Press Releases

Details: Press Releases; 13 November 2016

The decision of the central government to demonetize the currency notes of 500 and 1000 from the midnight of 8th November has turned out to create havoc among common people across the country. People are forced to stand in long queues outside banks and ATMs. The recent statements of finance minister and Prime Minister Modi make it clear that there is no end in sight for these problems. Most hit have been the people from working class and the poor sections. It is clear that this authoritarian decision has been made without any due preparation. Mass anger is building among the people against this disastrous step.

It is being argued that this move will help check ‘black money. This argument in itself is completely erroneous, since the ‘black cash’ is only a small part of the overall black economy. If the government is indeed serious about black money then it should make public the names of all the big corporates whose loan defaults in the public banks today runs in lakhs of crores. Most of the black money in the country is in gold and in real estate. Many economists of varying ideological positions have pointed how this move will not be able to check black money. Further, they have also pointed to the fact that the difficulties created by it are much more than its benefits.

Students, living away from their families have been hit hard by this move. It is shameful in such a scenario that ABVP has come out it support of this ruinous decision.

SFI units in many states including Kerala and West Bengal are already with the people by setting up help desks near the banks and the ATMs. CEC calls upon all its units to make necessary measures to help the people who are in distress.

Released by

VP Sanu (President)

Vikram Singh (General Secretary)

Details: Press Releases; 04 November 2016

Central Executive Committee of the Students’ Federation of India strongly condemns the unprecedented decision of the inter-ministerial committee of the Union Ministry of Information Broadcasting to take NDTV India off the air for a day (November 9).

The ridiculous argument given by the government behind this order is that the channel's coverage of the Pathankot terror attack on January 2, 2016 that the government claims gave out sensitive information to the handlers of terrorists. NDTV in its response to a show cause by the government has maintained that its coverage did not carry any information that had not been covered by the rest of the media, and was in the public domain. Government could have used many other legal options, if any of the content was indeed problematic.

In fact, it is quite ridiculous, that it was the central government, which made a mockery of the national security in the manner that the entire Pathankot episode was dealt.

This action is a direct assault on the freedom of media and hence also the freedom of the people of India. This authoritarian assault is a stark reminder of the similar episodes during the emergency declared by the Congress party during 1975-77. In the recent past, we have seen similar attacks on the freedom of press & journalists in Kashmir and Chhatisgarh as well.

CEC demands that this order from the ministry of I&B be withdrawn immediately. If this is not done then SFI will organize action programmes across the campuses against this brazen attack on democracy.

Released by

VP Sanu (President)

Vikram Singh (General Secretary)

Details: Press Releases; 22 June 2016

The Government has once again made it evident that their ‘walk’ is far detached from their ‘talk’. The fact that even though the government claims that it wants to bring our universities at par with foreign universities, but the policy orientation has been to serve the interests of corporate houses and the current UGC Gazette Notification,2016 is another planned attack to destroy and devalue the public funded institutions of the country.
 We are acquainted with the ongoing protests headed by the Delhi University Teacher’s Association (DUTA) demanding the withdrawal of the UGC Gazette Notification,2016 and roll back of the Academic Performance Indicator (API) system of evaluation teachers. The new norms under API are not going to be in favour of professors in the university. The system of feedback by the students’ is only an attempt pitch the students’ versus the teachers. Such a move is unwarranted when already we have recommendations of Students’ Faculty Committee(SFC) by UGC much before. In Delhi University alone around 4000 teachers will be jobless due to the new rules suggested by the UGC. In such a situation, not just teachers on ad-hoc but also those permanent are equally vulnerable. This will further take away all the existing vacancies and also hamper the student teacher ratio, which will have disastrous consequences. This is an effect of the 55% reduction in budgetary allocations to education which further makes it clear that the sell-out of public education to private players is the prime agenda of this government.
The notification will further devalue the educational standards in the country and will also lead to loss of thousands of jobs in the teaching sector at a juncture when the people of the country have been badly hit by soaring price rise, agrarian distress and joblessness.
The Students’ Federation of India calls upon all its units to observe nationwide protests against the draconian UGC Gazette Notification 2016 on the 23rd of June. 
 
 
Released by
V P SANU (President) 
Vikram Singh (General Secretary)

Details: Press Releases; 25 April 2016

CBSE has kept ‘scarf’ and ‘tajeeb’ in the list of the banned items for the upcoming AIPMT exam, which is scheduled to be held on 1st May.
It needs to be mentioned that these additional measures were introduced last year after the AIPMT 2015, which was originally held on May 3, was cancelled by the Supreme Court after police investigations revealed sophisticated mode of exam fraud and mass cheating involving MBBS students, doctors and middle-men across the country. CBSE found these regulations necessary for curbing the malpractices in the examination; while for a section of minority community it was seen as ‘discriminatory ruling, which prevented them from fulfilling the mandate of their religion’. Supreme Court bench had later refused to hear a plea ‘on allowing hijab during the AIPMT examination’.

SFI is against any regulation which infringes in the constitutionally guaranteed right of every citizen to practice his/her religious beliefs. While the struggle against all kinds of religious obscurantism is necessary, it doesn’t mean coercion. There should be elaborate measures instead to check the examination mafia which is thriving with the active participation of the bureaucrats and the ruling class’ political parties.

Released by
VP Sanu (President)
Vikram Singh (General Secretary)