“It is truly mesmerising,” said the newly elected President of The English and Foreign Languages University Student Union (EFLU SU) Rathod Raghuvardhan.
Recalling the time when a tribal student was denied admission to EFLU, Rathod told EdexLive, “Coming from a Dalit and a tribal community, we face many challenges. Therefore, this victory of a tribal and Dalit student is a significant achievement.”
The Student Union elections were held on Wednesday, March 27 with INSAF — Inclusive Students’ Allied Front — emerging victorious for all the posts. The voting for SU was conducted for various posts of President, Vice-President, General Secretary, Joint Secretary, Cultural Secretary and Sports Secretary.
To recall, EFLU SU elections were last held in 2019.
According to the president representing the INSAF alliance comprising Telangana Students Forum (TSF), Fraternity Movement, National Students' Union of India (NSUI), Muslim Students Federation (MSF) and PRISM EFLU; INSAF candidates emerged in the first position in all posts. The president won with a majority of 730 votes, added NSUI representative Ibrahim Khan.
The Inclusive Alliance for Social Justice had issued a 21-point manifesto before the elections. It said the alliance’s efforts are directed towards working on students' concerns like scholarships, SWAYAM courses, mess facilities, opening up of campus spaces, central funds, Non-National Eligibility Test (NET) funds and others.
INSAF manifesto
Here are a few highlights from the manifesto, which EdexLive has access to:
Ensuring students’ representation on the Academic Council
The efficient and smooth running of the CoE (Center of Excellence), DSW (Dean of Student Welfare) and other administrative offices
Address challenges faced by students to enrol in SWAYAM courses and push administration towards subsidisation of registration fees
Tackle the difficulties of Merit-Cum-Means Scholarship (MCM) and National Scholarship Portal (NSP)
24*7 accessibility to library spaces
To ensure that the university provides a comprehensive course handbook
Withdrawal of falsely framed police complaints and show cause notices issued against the students
Working towards the possibility of opening all campus gates 24/7 for increased convenience
President’s plan-of-action
Speaking to EdexLive, the president of the newly elected SU, Rathod said that first and foremost, he would work towards opening up the campus for all. “We have three gates but only Gate 2 is open for the students. Therefore, I will work towards opening up all gates for the students 24*7,” he said, adding that this facility will enable students to have multiple pathways to enter Osmania University (OU) feasibly, buy groceries, receive food delivery packages and others.
Secondly, pursuing SWAYAM courses under National Educational Policy (NEP) is the onus of many students, the INSAF representatives opine. Adding more to this, Rathod claims that every student has to enroll for more than one SWAYAM course, as against NEP’s regulation of one per semester. And each course costs Rs 1,000, he added.
“Therefore, we demand either subsidisation of registration fees or reduction in the number of courses a student should enroll for,” Rathod stressed.
Rathod was also keen on advocating and pushing for 24*7 library hours for the benefit of students. “Now, the library is open from 10 am to 8 pm on weekdays and 10 am to 6 pm on weekends. Therefore, to ensure that students can have access to resources at any time, we demand that the library be open 24*7.”
Another point the manifesto highlights is the 'Withdrawal of falsely framed police complaints and Show Cause notices issued against the students.' This pertains to the November 2023 protests against the sexual harassment of a student and the non-functionality of the Gender Sensitisation Committee Against Sexual Harassment (GSCASH), many students were issued show-cause notices along with police detainment.
EFLU is yet to issue a press statement regarding the Student Union.
