A Tale of Two Univer-Sities
Protests rock JNU and BHU.
Over the course of the last one week, two major protests have broken out across two major central universities in India — the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) in Delhi and the Banaras Hindu University (BHU) in Varanasi.
In Delhi, students are protesting a revision of hostel charges from ₹10 to ₹300, with large sections of the media and the opposition supporting then. Meanwhile in Varanasi, students are protesting over the appointment of a non-Hindu to teach sanatan dharma.
What is the case with the Jawaharlal Nehru University?
The JNU administration had increased its hostel fee from a meagre ₹10 and ₹20 for single and double occupancy rooms to ₹300 and ₹600 respectively. It also introduced a service charge and this resulted in heavy protests from students.
There were many who opined that the fee hike was unjustified, and echoed the sentiment of affordable education, while many said that the hike was justified.
That brings us the question; Should JNU have increased its hostel fee?
Hiking the hostel fees and adding a service charge of ₹1,700 per month — the service charge has now been changed to the actual cost incurred — is huge, so the students’ anger looks justified. For JNU, the estimate given to NAAC puts the recurring expenditure per student at ₹5.8 lakh in 2016–17, and at ₹1.7 lakh if salaries of teachers/staff was not included. What is charged as annual fee, the university’s accounts show, is 1% of this on average.
However, Jawaharlal Nehru University is known as a quality centre of higher education at affordable rates. It’s true that JNU has had a record of inclusive policies. These have offered upward mobility to thousands of students from India’s poorest families down the years. The university must not lose this role, especially with education elsewhere getting so expensive.
Meanwhile, 800 km to the East, in Varanasi, another episode was brewing.
What is the Feroz Khan controversy?
Feroz Khan, whose appointment as professor in the Sanskrit Department of the Banaras Hindu University (BHU) has triggered protests, is actually a ‘Hindu by karam (act)’. His father Ramzan Khan aka Munna Master is a ‘gau sevak’ who runs a cow shelter in Bagru, about 35km from Jaipur in Rajasthan.
Students are protesting about a non-Hindu being appointed to teach Dharma, under the Sanskrit Vidya Dharma Vigyan (SVDV) stream at BHU.
Was Feroz Khan the right choice for the post?
Dr Feroz Khan was the only Muslim student in his batch when he opted Sanskrit for higher studies. Last year, he completed his PhD from Rashtriya Sanskrit Sansthan where he also taught Sanskrit as a guest faculty. He hails from Jaipur’s Bagru village, famous for its artisans who excel in block printing on fabrics. Khan’s younger brother has also studied Sanskrit. So did his faither Ramjan Khan who would sing bhajans to raise money for gaushalas.
On the other hand, a student in BHU said that their protest is against appointment of a non-Hindu in ‘Dharma Vigyan’ stream. They would not have opposed the appointment as professor of Sanskrit language. The root of protests is appointment of a non-Hindu in stream about Hindu religion. The students who are protesting are also followers of Sanatan Hindu traditions and have full faith in Vedas, Vedang, Karmakand, Jyotish and have dedicated their lives to them.
That’s all from us this week, do download the UnFound App on Google Play and Be a #RebelAgainstMisinformation
~Contributed by Srikanth Ramakrishnan
