NEHU students’ hunger strike enters 8th day, Meghalaya Guv likely to intervene

SHILLONG, (IANS): The students of North-Eastern Hill University (NEHU), the northeast's oldest Central varsity in Shillong, continued their hunger strike for the past week and remained firm to carry on their stir until their demands were met.

Despite appeals by the Meghalaya Governor and its Chief Rector Chandrashekhar H. Vijayashankar, Vice-Chancellor of NEHU Prabha Shankar Shukla and others, the indefinite hunger strike, spearheaded by the North Eastern Hill University Students Union (NEHUSU), entered its eighth day on Tuesday.

The students are demanding the removal of the Vice-Chancellor and four other top officials, including Registrar, Col Omkar Singh (Retd) and Deputy Registrar, Amit Gupta.

A senior professor of the University while talking with IANS said that the Governor, who is now outside the state, would talk to the teachers, staff and the agitating students on his return on Wednesday or Thursday.

The Governor, while talking with the members of the North Eastern Hill University Teachers' Association and Meghalaya Tribal Teachers’ Association at the Raj Bhavan last week, assured that the demands of the students would be considered and appealed to them to withdraw their agitation.

Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma earlier said that he briefed the Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on the ongoing situation in NEHU and urged him to find an amicable solution to this issue.

Meanwhile, amidst the students’ agitation, unknown people vandalised the official residence of the Vice Chancellor on Monday.

The NEHU students wrote a letter to President Droupadi Murmu detailing the situation in the varsity and sought her intervention to resolve the ongoing imbroglio.

The VC, on a number of occasions, urged the students to call off their agitation and hold talks so that normal academic activities can resume in the university.

In a letter to NEHUSU President Sandy Sohtun, he assured them of the formation of an inquiry committee to study the demand for the removal of the Registrar and Deputy Registrar.

Shukla, in his letter, also assured that he would call a meeting of the Executive Council by November 14 to form an enquiry committee and based on the findings of its report, appropriate actions would be taken.

He, in principle, agreed to the appointment of a Pro-Vice-Chancellor to facilitate the administration of the NEHU's Tura Campus.

NEHUSU General Secretary Toniho S. Kharsati told the media that they are not happy with the clarification of the VC about their demands.

He also said they would continue with their agitation until and unless their demands were accepted by the authorities.

The Khasi Students Union’s NEHU unit and the Meghalaya Tribal Teachers' Association are also supporting the protest.

The agitating students claimed that due to the incompetence of all top varsity officials, the NEHU’s rank has slipped 21 points to 101 in the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) ranking. NEHUSU General Secretary Kharsati said the students demanded that all "incompetent" top officials along with those "illegally" appointed must be removed for the interest of the students and the varsity.

"Since the incumbent VC took charge of the University in 2021, no important academic development has taken place, and instead rankings of the important institution have been going down. Incompetent people were appointed in the top position," he said.

The influential North East Students' Organisation (NESO), an apex body of eight students' organisations representing seven NE states, on Tuesday in a letter to the Union Education Minister sought his intervention to resolve the academic and administrative crisis in the premier higher educational institution.

The future of NEHU requires leadership that is committed to academic excellence, transparency, and the welfare of its students, and we believe that such leadership can only be ensured through significant administrative change, said the NEHU letter signed by its chairman Samuel Jyrwa and Secretary General Mutsikhoyo Yhobu.