JNU NE students demand 'rightful' hostel seats
Source: The Sangai Express

Imphal, April 10 2025: The North-East Students' Forum, Jawaharlal Nehru University (NESF-JNU) has expressed discontent against the JNU administration for refusing to implement the 75 per cent reservation for North-East region students in the new Barak Hostel, which allegedly contradicts the MoU signed with the North Eastern Council (NEC) .

The Forum, in a statement, said that during a protest on April 7, 2025, JNU Vice Chancellor Prof Santishree Dhulipudi Pandit said there's no reservation for North-East students in Barak Hostel, citing that JNU follows the Indian Constitution and doesn't allow separation based on identity.

To quote her words, according to the Forum, the JNU VC said, "We (JNU) cannot reserve any hostel�otherwise we refuse to take the hostel�and make it into an administrative block�JNU follows the Constitution of India�no separation of any identity in this campus" .

The Barak Hostel was proposed over a decade ago as a safe space for North-East Indian students to protect them from racial discrimination and promote inclusivity and this idea was recommended by the Bezbaruah Committee which was formed in February 2014 after a series of racial attacks, including the Nido Tania murder case, it added.

The Forum also said that they have released a statement on April 9, 2025 listing several demands such as 75 per cent reservation for North-East students in Barak Hostel, rollback of the first PhD allotment list, availability of North-East cuisine in Barak Hostel, release of MoUs and documents between JNU and NEC, limiting the first round of hostel seat allocations to just one-fifth of the total seats, and enabling provisions for NE students from other hostels to transfer to Barak Hostel.

NESF demanded that all these demands be addressed by the JNU administration through written, official documentation.

Stating that students from the North-East face daily racial discrimination, including ridicule for their food preferences, the Forum added that they struggle to adjust to the hostel mess food, incurring extra expenses, as the mess doesn't cater to their dietary needs.

The DoS gave a verbal assurance on record while addressing the aforementioned protest that the first allotment list for students will not be released till the issue of reservation is resolved, it said and continued that the JNU, however, released the first allotment list for female PhD students on April 8, 2025 .

Out of the 88 students allotted, only 7 were from North East India, directly violating the promised quota of reservation, the Forum said.

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