By Raqib Hameed Naik, TwoCircles.net
New Delhi: The ‘Occupy UGC’ movement over the scrapping of non-National Eligibility Test (NET) fellowship to MPhil and PhD students in New Delhi took a violent turn on Friday after police resorted to lathicharge on protesting students and detaining many who tried to enter the premises of the UGC building.
Police detained about 100 protestors and lodged them at the Bhalswa Dairy police station in Northwest Delhi. Interestingly, students belonging to the BJP student wing, Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad, escaped detention, reported Times of India. However all protestors were released after being detained for over 12 hours.
Importantly, the non net fellowship started in 2008 to encourage research in the universities has proved to be a life line for researchers who do not have access to other scholarships. It has encouraged students from different backgrounds to continue their research with financial assistance of Rs 5,000 for MPhil students for 18 months and Rs 8,000 per month for PhD students for four years.
The move has come as a major blow to student organisations who were mulling for increase in the scholarship amount.
Students have further alleged members of Akhil Bhartiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), the student wing of BJP of heckling and hurling abuses at the protesting students on Thursday night.
On Friday afternoon, a 10-member student delegation representing various student organisations had a meeting with UGC officials.
“The delegation talked for an hour and the UGC administration said that they will reconsider the decision and not circulate the letter to universities. It still is long way from any concrete resolution,” a statement issued by All India Students’ Association said in a statement on Friday evening.
The students leading the ‘Occupy UGC’ protest said they will not budge from outside the commission’s office till the decision is revoked. The students detained after their release promised to continue their agitations unless the UGC maintains status quo on the issue.
The Delhi University Teachers’ Association (DUTA) has also condemned the scrapping of the crucial fellowship.