PUNE: Several student associations and organisations in the country, including JNU Students Union, FTII Students Union, Lokayat, Youth for Swaraj and Sarvodaya Yuva Vahini, have organised ‘Young India Adhikar March’ in Delhi on February 7. The march will be held from Red Fort to Parliament Street.
The march, organised under the banner of Young India National Coordination Committee, has been organised to give voice to the students’ issues persistent in the country for the past five years. In Pune, a solidarity march for the cause will be held later on January 22.
Speaking about the protest, N Sai Balaji, President, JNU (Jawaharlal Nehru University) Students Union, said, “While the Modi government came to power with great backing from young India in 2014, the government has failed to fulfill the promises that were made to the youths. Today, with rising expenses of higher education and the burden of student loans, the youths are stressed, leading to an increasing number of suicides.”
“Moreover, unemployment is on the rise and to hide their failure, the government is withholding the true data of the number of unemployed in the country,” he said.
“After the 2015 strike at FTII, serious implications have been put on the students. Our documentary projects are being censored, art in the institute is being termed vandalism. This is a serious problem.” Aadhit V Sathvin, President of FTII Students Union, said..
“Moreover, after our 84-day strike last year over the issues of infrastructure, we were cited of lack of funds as a reason while on the other hand, the institute spends crores on setting up sets like those of Swami Vivekanand Memorial and celebrating the government approved festivals,” Sathvin further added.
THE DEMANDS
- The committee has demanded waiver of students’ loans
- Fill all vacant positions in all departments before 2019 elections.
- End the regime of paper leaks and corruption in every recruitment exam.
- Stop the policy of school closure in the name of merging, build up nearest neighbourhood government schools to ensure universal enrolment and universal school education till class 12.