SATYAGRAHA- MASS HUNGER STRIKE against attack on Reservation Policy
Teachers and students braved the scorching heat and participated in massive numbers in the DUTA Satyagraha and Mass Hunger Strike today, at the Parliament Street, between 10 am and 5.30 pm.
The focus of today's Mass Hunger Strike was the UGC's standing March 5 Notification asking universities and colleges to redraw their Reservation Rosters on the basis of departments as units. Even as the MHRD has itself filed a plea in the Supreme Court, asking for a Review of this controversial decision, the UGC has refused to withdraw the Notification.
If the Notification is not withdrawn, it will set the affirmative policy of Social Justice through Reservation back by a decades. A whole generation of Research Scholars from SC, ST and OBC categories who are waiting for academic jobs will get excluded by this absurd anti-reservation decision as it undermines the proportionate method of ensuring that Constitutionally-mandated reservation percentages are met, for each category. More immediately, it will create chaos and mass-displacement among working ad-hoc teachers in DU when they will be due for re-appointment in the month of July, 2018. All current ad-hoc teachers have been appointed as per the 200-point college/university-wise Roster which is to be discontinued, as per the March 5 Notification.
The displacement of currently-working ad-hoc teachers threatens to undermine the DUTA's legitimate demand for Regularisation of thousands of ad-hoc teachers who have been serving DU and its colleges for many years, without any job-security or regular service benefits. Hence, the UGC's continuing indifference towards this community of teachers is a sinister ploy to destabilize the University and sabotage teachers' prospects of permanent jobs.
The DUTA warns the UGC and the MHRD that if a single ad-hoc teacher is displaced in July, as a result of its standoffish attitude and mischievous refusal to restore the Status Quo on Roster, DU will proceed on a complete lockdown in the new session.
Students and teachers reiterated their resolve to fight back against privatisation and commercialisation of public funded higher education through policies like replacement of grants by loans through HEFA for infrastructural needs, expansion and maintenance of Universities and colleges through Graded Autonomy and Scheme of Autonomous Colleges.
Teachers demanded that pension and allowances be revised immediately. And retrograde recommendations of 7 Pay Revision which have downgraded teaching profession should be withdrawn.
DUTA will hold General Body meeting on 1 June to decide future course if action.
| Rajib Ray President, DUTA | Vivek Chaudhary Secretary, DUTA |
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