People's Democracy

‘FOR UNIVERSAL EDUCATION, INTELLECTUAL SELF-RELIANCE AND SOCIAL JUSTICE’

SFI To Organise Countrywide Jathas 

THE central executive committee of the Students’ Federation of India (SFI) decided to organise two jathas covering the entire country in the months of November and December 2006 as a culmination to the agitations on various issues at the state level. The jathas will be held with the slogan “For Universal Education, Intellectual Self-Reliance and Social Justice”

This decision was taken by the CEC at its meeting held in New Delhi on September 22-23, 2006. Announcing the details of the programme at a press conference on September 25 SFI general secretary K K Ragesh and president R Arun Kumar said extensive campaign and local level agitations have been planned to be held alongside the jathas. One jatha will start from Himachal Pradesh on November 1 and cover Uttaranchal, Delhi, Haryana, Punjab, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Assam, and Tripura and will culminate in Kolkata. The second jatha will start from Bangalore and will cover Karnataka Tamilnadu, Andhra Pradesh, Orissa, Chattisgarh, Maharashtra, and Kerala and will culminate in Thiruvananthapuram. 

The SFI has also planned to organise more than 100 rallies throughout the country during the jathas and also collect one crore signatures from the students on the charter of demands during the course of the campaign. The signatures will be handed over to the jatha leader for submission to the prime minister. 

The jathas will be led by the organisation’s central leaders – two in each jatha. The South jatha will be led by K K Ragesh, general secretary and P K Biju, joint secretary. G Selva, Vanitha (HP), Sunitha Siwach (Haryana) will be the permanent members in this jatha. The North jatha will be led by R Arun Kumar, president and Ritabrata Banerjee, joint secretary. Sindhu Joy, Albeena Shakeel will be the permanent members. One member each from West Bengal and Kerala would also be part of the jathas.

The Lyngdoh Commission, appointed by the Supreme Court, has submitted its report on the student union elections to the Court and a copy of it to the HRD ministry. The SFI CEC noted that according to the media reports, the commission submitted a report in favour of student union elections, which is a welcome development. It helps in the democratisation of the campuses. Another positive feature noted by the SFI was that the commission also gave the universities the power to decide on the mode of elections. SFI also welcomed the ceiling the commission has imposed on the money that needs to be spent during elections. The report should be made available to the public and the government should immediately act upon all the positive recommendations, it demanded. 

Referring to some negative suggestions given by the commission, SFI asked for reconsideration of the same. Many students are now victimised for questioning the misdeeds of the administration and disciplinary proceedings are initiated against them just because they exercise their democratic rights. If the commission bars all the students who have disciplinary proceedings against them from participating in the elections, this would be used by the administration to curtail all effective opposition to them. SFI wanted such a misuse to be prevented. The suggestion that only hand written posters should be used in the elections in this day of advanced technological innovations is improper. Once a limit is imposed on the expenditure there cannot be large number of printed posters used in the elections. The ban on processions outside the campus was also not correct, felt the SFI. Politicians should not be allowed to interfere in the student union election process but students should be allowed to interact with them and learn about the policies that ultimately affect them, it stressed.

Charter Of Demands

1. Constitute National Commission for Education

2. Implement reservations in all educational institutes 

3. Increase opportunities for higher education

4. Enact central legislation to regulate fees and admission in private professional institutes and private Deemed Universities

5. Central government should enact the Right to Education Bill

6. Spend 6 per cent of GDP and 10 per cent of central budget on education

7. Stop private and foreign universities and FDI in education. Protect intellectual self-reliance and resist imperialist onslaught on education.

8. Ensure good academic atmosphere in all campuses

9. Ensure democratic rights for students 

10. Implement promises of the CMP

11. Constitute committees against sexual harassment in all campuses. (INN)