Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi

"Jawaharlal Nehru University" redirects here. For other uses, see Jawaharlal Nehru University (disambiguation).
Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi
Type Public
Established 1969
Chancellor K. Kasturirangan
Vice-Chancellor Mamidala Jagadesh Kumar
Academic staff
 650 (on 31 January 2016)
Administrative staff
 1276 (on 31 March 2011)
Students 8,309 (on 31 August 2015)
Location New Delhi, India
Campus Urban
Affiliations UGC, NAAC, AIU
Website www.jnu.ac.in
New Delhi
Campus Location in India: New Delhi
Library building.
Arts Faculty
Arts Faculty.
School of Biotechnology

Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU ) is a public central university in New Delhi, the capital of India. In 2012 The National Assessment and Accreditation Council gave the university a grade of 3.9 out of 4, the highest grade[1] awarded to any educational institution in the country.[2] It is one of the top universities in the country, ranking third according to the National Institutional Ranking Framework.[3][4] It is known for intense student activism and providing a liberal democratic space for students in India.

History

Jawaharlal Nehru University was established in 1969 by an act of parliament.[5] It was named after Jawaharlal Nehru, India's first Prime Minister. G. Parthsarthi was the first vice-chancellor.[6]

Constituent centres

JNU has granted recognition and accreditation to the following prestigious institutions across the country.[7]

Defence Institutions

IAS Administration and Civil Services

Research and Development Institutions

In addition, the university has exchange programmes and academic collaboration through the signing of MoUs with 71 universities around the world.[8] The University has also sent a proposal to set up a Center in Bihar.[9] The Indian Administrative Service (IAS) trainees officers will be awarded an MA degree in Public Management from Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), Delhi.[10]

Student activism

The JNU is infused with an intense political life on campus. Students that leave campus are said to acquire a "permanently changed outlook on life" as a result of the student politics. The politicisation of campus life has led to a refusal to brush under the carpet social issues such as feminism, minority rights, social and economic justice. All such issues are debated fiercely in formal and informal gatherings.[11]

The JNU student politics is left-of-centre even though, in recent years, right-wing student groups have also entered the field. Political involvement is "celebratory in spirit." The student union elections are preceded by days of debates and meetings, keeping all students involved. The JNU has the reputaiton of an "unruly bastion of Marxist revolution." However, the student activists deny the charge, stating that the politics at JNU is issue-based and intellectual.[11]

The university is known for its alumni who now occupy important political and bureaucratic positions (see Notable alumni below). In part, this is because of the prevalence of Left-Centric student politics and the existence of a written constitution for the university to which noted Communist Party of India leader Prakash Karat contributed exhaustively during his education at JNU.[12]

On 24 October 2008 the Supreme Court of India stayed the JNU elections and banned the JNUSU for not complying with the recommendations of the Lyngdoh committee.[13] After a prolonged struggle and multi-party negotiations, the ban was lifted on 8 December 2011.[14] After a gap of more than four years, interim elections were scheduled again on 1 March 2012.[15] Following the election results declared on 3 March 2012, AISA candidates won all four central panel seats and Sucheta De, the president of AISA became the president of JNUSU.[16]

Students organisations at the left and right side of the political spectrum, and related parties, have repeatedly clashed over various political issues, resulting in nationwide noticed controversies.

In April 2000, two army officers who disturbed an Indo-Pak mushaira at the JNU campus were beaten up by agitated students.[17] The officers were angered by anti-war poems recited by two Pakistani poets[17] and disrupted the mushaira.[18] They were enraged at the recited lines of a poem Tum bhi hum jaise nikle ("You are like us too") and interpreted the lines as a criticism of India.[19] One of them started to shout anti-Pakistan slogans.[18] When the audience asked for silence, one of them pulled a gun. They were overpowered by security[19] and then beaten by students, though not seriously injured.[18][20] The Indian Army denied the charges and it was reported that the two army officers were admitted in hospitals.[21] A retired judge was appointed to probe the accusation.[22]

In 2010 a "JNU Forum Against War on People" was organised "to oppose Operation Green Hunt launched by the government."[23] According to the NSUI national general secretary, Shaikh Shahnawaz, the meeting was organised by the Democratic Students Union (DSU) and All India Students Association (AISA) to "celebrate the killing of 76 CRPF personnel in Chhattisgarh."[23] Shaikh Shahnawaz also stated that "they were even shouting slogans like 'India murdabad, Maovad zindabad'."[23][note 1] NSUI and ABVP activists activists undertook a march against this meeting,[23] "which was seen as an attempt to support the Naxalites and celebrate the massacre,"[26] whereafter the various parties clashed.[23] The organisers of the forum said that "the event had nothing to do with the killings in Dantewada" [27]

In 2015, the JNU Student's Union and the All India Students Association objected to efforts to create instruction on Indian culture. Opposition to such courses was on the basis that such instruction was an attempt to saffronise education.[28] Saffronisation refers to right-wing efforts to glorify ancient Hindu culture. The proposed courses were successfully opposed and were, thus, "rolled back." A former student of JNU and a former student union member, Albeena Shakil, claimed that BJP officials in government were responsible for proposing the controversial courses.[29]

2016 sedition controversy

On 9th February, a cultural evening was organised by 10 students, formerly of the Democratic Students' Union (DSU), at the Sabarmati Dhaba, against the execution of Afzal Guru and separatist leader Maqbool Bhat, and for Kashmir's right to self-determination.[30] According to India Today, "Anti-India" slogans like "Kashmir ki azadi tak jung chalegi, Bharat ki barbadi tak jung chalegi" ("War will continue till Kashmir's freedom, war will continue till India's demolition") were "reportedly raised at the protest meet."[30][31] Protests by members of ABVP were held at the University demanding expulsion of the student organisers.[32]

JNU administration ordered a "disciplinary" enquiry into the holding of the event despite denial of permission, saying any talk about country’s disintegration cannot be "national".[33] The Delhi Police arrested the JNU Students' Union President Kanhaiya Kumar and Umar Khalid on charges of sedition and criminal conspiracy, under section 124 of the Indian Penal Code dating back to 1860.[34][35]

The arrest soon snowballed into a major political controversy, with several leaders of opposition parties visiting the JNU campus in solidarity with the students protesting against the police crackdown.[36] More than 500 academics from around the world, including JNU alumni, released a statement in support of the students.[37] In a separate statement, over 130 world-leading scholars including Noam Chomsky, Orhan Pamuk and Akeel Bilgrami called it a "shameful act of the Indian government" to invoke sedition laws formulated during colonial times to silence criticism.[38][39] The crisis was particularly concerning to some scholars studying nationalism.[40] On 25 March 2016, the Google Maps search for 'anti national' led users to JNU campus.[41]

International Student's Association

The International Student's Association (ISA) is an official Jawaharlal Nehru University body. It was instituted in 1985 with a view to promoting friendly relations and cultural exchange. The ISA has a constitution and elected executive, cultural, advisory and financial committees. All foreign students of JNU are also members of the FSA. The university has 133 international students.[42]

Notable alumni

Notable faculty

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ "Death to India",[24] "long live Maoism"[25]

References

  1. ↑ http://www.jnu.ac.in/naac.jpg
  2. ↑ "JNU rated country’s best university". The Hindu.
  3. ↑ "HRD Ministry announces universities ranking, JNU, HCU, IIT M, IIM B top the list". The Indian Express. Apr 5, 2016. Retrieved Apr 26, 2016.
  4. ↑ "JNU, HCU among top 5 Indian universities in HRD Ministry 'India Rankings 2016' list". Business Standard. 4 April 2016. Retrieved 26 April 2016.
  5. ↑ "Jawaharlal Nehru University Act 1966" (PDF). Retrieved 7 September 2012.
  6. ↑ AP Venkitewaran, Kapila Vatsyayan (7 July 2012). "Remembering GP, the gentle colossus". The Hindu. Retrieved 10 November 2015.
  7. ↑ http://www.jnu.ac.in/AboutJNU/RecognisedInstitutes.asp
  8. ↑ Global Presence of JNU http://www.jnu.ac.in/main.asp?sendval=GlobalPresence#
  9. ↑ "After BHU, JNU submits proposal to set up a Campus in Bihar". IANS. news.biharprabha.com. Retrieved 19 February 2014.
  10. ↑ Gohain, Manash Pratim (24 November 2015). "IAS trainees to get MA degrees from Jawaharlal Nehru University". The Times of India. Retrieved 13 March 2016.
  11. 1 2 Roy Chowdhury 2013, p. 225.
  12. ↑ The Indian Express, ‘Difficult to adapt to life outside JNU’
  13. ↑ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 6 February 2012. Retrieved 9 December 2011.
  14. ↑ "Supreme Court lifts stay on JNUSU elections after 3 years". The Times of India.
  15. ↑ "Polls for JNU students on Feb 23, counting on same day". Indian Express. 4 February 2012. Retrieved 7 February 2012.
  16. ↑ Raza, Danish (3 March 2012). "JNU student union elections: Clean sweep for ultra-left AISA". Firstpost.com. Retrieved 9 March 2012.
  17. 1 2 Sharma, Bharat Das (2000-05-06). "Editorial". The Tribune, Chandigarh, India. Retrieved 2016-02-23.
  18. 1 2 3 "rediff.com Special: Jingoism at the JNU". Rediff.com. Retrieved 2016-02-23.
  19. 1 2 Pathak, Vikas (2016-02-22). "NDA then and now". The Hindu. Retrieved 2016-02-23.
  20. ↑ "rediff.com: Pak poet's take on Pokhran angers audience". www.rediff.com. Retrieved 2016-02-16.
  21. ↑ "The Hindu : Army denies JNU students' charge". The Hindu. 2000-05-02. Retrieved 2016-03-03.
  22. ↑ Offensive, Marking Them (2000-08-05). "Retired judge to probe JNU fracas". The Times of India. Retrieved 2016-03-03.
  23. 1 2 3 4 5 Gohain, Manash Pratim (2010-04-11). "Pitched battle over 'people's war' at JNU". The Times of India. Retrieved 2016-02-15.
  24. ↑ "murdabad". Collins English Dictionary. Collins English Dictionary. Retrieved 23 February 2016.
  25. ↑ "zindabad". Collins English Dictionary. Collins English Dictionary. Retrieved 23 February 2016.
  26. ↑ "Dantewada ambush celebrations spark protest". IBNLive. 2016-02-15. Retrieved 2016-02-15.
  27. ↑ "Dantewada aftershocks at JNU". NDTV.com. 2010-04-12. Retrieved 2016-02-15.
  28. ↑ Sebastian, Kritika Sharma (10 October 2015). "Course on Indian culture is ‘saffronisation’: JNU students". The Hindu. Retrieved 28 February 2016.
  29. ↑ Iqbal, Naveed (22 February 2016). "Kanhaiya’s predecessors: Where they are, what they do". The Indian Express. Retrieved 28 February 2016.
  30. 1 2 IndiaToday.in (2016-02-11). "Afzal Guru: A martyr in JNU campus? Anti-India slogans raised, no arrests made : News". IndiaToday. Retrieved 2016-02-15.
  31. ↑ See also IndiaBTL at Twitter, Y'day, In JNU- "Kashmir ki azadi tak, jung chalegi, Bharat ki barbadi tak, jung chalegi" Anti-national communists., including short video.
  32. ↑ "JNU orders probe into Afzal Guru event". theweek.in. 2016-02-10. Retrieved 2016-02-15.
  33. ↑ India (2016-02-10). "Afzal Guru event: Anti-India slogans at JNU campus; ‘disciplinary’ enquiry ordered". The Indian Express. Retrieved 2016-02-15.
  34. ↑ "JNU student leader held on ‘sedition’ charges over Afzal Guru event". The Indian Express. 2016-02-13. Retrieved 2016-02-16.
  35. ↑ "Why an Indian student has been arrested for sedition". BBC News. 15 February 2016. Retrieved 2016-02-17.
  36. ↑ "Showdown escalates on JNU campus". The Hindu. 2016-02-14. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 2016-02-14.
  37. ↑ "JNU world alumni back university students, faculty". The Tribune. 16 February 2016. Retrieved 2016-02-16.
  38. ↑ ‘JNU events signal culture of authoritarian menace’, The Hindu, 16 February 2016.
  39. ↑ Chomsky to JNU V-C: why did you allow police on campus?, The Hindu, 21 February 2016.
  40. ↑ Reflections on the JNU Row in India, H-Nationalism, 13 March 2016.
  41. ↑ ‘Now Google Maps search for ‘anti-national’ leads to JNU’, DNA India, 25 March 2016.
  42. ↑ "STASTISTICAL DATA OF CENTRAL UNIVERSITIES – JAWAHARLAL NEHRU UNIVERSITY". Retrieved 12 September 2012.
  43. ↑ Sandeep Dikshit. "Return of 18,000 Indians to top Ahamed’s agenda in Libya". The Hindu.
  44. ↑ "List of ministers in Narendra Modi's government". The Economic Times. 27 May 2014. Retrieved 18 June 2014.
  45. ↑ "Bharatiya Janata Party - The Party with a Difference". Bjp.org. Retrieved 2013-06-29.
Sources

Further reading

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