‘Achchhe Din’ Unfolding: 150% Hike in Application Fee for UGC / CSIR NET-JRF from June 2015 !

for General: from Rs 400 to Rs. 1000

for OBC: from Rs 200 to Rs 500

for SC/ST/PH: from Rs 100 to Rs. 250

CSIR has already notified ….

Roll Back Massive Fee Hike in NET-JRF Exam Fee!

Increase Non-NET Scholarship Amount!

Include Korean Language in NET/JRF

The reality of Modi sarkar’s promised ‘achchhe din’ unveils itself every single day. The latest is of course the huge 150% increase in application fees for the UGC/CSIR NET-JRF: the fees have been increased from Rs. 400 to Rs. 1000 for general category candidates, from Rs. 200 to Rs. 500 for OBC candidates and from Rs. 100 to Rs. 250 for SC/ST/PH candidates. The CSIR has already notified this hike. This is a move which will clearly prevent several students from deprived backgrounds from applying for these exams, especially as students often have to appear several times for these exams before they qualify. 

Ever since the Modi government has come to power, we have seen a clear pattern in the policy decisions.

• For students and youth, every avenue of stable dignified employment and quality public education is being shrunk. The govt started its innings by brutal crackdown on students and youth protesting against the discriminatory CSAT pattern in the UPSC exam. Then, came the job cuts in the banking sector, when a 10% cap on waiting list of qualified candidates was announced in the IBPS exam. Next, 13 ESIC medical colleges were closed down and the CSIR announced shunting out of hundreds of Trainee Scientists. Along with these moves, is the grand design to nullify the autonomy of central Universities like JNU, DU and imposing an overwhelming uniform central University Act, uniform syllabus and transferrable faculty, in short, subordinating the unique quality and content of different universities to the saffronised regime!

• For the vast majority of farmers and working people, Land Grab Ordinance has been imposed at a midnight stroke, MNREGA schemes and food security provisions restricted and all labour laws meant to safeguard minimum wages and labour rights are being jettisoned.

• Sovereignty, safety and life-security of our people are being dangerously compromised under US diktats: India’s patent policy is being diluted to facilitate US big Pharma lobby that will stall the manufacture of several generic and life-saving drugs in the country and escalate their prices hundred fold for our people. Simultaneously, under the garb of so-called ‘breakthrough’ in Indo-US nuke deal, the civil nuclear damage liability law is being secretively diluted to free the US nuclear suppliers of compensation and damage suits in case of nuclear disasters. Indeed, revision in IPR (patent) policy and nuclear damage compensation provisions are two critical concessions that Modi has handed over to the US during the Obama visit. While the govt is maintaining a veil of ‘secrecy’ on these massive sell-outs to US to avoid domestic backlash, several US representatives are already boasting of the ‘concessions’ they have extracted from the Modi govt!

• This anti-people, anti-India policy package is being bolstered through massive mid-term cuts in all social sector budgetary allocations of 2015-14: the Rural Development budget slashed by a whopping 25%, the education budget facing a Rs 11,000 crore CUT, and the already small health budget cut by more than Rs 6,000 crores!

• Contrast these mid-term cuts in social sector budget (2014-15) with 1 billion $ (more than Rs. 6200 cr.) SBI loan to crony corporate like Adani or the moves to get additional mid-term budgetary allocations to fund PM’s foreign tours, since by end-October itself, the ministry of external affairs was on the verge of exhausting the Rs 15-crore budget it was allocated in July for “high-level visits abroad” the entire financial year (extending upto March 2015)! See the Telegraph report 3 Jan 2015: “Purse can’t keep pace with PM”

What we are seeing under the hype of Modi’s ‘Make in India’ is an unmaking of our collective futures. It is an unmaking of public infrastructure, public funded schools, universities, research institutions and hospitals, an unmaking of labour rights and environmental protection, an unmaking of rural development, food security, land rights and livelihoods.

The hikes in the UGC/CSIR application fees are NO aberration. They are a part of the systematic policy of the Modi Government. We must expose and oppose every single move which denies rights and deprives common people, students and youth from access to quality education, dignified employment and healthcare. JNUSU appeals to the student community to participate in large numbers in the protest demonstration TOMORROW (20 February 2015) at the UGC office to protest against the hike in UGC/CSIR NET/JRF application fees, demand commensurate increase in Non-NET scholarship amounts and inclusion of Korean language in NET/JRF.