UGC chief stays away from Jamia event for ‘personal reasons’

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Many of the students are ‘Occupy UGC’ protesters, who have been protesting the UGC’s initial decision to discontinue non-NET fellowships and later introduce a “discretionary criteria” for selection.

“Our plan was to enter the auditorium where he was to speak and start the protest once he started his speech. We had made banners and charts for the protest as well,” said Imran from the Jamia Students’ Forum (JSF).

Jamia media coordinator Mukesh Ranjan, however, said he knew nothing about the planned protest. “I haven’t heard anything about the protests. What I have been told is that it was due to personal reasons,” he said.
Students claimed that no formal announcement was made about Prakash’s non-appearance. “We were waiting there, thinking he would come, but that didn’t happen. Once we got to know he isn’t coming, we went out and started distributing pamphlets on the issue,” said Prashant Mukherjee from the Students’ Federation of India (SFI).