The Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) students, along with their union president Kanhaiya Kumar, on Thursday, June 9, protested outside the Ministry of Human Resource Development (HRD) demanding that reservation to OBC candidates be granted for appointments at associate professor level, following which 36 of them were detained.
Earlier, on Wednesday, the students had even visited the University Grants Commission (UGC) and submitted a memorandum urging to implement the OBC reservation at both professor and associate professor level in promotions and even asked for an increase in the number of national fellowships for OBCs.
What is the stance of the students in the matter?
According to PTI, the protesting students claimed that recently, the UGC had said that 27 per cent OBC reservation was applicable only at the level of assistant professor.
The students are demanding that the OBC reservation should also be implemented at professor level along with assistant professor level.
Claim made by UGC:
The UGC on Wednesday had clarified that no change had been made in the reservation policy for teachers in universities.
Police action:
As a preventive measure, 36 students were detained to maintain law and order situation, according to police officials. However, they were later released.
Another protest:
Just after being released from Parliament Street police station, the students again staged an agitation outside Uttar Pradesh Bhawan, this time to demand justice in the Dadri lynching case.
What initiated the protest?
A Mathura-based forensic laboratory's report that the meat collected from the crime scene in Dadri where 50-year-old Mohd Akhlaq was allegedly lynched over the rumour that his family had stored and consumed beef, was actually meat of cow or its progeny.
On this occasion, 25 students, including Kanhaiya, were detained from the spot and taken to the same police station.
Source: Indiatoday
