On this Monday of Jan 2020, some stray thoughts which have come in my mind and would like to share with you :
Have you ever realised, why most of the students of Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) have leftist ideology? To get to know the answer one has to go back to India’s political history of 1960s- when Indira Gandhi became PM of India in 1966, after the death of Lal Bahadur Shastri, the Indian economy was in shambles after fighting two wars, first with China in 1962 and second with Pakistan in 1965. With very few countries standing in support with India and at that time Indira Gandhi tried but could not make any headway for getting support from USA, as USA had a very friendly relations with Pakistan. So naturally India had to fall back on USSR to get financial aid required for boosting India’s economy. USSR was ready to support India but they asked what India can offer back in return for this support. As Indian economy that time was following more or less the USSR’s pattern of socialism, Indira promised that we will open an Institute where you can preach your communism through the students studying there and JNU was established for this purpose. It is known fact that during first few decades most of the students who get admission had leftist leanings, even most of the faculty members were from North Eastern states with communist background. Many of the leftist leaders have studied in JNU and the most famous being CPM leader Sitaram Yechuri. It is also known fact that JNU was always been a pet child of Congress and was never disturb during their rule at centre.
Present fees for various courses are Master of Technology (M Tech) Rs 778, Doctorate of Philosophy ( PhD) Rs 1031, Master of Philosphy (M Phil) Rs 778, Master of Public Health (MPH) 723, Master of Science (M Sc) Rs 728, Advanced Diploma Rs 234, Bachelor of Arts (BA- Hons) 1097 and Master of Arts (MA) Rs 773. Most of these courses offers fellowship which is different for different courses. The minimum being Rs 2000 per month. One thing you must have read that in JNU you will find maximum students doing MPhil and PhD , the reason being that then they can avail fellowship of Rs 20,000 to Rs 28,000 per month.
You will be surprised to know about the Hostel fees of JNU- till last semester it was Rs 10 per month for a double sharing room, and Rs 20 per month for single room. This fees structure was ridiculously low considering the institute is situated in the heart of Delhi and just out the campus gate you will not find a single room even PG accommodation for less than Rs 15,000 month. I remember when I was doing Engineering in a Govt college in Aurangabad (Maharashtra) from 1967 to 72, that time I used to pay Rs 150 per year as Hostel fees for 3 students sharing a room, and in JNU even after five decades students were paying Rs 240 per year for double sharing room till Dec 2019.
All the hell broke loose in JNU when the administration announced the new hostel fee structure in Dec 2019, in which single room rent has been increased from Rs 20 per month to Rs 600 per months for double sharing room from Rs 10 per month to Rs 300 per month. Additionally they have been asked to pay Rs 1700 per month as Service Charges, which is for water, electricity and other upkeep charges. So in effect a student occupying single room will have to par Rs 2300 per month and for occupying double room Rs 2000 per month.
Even for students the food in the mess at JNU is at very subsidised rates. Now you realise why most of the students never want to leave JNU, and specially those pursuing their PhDs. With stipends/fellowship ranging from Rs 25,000 to 28,000 per month and food and accommodation at dirt cheap rates, for these type of students there is no hurry to complete their PhD.
I am not going into the causes of violence which has happened in recent times in JNU because there are two versions of the news, whom to believe and whom not to believe is difficult to decide. But one thing is sure that the atmosphere in JNU is not conducive for educations, with many students misusing the facilities provided by govt and secondly in the recent past many anti govt and anti India protests originated from here. It looks like most of the students here are more interested in politics and anti establishment activities otherwise how you can explain so many students still pursuing with PhDs and masters programmes even after crossing the ages of 30s and 40s. The students from other institutes like IIMs, IITs and other Engineering and management colleges want to finish their education at the first attempt so that they can start earning to pay back their educational loans which they have availed, because the fact is here without loan you can not finish your higher educations in India unless your parents are very rich. But in JNU, students are paid fellowship/stipends, cheap hostel accommodation and food so they are in no mood to complete their education, which helps them to fulfil their political activities. If govt withdraws their stipends, then they will find it difficult to survive in outside competitive world.
Today we are living in market economy and socialism/communism is long dead in India, then why these students from JNU should have advantage over the other student at the cost of taxpayer’s money.
What you say my friends.
Awaiting your views/comments/feed backs.
Anil Malik
Mumbai, India
13th Jan 2020