A step forward in Jamia, a long road ahead

Why in the News

Jamia Millia Islamia has moved from having no student union elections since 2006 to promising them within about six weeks of its session opening in mid July 2027. The commitment ended an 18 day protest, including a hunger strike. It matters because the Lyngdoh Committee’s safeguards against money and muscle power have been used by many universities to scrap campus elections altogether.

Why did universities stop student union elections?

1. Student union: An elected body through which students put grievances before the administration, like an elected student government.
2. Lyngdoh Committee: The committee, constituted in 2005, recognised the dangers of money, muscle power and excessive outside political influence in campus elections. Its recommendations sought more transparent and accountable student politics.
3. Safeguards turned into a ban: Universities used the recommendations to scrap elections altogether, so a tool meant to clean up campus politics removed the vote.
4. Jamia’s own history: After 1999, a union’s term usually collapsed within two or three months, undone by regional politics and infighting. The resulting violence and a clash between teachers and students ended the elections.
5. The takeaway: Students lost the channel for campus decisions, contributing to a steady infantilisation of young adults, meaning they were treated as too immature to run their own affairs.

How did the Jamia protest end?

1. Protest: Over a hundred students demanded the union’s restoration, and seven went on hunger strike. Disciplinary action and curbs on essential services deepened mistrust.
2. First offer fell short: The administration agreed on a Monday to hold elections, but its order fixed no date because it tied the vote to approval of the union constitution.
3. Seven hours of talks: A mediating Rajya Sabha MP and a student representative negotiated with the Vice Chancellor’s team. The students insisted on a fixed timeline.
4. Fixed timeline: The Registrar’s order sets 15 May 2027 as the deadline to approve and implement the union constitution. Elections follow within about six weeks of the new session.
5. Concessions: Disciplinary proceedings and campus bans linked to the protest are withdrawn, and offline classes resume from 10 November.

Why did students press for a union?

1. Campus grievances: Students cited poor hygiene, run down rooms and washrooms, poor food and alleged admission malpractice. Women faced a 10 pm entry deadline.
2. No representative: Students said their complaints drew a casual reply, and a union would give them a representative who could raise such issues.
3. Women’s role: Women students helped organise the agitation, and one fasted for eight days.
4. Past police action: Jamia students have faced force for protesting before. Eg. The police crackdown of December 2019 on protests against a law making religion a criterion for citizenship.

Is Jamia part of a wider push for campus democracy?

1. Aligarh Muslim University (AMU): Inspired in part by the mobilisation at AMU to revive its union, the Jamia protest spoke to a larger demand for a more equal campus.
2. State moves: Karnataka has green lit student polls and courts in Madhya Pradesh have intervened in favour of elections. Maharashtra has appointed a committee to frame a mechanism, and Odisha is holding talks.
3. Gen Z protests: Young people elsewhere are also demanding accountability from those in power, and the Jamia protest fits that pattern.

Challenges

1. Short tenure: A union elected too early would serve only two months before the session ends, so each batch gets a brief term.
2. Presidential approval: Jamia is a Central university, so its union constitution needs the President’s approval, and any delay pushes back the elections.
3. Verbal assurance: The promise of five student seats on the body drafting the constitution is oral and is not part of the written order.

Way Forward

1. Student role in writing: Put the five promised student seats on the drafting body into a written order and publish the draft for comment.
2. Built in safeguards: Write limits on spending, muscle power and outside political influence into the constitution, so Lyngdoh style rules regulate polls instead of replacing them.
3. Early approval: Send the draft for the President’s approval well before the May deadline, leaving time for revisions.
4. Common calendar: Universities and State committees can adopt fixed election calendars, so no student needs a hunger strike to win a vote.

Conclusion

Jamia’s timeline shows that the Lyngdoh safeguards can sit alongside elections instead of replacing them. The open question is whether the new constitution keeps campus polls peaceful enough for other universities to copy.

Matching Previous Year Question

“No direct PYQ traced in the provided files. Thematic PYQ: [2026, GS2, 15 marks] Should education be treated primarily as a welfare obligation of the state or as a strategic investment for building a globally competitive, knowledge-driven nation? Critically evaluate.”