STUDENTS-YOUTH YATRA

7 November-21 November

(Chandigarh to Kolkata)

Friends, the BJP government led by Narendra Modi has completed more than 3 years of its term. But this government which came to power on the promise of ‘Achhe Din’ has actually achieved a record in job cuts on the one hand and spate of assaults on higher education on the other. At an election rally in November 2013 the then aspiring Prime Minister Narendra Modi had declared that ‘if the BJP comes to power we will generate 1 crore new jobs every year’. But the ground reality today is exactly the opposite. Today we have gone from a situation of job-less ‘growth to job-loss growth. Following data gives us a glimpse of the ghastly joblessness facing us:

•   Textile to capital goods, banking to I-T, start-ups to energy, the economy’s downward spiral is leaving a trail of job losses across both old and new economy sectors. ( Indian Express 3 Oct 2017)
•  Last year (2015-2016) job growth in the labour intensive sector has hit the lowest in the past 8 years.  84% reduction in employment generation has been recorded in this sector in 2015-16 as against 2009. (The Telegraph, 18 May 2017).
•  According to the Central Textile Ministry a total of 67 organized enterprises in textile sector  were shut down in the last 3 financial years, causing 17,600 people to become unemployed. The scenario in small-scale textile industries is even more sinister.
•  During January-April 2016 the number of jobs in formal sector  was recorded as 9.30 crores. In May-August this figure fell to 8.90 crores and in September-December 2016 there was a further fall to 8.60 jobs. Thus, in just one year jobs in formal sector were reduced by about 70 lakhs (CMIE, Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy, 18 July 2017).
•  Capital goods major major Larsen & Toubro (L&T) laid off about 14,000 employees across businesses during the first two quarters of the fiscal ended March 31, 2017 (Indian Express 3 Oct 2017).
•  As a result of the note ban, about 15 lakh people lost their jobs between January and April 2017 (CMIE).
•  According to the All India Council for Technical Education 60% of the 8 lakh engineers who graduate from technical institutions in the country every year remain unemployed.
•  This government has failed dismally to fill the 1lakh vacancies in alone in Group D in the Indian Railways.
•  The number of 24604 clerks appointed in 2015 through IBPS in various banks has fell to 19,243 in 2016 and 7,883 in 2017. The number of Bank PO appointments in 2015, 2016 and 2017 were 12,434, 8,822, and 3,562 respectively (from the IBPS website).
•  Private sector banks are also cutting down on staff strength. For example, HDFC Bank’s total employee headcount came down by 6,096 during the January-March 2017 period. In the preceding October-December 2016 quarter, the headcount was down by 4,581.
•  Workers have been laid off on a large scale in major IT sector companies. According to the executive search firm  ‘Head Hunters India’, the yearly job cut rate in the IT sector for the next 3 years will be between 1.75 lakhs to 2 lakhs (Economic Times, 14 May 2017).
•  Only 0.57% (3 out of 500 people) registered in Employment Regulation offices have got employment through this institution (The Indian Express, 26 July 2017).
•  Of the 4.5 lakh youth registered in 2014-15 under the much-touted ‘Skill India’ scheme, only 0.19%   succeeded in getting employment in various sectors.
•  Just 800 start-ups launched in 2017 so far, compared to 6000 in 2016; while there are emerging stories of steady shut down of series of Start ups launched in recent years. (Livemint 03 oct 2017). As per a recent IBM and Oxford study, 90% of the startups in India are failing within the first five years of inception. (https://inc42.com/buzz/90-indian-startups-fail-within-first-5-years-ibm-oxford-study/).

In Times of Rising Unemployment, Cruel Joke On India’s Youth by the BJP Minister Piyush Goyal

At a function on 6 October 2017 Rail Minister Piyush Goyal said, “It is a good sign if jobs are decreasing in the top 200 companies in the country, because today the youth of our country are becoming job-providers instead of job-seekers. Today everyone wants to be an industrialist.”

The Modi government’s rhetoric of  ‘Achhe Din’, ‘Development’, and ‘Nationalism’ have  become cruel jokes  on the  youth who are bearing the brunt of unemployment.

On the other hand, the Modi government started attacking opportunities of higher education and educational institutions since it came to power. The spate of attacks has now jeopardised the future of students across the country.  The future of students, the future of education, and thus the future of the country is in crisis:

¨ Steep Fee Hikes:  Massive fund cuts in education have come along with spate of fee-hikes in universities across the country.  Through a notification dated  2 June 2017, UGC has asked topmost  universities to run self-financing courses. This simply means the government is evading its responsibility of providing quality higher education and students will have to bear the entire cost. Those who can’t pay, will not get admission in best  universities of the country.

¨ Seat Cuts: In order to push students out of higher education and research, the UGC Notification 2016 is being used to impose massive seat cuts in Mphil/PhD in universities. In JNU alone there is an 84% seat cut in research seats this year. By shutting down doors to higher education and research this government wants students to gain not ‘knowledge’ but only ‘skills’, thereby preparing a cheap labour force.

¨  NET Cut: NET exams which used to be held twice a year will now be held only once a year. The NET and JRF seats have also been cut.

¨ Scholarship Cuts: The BJP government at the Centre and in some States are either cutting down or totally cancelling scholarships being given to students.

¨ Systematic  Saffronization in Education: The BJP government is proceeding on a well-planned agenda of saffronization of education in order to destroy educational institutions, and do away with rational thinking from education and replace it with superstition and blind faith. Loyalty to BJP and RSS as against contribution/qualification in the field has become the sole criterion for appointments in key positions in educational institutions. Syllabi are being changed and institutions are being run based on regressive worldview of the BJP and Sangh Parivaar.

¨ Huge Shortfall of Teachers in Campuses:  There is a heavy shortage of teachers in Colleges and Universities across the country. 50-70% posts of the total number of posts required in most institutions are lying vacant.

¨ Women Demand Freedom, Equality and Safety:  After a horrible incident of molestation on 21st  September, 2017  the women students of BHU started the historic struggle from Lanka Gate demanding  freedom, equality and safety. The BHU VC who boasts of his association with the RSS said he can’t listen to every complaint by women students.  Lathi-charge was ordered on the students protesting against sexual harassment on campus. The students of BHU are demanding freedom from gender discrimination and sexual harassment. They are demanding  establishment of an autonomous Gender Sensitisation Committee Against Sexual Harassment (GSCASH).  And in JNU, where there has been an autonomous and functioning GSCASH, it is being trampled upon and replaced by a rubber stamp ICC by the JNU VC.  Let us raise voice for freedom, equality and safety. Let us strengthen the movement for autonomous anti-sexual harassment bodies in every campus.

Let Us See What are the priorities of this government which is hell bent on pushing out youth from employment and students from higher education and research?

• The Central Budget expenditure on education has been reduced from 4.57% in 2013-14 to 3.65% in 2016-17.
• The tax waiver given to corporate houses in 2016-17 is Rs 83,492 crores. 491 affordable and quality Universities like JNU could have been run with this money.
• Loans amounting to Rs. 13 lakh crores given to big corporates by banks have been declared as unrecovered ‘bad loans’ as of March,2016 (DNA, 13 May 2016). Could this amount not be spent on education and employment for the youth?

Reality of  BJP’s Claims of ‘Nationalism’-Destroy  Future of India’s Youth! Bonanza for Corporates!

Why is this government which makes such tall claims about its own nationalism, so hell bent upon destroying the future of the students and youth of our own country? The truth is that we are being turned into a pool of unemployed youth to serve the interest of the Global Capital so that corporate houses can get cheap labour on their own terms and conditions. They also want our education system and our research institutions to be destroyed so that education can be sold at high prices for profiteering by corporate education mafia.  Developed nations should do research, and developing nations like India should become their customers and their consumers.

To evade questions on the government’s role in destroying educational and employment opportunities communal polarisation and hatred is being manufactured in the society.  After snatching away education and employment, the conspiracy is to divert the youth of the country in the name of ‘Gau-Raksha’, ‘Ram Mandir’, ‘Hindu Rashtra’, ‘Love Jihad’, ‘Demolish Taj Mahal’  and other similar campaigns. The Modi government is only replicating the British Raj’s ‘Divide and Rule’ policy. What kind of Nationalism is it to hand over the country’s foundations—education and employment—to foreign capital!

Friends, Education and Employment are the foundation of any country’s freedom and self-reliant development. 

We must seek accountability from the government which has unleashed an all out attack on our opportunities to education and employment. We must seek an answer from them on unabated loot and profiteering by corporates at the cost of our future. We must tell them your hate propaganda will not work anymore, we are united in fighting for our basic rights.  Raising these questions and demands, AISA-RYA will start a ‘Students-Youth Yatra’  from Chandigarh on 7th November.  This Yatra will proceed through different States and different Centres and reach Kolkata on 21 November.

Let us raise the following issues through this campaign:

Stop job cuts, fulfil the promise of 1 crore new jobs per year!

Fill vacancies in all government jobs without delay! End contractualization, guarantee secure and dignified employment!

End the regime of fee hike, seat cut, NET cut, fund cut in education!

End corporate loot, increase budgetary expenditure for education and employment!

Ensure women’s freedom, equality, and safety! Establish GSCASH in all institutions!

End communal-casteist mob violence!