Dear Colleagues,

The JNUTA elections are taking place in a backdrop where we the teachers are finding it difficult to go about our normal teaching and research activities. Every day brings a new issue (ranging from role of statutory bodies, selection committee, evaluation process, student selection criteria, dismantling of important institutions of redressal like GSCASH, undoing of accepted norms in administrative appointments, the shrinking space for grievance redressal, attendance and this listing can go on) to deal with, even as pre-existing ones like housing etc. remain unresolved. On many such questions, the predictability and certainties that teachers had in the past are fast disappearing and the prevalent uncertainties are ever increasing.

Most importantly, the zones of the individual autonomies of teachers and those of collectives are continuously shrinking. Academic decisions have become increasingly arbitrary, irrational and impractical. Deep frustration and a sense of suffocation is what the teacher in JNU feels today. This is not because we as teachers have been unwilling to engage in a dialogue but because we are faced with an Administration that chooses to be completely unresponsive to reasons and logic.

What is more distressing is that there are efforts to break the trust within the JNU teaching community, which has been it’s biggest moral strength. We are being told that the fault lies at the teachers’ end. At the same time, surveillance is being introduced through things like CCTV cameras, biometrics and attendance. This is also being done to deviate attention from crucial concerns of teachers like issues of the promotions, the improved working conditions, the housing and implementation of the pay commission, etc. The Administration has made imposing its writ on the University an end in itself, and has routinely indulged in humiliation, harassment and victimization of the teachers. The present Administration has seemingly burnt the bridges of dialogue. In the face of such an assault, what is the choice that teachers in JNU have?

One option is to capitulate and submit completely to the Administration and wait for the crumbs that may be occasionally thrown in our direction. However, along with defending teachers’ interests, JNUTA has always protected the democratic ethos of this premier public institution and therefore cannot be a silent spectator to its destruction. JNUTA a collective expression of the teachers’ rights demands for improved, inclusive and equitable working conditions. It believes in negotiations as well as assertion for this purpose. These options are not alternatives to each other but are complementary. It is only the assertion that can realize negotiations that will yield fruits on the demands and concerns of the teachers. We will never be heard if we don’t insist that we must be heard. Our collective understanding should be effectively expressed and asserted for dialogue and negotiations.

In doing so, we must draw appropriate lessons from the experience thus far. It is only in the coming together, in thought and in action, that we can vest our hopes and aspirations. This is the perspective that this inclusive panel, which combines experience with innovative ideas, represents. If given the responsibility to lead the JNUTA, we will be dedicated to forcefully articulate the collective understanding of the teachers before the JNU Administration. This is an open and inclusive agenda, and expresses a firm resolve to achieve our collective goals. It is for taking JNUTA forward on this agenda that we seek your support.

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President:

SONAJHARIA MINZ, SC & SS

Vice- President (two posts):

DEVENDRA KUMAR CHOUBEY, CIL/SLL & CS &

PARTHO DATTA, SAA

Secretary:

SUDHIR KUMAR SUTHAR, CPS/SSS

Joint Secretary (two posts):

ARCHNA NEGI, CIPOD/SIS &

GHAZALA JAMIL, CSLG

Treasurer:

RAKESH KUMAR, CCSEAS/SLL & CS

SCHOOL REPRESENTATIVES

SSS: PRADEEP K. SHINDE & VIKAS RAWAL

SC & SS: KARAN SINGH

SIS (no election): S.N. MALAKAR & MOLLICA DASTIDER

SAA (no election): Y.S. ALONE

SLL & CS (no election): AJMER S. KAJAL & KAUSHAL KUMAR

Special Centres (no election): CHIRASHREE DASGUPTA

POLLING

Date: January 31, 2018.

Time: 10 am to 5pm.

Venue: School of International Studies