A wave of student unrest has erupted at Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) as the JNU Students’ Union (JNUSU) launched an indefinite hunger strike demanding the reinstatement of the university’s PhD entrance exam (JNUEE). The protest follows the university administration’s decision to rely solely on the Union Grants Commission - National Eligibility Test (UGC-NET) June 2025 cycle for PhD admissions – excluding a large section of aspirants, particularly those who appeared in the most recent exam.
Speaking to Edex Live, JNUSU President Nitish Kumar outlined the student body's key demands: reinstating the JNUEE, revoking eviction notices issued to PhD scholars, scrapping ongoing proctorial inquiries involving around 30 students, and increasing the Merit-cum-Means (MCM) scholarship amount from Rs 2,000 to Rs 5,000, to meet the rising student needs.
“The administration has completely shut down avenues for dialogue,” said Nitish. “For the past month, we have been trying to meet the vice-chancellor to raise these issues, but we were repeatedly ignored. Now they have released the PhD prospectus without any consultation, it’s undemocratic and discriminatory.”
He also highlighted the alleged exclusionary nature of the current UGC-NET-based admissions process, which, Nitish says, cuts off a significant section of students. “Those appearing for the June 2025 cycle of NET will not even be considered. This arbitrary move will impact thousands,” he added.
While three of the four elected student office bearers – President, Vice-President, and General Secretary – are participating in the hunger strike, the Joint Secretary, affiliated with the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), has abstained.
Nitish dismissed concerns that this abstention would weaken the movement, citing that a referendum by the students’ union had nearly 94% of students supporting reinstating JNUEE over relying solely on NTA (National Testing Agency)-held NET scores.
He also criticised the administration’s repeated recourse to a lack of funds as justification. “Every time we bring up concerns pertaining to JNUEE or scholarships, they say there’s no money. That’s their go-to excuse,” he said.
Declaring that the hunger strike will continue until the demands are met, Nitish Kumar affirmed, “We will keep fighting until our voices are heard and concerns addressed.”
Maham, a student counsellor from the School of Social Sciences and an aspiring PhD candidate herself, called the exclusion of candidates appearing in the June 2025 UGC-NET cycle deeply unfair. “We’ve reiterated again and again that the PhD admission process needs to be made fair. By the time JNU even begins evaluating candidates, the results of the latest NET cycle will be out; impacting an entire batch of aspirants,” she told Edex Live.
According to Maham, the shift from JNUEE to UGC-NET is not just logistically flawed but academically detrimental.
“The entire UGC-NET process is discriminatory from the start,” she said, noting that the application itself costs over Rs 1,200 – an amount that already excludes many students from marginalised backgrounds.
Drawing from her own experience, Maham, who recently took the Political Science paper, expressed frustration with the nature of the exam. “What kind of questions are they even asking? Do they want a research scholar or a parrot? They are asking substandard questions that do not align with the prescribed syllabus and encouraging students to memorise facts. There's no room for critical or cognitive thinking. Research scholars of today become professors of tomorrow, and the questions set by NTA do not align with this thought,” she said.
She also raised serious concerns about how NET marks are converted into percentiles for JNU admissions. “With this, viva becomes the only real deciding factor, and that’s where favouritism can creep in. It’s extremely opaque.”
Beyond the structure of the exams, she called into question the very credibility of the National Testing Agency (NTA), citing repeated paper leaks and delays in scheduling. “Students' careers are at the mercy of this flawed institution. This isn’t just mismanagement, it’s negligence,” she asserted.
Maham advocated strongly for reinstating JNUEE, which she said offers JNU both institutional autonomy and more transparency in selecting research candidates. “Let the university decide its exam format – objective or subjective.”
Her concerns extended beyond the admissions process. “When we protested outside the Dean of Students’ office, several of us were imposed with proctorial inquiries. It’s a direct attack on student freedom,” she said.
She also drew attention to the plight of PhD students admitted between 2017 and 2020, many of whom received eviction notices from hostels despite the pandemic-related delays. “Where are they supposed to go? These scholars need to remain on campus to complete their work.”
Further, Maham criticised the withdrawal of key fellowships and scholarships, such as the Maulana Azad Fellowship Scheme (MANF), which are in place to support minority and marginalised students.
As the hunger strike led by the JNU Students' Union continues to demand a return to the JNUEE for PhD admissions, not all student groups are in agreement. The Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), has distanced itself from the strike, while still raising its own objections to the university’s current admission schedule.
Vikash Patel, the ABVP JNU Unit Head, clarified his organisation’s stance while speaking to EdexLive. “We are not part of the hunger strike, but we do acknowledge the administrative flaw in the current PhD admission timeline. The UGC-NET June 2025 cycle hasn’t even concluded. But the JNU prospectus sets July 7 as the last date for applications. This clearly excludes a large section of aspirants.” The UGC-NET exams will conclude only on June 29.
According to Patel, the timeline is particularly unfair to fresh Master’s graduates and to Council of Scientific and Industrial Research – National Eligibility Test (CSIR-NET) applicants, whose exams haven’t even started. “If this is not addressed, several aspirants from various streams will be shut out of the process altogether,” he said.
However, Patel firmly opposed calls to reinstate the JNUEE. “We support admissions through UGC-NET. It is a standardised, computer-based test (CBT) accessible to students from every region and linguistic background,” he said.
Patel argued that JNUEE’s subjective format, often conducted solely in English, could place students from non-English speaking regions at a disadvantage. “In UGC-NET, you have more centres across the country, ensuring greater accessibility. Under JNUEE, the number of centres is limited, and the exam being designed by JNU faculty creates the possibility of internal bias, especially towards the current JNU students.”
He further stated that the ABVP has sent a memorandum to the administration requesting that the eviction of PhD students be reconsidered on humanitarian grounds, as these students, who were in the midst of the COVID-19 crisis, are still attempting to complete their research.
As the hunger strike at JNU enters its early days, voices from across the campus continue to pour in, challenging the administration’s decision to replace JNUEE with the UGC-NET score as the sole criterion for PhD admissions.
