed by tagging ABVP as goons. It is an old tactic, but whatsoever it may be, it must be thoroughly inquired. The allegations must also be investigated and any perpetrator must also be caught.” He added that a police complaint is a must and if anything comes up in the investigation or any name from ABVP comes up, strict action should be taken. “But I don’t think that would be required, it is just their old style of propagating false news against us. Their previous allegations, too, have failed to furnish any material evidence, despite them beating our members at Hindu College and walking away scot-free.”
Feature Image Credits: Students’ Federation of India
The University’s contracted sanitation workers continued to raise their demands by organising a hunger strike, two days after the May Day protest.
Starting around 9:30 a.m, the safaikaramcharis (sanitation workers) of the University of Delhi (DU) supported by multiple student organisations, sat on a hunger strike to raise demands of securing their livelihoods, among other things. This comes after a protest that was organised on 1st May 2019 on the occasion of International Labour Day.
The safaikaramcharis were supported by various student organisations. Among these were students from Students’ Federation of India, Parivartankami Chhatra Sangathan (Pachhas), Pinjra Tod, Collective etc.The hunger strike was marked by sloganeering, speeches, songs sit-ins, and a display of solidarity, went on near the Faculty of Arts building of the University from 9:30 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.
The protesters demanded reinstatement of jobs following change of tender, permanent jobs for permanent work and payment of held up salaries, Provident Fun, Employees’ State Insurance and bonus amounts.
However, unsatisfied with the response of the administration, the protesters had decided to carry out a signature campaign and a hunger strike on the following two days.The following day, the protesters organised a signature campaign. Over 400 students from different courses and colleges joined in to express solidarity with the safaikaramcharis.
However, even after today’s proceedings, the protesters said there had been no response from the side of the administration. Thus, to carry on the demonstrations, a protest outside the Deputy Proctor’s office and a rally have been scheduled for 4th May and 6th May 2019 respectively.
On talking to DU Beat, Diya Davis, a member of Pinjra Tod and one of the protesters present at the venue today, said, “It is very clear that the University is hand in gloves with NexGen in terminating the workers. This is to simply teach a lesson to all workers that if they demand for fair wages and other constitutionally granted rights, they will be easily replaced. Workers organizing and raising voices against their exploitation threatens the admin and these private contractors.”
University of Delhi (DU) saw an assembly of professors and teachers standing in solidarity with the safaikaramcharis who faced a threat of losing their jobs.
On the occasion of May Day, gate number four of the Arts Faculty of DU saw hundreds of safaikaramcharis (sanitation workers), professors and students assemble today in a protest to fight for the rights of the contract sanitation workers of the varsity who, working for over a decade, were now in a position to lose their jobs.
The protest saw active participation from various student organisations like Parivartankami Chhatra Sangathana (Pachhas), Students’ Federation of India (SFI), Krantikari Yuva Sangathan (KYS), Pinjra Tod and others.
Various student organisations and sanitation workers protested on May Day.
Since 2005, the safaikaramcharis had been contracted by the University administration – the principal employer – through a company called Sulabh International. However, the company, branded as a ‘social service organisation’, had allegedly not provided fair wages, bonuses and payments to savings and social security schemes like Provident Fund (PF) and Employees’ State Insurance (ESI) of the workers.
Moreover, with a shift of tender to a new company, Nexgen Manpower Services Pvt Ltd, a large number of safaikaramcharis were said to be in the danger of having their jobs laid off from 1st May onwards without any prior notice.
We were also told by Sumit Kataria, Vice President of SFI Delhi State, that some safaikaramcharis who had filed a labour court case against Sulabh International were being specifically targeted and denied jobs.
In light of all this, the protesters put forth the following demands: one, immediate reinstatement of jobs; two, permanent jobs for permanent work; three, payment of pending PF and ESI amounts.
The protesters gathered in front of the Arts Faculty building, where slogans were shouted, speeches were delivered and voices were raised. A memorandum, addressed to the Vice Chancellor, was submitted to the Deputy Proctor. The memorandum stated the aforementioned demands along with asking for payment of amount deducted from the salaries of the workers from August to October 2018.
Memorandum submitted by the safaikaramcharis to the University administration.
However, as told to DU Beat by Sumit Kataria, no firm response or assurance was given to the protesters by the administration. The administration supposedly told the protesters that they could only request both the companies to come to some form of agreement to provide jobs to the workers on ‘humanitarian’ grounds.
This was also reflected in a press release issued by Pinjra Tod today, which also read, “The workers made it clear that their struggle against the administration as the Principal Employer will continue and only intensify”. According to the press release, the protesters have also planned a signature campaign and a hunger strike in order to keep raising their demands.
Another statement by SFI read, “This struggle is also in order for the university to take back the 100 workers who were fired this year due to the changing of the contractor. It is also a struggle to realise the necessity and importance of the work done by the safaikarmacharis. It is the legal responsibility of the university to provide a stable workspace that provides financial security to its workers.”
Deepak, a member of Pachhas, said, “Poore desh ke andar thekedari ka kaam karaya ja raha hai, basically theke ki system ke khilaf ladai hai” (contractual work is prevalent across the country, this is a larger fight against contract-based work).
