Kuki student from NEFIS elected unopposed to the post of General Secretary of MSAD

Manipuri Students Association Delhi (MSAD) elects its new President, General Secretary and Executive Committee Members Kuki student from NEFIS elected unopposed to the post of General Secretary of MSAD   Two students from the North-East Forum for International Solidarity (NEFIS) … Continue reading

Manipuri Students Association Delhi (MSAD) elects its new President, General Secretary and Executive Committee Members

Kuki student from NEFIS elected unopposed to the post of General Secretary of MSAD

 

Two students from the North-East Forum for International Solidarity (NEFIS) who have been actively raising issues of North-East youth in Delhi, were elected unopposed to the post of President and General Secretary of Manipuri Students Association Delhi (MSAD) for the year 2013–2014. Chinglen Khumukcham and Thanglunmang Khongsai from NEFIS were elected as MSAD President and General Secretary, respectively.

 

The election of these two members into the Executive Committee of MSAD is an extremely positive development and is part of the larger process through which NEFIS has been encouraging Manipuri students to raise their issues in connection with the issues and problems faced by other north-east students. It is with this spirit of bringing different north-east communities together on a common set of concerns that NEFIS spearheaded the two-month long agitation against the imposition of a compulsory Hindi language course under Delhi University’s FYUP course. Arguing that such a language imposition was a discrimination against north-east students who have little or no school education in the Hindi language, NEFIS sparked off a militant struggle for withdrawal of the compulsory Hindi language course as it would play havoc with the academic performance of north-east students. By precipitating the struggle, both at the level of Delhi University and at level of the HRD Ministry (Government of India), NEFIS succeeded in getting the adamant University to accept the genuineness of the north-east students’ concerns and to withdraw the paper. Apart from the issue of the compulsory Hindi language paper, NEFIS has also helped mobilize north-east students across the board on glaring problems like police inaction on complaints by north-east youth, police atrocities and also on highly sensitive issues like sexual harassment of north-east women in Delhi.

 

The concerted efforts of Chinglen Khumukcham and Thanglunmang Khongsai as members of NEFIS have been helping to gradually spread larger sense of solidarity amongst students of different communities/nationalities of North-East . An indication of such solidarity and growing radicalization of youth politics is reflected in the simple fact that for the first time a Kuki student has been elected to the post of MSAD General Secretary. It is hoped that the emerging solidarity amongst different communities of the north-east will prove longstanding, and will be nurtured in letter and spirit by the newly elected Executive Committee of MSAD. The newly elected President and General Secretary hope that MSAD politics is not only radicalized further, but that students of Manipur in large numbers become more active in the progressive and democratic movement existing in Delhi.

 

NEFIS pledges to extend full support and to work with the newly elected Executive Committee of MSAD in order to usher in an egalitarian, democratic and progressive functioning of society.

 

Yours Sincerely

Ginminlun Haokip

North-East Forum for International Solidarity (NEFIS)

Contact: 7838983871 Email: nefis.delhi@gmail.com

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NEFIS PR – North-East Students’ Protest Reaches the Gates of HRD Ministry

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PRESS RELEASE   Date:   05.04.2013   North-East Students’ Protest Reaches the Gates of HRD Ministry. Students’ Seek Intervention from HRD Ministry Against Imposition of Hindi Language Course by DU   Today a large number of students from different communities of the … Continue reading

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PRESS RELEASE   Date:   05.04.2013

 

North-East Students’ Protest Reaches the Gates of HRD Ministry.

Students’ Seek Intervention from HRD Ministry Against Imposition of Hindi Language Course by DU

 

Today a large number of students from different communities of the North-East and concerned individuals gheraoed the HRD ministry. This protest was organized by NEFIS (North-East Forum for International Solidarity) along with a number of other progressive organizations and individuals. We also submitted a memorandum (a copy of which is attached herewith) to the ministry of HRD Ministry, stating our concerns and demanding its immediate intervention to stop imposition of a compulsory Hindi language/Modern Indian Language (MIL) course by Delhi University (DU). This protest at the HRD Ministry has been preceded by three protests by north-east students at the University level. A delegation of 5 students met with Senior Secretary of Higher Education in the HRD Ministry, who received the memorandum saying that he had already been instructed by the HRD Minister to look into the issue “positively”.

North-East Students’ Protest Reaches the Gates of HRD Ministry. Students’ Seek Intervention from HRD Ministry Against Imposition of Hindi Language Course by DU

North-East Students’ Protest Reaches the Gates of HRD Ministry.
Students’ Seek Intervention from HRD Ministry Against Imposition of Hindi Language Course by DU

In the coming academic year Delhi University administration is going to introduce a new syllabus according to which it would become compulsory for students of all courses to do a foundational course during the first year of their graduation. In this foundation course they would be required to opt for a language which would either be Hindi or one of the Modern Indian languages (MILs). It is our opinion that the compulsory imposition of Hindi and other MILs would cause immense hardships for the students who belong to communities that speak neither Hindi nor one of the MILs. There would be problems even for the communities that speak MILs like Manipuri, Assamese, etc. because the infrastructure and faculty strength for teaching these languages is inadequate to be able to cover the whole of university.

North-East Students’ Protest Reaches the Gates of HRD Ministry. Students’ Seek Intervention from HRD Ministry Against Imposition of Hindi Language Course by DU

North-East Students’ Protest Reaches the Gates of HRD Ministry.
Students’ Seek Intervention from HRD Ministry Against Imposition of Hindi Language Course by DU

This imposition of a compulsory language course amounts to nothing less than cultural chauvinism on part of the University administration directed against the communities from the North-East. This is because most of the North-East students are not adept in any of the languages of the mainland India. The new DU syllabus, if it is allowed to come into force, would put the students of the North-East under serious disadvantage vis-à-vis students of rest of the country. This gross neglect of the special needs of the students of the North-East is not a new thing. It is our observation that in the framing of university polices the interests of the students from the North-East is always neglected. It is for this reason that we made this fresh instance of bias an occasion for us to rise above community lines and put forward a united protest to safeguard our common interests.

The protesting students and youth have resolved that if nothing positive comes out of its meeting with HRD officials, then it will spread its struggle to the different capital cities in the North-East states, and intensify the campaign amongst DU colleges.

Yours Sincerely

Chinglen Khumukcham

Thanglunmang Khongsai

North-East Forum for International Solidarity (NEFIS)

Contact: 7838983871 Email: nefis.delhi@gmail.com

Memorandum Submitted to the HRD Ministry:

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North-East Forum For International Solidarity – PR – Agitating North-East students turn violent due to callous approach of DU authorities

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PRESS RELEASE                                                                                                                                                                         01.04.2013 Agitating North-East students turn violent due to callous approach of DU authorities. The protesters block Ramjas Chowk and break the gate of Proctor’s Office during the agitation against imposition of compulsory language. … Continue reading

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The post North-East Forum For International Solidarity – PR – Agitating North-East students turn violent due to callous approach of DU authorities appeared first on  KanglaOnline.com.

PRESS RELEASE

                                                                                                                                                                        01.04.2013

Agitating North-East students turn violent due to callous approach of DU authorities.

The protesters block Ramjas Chowk and break the gate of Proctor’s Office during the agitation against imposition of compulsory language.

The North-East Forum for International Solidarity (NEFIS) has been running a campaign to oppose the imposition of Hindi/MILs (Modern Indian Languages) on the students of ‘north-east’ from the next academic session. The compulsory language course is part of the foundational course of the four year undergraduate program. NEFIS along with individuals and other organizations like MASAD has already held two protests, the first on 22nd March when a memorandum was submitted, and the second on 25th of March when we again approached the Delhi University (DU) authorities to seek a response from them. Since no response was forthcoming, today NEFIS again organized a massive demonstration in the University which blocked Ramjas Chowk and then also broke the barricade outside Dean/Proctor Office. This being an issue that concerns all the students from the North-East and from other marginalized communities of our country; NEFIS took the initiative to organize a joint protest of students from all these different communities, especially those from the North-East.

Agitating North-East students turn violent due to callous approach of DU authorities.  The protesters block Ramjas Chowk and break the gate of Proctor’s Office during the agitation against imposition of compulsory language.

Agitating North-East students turn violent due to callous approach of DU authorities.
The protesters block Ramjas Chowk and break the gate of Proctor’s Office during the agitation against imposition of compulsory language.

We gathered at 2:00pm at the Vivekanand Statue, Faculty of Arts, Delhi University and held a public meeting. Speakers from various different communities of the North-East spoke to the gathering and condemned the chauvinist tendency of the University administration. This was followed by sloganeering and a procession which was taken out throughout the campus. The procession of enraged students blocked the Ramjas Chowk for nearly half an hour before proceeding towards the Proctor’s Office. On reaching the main gate of the Dean Students’ Welfare/Proctor’s Office, the students found that it had been barricaded by the University’s private security and the local police. Even after hours of sloganeering nobody from the administration came to talk to us. This cavalier attitude displayed by the administration enraged the crowd which then broke the gate and rushed to the Dean’s office. Rather than understanding the anxiety of the students, the authorities instructed their private security to manhandle the students, including women students. Some men students were even boxed by the security guards. Shockingly, sexist abuses were hurled at the students as they approached the Proctor Office after crossing the barricade.

The enraged students went onto burn a copy of the proposed syllabus that is going to be introduced in the next academic session. This was followed by a public meeting in which it was collectively decided that we would stage our next protest at the HRD ministry; the date for which would be decided in the next meeting.

In the coming academic year, Delhi University’s administration is going to introduce a new syllabus according to which it would become compulsory for students of all courses to do a foundational course during the first year of their graduation. In this foundation course they would be required to opt for a language which would either be Hindi or one of the Modern Indian languages (MILs). It is our opinion that the compulsory imposition of Hindi and other MILs would cause immense hardships for the students who belong to communities that speak neither Hindi nor one of the MILs.  There would be problems even for the communities that speak MILs like Manipuri, Assamese etc. because the infrastructure and faculty strength for these languages is too small to be able to cover the whole of university.  This step amounts to nothing less than cultural chauvinism on part of the university administration directed against the communities from the North-East because most of them are not adept in any of the languages of the mainland India. The new syllabus, if it is allowed to come into force, would put the students of the North-East under serious disadvantage vis-à-vis students of rest of the country. This gross neglect of the special needs of the students of the North-East is not a new thing. It is our observation that in the framing of university polices the interests of the students from the North-East is always neglected. It is for this reason that we made this fresh instance of bias an occasion for us to rise above community lines and put forward a united protest to safeguard our common interests.

Yours Sincerely

Chinglen Khumukcham and Thanglunmang Khongsai.

NEFIS (North-East Forum for International Solidarity)

For details-7838983871

* The press release is being sent by North-East Forum For International Solidarity , Contact info nefis.delhi{at}gmail.com

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