Countryside, Debates, Politics, Right watch

Why the Ban on Cow Slaughter is not Just Anti-Farmer but Anti-Cow as Well: Sagari R Ramdas

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SAGARI R. RAMDAS writes in The Wire:

The recent killings of Mohammad Akhlaq, Noman and Zahid Ahmad Bhatt on the claim that they were slaughtering cows is not only an attack on the right to life, livelihood and diverse food cultures but an assault on the entire agrarian economy.

The cynical fetishisation of cows by Hindutva politicians is not only profoundly anti-farmer but, paradoxically, also anti-cow.

What these bigots fail to realise is that the cow will survive only if there are pro-active measures to support multiple-produce based cattle production systems, where animals have economic roles. The system must produce a combination of milk, beef, draught work, manure and hide, as has been the case in the rain-fed food farming agriculture systems of the sub-continent over the centuries.

In meat production systems – whether meat from cattle, buffaloes, sheep, goat, pigs or poultry – it is the female which is reared carefully in large numbers to reproduce future generations, and the male that goes to slaughter. It is only the sick, old, infertile and non-lactating female that is sold for slaughter. In every society where beef consumption is not politicised, farmers known that eating the female bovine as a primary source of meat will compromise future production, and hence they are rarely consumed.

Read the rest of this article here.

Bad ideas

The Polariser is peddling a lie that could lead to a civil war. And yet we’re silent.

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(First published by Catchnews on 29 October,2015)

The man has spoken yet again. If the liberals keep complaining even after this about his silence, they should go and get their ears checked.

He speaks again and again, but they do not hear him. Is it just their old ‘secular’ embarrassment that prevents them from accepting what he has been saying all along in his own voice?

This time, the mobiliser, or polariser, tried to give an anti-Muslim spin to the reservation debate. He told his audience that there was a conspiracy being hatched by Lalu Prasad and Nitish Kumar to snatch away the quota of the Extremely Backward Classes and Scheduled Castes, and give it to a particular community. He left the community unnamed. Continue reading The Polariser is peddling a lie that could lead to a civil war. And yet we’re silent. →

Ecology/Environment, Everyday Life

The meaning of the sports bicycle: Sanjay Srivastava

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Guest post by SANJAY SRIVASTAVA

Our public life is full of vacuous gestures that seek to define public good. The rise of the elite-class bicycle as a symbol of mass welfare is the latest in the addled and self-serving history of ‘ordinariness’ in the republic.

car

TOI photo: Sanjay Sekhri

Over the past few years, the sports bicycle with bells and whistles and its rider whose riding gear might cost more than a month’s salary paid to a professional car driver have become icons of an urban renewal movement. We so perfectly walk in the footsteps of meanings borrowed from elsewhere that we erase our own imprints. Does the fancy bicycle – the kind sported by Arvind Kejriwal in his Dussehra Car Free Day  ride in Delhi —  hold the key to a improved urban environment characterised by reduced pollution levels and, more importantly, ease of access for the city’s most disadvantaged populations? Far from it. For, even our gimmicks are of the cruellest kind.

Continue reading The meaning of the sports bicycle: Sanjay Srivastava →

Bad ideas, Debates, Education

Knowledge and Innovation for a Better Society : Ravi Sinha

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An Address to the Students of Gokhale Institute of Politics and Economics, Pune, India

Guest Post by Ravi Sinha

It should be a matter of no small comfort if, in today’s world and in today’s India, any discussion takes place anywhere about the relationship between knowledge and innovation on the one hand and the prospects for a good society on the other. It is greatly more satisfying and reassuring if this topic interests talented young minds such as present here, who, I hope, also nurse hopes for a better future, not only for themselves but also for the entire society and civilization. Yours is an esteemed institution with such a long history of cultivating and disseminating knowledge about society – about politics, economics and other related disciplines. I am sure this issue has been a core concern right from the inception of this institute, and I doubt if I will be able to bring in anything of added value. But, as I said, this is always a welcome topic for discussion. I am very happy for this opportunity to share some of my thoughts with you.

Today if one mentions these two words – knowledge and innovation – together, it is very likely that the image of a Mark Zuckerberg or Steve Jobs or Bill Gates will come to mind, even if such an association is not obvious to everyone. I, for one, often need to tell myself that I should not complain. After all, these gentlemen are symbols of one of the greatest technological revolutions humanity has experienced and we are living through. It has changed the way humanity works, communicates and lives, and it is not over yet. Unrealized potentials far outweigh the realized ones and far greater changes are in the pipeline. Physicists have recently discovered that the Universe now expands at an accelerated rate, but when it comes to accelerated expansion into the unknown, the Universe appears to be no match for technology.

For many the technological explosion is a cause for unadulterated excitement and a source of unbounded hope. For many others it is a cause for grave concern. There are yet others for whom it presents a mixed picture. In times of rapid and radical transformations, it is not unusual for many to have a sense of unease. Humanity has always innovated and created new ways and forms of life, and it has always found it difficult to adjust to its own innovations and creations. But the capacity to adjust improves with time. If the sense of unease or consternation appears widespread despite a greatly improved capacity for adjusting to the new, part of the reason lies in the break-neck speed of the current change. Continue reading Knowledge and Innovation for a Better Society : Ravi Sinha →

Right watch, Violence/Conflict

Protest the communally motivated murder of Yakub Shaikh in Mumbai!

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A CALL FOR PROTEST on 29th October 2015 outside Toyota Shinrai, Cotton Green, Mumbai.

On 29th September at 2:30 pm,  a day after Dadri lynching in Uttar Pradesh, Yakub Shaikh, a worker at the Toyota Shinrai workshop cum showroom at Cotton Green, Mumbai, was brutally murdered at his workplace. The murder took place as a result of some of his co-workers forcefully inserting an air pipe at 140 PSI pressure into his rectum. His organs burst open leading to what must have been a painful but instant death. The gruesome `lynching’ was sought to be suppressed by the management and co-employees at the showroom.

His family was misinformed throughout, the various versions of the death being told  to them as “heart attack”, food poisoning, medicine overdose and finally “a prank”, by the company and police. The two CCTV cameras covering the spot of murder were reported by the Toyota Shinrai management to police as having been out of service for months, whereas a close inspection shows that they have been tampered with and damaged very recently. Clearly there seems to be an unholy nexus between the police and the Toyota company.

The police have recorded the statement of an 18-year old temporary worker as the complainant and registered an FIR in his name. Why wasn’t the  management made the complainant? In a large workplace where 40-50 people work, why were the statements of co workers not recorded? The single witness / complainant is likely to  turn hostile at any moment. Why have the police refused to accept the version from the victim’s family? Why has the management given different versions of the death to the family? Why the management wanted to give a false story of heart attack, and why the police ACP was trying to do a negotiation for 3 lakhs? Why was there a delay in doing post mortem? The management’ s false heart attack story and the delay in deciding on post mortem itself warranted demand for charging/implicating the management in covering-up/destroying evidence, if not conspiracy with the murderers.  Does not a single arrest to such a gruesome murder point to a conspiracy and a deliberate attempt by the police to shield the Toyota Company and the other accomplices to the murder? Throughout, the police have taken every possible step to silence the victim’s family.

A fact-finding team of lawyers and activists from various organizations have submitted a report after their own investigation that a minimum of 5-6 people were involved in pinning down Yakub Shaikh and inserting the air pipe into his rectum. It is clearly a case of pre-planned murder. The murder also happened a day after the Dadri lynching soon after Eid and Yakub Shaikh had been threatened for having eaten `meat’.

A month after the murder of Yakub Shaikh, the police and management are singing in chorus that Yakub was killed because of a prank that misfired. We concerned citizens strongly condemn the murder and demand that the officials of Toyota Shinrai showroom along with the employees responsible for the murder be booked and justice be given to the family of Yakub Shaikh.

We appeal  to all democratic citizens, trade unionists and secular activists to gather in large numbers at 5 pm on Thursday, 29th October . We will gather at Lal Maidan and from there we will proceed to Toyota Shinrai as a sign of protest against the gruesome murder of Yakub Shaikh to demand justice for the victim and his family.

CPDR, BBA, JKA and concerned citizens.

Bad ideas, Culture, Feminism, Identities, Media politics

Girl, Get Back your Dignity NOW: Indulekha Writes to Sumathikkuttyamma

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Dear great-great granddaughter Sumathikutty

I am sure you never expected this missive. Yes, you may even think it impossible. But here am I, writing to you, from the other side of J Devika’s computer screen at which she is staring now, mouth open and goggle-eyed, right now. I don’t have to introduce myself – most Malayalees know me as Chandu Menon’s Soul-Daughter, and the Grand (Old) Lady of Modern Kerala (alas, some of the youngest know of Indulekha hair oil only!). Continue reading Girl, Get Back your Dignity NOW: Indulekha Writes to Sumathikkuttyamma →

Bad ideas, Education, Everyday Life, Government, Images

Delhi Police Tells Lies about Attacks on Protesting Students – #OccupyUGC

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[ Video Footage, courtesy Akhil Kumar, taken from his Facebook Page ]

The ongoing movement to #OccupyUGC by students from all the universities in Delhi has so far seen two instances of vicious attack by the Delhi Police. Students were manhandled, abused and badly beaten with sticks and batons. Several had to be hospitalized and some are severely injured. However, police officers have been lying about their actions.

The Indian Express reported the lathi charge and also quoted a senior police officer – DCP (Central), Paramaditya as saying, “Around 45-50 protesters were detained. No one was lathicharged. Policemen did not have lathis… the protesters attacked and injured policewomen.”

 

Post on Akhil Kumar's Facebook Wall
Post on Akhil Kumar’s Facebook Wall

Here is a series of videos shot by Akhil Kumar, a young independent photo-journalist (who was himself severely beaten after this). This footage clearly shows up DCP (Central) Paramaditya as a liar.

Meanwhile, #OccupyUGC continues.

Ecology/Environment, Everyday Life, Violence/Conflict

Remove ban on food items like beef and meat

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Sign the petition posted at Change.org by SANKET CHHABRA

I am a Jain vegetarian person, but moreover I am a supporter of free will! It started with the ban of beef in Maharashtra, but now it’s spreading, I know the government means respect for the Jain community, but if they are banning meat during our festival, should’t it also force us to eat meat during the celebration of Id, all I am asking for is for everyone to choose what they want to eat and whenever they want it! I call for support for this petition as I do not want the people of a DEMOCRATIC country to be forced into doing something they don’t believe in! Thank You to all the Governments for the respect you have given this small community of ours, but please don’t force the people with different beliefs to do the same!

SIGN THE PETITION HERE

Education, Movements, Politics

Statement of outrage against police crackdown on students at #Occupy UGC: Faculty Feminist Collective, JNU

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The Faculty Feminist Collective of JNU stands in solidarity with the students protesting the revocation/review of the UGC non-NET fellowship. We are outraged at the brutal police action against students gathered in a protest demonstration since yesterday, without a single convincing response from the UGC or the MHRD that could allay the anxieties of thousands of students across India that the non-NET fellowship will not be discontinued. Prevarication on this basic demand by press releases announcing the setting up of a review committee has only indicated a malafide intent.

We are deeply dismayed to hear of the reports of significant injuries to unarmed protestors and the detention of a number of students by the police until late last night.

The MHRD Minister and the UGC Chairperson should understand that the situation can only be defused by their unequivocal assurance to the academic community that there shall be no rollback or any other amendment of the eligibility of students for the UGC Non-NET Fellowship scheme for the universities that are already in receipt of these fellowships in this or future academic years.

Furthermore, it should take positive and visible steps to meet students’ demands for an enhancement of fellowship remuneration and undertake to extend this fellowship scheme to state universities as well.

Education is a right, not a privilege, and as members of the academic community, we will resist all moves to subvert this basic understanding.

We fully endorse the JNUSU’s call for a strike, and in protest at state action and in solidarity with students, we will not be taking classes today.

The students have returned to UGC. Let us assemble there to show that we stand with them.

Culture, Debates, Identities, Images, Language

Statement by Artists, Curators and Critics Against Rising Intolerance in India

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Text of a Statement by Artists, Curators and Critics in India against a Climate of Rising Intolerance in India

(Followed by Names of the 300 + Signatories, in Alphabetical Order)

The artist community of India stands in firm solidarity with the actions of our writers who have relinquished awards and positions, and spoken up in protest against the alarming rise of intolerance in the country. We condemn and mourn the murders of MM Kalburgi, Narendra Dabholkar and Govind Pansare, rationalists and free thinkers whose voices have been silenced by rightwing dogmatists but whose ‘presence’ must ignite our resistance to the conditions of hate being generated around us.

We will never forget the battle we fought for our pre-eminent artist M.F. Husain who was hounded out of the country and died in exile. We remember the rightwing invasion and dismantling of freedoms in one of the country’s best known art schools in Baroda. We witness the present government’s appointment of grossly unqualified persons to the FTII Society and its disregard of the ongoing strike by the students of this leading Institute. We see a writer like Perumal Murugan being intimidated into declaring his death as a writer, a matter of dire shame in any society.

While the Prime Minister of the country has been conspicuously reticent in his response to the recent events, the reactions of BJP ministers in his government reveal their ignorance and prejudice. Mahesh Sharma, Minister of State for Culture, has made abhorrent comments about mob lynching and murder. His remarks suggesting that writers should stop writing to prove their point are alarming – empowered as he is to take policy decisions in the domain of culture. Arun Jaitley, Minister of Finance, Information & Broadcasting, has mocked the actions of our respected writers as a manufactured ‘paper rebellion’. He asks for scrutiny of the political and ideological affiliations of those who are protesting.

To these and other such provocations there is a clear answer: while the actual affiliations of the protesting writers and artists, scholars and journalists may be many and varied, their individual and collective voices are gaining cumulative strength. It is this that the ruling party will have to reckon with: the protestors’ declared disaffiliation from a government that encourages marauding outfits to enforce a series of regressive commands in this culturally diverse country.

The scale of social violence and fatal assaults on ordinary citizens (as in Dadri, Uttar Pradesh; Udhampur, Jammu and Kashmir; Faridabad, Harayana) is escalating. The contemptuous comments about the religious minorities and Dalits made by those within the government confirm that there is little difference between the RSS-BJP mainstream and supposed ‘fringe’ elements. The perfunctory warnings and regrets issued by ruling party ideologues – to defend the agendas of ‘development’ and ‘governance’ advanced by Mr Narendra Modi – are merely expedient. The Sangh Parivar and its Hindutva forces operating through their goon brigades form the support base of this government; they are all complicit in the attempts to impose conformity of thought, belief and practice. Continue reading Statement by Artists, Curators and Critics Against Rising Intolerance in India →

Bad ideas, Education, Government, Metropolis

BRUTAL CRACKDOWN ON THE STUDENTS IN Day 7 of THE #‎OccupyUGC MOVEMENT in Delhi: Kanhaiya Kumar, President JNUSU

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Guest Post by Kanhaiya Kumar, President, Jawaharlal Nehru Students Union (JNUSU)

BRUTAL CRACKDOWN ON THE STUDENTS IN THE #‎OccupyUGC MOVEMENT: DAY7

Students at the Police Barricades - #OccupyUGC
Students at the Police Barricades – #OccupyUGC

Students from JNU, AUD, DU and Jamia Milia Islamia University who were protesting in front of the UGC building, were brutally lathicharged on 27th October and 33 students have been detained. This is the second time that students have been lathicharged and detained since October 21, 2015. Students across universities in and beyond Delhi initiated the #OccupyUGC movement protesting against UGC’s decision to discontinue non-NET fellowships, refuse any enhancement and introduce ‘merit’ and ‘income’ criteria in allocating fellowships to research scholars. In today’s lathicharge, one student was hospitalized in critical condition, female protestors were mishandled by male police, they were abused verbally and many have been seriously injured.

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JNUSU condemns the brutal lathicharge/crackdown against the protesting students by the Delhi Police and appeals to common citizens to support the cause of the ongoing #OccupyUGC movement.

Kanhaiya Kumar is President, JNUSU

Bad ideas, Centre watch, Debates, Ecology/Environment, Education, Law, Movements

The Move to Professionalise Research: Aswathy Senan

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This is a guest post by ASWATHY SENAN

Researchers all over the country are protesting the move by the UGC to scrap the non-NET fellowship and students have gathered in hundreds to resume their agitation at the UGC office through OccupyUGC. it appears that one should be clear about what the student reaction means: it is much more than as a demand for monetary benefits. The student mobilization happened after the committee that met at the UGC office in Delhi to discuss and increase the non-NET fellowship, decided to scrap it. Following the protests that lasted through the nights from 21 October, the Minister of Human Resources Development tweeted that the fellowship shall be continued leaving out one crucial detail: its availability to new students. This decision to end all financial support of researchers doing their MPhil and PhD until they qualify NET or JRF is a huge threat for the research community in India as this is a clear move to professionalise research and make it a mere add on to teaching career. Continue reading The Move to Professionalise Research: Aswathy Senan →

Bad ideas

It is not about BEEF any longer, it is about life: Gaurav Jain

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Guest Post By Gaurav Jain
Respected Supreme Court of India,
It’s time you take a firm stand. You must decide whether you would continue giving ammunition to the communal elements to kill Akhlaqs, Nomans and Zahids in the name of “religious sentiments” or would you stand firmly and unambiguously by the side of fundamental rights of its citizens.
When the highest court of the country holds the beef-ban laws operational in various states as “Constitutional”, it almost validates the highly contorted views of these Hindu-Supremacists that the cow is a divine animal which must be protected. A view which is extrapolated to – whosoever tries to slaughter mother-cow or eat its meat deserves to be killed.
It’s not just about Beef any longer. The way people are being mob-lynched on mere suspicion of eating beef or smuggling cows, It has encroached upon our fundamental right to life and personal liberty guaranteed by the Constitution of India under Article 21. Right to food and freedom to choose what you want to eat – including Beef – is very well covered under it.

Continue reading It is not about BEEF any longer, it is about life: Gaurav Jain →

Empire/ Imperialism, Identities, Politics, Right watch, Violence/Conflict

Palestinian Women from Occupied East Jerusalem Call for Protection: Jerusalemite Women ’s Coalition

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A Statement by the JERUSALEMITE WOMEN’S COALITION

We women of occupied East Jerusalem call for immediate protection as we witness and suffer the widespread and serious violations of Palestinian human rights, including physical attacks and injuries, severe psychological threats, and persecution by the Israeli settler-colonial state and settler entities.

We urge the international community to act and defend the rights of Palestinian children, women, and men, including the right to a safe life amidst the constant attacks, excessive and indiscriminate use of force used by the Israeli oppressive apparatus, acts of violence and daily terror committed by Israeli Jewish civilians, including settlers. This brutality is intimidating our lives, provoking our youth, willfully causing death and bodily and psychological harm, and disabling and injuring of our community members.

We, a group of Palestinian women, mothers, sisters, daughters and youth—and in the name of the “Jerusalemite Women’s Coalition”—call upon the international community to protect our families, community, and children. We are calling for the protection of our bodily safety and security when in our homes, walking in our neighborhood, reaching schools, clinics, work places, and worships venues. Continue reading Palestinian Women from Occupied East Jerusalem Call for Protection: Jerusalemite Women ’s Coalition →

Politics, Right watch, Violence/Conflict

When I see them, I see us

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Received via LINDA GORDON

Produced by Black Palestinian Solidarity

Education, Movements, Right watch

Statement From Teachers And Researchers In Support Of ‘Occupy UGC’ in Delhi

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Statement in support of students protesting against the UGC’s proposal to scrap the Non-NET fellowship for research scholars, and in condemnation of the police crackdown on agitating students in Delhi on October 23, 2015

This is to express our complete solidarity with, and extend our full support to, students from universities across Delhi as well as other locations in the country who are protesting against the UGC’s decision to scrap Non-NET Fellowships for MPhil and PhD research scholars, and demanding an increase in the fellowship amounts. In particular, we condemn strongly the violent police action upon the peacefully protesting students on October 23, 2015, after the students had spent close to 48 hours in a sit-in at the UGC office in New Delhi protesting the failure of  the UGC authorities to extend a hearing to their grievances. We are shocked by the rapid escalation in aggression demonstrated by the UGC authorities against the students. At 6 am on Friday, 23rd October, about a hundred protesting students were forcefully evicted from the UGC premises and taken across the city to be detained for one whole day in the police station at C block, Rajiv Nagar, Bhalaswa Dairy.

As pressure from students and the public mounted, the police were obliged to let the students go at the end of the day. Meanwhile at the UGC a police lathi-charge grievously injured students who had gathered again to protest there, and from reports at least two students needed to be hospitalized. Continue reading Statement From Teachers And Researchers In Support Of ‘Occupy UGC’ in Delhi →

Bad ideas, Countryside, Everyday Life, Frontiers

What the Sunped Atrocity Tells Us About Caste in Haryana: Tanvi Ahuja

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Guest Post by Tanvi Ahuja

The recent Dalit atrocity in Sunped, Ballabgarh is a stark reminder of how caste continues to shape our society and our very existence and dignity. Yes, it was an atrocity and any attempts to hide the same in the garb of personal dispute or family feud are not only misleading but a great disservice to the lived experiences of Dalits in this country.

Sunped is just another Jat- dominated village in the caste underbelly of the state of Haryana, famous for the Mirchpur atrocity that saw a 70- year old Dalit and his daughter burnt alive in 2010. Jitender’s is one of the approximately 80 Dalit families in Sunped, comprising the Chamaars and Balmikis. His immediate family and relatives are an educated lot; many of them employed in stable private sector jobs. The family also has a strong political lineage- Jitender’s grandfather and brother, Jagmal have held the office of Sarpanch in the last two decades, except in 2005-10 when the wife of the main accused Balwant became the Sarpanch on the reserved seat for women. It was Balwant however who called the shots throughout his wife’s term. Continue reading What the Sunped Atrocity Tells Us About Caste in Haryana: Tanvi Ahuja →

Bad ideas, Culture, Identities, Law, Mirror Worlds

Lessons in Religious Bigotry from Pakistan and America: Fatima Tassadiq

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Guest Post by Fatima Tassadiq

The last few months have been quite intense for Muslims in the US. The Syrian refugee crisis gave us gems like ‘hey, these people have smart phones! They cant possibly be fleeing a deadly war’ from twitter analysts. Then Donald Trump, the rising Republican star, informed us that some serious TV watching had led him to conclude that the presence of more men than women in the televised images of the refugees was ground for suspicion.

It took a heart-breaking picture of a dead Syrian toddler on a beach to compel conservatives to tone down their rabid xenophobia. And then there was the Ahmad Muhammad episode. The reaction to the arrest of the 14 year old for bringing a home made clock to school showed the best and worst of America. While many public figures including the president supported the teen, Atheist and Christian crusaders like Bill Maher and Bobby Jindal thanked the police for keeping them safe from a high school student. Continue reading Lessons in Religious Bigotry from Pakistan and America: Fatima Tassadiq →

Education, Movements

Statement from South African academics supporting Student Struggle in South Africa

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Statement posted on Amandla.mobi

Transformation_is_rising_(1)

Statement to Vice-Chancellors, Minister of Higher Education & Training, Blade Nzimande, and the Minister of Finance, Nhlanhla Nene.

We the undersigned, as academics in South African institutions of higher education, and allies in South Africa and overseas, stand with students in their fight for the democratisation of our universities. The current student protests that have erupted across the country are historic. They demonstrate a younger generation willing to take up the struggle against inequality, and to insist on the principle of education for all. Our students are leading the national debate on education, and we insist that they deserve our respect and attention.

We have witnessed students act with extraordinary discipline, tactical skill and moral purpose. This commitment and self-control has gone unseen by many university managers, government leaders and the media who have misrepresented students as uninformed, irresponsible or irrational. Protesting students have faced and overcome potentially divisive tensions within their ranks, and have shown maturity in their intellectual arguments and political interventions. Above all, they have required us to confront a grievous national problem: the persistent exclusion of those who are black and poor from higher education, and from the opportunities that higher education makes possible. Continue reading Statement from South African academics supporting Student Struggle in South Africa →

Education, Movements

South African student protests and re-emergence of people’s power: Camalita Naicker

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Guest Post by CAMALITA NAICKER

Students at University of the Western Cape Photo cred - Musaed Abrahams

Students at University of the Western Cape (Photo cred – Musaed Abrahams)

The #nationalshutdown of all major universities in South Africa continues, even after a historic victory yesterday, when, after several days of mass mobilisation by students and workers President Jacob Zuma was forced to concede a zero-percent fee increase in university tuition fees next year. Yet, it was bittersweet for the more than twelve thousand people who marched to the Union Buildings in Pretoria who were, once again, tear-gassed and shot at with rubber bullets and stun grenades. The police turned violent when students began demanding, after waiting for several hours, that the President address them. Instead, Zuma chose to speak to the media in a press briefing and leave the students to the police. In Cape Town, students marched to the airport to show their solidarity with those in Pretoria; there too police fired rubber bullets, tear gas, and stun-grenades even as students fled into the neighbouring residential areas. For many, the victory it is only a partial one, a short-term solution deferring the problem to another day. It does not resolve the issue of unaffordable education nor does it address other important issues that the national action has been tied to like the outsourcing of labour on university campuses or the general discontents of the lack of transformation at higher education institutions in the country. Continue reading South African student protests and re-emergence of people’s power: Camalita Naicker →

Bad ideas, Centre watch, Debates, Education, Government

Students Occupy UGC to Defend the Right to Research in Universities Across India: Sucheta De

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Guest Post by Sucheta De.

[ Videos by V. Arun, Om Prasad, Akhil Kumar, with Facebook Post Updates by Shehla Rashid and Akhil Kumar ]

 

#SaveNonNETfellowship: A movement for ensuring democratic, inclusive and pluralistic research in India

“The ideas of the ruling class are in every epoch the ruling ideas, i.e. the class which is the ruling material force of society, is at the same time its ruling intellectual force.”

― Karl Marx, The German Ideology

JNUSU vice president Shehla Rashid addressing protestors at UGC
JNUSU vice president Shehla Rashid addressing protestors at UGC HQ, Delhi

On the afternoon of 21st October, students from several universities in Delhi began ‘Occupying’ the Delhi premises of the head-office of University Grants Commission (UGC) –  the government mandated body under the Ministry of Human Resources that is supposed to govern the functioning of universities across the country.  The occupation continued through the night of the 21st, the day of the 22nd, and is still currently in process. The students occupying the UGC premises have decided, as of now, not to let the UGC function. Goons from the BJP aligned students organization Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) have now reached the UGC and are continuously harassing and abusing the student activists who are in ‘occupation’ of UGC. There is heavy police presence. There is a state of near siege at the UGC head quarters near ITO Chowk in Delhi.

Continue reading Students Occupy UGC to Defend the Right to Research in Universities Across India: Sucheta De →

DISSENT, DEBATE, CREATE