Revision as of 20:07, 7 November 2016

Not a minority educational institution

The Times of India, Jan 16 2016

HRD opposed minority tag for Jamia

The attorney general's opinion that Jamia Millia Islamia is not a minority educational institution is in sync with the position taken by successive HRD ministers like Arjun Singh and Kapil Sibal. Clamour for granting `minority status' to Jamia began after UPA-I gave OBC reservation in admission to centrally-funded educational institutions.

Minority status' granted to it by quasi-judicial body National Commission for Minority Educational Institutions (NCMEI) helped Jamia avoid reserving seats for OBCs. UPA-II did not contest the decision of NCMEI.

Otherwise, HRD ministers and the ministry itself have been opposed to giving it minority status. In fact, in March 2010 Singh, who was no longer the minister, had written to then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh expressing fear that the prestigious central university might fall into the hands of fundamentalist forces if it is given minority status. But as demand or change in Jamia's status rom “secular“ to “minority sta us“ grew, Sibal asked minority affairs minister Salman Khurshid to provide ``data and historical facts as to why the position so far taken is inconsistent with reality“.

Sibal's letter to Khurshid included a comprehensive note on he historical character of Jamia as well as ``substance of the ssues that arose at the time of enacting the Jamia Millia Act n 1988. While admitting that he SC decision on the status of AMU would have some bearing on Jamia, Sibal had said ``that tself will not determine the fa e of Jamia. Sibal had not agreed with minority affairs ministry under Khurshid that the stand of the HRD ministry requires alteration. ``The charac er of the institution of Jamia Millia Islamia is to be adjudica ed upon by a court of law, Si bal had said. He had argued that ``each institution has a unique history and its character must be culled from the context in which it was set up. While the two ministers were exchanging notes, National Commission for Minority Edu cational Institutions in February 2011 granted minority status to Jamia Millia Islamia. The order changed the secular character of the central university and also gave it freedom not to give reservation to OBCs, Dalits, tribals and reserve up to 50% seats for Muslims.

The 51-page judgment, given by Justice M S A Siddiqui, Mohinder Singh and Cyriac Thomas, said, “We have no hesitation in holding that Jamia was founded by Muslims for the benefit of Muslims and it never lost its identity as a Muslim minority educational institution.“

“We find and hold that Jamia Millia Islamia is a minority educational institution covered under Article 30(1) of the Constitution with Section 2 (G) of the NCMEI Act,“ the order said.The institute was founded even before the Constitution was in place, it said.

NCMEI said Jamia's case as different from that of Aligarh Muslim University and Supreme Court's 1967 order in the Aziz Basha case--denying minority status to AMU --had no bearing on the Jamia case. In its judgment, SC had refused to recognise that AMU was established by the Muslim community .

The NCMEI order said, “Jamia did not owe its very existen ce to a statute. Since its founding in 1920 till the enactment of the Jamia Millia Islamia Act in 1988, Jamia never lost its identity. Even prior to the enactment of the Act, Jamia had legal existence of its own.“

The fight to do away with Jamia's secular status goes back to its inception. Perusal of the file on setting up of Jamia reveals that in 1987, when the university became a central university, the Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs and the HRD ministry refused to bow to pressure from the then chancellor Khurshid Alam Khan that a specific mention be made that Jamia would “promote especially the educational and cultural advancement of Muslims in India“.

Similarly , there were five other suggestions by Khurshid Alam Khan that the ministry refused to entertain on the ground that none of the other central universities had these features.

Faculty of Law, Jamia Millia Islamia

India Today

The Faculty of Law, Jamia Millia Islamia, was established in 1989. In addition to the five-year integrated BA LLB course, the faculty runs an LLM four-semester course in three streams - Personal Law, Corporate Law and Criminal Law - and a Ph.D. programme.

Number 11 in Law: 2015

India Today

The Faculty of Law, Jamia Millia Islamia, was established in 1989. In addition to the five-year integrated BA LLB course, the faculty runs an LLM four-semester course in three streams - Personal Law, Corporate Law and Criminal Law - and a Ph.D. programme. And it was ranked 11 in rankings of India Today for 2015.

Dastarkhwan (canteen run by women)

The Times of India, May 11 2016

Jamia's popular spread helps keep heads high

Manash Gohain  For Simran Parveen, a Class XII student, it's a way to sustain her fatherless brood of seven sisters and to keep alive her hopes of becoming a lawyer. For unlettered Shabana Khan, it's a means to proper education for her children, and for Saba, whose failed businessman of a husband left her in Delhi when returning to his village, it offers a dignified livelihood. Welcome to Dastarkhwan, a canteen run exclusively by women at Jamia Millia Islamia.

But the canteen is not just run by any women. The 40 or so women involved with the canteen all have had a bad deal in life. Some are divorced, others are single-handedly bringing up families, yet others are trapped in debt.The idea behind this social initiative started in January 2015 by Ekta self-help group in collaboration with Zakir Hussain Society of Jamia was to empower such women.

That it has. Dastarkhwan is now giving the university's popular Central Canteen a run for its money . Though it is not open to the public, it attracts students in droves, including those from Delhi University , JNU and other institutions visiting friends or working on some project on the campus. “We started with the investment of eight women from the nearby localities of Zakir Nagar, Batla House, Abul Fazal Enclave, Shaheen Bagh and Jasola. Others joined later. Those who could not contribute in cash joined as workers,“ says Shabana Tawhid, the canteen manager.“Now, we have nearly 40 women.“

And they have not done badly . The first day sales of around Rs 5,000 have gone up a year later to a daily average of Rs 55,000. The cooperative has not yet paid out dividends to the investors and much of the funds are used to meet the salary bill, but it is fulfilling its objective in a special way: even when a women worker fails to turn up for work, usually due to domestic pressures, she is not docked a day's wages to ensure she remains motivated.

“They serve a very nice biryani,“ says Rupal Chandra, a Miranda House student, who visits the canteen whenever she is in Jamia. Nafisa Ahmed, a master's student in human rights at Jamia, testifies to the other popular wares at Dastarkhwan: “The kebabs and paranthas served in the evening are the best.“

Though most items are priced a bit higher than at the Central Canteen, Dastarkhwan draws a lot of customers for its home-made flavour. As Rachit Malik, an MCA student, says, “Who wouldn't pay Rs 5 extra when you get such good food!“ It may mean little to the diners, but it is this extra Rs 5 that is helping some hapless woman dream of life again.