Non-NET fellowship row: Mumbai extends support to 'Occupy UGC' movement

Researchers from various institutes of Mumbai have announced support for their peers in Delhi who are protesting since Tuesday against the University Grants Commission's (UGC) recent decision of discontinuing the non-National Eligibility Test (NET) fellowship.

Students from Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), IIT Bombay, IIPS, TIFR and Mumbai University will sit on a dharna on Monday at Mumbai University to express their solidarity with their peers from Delhi who have launched a protest against the higher education regulator as "occupy UGC" at the latter's head quarter in New Delhi since last Tuesday and are still on protest. "This move will discourage the quantity and quality research work in the country which is already below the international level. We demand to immediately revoke the decision of scrapping the Non-NET fellowship and increase the Non-NET fellowship amount," said a researcher from the convening committee at Mumbai.

A large number of students from JNU, DU and other institutions in the national capital have been sitting on a dharna since Tuesday at the UGC office demanding the authorities to restore the fellowships. Similar protests are also being organised in other parts of the country as well. The UGC has been offering Rs5,000 and Rs8,000 per month fellowship to MPhil and PhD students of central, state and other universities who haven't qualified the NET — a test to get fellowship for research. "The UGC Non-NET fellowship was started in 2008 to encourage research in the universities proved to be a lifeline for researchers who do not have access to other scholarships. It has encouraged students from different backgrounds to continue their research and what is required is to increase the amount from the paltry sum of Rs5,000 for M Phil students and Rs8,000 for PhD scholars. Instead, the government scraps it," All India Students' Association (AISA) said in a statement.

The UGC move has united students and activists from across the political spectrum to the common cause of having it withdrawn. Left organisations — Students' Federation of India, Concerned Students and Democratic Students' Union and All India Forum of Right to education — have already offered support.

Delhi University Teachers' Association (DUTA) has already condemned the scrapping of the crucial fellowship. Right wing ABVP's stand is unclear while it also stands accused of "harassing" the protesting students. Incidentally, the RSS-affiliate union had protested earlier this year demanding the hike in non-NET fellowships.