Press Releases

Details: Press Releases; 04 December 2018

SFI CEC urges all the state committees to launch a concrete campaign in the university centers, research institutes, NITs, IITs regarding the necessity to increase the non-net fellowship and regular disbursement of other scholarship owing to the financial burden that is being imposed on a daily basis on the research scholars in the following paragraphs below.

Non-NET fellowship scheme was introduced by the UGC in 2006 to financially help students who do not avail any other fellowships like UGC JRF/SRF, CSIR JRF/SRF, etc. Owing to the growing financial burdens on the research scholars the HRD ministry has increased the fellowship received by students on the basis of NET-JRF (as clearing only NET does not give any added financial help) , but there was a serious negligence in consideration with respect to fellowship holders without the JRF. Not only this, in October, 2015, the UGC even decided to discontinue the non-NET fellowships which got restored following huge protests carried out by the students across the country. A committee was even formed to review the non-NET fellowship and was supposed to deliver by December, 2015 but there was no change in status of the non-NET fellowship even after that.

Ever since the onset of this government there has been a conscious attempt to destroy public funded universities and shift towards a privatized environment in the academic space. In order to achieve so, the government has resorted to cuts in funding by cuts in budgetary allocation in higher education which in turn-imposed cuts in financial aid to public universities as well as decrease in no of fellowships, followed by seat-cuts and all in turn concluded into added financial burden on students pursuing higher education. The recommendations by Kothari commission have clearly mentioned that for higher education to prosper and benefit all sections of the society, there must be a budget allocation of 6% of GDP for education in India, but successive governments have failed to implement so. For instance, the budgetary allocation for education in comparison to 2015-16 went from 3.1% of GDP to 2.6% of GDP in 2016-17. In absolute figures, the numbers went down from Rs 1,10,351 crores in 2015-16 to Rs 85,010 crores in 2016-17. It should be noted that the fund allocation in 2017-18 was merely Rs 79,585 crores. Not only this, the scheme of declaring India’s prime universities as financial autonomous has pushed universities towards self-financing modes where the universities will have to generate their funding through excessive fee-hike which will not include hike in admission fees but fees for availing basic facilities like internet, distilled water for labs, etc. Along with the factors mentioned above, inflation has also added extra financial burden on the researchers. According to a report by RBI there has been an inflation of 28% in the last 5 years since 2013.

Apart from that, although all the students (which include students with NET/JRF and also students without that) gets admitted through the same nation-wide examination test for individual universities, the difference in not-NET fellowships holders and the others creates a space of hierarchy and discrimination among researchers which is very unhealthy for any academic spaces of higher education. This discriminatory practice towards the non-IIT institutions has to be stopped. Though it is not surprising looking at the nature of the ruling classes in India, but it is not just to discriminate researchers when researchers across unitedly are contributing to the education of the society.

Hence, the government has to intervene in the following matters with urgency:

· Non-NET fellowships should be increased by at-least 50 % from the current session.

· A hike according to the inflation of last 4 years and regular disbursement of fellowship of JRF, CSIR and ICCSR or ICHR has to be done.

· A parity of amount needs to be maintained while awarding scholarship across the higher education institutes.

· The notification for scholarship like MANF, RGNF or SVSGC which has a particular target population cannot be untimely and irregular.

· More scholarship in the post graduate level has to be ensured for the people who are coming from weaker financial section of society with preference to those from marginalized communities and to increase the present post graduate level scholarships according to the inflation of last 4 years.

Released By

VP Sanu (President) Mayukh Biswas (General Secretary)

Details: Press Releases; 16 November 2018

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Successive Central governments have witnessed the destruction of the rural India and the unchecked destitution of farmers and yet little has been done to alleviate their misery. They have witnessed the deepening misery of the dispossession in country side but left the tillers of soil to ‘free to choose’ to die. Over 3 lakh farmers have committed suicide in India between 1995 and 2015, according to data from the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB). Even this horrendous figure is an underestimate, with suicides in many groups like women, dalit and tribal farmers being seriously undercounted. Yet, the NCRB was the only body giving us a nationwide picture, however flawed, of the number of farmers taking their own lives each year. Now situation has deteriorated to such an extent that since 2015, the NCRB has not published farmer suicide data at all.

Not only that this Government have crossed the pace of all previous governments to bring agriculture under corporate control. Amending the existing laws on land acquisition, water resources, seed, fertilizer, pesticides and food processing, the government is in an overdrive to usher in contract farming and encourage organized retail. This is exactly as per the advice of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund as well as the international financial institutes.

At this backdrop All India Kisan Sangharsh Coordination Committee (AIKSCC), representing almost 200 organisations has organised a Kisan Mukti March to Delhi for 2 days from 29th to 30th of November,2018. The main demand of this March is to demand a special Parliamentary Session on farmer's issues. Demand for a special Parliamentary session emerges after numerous protests, petitions, pleadings by distressed farmers, labourers, forest communities, fisher folk and the foot soldiers of our country’s literacy and health care programmes – Anganwadi, Accredited Social Health Activists and Auxiliary Nurse Midwife workers, have failed to garner the attention of successive governments to the agrarian crisis.

The Farmers’ Freedom from Indebtedness Bill, 2018, and The Farmers’ Right to Guaranteed Remunerative Minimum Support Prices for Agricultural Commodities Bill, 2018, have already been placed before Parliament and are awaiting discussion. Their adoption should also form an important part of the special Parliament session.

SFI extends its complete support and solidarity with the Kisan March, and pledge to be part of every future struggle get society free of exploitation.

Released by

VP Sanu (President) Mayukh Biswas (General Secretary)

Details: Press Releases; 15 November 2018

6th December remains as one of the darkest days in the history of independent India. The demolishing of Babari Masjid by the Sangh Parivar posed a severe question to the secular character assured by the very constitution of India. Riots were occurred at different parts of the country following the demolition of Barbari Masjid. The colorful fabrics of Indian society were shattered to pieces. The legacy of united fight against colonialism was also under attacked.People like Ram Prasad Bismil, Ashfaqulla Khan, Rajendra Lahiri , Chandrashekhar Azad who belonged to the HRA, (which later became the Hindustan Socialist Republican Association, led by Bhagat Singh) shed their blood for this land. In the Kakori trial case, Ram Prasad Bismil, Ashfaqulla Khan were hanged on 19th December by the Colonial British administration- a Pandit and a pathan fighting shoulder to shoulder until the last breathe for the idea called India. An idea talks about pluralism and unity in diversity. The history of India's freedom struggle is filled with the sacrifices made by people of all communities, with unity and extreme show of patriotism, for the liberation of their motherland. The values upheld by the Constitution of India is a result of this united struggle and secular fabric.

Today,the idea of that sovereign socialist secular, democratic republic is being assaulted on an everyday basis by the very forces who destroyed the Babri masjid. All the state power have also been put behind this task. The constitution of India is under attack by none other than the ruling regime at the centre. The incidences of communal violence and hatred have increased many folds in India in recent times. The mob lynchings in the name of cow and fabricated stories of 'love jihad', killings of the rationalists and writers, increasing incidents of brutal attacks on Dalits and people of marginalized sections, caste atrocities and Communal hatred etc. states that India no longer deserves to be called as the 'largest democracy'. The atmosphere of fear is being instilled by the government itself which was supposed to ensure the constitutional rights and provisions to all citizens of the country. This reflects the dangerous environment created by this saffron family using public machinery. A nation is being shaped with mere symbolic and rhetoric, not the lives of its own people or an atmosphere of inclusiveness. Student community cannot be unaffected of these trends as Sangh parivar is trying to destroy our thought process by imposing falsified information and communal agendas. The campaigns against the scientific temper and rational thoughts, offered by the constitution, is being propagated by the central ministers including the prime minister itself.

Now, having only few months left to the general elections, BJP have again triggered the campaign on Ram temple. This is nothing other than a blatant attempt to polarize the county to resist any possibility for a larger unity over the everyday issues of the people. In this dark time, the memories of vibrant history of diversity and united resistance must be turned as a source of strength in the battle against this divisive communal forces. It is in this context SFI is launching a nationwide campaign against communalism, named as ‘Harmony over Hatred’ from 6th December to 19th December in each corners of India. SFI urges student community of our country to stand for this cause.

Released by

VP Sanu (President) Mayukh Biswas (General Secretary)

Details: Press Releases; 30 March 2018

Central Executive Committee of Students’ Federation of India expresses its anguish and serious concern on the CBSE question paper leak of Class 10 Mathematics and Class 12 Economics. Lakhs of the students have been forced to undergo strenuous harassment and mental torture due to this paper leak.

This is a complete failure of CBSE to ensure the secrecy of the examination as incidences of leaking of question paper has become a trend. A similar allegation of the paper leak was made during the Class XII accountancy exam, which was also acknowledged by Delhi deputy chief minister but CBSE has denied, investigation of these allegations should be done on an urgent basis.

Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has announced that re-examination will be conducted for Class 10 Mathematics and Class 12 Economics papers but till now has not announced the new dates. It is very easy for any official of CBSE to give orders to re-conduct the examinations but it is very difficult for them to realize the kind of mental pressure and trauma students are going through due to this failure of CBSE. It also takes huge efforts and time to prepare for the exam and go through the entire process of examination. Mere cancellation of the exam will not serve the purpose but the culprits who are involved in this scam should be pinned down and punished. There is complete lack of seriousness on the part of the government to address the failure be it in the case of SCC question paper leakage or this the culprits are roaming scot-free while the future of lakhs of students is at stake. Examinations of 10th and 12th are stepping stones for a students’ academic career and this lackadaisical attitude of CBSE and this government will result in nothing else but jeopardizing the career of lakhs of students.

During this regime of BJP question paper scam is various examinations have become a practice and explains the complete failure of government. This also shows the lack of political will of BJP government to fight the corruption. SFI demands a rapid and time-bound enquiry to identify the culprits and punish them. At the same time, CBSE should ensure that these incidents should not be repeated in future.

Released by

VP Sanu, President Vikram Singh, General Secretary