The Jawaharlal Nehru University Students’ Union, or JNUSU, has called a two-day strike on January 8 and 9 in protest against the university administration for allegedly spending close to Rs 13 lakh to host preachers Sri Sri Ravi Shankar and Sadhguru, PTI reported.
Though the university spent money on the preachers, the university vice-chancellor had denied registration to a visually impaired student of the Centre for Japanese Studies, who was allegedly because of lack of facilities caused by a paucity of funds, the union claimed in a statement.
The union also claimed that the administration has approved an 80% cut for library funding, and has not disbursed merit-cum-means scholarships for undergraduate and postgraduate students despite increasing the expenditure on security by 89%, The Hindu reported.
“The JNU V-C in massive corruption has been diverting money meant for seminars and academic conferences for construction of statues on campus and renovation of homes of senior officers,” the union alleged. “JNUSU sees this extravaganza as part of a larger policy of the Narendra Modi government towards destruction of public education and universities through fund cuts, seat cuts, decimation of reservation and so on.”
The strike has been called in solidarity with the all-India general strike called by trade unions, the students’ body added.
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