The ongoing hunger strike at the North Eastern Hill University (NEHU) in Meghalaya has reached its ninth day today. The NEHU Students’ Union (NEHUSU), which had been leading the strike, remains unwavering in its stance not to call off the strike until its demands are met.
In letters sent to Conrad Sangma, Chief Minister of Meghalaya and President Droupadi Murmu on November 6, the NEHUSU highlighted several issues at the varsity that called for urgent intervention, such as shortage of infrastructure and manpower, nepotistic and unethical appointments, falling academic standards & reputation, and mismanagement of college affairs.
To the union, all these issues condense into one stark demand — the removal of Vice-Chancellor Prof Prabha Shankar Shukla.
“Since he was appointed in 2022, the standards of the university have fallen drastically. Successive student unions have tried to get the VC to address these concerns and provide relief but to no avail. There have only been over-the-table discussions, but no real change,” says Toniho S Kharsati, General Secretary of the NEHUSU.
Nepotism and unethical hiring practices
Students of the varsity, as well as the NEHUSU, allege that several key positions in the administration have been occupied by unqualified individuals, who have been appointed unethically due to their proximity to the VC.
These individuals include Colonel Omkar Singh (Retd) (Registrar) and Amit Gupta (Deputy Registrar), who allegedly lack the experience to govern education institutions.
According to Toniho, there was a notification for the hiring of Deputy Registrar at NEHU in 2022 before the appointment of Shukla as the VC, in which Amit Gupta also applied for the post. However, he was found ineligible for the post due to his inexperience and ranked 146 in the merit list.
After Shukla assumed the post of VC, there was a new notification for the Deputy Registrar position in 2023, and the candidate who ended up making the cut was none other than Amit Gupta.
“We ask, how did a candidate who was deemed ineligible due to his lack of relevant experience in 2022, suddenly become eligible within a year?” Toniho says.
Similarly, Registrar Colonel Omkar Singh not only lacks relevant experience in running an educational institution, but his tenure as NEHU’s Controller of Examinations has been marred by instances of inefficiency and mismanagement, the students allege.
“The examination results were delayed significantly when he was the CoE, and his mismanagement during the Common University Entrance Test (CUET) caused a stampede-like situation,” says Toniho.
According to a report by Hub News, on May 15, students were barred from entering their examination hall in NEHU, which was a test centre for the CUET, due to a malfunction in the biometric attendance system, leading to commotion and confusion.
However, soon after this, the Colonel was appointed by the Registrar of the varsity, alleges Toniho.
In addition, two other members of the administration, namely, the Guest House Incharge and the Officer on Special Duty (OSD) for the Director of Campus Development Council have already retired, and are too old to hold public offices, students allege.
Thus, the students have been demanding that these individuals be removed from these posts.
Toniho adds that last year, another attempt by the VC to hire a person close to him in an opaque manner was thwarted by the students and faculty, who protested against the appointment.
“The VC hired one Rohit Prasad as his advisor, a position which the university did not even notify. A Joint Action Committee comprising faculty and students strongly opposed the appointment, and Prasad was eventually removed from the post,” he explains.
Further, the varsity does not have Pro-VCs in either of its campuses in Shillong and Tura, students say. Instead, the Tura campus has a “Campus Director” with far less authority than a Pro-VC.
The students claim that the reason for not appointing Pro-VCs to the campuses is that the VC wants to enjoy centralised authority over the entire university.
Inefficient administration & falling academic standards
According to the students, the current administration has yet to address longstanding administrative and infrastructure failures on the campus, which have been unresolved since 2022.
“The facilities at NEHU do not match its stature of a central university,” says Toniho.
He adds, “We do not have adequate nurses and other healthcare facilities on the campus, and were allotted an ambulance only recently. The hostels are on the verge of collapse, and the girl’s hostel has bent to one side. Labs are not being maintained properly, and departments have been facing problems in procuring resources.”
These discrepancies are in part caused by the questionable hiring choices by the VC, the students allege, and are especially apparent in the Tura campus.
A final year masters’ student from the university, on the condition of anonymity, says, “The Tura campus has no computer system, which forces students to travel five km to go to the city for minute tasks like taking printouts. With the lack of a Pro-VC, students have to travel all the way to the Shillong campus if there are any issues.”
He adds that the Tura campus also lacks adequate infrastructure, other than a few department buildings and a library.
It is due to these infrastructural lapses, that the university’s ranking fell from a comfortable 60, to somewhere between 100-150, students claim.
“Despite 52 years since our establishment, NEHU is severely underperforming and has not been receiving grants due to its fallen rankings. Newer and more recently established central universities in the northeast, such as Tezpur University in Assam have been doing better than us,” says Toniho.
In addition, the students allege that the academic calendar for the next academic year is yet to be formulated, as the previous Academic Council meeting, which was supposed to be held in October was called off due to the Registrar’s conduct.
“The Registrar, who had no business being present at the meeting, insisted that he attend it, with the VC supporting him — despite insistence from the faculty against it. In the end, the members of the Academic Council refused to cooperate with this intrusion, and the meeting was called off,” Toniho says.
He adds that the VC has not yet issued a notice to reconvene the Academic Council meeting at a later date.
Admin's apathy infuriating
Above all, what finally pushed the NEHUSU to launch a hunger strike was the lack of concern shown by the administration, particularly the VC towards their demands.
“We were told that the administration needed time, but the VC has been saying the same thing since 2022. He would only give us verbal assurances, but nothing concrete,” says Toniho.
He says that the NEHUSU therefore started the hunger strike to urge the VC to step down.
To allegations that the VC absconded following the protests, he says that it is the VC’s usual behaviour, as he is usually absent from the campus for extended periods whenever there is outrage or anger against him.
“This time, however, we believe that the VC chose to abandon the university instead of facing the consequences of his inaction. We have been sitting on hunger strike for the last 180 hours, and some students have been hospitalised — but the VC still wouldn’t address our demands,” says Toniho.
Further, he adds that the VC leaving the campus without an interim replacement has been affecting the administrative functioning of the university — particularly the conduct of undergraduate exams.
“The VC left the varsity behind at a time of crisis. We no longer accept him if he returns. It is absolutely clear to us that he must step down,” he says.
