New Delhi: A small change in an ordinance that guaranteed 50% reservation to Muslims at Jamia Millia Islamia University could be the reason why enrolment of Muslim students in doctorate programmes this academic year has been conspicuously low.
This could be paving the way for a change in the institution’s minority tag, students believe.
A minority institution requires 50% of its seats to be reserved for a specific minority group. In Jamia’s case, this is for Muslims. The 50% reservation is inclusive of women, students from the Other Backward Classes and Scheduled Tribes of the Muslim community. Established as a central university in 1988, Jamia was declared a minority institution in 2011 under the Article 30 (1) of the Indian constitution by the National Commission for Minority Educational Institutions (NCMEI).
Key university PhD programmes have failed to ensure a 50% representation of Muslims. This violates Article 30(1) and also the ordinance released by the university in 2021.
The ordinance from 2021 states that “while granting admission to Ph.D. programme, the Department/ Centre/ Faculty shall pay due attention to JMI reservation policy…If suitable candidates are not available as per JMI reservation policy, the seats shall not be filled.”
However, the latest ordinance passed on November 12, 2024, by the newly appointed vice-chancellor of the university, Mazhar Asif, made a minor yet noteworthy change that eliminated the obligation that the previous ordinance provided to minority students. The phrase “shall pay due attention to JMI reservation policy” was changed to “may pay due attention to JMI reservation policy.”
The notification of the change in the ordinance.
Lubaib Basheer, general secretary of the Fraternity Movement and a third-year PhD student from Centre for Dalit and Minority studies, called this a “cunning change” in terminology.
“I don’t understand how the academic council and executive council mutually agreed to this. It is a threat to the minority status of the university” he said.
This change had been under the radar until the PhD results were released by the university. The Wire has reached out to the V-C and controller of exams at Jamia for details on whether the change in the rules is related to the lower number of Muslim students. This report will be updated if they respond.
“Some of the departments do not even have 10% Muslim students,” Basheer added.
The link between the low numbers of Muslim students in this year’s PhD admissions and the change in the ordinance was first aired by the Basheer’s group Fraternity Movement in a social media post.
He said that among the nine students admitted for the PhD programme in the Centre for North East Studies and Policy Research, only one student is Muslim. In the Centre for Culture, Media and Governance, only one out of seven students is a Muslim. The Dr. K. R. Narayanan Centre for Dalit and Minority Studies, of which Lubaib is part of, does not even have one Muslim admission in this academic year. The following is a list of departments and their PhD intake prepared by the Fraternity Movement.
| Centre/Department/ Faculty (Only for Ph.D). | Total Number of Selected Seats | Minority Students (Muslim) | Non-Minority Students | Vacant Seats |
| AJK Mass Communication & Research Centre | 4 | 1 | 3 | 18 |
| Centre for Culture Media & Governance | 7 | 1 | 6 | 8 |
| Department of English | 27 | 12 | 15 | 17 |
| Department of
Sociology |
17 | 6 | 11 | 14 |
| Centre for North East
Studies and Policy Research |
9 | 1 | 8 | 5 |
| MMAJ Academy of International Studies | 13 | 6 | 7 | 8 |
| Department of Tourism and
Hospitality Management |
8 | 3 | 5 | 8 |
| Dr. K.R. Narayanan
Centre for Dalit and Minorities Studies |
2 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| Department of
Psychology |
10 | 2 | 8 | 21 |
Source: Fraternity Movement.
Mohammed Athnan, president of National Student Union of Indian (NSUI) in the campus said that the ordinance paves the way for a systematic encroachment upon the minority status of Jamia. “They have diluted the 50% mandatory reservation provision in the PhD admission,” he said.
‘An attempt to change the demography of the university’
There are concerns that the diminished numbers of Muslim students seen in PhD enrolments this year may reflect in postgraduate and undergraduate courses soon if the tweak is not addressed.
“This is an attempt by the university administration to change the demography of Jamia Millia Islamia,” said Madiha, undergraduate student in the Department of Psychology in the university.
The 2011 Census had shown that revealed that 42.7% of Muslims in India were illiterate. The 2006 Sachar committee reports had also highlighted the lack of equal opportunities in education for Muslims in the country. Muslims, it says, were among the most disadvantaged communities facing discrimination in education, employment, and access to resources. Institutions like Jamia Millia Islamia provided significant support to the educational upliftment and representation of the minority Muslim community in the country.
NSUI’s Athnan claimed that the “V-C, academic council and the executive council are working in nexus to change the demography because Jamia students have always raised their voices against any injustice happening against the minorities in the country.”
Asif, the new V-C of the university has been alleged to have close ties with the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party and its ideological fountainhead the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh. The BJP government has notably been opposed to the minority status of the institution. He is also amongst the signatories who have signed statements issued in support of the Citizenship Amendment Act and National Register of Citizens. Since his appointment last year, the university has seen multiple crackdowns, including the latest, the suspension of 17 students for protesting against discriminatory action against two PhD students.
