[Reader-list] #increasenonnetfellowship: Notes from Ongoing Protest at UGC: Things to Do!

[nayan]

Dear Friends,





We are writing to you from the site of the ongoing protest vigil by
hundreds of students at the University Grants Commission (UGC) headquarters
in ITO, Delhi. You might have already heard that the UGC, in a meeting on
7th October to review recommendations to enhance the non-NET fellowship,
has instead, ironically, decided to ‘scrap the scheme’ altogether (copy of
the section of Minutes attached).





This is a serious attack on our right to education, and directly adversely
affects lakhs of students across all central universities in India, who are
pursuing their MPhils and PhDs. Though the amount itself (Rs. 5000 per
month Mphil, Rs.8000 for PhD students) is meager and less than even the
minimum wage for an unskilled worker in Delhi for example, it is the only
source of sustenance for the larger majority of students pursuing higher
education today. The UGC Chairman Ved Prakash
<http://www.hindustantimes.com/education/ugc-to-do-away-with-non-net-fellowship-students-to-protest/story-4zPpissfRemDj0bDnuLt3O.html>
has
given a one-liner explanation for this brazen attack on education: “we were
getting a lot complaints about the fellowship, so we have decided to do
away with it” (what does it even mean??)


This move has of course come on the heels of the 8% cuts in the education
budget this year itself, and come as per the directives of the government’s
bosses at the World Trade Organisation, which is expressed in setting “cost
of education to be passed on to students” as a condition. India is all set
to sign this agreement in the WTO ministerial convention
<http://www.catchnews.com/india-news/we-need-to-save-higher-education-from-wto-anil-sadgopal-1440775116.html>
in Nairobi this December, and this move is part of the same ‘package’. It
is clear that the complaints that our UGC Chairperson talked about is from
the WTO and not from common students!





This direct attack on higher education by the present government also seeks
to further the divide among students - dispossess education and basic
amenities from the majority of students who will become cheap labour for
your failed development model (even the capitalist associations are saying
that this is a jobless growth model, see this ASSOCHAM report
<http://www.assocham.org/newsdetail.php?id=5163>: “50 lakh jobless in the
years of ‘highest growth’ from 2004-2010”), and a ‘creamy meritocratic
layer’ accumulating 'knowledge' and 'culture' (sic) who can afford to do
research in high-end foreign universities to man the overexploited
workforce in the country. To further divide the student community, UGC has
decided to tactically continue the fellowship of the current students, so
as to create a wedge between ‘current fellowship holders’ and ‘future
fellowship holders’.





In sum: we face an absent future. And the only way we can halt and reverse
this is by raising our voices together as a united students' community.
Today, around 200 of us – many common students from JNU-DU-Jamia-AUD –
broke open the main gates of the UGC headquarters in Delhi in the
afternoon, clashing with the Delhi Police, and raising slogans against the
discontinuation of the non-NET fellowships. *We continue to sit in protest
at the doors of the UGC, which will go on indefinitely*, as the Chairperson
did not meet us today and the in-charge had only empty assurances of
“review in one month or two” (till the WTO dictates come in full force?!)
to offer till now.





Our demands are simple:

   1. Immediately revoke the UGC decision dated 7th October to discontinue
   the non-NET fellowship
   2. Increase the non-NET fellowships given price rise, hike in rents and
   cost of living.
   3. Provide the fellowship to all Universities
   4. Stop differential treatment of students, and halt all other moves
   towards privatization of education.







*What can we do? * (Some suggestions, please add more and lets work on it!)



-         We should try and reach the *ongoing protest site in front if the
UGC* which will go on indefinitely, and make plans to make the deaf ears of
the UGC hear in even larger numbers in an appropriate date in the coming
days when most students return from the current break.



-         We could *collect signatures* from our respective departments
(and from friends in other departments), and among friends in our hostels
and PGs. The signature can be on a format addressing our demand to the UGC
and the HRD Ministry. *Our demand is not to ‘save fellowships’, but to
‘increase the fellowship’*. There has been a long-standing demand of
students to increase the amount, keeping in mind, price rise, hike in rents
and cost of living, and so on. We need to stress on this while talking to
the UGC.



-         We could write *individual testimonies* to circulate among other
students and post to the UGC chairperson and HRD minister, of how we
(barely) survive on the fellowships as ‘research workers’ and how it needs
to be increased. This becomes important as unlike student bodies of JNU and
Hyderabad for example who have written to the UGC, the anti-student
pro-government DUSU will not represent us!



-         We should coordinate among ourselves for this purpose. Some
friends have put up this *facebook page: Education is not for sale:
#increasenonnetfellowship
<https://www.facebook.com/educationnotforsale?fref=nf>*, where we could put
up our testimonies and news for collectivizing our struggle. We can also
make a whatapp group for the same.







This is a case where we strongly feel that all the common students need to
come forward in active resistance to the ongoing attack on students and
education in general. Let us organize ourselves, inform and coordinate
within different universities and colleges to defend our right to
education. Spread the word!











Regards,



Nayanjyoti

Mphil Research Scholar,

Dept of Anthropology,

Delhi University

8130589127





[p.s. Please write to me separately if you do not wish to be in this
thread. I do not know many people personally, but sending it to a list of
all the students in the department since this concerns us all! Thanks!]


-- 

"nothing is stable, except instability;
 nothing is immovable, except movement."

engels, 1853