With the pandemic entering a new phase, the Jawaharlal Nehru University Teachers' Association (JNUTA) elected their President and the Executive Committee for the current session on November 6. The representatives are set to be sworn in at 2.30 pm on November 9.
Dr Milap Chand Sharma from the Centre for the Study of Regional Development, School of Social Sciences was elected unopposed, like the rest of the EC, as the President of JNUTA. The new Vice-Presidents are Dr Baviskar Sharad Prahlad and Dr Bikramaditya Kumar Choudhary while Dr Moushumi Basu was elected the Secretary of the JNUTA. Dr Karan Singh and Dr Shukla Vinayak Sawant were elected the Joint Secretaries while Dr Kali Chittibabu will take over the duties of the Treasurer.
The new committee will decide on they plan of action on November 9 after being sworn in. "There are a lot of issues that were raised by the outgoing committee which we intend to carry forward — the communication with the Department of Education on action against the VC, issues regarding recruitment at the various schools. We want the statutory bodies to be given back the power and an end to the centralisation that the university has been practicing for quite some time," said Dr Moushumi Basu. "I personally want to take up the issue of the crèche on campus that the JNUTA has been looking after. This is the responsibility of the university and it's high time that they take over. Even though the crèche has not been functional during the pandemic, the workers had to be paid. With an immense fund crunch it becomes difficult to manage. We will decide on a plan of action at our first meeting after we are handed over duties by the outgoing committee," said Dr Basu
The uncontested election was conducted by a two-man Election Committee comprising Dr Narender Kumar and Dr Rajan Kumar.
The new EC will take over a week after the teachers' body accused the Vice-Chancellor of "systemic destruction" of the university and asked the Department of Education why they have been a "mute spectator" to it. This came after an inquiry was initiated against the VC of University of Delhi Dr Yogesh K Tyagi over 'misconduct' and 'dereliction of duty'.