The Delhi police, on January 28, had detained five guest faculty members of the University of Delhi, who were protesting against the university not paying their salaries. The teachers claimed that they haven't been paid for more than a year now. The detained teachers were let go an hour later.
A statement by the Students Federation of India (SFI) says that while the teachers are to be paid Rs 1,500 per class, they are paid Rs 500 less for the months in which they received the salary. "Our payment has not been issued since the beginning of 2020. We were planning to protest against this as this has made our lives really difficult during the pandemic. We were about to begin the strike and the police detained us," says Suyash Maurya, a guest teacher at DU's Non-Collegiate Women's Education Board. Suyash adds that the teachers will decide on their further course of action after a meeting on Sunday. "It is quite difficult for us to make a statement here and get ourselves organised. We are not part of the Delhi University Teachers' Association," he says, adding that the DUTA has turned a deaf ear towards their demands.
At the same time, Rajib Ray, President, DUTA, condemned the police's actions. "It is quite sad that the guest faculty haven't been paid for this long time. They have the right to protest peacefully and demand their pay," he says. At the same time, he added that the guest faculty cannot be a part of DUTA, as the organisation is only for the permanent faculty of the university.
