JNU students to protest outside MHRD today

New Delhi: In a bid to track attention from the authorities over the fee hike issue, Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) Students' Union on Thursday said that they are going to march towards the Ministry of Human Resource Development on Friday. In a statement, the JNU Students' Union (JNUSU), have demanded that the MHRD must remove Vice-Chancellor Mamidala Jagadesh Kumar. "The MHRD must remove this anti-student VC!!," read the statement. Besides, the students are demanding that the High Power Executive Committee release its report. "Why is MHRD sitting on the HPEC Report for so long ?," asked JNUSU.

Speaking on the issue, Indu, a JNU student spoke to the Millennium Post and said that student representation is a crucial part when it comes to implementing hostel rules and regulations. "It is very important to understand that student union representation is the university representative and they should definitely be present there," she said.

"Our major demand was roll-back, which was our call from Day 1, and to reconvene the IHA meeting, where students' union with hostel presidents, provosts and wardens should be present," added the student.

The High Powered Committee appointed by MHRD that was held to restore normalcy in the campus and included former chairperson of University Grants Commission (UGC) VS Chauhan, All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) chairperson Anil Sahasrabudhe, and UGC secretary Rajnish Jain. The committee sat with JNUSU over two meetings and was to submit a report by Monday, which has not come out yet.

Meanwhile, a seven-member committee came into existence on Sunday. Calling the JNU administration's seven-member committee a farce, Indu said no recommendation given by the hostel presidents, was accepted by them. The students also called the 'partial fee roll' recommended by the JNU admin a sham and demanded a complete rollback of the fee hike and the new hostel manual. Various student organisations from around the country have also come out in support of JNU's cause. Institutes like IIT and AIIMS have also extended solidarity to the students of JNU.

Haider Ansari, a member of student organisation AIYE, said that students from different backgrounds come to study in JNU, and the fee spike will snatch away their right to education. "The fee hike should not have taken place because JNU is an institute where children of the poor come to study, children of the farmers come to study," he said.

At the moment, the students have refused to budge and are continuing the protests, which has completed a month now.