NSUI slogan is ‘Vote for NSUI if you want Delhi University to become an Institute of Eminence’. DUSU elections are due on 12 September.
New Delhi: The student wing of the Congress, NSUI, is looking to cash in on the Modi government’s controversial move of giving the ‘Institute of Eminence’ tag to what it calls the “non-existent” Jio Institute in the upcoming Delhi University Students’ Union (DUSU) elections.
Reliance-backed Jio Institute was awarded the IoE tag under the greenfield category — meant for institutions that are yet to be established.
The NSUI’s slogan will be, “Vote for NSUI if you want Delhi University to become an Institute of Eminence”, in the DUSU elections, due on 12 September.
“The issue of selecting non-existent Jio Institute as one of IoEs is a major issue on which we are contesting the elections this time,” Ruchi Gupta, joint secretary in charge of NSUI, told ThePrint.
Also read: Files of 4 institutes that were competing with Jio for ‘eminence’ tag go missing from UGC
“We want to raise awareness on the issue and ask relevant questions as to what were the criteria on which institutes like Manipal and BITS were selected, which rank much lower than Delhi University and why a non-existent institute like Jio was given the tag,” she said.
Gupta claims that the RSS-affiliated student wing, ABVP, has been silent on the issue.
“If Delhi University gets the IoE tag, we are going to have Rs 1,000 crore extra for the university and colleges are going to benefit a lot from it,” she added.
NSUI has already started campaigning, using Jio as one of the election agendas. It claims that students are connecting with them on the issue and wants it to be taken up actively.
One of the NSUI posters reads, “Modi says he graduated from Delhi University. Why is he then denying the Institute of Eminence tag to Delhi University which would have been given it Rs 1,000 crore extra? Reject those who rejected you. Vote for NSUI if you want DU to become an IoE.”
Also read: Jio Institute declared top-notch by Modi govt, but you can’t find it in Google search
Two posts in DUSU central panel are currently occupied by NSUI, which made a comeback after a long gap last year and the students’ outfit is desperate to keep up the momentum this year as well.
“It is only under the Modi government that a non-existent university can receive the tag of ‘Institute of Eminence’, just like a person can study a non-existent course and receive the degree of ‘entire political science’,” the Congress had said on its official Twitter handle.
Apart from Jio, IIT Bombay, IIT Delhi, IISc Bengaluru as well as private players such as BITS Pilani and Manipal University were given the IoE tag.
The selected government institutions will get funding and greater autonomy while the private ones can get rid of the government regulation.