FEDCUTA PRESS RELEASE, 09.04.2017

FEDCUTA PRESS RELEASE, 09.04.2017

In its meeting held on 26.3.2017, the FEDCUTA Secretariat passed the following resolution

FEDCUTA RESOLUTION

The FEDCUTA takes serious note of the fact that the recommendations of the UGC 7th Pay Review Committee for the teachers and academics in higher education are still not made public. It is shocking that the democratic route to consultations about the recommendations with the largest teachers’ bodies like the AIFUCTO and the FEDCUTA has not been followed by the MHRD. Indeed, the pay committee’s report concerns the mass of teachers in higher education and needs to be thoroughly debated amongst them. This withholding of the report reflects a callous and indifferent attitude of the government towards the service conditions of the teachers.It is vital for the health of public higher education that the pay and service conditions debates actually create an enabling situation where universities can attract, retain and nurture talent. By ignoring the process of democratic consultations on these issues, the MHRD and the government are certainly creating an unheard-of situation of lack of transparency as AIFUCTO has rightly called it.
The FEDCUTA supports the AIFUCTO’s countrywide campaign for sharing of the report by the UGC and MHRD. We also support the call for 19th April 2017 as being observed as “Demand Day” for making the report public, and appeal to all units to submit memoranda and organise demonstrations at the UGC/local headquarters of MHRD/State Education Department. In this context, the FEDCUTA re-iterates its demand for complete withdrawal of API and its replacement by a rational time-bound promotion scheme with counting of past service at all stages, urgent filling up of all vacant posts and regularisation of long-serving ad-hoc/temporary teachers, release of pension to all categories of teachers as per judgment of Hon’ble Division Bench of Delhi High Court, resolution of anomalies arising from 6th Pay Revision including Stepping Up and rollback of retrospective application of API, and 100% funding of revised pay scales.
In the meantime, the FEDCUTA demands that the UGC list of journals/ publications released by the UGC for counting of API for recruitment and promotions be not applied retrospectively, and be expanded to include all journals recommended by the Departments in Universities. The current list is woefully inadequate as it does not contain some of the most important journals in various fields. The requirements imposed to be considered local/ national/ international publishers are not only irrational and un-academic but reveal how the PBAS/ API is illogical and is meant to deny promotions.
We also welcome the AIFUCTO’s decision to join the FEDCUTA and DUTA rally on 29th March on the issue of autonomy to colleges. This autonomy is intended to dilute the publicly funded nature of our public universities and indeed needs to be opposed.
The FEDCUTA also supports the AIFUCTO’s All India campaign for an alternative education policy which is democratic, secular and inclusive. It is important here to safeguard quality public education which is the product of a long struggle for the constitutional rights and social justice for the Indian citizens. This struggle has rightly opposed commodification and commercialisation of education and needs to be carried forward.
The FEDCUTA condemns the reported attempt by the UGC/ MHRD to declare more than 10 Central Universities under-performing and subjecting them to an academic audit. The parameters for such a decision has not been made clear and the non-transparent manner in which this has been done is shocking. The FEDCUTA demands an end to this farce of ranking and rating while subjecting universities to funds cut, non-filling of vacant posts, ill-thought of “academic reforms”, among other things, which are contributing a lowering of quality in public-funded institutions.
The FEDCUTA condoles the tragic death of the Dalit JNU student, J Muthukrishnan under mysterious circumstances. The FEDCUTA extends support to the AIFUCTO demand that the government should bring a strong law so that such incidents in institutions can be avoided.
The FEDCUTA expresses its shock at the denial of urgent medical treatment including surgery to Dr GN Saibaba, who has been sentenced to life imprisonment. That a person with such severe disability who cannot move without a wheelchair is being denied assistance and medical care in jail is inhuman beyond belief. The FEDCUTA calls upon the authorities to ensure that Dr Saibaba is allowed adequate assistance in jail to avail of due medication and proper medical treatment.

FEDCUTA Statement on JNU Seat Cut

The FEDCUTA expresses its deep concern and anguish the way JNU has been witnessing a nonstop attack from its administration and the central government in power. In the recent decision, the JNU administration has unleashed a massive seats-cut, imposed without any discussion in the Academic Council, under the pretext of UGC Regulations 2016. With this decision, the premier university of the country, which has recently got the Visitor’s Best University Award is almost on the verge of closure. The massive seat-cut reduces the annual intake by 86% from 1406 in the last academic year to mere 198 now. It also raises the viva marks to 100 per cent, making admission solely based on viva. The new admission regulation also tries to do away with JNU’s much appreciated Deprivation Points System. The FEDCUTA supports the JNUTA’s decision to oppose this admission policy and expresses solidarity with student communities in JNU. The FEDCUTA notices with concern the HRD Minister’s support to the massive cut with illogical statements like JNU professors guide more research students than norms mandate.

The FEDCUTA would like to highlight some of the major points:

1. JNU is one of the few universities that accepted and implemented the recommendations mandated by the Parliament Act, the Supreme Court and the Government of India to increase the number of seats for admission in every course by 54 percent, following the decision to implement reservations for OBC. The recommendation was implemented in a phased manner between 2007 and 2012. The new admission policy is in complete violation of that mandate.

2. The new admission policy also violates the Central Educational Institutions Reservation Act, 2006, by which seats for admission in JNU’s programmes of study cannot fall below 2006 intake plus 54%.

3. The new admission policy is detrimental to the students coming from marginalized sections. Giving 100% weightage to a viva voce examination will put thousands of SCs, STs, OBCs, women and minorities who aspire to study in JNU at a serious disadvantage and would result in another act of exclusion.

4. With these seat cuts, teachers at many Centres would have almost no teaching in coming years. Even the larger Centres with MAs, teaching will reduce drastically, and there will no admissions to any of these Centres for years to come.

5. The intake is imposed from the above without any discussion in the Academic Council, the highest decision making body of the university, not adhering to any rules and procedures of the JNU act, a special act passed by the Parliament.

6. The UGC Regulations 2016 undermine the Act of Parliament under which JNU was set up and also the mandate given to the university as a premier institution for research. The UGC Regulations 2016 imposes similar conditions on all universities without respecting the individual mandates of each university, based on their specificities.

Nandita Narain Ayesha Kidwai

(President FEDCUTA) (Secretary FEDCUTA)

Get regular DUTA updates.

https://duta.live

Delhi University Teachers’ Association

Leave a Reply Cancel reply