In lieu of the absence of classes and study material for the approaching exams, students of SOL are distressed.
The School of Open Learning (SOL) faces a crisis as students remain in angst due to the absence of notes and proper scheduled classes. The classes for the session of 2018-19 are set to commence soon enough. The Executive Director of SOL, H.C. Pokhriyal, said in a recent interview to The Indian Express, “We have been able to complete our admissions only by 20th October, which is why classes have not started yet, but they will start soon”.
The SOL website has already added the portal for acceptance of examination forms, without a proper commencement of the academic session. Colleges under Delhi University will commence their examinations from 28th November 2018. Mr. Pokhriyal further explains that the admission process usually begins by June and extends till August. However, this year, the process began in August itself, as a result of which there was a delay. Students should be able to pick up the material from 12th November and classes would begin soon. Usually, the classes commence in September. The admission process for SOL is similar to that of other colleges associated with the varsity. The examinations are also conducted by Delhi University. The course structure is also alike, for the school as well as other constituent colleges.
The annual examinations occur in April. However, the strange thing is the fact that students still do not have their study materials. The study material is given immediately after the admission, as explained by the Staff Council Secretary of SOL, J.Khuntia.At present, more than four and a half lakh students are enrolled at the UG and PG level.Almost all of the processes are handled by the online Students Information and Management System. Several students do not have proper access to the e-resources and do not have a sense of clarity about the study patterns. The official website is showcasing study materials for the second semester and beyond, thereby creating more confusion. Authorities should give directions to the students in lieu of the approaching exams.
Feature Image Credits: The School of Open Learning
After releasing a charter of demands regarding the hostel regulations and receiving a dissatisfying response from the administration, LSR united with Pinjra Tod on 5th November to demonstrate a protest against curfews, gendered treatment, absence of OBC reservations, and more.
At 5 PM on 3rd November 2018, the students of Lady Shri Ram (LSR) College, along with supporters from Pinjra Tod, collected outside the main-gate of LSR to engage in a protest. The protest’s objective was to get the administration to come out of the college gates and to engage with them on the demands listed in the charter released by Pinjra Tod and LSR.
Some of the demands from the charter stem from a practice of sexist and hypocritical foundations, students stated. The University Grants’ Commission’s regulations prohibit discriminatory rules citing safety considerations for women. For example, the curfew was 10 PM before 3rd November 2018, and it was mandatory for the first-year residents to acquire the signature of either of the two wardens in a ‘day-slip’, if they wished to move out of college at any time of the day before 7:30 PM. Staying out at night was permissible for only four nights a month, and even then the tedious procedure ensured the restrictions on the women’s mobility.
The accounts of the residents present a picture of gendered discrimination and judgements, which also includes practices ignoring the PWD residents’ convenience in mobilisation in the hostel premises. On the condition of anonymity, a resident shared that once when another LSR hostel resident was moving out after 7:30 PM, she was asked the following by the authority at the hostel- “Kiska bistar garam karne jaa rahi ho?” Several other residents revealed the hypocrisy in citing safety in maintaining curfews for adult women, while at the same time ‘gating out’, i.e. suspending the residents for breaking alleged rules, at any given time. A student was once forced to spend the night at the railway station when her train reached late enough for her to miss the 10 PM deadline.
When demonstrations were announced, the administration accepted a few demands from the charter, to be exercised from the beginning of the second semester, i.e. 1st January 2019, which are as follows:
The curfew timings were pushed to 10:30 PM.
The concept of ‘only four nights out’ was amended to the attendance rule of 60% per month.
The system of issuing day slips stands abolished, and identity cards will be issued.
Instead of the rule of making mandatory two local guardians (married), there will be the provision of an emergency contact number.
Leaves will be issued without the signatures of any local guardian or parents.
Appropriate changes will be made in the Hostel Handbook.
The Charter of Demands
There has been no abolition of the curfew, or adherence to the reservation guidelines for the OBC community, and many other significant demands remain unaddressed. Pinjra Tod gathered in lieu of the said events, and the students shouted slogans like ‘Kuchh salaakhein tooti hain, poora pinjra baaki hai!’ (‘Some grates have broken, the entire cage remains!’), ‘Pitrisatta ka khol de pol, pinjra tod, pinjra tod!’ (‘Demolish the patriarchy, break the cage, break the cage!’), etc. to remind the college administration of the hypocrisy used to justify the regulations in hostel.
Over 50 women joined the demonstration, and the momentum increased such that an ultimatum was declared by the protesters, according to which the principal was asked to engage with them outside the college gates by 6:30 PM. The principal, Dr. Suman Sharma, did not respond to the cries and demands of the demonstrators. The vice-principal and a few members of the college administration stepped out of the gates, and attempted to deter the protest through a dialogue, but the demonstrators shouted ‘shame’ and refused the reported tokenistic gestures.
The Hostel’s Union was not present at the demonstration, nor was any statement of solidarity released from its end. Allegedly, some members of the union approached the administration in confidence and stated that they had been feeling ‘pressurised and attacked’ by the methods of the protest. After 8 PM on the 5th, the union released a statement defending its non-participation and non-solidarity for the protest, and also addressed other concerns in it.
At 6:16 PM, the LSR Students’ Union representatives, Katyani and Drishti, announced that they were going to engage with the administration to make them aware of the demonstrators’ decision to break open the college gates, if they failed to address them. No fruition occurred of the expected nature for the students as the administration proposed permitting only the current students of LSR to assemble in the college auditorium for a discussion on the demands. The demonstrators refused, and at 6:48 PM the demonstration took to the road. The one-way was blocked by the demonstration and the traffic assimilated for approximately thirty minutes before being diverted by the police officials. Women alleged groping and perverse remarks directed at them by the men gathered outside LSR.
Almost a quarter past seven, the demonstrators marched towards the intersection at the traffic signal, when their demands remained unheard by the administration. Around 8:30 PM, the students were let into the premises and the principal agreed to address them. Due to the apprehension of being intimidated by the administration, many demonstrators sat outside the gate and continued raising the slogans against the regulations.
The official account of Pinjra Tod remains that the principal left within a quick while of her appearance before the student community. They stated: “LSR principal barely came out for two minutes and left the protest site. All of campus is militarised with police men & plain clothed police women, they beat up women mercilessly. They say they will implement OBC reservation once there are more seats!” Members of the SU are reported to have been pelted at with stones, and scratched as they extended their explicit support to the cause. At 10:30 PM, the demonstrators broke through the hostel gates and continue to chant revolutionary slogans, singing songs to claim their liberty by defying the curfew for the day.
The Demonstration on 5th November
At 10:30 am on 6th November, about 30 faculty members entered the hostel and the hostel-residents’ account revealed that they were not allowed to move outside and assembling in the dining hall was made compulsory. The students gathered outside the hostel again.
Day-scholars and residents later assembled in the hostel gardens, where the faculty members addressed the students. In the dialogue, the hostel union’s President, Aarushi, stated that they would issue a solidarity statement if those students, who wish for the curfew to continue and had previously approached them personally, did not explicitly voice their perspective at the time.
A student who had been accused of intimidating the union, stated that the demands were being suggested as reductive when there was much more than the curfew.
Professors stated that they would listen to the demands point by point, and respond accordingly. When the issue of WiFi was brought up, the faculty members agreed with the demand and stated that they had already complained regarding it, and the inadequacy of the WiFi was not solely for the hostel residents. They were working upon it. The students demanded a deadline for the course of action.
The protests have paused for now and the new plan of action is as follows:
A new, more detailed charter of demands will be formed by 7th November as the administration has accepted certain demands already and they have termed the main demands ‘vague’.
The deadline for sending a written response back to the demonstrators is Sunday for the administration.
The principal has to address the students on Monday in the auditorium. If she fails to, or if the students remain dissatisfied, then the protests will resume from Monday onwards.
Attendance was not adhered to yesterday, and the same will happen on Monday.
The hostel warden has suggested that she will forward the letter to the principal herself, and Katyani from the Students’ Union stated that the students’ body of LSR will be present to back up the demands.
After 8 months of waiting, the concerned authorities have left the decision hanging, over a professor accused of misconduct.
On Wednesday, 24 October, various students of the University of Delhi’s Bharti College protested in the college campus against the alleged ignorance of the Governing Body (GB) for not following the recommendations of the Internal Complaints Committee (ICC) in a sexual harassment case against a teacher. The protest comes after 8 months after the case came to light through a student’s complaint against the accused professor. However, the failure to take any action has been met with backlash from the students in the varsity.
In February, a student had written to the university authorities against a teacher, who she said was sending her lewd messages and trying to have “vulgar conversations” with her. She had also submitted a purported video of her confronting and slapping the teacher, with him apologising, following which the college sent him on leave pending enquiry. It is to be noted that the college authorities decided to suspend the professor in June, but they did not receive approval from the varsity authorities.
The ICC, which submitted its report on August 28, has suggested compulsory retirement for the accused. “We submitted our recommendations on August 28 to the university. Students are angry because, in June, the GB had suspended the teacher, but the university did not send its approval. He’s not coming to college, but he’s getting his full salary. So there is some resentment among students because of this, and because the ICC recommendations have not been followed,” told ICC presiding officer Rakhi Jain, to The IndianExpress.
The college principal, however, said that the procedure was being followed. Officiating principal Mukti Sanyal said the college and GB were following procedure. “There are long-drawn processes which have to be followed. The ICC has submitted its report and the GB has done whatever it needs to do at the stage at which it is but there are other stages to be completed. It has to finally be ratified by the university and get the V-C’s approval. We’re steadily and surely working in the direction so that the right thing is done,” she told the same daily.
GB Chairman Ajay Gaur said the “matter was under process”.
DU Registrar Tarun Kumar Das and Vice-Chancellor Yogesh Tyagi did not respond to calls and texts by The Indian Express.
After 4 days of hunger strike, protesting day and night, being denied entry in their own campus, and heated discussions with the administration, the students of Delhi School of Journalism called off the protest on 21st September 2018.
On 17th September 2018, violence broke out in the campus of Delhi School of Journalism after the talks with the officials of the University regarding the poor infrastructure facilities reached no conclusion.
The protest took a different turn when a second-year student, Ambuj Bhardwaj was arrested by the Delhi Police. He was dragged by his neck openly in the college premises and was brutally thrashed by them. On speaking to DU Beat, Ambuj said, “We were protesting peacefully near the gate of our college. When we tried to protest near the gate of the Vice Chancellor’s office, the security guards manhandled us, one of my friends was also slapped by the guards. The moment I tried to defend him, the police caught hold of me and thrashed me. I was taken into custody for six hours.” The police was called by the administration to curb the protest. However, the students complained of being manhandled by the police.
When the discussion with the administration of the college and officials of the University didn’t prove feasible, six second-students, namely Ambuj Bhardwaj, Mohammad Ali, Prashant Yadav, Roshan Kumar, Vipul Sharma and, Suman Shekhar went on an indefinite hunger strike. They were supported by both the students of the first and second year. The administration responded by issuing a warning to take disciplinary action against the students who were protesting in the campus. This was ineffective as the students continued their agitation. Continuous health checkups of the students on hunger strike were done by the WUS Health Centre. Vipul Sharma, one of the six students on hunger strike said, “We tried many different methods of protest in the last few months, but the administration did not bother. We could not reach a proper solution to the problem. At the same time, the students were facing huge academic loss. Therefore, we had to take such a radical step. The hunger strike was a pure Gandhian step.”
The hunger strike by DSJ students
The students of first and second year also went to different colleges and departments and appealed to them to support and extend their solidarity with them in the cause. Support for the protesting DSJ students came from various students, organisations, political parties, leaders, and teacher associations. On 20th September 2018, Delhi University Teachers’ Association members including the President, Rajib Ray and Treasurer, Najma Rehmani visited the students and appealed to them to end their hunger strike. They spoke about the initial problems associated with implementation of the course and how DUTA was against privatisation of higher educational institution as it would lead to a violation of our democratic and socialist values encompassed in the Indian constitution. While addressing the dissenting students, Rajib Ray talked about the streak of fire the students have evoked in the education industry, which has transcended from the walls of Lutyens Delhi to the entire nation. He underscored how he and his friends used to perform hunger strikes back in their days and how we remind them of the zeal and energy the youth should possess. They extended support and also promised to be present in the rally being organised by the DSJ students on 25th September 2018 against the privatisation of education and high fees. Rajya Sabha MP, Manoj Jha also met the students and understood their grievances. Members of DUTA in their individual capacities extended their solidarity to the students. Abhishek Dutta, Congress leader, Professor Abha Dev Habib, Professor Ratan Lal, Professor Suraj Yadav, students from the Law Faculty, Sunny Chillar and Akshay Lakara and other members from NSUI, newly elected DUSU Vice President Shakti Singh, Kawalpreet Kaur and members of AISA , CYSS, ABVP, SFI, Disha Student Organisation also stood with the agitating students. The members of Academic Council and Executive Council of the University also appealed to the students to end their hunger strike. They also assured that the issue will be raised in their next meeting with full force and no one will be spared. One of the members of the Academic Council promised to make DSJ the best institute for studying journalism.
Support by members of DUTA and NSUI to the protesting students
On 21st September 2018, conditions worsened as Roshan Kumar, one of the students on hunger strike was advised urgent medical help. Ms. Neeta Sehgal, Proctor of the University of Delhi visited the students to resolve the matter. After a series of discussions, the administration and the students settled the matter. Deadlines along with proper details were provided to the students failing which the students demanded the resignation of the administrative authorities- Dr. Manasvini Yogi, Officer on Special Duty and Professor J.P. Dubey, Honorary Director of Delhi School of Journalism. The students called off the hunger strike at 8:00 p.m. in the campus in the presence of the college authorities and fellow students.
On speaking to DU Beat, Mohd Alishan Jaffri, a second-year student of DSJ said, “This is a moment to cheer, not for complete celebration. In all these eight months of protests, the students have fought remarkably with grace. DSJ is an isolated place in North Campus, where half of the colleges in North Campus don’t know about our existence. It’s an island of misery in a fortune called North Campus. We need the world to follow this example and ensure that academic discourses are conducted properly in every public institution. We hope that Delhi School of Journalism becomes the next Columbia School of Journalism. Through DU Beat, I would also like to invite all students, teachers, organisations to be a part of the rally being organized on 25th September.”
Students stood united
The students are organising a DSJ Chhatra Sangharsh Rally on Tuesday, 25th September 2018 at 1:00 p.m. in Arts Faculty. Many organisations and students are expected to be present in the mass rally against privatisation of education.
It was only recently that the groundswell of outrage against the rape grew and protests erupted on social media. The fact that it has taken so long for Asifa to get national attention highlights how difficult the fight for justice still remains for rape victims when the accused enjoy political power or patronage.
The girl from the Gujjar-Bakarwal community in Rasana was abducted in January, held captive in a local temple, drugged, raped repeatedly by at least three men, and then strangled. Her body was found in the forests on January 17th, a week after she went missing.
The charge sheet of the case names eight accusers and puts 60-year-old Sanji Ram, custodian of the temple, as the mastermind behind this rape. It goes on to say that Ram had hatched the plan to terrorise and dislodge the Muslim nomads from the Hindu-majority area where the girl lived. Asifa’s house is now locked. Nobody seems to know where the family that belongs to the nomadic Muslim tribe has gone. Seems like Sanji Ram’s purpose has been served.
Soon after the first arrests were made, hundreds of people, under the aegis of Hindu Ekta Manch, rallied in defense of the accused, thereby revealing the volatile religious fault lines. Those defending the accused include Lal Singh and Prakash Chandar Ganga, both of whom are Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ministers in the Mehbooba Mufti government. Along with them, The Jammu Bar Association on Wednesday protested against the crime branch probe as they thought it was ‘targeting the Dogra community’ in the state. To ensure neutrality in view of the Hindu-Muslim polarisation, the state government has appointed two Sikh special public prosecutors for this case.
It is ironic that slogans like ‘Bharat Mata ki Jai’ are being used in such rallies, even as Gujjars and Bakarwals have in the last 29 years of political turmoil in the Valley remained loyal to New Delhi, only to be refused cremation in their own land. The locals of Rasana did not even allow the Asifa’s family to bury her bruised body. It had to be buried in a neighbouring village where her relatives live.
In these contexts, like every rape, this case is heavily political. Sanji Ram decided (allegedly) to kill Asifa in order to instill fear in her community, who he feared would over number Hindus in the area. The Hindu Ekta Manch and Bar Council came out in protests because the accused were Hindus. This case has gathered celebrity attention, but those ‘placards’ are apolitical in nature. They ignore the politics of region and religion. They reduce the identity of Asifa to a young girl, instead of a Bakarwal Muslim girl who belongs to a marginalised nomadic tribe and is hence more vulnerable, especially when she is in a Hindu majoritarian area of Jammu and Kashmir. Yes, a rape is a rape, it is a grave problem, but to solve any problem, we have to acknowledge its various facets. By ignoring the communal angle of this tragedy we are being dishonest.
We must politicise it because, guess what, it is political.
In a U-turn, the Jammu Bar Association has announced its decision to organise a candle light march for the eight-year-old girl. Dear Bar Council, we don’t want your mild candle light marches, we want the rage full fire to burn in your chest against something as heinous as rape. You questioned the work of your own colleagues and pitted the national flag against the dead girl’s shroud. Your hypocrisy and fundamentalism will not be absolved with a symbolic protest. We don’t need your obligatory march, we need your apology.
Unnao, the story of a feisty survivor and her complicit neighbours.
In June 2017, a 17-year-old girl from Unnao alleged that she was gang-raped for more than a week by Kuldeep Singh Sengar, a BJP Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA), and his accomplices. However, when they tried to file the First Person Report (FIR), the case registered by the Unnao police did not name the MLA.
The survivor’s family eventually approached the chief judicial magistrate to finally get an FIR lodged against the MLA. Even then the Unnao police took no action in the case. On April 3rd, the survivor’s father was thrashed by Sengar’s brother and his men. The police did file an FIR but didn’t name the MLA’s brother despite video evidence. Instead on the same day, the police arrested the survivor’s father himself and booked him under the Arms Act. A few days later he died in police custody. The post-mortem report listed multiple injuries on his body.
It was only after the survivor tried to immolate herself outside Adityanath’s residence on 8th April that the administration and the media took notice of the case. “I was raped. I have been running pillar to post for the last one year but no one is listening to me. I want to see all of them arrested, otherwise, I will kill myself,” The Indian Express quoted the survivor.
On 12th April, the Uttar Pradesh government registered a case against the MLA for kidnapping, rape, and under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO). On 14th April the arrest was made.
All this while the survivor and her family are living in a government guest house as they fear for their safety. It has been almost a year since the survivor and her family are fighting for justice. They didn’t give up. We cannot even imagine the amount of pressure she must be subjected to, we cannot even imagine her trauma after the death of her father, and we cannot even fathom the strength of her bravery. She didn’t give up and we, as fellow humans, should be grateful for her courage, for it shows us how to fight against all odds.
She shared the location with her rapist, everyone in the area knew what had happened, everyone saw how her father was assaulted, but no one said anything. People like Sengar seek their impunity from our compliance. He was a bahubali leader who won four times. Who elected him four times? Us, the people. According to reports, Senger earned his social standing by giving away freebies in his constituency. Next time when someone like him offers us gifts or favours, will we accept them with wide smiles and marigold garlands? Will we ask him tough questions when he comes to our threshold with folded hands?
Despite the bad history of Senger, the Modi government accepted him in his party. Yogi Aadityanath’s administration who claims to curb the Jungle Raj didn’t give to hoots about the victim until she caught media attention. Next time when we vote I hope we remember what people like Senger do. Next time when we see someone struggling against the powerful, I hope we extend our solidarity. I hope we become more brave, more political, and most of all, I hope we stay angry, very angry.
Lately across the country, in the absence of a notable opposition decisions of the establishment, students have taken it upon themselves to stand up to the authoritarian policies. Lately, the spur of student movements in the JNU, DU, University of Hyderabad and other campuses has also spiked up the enthusiasm in other Universities where student politics have been suspended for long for the revival of Student Politics and the demand of Student Union elections. On Thursday, students of Jamia Milia Islamia University staged a protest march and submitted a memorandum to the Vice-Chancellor Talat Ahmad demanding the restoration of the Student Union and demand of elections.
Eleven years back, the University had suspended the Student Union on the account of student leaders interfering with the administrative process of the University in 2006. The Union was disbanded after a scuffle broke out between the union president and the proctor over the former having a say in the allotment of hostel seats, which the university was not willing to agree to. Later in the year 2011, Hameed Ur Rahman, a student approached Delhi High Court for the matter. Najeeb Jung, who was the VC during that period told the court that the environment was not conducive for polls.
Recently the students have formed a Joint Action Committee (JAC) with members from various students bodies’ including the National Students’ Union of India (NSUI), Chhatra Yuva Sangharsh Samiti, All India Students’ Association and Jamia Students’ Forum to raise the demand for a Union. Speaking to a major national daily, students of the JAC said that they would “resort to democratic means of protest” in case the varsity does not meet the deadline of announcing a date for the polls.
However, the administration on receiving the memorandum said that the university had no objections to the formation of a students’ union but it could not give the go-ahead as the matter was sub judice. Talat Ahmad, the vice chancellor of the University who is known to be personally in favour of having a student’s union said, “When the matter is in court, I cannot take decisions that would end up in contempt of court.”
The University which has a rich past of student activism during the freedom movement remains an environment devoid of a students’ voice today.
Interestingly, Jamia has a strong union of teachers and non-teaching staff.
The Banaras Hindu University (BHU) has been on the boil following alleged molestation of a student on 21stSeptember, by three men and the university officials refused to take action and blamed the victim, instead.
What have been the circumstances?
The protest is on going for quiet afew days. This began midnight on 21st September, Thursday, after three men riding on a motorbike molested a student, pursuingBachelor of Fine Arts degree of the Mahila Mahavidyala of BHU.
The alleged molesters hurled abuses, passed lewd remarks, and touched the victim inappropriately only a few metres from where a security guard was present. The girl, the protesters said, cried for help but the security guard did not move to make an attempt.
The girl was traumatised when she reached her hostel. When her hostel-mates gave her assurance, she narrated the entire incident to them. Concerned over everyday eve-teasing and frequent molestation of the girls on the campus, a group of students of the hostel went to report the matter to the warden.
The girls complain that instead of listening to their grievances, the warden blamed the victim for the incident. “What were you doing outside your hostel so late?” the warden allegedly asked the victim as reported by India Today.
Infuriated by the warden’s moral policing and indifferent stand, the girls sat on a dharna outside his office at around midnight on 21st September. The women staged a bigger dharna at the Lanka Gate of the BHU campus on 22nd September, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi was in Varanasi.
22nd September was a stressful day:omen from other hostels and courses also joined the protest. The protesters demanded action from the Vice Chairman,Girish Chandra Tripathi, who wanted to meeta few of the protesting girls in his office chambers, as claimed by the women. “What happens is that the VC calls around 10 students and warns them against raising their demands. The students are suspended without giving a chance of resting their case. The matter ends there. We are concerned about our safety,” Akansha Singh, one of the girls who was protesting, told India Today.
Later, BHU issued a statement saying that the protest by the girls demanding safety on the campus was politically motivated. This comes into light although, unlike Delhi University or Jawaharlal Nehru University, BHU doesn’t have a students union. Teaching staff too don’t declare political affiliations.
After the violence on Saturday, the girls took out a silent march. But the police apparently had an issue with this as well, brutally chasing the protesters away, allegedly with batons. Yet the girls continued to lead the march, supported by many male students as well. The demands of the students were simple – they want installation of CCTV cameras, proper lighting of the campus and gender sensitisation of university staff and security personnel.
Did the administration do anything so far?
Beside making sexist and discriminatory statements (In an interview to The Indian Express, Tripathi justified the discriminatory policies against women students, particularly with regard to hostel curfews on the grounds that, “security for boys and girls can never be at par.”),U.P Chief Minister, Yogi Adityanath sought a report from the commissioner of Varanasi on the entire episode.
The government has so far removed five officials for negligence of duty and transferred them to other places.An internal inquiry, found them responsible for alleged disturbance and violence, thus removed to ensure fair enquiry. Meanwhile, 1200 students have been booked for violence.
Chief Proctor, O.P Singh, resigned from his post, and the government appoints BHU’s first woman Chief Proctor, Royana Singh.
However, this is not a rare instance in Banaras Hindu University’s history. According to a report by Huffington Post, there has been a surge in cases related to sexual crimes and harassment in recent years, ever since the current Vice-Chancellor, Girish Chandra Tripathi, took office. In 2016, there were cases of sexual assault, including gang rape of a male student and complaints of harassment made even by female faculty members. The frequency of such severe crimes points to the authorities and administration’s lack of seriousness in addressing safety issues. This is particularly the case with women, who already face a spate of curfews and curtailment of freedoms. Calling these restrictions ‘strict’ would be a understatement, for they apparently treat adult women like tender creatures of pristineness and purity, who shouldn’t go out to for their own safety. Consider some of the statements of the Vice-Chancellor, like “Consumption of non-vegetarian food makes women impure according to the Malviya values,” “Girls who study in the night are immoral,” and “Don’t think like a journalist, think like a father. Think of what ‘appropriate clothes’ would mean to a father,’’ upon being asked what constitutes “appropriate clothes” in this Youth Ki Awaaz interview, where his sexism is on open display. Through absurd rules like no phone calls post 10 p.m., no internet connection in rooms, and deadlines on venturing out, in the name of “protecting women”, they are being robbed off their freedom. Depriving a whole section of the society from thinking for themselves and allowing them the same freedoms as men is deplorable, and it is even more shameful when it happens in the constituency of the same man who tweeted, “Women empowerment is crucial to India’s growth. Days of seeing women as ‘home makers’ have gone, we have to see women as nation builders”. Keeping aside the dismissal of homemakers for a moment, one is presumed to think that the way things are, “nation-building” will only be done till 8p.m. – the hostel curfew time.
On 22nd August 2017, the All India Students Association (AISA) conducted a march called “DU Demands” in North Campus, University of Delhi. Kawalpreet Kaur, the organisation’s President at the DU level, said, “There are three central purposes behind the march – the problem of accommodation, violence, and the demand for the reestablishment of university special buses and metro passes to make travel easier for students of Delhi University”.
Kaur stressed upon the fact that there is a severe lack of hostels in Delhi University and reiterated that a no-tolerance policy must be implemented in DU against violence, referring to the Ramjas incident where numerous students were hurt due to violence from the involvement of several political parties in February 2017. She also laid emphasis on the immense cost incurred by DU students who travel from a large distance to their respective colleges and how the introduction of university special buses and special metro passes could contribute to solve this problem. Through this march, AISA wanted to make these demands known to the Vice Chancellor of Delhi University.
The march began at the Arts Faculty at 1 p.m., where over 100 students had gathered from both off-campus and on-campus colleges like Deshbandhu College, Kirori Mal College, Miranda House, etc. to show their support. The students carried AISA banners that had the three demands mentioned on them. Kawalpreet Kaur addressed the gathering where she reiterated the purpose of their meeting and motivated the students to raise slogans and march with them. The students then proceeded towards Ramjas College where they went inside the campus and raised several slogans like “DUSU ka itehaas badal do“, “Dekho kaise garaj ke aaya AISA AISA, Bhagat Singh ka naya roop hai AISA”, “Vice Chancellor khabardar“, “Hostel ke liye kon ladega: AISA”, “Hostel ka adhikar maangte, nahi kissi se bheek maangte“.
During the march, the students also raised several slogans against the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) by chanting “Gundagardi nahi sahenge, pathar maaro nahi sahenge, inqalab zindabad, ABVP haye-haye“.
Rupal Anand, a student of Ramjas College said, “The march by AISA was a great disruption to our classes as they were shouting very loudly.” From Ramjas, the march continued towards Hindu College and ended at Kirori Mal College.
Recently, the Ambedkar-Ganguly Students House for Women shifted its curfew timings from 10 p.m. to 9 p.m. Students dissented but refrained from protesting in the fear that their hostel seat would be taken away from them.
The hostel provides accommodation to postgraduate DU students with a majority of the seats reserved for the students of Delhi School of Economics (DSE) and ST and SC categories. The unilateral change in the curfew timings was brought about by the hostel warden, K. Ratnabali, without any consultations with the elected Students Welfare Association. This could be an act of violation of the regulations of the University Grants Commission that occupies the position of the law in the collegiate space. The regulations put forward by the UGC deny safety as an excuse to restrict mobilisation among female students. There were further rules proclaiming that “Students cannot interfere while authorities make or modify rules”, thus paralysing all participation of the students in the management committees.
Pinjra Tod, a students’ collective that focuses on the right to freedom and fights sexism in university spaces, said:
Such infantilisation of university students is unacceptable! When it was pointed out that this act is a violation of UGC guidelines, the authorities focused their energies to silence protests rather than addressing legitimate concerns of students. They deployed pressure tactics such as:
– Denial of University housing and using it as a threat to silence/discourage dissenting voices from surfacing.
– Denial of democratic participation in the process of drafting of hostel rules.
– Forcing students to ratify the rules stated in the handbook which have been surreptitiously altered to deny residents any participation in the rule-making process!
– Forcing students to sign affidavits and undertakings that amount to waiving off their right to protest as a precondition to securing a hostel seat.
The victimisation of dissenting voices among students and infringement of their democratic fundamental rights have always been contentious situations across university spaces because of which harassment, oppression, abuse, and even coercion often remains unreported.
Looking further into the issue, an emergency general body meeting was held by the Warden, where she explained that the rules were being misinterpreted. One could come in till 4 a.m. after the 9 p.m. curfew, which would be regarded as a late night.
A resident of the hostel stated, “We thought that our exit timing was shifted from 10 p.m. to 9 p.m. Basically that is true that once you sign the attendance by 9 p.m., you cannot exit. But we did not have any idea about this late-night thing. So, she (warden) was like if you people had a problem or wanted clarification why didn’t you approach us. We were planning to do so but as people were not readmitted to the hostel yet, we couldn’t decide which will be the right time to approach her. As the rule book says, you cannot question authority. I really don’t know whether it was a consequence or we genuinely misinterpreted it.”
The residents are currently waiting for a written resolution to dissolve this ambiguity.
Seeing no action being taken either by the centre or by the state government against the Four year undergraduate programme (FYUP), All India Students’ Association (AISA) carried out a protest on the streets of Delhi recently on the 10th of March. As a part of the prolonged FYUP Hatao, Future Bachao yatra – the bike caravan saw members of the student party travelling around 28 colleges of Delhi University and covering about 150 Kilometres.
According to some sources in AISA, the party wants to make it an election issue, reaching out to major political parties and inviting their stand on the issue. “We have tried our level best to make sure that FYUP is rolled back, though policy paralysis and less impetus among political parties for the issue has been a cause of deterrence. We will now take the issue to the parliament”, said Anmol, State Vice-President of AISA.
The student’s party has also been protesting against the possible re-appointment of Prof. Dinesh Singh as the Vice-Chancellor of Delhi University.
After repeated agitations and assurances, the much awaited rollback of Delhi University’s FYUP has still not become possible. With the possibility that Vice-Chancellor Prof. Dinesh Singh might serve another term as the VC, the chances of a complete rollback seem even lesser.
