In a new circular on Wednesday, the Pondicherry University administration has put out a revised fee structure for PhD research scholars studying at the varsity. The students consider it to be a good move stating that the administration reduced over 50 per cent of hiked fee for different PhD fee particulars like the exam fees, submission of thesis fees and others.
The Students' Federation of India-PU President C P Uvais told Edex that this is a victory for the students' struggles. "In the new circular both the reduced fee and revised fee are present and so we can say that they reduced more than 50 per cent of hiked PhD fees that they had set in the previous academic year. This is a good news definitely but we have a lot more to fight for. We have also been resisting against a steep fee hike in various departments and courses. However, we consider this to be a victory for students and we believe we were successful in pressuring the administration to give in to our demands."
In a letter to the Registrar on July 17, 2019, the Student's Council President had pointed out the exorbitant hike in the PhD fee structure. "There is a huge rise in the PhD extension fee and the PhD thesis submission fee which is undoubtedly unacceptable. Hence We demand: Remove the increment in PhD extension fee and withdrawal of hike in PhD thesis submission fee," the council had said in the letter.
The students at PU led by the students' council were also on an hunger strike protesting against several measures taken up by the administration since July 25, which they called off after two days when the administration agreed to set up a separate committee to look into their various demands. "The PU Student's Council and SFI PU salutes the various student organisations and forums that have been raising the demands — specifically the fee hike issue. Our protests have paid off," says A Anand, former SFI President and current DYFI Puducherry President.
