JNU’s funding increased during Modi government, FIR cases also increased, revealed in RTI

New Delhi: Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) has long been considered a bastion of the left. After the Modi government came to power at the Centre in 2014, JNU was discussed several times over a number of issues. The protests on campus by then student leaders like Kanhaiya Kumar and Umar Khalid attracted the attention of the entire country. At the same time, information obtained through the Right to Information (RTI) shows that JNU’s funding has increased after the Modi government came to power at the Centre. At the same time, the number of FIRs against students has also increased. Praful Sarda, an RTI activist from Pune, had sought details on the subsidies provided to JNU during the tenure of the government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the last decade. According to information received from the RTI, between 2004-05 and 2014-15, JNU received a total subsidy of Rs 2,055 crore. The subsidy increased to Rs 3,030 crore between 2015-16 and 2022-23, indicating that JNU received 1.5 times more funding during the Modi government than in the previous decade.

However, when the number of FIRs registered against JNU students is compared, a big contradiction can be seen. Before 2016, no FIR was registered against JNU students. Whereas since 2016, the university administration itself has registered 35 FIRs against its own students. However, the RTI activist faced a lot of difficulty in getting more information about these FIRs.

RTI activist Prafulla Sarda says that the government should invest in more national universities and also support existing ones. he/she suggests that Mumbai and Pune universities should be chosen first for this benefit as these universities educate a lot of students from rural areas.