Students from the Centre for Historical Studies (CHS) at Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) are continuously making efforts to save their precious library, which the university is "relocating". Starting today, August 8, the students are organising an event to keep a check on the displacement of books from the library building.
Named Library Wali Chai (Tea in the library), the event is slated to continue until the university administration decides to abandon its relocation move. Saib Bilaval, a PhD scholar at CHS, says that today they will be serving tea to the gathered participants and holding discussions on the legacy and importance of the library, followed by musical performances and sloganeering. "We will also discuss our upcoming plans, and will be arranging lecture series in the subsequent days," he added.
Saib mentions that the event is aimed at preventing workers from taking away library books, some of which have been moved out, while the students managed to save the rest. "Someone needs to be here to keep an eye on the library, so we came up with this event. We have also initiated a signature campaign-cum-appeal to save our library, which has received about 1,700 signatures so far," he informs.
The online appeal states
In their online appeal, the CHS student community alleged that the library is being closed down to make space for a Centre for Tamil Studies. "We welcome the foundation of a new Centre, but it cannot be at the cost of academic resources of existing centres. Rs 10 crore has been allocated to the university by the Government of Tamil Nadu for the establishment and construction of the new Tamil Studies centre...We demand that those funds be utilised adequately to create a separate infrastructure for the new centre," the appeal states.
The official word from JNU
JNU, however, refuted these allegations. In a notice on August 8, the university said, "All the concerned members/students of the university are hereby informed that as part of an internal arrangement, the university has planned to relocate the existing CHS Library to the adjoining building. Relocation has been always taking place in JNU. Moreover, this has been passed by the EC (Executive Council) unanimously."
Additionally, in a conversation on the matter with EdexLive, JNU VC Santishree Pandit mentioned that all the buildings belong to JNU and that the decision to relocate was a "prudent use of space". Saib disagrees. He explains that the library building is not an autonomous property of JNU, and cannot be utilised at will, as it was set up with a special assistance fund from the University Grants Commission (UGC), and was expanded with a grant after it won awards. "A library is what the building was always meant to be," he states.
The scholar said that the student community was trying to garner as much support as possible for the cause, and their efforts were bearing fruit. "We have seen some change. Last Friday, the JNU faculty wrote to the VC against the relocation, an emergency faculty meeting was held last evening (August 7), and public pressure on the administration is building up with our signature campaign as more and more people are becoming aware of the issue and talking about it," he said.
The CHS students have appealed to faculty, scholars and students worldwide to join the campaign. Saib says that as of now, about 20-25 students are joining the physical protest at the library on a daily basis. "All the students cannot be present at all times. But MA students, PhD scholars and those who have completed their PhDs at the university are active participants. One reason why we have fewer people right now is because it's the holidays and classes are not in session. Most outstation students are at home. This will no longer be the case by next week," he adds.
