JNUSU protests outside HRD ministry, ups ante against UGC notification

Continuing with the rebellion, Jawaharlal Nehru University Students' Union (JNUSU) on Thursday held a protest outside the Human Resource Development (HRD) ministry in regard to the grievous implications of the May 5, 2016's University Grants Commission's (UGC) notification which states issues related to admissions in M Phil and PhD programmes in Central universities.

The memorandum issued by the JNUSU to Sukhbir Singh Sandhu, Joint Secretary, Central Universities on February 2, stated that adopting UGC's notification will undermine JNU's unique and decades-old deprivation point system in admissions.

Also, that the strict rule regarding the eligibility of research supervision which clearly states that a drastic reduction in the available number of M Phil and PhD seats will take place causing gross violation to the 93rd Constitution Amendment which mandated expansion of seats for implementing OBC reservation in 2008. "I am against this decision completely. It is against the Constitutional Amendment which ordered expansion of seats. Reducing the number of students will not help," said Mohit K Pandey, President, JNUSU.

UGC's notification also stated that viva weightage will be increased from 30 per cent to 100 per cent in admissions with written examinations reduced to a mere qualifier.