HRD committee asks JNUSU for normalcy in first meet

New Delhi: Jawaharlal Nehru University Students Union (JNUSU) on Wednesday met the three-member committee of Human Resource Development (HRD) Ministry for the first meeting, putting forward their demands regarding the fee hike, but have made it clear that they won't stop protesting regarding the issue.

The High Powered Committee appointed by MHRD was held to restore normalcy on the campus. Taking to Twitter, the HRD Ministry confirmed that JNU students had met the members today at Shastri Bhawan. "The High Power Committee of MHRD met the JNU students today and took stock of views of students in a cordial meeting at Shastri Bhawan. They agreed to meet the students again on Friday in JNU campus to find solutions to the current issues," tweeted the ministry's account.

They added that the Committee has appealed to the students to restore normalcy on the campus immediately. However, the ministry said that the students have responded positively to the normalcy factor, but JNUSU president Aishe Ghosh spoke to Millennium Post saying that the protests will go on. "We have put forward our demands to the ministry, while they listened to everything, but nothing concrete has come out of it," she said.

She also added that the Students Union also demanded the resignation of Vice-Chancellor Mamidala Jagadesh Kumar. "They told us, our demand will be forwarded to the concerned authority, but there isn't anything more they can do," said Ghosh. The meeting was attended by JNUSU members along with student councillors from different schools.

The students at JNU have been protesting for over 3-weeks now, demanding a roll-back of the fees-hike and withdrawal of draft hostel rules manual proposed by the University Administration. However, the committee has called a second meeting on Friday at the JNU Campus "to find solutions to the current issues".

In a statement circulated by JNUSU, they mentioned that the committee has acknowledged the need for a dialogue of all the stakeholders.

"We therefore emphasized the need to meet within the campus and reconvene the Inter-Hall Administration(IHA) meeting which was arbitrarily conducted by the Dean of Students. We reiterated that no meeting outside the campus would be of any consequence if the VC was not going to acknowledge the Students' Union and their legitimacy," said the statement.

They also mentioned that the VC has refused to meet the High Power Committee, to which the latter had no answer.

"Our demands are remarkably clear. The onus is on you to better this situation. So stop initiating criminal proceedings against us and come talk. Otherwise, please leave," said the statement.