BAPSA, JNU
The JNU student community is about to elect a student body to represent them. The election is not just about choosing a representative. It is about the right response to a farce state of affairs. We are witnessing an unprecedented assault on the education in general, universities in particular. The attack on us is not a fact which needs explanation. It is evident and blatant. Therefore, the issue here is not whether we are under attack or not. It is not even by whom, because, now we are ruled by one of the most regressive right wing force, BJP in the country. It is well known that our VC is a stooge appointed by the existing government. Moreover, it is always the marginalised who are at the receiving end of such institutional manipulations. Thus, the real and pertinent question is how to fight and what should be the course of such struggle. The fight to live is the biggest fight for the oppressed. Unfortunately, for the marginalised sections of this great nation, even that struggle is not always a successful one. It is shameful that this is true even in supposed to be the most secured places of this country such as our own university. Our beloved friend Krish committed suicide. J R Philemon Chiru was found dead in his own room. Najeeb is yet to return.
There never exists a tomorrow for struggle. Struggle is real and perpetual. However, struggle always need not be a physical act on the street. It also can be a farsighted preparedness for such a day in a library. The triumph of the oppressed over the oppressor is not just a victory of one class over the other, instead it is a victory of emancipation over oppression. But we can’t be that naive altogether, there are some classes and castes which stand in our way between oppression and emancipation. For this to happen, the oppressed need to embrace physical, political and moral weapons. Unfortunately, the oppression of caste is not just oppression, it also is the very denial of all the three weapons for the emancipation of the oppressed and the annihilation of the oppression. Any meaningful struggle of the oppressed needs to keep this fact in mind for breaking the trammels of caste. To gain these weapons, the oppressed need to educate for moral weapons, agitate for self respect and organise for political weapons. There exists no god to save us, no hero to fight for us and no savior to liberate us. But, there is some one, real than god, exemplary than a hero and farsighted than a saviour, Ambedkar to guide us in our battle. The battle is real, enduring and tedious. We have more enemies to fight than friends to accompany. We know, the battle is neither easy, nor short, but, didn’t Ambedkar say and we uphold, “With justice on our side, I do not see how we can lose our battle”.
We do not believe with the naive left narrative that with the onslaught of the forces of capital the pre-modern social structures such as caste will naturally die. The ghost of the old structure are hard to kill. They have the ideological backbone of brahmanism at their back. It is well known but needs to be reiterated, the roots of caste system lie in brahmanism. Only on the grave of brahmanism, the flower of liberation blossoms. For this to happen, we need to built an unified assault of the oppressed is necessary. BAPSA is striving to create an alternative discourse to go beyond the rhetoric and wage struggle on the ground. BAPSA emerged as a student organisation to unite all the oppressed communities so that we the marginalised can speak for ourselves inside the campus keeping in mind the larger society outside. We are committed not just to debunk the fallacy of both Left and Right but also to create an autonomous space for the marginalized sections in the larger political domain within the campus.
Agenda for Students from Marginalised backgrounds
- Ensure Minority Deprivation points. Implement Sacchar Committee Recommendations.
- Fulfil reserved seats for students as well as faculty in every centre/school.
- Hostel Accommodation for SC, ST, OBC, Women, Religious and Sexual Minorities students on priority basis.
- Strengthen the Equal Opportunity Cell and make it functional.
- Constitute Grievance redressal cell regarding forced dropout of students, especially SC/ST/OBC/Women, Religious and Sexual Minorities.
- Constitute separate Grievance redressal cell to address the issue of racial discrimination, especially faced by North East students.
- Ensure Strictest Possible Action against the authors of Racist Dossier End the ‘diversion’ of allotted SC/ST/OBC special funds.
- Ensure that the OBC Funds be utilised for the welfare of OBC students in the campus. Speedy disbursal of fellowship (OBCNF, RGNF, MANF/Non-net/JRF/MCM).
- Ensure appointment of Chairperson to North East India Studies Centre.
Agenda for Students with Disabilities
- Implementation of 5% Reservation in accordance with ‘Rights of Persons with Disabilities 2016’
- Extending Minority Deprivation points to PWD students
- Democratise the hostel allotment to PWD students.
- Ensuring the accessibility of existing infrastructures for all including students with disabilities
- Ensuring the completion of tactile paving in all the roads to schools/canteen/photocopy shops.
- Signboards of canteens to be in written in sign language and to be colour contrasted.
- Ensuring the accessibility of JNU website for PWD students. Eg, removal of captcha while filling up forms)
- Hostel Mess, cyber library to be connected with ramps for PWD students.
- Ensuring all floors and all hostels be accessible for PWD students so that ghettoisation of students with disabilities doesn’t happen.
- All computers to be made accessible by installing assistive softwares and audio instructors for PWD students.
- In GSCASH, complaints to be allowed to be written in Braille/sign language.
- All new constructions including ramps to be guided by norms and instructions given by UNCRPD (United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities).
- Ensuring special unit to digitalise reading material for PWD students.
- Ensuring the inclusion of certificate courses on Braille and Sign language in Language Empowerment Cell.
- The PWD be allowed to record the class room lectures.
- Implementation of MSJE (Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment) guidelines for conducting exams for PWD.
- Finding an amenable and eco-friendly solution to the problems faced by PWD, especially students with blindness because of animals on campus.
Agenda for Developing Gender Discourse
- Taking lead in conducting GSCASH elections.
- Conducting Sex Education Workshops in coordination with GSCASH each year.
- Installing sanitary pad dispensers inside Women’s Washrooms in Schools, Library and Hostels
- Ensure the representation of LGBTQIA, SC/ST/OBC Religious Minorities in GSCASH and strengthen GSCASH.
- Sensitize campus on the issues of LGBTQIA.
Agenda for Facilities
- Leading struggle for Immediate construction of new full-fledged hostels rather than mere temporary structures like dorms.
- Guaranteeing Hostels for all students immediately after admission. Increasing MCM fellowship in par with inflation.
- Struggle for Health insurance policy to all students.
- Ensuring regular attendance of all Doctors in Health Centre, ensuring appointment of sensitive Psychiatrists and Counselors as well as appointment of non-moralising Gynaecologists to make health facilities accessible to people of all social backgrounds.
- Ensuring construction of roads inside campus, especially conducive to People With Disabilities. Ensuring Geysers as well as Solar Heaters in every hostel
- Ensuring the running of eco-friendly shuttle buses from JNU Campus to Hauz Khas Metro regularly Ensuring all the Anti-Caste Writings of Ambedkar, Phule Birsa and others.
Academic Agenda
- Reduction of viva voce marks from 30 to 10. Ensure recording of viva-voce.
- Institutionalising STUDENT FEEDBACK about pedagogy and classes in every School/Centre. Leading the struggle for Formation of JNU Press (Publication).
- Address the irregularity of the remedial coaching classes in all Schools.
- Demand additional reading room sections as well as individual tables and lockers for all research scholars of M.Phil/PhD in Central Library.
- We will ensure that the imposition of Hindi be stalled. Ensure well equipped laboratories.
- ensure the implementation of reservation with special focus on science schools.
Agenda for Workers
- Provide safety and modern equipment like hand gloves and face masks to all the workers in JNU. Fight for ensuring Contract workers to be made permanent.
- Ensure adequate accommodation, medical, food facilities for security guards. Ensure the timely desperssal of wage.
- Ensure paid maternity leave to Mess/Sanitation workers/ security guards.
Agenda for Taking the Struggle forward
- Strengthening the institution of JNUSU:
- Fight against the imposition of rule of ‘No Protests within 100 meters’ of JNU Admin.
- Reclaiming the Democratic spaces of JNU by reopening Dhabas beyond 11pm.
- Strong Stand against terrorizing North east, Muslim and Kashmiri students.
- Building a support system for all students by facilitating the discourse on mental health issue (eg depression, anxiety, alienation) among students.
- No to surveillance and moral policing by administration
- Rejecting Lygndoh and starting a dialogue on making JNUSU Constitution more inclusive for students from SC/ST/OBC/Minority and LGBTQIA backgrounds
- Ensure the Implement of Rohith Act.
Elect BAPSA Panel to strengthen the JNUSU as an institution of struggle and genuine student movement of the oppressed.
Reject fascist ABVP!
Reject Opportunist and Corrupt left both united and un-united!
Strengthen student movement & Save JNUSU !
Vote, Elect and Assert!
Central Panel
Shabana Ali
As President
Subodh Kunwer
As Vice-President
Karam Bidyanath Khuman
As General Secretary
Vinod Kumar
As Joint Secretary
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SSS Councillors
Amit Gautam
Kamble Priyanka Baburao
Ghorpade Namrata Damodhar
Karthik Raja K
Ranjit Kumar
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SLL & CS Councillors
Anjali
MD. Arif
Dev Kumar Choudhary
Purnachandra Naik
Sriraman. S
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SIS Councillors
Amit Kumar
Anju Devi
Banshanlang Marwein
Dheeru Yadav
Umesh Kumar
BAPSA Oppressed Unity long live!
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