As a part of their ongoing struggle, the Ambedkar Students Association from the University of Hyderabad organised an online campaign to demand that the administration fill up the reserved seats. Over the last week, students of the University have been protesting against the administration after they estimated that 64 PhD and MPhil seats could go vacant due to the UGC Regulations that the University administration had decided to implement.
The University, in a circular issued on October 5 stated that the UGC Regulations 2016 had been adopted by their 78th Academic Council for the year. The 2016 UGC Regulations reads “a relaxation of 5 percent of marks (from 50 percent to 45 percent) shall be allowed for the candidates belonging to SC, ST, OBC, differently-abled category in the entrance exams conducted by the Universities. If in spite of the relaxation, the seats allotted for SC,ST,OBC, differently abled category remain unfilled, the concerned Universities shall launch a Special Admission Drive for the particular category within one month from the date of closure of admissions of General Cetroy. The concerned University will devise its own admission procedure, along with eligibility conditions to ensure that most of the seats under these categories are filled."
The ASA is now asking the administration through the campaign why they are being selective about the implementation of the UGC Regulations. “The UoH cites UGC Regulations 2016 for the implementation of minimum qualifying marks to be called for MPhil/PhD interview. As a result, 64 reserved seats are left vacant,” they said. They also pointed out that the MHRD had previously written to the UGC directing them to effectively ensure implementation of reservation policy since they had failed to do so.
The ASA also pointed out to the following Guideline of the UGC, “UGC with the mandate of maintaining the standards of higher education has been issuing guidelines from time to time, regarding adequate representation of teacher and non-teaching staff as well as of students, belonging to SC/ST communities in all the universities. And all the universities are hereby directed to adopt the same.”
The Association is trying to get as much traction from their campaign as possible, “We’ve appealed to organisations and individuals to be part of our campaign,” Iniyavan Banumathi, President of the Association said. The students are tweeting under hashtags like #AntiReservationHCU, #RemoveCutOffCriteria and #FillReservedVacancies.
The Students’ Union was previously assured by the grievance committee that they would recommend ‘positive’ steps to the administration to ensure that the vacancies are filled up. However, the students had decided to carry on the strike until they get the assurance for the same in writing.
In their previous statement, the ASA has said, “ASA carried forward the legacy created by our social revolutionaries and we shall stand committed to our struggle for social justice, to uphold the spirit of constitution which ensures reservation for the marginalised sections of this country. Saying it once again, loud and clear ‘Reservation is our right and not a mercy’."
