NEW DELHI: Negotiations to end the deadlock over the proposed hostel fee hike issue at Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) broke down on Wednesday, with the varsity administration refusing to agree to most of the recommendations of the Union Human Resources Development Ministry.
Meetings to end the dispute had spanned over two days. It is not yet clear if further talks will happen on Thursday in an attempt to end the standoff.
The government has been mediating between the JNU administration and the students union to resolve the crisis. “After two-day-long negotiations, we are now being told that our demands cannot be met and the government can only impress upon the vice-chancellor (Jagadesh Kumar) to consider some of our demands, which he has already refused. It doesn’t seem like the government is even serious to resolve the crisis,” a JNUSU member said.
The students have been demanding a complete rollback of the revised inter-hall administration manual, students’ representation in the future academic council meetings where such decisions are taken, deferment of semester examination by three weeks and withdrawal of police and court cases filed against students.
“We are being betrayed again and again by the HRD ministry and its obvious they cannot control the VC of a university under them, as he has become too big for anyone to contain,” another JNUSU member alleged. Ministry officials, meanwhile, said that JNU VC on Wednesday did not come for a meeting called on the issue.
Even in the face of lathi charge, the protesters have continued to hold their ground demanding complete rollback of the free hike plan.