JNU's admission committee puts forward views on UGC notifications

Jawaharlal Nehru University's Steering Committee of Admission on Friday put forward their views on the UGC regulations related to the admissions in M Phil and PhD programmes and the impact of the new regulations on the current practices of the University. The committee discussed in details all the issues and has arrived on some consensus which still have to be taken up with the UGC officials before finalising.

In a rebel to the committee's decision, members of the students' union will organise a press conference on Anti Student-Unconstitutional UGC Gazette Notification on Saturday, at VP House, Rafi Marg.

A three-tier entrance test which would include a qualifying test (OMR type) which requires every student to get 50 per cent to qualify to the next stage of written test and viva-voce which would have a weightage of 80 per cent and 20 per cent respectively was decided upon by the committee.

Rama Naga, a protestor going against the committee's decision said: "The committee has set up a 50 per cent eligibility criteria for the qualifying examination which is against the rule that states that the ST/SC need to have a minimum of 25 per cent (approximately), the general class need to get a minimum of 34 per cent and the OBC need to have a minimum of 31 per cent only to qualify examinations."

The consensus also states that the admission policy would adhere to all constitutional provisions related to the reservation system, the current practice of deprivation point will continue, that the revised policy on quartile points designating 36 more districts should be adopted.

Notably, the committee also said that the Research Methodology and domain knowledge would be a part of the qualifying test.

Meanwhile, Mohit K Pandey, President, Jawaharlal Nehru University Student's Union (JNUSU) expressing his anger said: "The administration is misguiding the people by not talking clearly. The administration has also manipulated the minutes of the standing committee again and have ignored the concerns raised by the student community."

"Also, the release can only be issued once the minutes of the meeting are discussed and nothing of this sought has happened yet," he added.

Meanwhile, the committee has requested the protestors to end their hunger strike and cooperate with the administration and sought to address all the concerns of the student community related to the admission policies.

According to the JNUSU, both the HRD ministry and the JNU administration are trying to evade from addressing the issues that the students' body have demanded for.