Unions ring DUSU election bell with rallies, promises

Rallies, political events and canvassing have started on the Delhi University campus, a good three weeks before the students' union elections slated for September 14.

The Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad, which has three top members in the Delhi University Students' Union (DUSU) as against one key post that the National Students' Union of India (NSUI) holds, has highlighted issues such as lack of hostel facilities and campus safety.

The organisation took out rallies on both campuses, North and South, over the past few days - with the promise that it would try to solve students' problems if elected to power.

Last year, the ABVP banked on Anna Hazare's protest and made corruption its main poll plank.

The organisation's state secretary Rohit Chahal said limited hostel seats and lack of decent accommodation outside the campus have become big hurdles for outstation students.

"Besides, hostel fee has increased substantially over the past few years," he said.

"For the past 13 years, the university has not opened any new college. This means many students are not getting admission because seats are limited and the cut-offs are high. Safety is another major concern, especially for students from the northeastern states," he said.

The Leftist organisations such as the Students' Federation of India (SFI) and the All India Students' Association (AISA) have raised macro-level issues such as privatisation and commercialisation of higher education.

Protesting against the semester system, the meta-college and meta-university concepts, and the proposed four-year graduation programme, they took out a rally to the vice-chancellor's office on Friday.

"The university has increased the number of seats for other backward class (OBC) students, but the infrastructure, classrooms and hostels, has remained the same. Authorities should look into this problem. More special buses should be provided to the university. Another concern is the plight of Hindi-medium students because they hardly get study material," SFI activist Aranya Shankar said.

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