Category: Campus

How Draconian Hostel Rules and Show Cause Notices Have Left Jamia Students Helpless

Students are forced to face unnecessary difficulties on a daily basis but there is no one to speak against it, as chances are that anyone daring to speak against the administration will invariably be slapped with a show cause notice.

Once upon a time, Jamia Millia Islamia, especially its hostel, used to be a home away from home for the hundreds of students who would take admission to the prestigious academic institution each year.

But nowadays, the situation is starkly different. Students are forced to face unnecessary difficulties on a daily basis but there is no one to speak against it, as chances are that anyone daring to speak against the administration will invariably be slapped with a show cause notice.

This year, for the first time, the varsity administration closed all the hostels of the university completely during summer vacation. Provost office issued a notice in May stating, “those who wish to stay during summer vacation for their official training/project/field work etc. are instructed
to submit their application in the Warden Office, Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam hostel, JMI latest by May 31, 2024 alongwith the letter of acceptance from the respective organization or project supervisor duly forwarded and recommended by the HoD and Dean concerned.”

A notice issued by the Jamia administration in May, asking students to vacate their hostel. Photo: Special Arrangement

Again, a notice was issued in the first week of June which reads as “If any student is found staying without permission after the permissible date then they will not be allowed for renewal of hostel accommodation for next session i.e 2024-25”.

A notice issued by the Jamia administration. Photo: Special Arrangement.

Difficulties for hostel students preparing for competitive exams

There are many students, mainly from the humanities background, who prepare for SSC CGL, UPSC or other government and competitive job exams. They come from their villages or small cities with a hope of finding a job after graduation.

Since there is no such thing as placement for the students from humanities background in the university, they don’t have any option left except preparing for competitive exams for jobs or entrance
examinations for higher studies.

These students of humanities background were denied permission to stay in the university hostels during summer vacation as they don’t have any official training/project/field work/internship as a part of their academic curriculum.

The students who were residing in the hostels, found that the hostel administration has locked their rooms with a new lock even though all their belongings were still inside the room.

Women residents were even asked to pay an additional charge of Rs. 100 per day for their stay in the hostels during summer vacation. A charge of Rs. 100 per day was levied on food. Food charge was voluntary for the male residents while the women were forced to pay their mess charge even though some of them were not be able to eat mess food because of their ongoing internships/projects.

Many students who came back to the hostels on the last day of summer vacation on July 15 were also denied permission to enter the hostels stating that they have not submitted the application to stay in the hostel duly approved by the concerned HoD/Dean.

According to the Academic Calendar released by the Office of Registrar, the next academic session after
summer vacation commenced from July 16 2024. Despite this, they were denied entry in
the hostels when they arrived just a day before. This is not short of any mental harassment.

Jamia had witnessed mass protests demanding reopening of varisity

This is not the first time when the draconian rules have been imposed on students by the Jamia administration. Before the university opened for the first time in 2022 after the Covid period, students saw a draconian face of the university administration.

Among all the other universities, Jamia was among the last varsities to open after the covid era among all the universities and colleges in Delhi. Delhi University opened after the covid pandemic in February 2022 while JNU had reopened way back in September 2021.

After the opening of DU, mass demonstrations started in Jamia campus demanding the reopening of the university as all major varsities in Delhi and in other parts of India had resumed their offline classes. Finally, the university opened its campus for the students later in 2022 after a shutdown of over 2 years and 3 months.

Hostels were allotted for the first time after the covid pandemic in February 2023, after 7 months of the reopening of the university . It was alleged that students who were the face of the protests were denied hostels.

The hostel renewal of the students who were already staying in the hostels before the Covid-19 pandemic and were a part of the protests were also rejected. They were told: “Humein Neta nhi chahiye apne hostel mein (we don’t want leaders in hostels)”.

Freshly admitted hostel residents were also told during their hostel interview that if they were a part of any type of protest, demonstration in the campus, their hostel allotment will be cancelled, and they will be vacated from their seats.

Ironically, Jamia is itself a product of the “Non-cooperation Movement”, a mass protest movement against the then regime, the British Colonial Government. Residents also faced an arbitrarily fee hike in the hostel annual fee. The fee was increased from the Rs. 29,300 charged in the pre-Covid era to Rs. 41,350, when hostels opened for the first time in 2022-23 after the pandemic. Now, it stands at Rs. 43,875, an increment of 49.74 per cent in only three active academic sessions.

Now in 2024, residents of the hostels are facing a different type of issue. In May, residents of the boys hostel found worms and insects in their hostel food on 3 different occasions. On May 14, a resident of Sir AM Khwaja hostel found a dead worm of approximately 1.5 inch in the food in the dinner.

On May 21, when the residents of Dr. B.R. Ambedkar Hostel were having their lunch in the dining hall, a resident found a living white worm in the rice. On May 22, a resident of Sir AM Khwaja Hostel found a dead housefly in his Biryani during dinner. The above incidents are a clear violation of UGC guidelines on safety of students on and off campuses of higher educational institutions and FSSAI guidelines.

When the students objected about these incidents in the dining hall, the provost of the Maulana Mohammad Ali Jauhar Hall, Provost professor Mohd. Suhaib called a meeting with the residents. In the meeting, professor Suhaib assured that residents will get healthy and hygienic food from now on and a penalty was imposed on mess contractors for their misconduct.

Anti-student face of hostel administration

However, the hostel administration again showed their true anti-student face. Many residents were served show cause notice by way of Indian Post during the summer vacation as they raised their objection against the presence of insects in the hostel food. Now, the university hostel administration is not accepting the hostel renewal form of the residents who were arbitrarily given the show cause notice.

Non acceptance of renewal form means cancellation of hostel allotment. Jamia Millia Islamia is a university not a boarding school. In the campus of a university, students meet and interact with peers from different states, geographical areas, languages and religions.

Thus, it also acts as an institution of development of new civil societies. Individuals sit together and discuss their life, culture, and social problems. It helps them to broaden their perspective of life. Campus is a place where ideas develop. Students develop their own opinion about the ongoing national or international politics and thus help students to play a significant role after their study.

Many universities have produced national level politicians who are today playing a crucial role in the development of the nation. But the Jamia administration in August 2022 banned all types of meeting/gathering of students without prior permission of the proctor. It was a direct attack on the free flow of ideas in the university.

There is no need to mention that the same Jamia Millia Islamia was the epicentre of anti-CAA protest in 2019 and 2020. It was Jamia because of which anti-CAA protests reached in almost all the districts in India. But the same Jamia  banned any type of meeting or gathering in the university.

The situation became worse when the proctorial staff started questioning even the gatherings for birthday celebrations. Earlier, university libraries never used to close on any holiday. Now it is common to close it on any random holiday. Students are not even allowed to enter the campus on Independence Day and Republic Day as its holiday in the university.

Even on the eve of last Republic Day, many students were assaulted by the proctorial team when they attempted to enter the campus. When being asked about the reason, security guards told: “Upar se order hai.. Kisi ko entry nahi dena hai (we have orders from above…we have been told to not let anyone enter”.

When the university started its physical class after the pandemic, the administration arbitrarily started removing anti-CAA protest faces from the campus. The university cancelled admission of its M.Phil scholar and one of the faces of anti-CAA protest, Safoora Zargar. Students protested in solidarity with Safoora Zargar and demanded re-admit Safoora.

Later, students participating in the protests were also slapped with show cause notice. Many other students who were also the faces of anti-CAA protest, never found their name in the entrance results list even after they secured marks above the cutoff line.

Residents of the hostels are not happy with this current hike of hostel fee, and they wanted to raise their voice. But, if they speak against this fee hike, they may be slapped with show cause notices and their hostel renewal forms may be rejected under the draconian rules made by the Jamia administration.  Show cause notice is the new normal in the university.

Danish Shaikh is an alumni of JMI and law student at Maulana Azad National Urdu University, Hyderabad.

How the Exam Mafia Exploit Poor and Talented Students to Achieve Their Goal

The poverty and helplessness of students are exploited by the question paper leak mafia, who enjoy the patronage of the ruling class and have the right political and bureaucratic connections.

After the arrest of some medical students in the NEET question paper leak scam, a less highlighted fact has come to light. Those involved in this racket, trap, lure and even abduct innocent, gullible and disempowered yet bright and talented, students and at times even teachers to get their work done.

There are cases of such nice guys landing in serious trouble for crime committed under duress. Often, the students used for this purpose come from low-income groups and weaker sections of the society. Their poverty and helplessness are exploited by these criminal gangs, who enjoy the patronage of the ruling class and have the right political and bureaucratic connections.

It needs to be mentioned that there are thousands of private teachers working in coaching
institutes who can be easily lured because they are not well paid by the owners of these
teaching shops.

Those, whose help are forcibly sought come from the powerless section of the society and
cannot even approach the police out of the fear that they, instead of being bailed out from
this nexus, would be implicated.

Due to their young age, they do not even understand the implications of the crime they are forced to commit. They do not share their predicaments with their parents as they usually live in hostel or away from home.

Abducted and forced to solve question paper

During my journalistic career and later as a freelance reporter, I encountered a couple of such
‘victims’ of the scamsters who personally narrated their experience to me.

One such story is still vivid in my mind. This is about a very good engineering student of the National Institute of Technology, Patna, (formerly Bihar College of Engineering) who was abducted by some unidentified gang involved in paper leak while he was walking down to his home in Patna. This incident had happened more than two decades back when online examination system was not introduced anywhere in India.

While talking to me a couple of years after that incident–and by that time he had passed out from the engineering college–the said student, who was from a backward caste, narrated as to how one day a vehicle which came from behind stopped beside him. Somebody sternly told him to come and enter the jeep.

“I could not understand as to what was happening. I feared that they must be armed. I was forcibly pushed into the jeep,” he told me.

He said that those in the vehicle did not behave roughly, but after travelling for a few minutes he was blindfolded. They gently told him not to feel afraid as he would soon be released.

As this student was the topper of Civil Engineering branch of his class and was known as a studious chap, he was picked up by the exam paper leak gang. It was clear that the criminals had done their homework well and were aware of the student’s academic record along with the place where he resided.

The student told me that after travelling for a while the jeep stopped in a remote place outside Patna. Then he was taken to a room, and his blindfold was removed. He was given a question paper and answer sheets to solve. He was offered something to eat and drink.

“I was left with no other option, but to agree,” he then told me.

Later they once again blindfolded him and brought him back to Patna. His blindfold was once again removed and he was set free not very far away from his home.

This engineering graduate–now well placed–did not say whether he got any money or not. Nor did I ask much. But it appeared that he was abducted and no payment was made. Otherwise, he would not have shared this harrowing experience with me.

Before he was released, the gang members warned the student to not tell anyone about the incident, and that if he did, he should be ready for consequences. So, there was no question of reporting the student to police or anyone else.

Confession of a young doctor

This is not the only case of meritorious students being lifted and forced to solve leaked question papers or even impersonate other candidates in competitive examination. In another case narrated a decade back, a young doctor confessed before me as to how he was lured to solve the question of a medical entrance test about a quarter century back, when he was still a student.

Though he did not explain the whole chain of events, he was honest enough to acknowledge his crime before me on the plea that he was badly in need of money then as his father was not getting salary for months. He even took the name of a reputed coaching institute which had branches in several states and had earned notoriety for this unfair practice a couple of decades back.

Not to speak only of boys, even girl students are sometimes pressurised to impersonate
others. What is tragic is that they agree to do so for just a few thousands of rupees. A few years back two girls from Bihar, pursuing medical course, were caught impersonating for other girl candidates.

Sometimes even teachers face tough and testing times during such examination. As the authorities do not cooperate, they are compelled in one way or the other to become a party to the crime. They know that the lobby supporting the paper leak racket is very powerful, and so it is better to submit rather than avoid them.

Tracing the origin of question paper leaks

The history of the use of unfair means and copying in school and college examinations on a mass scale in Bihar can be traced back to 1967 when there was political instability which led to the students’ movement in Patna. That was not the era of competitive exam as admission in most professional institutions were made on the basis of marks obtained in ISC.

In 1972 the irregularities were temporarily checked when Kedar Pande became the chief minister of
the newly elected Congress government.

However, things took an ugly turn when the then Indira Gandhi government faced massive
students’ unrest in Gujarat, Bihar and several other states between December 1973 till
the day Emergency was imposed in 1975.

In a bid to counter the call for boycott of class and exam by Lok Nayak Jayaprakash Narayan during his ‘Total Revolution’ days, the government openly encouraged unfair means and mass copying became the order of the day.

Examinees would go to their centres with bag full of books and notes. In fact, question papers and answer sheets were brought to home or hostel rooms and after filling them submitted to college
authorities in the evening.

Though this practice was once again checked after the imposition of Emergency on June 25, 1975, yet after the end of Emergency it was back to square one. Now, the phenomenon was not only restricted to graduate and under-graduate exams, as question paper leak became a common practice. Even at the height of the Emergency in 1976 the IIT had to cancel its admission test held in its Gaya centre reportedly on the plea that the question was leaked.

The Ranjit Don Phenomenon

So, when the Ranjit Don phenomenon took Bihar by storm in mid 1990s, there was not much
surprise as a sharp decline was being witnessed in the education system.

The advent of internet and subsequently of smart phone facilitated the growth of this racket which spread throughout India. Now, copying in school and college examinations is done as if it is a recreational activity.

Why talk about others. I was personally fooled by an English Honours student some 15
years ago. This young student got my landline phone number from somewhere.

This person would talk from his cell phone number from Madhepura (as he used to claim), a district town some 200 km away from Patna, where I live. I have never gone to this place nor have I seen this boy.

Yet he would often ring me after reading my article and praise me. Though I was not impressed by him heaping praises on me, yet I would encourage him–as I generally do with
youngsters.

In the process, he would often discuss something about current affairs, his career plan and would even ask meaning of some English words and idioms. After three or four such calls made in a few months he once rang me. As usual, he asked me something which was related to English Honours course. It was only then that I smelled rat.

“Why are you asking me this question. After all I did my Master in English some two decades back and am not too updated on the subject,” I told him to avoid the call.

He inadvertently disclosed that he was writing something. Suddenly, it struck me that he is an English Honours student and may be appearing in exam.

“Are you calling me from the exam hall?” I asked him. Thereafter, he disconnected the line, never to call me again. Since back then I had an old landline phone set, I could not jot down his phone number.

This was a relatively small incident in comparison to the NEET and NET examination
rackets. But lest we forget, all evil minds work in the same way.

Soroor Ahmed is a Patna-based freelance journalist.

Vote Bank Politics Associated With ‘Minority Appeasement’: New NCERT Textbook

The latest version of the textbook says that minority appeasement means that the political parties disregard the principles of equality of all citizens and give priority to the interests of a minority group.

New Delhi: The revised NCERT class 11 political science textbook says that vote bank politics is associated with ‘minority appeasement’, and also defines the term as political parties disregarding “the principles of equality of all citizens and give priority to the interests of a minority group”.

The section about vote bank politics and minority appeasement is included in a chapter on secularism, which also has a section on ‘criticism of Indian secularism,’ reported The Indian Express.

While the section on vote bank politics was included in the textbook for the previous session of 2023-24 as well, the word minority appeasement has been included for the first time in the 2024-25 version.

Both the 2023-24 and 2024-25 versions of the textbook then the same questions: “But what if the welfare of the group in question is sought at the cost of the welfare and rights of other groups? What if the interests of the majority are undermined by these secular politicians? Then a new injustice is born.”

However, the answer varies in the two versions.

The 2023-24 version reads: “But can you think of such examples? Not one or two but a whole lot of them such that you can claim that the whole system is skewed in favour of minorities? If you think hard, you might find that there is little evidence that this has happened in India. In short, there is nothing wrong with vote bank politics as such, but only with a form of vote bank politics that generates injustice. The mere fact that secular parties utilise vote banks is not troublesome. All parties do so in relation to some social group.”

In the latest version, the revised paragraph explicitly states that vote bank politics in India is associated with minority appeasement.

The revised version reads: “Can you think of such examples? In theory, there may not be anything wrong with vote bank politics but only when vote bank politics leads to the mobilisation of a social group to vote en masse for a particular candidate or political party during elections, this distorts electoral politics. Here, the important feature is that the whole group works as a single monolithic unit during voting. Despite the diversity within the unit, the party or leader pursuing such vote bank politics tries to artificially construct a belief that the interest of the group is one. In effect, by doing this, the political parties’ priorities short- term electoral gains over the long- term development and governance needs of society,” reported The Indian Express.

“In India it has been observed that political parties neglecting substantive issues have often focused on emotive issues for electoral gains, neglecting genuine problems faced by the community. Competitive vote bank politics has the potential to exacerbate social division by portraying different groups as rivals vying for limited resources. In India, the vote bank politics is also associated with minority appeasement. This means that the political parties disregard the principles of equality of all citizens and give priority to the interests of a minority group. Ironically, this has led to further alienation and marginalization of the minority group. As vote bank politics fails to acknowledge diversity within the minority group taking up issues of social reform within these groups has also proved difficult,” says the textbook.

According to the NCERT, the reason behind the revision is that the section in the older version “only intends to justify vote bank politics”, and that the revision makes the section a “relevant criticism of Indian secularism,” The Indian Express reported.

Meanwhile, reacting to accusations of saffronisation of the school curriculum, NCERT director Dinesh Prasad Saklani said that references to incidents such as the Gujarat riots and Babri mosque demolition were modified in school textbooks to avoid creating ‘violent and depressed citizens,’ reported The Times if India.

Second IIPS Student Arrested For Allegedly Posting Against Celebration of Ram Temple Ceremony

According to the student’s classmates, the police reached the IIPS campus early on the morning of February 21 and arrested him there.

Mumbai: The Govandi police station in Mumbai has arrested a 25-year-old student of the International Institute for Population Sciences (IIPS) for allegedly posting a story on WhatsApp in protest against the celebration of the consecration of the Ayodhya Ram Temple on January 22.

This is the second arrest in the case so far.

Another student, who had posted a screenshot of this student’s post, was arrested by the police on January 22 and released on bail after two days.

According to the student’s classmates, the police reached the IIPS campus early on the morning of February 21 and arrested him there.

The Wire contacted the institute’s director Dr S.K. Singh as well as its chief administrator and registrar Prashant Borde for comment.

Borde, who reportedly permitted the police to enter the campus and arrest the students, told The Wire that he was in a hospital and not in a position to speak.

He said this reporter should visit the IIPS for more information.

Singh, to The Wire’s question about the arrest, said, “Please visit the IIPS tomorrow to find the facts rather than promoting a false narrative.”

When the reporter asked if the information about the arrest was not a fact, Singh didn’t clarify.

On February 2, The Wire had reported about the frenzy that broke out on the IIPS campus following the celebrations carried out by right-leaning students in the institute.

A group of students, mostly belonging to Bahujan communities, had submitted a letter to Singh pointing to problem behind allowing the celebration on campus. 

Also read | Mumbai: Student Arrested After Asking Admin to Curb Ram Temple Celebrations on Campus

The letter, the students claim, was confidential and signed by at least 35 of them.

While the institute failed to intervene and offer any solution to the concerns raised by the students, the letter was leaked and soon reached right-wing activists both on and outside campus.

One of the signatories, a 23-year-old student belonging to a Dalit community from Maharashtra, was the first one to be arrested.

The police invoked sections 153(A) and 295(A) of the Indian Penal Code against him, which deal with promoting enmity between groups and outraging religious feelings respectively.

The student had allegedly only posted a screenshot of the post critical of the celebration.

The police discovered the origin of the post during its investigation and had summoned the other student for questioning multiple times. Originally from Kerala, this student had returned to his hometown a few weeks ago.

“He came back [to the IIPS campus] since he had to take the viva voce exams and also submit his dissertation. The moment he returned, the police arrested him,” said one of his friends and classmates.

The student’s family, which is in Kerala, confirmed the news of his arrest.

The student will be produced before a local court in Mumbai on February 22.

In their letter to the director, the students had written: “IIPS is a multicultural campus annually organising various celebrations which includes Ganesh Chaturthi, Dussehra, Christmas, etc which epitomises the promise of grooming a secular young generation who can contribute prosperity to a diversified nation-state like India.

“But the celebration of Ram temple consecration is a pure act of political agenda orchestrated by the various outfits, which can harm the secular sentiments of students while celebrating in an institute like IIPS, where such celebrations cannot be done.”

The students sought restrictions on celebrations on campus and said the celebration in question had the potential of “further deepening the divisions among [the] student fraternity by spreading hate and fear”.

Soon after the letter was leaked, the students claimed they were bullied into submitting an apology for “hurting [the] sentiments of those celebrating the Ram temple consecration”.

Over 400 Signatories Express Outrage Over Silencing of Talks on Palestine on Indian Campuses

Among the signatories are sociologists, political scientists, academicians, researchers, and journalists. They strongly condemned the ‘appropriation of the Palestinian issue to fuel Islamophobia in India’.

New Delhi: More than 400 signatories, including sociologists, political scientists, academicians, researchers, and journalists, have expressed outrage against at the manner in which discussions on the ongoing war against Palestine are being silenced on Indian campuses.

“We are issuing this statement to call upon university administrators and the government to respect our academic freedom. We would also like to remind everyone of India’s own long history of anti-colonial struggle which has historically provided the lens through which the Palestinian struggle for self-determination, equality and human rights has been viewed in India,” they said in a statement.

“We object to the way in which any discussion of the historical context of the occupation of Palestine and the barbaric Israeli assault on Gaza, along with the denial of food, fuel and water, since October 7, 2023, is being projected as support for the brutal terror attack on civilians in Israel by Hamas on October 7,” read the statement.

“We object to the Israeli ambassador’s interference with academic freedom on Indian campuses. This disrespects the competence of Indian scholars to analyse historical and political situations for themselves. Defending the right to life and dignity of Palestinians, or pointing out the links between Zionism and Hindutva as supremacist ideologies, is not equivalent to antisemitism,” it said.

This is in reference to former Delhi University professor Achin Vanaik’s recent lecture on Palestine at O.P. Jindal University. Although the university had asked Vanaik to “express regret” over his remark, the professor said he stands by his lecture.

After Vanaik’s lecture on November 1, the Israeli Ambassador to India Naor Gilon, wrote to the founding vice-chancellor of the university, Prof. C. Raj Kumar, saying: “I cannot understand why an event delegitimizsng the State of Israel was hosted at the University.”

The statement also strongly condemns the appropriation of the Palestine issue to fuel Islamophobia in India.

“In all the attacks on campus events on Palestine, we see the Hindutva ecosystem at work – known Hindutva individuals who tweet against the faculty members concerned, groups which organise protests against them on campus, and a pliant media which engages in defamation of the academics as terror supporters,” it added.

The statement urges the Indian government and political parties to cease criminalizing solidarity protests with Palestine, citing examples of FIRs against students and detentions in various cities.

“Many opposition parties have failed to show sufficient solidarity with the people of Palestine and have thus betrayed the history of
India’s own freedom struggle,” it further said.

It calls on university administrations to uphold their statutory and constitutional obligations, respecting the rights of faculty and students to organize talks and invite speakers without interference.

§

The full statement, with the names of the signatories, is reproduced below.

Statement of Solidarity with Palestine and Condemnation of Attacks on Academic Freedom Related to Palestine

As academics and other concerned persons, we, the undersigned, are outraged at the manner in which discussions on the ongoing war against Palestine are being silenced on Indian campuses, and in the public sphere more broadly. We are issuing this statement to call upon university administrators and the government to respect our academic freedom. We would also like to remind everyone of India’s own long history of anti-colonial struggle which has historically provided the lens through which the Palestinian struggle for self-determination, equality and human rights has been viewed in India.

We object to the way in which any discussion of the historical context of the occupation of Palestine and the barbaric Israeli assault on Gaza, along with the denial of food, fuel and water, since October 7th 2023, is being projected as support for the brutal terror attack on civilians in Israel by Hamas on October 7th.

We object to the Israeli ambassador’s interference with academic freedom on Indian campuses. This disrespects the competence of Indian scholars to analyze historical and political situations for themselves. Defending the right to life and dignity of Palestinians, or pointing out the links between Zionism and Hindutva as supremacist ideologies, is not equivalent to antisemitism.

We strongly condemn the hijacking of the Palestine issue to further Islamophobia within India. In all the attacks on campus events on Palestine, we see the Hindutva ecosystem at work – known Hindutva individuals who tweet against the faculty members concerned, groups which organize protests against them on campus, and a pliant media which engages in defamation of the academics as terror supporters.

We demand that the Indian government, as well as all political parties in power in different states stop criminalizing protests in solidarity with Palestine. The FIRs filed against students of Aligarh Muslim University, and detentions of youth and students in Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Coimbatore are examples of this. ManyOpposition parties have failed to show sufficient solidarity with the people of Palestine and have thus betrayed the history of India’s own freedom struggle.

We call upon University administration to uphold their statutory and constitutional obligations and respect the intelligence, competence and integrity of their own faculty and students, and their right to organize talks and invite speakers as pedagogical interventions.

Signatories

  1. Nandini Sundar, sociologist
  2. Nivedita Menon, political scientist
  3. Ravi Sundaram, media scholar
  4. Rajshree Chandra, political scientist
  5. Rohan D’Souza, historian
  6. Pamela Philipose, journalist
  7. Maya John, historian
  8. Karen Gabriel, English literature
  9. Achin Vanaik, political scientist
  10. Apoorvanand, Hindi literature
  11. Ayesha Kidwai, linguist
  12. Atul Sood, regional development
  13. Anita Rampal, educationist

and 457 others…

1 A. Wilson Baskar Educationist

2 A.Mahaboob Batcha

Managing Trustee — Justice Bhagwati

Foundation

3 Aabid Surti Author/Cartoonist/Water Warrior

4 Aashish Gokhale Researcher

5 Aashita Dawer Associate Professor

6 Abdul Mabood Snehi

7 Abdul Rahman Instrumentation engineer

8 Abhijeet Yadav Student

9 Abhinav Mishra Student

10 Absar Hazarika Retired Civil Servant

11 Adil Tyabji Freelance Publishing Editor

12 Adwait Madkaikar Independent Researcher

13 Afaque Azad Sound engineer

14 Aflatoon Editor,Samayik Varta

15 Ahammed Zayan Philosophy Research Scholar

16 Aishe Ghosh President, JNU Students’ Union

17 Aishwarya Kothare Research Student

18 Ajay Parasram Political scientist

19 Ajit Patil Social and Political activist

20 Ajmala Psychology Research scholar

21 Ajmer Chouhan Science Communicator

22 Akash Bhattacharya

Independent Academic | Ex-Faculty Azim,

Premji University.

23 Akriti Assistant Professor

24 Albeena Shakil Academic

25 Ali Haidar Laskar Retd Principal

26 Alia Zaman Political science

27 Alok narah Student

28 Aman Legal Academic/Lawyer

29 Ambar Ahmad Academic

30 Ambreen Agha Faculty, Jindal

31 Ameet Parameswaran Assistant Professor

32 Amir Rizvi Designer

33 Amit Sengupta Journalist

34 Amitabha Basu Retirwd scientist, CSIR-NPL, New Delhi

35 Amitabha Chakrabarti Consultant cardio Thoracic surgeon

36 Amitava Das Service

37 Amritha Sruthi Research Scholar

38 Anand K. Sahay Columnist

39 Ananya Vajpeyi Scholar and Writer

40 Anil Singh Journalist

41 Animesh Das Indian Federation of Trade Unions

42 Anirban FAN

43 Anita Cherian Academic

44 Antara Datta Associate Professor

45 Antara Dev Sen Journalist

46 Anuja Mital Ecologist

47 Aparajita Datta Wildlife biologist

48 Aparna

President, Indian Federation of Trade

Unions

49 Aparna Sundar Political Scientist

50 Apeksha Priyadarshini Ph.D Scholar, JNU

51 Appandairaj Ananthakumar Student, JNU

52 Apurbba Kumar Baruah

Teaching Assam Institute of Mass

Communication and Media Researchrch

53 Ar Feroz Khan Architecture

54 Arihant Kumar Maleri Association for Democratic Rights pb.

55 Arjun Dasgupta Retired Executive

56 Arkadip Mahapatra Crtical Care Technologist

57 Arker creations Film maker/Digital creator

58 Arman Hazarika Research Scholar

59 Arul Singh Student

60 Aruna Gnanadason Consultant

61 Arunachalam Angappan Rtd

62 Asad Abesi Business

63 Asha Mishra All India People’s Science Network/BGVS

64 Ashish Mital G.S. AIKMS

65 Ashish Reddy Advocate

66 Ashok Kumar Student, IIT Kanpur

67 Ashok Kumar Pandey Author

68 Ashwin Sreekumar Banking Professional

69 Ashwin Thomas Student, St. Stephen’s College

70 Ashwin Viswanathan Scientist

71 Astha Chaudhary Research scholar

72 Atif Ahmed Student

73 Avinash Kumar Faculty, JNU

74 Avishek Konar O.P. Jindal Global University

75 Azra Caretaker

76 B Rajasekhar Rahul Teacher

77 Bhavna Sharma Social Activist

78 Bhimrao Khetre Freelancer Artist

79 Biplab AIPSN

80 Brij Tankha Historian

81 Brijesh V K Teacher, KSSP

82 C P Chandrasekhar Former Professor JNU

83 Carol Upadhya

Visiting Professor, National Institute of

Advanced Studies, Bangalore

84 Cedric Prakash

Human Rights Reconciliation and Peace

Activist/ Writer

85 Chandni Mehta Jawaharlal Nehru University

86 Charu Mishra Scientist

87 Charu Singh Educator

88 Chitra Harshvardhan Retired Professor from JNU, New Delhi

89 Clifton D’ Rozario Lawyer

90 Deepak Goswami AIPSN

91 Deepti Bharti Social work

92 Devathi Parashuram conservationist

93 Devika Bordia Shiv Nadar Institute of Eminence

94 Dhiman Chatterjee Faculty IITM

95 Dhruv Raina Historian and philosopher of science

96 Dipendra Nath Chakraborty Retired

97 Divya Mudappa Wildlife scientist

98 Divyajyoti Ganguly Wildlife Biologist

99 Dr Mira Shiva Public Health Physician

100 Dr Rizwan Rafeequi Arabic Literature

101 Dr Sunilam

Ex MLA , KSS NAPM SKM , Samajwadi

Samagam

102 Dr Sushanta Kar Teaching

103 Dr. G. Ramachandram

Professor of Political Science and retired

Principal

104 Dr. M. Geyanand

State president Jana Vignana

Vedika,Andhra Pradesh

105 Dr. Mihirlal Roy Science Activists, Bijnan Mancha – Tripura

106 Dr. S. Anandha Krishna Raj International law

107 Dr. S. Kanitha Retired Professor

108 Dr. S. Vijaya Prabhu Assistant professor, NCT

109 Dr. Salman Journalist

110 Dr. Shikha Kapur Academic

111 Dr. Soma Marla Principal scientist Genomics ICAR

112 Dunu Roy Coordinator Hazards Centre

113 Ekadh Ranganathan Wildlife Biologist

114 Eric Pinto ANHAD Goa

115 Faizan

116 Fakhruddin Yusuf Bhai Jasupurawala

117 Farah Naqvi Independent Writer and Activist

118 Farai Divan Patel Ecologist

119 Feroze Mithiborwala Freelance Writer

120 Fiza Student

121 Fozia Sodawala Writer

122 Frazer Mascarenhas Sociologist

123 Freny Manecksha Independent journalist

124 G Arunima

Historian, Kerala Council for Historical

Research

125 G. Muralidhar JVV AP

126 Gautam I Menon Professor

127 Ghanshyam Shah

Independent Reasercher, formerly

professor JNU

128 Githa Hariharan Writer

129 Goldie Osuri University of Warwick

130 Gopinathan A N Pensioner

3

131 Gopinathan VG KSSP/AIPSN activist

132 Gowtham Raja Sathish Professor, Voorhees College

133 Guruprasad Kar Indian Statistical Institute

134 Habravysh PhD scholar, Jawaharlal Nehru University

135 Harbans Mukhia Historian

136 Hasina Khan Gender activist

137 Henri Tiphagne Human Rights Defenders Alert _India

138 Himanshu Jawaharlal Nehru University

139 Hoimi Mukherjee Jawaharlal Nehru University

140 Ilan Kapoor Professor, York University, Toronto

141 Imrana Qadeer Public health professional

142 Imtiaz Quadri Political Scientist

143 Inamul Hasan Social Activist

144 Indira Public Health academic

145 Indranee Dutta Retired Professor

146 Indu Chandrasekhar Publisher

147 Ira Raja University of Delhi

148 Ishita Chatterjee Academic

149 Ishupal Faculty, JGLS

150 Jai Singh Service

151 Jaideep Ahuja Engineer

152 James Masih Hotel Construction Management

153 Janhavi Rajan Designer

154 Jasjit Social worker

155 Jayaprakash cherupally Social work

156 Jayati Ghosh economic

157 John Cherian Journalist

158 John Dayal Writer

159 John Scaria Student

160 Jose PI Advocate

161 Joseph Mathai social worker

162 Joseph PV KSSP

163 K P Sarma Teacher’s

164 K. Sudhir Architect/PUCL

165 K. Trimurtulu Science activist/RTD.librarian

166 Kajri Jain

art history/visual studies, University of

Toronto

167 Kalpana Kannabiran Sociologist

168 Kamal Sarma Social activist

169 Kamala Kempadoo sociologist

170 Kamini Tankha Concerned Citizen

171 Kanta Khurana Retd Associate Professor

172 Karen Haydock retired TIFR/HBCSE

173 Karthick Narayanan Linguist

174 Karthik Teegalapalli

175 Karuna DW Historian

176 Kashish

177 Kaveri Gill Political economist

178 Kavita Srivastava Human Rights activist – PUCL

179 Kedar Soni Educator

180 Kishwer Retired Banker

181 Komal Mohite Doctoral Candidate, McGill University

182 Komal Saigal Individual

183 Krishnakumr Retired professor

184 Krittika Chakraborty

Comparative Literature, University of

Hyderabad

185 Kumar Prashant Gandhian activist

186 Kunal Kumar Doctoral Research Scholar

187 Lara Jesani People’s Union for Civil Liberties

188 Lata Singh Associate Professor, JNU

189 Lipi Bag Research scholar

190 Lotika Singha Writer

191 Lovish Gautam Private Service

192 M Madhava Prasad Retired Professor, EFL U

193 M. Gauhar Iqbal India Palestine Friendship Forum

194 M. V. Ramana Professor

195 M.Radhamurugesan Tamilnadu science forum

196 Madhu Sahni Literary academic

197 Madhusmita Rawooth Product Manager in Healthcare (Dozee)

198 Madhusudan Katti Professor

199 Mahesh Gaur Administrative Officer

200 Maimoona Abbas Mollah Women’s rights activist

201 Malaika Mathew Chawla wildlife biologist

202 Malavika Kasturi Historian

203 Manali Chakrabarti Academic Independent

204 Manisha Biswas Student, Jawaharlal Nehru University

205 Manisha Hans Social Activist

206 Manorama Sharma Historian

207 Marcia DCunha Teacher

208 Mary Advocate

209 Mary E John women’s studies

210 Maya Krishna Rao Theatre Artist

211 Md. Ali Shariff The Lifeline Foundation

212 Meena Dhanda Philosopher

213 Meera Samson Research

214 Meera Sanghamitra

National Alliance of People’s Movements

(NAPM)

215 Meghna Roy anthropologist

216 Minakshi Singh Activist

217 Mini Mathew Lawyer

218 Mira Sadgopal Medico Friend Circle

219 Mohammed Alam Khan Business

220 Mohammed Ali Private Service

221 Mohan Dutta Professor of Communication

222 Mohan Rao Public health

223 Monika kshatriya Journalist

224 Moushumi Basu Academic

225 Mridupankhi Rajkumari PhD scholar, Jawaharlal Nehru University

226 Mrigank Indian Federation of Trade Unions

227 Mritiunjoy Mohanty Economist

228 Muhammed Kuttiyatle Free lance artist

229 Muneer Mukhdoomi Service

230 Munnee Sen Content writer

231 Muralidharan

National Platform for the Rights of the

Disabled (NPRD)

232 Mwajuma Alice Abok Human Resource Consultant

233 N Sai Balaji Doctoral Student, JNU

234 N. Mani Teaching

235 N. Raghuram Biotechnologist

236 N.K.Saraswathi Teacher

237 Nabanita Samanta Doctoral Researcher, IIT Bombay

238 Nadeem Khan India Palestine friendship forum

239 Nageswar Y S JVV AP

240 Naina Dayal Historian

241 Naiyer Razzaqui Defence Pensioner

242 Najibuddin Ahmed AIPSN, Assam ,Secretary

243 Nalini Nayak

PGDAV College, Delhi University (Retd

Associate Professor)

244 Naman Murliwar Student

245 Namita Khare researcher

246 Nancy Vaz Retired Teacher

247 Nandini Velho Scientist

248 Nandita Narain

Associate Prof( Retd), Dept of

Mathematics, St Stephen’s College, Delhi

University

249 Narender Nagarwal Professor University of Delhi

250 Naveen Gaur University of Delhi

251 Navsharan Singh

252 Nazneen Activist

253 Neeladri Bhattacharya

Professor (Rtd) Jawaharlal Nehru

University

254 Neelima Sharma Street theatre person

255 Neeraj Malik University Professor

256 Neerja Prasad Director administration

257 Neha Student

258 Neha Student

259 Nidal Abuzuluf Director, JAI

260 Nikita Climate Action Consultant

261 Nirangkush Nath Political Activist

262 Niyati Student

263 Noor Enayat Publicist

264 Noorjahan Abdul Hamid diwan Activities

265 Nupur Asher Research Scholar

266 Oishik Sircar legal scholar

267 P A Azeez Freelance Academic

268 P Jeganathan Wildlife Biologist

269 Padma Kondiparthi Advocate

270 Padmini Smetacek Editor

271 Pamela Philipose Journalist

272 Pariplab Chakraborty Visual artist and journalist

273 Parnal Chirmuley German Studies

274 Partho Sarothi Ray Molecular biologist

275 Parvathy Rajendran Freelance Editor

276 Parveez Asghar Retired

277 Parwati

Housewife / Haryana Gyan Vigyan Samiti ,

Hisar

278 Peggy Mohan Linguist

279 Pia Sethi Conservation biologist

280 Ponniah Rajamanickam All India People Science Network

281 Poorvi Gupta Journalist

282 Prabhu Mohapatra Historian

283 Pradip Kumar Datta Retired Professor

284 Pramod Ranjn Journalist

285 Pranjali Bandhu

Researcher, South Asia Study Centre,

Nilgiris

286 Prateek Vijayavargia Research Scholar, JNU

287 Pratiksha Baxi Sociologist

288 Praveen Arora Media

289 Praveen Jha Professor

290 Preethi Krishnan Sociologist

291 Priya Dharshini Delhi forum

292 Priyamvada Iyer Business

293 Priyanka Prakash NCF

294 Qim Ahmed Designer

295 R Nagesh Retired LIC Employee

296 R. S. Vikal

297 R. Vivekaanandhan College Professor (RTD.)

298 Radha Kumar Writer and policy analyst

299 Radhika Singha Retired

300 Raghavendra Prasad President, IFTU

301 Rahul Roy Indian Statistical Institute

302 Rahul Varman Academic

303 Rajamathangi S Linguist

304 Rajarshi Dasgupta Political scientist

305 Rajat Kumar Sonkar

PhD Candidate, Department of Sociology,

University of Delhi

306 Rajeev Singha Doctor

307 Rajender Kumar Theatre activiest

308 Rajni Palriwala Professor of Socioloy

309 Raju K Retired Professor

310 Rakesh Theatre activist

311 Ramakrishnan C Educationist

312 Ramani Atkuri Independent Public Health Physician

313 Ramanujam Ragavan Retired govt servant

314 Ramesh Chander Retired officer

315 Ramesh Chander

Retired Principal / Haryana Gyan Vigyan

Samiti

316 Ramesh Dixit

Academician , Professor in Political

science (retired) Lucknow University.

317 Ramneek Singh Playwright, Theatre Director, Teacher

318 Rana Student

319 Ranjani Mazumdar Cinema Studies

320 Rashmi Gera

321 Rashmi Pant Assoc. Prof. Retd.

322 Ratheesan T M Comon Service centre

323 Ravi Duggal

Independent Sociologist and Public Health

Researcher

324 Ravi Srivastava Research

325 Ravinder Banyal Scientist

326 Raynah Marise ICWM

327 Raza Kazmi

Conservationist, Researcher, Wildlife

Historian, Writer

328 Razia Quresh Bootwala Home maker

329 Reshma PhD Physics, University of Hyderabad

330 Richa Minocha Academic

331 Rita Manchanda Peace & Conflict studies

332 Ritu Ngapnon Farmer, Architect

333 Rohan D’Souza Professor, ASAFAS, Kyoto University

334 Rohini Muthuswami Professor

335 Rohit Azad Economist

336 Rohit Kumar Student

337 Rohith P English Literature

338 Ronak M Soni Physicist, University of Cambridge

339 Roop Rekha Verma Social activist

340 Rukaiya Joshi Professor

341 Runa Sarkar IIM Calcutta

342 Rupa Mehta Media Professional and Social Activist

343 Ruth Manorama Social work Professional

344 Rutuja Dhamale Science Educator

345 S .Mohana AIPSN EC member, Social Activist

346 S Viswanathan Watcher

347 S. G Dani Mathematician

348 S. Usha Professor

349 S.Krishnaswamy

Retired Senior Professor ex Madurai

Kamaraj University

350 Sabiha Shariff Retired

351 Sachidanand Sinha Professor Retd

352 Sachin Bhusari Citizen

353 Sachin N Dyal Singh College, University of Delhi

354 Sadiq Zafar Architect, Urban Policy Researcher

355 Saeed Ahmad Historian

356 Sahildeep Singh Student/Research Scholar

357 Sailen Bhattacharyya Social Worker

358 Samarth M Dahiwale

359 Samik Dasgupta

Assistant Professor, Ananda Chandra

College, University of North Bengal

360 Samuel Asir Raj Professor

361 Sandhya Srinivasan Indian Journal of Medical Ethics

362 Sangeeta Social Activist, HGVS

363 Sangeetha K Assistant Professor/ A M Jain College

364 Sangita Das Associate Professor

365 Sanjaya Gupta Banker and independent consultant

366 Sanjit Chatterjee IISc

367 Sankari Rajappon CPI(M)

368 Sarah Actor

369 Saraswathi PUCL

370 Saravanan V Ph.D Candidate, JNU

371 Satbir Nagal Science Activists

372 Satish Deshpande Sociologist

373 Satish Kumar Singh Senior Advisor

374 Satish Suryan Journalist

375 Satyajit Freelance editor

376 Sedef Arat-Koc

Politics professor / Toronto Metropolitan

University

377 Seema Mustafa Journalist

378 Sehar Kidwai Production designer

379 Selvyn Jussy Linguist

380 Shabnam Hashmi Social Activist

381 Shafeef Ahmed Phd student

382 Shafeeq Mahajir Lawyer

383 Shalini D Student of History

384 Shalini Dhawan Designer

385 Shamsul Islam Former faculty Delhi University

386 Shanti Paswan Scatory jansandesh ngo

387 Sharoz Reza Founder EHSAS Foundation

388 Shaukat Abdul Karim Dangare Business man

389 Shikhar Goel New York University

390 Shilpita Mandal Researcher

391 Shohini Sengupta PhD candidate, UNSW, Sydney

392 Shreekant Gupta University of Delhi

393 Shubhra Gururani, Anthropologist Director, York Centre for Asian Research

394 Shukla Sawant Artist and academic

395 Shyama Iyer IIT Bombay

396 Siddan Chandra Media Producer

397 Simin Akhter University of Delhi

398 SK Malik Retired Engineer

399 Soma Chatterjee Associate Professor, York University

400 Sonal K S Master’s Student, Political Science, NEHU.

401 Srinivasan Ramani Senior journalist

402 Sruti Bala

Associate Professor University of

Amsterdam

403 Stella Environmental law

404 Sucharita Sen Jawaharlal Nehru University

405 Suchisree Chatterjee PhD student, IIT Bombay

406 Suchitra Mathur English Literature

407 Sudha Bharadwaj Lawyer

408 Sukhdev Singh Kokri Kalan

409 Sukla Sen Life Fellow, Indian Social Science Academy

410 Sukumar Muralidharan Columnist and journalism educator

411 Suman Kalyan Pradhanadhyapak i Salaried

412 Sundarapandi Retired professor.

413 Surajit Mazumdar Jawaharlal Nehru University

414 Surajit Pal Corporate Job

415 Suranya Aiyar Housewife

416 Suresh

417 Suresh Kumar Health Activist

418 Surya Abhishek Singaraju Physicist

419 Sushmita Political Scientist

420 Suvrat Raju Physicist

421 Swatija Forum Against Oppression of Women

422 Syed Ghouse Mohiuddin Quadri Exserviceman and Human Rights Activist

423 T V Narasimha Rao Teacher

424 Tamojit Roy Assistant Professor, CoochBehar College

425 Tani Bhargava Social work

426 Tanweer Fazal sociologist

427 Tarun Sagar Research Analyst/Social Worker

428 Thamizh Nazar Research scholar

429 Thomas Mathew Research scholar, University of Delhi

430 Tirthaprasad K Teacher

431 Tonmoy Media professional

432 Udaya Kumar Literary studies

433 Ugandhar Babu Lic, Janavignana Vedika

434 Umesh Chandola Veterinary doctor

435 Ushi Kak Writer, Academic

436 Utpola Das Student

437 Uttam Artist

438 V P Nandakumar Science activist

439 V Ponnuraj Retired college professor

440 V.S. Krishna Human Rights Forum

441 Vaidyanathan R Researcher

442 Vanessa Chishti Associate Professor, Jindal Law School

443 Vasudha Researcher

444 Venkatesh Athreya Economist

445 Vidya Das Arora Retired academic

446 Vijay Karthick PhD student

447 Vikas Bajpai Jawaharlal Nehru University

448 Vikas Rawal Professor, Jawaharlal Nehru University

449 Vinay Brandon

Phd Scholar, Department of Sociology,

Delhi School of Economics, University of

Delhi

450 Vineet Tiwari

National Secretary, All India Progressive

Writers’ Association

451 Virginia Saldanha Woman Activist

452 Waseemsha Doctor

453 Wasi Kidwai Student

454 Yousuf Saeed Independent filmmaker

455 Zahra Vahanvaty Non-profit

456 Zeeshan Khan

457 Zoya Hasan Political Scientist

 

 

IITs Brace for Tough Placement Season in 2024 With Likely Decrease in Hirings: Report

High-frequency trading and quant firms are expected to offer crore-plus packages, but the overall number of pre-placement offers may be lower this year, Mint reported.

New Delhi: The Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) are bracing for a challenging placement season, as the number of hirings may decrease in 2024, even as salaries see no reduction, Mint reported.

The number of positions available per role has reduced, the business daily reported.

“This year, we added more companies, but there is a 20% dip among the regular recruiters since many say they had over-hired last year. The compensation has not changed much, but the number of positions available per role has reduced,” a placement team member of one of the top three IITs told Mint on condition of anonymity.

High-frequency trading (HFT) and quant firms, such as Quadeye and Maverick Derivatives, are expected to offer crore-plus packages, including joining bonus and variable payouts, but the overall number of pre-placement offers (PPOs) may be lower, placement team members in IITs Delhi, Kanpur, Bombay and Roorkee told the newspaper.

HFT and quant companies use mathematics and statistics to predict market movements. Such companies hire candidates who can analyse markets using mathematical and statistical models.

These companies are mostly based in India, the US, Singapore, and Amsterdam.

HFT is a trading method that uses powerful computer programs to transact a large number of orders in fractions of a second. These companies have been garnering attention at a time when global markets are going through a volatile period.

The demand for roles such as algorithm engineers, data scientists, data language experts, and product managers is high in quant and trading firms, e-commerce and logistic companies, banks, IT product firms, and startups. However, the number of positions available per role is decreasing, the business daily said.

IITs in Chennai, Mumbai, Delhi, Kharagpur, Roorkee, Kanpur, and Guwahati started their campus placements on 1 December (Friday). The IITs in Varanasi, Mandi, and Bhilai had begun their placements in September.

“We had offered Rs 20 lakh, including Rs 2 lakh joining bonus last year, but while we picked up 15 engineers last year from the IITs on the first day of campus placements, this year we will recruit barely five. The offers are in the same range and could be marginally lower,” the recruitment head of a leading consulting firm told Mint on Friday.

Electronics giant Samsung, consulting and IT services leader Accenture, and engineering conglomerate Larsen & Toubro (L&T) were among early recruiters in September, placement executives told the business daily. Salaries offered ranged from Rs 6 lakh to Rs 48 lakh. These companies are now expected to visit the IITs on Friday.

In the tech and product sector, Zomato is on the hunt for machine learning and data scientist roles for Rs 40-45 lakh. Google is offering Rs 30-35 lakh for domestic roles. Microsoft will offer salaries ranging from Rs 40-45 lakh for roles based out of Bengaluru and Hyderabad.

When the Moon Gets Caught in the Barbed Wire, Over the Prison Wall

Life in Poetry is an anthology of 48 poems written by Telugu poet-activist Varavara Rao, written over a period of 50 years.

Revolutions are born in the heart of injustice. To some extent, good poetry is also the product of injustice – injustice in love, in life, in nature. What then happens when a revolutionary writes poetry? A life in Poetry happens. It’s an anthology of 48 Telugu poems by Varvara Rao, written over a period of 50 years or so. The poems have been perfectly translated in English by N Venugopal and Meena Kandasamy. This happens to be the first translation ever of Rao’s poetry in English. 

A Life in Poetry by Varavara Rao. Publisher: Penguin Random House India, 2023

In his essay Necessity of Atheism, Percy Shelly identifies three indicators for the non-existence of God – lack of sensory input, presence of reason and an absence of testimony of God’s presence. Rao’s poetry is similar to these three “excitements” as Shelly calls them, for rightly refuting the existence of order and equality in Indian society. The 48 poems trace the timeline of the historical inevitability that India is. It’s a book of modern India’s most defining moments captured through absolutely stunning language and pain. 

Even as we set on a path to decipher Rao, the poet, he reveals himself. His own analysis of poetry is like the spirit of a free bird and his language its wings. In a poem titled Poetry, Rao says:

Poetry is truth that need not be concealed

People who do not need government

Life that doesn’t need ambrosia

And keeping up his words, Rao has not hidden any truth which was worth the salt throughout his life as well as in this anthology of his poetry. The unwanted ambrosia of life is akin to Faiz’s sheereeni-e-farda in his famous poem called Dua. Faiz had written: 

Aaiye arz guzarein, k nigaar-e-hasti

Zeher-e-imroz mein sheereeni-e-farda bhar de

(Come let us pray that the creator may fill sweetness in tomorrow,

taking away the poison of today).

The sweet nectar of tomorrow is thus a promise of hope for both the hopeful Faiz as well as for the not so hopeful Rao but it is the ‘poison of today’, which fills the lives of common people, that finds its way in their recitations. Both are thus peoples’ poets. 

As a young teenager I still remember the day when in September, 1987, Roop Kanwar, a married Rajasthani girl was burnt on the pyre of her husband as part of the Sati tradition. One of the most haunting poems of this anthology is a poem describing Roop’s plight. It’s called Chunri and is a revelation of this mediaeval tradition of gruesome patriarchy. The last verses of Chunri are heartbreaking:

It is true that

He dragged her on his pyre

As he would drag her on his bed

With the same authority. 

She performed Sati as freely

As she lived

Qualifying something as brutal and ugly as misogyny through poetry is what makes Rao a poet worth reading. He holds our hand and walks us into a cold dark space where life is not what we are made to believe. There is rather an infinite absence of life all around in that real space. His poem reminds me of Sylvia Plath’s Lady Lazarus. In it, she says:

“I have done it again.  

One year in every ten  

I manage it—

“A sort of walking miracle, my skin  

Bright as a Nazi lampshade,  

My right foot

“A paperweight,

My face a featureless, fine  

Jew linen…

This ‘Nazi lampshade’ of Plath’s, to me, finds reflection in Rao’s Sati. Both have a poignant theatrical value in their verses. 

In the introduction of the book, Meena Kandasamy says that Rao is perhaps the longest jailed poet in independent India’s history. Like the Spanish poet Federico Garcia Lorca, imprisonment probably sets the poet free. Lorca in The Prisoner tells us about that girl lost in the dark night who reflected daylight with the splendor of her unclouded forehead. Rao uses less metaphors and more realism when he writes about the prison. 

Also read: ‘Attack on Varavara Rao Is an Attack on All of Us’: Young Poets Urge Release of Activist

In a poem called Sab Theekh Hai, written during his second jail sentence between May 1974 and April 1975, Rao describes how the tired night guards screamed sab theekh hai (all is well) every hour. The metaphorical beauty of this poem is difficult to describe in words. Rao writes: 

The moon gets caught in the barbed wire

Over the prison walls. 

And we, after singing and talking

Lose ourselves in the dreams of revolution 

The difficulty of these verses is not the presence of metaphors but the inability to distinguish between metaphors and corporeality. They are blended like the dusk and the night. The moon, the barbed wire, prison walls, singing or maybe the dream of revolution – all fall in the preview of our own perception and conscious volition. 

What can we infer in a society which harbours death and life, joy and sadness, poverty and richness, hunger and satiety with equal passive perception? What happens when nations make sad metaphors an actuality? Isn’t it ironic that such a poem is published in times when the highest executive of the nation made a similar comment ‘Sab changa si’ (all is well). Remember? 

Indeed, poets have a prophetic appeal! They know the future better than us. 

Friedrich Nietzsche had once written that if you kill a cockroach, you are a hero, if you kill a butterfly, you are evil. Morals have aesthetic criteria. The aesthetics of morality is thus a slippery slope. The reality of this aesthetic criteria is best demonstrated by Rao in a poem called Déjà vu. He writes:

Lucky?

You are born rich.

As you say in your lingo

‘Born with a silver spoon in the mouth’

Your agitation sounds creative

Our agony appears violent.

You can deflate tyres

With artistic elan

While indulgent police look on

Their jaws nestling on rifle butts.

We are told that this poem was written by Rao following an agitation of the upper caste, upper class youths of Andhra Pradesh in 1986 against a state level commission’s recommendation for increasing reservations. It’s an apt representation of what Nietzsche had inferred a few decades back. In ‘merit hungry nations’, the right to protest is only with those who hardly need protests. 

When we speak of poetry, we speak of chaos. Poetry which invokes chaos is poetry which gives hope. Hope lies in the heart of chaos. In a nation which is reeling under majoritarianism, communalism and casteism, what hope can we infer from Rao’s poetry? 

The pretence of hope has been endured since eternity and poets are the harbingers of this pretence. Some like Rao have been bestowed the job of making the pretence real. They work to make us believe in hope. Despite incarceration, despite state suppression to curb his spirits, and despite all methods to drown his voice, Rao roars with his poetry like a waterfall. His infectious courage makes those in power nervous as armed with such poignant beautiful poetry, Rao is a force to reckon with. 

In The Dream Pigeons, he writes:

Pigeons released by heart

Alight on the eyelids

You know I am scared to open

My eyes and break the wings

And so, I pretend, with my eyes closed.

I know very well that my

Dreams are not my creations alone

And that imagination is not

Anyone’s secret. 

May his dream come true and may his imagination be on fire, always.

Shah Alam Khan is a professor at the Department of Orthopaedics, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi.   

 

#NotMyVC: Why We, the Students of HNLU, Want Our Vice Chancellor to Resign

We sit on an indefinite protest against corruption, arbitrary decision-making, protectors of sexual predators, against our vice chancellor and his lackeys.

Just a few weeks after the Chhattisgarh high court ordered the removal of Dr. Sukhpal Singh as Hidayatullah Law University’s vice chancellor, the Supreme Court issued a stay order against the judgment, prompting HNLU’s chancellor to reinstate Singh.

This move has crushed all the hopes and dreams that had arisen in the short but glorious month when HNLU was free from Singh’s control. In this month, we had open dialogues with the administration about the university’s finances, specifically funding for moot courts and other academic as well as extracurricular activities. Perhaps for the first time since Singh’s reign began in 2011, students found themselves dealing with a transparent administration that was actually interested in students’ views, all thanks to the interim vice chancellor, R.S. Sharma.

After Singh resumed office, we called a general student body meeting to submit a motion of no-confidence against Singh, since we doubt his administrative capability. Over three hours of talks with him about our concerns yielded nothing but denials and vague explanations.

One of the main concerns that arose after Singh’s removal was reports of persistent sexual harassment on campus. However, Singh responded to our demand to set up a sexual harassment committee with “Ab tak nahi kiya toh kya, aapne manga hi nahi” (So what if we didn’t have one set up till now? You didn’t ask for it.)

https://twitter.com/Raizadafictions/status/1044854154257158145

Enquiries about financial discrepancies were answered with contradictory statements – money was always disbursed, funds were always lacking, permissions were never denied. Most of our concerns were only met with hollow promises to consider students’ interests in the future and Singh expressed no regret whatsoever for previous inaction.

Grave allegations of corruption, sexual harassment and misappropriation of funds were trivialised as being “made an issue for no good reason.” The meeting was much like his 7-year-long tenure – ineffective and redundant.

In August 2018, 51 students signed a sexual harassment complaint against a faculty member and submitted it to Singh. According to Section 3(m) of the UGC Regulations, 2015, the VC is mandated to instantly initiate an inquiry. However, Singh unilaterally decided to only warn the accused and emphasised his opinion that students can sometimes misinterpret comments made in class. It is pertinent to understand that he had no authority to merely warn the faculty and decide to take action only if the incident repeated itself: he was obligated to hold a formal investigation.

However, to this date, the accused professor continues to teach and hold power over his accusers. As students, we have also heard of other instances where the vice chancellor’s office has interfered with the sexual harassment committee’s proceedings, pressurised students to take back their complaints, violating the sanctity of the committee and the complainants thereof.

Also read:  Hidayatullah National Law University’s Students are Rising Up Against Years of Faculty Oppression

Our VC is not only apathetic about the condition of the university but also callous towards students who do care about HNLU’s functioning. His tenure has been characterised by opaque administrative decisions, with students being given no avenue to raise complaints or give feedback on how our lives are run.

Students with disabilities have been deprived of basic equipment that is requisite for them despite several requests for the same, internal student funding has been stalled for years and money has been ploughed into new, unnecessary hostels. Even our hard-won fight for extending the library’s timings has been denied due to a supposed lack of staff, overlooking the fact that a library attendant is employed as a personal cook to the VC!

The HNLU student body can no longer accept “ho gaya toh ho gaya” (what’s done is done) as a justification for the degrading impact his apathy has had on our careers, academic interests, well-being and HNLU’s reputation. It is too late to accept any reassurances for future action; Singh has had seven years of authority to at least fulfil students’ requirements, even if he could not actively take steps to improve the general quality of the college.

While his efforts to improve HNLU’s infrastructure were his obvious duty, this cannot be used as a waiver of his accountability as the VC. A well-functioning university isn’t just a collection of buildings and mosquito-free ponds, it is meant to be a place where students have the opportunity to explore their interests and feel a sense of belonging.

As VC, Singh deprived us of these for seven years with his despicable actions. The blatant financial discrepancies in records clearly indicate that this administration must have counted on these actions never coming to light, much like an unreleased special audit report that we’re all still waiting for.

We, therefore, can settle for no recourse less than that of his resignation. We sit on an indefinite protest against corruption, against arbitrary decision-making, against protectors of sexual predators, against Singh and his lackeys. We sit to seek justice that Justice Hidayatullah sought to achieve for India and its citizens.

Aabha Dixit is a student at Hidayatullah National Law University, Raipur.  

College: Where Men Get Freedom and Women Get Curfews

Women too should be allowed to pull all-nighters in the library, to gorge ourselves on oily dhaba food at 4 am, to aimlessly walk around campus, just because we can.

I would always meet my friends an hour before my hostel’s 10:30 pm curfew. We’d hang out on campus, discussing all sorts of things – from Syrian refugees to whether or not Spongebob Squarepants was really square. At 10:28 pm, I’d realise I’d have to run to make it back to my hostel before the gates were locked. I would anxiously sprint home; a minute later than 10:30 pm and a “show-cause” would be slapped across my academic record. If I was wearing shorts when I got there, my mother’s parenting skills would be questioned as well.

The next day, I would see my male friends in class. They would tell me about how, at midnight, they’d gone back to the same spot I’d run from. They would tell me how beautiful the starry night was, how cool the air felt.

I never got to experience these things until September 27, when Hidayatullah National Law University’s entire girls’ hostel decided it had had enough of these gendered curfew timings and took over the campus in protest. Eventually, the male students joined our protest and a student body famous for the tagline “light lo”, found the courage to stand up to its college’s administration and demand equality, safety, transparency and access to its own campus.

Also read: Hidayatullah National Law University’s Students are Rising Up Against Years of Faculty Oppression

This frustration, suppressed by fear and complacency, isn’t unique to HNLU. The recent events at Panjab University illustrate the ways in which academic institutions across India have ignored the basic rights of women. These institutions have used vague claims about morality and safety to justify the essential caging of women for decades. Women shouldn’t study in libraries past 10 pm – they only go there to gossip; women shouldn’t roam around campus after curfew – they only want to drink, smoke and, to quote the former Supreme court judge Markandey Katju, “do naughty things with boys”; women shouldn’t wear shorts to class – the male faculty might get distracted. The list is endless. Professors, administrative officers and wardens continue to morally police adult women. Despite the UGC mandate that prevents discrimination when it comes to “in-timings”, regulations are flouted by colleges that prefer to disregard basic human rights.

College is home for a pretty significant phase of our lives. We shouldn’t have to live those years in fear. Women, too, should be allowed to pull all-nighters in the library one day before our exams. We should be allowed to gorge ourselves on oily dhaba food at 4 am, to aimlessly walk around campus, just because we can. Our reasons aren’t solely academic, and we needn’t justify them. We also deserve to have fun in college. We deserve to live our version of the Bollywood movies that glorify the male college life experience. This patriarchal system of keeping women locked up not only impacts our academic records and aspirations but is also detrimental to our mental health.

Also read: Same Sky: A Female HLNU Student Imagines Life Without a Curfew

We deserve more than a sidelined existence in colleges and we must claim it.

The protest in HNLU continued for a week and ended with our in-timings being extended to 3 am. Just four days after the extension, I sit under the starry night, feel the cool midnight air and type out this article. In the hope that the revolution at Punjab University and other academic institutions around the country will yield similar results. I hope that women across India are able to break their cages and feel this freedom. Although it seems terrifying to speak up against those who have the power to jeopardise your career, the power of the unequivocal voice of a student body is unmatched.

Apne darr ko chodd, pinjra tod, pinjra tod! (Let go of your fear, break your cage, break your cage!)

Aabha Dixit is a student at Hidayatullah National Law University, Raipur.  

Featured image credit: Facebook/Pinjra Tod: Break the Hostel Locks