Delhi students block ITO to protest against scrapping of non NET fellowship

The University Grant Commission’s decision to simply scrap the fellowship awarded to non-National Eligibility Test research scholars, has sparked outrage from all quarters as hundreds of students came out to protest on Tuesday.

De said, “After two hours of violence, the police put forth a condition before our fellow protesters, telling them to disperse if they wanted us (picked up from UGC office) to be released”.

Ministry is examining a proposal to relaunch the scheme with provisions for allocation of grants “strictly” on the basis “merit” as the UGC has made a decision to junk the scheme mainly due to lack of a mechanism to ensure that its benefits were being availed only by “deserving candidates, said a ministry official”. While hundreds of students protested peacefully, a few students allegedly belonging to the BJP-led Akhil Bhartiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) created a ruckus on Friday afternoon. While PhD students receive the amount for a period of four years, MPhil students get it for 18 months.

Police detained about 100 protestors and lodged them at the Bhalswa Dairy police station in Northwest Delhi. “The UGC decision will discourage poor students from doing research”, said Anant Prakash Nayak, a student from Jawaharlal Nehru University.

“Several comrades are seriously injured and taken to hospital”, All India Students’ Association (AISA) said in a statement.

On why non-NET scholars are being deprived of financial assistance, the UGC has said the disbursement of funds is now controlled by the universities, and there are no mechanisms for the UGC to verify whether the money is actually being received by the beneficiaries. Brilliant students are not motivated towards research and this is a matter of grave concern for all of us. He, however, declined to comment on the allegations of lathi-charge.

Under the non-NET fellowships, students pursuing MPhil and PhD from all central universities get Rs 5,000 and Rs 8,000 per month respectively for their research work. “A delegation of students representing the protesters has now been allowed to go inside to raise our demands”, said former JNU students’ union president Ashutosh Kumar. A delegation of students today met UGC officials but their meeting remained inconclusive.

“Last year, the UGC disbursed Rs 99.16 crore under the non-NET fellowship”.