The recently held elections for Panjab University Campus Students' Council (PUCSC) on September 6, saw the dominance of student issues in the campaigns of every student organisation for the run-up to the polls. Unlike in elections at other leading universities, where national issues mostly take centre stage, the PUCSC polls put student issues at the forefront. Issues ranging from period leave for women students, improving internet connectivity, ensuring friendly infrastructure for persons with disabilities (PwD), establishing a central placement cell, and securing representation of the student council in the Senate, which is the apex decision-making body of the varsity, dominated this year's student council elections.
Menstruation, a topic which was rarely part of the discourse in university poll campaigns, dominated this year's PU student body elections. The success of the newly-elected president of PUCSC is majorly attributed to one of the groundbreaking promises of bringing menstrual leaves for women students within the university campus as the majority of the students on the university campus are women. Jatinder Singh from Congress-affiliated National Students Union of India (NSUI), who became the president of the council by winning with a margin of 603 votes over the candidate fielded by Aam Aadmi Party's student-wing Chhatra Yuva Sangharsh Samiti (CYSS), is a research scholar at the University Institute of Chemical Engineering and Technology (UICET). Singh said, "Student issues are of prime importance when it comes to student council elections. Menstruation is a very sensitive topic but no other student organisation dared to talk about it, menstrual leave is a basic right of women, so we decided to bring it within the campus of our varsity."
Briefing us about how he plans to get these promises implemented on the university campus, Singh said, “Firstly, we will get the constitution of student council framed, so that proper allocation of powers of student council takes place. The need for this constitution is that students must know what are the powers of a student council?”
On asking him about how much time it will take to frame a student council constitution, Singh replied, “We will try to get it framed at the earliest, as it will involve consultation with the office of Dean Student Welfare (DSW), Syndicate and Senate of PU, so it may take some time.”
Ranmeekjot Kaur, who was elected to the position of vice president and is the sole women bearer in the PU students’ council, said, “There are a plethora of issues in the campus ranging from the problems of research scholars, low stipend to dental students and women students’ security. We are planning to establish a research scholar grievance cell which will comprise members from faculty, senate, and Panjab University Research Scholars’ Association (PURSA) to address the problems faced by research scholars on the campus.”
“There is another major issue of women students’ security at hostels located in the south campus of PU because it shares a boundary wall with the colony of Sector 25 and sometimes men cross that wall to enter girl hostels. Already there is an overburdened security staff in the university security as around 200 posts in it are vacant. Another issue is of low stipend offered to the students of dentistry. They just get Rs 9,000 per month in stipend whereas other institutions such as Government Medical College and Hospital (GMCH), Chandigarh give around Rs 18,000 per month. So, we will put forward this issue to the university administration as well, and if they do not act then will launch protests,” Kaur added.
Kartic Sharma, a research scholar in the Public Administration department of the University, told us, "The reason why DUSU and JNUSU elections do not focus much on student issues is that these universities are centrally funded and hardly face any fund crunch and also, they are located within the national capital region (NCR), so the government always try to resolve their problems at earliest. Whereas, when it comes to Panjab University which is an inter-state university, funded both by state and the Centre, many times face fund crunch as a result of which student organisations are much pro-active in raising student issues during student body elections.”
While talking with a bunch of students at the Students Centre (StuC), about how they perceive PU student body elections, Akrisht Madaan, who has recently completed his graduation in commerce, said, “Although, money and muscle power still dominate the PU student politics it is good student organisations do not divert their attention from student issues to national politics issues. Student council elections must be concerned with student issues, there is no point in discussing national politics when students in university do not have access to basic facilities.”
Another student, Jaspreet Singh, believes that there should be student body polls and they should be concerned with student issues, although discourse on national political issues should also be there to develop the political culture of the students.
PU student body polls serve as a testament to the proactive nature of student bodies on the university campus. This year’s student council elections at PU also serve as an example for student bodies working in other universities to not only address national political issues but also gender equality, women’s health, rights of disabled students, and representation of students’ voices in the functioning of the university.
