Enraged JNU students stage protests before UGC office

Left vexed by Jawaharlal Nehru University's prospectus which shows 86 percent seat cuts, students on Friday staged a protest demonstration outside the University Grants Commission (UGC).

The University, meanwhile, retained its stand stating that it is following the UGC Gazette Notification, which shows the reduction in seats for MPhil and PhD programmes by a massive number, leaving research aspirants with only 194 seats in this academic year.

At a general body meeting on Thursday, students decided to carry out various forms of protests against the UGC Notification, which also puts a cap on the number of research scholars a professor can guide.

The protests started in the afternoon where students wanted to meet the UGC chairmen and discuss the issue. Further, the agitating students blocked the road outside the UGC office demanding the guidelines to be revoked. Posters with slogans against the UGC and the University were also displyed. "A Straight-Jacket for Cutting down research seats, scuttling social justice and destroying institutional autonomy", read a poster held by one JNU student.

"Why is the UGC so keen to shut down MPhil and PhD programmes in the best Central University in the country?" said a member of JNU Students' Union (JNUSU). Meanwhile, JNUSU extended their strike in the campus against the seat cuts even as Human Resource Development Minister Prakash Javadekar defended the University's decision, saying that it only followed the UGC norms.

Due to the protests, roads were blocked and the commuters faced traffic snarls.

"A UGC meeting will be held on March 28 but we will continue our with our strike. We will also stage a protest on the day of the UGC meeting," said Rama Naga, JNU protester.

Javadekar stated that the numbers of research scholars professors can guide have been mandated by the UGC, which is appropriate as the number of research scholars with a professor in other countries is less but in India the number was high because the country needed more PhDs.

Mohit Pandey, JNUSU president said: "Instead of filling up the vacant faculty posts, the HRD and UGC are diverting the issue of seat cuts by saying that now supervisory caps will be implemented in JNU."