Left-wing students groups, already on their 12th day of agitation over the non-NET fellowship, are refusing to budge despite two police crackdowns and what they term as the BJP government’s “unwillingness” to resolve the issue.
The major thrust to the protest in front of the University Grants Commission HQ here came when the UGC announced scrapping of non-NET fellowships. Later, the Union ministry of human resources development revoked the UGC decision — for which the ABVP claimed credit — and set-up a review panel to assess the feasibility of NET and non-NET benefits for researchers. The agitating students, largely led by leftists, call the five-member review panel an “eyewash” as it will “consider merit and economic criteria” for the allocation of fellowships. They demand dissolution of the review committee; inclusion of state universities in the non-NET stipend; augmentation of stipend from '5,000 to '8,000 for M.Phil students and '8,000 to '12,000 for Ph.D. scholars. In addition, they want the Central government not to sign WTO-GATS (World Trade Organisation-General Agreement on Trade in Services) on education because, as they contend, the current dispensation wants to turn education into a “tradable commodity or service.”
Outside barricaded the UGC HQ on a nippy night, bags, mats, blankets and ragged mattresses lie scattered; students from various universities discuss strategy to escalate the “movement”; few hum songs of resistance, justice and patriotism from the mildewed pages of Uthao Awaaz (Raise Your Voice), while a dozen undergraduates play cricket using a handle-less bat on a pavement-turned-pitch, illuminated by streetlights.
Moments later, the reposeful calm of ITO stretch at midnight is broken by slogans and rhythmic strokes on daflis. Nearly 100 students from various Delhi universities circle around a bonfire and shout slogans on a loop: “All Day, All Night, Occupy UGC.”
Police personnel, resting in chairs near the leaflet-adorned barricades, look detachedly amused by catchphrases vociferously declaimed by protesters. Occasional vehicles trundle past the UGC HQ and their occupants craning out of the windows seem befuddled by the gathering. An Ambassador with a red beacon, meanwhile, pulls up along the kerb and a police officer supervising the protest clambers up to report to a mysterious, hidden figure in the car with palpable deference. Words exchanged in hushed tone and the Ambassador vrooms off.
After almost one hour of top-of-the-lungs chants against the UGC and the MHRD, parathas with pickle arrive for “comrades” and tea is served — thanks to pooled money.
A bit farther from the bonfire, one of the protesters, Mohammad Sharique sitting on a granite slab solves his math questions. Sharique, an undergraduate from Delhi University, has been detained twice in as many police crackdowns. The police action has instead firmed his resolve to fight for issue. “Though I do not qualify for the fellowship, the MHRD decision to form a review committee to dilute the eligibility criteria will impact all to-be and current scholars.”
“The government’s apathy towards state funding for research should be attributed to the Budget cuts in higher education. Now, these cuts are reflected through various anti-student decisions. These anti-student measures will culminate when the government will sign WTO-GATS treaty on education in December; following which education will be treated as commodity. Equating right with commodity or service is deplorable,” Mohit, who is All-India Students’ Association media coordinator, said in a voice that has turned gruff due to constant sloganeering.
