In response to a Zero Hour mention in Rajya Sabha by Sharad Yadav, Union Minister for Human Resource Development Prakash Javadekar on Wednesday said that the Centre has rolled out the process for appointment of about 300 teachers in Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) and said that the intake of students in MPhil and PhD programmes will increase in the forthcoming academic session.
Yadav, the leader of Janata Dal (United) in Rajya Sabha, raised the issue of seat cuts in JNU and said that students from rural area came to study to the University. But since the seat intake has been brought down to 102 from 970, students have been desperate.
"Now the process and interviews have started. In a couple of months, 300 lecturers and professors would be appointed and if there were 970 MPhil and PhD students last year, then the number this year will be more," said Javadekar.
As members tried to raise more questions following Javadekar's statement, Deputy Chairman P J Kurien said "I have no reason to disbelieve what the Minister has said."
Meanwhile, students of JNU took part in an agitation protesting against the new admission policy of the varsity and staged several demonstrations against the massive seat cut in MPhil and PhD programmes in JNU. Earlier, the Delhi High Court had dismissed the plea by some students against the procedure followed by JNU to implement the Gazette Notification by University Grants Commission, dated May 5, 2016.
On Tuesday, Yadav had addressed JNU students in the campus, regarding the recent seat cuts in MPhil and PhD seats. The meeting took place despite a letter having been sent to Yadav by the University, bringing to his notice that the Delhi High Court has prohibited protests within 100 metres of the administrative block.
"It is most likely that the invited speakers coming from outside are not even aware of the interim court orders relating to holding such kind of events on JNU campus.
In this connection, the invited speaker (Yadav) of the event has been apprised of the situation," read the letter issued by Registrar Pramod Kumar on Tuesday. "The administration advises all the stakeholders of JNU to refrain from organising any event that is in violation of the rules, regulations and relevant court orders," the letter further read.
Answering in affirmative to the letter issued by Kumar, Yadav said that he did receive the notification, but won't refrain from coming forward to talk on such issues.