New Delhi: The Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) has issued a notice asking the residents of hostels to pay their mess dues till November 14, failing which they will not be served food.
The notice, which was issued by the university’s office of the senior warden, came after the university proposed to raise the hostel mess security deposit from '5,500 to '12,000. This had resulted in a massive backlash from the students.
The draft hostel manual also proposed to increase hostel fees from '20 to '600 for a single room and from '10 to '300 for a shared room. It also directed the students to shell out '1,700 for maintenance services.
Students of various institutions in the city protested on Tuesday against the “brutal” police attack on JNU students. The protesters raised slogans against the “commercialisation” of education, the police’s intervention in “democratic” protests of students, and the fee hike.
Condemning the police’s action against the students, the CPI(M) Politburo said this hike will only ensure that JNU becomes an elitist university as against its current characteristic that promotes students from diverse backgrounds to afford higher education.
The police lathicharged the students and used water cannons to disperse them.
On Tuesday, the protesters demanded withdrawal of the draft hostel manual, which they claimed has provisions for fee hike, dress code, and curfew timings.
Shreya Singh, the secretary of the All India Democratic Students’ Organisation (AIDSO), said the new hostel manual, which was passed on October 28, will disrupt the financial life of around 50 per cent of JNU students who belong to the economically weaker sections and depend on a '2,500 grant under the means-cum-merit scheme.
For many students, the proposed hike in hostel fees, if implemented, will mean the end of their “great JNU dream”.
A day after the university’s students clashed with police as their protest over the steep fee hike escalated, many women students said they would be summoned home if the hike takes place.
According to Amrit Raj, a councillor at the School of Arts and Aesthetics, students sign an undertaking at the time of taking the scholarship that they cannot take up jobs outside, which means that their “great JNU dream” is under threat.
