An account on how the poems of a Punjabi Leftist poet sparked up a chain of protests in the University’s Punjabi Department.
“We fought for very basic democratic rights which we think must be provided to the students of a public institution like Delhi University.” Those are straightforward and to-the-point lines from Rajveer Kaur, the president of the student body, Bhagat Singh Chatra Ekta Manch (BSCEM). It has been a tumultuous time recently for Rajveer and her peers at the organisation getting involved in gheraos, hunger strikes and, tussles against the administration. What prompted all this? For this, we will have to rewind to a few months back.
It was in March when the first signs of trouble began showing. Rajveer, who also happens to be an MPhil scholar in the Punjabi Department of the University of Delhi, had to make a statement on behalf of her organisation and stuck a magazine at a wall and notice board; a work containing the poetry of noted Punjabi poet Avtar Singh Pash and ideas of India’s celebrated martyr Bhagat Singh. For the unacquainted, Pash was a wordsmith known for his strongly Leftist views which he expressed in his works. This angered the Head of Department who ordered this ‘revolutionary’ paraphernalia to be taken down instantly. Rajveer’s act won her a trip to the HoD’s office along with an unwanted complimentary threat of being rusticated if she ever indulged in any such act again. And to top it all, she along with her colleague Manpreet, was detained in the upcoming examination. This is from where the first hunger strike began.
From this personal prejudice rose some personal demands like setting up a committee to look into the biasness towards Rajveer and Manpreet, and some department demands as well such as improvement of basic infrastructural facilities in the Department and to keep all official notices and syllabi in the Punjabi vernacular. It was also asked for the Head of Department to apologise for her behaviour. To compel the administration to accept all the demands, the student organisation took to protesting. Subsequently in a response, the authorities would agree to all the conditions, but only to deny all of it later. And like (almost) every time, the administration agreed to these demands and later denied them.
The heat increased and in these cold months, more gheraos around the administration’s office and a four-day hunger strike (from 24th to 29th November) took place. “The administration tried to break the students’ unity through various repressive methods like even denying the mats and blankets for our night stay. Still we were adamant that unless all our demands are met, we won’t give up.”, Rajveer adds.
As of today, the HoD called a meeting for the MPhil committee at noon. The result of this was holding a re-examination in January, for the paper in which Rajveer got detained. It was also declared that the department would act in the matter of making signboards and official notes in Punjabi and changing the HoD for Manpreet. Although, the BSCEM is celebrating at the moment looking at today as a victory, would the Punjabi Department actually live by its words? That is what will be seen in the coming days.
A couple of days back, the administration of the University of Delhi (DU) speculated the establishment of nine institutions which would impart specialised courses. However, the student community claims that before opening new institutions, the government must look at the infrastructural issues that the recently opened institute, the Delhi School of Journalism (DSJ), has been facing ever since its inception last year.
Located in the University Stadium Campus, the college has been at the locus of violent student agitations. The major cause of resentment amongst the student fraternity is the alleged lack of infrastructure that the administration had promised them. The institute, belonging to the self-financing genre, charges exorbitant sums of money as tuition fee from the students with amounts reaching well beyond INR 65,000. The pupils allege that even after paying such stupendous sums of money, they’re not being provided the infrastructure that had been promised to them. Following this, an agitation had broken out in the last week of August 2018, wherein the students had reportedly remained on a strike against the administration for two days, and it was alleged that the students had been locked inside the campus during the night hours.
The management at the Delhi School of Journalism had also suspended 8 students in this connection, which was then revoked in response to the withdrawal of the students from the protests. This reportedly came subsequent to the intervention of the OSD and the VC. Only after the student community was assured that a concrete solution shall be found to the problem, the protests were called off.
The administration, however, seems to have had put the case aside once the agitations were over. The DSJ student body alleges that the Vice Chancellor neither met with the student body nor addressed their issues. Fresh protests in order to have the demands met, however, broke out in DSJ on 18th September 2018. The furious student fraternity stood as a united front against the administration. It is said that a meeting held with the Proctor on 14th September 2018 turned out to be a conduit of dispute and agitation. Allegedly, the Proctor shook her hands off the earlier promise, stating that she can’t promise the redressing of even a single of the demands on the student manifesto, be it the construction of a library, construction of a hostel, or even the Media Lab which is considered ‘food’ for students pursuing journalism.
The students claim that they find the college area too cluttered. They add that in the absence of a library, it becomes tough for them to access adequate resource material pertaining to their discipline, and the absence of a reading room in the already cluttered campus makes it difficult for the students to engage in any productive self-study at the college.
The situation, however, took a different route altogether, when, during the newly erupted volcano of protests, a second-year student and agitator, Ambuj Bharedwaj, was arrested by the Delhi Police, which had been called in by the DSJ administration to curb the protests. It is claimed that the student was dragged by his neck openly in the college by the policemen and was brutally thrashed by the police while in custody. The students feel that the management is adopting the use of force and physical penuries to curb their right to something they have already paid for in full. Thus, according to the student fraternity, their upsurge wasn’t trampled upon by the false promises made on the management’s end. In fact, it gained a new impetus because of the use of police force. Hence, the students have decided to remain in DSJ’s campus through the night on protests, with eyes looking desperately for a solution to their problem.
DU Beat tried reaching out to the administration at the Delhi School of Journalism, but that didn’t prove feasible. Hence, their take on the matter shall be updated here as and when it is procured.
The DRCSU Election 2018-19 presented itself all enveloped in controversies. A new face of politics revealed itself to the students as they fought, protested, won, and lost.
The Daulat Ram College Students’ Union (DRCSU) Election was held on 10th September 2018 and the voting hours were between 9:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Here are some major and vital highlights of the same:
The Absence of NOTA
“I entered the hall to cast my vote with the above-mentioned prospects of a ‘democracy’ clear in my mind, only to realise that a violation of these prospects was waiting for me in the form of an Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) where there was no option of ‘None of the Above’ (NOTA). I voted only for candidates whom I believed were worthy of voting. As I made my way out of the little space reserved for voting, a teacher told me to cast my vote for all the posts. I told her that I wanted to vote only for two posts. But then, I was informed that voting for each post was a compulsion. Apparently, the vote wouldn’t be recognised if one person from each post was not voted for.”
In a survey conducted by DU Beat, among Daulat Ram College (DRC) students which asked ‘Do you think the option of “None of the Above” (NOTA) should have been there while voting?’ 80.1% marked their opinion as a ‘Yes’, out of the 500 people who participated in the survey. The whole purpose of having NOTA as an option is to provide the voters with a space to express that they do not find any of the candidates contesting the election deserving. NOTA gives us an explicit insight into a picture of the elections. It creates scope for future candidates to improve their ways.
Mismanagement
In the DRCSU Elections, students had to wait for more than 2 hours to cast their vote, in a humid and crowded corridor. A few voters standing in the queue were seen backing out too. “The entire scenario could have been avoided if voting happened in slots. Subject wise, we could all be made into groups and asked to vote. It would have created much less havoc”, a second-year student who chose to stay anonymous suggested when asked how the situation could be improved.
Ill-working of the EVMs
As mentioned before, it was mandatory for the voters to select one person each for every post. The vote would be invalid if not cast for each post. According to this, the number of votes for each post should be equal. However, it was not so. A recent count of the votes says that there is a difference of about 200 votes between the post of General Secretary (GS) and others. Meaning, there are 200 more votes for the post of GS as compared to others. How and why such a discrepancy occurred is unknown but it sure questions the spirit of the voters.
When asked about the working of the EVMs, a few voters were reported saying that some of the buttons on the machine weren’t working when they pressed them. A little here and there is still something that can be understood. But a difference of 200 votes may turn all the tables.
The Controversy: Where it started
The candidates contesting for the prestigious post of college President were in a tussle long before the elections even began. Neha Beniwal, a presidential candidate allegedly claimed that unlike her, none of her opponents (Sonia Sehrawat and Diksha Verma) had the minimum percentage of attendance required to contest for the post. The shortage of attendance was a problem for several other candidates contesting for the posts of Vice-President as well. All the candidates were, just before the declaration of the nominations for DRCSU, made to sign undertakings promising the completion of 75% attendance in the ongoing semester, to be able to be eligible to contest in the elections. The college was, as a result, witness to a lot of protests and counter-protests.
The rivalry soon took an ugly turn. On the evening of 10th September, the results of the elections were declared and, Diksha Verma was elected as the President of the 2018-19 Students’ Union of Daulat Ram College. Out of the total votes cast (1439), she got 40% votes and won with the margin of 71 votes. The victory was celebrated by her supporters but was short-lived. She was questioned by the opponents from the panel, which won a significant majority in the DRCSU, but their presidential candidate, Sonia Sehrawat, had lost.
The most contentious matter however, was the result of the General Secretary post, wherein the total votes did not tally with the other posts, and an increment of 200 votes was seen.
The panel, along with their supporters, alleged that the EVMs were not working properly and demanded the recounting of votes, despite having tested the EVMs on their functionality on morning of the elections themselves. All electoral candidates were invited by the Election Commission to affirm the correct working of the EVMs, post which they signed a document, confirming the same.
They staged aggressive protests outside the Principal’s office on the evening of the elections, wherein things got violent as students banged the doors and the windows of the admin block, demanding an answer from the administration.
The 11th of September was a new day for everyone but it brought with it the putridity of protests. The other two candidates, along with their followers assembled outside the staff room of the college, sat there and shouted slogans. Interestingly, the protests questioned Diksha Verma’s win, rather than questioning the working of EVMs. “Diksha Verma nahi chahiye” (We don’t want Diksha Verma) “Goondaraj nahi chahiye” (We don’t want hooliganism), were some slogans that the students were heard shouting. Most of them, it is believed, belonged to the college hostel.
This protest witnessed around 100 students blocking the corridor of the college, as they were sitting outside Lab 5, the room in which the Students’ Advisory Board (SAB) was deliberating the fate of the elections. The protesters were joined by Debangana Baruah, who was the DRCSU President from 2014-15, and Nandita Nain, who was a presidential candidate in 2017. Both ex-students of the college were seen enticing the students and motivating them to raise such slogans. This practice raised several concerns as it is a clear violation of the Lyngdoh Committee Recommendations Clause 6.3.1.
Nandita Nain (ex-student, in white, with a black bag), seen with Sonia Sehrawat, the opposing Presidential candidate (standing next to Nandita) during the protest.Debangana Baruah (in a green kurta), the Ex-President of DRC in the college during the protest.
Later, a demand for re-elections was also raised by the protesters. The Election Committee agreed to it and informally announced the scheduling of the re-elections to be held on the 13th of September, 2018. However, no such notice was delivered officially to the students from the administration or the Principal. The protesters rejoiced and dispersed, and the news of the re-elections, which was still not confirmed officially, spread like wild fire.
The evening of 12th September, brought about a message from the convenor of the SAB, calling all electoral candidates to the committee room of the college on 13th of September, at 10 a.m. The SAB along with the Principal of the college addressed all the queries and concerns of the candidates, they were re-assured that the elections have been carried out in a fair manner, with discrepancies in the post of General Secretary, which were caused due to a fault in the buttons of that specific post. The meeting resulted in the official declaration of Diksha Verma as the President of DRCSU 2018-19. The solution for the matter of General Secretary was not that of a re-election, but the inculcation of all three electoral candidates in DRCSU as the General Secretary.
The official notice was uploaded on the DRC website after the meeting.
The Oath Taking Ceremony was held on 14th September, wherein only the President, General Secretary, and ICC member participated. Meanwhile, the opposition continued their protest outside the college building demanding “justice.”
Diksha Verma, during the official oath taking ceremony held today.
Feature Image Credits – Students of Daulat Ram College
After more than 48 hours of continuous protest and withdrawal of the suspension of 8 students by the administration, students have been assured that their grievances will be addressed on 14th September 2018.
On Monday, 27th August 2018, the students of Delhi School of Journalism staged a protest outside the Arts Faculty demanding a meeting with the Vice Chancellor of the University of Delhi. The protest began when Professor JP Dubey on Friday, 24th August 2018 told the students that the administration cannot give a deadline to any of the demands of the students and they should do whatever they want to in their capacity. The students have time and again protested about the poor infrastructure facilities, unavailability of the media lab and the high fees and wanted to meet the VC regarding the same.
Image Credits – DSJ students
The protest was then shifted in the DSJ campus where the students protested against the administration and their behaviour towards the charter of demands issued by the students on 2nd August 2018.Mohd Alishan Jaffri, a second year student of DSJ says, “We launched a complete non co-operation movement against the DSJ administration and organized a sit-in in the college premises. The whole act was peaceful and Gandhian in nature. The administration tried to move us, but since no written assurance was provided, we continued the protest.”
On the same day, a meeting was organized by the administration to look into the matter again, but the meeting ended in a deadlock. The students continued their sit in demonstration in the evening and few stayed inside the college campus overnight.
DSJ students
The agitation continued on 28th August 2018. The administration agreed to send a delegation of 6 students to meet the VC and present their grievances to him. However, in the evening, this proposal was rejected. The students were also locked inside the college campus. The situation worsened when the students were manhandled by the security guards of the college. Ambuj Bhardwaj, a second year student was hit by one of the guards. Delhi Police was called in to intimidate the protestors both in afternoon and in the evening.
DSJ students
A suspension letter was issued to 8 students of DSJ around 8 p.m. on 28th August 2018 for repeatedly violating the discipline of the Delhi University while disrupting the classes since August 27 and not letting administration to carry on their official work by blocking the entrance to the Director’s room. However, the revocation to the suspension came in half an hour after protest was called off by the students. The same was conveyed to the students through an e-mail late at night.
Neeta Sehgal, Proctor, University of Delhi came and discussed the matter with the students. She also gave a written assurance to the students to look into the matter and solve the grievances of the students. She has promised to meet the students on 14th September 2018.
DSJ students
Manasvini Yogi, OSD, Delhi School of Journalism informed the students on 29th August 2018 that a media lab has been arranged for the students in the School of Open Learning. The practicals will be held in the lab from 15th September 2018 onwards.
The ongoing protest against the leaked SSC papers has now been joined by student political units AISA and NSUI.
In a development considered ‘supportive’ by observers, leaders of the political units AISA (All India Student’s Association) and NSUI (National Student’s Association of India) joined the students protesting against the alleged leak of Staff Selection Commission (SSC) exam papers, on 16th March 2018.
The indefinite protest over the examination, which was conducted in February, has witnessed hundreds of aspirants protesting in the CGO complex, which houses the SSC headquarters. Since February 27, they have been demanding a time-bound CBI probe under the supervision of the Supreme Court into all SSC exams and the commission’s functioning. Secondly, they are demanding a stay order on all SSC exams until completion of CBI inquiry into the matter.
Responding to queries from the DU Beat correspondent, DUSU President Rocky Tuseed, who was present with the protesting students on Friday said, “We demand the suspension of SSC Chairman Ashim Khurana, and the resignation of Minister Jitendra Singh. The fight is not only against the isolated incident of leaked papers. Besides this, the SSC has delayed the joining of candidates who qualified two years ago. These anomalies speak volumes about the incompetence of the board and the government. ”
Speaking along similar lines with the DU Beat correspondent, President of AISA (DU) Kawalpreet Kaur, who was also present on the site of protest, remarked, “The students are not only demanding a CBI probe into this particular incident. They are linking this protest to a larger struggle against the numerous recruitment scams which are happening.”
When the correspondent mentioned the political mudslinging revolving this issue, Kaur stated, “Somebody has to take responsibility. It has been 15-18 days that the students have been sitting here. Home Minister Rajnath Singh has said that a CBI enquiry has been ordered. But the students are not satisfied because nothing is progressing.”
In a phone call conversation with this correspondent, Vice President of DUSU Kunal Sehrawat, said, “The students have taken to the streets to demand justice. Itna Time Ho Chuka Hai (It has been so long). The government must take responsibility. The student community has our full support.”
The protesters, today, were reinforced by the presence of Fairoz Khan, National President of NSUI and Sucheta De, National President of AISA, besides other prominent leaders. Shedding light on a different version of the scam, Chairman of SSC Ashim Khurana contended, “We have knowledge that certain coaching institutes are manipulating and escalating the protest. Once the exam is cancelled, they may offer a crash course to candidates’ ace it earning quick bucks in the process.”
Amidst the mudslinging being undertaken by the administration, one beacon of hope is provided by the student political units standing against the grave injustice being meted out to the aspirants, thus paving the way for a united student community at the face of a divided administration.
The Delhi Police on Thursday detained nine students of the Banaras Hindu University, including a woman, who were on their way from Jantar Mantar to the Prime Minister’s official house to submit a memorandum at the Pancharipuri Police Station. However, no charges were being slapped against them. The students are members of the recently constituted Joint Action Committee (JAC) at BHU, who sought to make an appointment with the PM.
“When we could not get the appointment we decided to submit the memorandum to his Secretary. We were at Race Course when police detained us. We were simply walking at Race Course Road and there was no protest. We kept on asking them about the ground over which we were arrested, however, police did not say anything. I was made to sit in a bus even as there was no female constable with them at the time of the detention” said Mineshi Mishra, a BHU student. The students also complained that the police threatened them.
Senior Delhi police officers revealed the students had been protesting for the last three days. “When they tried to march towards the PM’s residence eight boys were detained and later let off and another girl, who was along with them, was released then and there as it was getting dark. We have not told any students to return to Banaras,” said BK Singh, DCP, New Delhi, as reported by DNA India.
In the light of the recent events pertaining to the upcoming elections of the Delhi University Students’ Union (DUSU), contrary to the anticipated scenario, Aryabhatta College has given out a notice seeking a referendum regarding its affiliation to the DUSU that will be held on the 1st of September, within the college premises.
While the college was affiliated to the DUSU in the past, the excessive political inclination of the latter and the consequent amalgamation of campus violence and suppression in the recent years have garnered a lot of attention, questioning affiliation of other member colleges as well. Since both the Principal as well as the administration remained unavailable for any comments, we had a word with Yashank Bhutani who is also one of the presidential candidates this year. He informed us that a joint protest is going to be held on Monday, that is, on the 28
Yashak Bhutani, one of the presidential candidate for this year informed that a joint protest is going to be held on Monday, that is, on the 28th of August regarding whether or not the institution should be affiliated. Amidst all of this, a pro-DUSU affiliation signature campaign was doing the rounds on Thursday. The referendum, as explained by Yashank, proposed against the centralization of power that otherwise is the case with party-affiliated student politics, wherein, the six-post system including the President, the Vice-President, the Joint Secretary, the General Secretary and two Central Councillors are vested with the sceptre of power, leaving out the other students in a subordinate position. He further goes on to add that the alternative way would include a two-post system with only the President and the General Secretary at the highest rung, with a division of power among the Class Representatives (CRs) and the respective department Presidents who will be responsible for keeping the powers of the two heads under check or “the parliamentary form of elections”, as he calls them.
Meanwhile, the principal and other college authorities were unavailable for comments.
While it has become quite clear from certain examples in the recent past that the triumph of party-affiliated politics nurtures nothing but only the mouthpiece of a particular ideology; it is, like Yashank states, “the leadership in a free environment is what we look for with every student having a say in the decision-making”.
After nearly five months of the incident of obstruction of a seminar and the subsequent violence at Ramjas College that followed, the issue has taken a new turn. In a recent Action Taken Report(ATR) filed by the Delhi Police in the court, it was initially reported by some news papers that professors who led the protest against ABVP allegedly raised anti-national slogans. The Delhi Police report, submitted by the joint commissioner, in regard to the earlier court report, stated that some of the administrative staff and professors were also a part of the protest. The videos were later found to be fake by Delhi Police.
The professors were accused of shouting anti nationalist slogans, “Hum Kya Mange Azadi”, “Kashmir Mange Azadi”. Delhi Police had initially named five faculty members for leading the protest march in which the slogans were raised. They were Dr Devraj Mookherjee, Mukul Manglik, Vinita Chandra, NA Jacob, and Benu Lal. Speaking to DU Beat Dr Mookherjee said he wasn’t even part of the protest. “The police put it wrong, I was not there and everyone knows that. The entire college knows that. I did not happen to be a part of that march. So, I am not a witness to the particular slogan hearing incident”, he said denying the charges.
Speaking on the condition of anonymity a student of the college who doesn’t have any political affiliations said that the protestors were chanting “Meethi Meethi Azadi”, “ Pyaari Pyaari Azadi” which got misinterpreted to anti nationalist slogans and was misused in the doctored video. “The accusations are entirely baseless,” said the student.
After the video was found to be doctored, Police Officials said that they would send other videos for forensic examination as well. Speaking to the Hindu, deputy commissioner of Police, Madhur Verma, said that the clip was an amalgamation of the Ramjas Protest, speeches by JNU student Umar Khalid and other incidents and the Police department has asked media sources for a raw and authentic footage of the protests.
Members of Delhi University Students Union (DUSU) staged a protest at the North Campus of University of Delhi on Wednesday after the announcement of the results of the third year students not clearing the exam took to the news. Slogans demanding “Third-year students be promoted” rang outside gate number four of the university, as many students gathered to demand that they should be promoted, despite failing.
A number of third-year students failed in their practicals and in turn, failed to clear their third year. The students claimed that they were not informed that they had to pass individual components of a course in order to clear a subject, and hence their failing in the course was ‘unfair.’ Members of DUSU claimed that they had received applications asking for help from as many as 2000 students, most of whom had failed the practical component of a subject in their fifth semester: At least 700 applications from B.Com programme students who failed in practicals in Computer Applications, students who have had issues in Music, B.Com (H), and Statistics (H).
“I had scored 36 out of 45 in theory, and seven out of 15 in internals in Computer Applications which are both above the passing grade of 40%. Even my total score of 56% was above the passing grade. However, they said I have failed the subject because I have scored only 13 out of 40 in my practical exams. I was never told by my teachers, or my college, that I would need to pass theory, practical and internals separately to clear the subject,” said a B.Com programme student of Laxmi Bai College.
Meanwhile, DU officials have said that a committee had been formed to look into the issue and will check if the students have been misinformed. Relevant steps will be taken to resolve the issue.
Self-preservation is the law of the nature. It seems that the first year law students of Delhi University’s law faculty decided to follow nature’s law over the norms set by the University yesterday. The Campus Law Centre(CLC) of Delhi University had to postpone one of its exams of 1st year in the view of ruckus and violent atmosphere created by some students who were not provided their admit cards due to lack of attendance. The students of Law Centre I and Law Centre II protested for the fact that students of campus law centre being provided with provisional admit cards by the Prof. In Charge.
The first year students who reached Campus Law Centre to appear for their Criminal Procedure Code (Cr PC) exams were surprised to find a huge commotion in the centre along with a huge police presence. Some students who were protesting even threatened the authorities of committing suicide by jumping from the 1st floor of the building. The entire event which unfolded yesterday finds its origin in the act of the prof. in charge of Campus Law Centre, Prof. Usha Tandon who issued provisional admit to the detained students of CLC who had not been issued their admit cards due to lack of attendance. This act irked the students of the other centres who had not been issued any admit cards due to lack of attendance.
In an emergency meeting that took place among the dean, Pro vice chancellor(PVC) and the Prof in charge of the centres, it was decided that the Prof. in charges have no authority to issue admit cards, which can only be issued by the University to students who fulfil the criteria set by the Bar Council. Later, in another notice the PVC on the advice of proctor, allowed the prof. in charges to issue admit cards to students which was subject to PVC’s approval. This was met with another notice from the dean of law faculty who mentioned that she won’t be responsible if this action of the university leads to de-recognition of the degree by Bar Council later.
Later in a joint appeal to the detained students, the dean and the Prof. in charges requested them to co-operate with the decision of the University as their action can lead to derecognition of the degree of nearly 5500 students who are currently enrolled in the faculty. The exam which was cancelled will be held later.
Last year, similar ruckus forced the authorities to provide students with admit cards for which the University had to face the ire of Bar Council. “This ruckus by students who don’t attend the faculty for the entire semester is affecting the normal students” said Jaideep Panghal, a student of Law Faculty.
Although students have every right to protest, but is it just to prevent others from giving exams and coerce the authorities with suicide threats instead of attending classes?
