Page 18 - EW Oct 2023

Education News

DELHI cal party dares touch. For instance,
ABVP wins again tuition fees in Delhi University and

affiliated colleges have remained
frozen for decades. In the postgrad
Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU)
where the Communist-aligned Left
United (alliance of all left associa-
tions) rules the roost, tuition fees for
arts grads average Rs.400-450 per
year and hostel fees in the heart of
Delhi’s green zone are less than Re.1
per night.
“The main objective of candi-
dates who contest DUSU and other
university elections is to ensure that
tuition and residence fees remain
frozen at 1960 levels. Well aware of
the destructive power of students
unions, no political party or gov-
ernment dares to raise their fees
except nominally. Similarly, faculty
DUSU’s newly elected president Tushar Dedha: subsidies priority unions in colleges and universities
make sure their remuneration is
eld on september 22 after a Communist and Left-affiliated par- on a par with senior civil servants
hiatus of three years because ties. But in the decade past after the and high court judges. Tuition fees
Hof Covid disruption, the Delhi BJP swept to power at the Centre in in India’s higher education institu-
University Students Union (DUSU) 2014 and again in 2019, the BJP- tions contribute barely 5 percent of
election was swept by the BJP- affiliated ABVP’s star has been in the institutional expenditure against the
affiliated Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi ascendant. global average of 20 percent, and
Parishad (ABVP) which bagged All major political parties accord no scheme of repaying the cost of
three out of four office-bearer posts. high importance to college and higher education when graduates
The Congress-affiliated National university students unions. Not only start working has ever been mooted.
Students’ Union of India (NSUI) are they a sizeable vote bank, they Post-independence India’s higher
won only the post of vice-president. are also a catchment pool for future education subsidy swallows 40 per-
Students of Delhi University’s 80 leaders. For instance, the former cent of the Centre and states’ annual
affiliated colleges and 16 university BJP finance minister the late Arun education budget at the expense of
faculties were eligible to vote. Jaitley, was a former DUSU presi- primary education. It’s iniquitous,”
ABVP won the post of president dent. Moreover, students of affiliated says a senior JNU faculty member,
for the eighth time in the past 11 unions can be gathered for protest who requested anonymity for fear of
years with ABVP president Tushar marches or agitations at short notice. “lynching” by student union activists.
Dedha polling 23,460 votes and That’s why the expenditure ceiling of Predictably in his victory speech,
NSUI’s Hitesh Gulia 20,345. “I Rs.5,000 per candidate prescribed DUSU’s newly-elected president
congratulate all the karyakartas of by the Lyndogh Committee (2005) Tushar Dedha, a first-year student
ABVP for their emphatic victory in is practiced more in the breach than of MA in Buddhist Studies, spelt out
#DUSUElection2023. This triumph observance, as political parties pour his priorities. “Metro concession
shows the ubiquitous acceptance of money into students union elections passes, better hostel facilities for
the ideology of ‘nation first’ among to ensure affiliated unions and can- students and various other issues are
our young generation,” tweeted BJP didates are elected. our priority. We will work on all is-
national president J.P. Nadda. The quid pro quo that college and sues of students,” he promised. Cur-
Arguably the world’s largest university students extract from po- rently, although university students
students union election with over litical parties is heavy subsidisation are entitled to heavily concessional
1.5 lakh voters, DUSU elections are of higher education. Students’ tuition monthly bus passes in Delhi, they
a prize target for all political parties. and residential accommodation fees haven’t been awarded concessional
For several decades after indepen- in public universities and colleges fares by the metro rail system despite
dence, DUSU was the preserve of are a thorny subject that no politi- it being “the most used public trans-

18 EDUCATIONWORLD OCTOBER 2023