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that the preliminary examinations should be discontinued and that they should be allowed to proceed directly to the university examinations. Most of the other students of the college did not attend classes to express their sympathy with the hunger-strikers.
DISTURBANCES AT THE BANARAS H I N D U UNIVERSITY The Banaras Hindu University (Amendment) Bill was discussed in the Rayja Sabha from 3-12 November. There was near unanimity concerning the desirability of modifying the university's present name. It was said that the communal element in the name of the university was contrary to the principle of secularism. Several members suggested that the university should be named Madan Mohan Malaviya Kashi Vishwavidyalaya, after its founder, Madan Mohan Malaviya. A select committee of both Houses of Parliament had advised that there should be no change in name. The Education Minister, Mr. M. C. Chagla, was of the opinion that the name of the university should be changed to minimize communal associations; for the same reason, he had favoured omitting the communal term in the name of the Aligarh Muslim University. The proposal that the tenure of the present vice-chancellor and registrar should be terminated with the enactment of the Bill was considered at length. The registrar was criticised especially and was denounced by Mr. Arjun Arora (Congress) as "the greatest intriguer in the educational world ". In the debate on 10 November, Mr. G. B. Pathak (Congress) emphasised that such a provision would constitute a dangerous precedent which might be exploited by Parliament in the future in regard to other cases with far more damaging consequences. However, Mr. Chandra Sekhar (Congress) said that the Education Ministry would find itself powerless to remove the present incumbents without the effective intervention of Parliament. Professor A. R. Wadia (nominated member), who was chairman of the select committee and who had offered a note of dissent on this provision, pointed out that the officers were entitled to a proper inquiry. He added that the cause of the trouble was power politics which were the inevitable product of elections in the university. On 19 November, several members of the Lok Sabha expressed their objection to the change in name of the Banaras Hindu University to the Madan Mohan Malaviya Kashi Vishwavidyalaya and canvassed support in the lobbies for the debate on the amended Bill. There had been a free vote in the Rajya Sabha but there was pressure to impose the whip when the debate in the Lok Sabha started. On 21 November, over 10,000 students, mostly from the Banaras Hindu University, demonstrated in Varanasi against the change of name. A strike had already been in progress since 16 November. They also demonstrated before President Radhakrishnan. The students said that the people who wished to change the name were "traitors ". Security measures were maintained by police and by specially-drafted members of the Home Guard. On 22 November, students blocked the main gate to the Banaras Hindu University and allowed in only persons wearing a black band as a protest against the Banaras Hindu University (Amendment) Bill. The chief proctor's office was locked but the students managed to occupy one of its rooms. Students from other cities of the state and from Bihar arrived to take part in the agitation against the Bill. The students announced that they would conduct a hunger strike at the front gate beginning on 23 November. The
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vice-chancellor, Mr. N . H. Bhagwati, asked the students to restrain themselves and to vacate the proctor's office to prevent the authorities being forced to act. Mr. Moni Ram Aggarwal, general secretary of the Lok Kalyankarni Mandal, Kanpur, threatened to burn himself to death if the word " H i n d u " was removed from the name of the university and wrote to the Prime Minister requesting that the Bill should not be proceeded with in Parliament. On 24 November, 15 students went on a 24-hour fast in protest against the Bill and were joined by more students on following days. At a meeting, the students decided that they would continue their agitation until their demands were conceded. In the debate in the Lok Sabha, Mr. Chagla said that the students must understand that their actions would not influence decisions made in Parliament and that strike action was the wrong way to approach Parliament. The vote would be a free one and the government would not take up an official attitude on the question of the change in name. Sixteen members took part in the debate in the Lok Sabha. Two were in favour of the change of name as suggested by the Rajya Sabha. The remainder divided evenly into those who did not want any change and those who wanted the name changed to " K a s h i Vishwavidyalaya ". Those who desired no change insisted that the word " H i n d u " did not convey any communal meaning. On 25 November, students of Banaras Hindu University decided to continue the strike if the Bill were not withdrawn by 30 November. However they discontinued their control of the main gate and the chief proctor's office began to function normally. A student procession through the streets of Varanasi carried a portrait of Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya and displayed slogans denouncing the Bill. The debate on the Bill in the Lok Sabha ended abruptly on the morning of 25 November, when a motion by Mr. H. V. Kamath, adjourning further discussion, was adopted by 137 votes to 51. The Opposition objected but the Speaker ruled against them. The students took control of the main gate of the university again on the 26 November. They gave the university authorities a four-hour ultimatum to vacate various offices including those of the registrar, chief proctor and public relations. They also occupied offices of the dean of students, which they claimed belonged to the students' association. The 12-day student strike at Banaras University was called off on 29 November. The students claimed a "partial victory " with the indefinite postponement of the Bill in the Lok Sabha. On 3 February, as the police were preparing for the visit to Banaras Hindu University by President Radhakrishnan for the Golden Jubilee celebrations, a student on a bicycle" collided with a rickshaw and fell in the way of a police truck; he died in hospital. Students set fire to the truck and some policemen were beaten. Others were forced by the students into confinement in university buildings and, when other police sought to enter the campus to release them, they were obstructed by students. Force was used to disperse the students. The police then raided the department of pharmacology, the central office of the university and International House where some members of staff and students were beaten. The vice-chancellor criticised the use of force by the police and informed the Prime Minister, the Union ministers and the state's Chief Minister of the incidents. The Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, Mrs. Sucheta Kripalani, announced that a judicial member of the
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revenue board was being appointed to inquire into the matter. About 12 students, some teachers and 31 policemen were injured. Some arrests were made for the breach of a ban on meetings and for rioting, but the arrested students were released and police were ordered to leave the university grounds after a meeting between the vice-chancellor, the pro-vice-chancellor, the honorary treasurer, the registrar and the district magistrate. Because of the disturbed situation, convocation was postponed and the President's visit and the Golden Jubilee celebrations cancelled. On 5 February, after a meeting at which the vice-chancellor addressed the students and assured them that their grievances would be looked into, the secretary of the Banaras Hindu University Students' U n i o n announced that the students' agitation would be called off. On 7 February, the university reopened. The Revenue Minister of Uttar Pradesli, Mr. H a k u m Singh, visited the university as the personal emissary of the Chief Minister. He met the vice-chancellor, the registrar and the secretary of the students' union, visited the scene of the police lathi charge and gave assurances that the government would see that justice was done. I n the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly, on 8 February, a congressman, Mr. Girdhari Lal, said: The incident at Varanasi is an example of unprecedented inhuman behaviour of the police to the students. In 1942, when the student community at Varanasi was agitated, even the Collector who was an Englishman did not make any lathi charge. I appeal to the members to go into the root cause of such police high-handedness. The anti-people attitude of the officials must be curbed.
The Times of India wrote on 7 February: The rioting on the campus of Banaras Hindu University reflects sadly on police methods as well as on student behaviour. The students had reason to be perturbed . . . but even so there was no reason for them to take the law into their own hands. The armed constabulary . . . showed neither tact nor imagination in handling the situation. They sl~ould have at once invoked the help of file university authorities in restoring peace and reassuring the studel~ts that the guil.ty persons would be brought to book. Instead they seemed to have forced entry i~to the campus and resorted to a lathi charge i n which students and teachers received injuries. . . . Over-elaborate security arrangements for visits of V.I.P.s are more appropriate to a police state than to a democratic country. . . . If such visits can be managed wi.flaout undue fuss elsewhere there is no reason why truckloads of policemen have to be posted in the campus every time a State dignitary vis~its a university here. On 12 December, students at Lucknow University went on strike to demand an inquiry into alleged misappropriation of hostel funds and the abolition of fines for delay in paying examination fees. Some students added to these demands a demand for an immediate changeover to Hindi as the medium of instruction in the arts, commerce and law faculties. On 13 December, students demonstrated before the office of the vicechancellor and abused university authorities. Seven began a hunger strike. Four leaders of the students' union, including the president and the secretary, were arrested. The vice-chancellor of the university, Dr. A. V. Rao, announced on the same day that the university would be closed, from that day onward for an indefinite period, in view of the "growing tension ". When the executive committee of the Lucknow University U n i o n called for a general strike on
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14 December of the " e n t i r e student c o m m u n i t y " of the city, the municipal authorities ordered all local educational establishments to close until 16 December. ~ On 14 December, students defied the police order prohibiting processions and demonstrations. The students were dispersed by a lathi charge and the police arrested about 50 students. The city magistrate, who was on the campus throughout the day, claimed that three policemen had been injured by the students. Student leaders denied this and counter-claimed that the police had entered the student hostels several times and beaten students " w i t h o u t provocation ". One of the student leaders, Mr. Mahendra Singh, began a hunger strike to protest against the actions of the police. The university authorities ordered the students to vacate their hostels by 15 December, and the vice-chancellor, in a letter to the district magistrate, asked for protection for himself and the university staff after receiving a threatening letter from the students. Police were accordingly stationed on the university campus. A t a meeting of student leaders of the University Teachers' Association on 20 December, the president of the Teachers' Association, Dr. J. P. Jaiswal, appealed to the students to halt their agitation. The students said that they were prepared to do so if the 13 students in jail were released immediately. Meanwhile strikes and demonstrations continued. The registrar announced that the university would be reopened on 3 January. On 21 December, students of Islamia and D.A.V. Colleges demonstrated, demanding the release of the arrested students; they threw stones and smashed windows in the college building. The city magistrate's car was stoned and damaged and the driver and the two policemen inside were injured. Police dispersed the students using lathis and two students were arrested. Students from four colleges demonstrated and boycotted their half-yearly examination to emphasise their demand for a judicial inquiry into police procedures and for the release of their arrested classmates. On 31 December, the authorities of Lucknow University decided, after considerable discussion, to reopen only the science faculty of the university on 3 January, instead of all the four faculties which had been closed since the vice-chancellor's action of 14 December. They announced that the faculties of law, arts and commerce would be reopened in due course. On 10 January, it was decided by the university authorities to close the science faculty for a period of indefinite duration since the student strike was continuing. A l l hostels were to be vacated and the mid-year law examinations were postponed. On 5 January, Dr. Jaiswal wrote to The Times of India: The events that have taken place in Lucknow University during the last four weeks and the present situation have pained everybody. The deadlock can be resolved if notions of false prestige are given up and steps are taken to improve the atmosphere and remove distrust between the students and the university authorities. It may be appreciated that the presence of the police on the campus cannot help restore normalcy. They can be withdrawn safely since no danger to life or property exists in the university campus today. Even if it is necessary to guard a few residences or offices, students and teachers should volunteer to do so. Student leaders should simultaneously call off their agitation unconditionally and allow the university to function normally. Once these steps are taken the atmosphere will improve and further progress in resolving the deadlock will be 15 Order under Section 144, Cr.P.C.
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possible. There should be then no hesitation on the part of student leaders to express publicly their regret for whatever lapses they have committed. The student leaders should further give a guarantee not to take part in any agitation because agitations have no place in a university. Once their apology and guarantee are forthcoming, expulsions and arrests should be viewed with due sympathy by the authorities. All this will take a tittle time to accomplish but if the parties are anxious to play their role in the restoration of normalcy, it should be possible to achieve this before any damage is done to the career and future of many students. Other matters can then be looked into in a peaceful atmosphere. The Teachers' Association is anxious to help in the restoration of normalcy in whatever way it can. As a first step, I appeal to the authorities to withdraw the police force from the campus and to the student leaders to call off the agitation simultaneously and unconditionally. $
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On 31 January, West Bengal College and University Teachers' Association announced that its members would boycott all examinations this year to emphasise their protest against the Union Education Ministry's deferment of the revision of their salary scales. The Government of West Bengal has authorised an ad hoc increment of Rs.40 per month and a " D e a r n e s s A l l o w a n c e " of Rs.10 per month. The West Bengal College and University Teachers' Association is insisting that the West Bengal Government accept the University Grants Commission (U.G.C.) scale. The state government has all along insisted that it does not have the financial resources to accept the U.G.C. arrangement which entails a matching grant to be provided by the state government as a condition for the grant from the U.G.C. The Chief Minister of West Bengal, Mr. P. C. Sen, has written to the Union Minister of Education asking that priority should be given by the central government to the revision of the college and university teachers' pay scale and that it should not be deferred until 1967-68. A part of the membership of the West Bengal College and University Teachers' Association favours the acceptance of the state government's offer, even though it does not affect the basic question of a revision of salary scales. While this group believes that teachers' salaries would still remain grossly inadequate, it also believes that it would be wrong not to accept and acknowledge the concession which is being made by the state government, and wrong, too, to boycott the examinations. The boycott would begin in March and affect 200,000 students.
INDONESIA THE INDONESIAN UNIVERSITY SITUATION A correspondent recently in Indonesia writes: I do not think it would be an exaggeration to say that, for many teachers at Indonesian universities, the abortive coup of 1 October, 1965, was a kind of blessing in disguise. The feeling of relief and the determination to fight against any renewed attempt to infringe upon university life can be observed everywhere among scholars and students of Indonesian universities. In the days following the abortive coup, this determination manifested itself in various ways: the removal from their posts of members of the teaching staff considered to be sympathetic toward the political practices of the group which had made the attempted coup, the dismissal from universities of students considered to be m e m b e r s - - o p e n and secret---of student bodies sponsored by the Indonesian