of providing working toilets, menstrual hy-
giene product, safe transport and gender
sensitisation. Women and Gender studies
departments, being one of the vibrant and
interdisciplinary field present in academia,
there is no mention about the significance,
scope or challenges faced by such academic
disciplines..
Undermining Independent Research
The NEP proposes to establish a National
Research Foundation (NRF). The NRF will
be a new apex body set up to facilitate re-
search. The NRF will be an autonomous
body that will establish mechanisms to fund
and mentor research capacity creation. Be-
sides providing funds, it has also stated that
NRF will create a mechanism for monitor-
ing and mid-course corrections. This poses a
serious concern over the independent nature
of upcoming researches. It also undermines
the civic or societal role of higher educa-
tion. Through its Governing Board, the NRF
will act as a liaison between researchers
and the government helping to ensure that
the most urgent national issues of the day
are well-studied by the researchers. It is un-
clear that what all topics/research problems
come under the purview of this ‘national is-
sues’. While writing down the examples the
document has placed issues such as of clean
water, sanitation and energy, but not ‘com-
munalism, caste dominance, gender violence
or corporate loot’. Therefore, the idea that
education at all stages should foster social
transformation and strengthen democratic
ideals has been side-lined with the proposal
for NRF. More of a government intervention
than an autonomous academic exercise is to
be expected. We demand that the democrati-
cally elected credible academic bodies should
have more say in matters related to research
and it should also have a federal character in
nature.Commercialisation of EducationThe country’s education sector have been
heavily privatised over the years. Majority of
the education institutions are under private
control in the County. This has a more scary
picture from the higher education sector.
Around 70% of total students in higher edu-
cation in India are enrolled in private institu-
tions. There are no concrete proposal in the
NEP which addresses the issues of commer-
cialisation of education. Rather it propose
more of a free hand and autonomy to the pri-
vate institutions. There are also proposals for
government helping the private institutions
to open their campuses in other countries.
All these are to attract more students to the
private institutions and to help government
for further withdrawal from spending on
education. There is nothing exciting about
the offer that foreign universities will estab-
lish their campuses in the country. Such ‘dis-
coveries’ stem from the absence of any idea
about how universities are established and
developed. The suggestion of inviting global
universities ranked by business institutions
instead of equipping more than 700 universi-
ties in India to overcome the existing issues
is utterly irrational.The DNEP does not address the hostile at-
tack on scientific temper. Even the institu-
tions and offices which should be the carri-
ers of scientific temper are promoting andStudent Struggle | June - July 2019 17