new delhi > concerns of other stake holders, the government has unilaterally decided to impose autonomy through a UGC notification. This autonomy is an excuse to withdraw public-funding from universities and will lead to increased privatisation and commercialisation. The victims of these policies like all other polices of this government, will be students from marginalised sections, who would not be able to afford the increased fee structure, which self-financing and privatisation will bring about. It is the implementation of similar set of policies which has resulted in widespread student protests across Europe, Latin America, South Africa and USA.
Since the vice-chancellor of the university is the central figure in many of these dictatorial acts, his removal has also been a central demand of the student community in JNU. While the police could halt the Long March of students, the protests in JNU continue unabated. Until there is a reversal of these draconian policies, students and faculty members of JNU will continue to protest.
We should also note that many of these issues are not merely JNU centric. UGC notifications on autonomy and viva voice are applicable across India, and can be the death knell of higher education in India as we know. A united students struggle across the county is the need of the hour to roll back these thoroughly casteist and exclusive policies of this government
