Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi

History

Jawaharlal Nehru University was established in 1969 by an act of parliament. It was named after Jawaharlal Nehru, India's first Prime Minister. G. Parthsarthi was the first vice-chancellor.. The bill for the establishment of Jawaharlal Nehru University was placed in the Rajya Sabha on September 1, 1965 by the then Education Minister, Mr M.C. Chagla. During the discussion that followed, Hon. M.P. Mr. Bhushan Gupta voiced the opinion that this should not be yet another university. New faculties should be created, including scientific socialism, and one thing that this university should ensure was to keep noble ideas in mind and provide accessibility to students from weaker sections of society. The JNU Bill was passed in Lok Sabha on 16th November 1966 and the JNU Act came into force on 22nd April, 1969.

Constituent centres

JNU has granted recognition and accreditation to the following prestigious institutions across the country.

Defence Institutions

IAS Administration and Civil Services

Research and Development Institutions

In addition, the university has exchange programmes and academic collaboration through the signing of MoUs with 71 universities around the world. The University has also sent a proposal to set up a Center in Bihar. The Indian Administrative Service (IAS) trainees officers will be awarded an MA degree in Public Management from Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), Delhi.

Student activism

The JNU is infused with an intense political life on campus. Students that leave campus are said to acquire a "permanently changed outlook on life" as a result of the student politics. The politicisation of campus life has led to a refusal to brush under the carpet social issues such as feminism, minority rights, social and economic justice. All such issues are debated fiercely in formal and informal gatherings.

The JNU student politics is left-of-centre even though, in recent years, right-wing student groups have also entered the field. Political involvement is "celebratory in spirit." The student union elections are preceded by days of debates and meetings, keeping all students involved. The JNU has the reputation of an "unruly bastion of Marxist revolution." However, the student activists deny the charge, stating that the politics at JNU is issue-based and intellectual.

The university is known for its alumni who now occupy important political and bureaucratic positions (see Notable alumni below). In part, this is because of the prevalence of Left-Centric student politics and the existence of a written constitution for the university to which noted Communist Party of India leader Prakash Karat contributed exhaustively during his education at JNU.

On 24 October 2008 the Supreme Court of India stayed the JNU elections and banned the JNUSU for not complying with the recommendations of the Lyngdoh committee. After a prolonged struggle and multi-party negotiations, the ban was lifted on 8 December 2011. After a gap of more than four years, interim elections were scheduled again on 1 March 2012. Following the election results declared on 3 March 2012, AISA candidates won all four central panel seats and Sucheta De, the president of AISA became the president of JNUSU.

Students organisations at the left and right side of the political spectrum, and related parties, have repeatedly clashed over various political issues, resulting in nationwide noticed controversies.

In April 2000, two army officers who disturbed an Indo-Pak mushaira at the JNU campus were beaten up by agitated students. The officers were angered by anti-war poems recited by two Pakistani poets and disrupted the mushaira. They were enraged at the recited lines of a poem Tum bhi hum jaise nikle ("You are like us too") and interpreted the lines as a criticism of India. One of them started to shout anti-Pakistan slogans. When the audience asked for silence, one of them pulled a gun. They were overpowered by security and then beaten by students, though not seriously injured. The Indian Army denied the charges and it was reported that the two army officers were admitted in hospitals. A retired judge was appointed to probe the accusation.

In 2010 a "JNU Forum Against War on People" was organised "to oppose Operation Green Hunt launched by the government." According to the NSUI national general secretary, Shaikh Shahnawaz, the meeting was organised by the Democratic Students Union (DSU) and All India Students Association (AISA) to "celebrate the killing of 76 CRPF personnel in Chhattisgarh." Shaikh Shahnawaz also stated that "they were even shouting slogans like 'India murdabad, Maovad zindabad'." NSUI and ABVP activists undertook a march against this meeting, "which was seen as an attempt to support the Naxalites and celebrate the massacre," whereafter the various parties clashed. The organisers of the forum said that "the event had nothing to do with the killings in Dantewada"

In 2015, the JNU Student's Union and the All India Students Association objected to efforts to create instruction on Indian culture. Opposition to such courses was on the basis that such instruction was an attempt to saffronise education. Saffronisation refers to right-wing efforts to glorify ancient Hindu culture. The proposed courses were successfully opposed and were, thus, "rolled back." A former student of JNU and a former student union member, Albeena Shakil, claimed that BJP officials in government were responsible for proposing the controversial courses.

2016 sedition controversy

On 9 February, a cultural evening was organised by 10 students, formerly of the Democratic Students' Union (DSU), at the Sabarmati Dhaba, against the execution of Afzal Guru and separatist leader Maqbool Bhat, and for Kashmir's right to self-determination. According to India Today, "Anti-India" slogans like "Kashmir ki azadi tak jung chalegi, Bharat ki barbadi tak jung chalegi" ("War will continue till Kashmir's freedom, war will continue till India's demolition") were "reportedly raised at the protest meet." Protests by members of ABVP were held at the University demanding expulsion of the student organisers.

JNU administration ordered a "disciplinary" enquiry into the holding of the event despite denial of permission, saying any talk about country’s disintegration cannot be "national". The Delhi Police arrested the JNU Students' Union President Kanhaiya Kumar and Umar Khalid on charges of sedition and criminal conspiracy, under section 124 of the Indian Penal Code dating back to 1860.

The arrest soon snowballed into a major political controversy, with several leaders of opposition parties visiting the JNU campus in solidarity with the students protesting against the police crackdown. More than 500 academics from around the world, including JNU alumni, released a statement in support of the students. In a separate statement, over 130 world-leading scholars including Noam Chomsky, Orhan Pamuk and Akeel Bilgrami called it a "shameful act of the Indian government" to invoke sedition laws formulated during colonial times to silence criticism. The crisis was particularly concerning to some scholars studying nationalism. On 25 March 2016, the Google Maps search for 'anti national' led users to JNU campus.

International Student's Association

The International Student's Association (ISA) is an official Jawaharlal Nehru University body. It was instituted in 1985 with a view to promoting friendly relations and cultural exchange. The ISA has a constitution and elected executive, cultural, advisory and financial committees. All foreign students of JNU are also members of the FSA. The university has 133 international students.

Indulgence in Naxalite activities

The residents of Bastar District in Chhattisgarh have filed a complaint against Jawaharlal Nehru University professors in Darbha Police Station, alleging that they have been instigated by some of the JNU faculty members against the government. In the complaint, the villagers have also alleged that they have been asked by JNU professors to support the Naxals. In their complaint letter, the villagers said that around four to five people from JNU came to their village.

Rankings & Alumni Performance

In 2016, the Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi was ranked as India's third best university in the first Indian government-backed rankings of higher education by India's Ministry of Human Resource Development. JNU ranked 1,177th in the world in the METU Informatics Institute's 2015-2016 "University Ranking by Academic Performance" study. According to the 2016 QS World University Rankings, JNU has the 168th best Arts & Humanities faculty in the world and the 314th best Social Sciences and Management faculty. According to JNU's Centre for Economic Studies and Planning, the average 2015-16 graduate had a starting salary of 9.1 lakhs per year. According to an analysis of over 3,000 graduate profiles, the average base salary for a JNU STEM graduate with up to two years' work experience in 2016 is $US 82,000.

Notable alumni

Notable faculty

Honourary doctorates

The university has conferred 3 honorary doctorate degrees so far, whose recipients include: