DUTA Goes on Mass Hunger Strike to Save India’s Education System

Teachers and students braved the scorching heat and participated in massive numbers in the DUTA Satyagraha - Mass Hunger Strike on May 30, at Delhi’s Parliament Street. The focus of the Mass Hunger Strike was the UGC's standing March 5 Notification asking universities and colleges to redraw their Reservation Rosters on the basis of departments as units. Even as the MHRD has itself filed a plea in the Supreme Court, asking for a Review of this controversial decision, the UGC has refused to withdraw the Notification. Students and teachers reiterated their resolve to fight back against privatisation and commercialisation of public funded higher education through policies like replacement of grants by loans through HEFA for infrastructural needs, expansion and maintenance of Universities and colleges through Graded Autonomy and Scheme of Autonomous Colleges.