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New Year’s Drug Supply Crackdown: Narcotics Bureau Arrests Four University Students

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The students were involved in the supply chain of over a kilogram of Charas and LSD blot papers to Jaipur and around NCR.

In a major development before the New Year celebrations, the Delhi Zonal Unit of Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) arrested four students from across the top Delhi Colleges on Saturday. Among the arrested were Sam Mallick from Jawaharlal Nehru University, Gaurav Kumar and Tenzin Phunchog from Hindu College of University of Delhi and Anirudh Mathur from Amity University. The arrest was made after the the Narcotics Bureau received information on 28 December about the drug use and peddling around these campuses.

“For the last few months, NCB Delhi Zonal unit had been receiving inputs about drug peddling and intense abuse of drugs around institutional areas like Delhi University, Jawaharlal University and Amity University,” Times of India quoted S K Jha, Deputy Director General, NCB as saying.

Acoording to sources of the department, the authorities were given intelligence reports about a parcel of banned substances dispatched to Jaipur via DTDC, following which they reached the Vijay Nagar DTDC office and confiscated the consignment containing 1.14 kg Charas and 3 strips of LSD (Lysergic acid diethylamide). The source was traced and the students were subsequently arrested. However, the major actor behind the drug racket functioning from Himachal Pradesh, Neelchand, is still at large.

The authorities confirmed that the students will be prosecuted under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985.

 

Feature Image Credits: ANI

Nikhil Kumar
[email protected]

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JNU Row: High Court Sets Aside Punishment Awarded by Varsity

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The Delhi High Court on Thursday set aside the punishment against 15 students, including ex-Jawaharlal Nehru University Students’ Union President Kanhaiya Kumar, awarded by a committee constituted by the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU).

Ex-JNUSU President Kanhaiya Kumar, along with 14 other students, had the disciplinary actions taken against them set aside by the Delhi High Court on Thursday. The students had been involved in organising an event commemorating the hanging of Kashmiri separatist Afzal Guru in February 2016, which allegedly saw separatist slogans being raised.

After the uproar over the sloganeering, a five-member committee was constituted by JNU to investigate the matter. Punishments in the form of expulsion from the hostel (Kanhaiya Kumar), rustication (Umar Khalid), and barring entry in the University for five years (Anirban) were awarded to some students. However, the High Court in its judgement that replied to the petition filed by the students against the committee’s orders said, “The writ petition is allowed to the extent that the Appellate Order dated August 22, 2016, is set aside and the matter is remanded back to the Appellate Authority with a direction to grant an opportunity of inspection to the petitioner”. A period of six weeks has been granted for the students to get a chance to present their side regarding the issue and get a view of the official records and basis of the committee’s judgement. After this the committee must declare another judgement, having heard the side of the students.

Although the students had condemned the slogans, sedition cases were filed against some. The Delhi Police is yet to file a charge sheet regarding the February 2016 incident.

 

Feature Image Credits: Zee News

Rishika Singh
[email protected]

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Online Applications’ Deadline For JNU Extended

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After the surprising move of shifting entrance examination for all courses including MPhil/ PhD courses for the year 2018-19 to December 2017 by the Jawahar Lal University (JNU), the deadline for online registration has been extended to October 17, 2017 until 5 30 p.m. This year, the entrance exam will take place from 27 December to 30 December.

The proposal to hold all future entrances in December was put forward at a meeting of the Academic Council (AC) in April 2015.The reasons given for such a shift were related to logistical issues. The move finally comes two years after the AC and Standing Committee approved the proposal. It was put to hold because of reasons accorded to feasibility. The prospectus for 2018-19 is already available on the website. The link for online admissions has been open from 15 Sept,207 and 13 October 2017 was the last date.

The JNU authorities have extended the deadline for filling the online applications for all the courses till Tuesday, 17 October 2017 up to 5:30 p.m. The University has also announced the timetable for the entrance examinations in various programmes of study which will be held from 27 December till 30 December 2017 in 53 centres across India and in Kathmandu (Nepal). For full details, applicants can visit the JNU website www.jnu.ac.in.

Feature Image Credits: JNU

 

Oorja Tapan

[email protected]

 

 

 

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Bazinga

Bazinga: With the JNU Entrance in December, DU Prepones Semester Exams to Mid-November

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In yet another shock to the final year students, who are still recovering from the fact that Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) is holding its entrance exam in December this year, the University of Delhi (DU) has decided to prepone its semester exams, which were to be held in December to mid-November. This shuffling of dates comes in the wake of the JNU entrance scheduled to happen in December. Some sources in the examination department claim that this change occurred because DU doesn’t want its students to suffer, and wants them to prepare for the entrance without any stress. The revised date sheet has been uploaded on the website.

An official source confirmed that the decision for the change of dates was taken in the academic council meeting which took place on 21st September. One of the council members proposed the change on the grounds that many colleges have received requests for the same by students. This proposal was later supported by the majority of the council members and passed subsequently. Since JNU is one of the most prestigious universities, all major universities desire to send the highest number of students to it. “This is not just a matter of pride, but also confirms that the academic merit of your institution is at par with the best of this country”, said Prof. M.K Khanewala, who is the dean of academics in another major University, situated in the temple town of Varanasi.

Meanwhile, the decision has received a mixed response from the student community. While some are rejoicing on account of the fact that they can finish their exams early and study for JNU’s entrance in peace, others are not happy as now they have to study for the semester exams along with the preparations. Prachi Dedha, a final year student who was not happy with the decision, says, “Now, this change of date will make our teachers give us more assignments and will kill all the time we have got to prepare for the entrance.”

Even some of the other departments of the University, which play a major role in organising the semester exams, like the Finance Department and the Transport Department, are surprised because of this sudden change of dates. Speaking on the condition of anonymity, one of the officials of the Finance Department said, “This decision has put all of us on our toes. The pace of our work was in accordance with the previous December date sheet. Now, all of us have to work day and night for the exams to take place in November.”

Although the surprising decision has received mixed responses, the real consequence of taking such a step can only be gauged after the results of the semester exams and the JNU entrance are declared.

 

Picture Credits: JNU website

Srivedant Kar

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Instead of May 2018, JNU entrance to happen in December 2017

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In a surprising move, Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) has decided to shift its entrance examination for all courses including MPhil/ PhD courses for the year 2018-19 to December 2017. Usually, JNU Entrance Examination (JNUEE) happens in May. However this year, the entrance exam will take place on 27 December to 30 December.

For the past two years, JNU was considering shifting its entrance exams for all courses to December from the usual May-June session. The proposal to hold all future entrances in December was put forward at a meeting of the Academic Council (AC) in April 2015, which was thereafter approved in a Standing Committee meeting on June 15, 2015. The reasons given for such a shift were related to logistical issues, where the AC pointed out that JNU doesn’t come as an option at the right time and normally when the JNU admission procedure begins, all other university admissions close. Also n the case of BA admissions, they felt it was better to hold the entrance before the Class XII pre-board exams in January. Although teachers unanimously supported the move in the AC meeting, the four JNU students’ union office bearers opposed it back then.

The move finally comes two years after the AC and Standing Committee approved the proposal. It was put to hold because of reasons accorded to feasibility. The Vice Chancellor said that the university was trying to fill all vacancies available with faculties in MPhil and PhD courses in December. A committee has been formed to find modalities to conduct the exam. The prospectus for 2018-19 has been uploaded on the website, as well as the link for online admissions, opened from 10:00 AM today and will stay open till 13 Oct 2017 at 11.59 p.m.

The University will hold examinations for admission to various programmes of study (MPhil/PhD, MPhil/PhD through JRF, PhD., PhD through JRF, MTech., MPH. , PGDE, MA., MSc., MCA., BA(Hons.) in Foreign languages and Part time courses, MSc (Biotechnology) and allied, MSc (Agri) (Biotechnology)/M.V.Sc., and MTech. Biotechnology programmes )from 27 Dec-30 Dec 2017 in 53 centres across India and in Kathmandu (Nepal).

For full details, applicants can visit the JNU website www.jnu.ac.in  or visit the admissions site.

Image Credits: JNU Website

Oorja Tapan

[email protected]

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DUB Speak

See no Evil, Speak no Evil: Is having a battle tank in JNU campus taking it one step too far?  

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Jawahar Lal Nehru University’s (JNU) descent into what some would call the murky whirlpool of inglorious controversies, continues. In fact, it reached a new paradigm on Sunday, 23 July 2017, as the Vice Chancellor, M. Jagadesh Kumar, requested Union ministers General V.K. Singh and Dharmendra Pradhan to assist him in “procuring an army tank” to be positioned at a “prominent place” within the campus. Clearly, the first Kargil Vijay Diwas celebrations to ever be held on the campus had by then deteriorated into an unfortunate display of jingoism. To add fuel to the fire, cricketer Gautam Gambhir, who was also one of the guests invited to the event, said: “Standing in JNU, it takes me back to when there was a lot of talk about freedom of speech. Freedom of speech is important, but there are certain things which are absolutely non-negotiable. One is the respect for the tricolour.” What should make your hair stand on its ends is that eerily enough, Gambhir’s remarks echo ex-President Pranab Mukherjee’s last speech, in which he reminds the citizens of the country to draw a line at some point while still exercising their right to freedom of speech. Incidentally, this is not the first time that the idea of a military tank has been proposed in the campus. It came once before too, right after the February 2016 incident when ‘anti-nationalistic’ slogans were allegedly raised. And there has never been a dearth of the overly vocal flag-bearers of xenophobia, ever since.

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The event commenced with a well-intentioned Tiranga March. There could be sceptics who view this as a problematic notion. But there is, in theory, nothing wrong with it. It is meant to be an expression of one’s patriotism, which would be perfectly spontaneous under natural circumstances. Some of us, however, have been equipped with a university education in the armoury. This education teaches us the difference between ‘patriotism’ and ‘nationalism’. While one demands a genuine love for the country, the other beats its own trumpet in the name of language and culture. That education—knowing the ‘why’ and the ‘how’—is a major problem.

When an issue transcends the lives of one or two and begins to entangle one person too many into its folds, much like a spider quietly spinning a web, is it still justified to dismiss that issue as a mere controversy? Perhaps not, because what JNU symbolises at the moment is a fertile ground for seeds of all kinds of ideologies to be sown. Once sown, they will be forever embedded into impressionable, young minds. And whether you like it or not, as a university student in DU or JNU or any other campus, you do not really have the choice of non-alignment. That non-alignment is in itself an anomaly, a ‘misalignment’ if you will, should you choose to differ from the majority. You and I cannot remain apolitical. Whether you choose the Left, the Right or the Centre; be vociferous and active or secretive and mum; choose to go with the flow or against it—you have made a vital decision.

The point is should you be punished for making that choice? Whether or not a decommissioned military tank in the university campus manages to “instill nationalism,” it will have installed several disturbing questions in the minds of the students, as this event to goes down in the annals of history.

Image credits: Scroll.in

Deepannita Misra

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JNU Sedition Row: A timeline and analysis

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For most people, February 9th will be just another day in the calendar. But, in the history of student movements, this day will be known for the beginning of a remarkable battle between the sedition-professing state and the students, who advocated absolute freedom of expression. This row erupted after a public event organized by a few students corroborating the judicial killing of Afzal Guru and demanding the right to self-determination of Kashmir dominated the public discourse for months and in the process raised many plausible questions pertaining to nationalism, dissent, activism, politics, and policies. Yes, we’re talking about the famous (or infamous) JNU Sedition Row.

Here is a look at the sequence of events:

• A program organized by a few students, including Umar Khalid and Anirban Bhattacharya ,against the execution of Afzal Guru and for Kashmir’s right to ‘self-determination’ takes place on the evening of 9th February, 2016. Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) protests against this event and a scuffle takes place. Meanwhile, a few media channels (mainly Zee News) that were present at the ground report that anti-India slogans such as “Bharat ki barbara di tak jung rahegi” and “Bharat tere turkey hongay” were raised and contested videos of the same are widely circulated.

• On February 12th, Kanhyaiya Kumar, then JNU Students Union(JNUSU) president is arrested by Delhi Police for sedition and criminal conspiracy. Many JNU students are booked for the same; five of them go into hiding. Protests in support of Kanhiya Kumar, Umar Khalid, and Anirban Bhattacharya erupt.

• On February 15th and 16th, there is mob violence outside Patiala House Court during the hearing of Kanhiya Kumar. Journalist, JNU teachers, Kanhaiya Kumar himself, and activists are assaulted by a group of lawyers.

• On February 17th, JNU faculty members start open lecture series on Nationalism and 133 eminent professors from prestigious universities, including Noam Chomsky, writes a letter condemning the arrest of Kanhaiya Kumar, and expresses solidarity with the students and faculty.

• On February 18t,h three office-bearers of JNU unit of ABVP resigned by stating disagreement over the Centre’s crass handling of the matter.

• On February 21st, all the absconding students return to the campus and offer themselves for surrender.

• On February 24th, Delhi Police arrests Umar Khalid and Anirban Bhattacharya.

• On March 24th Kanhyaiya Kumar returns to JNU amidst much media attention.

• On March 19, Umar Khalid and Anirban Bhattacharya are released on bail and subsequently address the huge gathering at JNU’s administrative block.

• On April 26th, varsity’s inquiry committee found 21 students guilty of breaking disciplinary norms, the Student’s Union and Jawaharlal Nehru University Teachers’ Association (JNUTA) rejects the punishments.

• On 10th and 12th May, rusticated students move to the Delhi High Court against their rustication.

• On May 13th, High Court stays the disciplinary action against the students.

A slew of confrontations and protests between students, teachers, and administration regarding multiple issues continued throughout the year.

The best and worst of media coverage
The reason why a seemingly small public meeting, which is typical of a politically charged campus like JNU, became a subject of prime time after prime time was not because the media was interested in discussing the controversial trial of Afzal Guru, the Kashmir problem or student politics, but because an incident was blown of out proportion to suit another agenda altogether. The narratives that many sections of media weaved reduced many complex issues into simplistic binaries and the dangerous Bush discourse of “you’re either with us, or against us” was created. The media trial that was run against students and against JNU as an institution itself incited violence towards the accused and jeopardized their safety. Multiple false claims such as: Umar Khalid visited Pakistan (except that he doesn’t hold a passport) and that he made 800 calls to Gulf countries in 4 days (which means 8.9 calls per hour) were callously thrown around. Mainstream media houses like News X quoted an unverified Intelligence Bureau document and announced Umar Khalid a Jaish-e-Mohammad terrorist, but conveniently forgot to add a correction disclaimer when Intelligence Bureau denied any such findings. Even Home Minister Rajnath Singh made an unsusceptible statement saying that “The incident at JNU has received support from Hafiz Saeed“. With an enthusiastic circulation of morphed videos and jingoistic shooting matches, JNU row could be seen as a perfect example where certain section of media lost its credibility to some vested interests.

However, while it was the worst of times, it was also the best of times. Independent and alternative portals like Newslaundy, The Wire, ScoopWhoop, Catch News, National Dastak and India Resists provided the much needed unbiased coverage of the whole fiasco. Taking a stand against Zee News’s propaganda laced documentation of JNU issue journalist Vishwa Deepak openly resigned from Zee Media. Somewhere in the media frenzy, we also saw journalist Ravish Kumar’s Black Screen prime time episode which was an epitome of fair reportage.

Current status of cases
The sedition cases which were to be investigated by Delhi Police’s anti-terrorism unit, the Special Cell, are presently at halt. No charge sheet has been filed. Delhi Police has seen two police commissioners in the past year and it appears that except for BS Bassi (commissioner during February 2016 who filed suo moto cases against the students) no one is interested in further pursuing the cases. This indifference is understandable since the grounds on which the charges were filed are fragile.

What changed for the anti-nationals?
Kanhaiya Kumar reached instant fame after his arrest and the much broadcasted ‘Azaadi’ speech. He bagged a book deal with publishing house Juggernaut Books and subsequently released ‘Bihar to Tihar: My Political Journey’ on 1st July 2016. Kanhaiya Kumar has addressed multiple rallies across the country in past one year.

Umar Khalid is currently working on final semester of his Ph.D which is centered on the tribals of Singhbhum district in Jharkhand. Because his face was continuously splashed across the television screen for weeks, Umar became a familiar face and unfortunately still has a fair share of haters (both online and offline). Even though the Umar is a popular activist and has been invited as a speaker to several conferences and demonstrations, he still faces security issues as a result of the vilification.

Shehla Rashid Shora, Vice President of JNUSU 2015-16 spearheaded the stand with JNU movement and represented the university in all major forums. She has signed a book deal with Penguin Random House. Her book titled ‘I, Student’ is expected to hit the stands this year.

A year on, five of those six students at the heart of the controversy are still studying at the university except for Anirban Bhattacharya, who left after submitting his Ph.D. thesis. Currently, he works as a researcher with a Delhi-based think tank.

Questions that remain unanswered
It’s been one year since the arrests were made and an esteemed institution was equated as ‘the den of terrorists’. However, unlike last year, T.V studios are now busy covering the Uttar Pradesh elections, those self-righteous anchor-students who were baying for the blood of so-called ‘anti-nationals’ are today silent on the police and state inaction. The question arises: Should the media be held accountable for the victimization of students? Should Delhi Police, which actively raided hostels and made arrests be asked about the developments of the case? It is still unclear who were the people who raised the anti-India slogans or if at all there was any sloganeering.

However, what is clear is that Jawaharlal Nehru University students are stronger than ever: They are still dissenting despite the grills that are installed at the administrative block. Yes, their protests are not being televised but they sure are alive.

Niharika Dabral
[email protected]

Image Credits: Anindito Mukherjee/Reuters

 

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The case of vilification of a university: Reporting from JNU

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A student organisation, certain sections of media, and a pliant Police Force have allegedly collaborated to defaming the best minds of the nation. Here we bring before a rather nefarious nexus of the RSS-ABVP-NDA in deification of their sabotaged nationalism, which no one has told you before.

As the semester draws to close, the great Indian conspiracy of the vilification of  Jawaharlal Nehru University, the premier bastion of sheer intellect and knowledge in the entire nation by the ABVP affiliate of the ruling NDA government aided by the amenable Police Force and certain biased television channels seeking sensationalism can be viewed as the most remarkable event in the intellectual circuits.

The entire orchestra had been aimed to malign the dreams of countless students to be a part of the institution which has produced the best of politicians, bureaucrats and scholars. Certain media houses earned huge TRP portraying certain students as terrorists, calling the university “den of desh-drohis” and oversimplifying things to the people of India as “a choice between the support to the sacrifice of Hanuman Thappa and these ‘anti-nationals’.”

Evidently,  this was a bitter pill to  swallow. After our countless detours around the campus, we came across students who had no record of political carrier to unbiasedly get to the roots.

“I have been keeping a close scrutiny right from day one. It all started when a group of 10 left leaning students organised a peaceful event in solidarity with the people of Kashmir. The event was about to start when a group of ABVP activists, with some Zee News people, started sloganeering against the gathering there, abusing them as “desh-drohi”.  As the slogan war got heated, some face-covered people joined in with the separatist slogans like ‘Bharat tere tukre honge, insa allah, insa allah’. They were immediately asked to stop by the organisers. They left into nowhere.” A postgraduate girl and her friends were quoted as saying, on the promise of being kept anonymous.

An internal conspiracy, about who those masked men were, still remains blurry and covered in layers even after repeated efforts. The government, rather than to act sincerely, repeatedly has resorted to its neo-nationalism rhetorics. Even now, after the mysterious death of J R Philemon Chiru, the Manipuri student, and the recent case of a student who has been missing since 13 days now:

“A kidnapping case has been filed against 4 ABVP activists. The Police has not interrogated the accused ones and not even started the basic enquiry. The administration is silence on the whole matter and no action has yet been taken on the whole issue.” A postgraduate students was quoted as saying today. “It is selective elimination”, her friend added.

“Mr. Narendra Modi needs to realise that by defaming institutions and instigating hollow nationalism, he cannot hide his failures. He has also got to check the spoiled brat in ABVP, which in addition to damaging the party beyond repair, is costing the nation it’s cultural fabric. ABVP can only lead to Kashmir like situation in the rest of the nation” said another anonymous faculty, waiting on the bus stand.

There is anger, resentment and scope for a better and in-depth analysis of the situation. The on-ground situation seems different and the take of the media seems opposite. We, as rational individuals must make a more informed choice.

Nikhil Kumar

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JNU Student went missing after an alleged tiff with members of ABVP

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Darkness has clouded one of the most prestigious universities in the country as Najeeb Ahmed, a student of the School of Biotechnology of Jawaharlal Nehru University has been missing since 15th October, 2016 with no record of his whereabouts till date.

The incident was preceded by an altercation with members of the RSS-backed Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) at Mahi-Mandavi hostel, where it was alleged that on the night of October 14, Ahmed slapped ABVP activist Vikrant Kumar, who had come to his room to campaign for the hostel polls. Later, when the students complained of violence being inflicted over Ahmed, the matter took an ugly turn. He was thus, found missing the very next morning from 11 a.m.

An FIR was registered for kidnapping and wrongfully confining a person at the Vasant Kunj (north) police station by Ahmed’s mother who rushed from her hometown Budaun (UP) to Delhi on October 16 after a receiving a worried call by his son on the night of October 14. According to a report by The Hindu, “The administration met with Najeeb’s family only four days after he went missing despite his mother having spent every hour outside the Administration Block requesting help to find her son.”

The Left-controlled JNU student union alleged the University for doing little to trace Ahmed and punish members of ABVP. In protest, around a hundred students tried to block the Nelson Mandela Marg the following week and later, confined the JNU Vice Chancellor M Jagdeesh Kumar and other senior officials in the administrative building for over 20 hours until he termed the blockade as illegal and warned that the “law will take its course” if they are not allowed to go.

According to a report by NDTV, the Home Minister has directed Delhi Police to form a Special Investigative Team to trace the missing student. Meanwhile, fresh sloganeering has started at the administrative block with an increasing number of students who have gathered at the protest sites and will continue to fight until Ahmed is found, safe and sound.

Shagun Marwah
[email protected]

With Inputs from Hindustan Times

Picture Credits: www.hindustantimes.com

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