Northeast students demand 75% reservation in JNU's Barak Hostel

NEW DELHI : The North East Students' Forum (NESF) has demanded 75 per cent reservation for students from the region in Jawaharlal Nehru University's newly inaugurated Barak Hostel. The forum has alleged that the university has reneged on commitments made during its construction with the North Eastern Council (NEC) and the Ministry for Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER). There was no immediate response from the JNU administration on the issue.

The students said Barak Hostel, funded by NEC, was envisioned as a culturally sensitive and secure space for students from the eight northeastern states. However, the first allotment list released by the university on April 8 allotted only five out of 88 seats to students from the region. "This hostel has been turned into a political showpiece without addressing the fundamental reason it was built. Our demand is not new, it is a reiteration of what was agreed upon," the NESF said in a statement after a silent protest during the hostel's inauguration on April 7.

Some students, however, have opposed the idea of reservation in a hostel, saying it goes against the inclusive ethos of JNU. "There are many hostels in the JNU campus and some other hostels were also funded by various Union ministers, yet no reservation was provided. JNU is a place where people from different backgrounds live together and understand each other's culture. If everyone starts asking for reservation, it will break the sanctity of the university," a JNU student told PTI requesting anonymity. "Reservation will give push to segregation between the students inside the campus," the student added.

Responding to this, the NESF said that providing a safe space for students who are vulnerable to certain forms of discrimination is not a form of segregation. "The argument of segregation in itself presents a lack of understanding of the diversity of the eight states that comprises the North-East region. The demand for reservation of seats in this hostel is not a form of forced segregation but to promote representation and safety. It does not limit our interaction or participation with the larger student body," the NESF said. Also, to reiterate we do not want the hostel to be fully reserved for students from the North-East, we simply demand what was already assured when the MoU was signed by our university with NEC, it said.

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"The question of ghetto should have been raised in the very first place when the proposal for the hostel came, but nobody cared to question at that time when funds were allocated and now when the hostel is ready all of them are coming up with different ways to deny us our rights," it added.

According to the NESF, the demand for a dedicated hostel dates back to 2013 and was reinforced by the death of Nido Tania, a student from Arunachal Pradesh, in a racially motivated attack in Delhi in 2014. The Bezbaruah Committee, set up thereafter, had recommended creating secure spaces for northeastern students in metro cities. Construction of the hostel began in 2017. In August 2024, the Ministry of DoNER wrote to the JNU Vice Chancellor recommending that "75 per cent of Barak Hostel seats should be reserved for students from the North-East," the NESF said, citing a copy of the communication.

Barak Hostel, a five-storey building having 228 rooms, has a capacity to accommodate 446 students, with separate wings for boys and girls. Two wardens have been appointed for management. Although Union Home Minister Amit Shah had re-inaugurated the hostel on February 4, 2024, it had remained non-operational until now. Students had been urging the university to make it functional at the earliest. The forum also raised concerns over cultural exclusion, stating that previous attempts to introduce northeastern cuisine in hostels had faced resistance. "The issue of food is not something that a simple victory in the hostel elections as a mess secretary can solve," the NESF said, calling for dedicated provisions to address cultural needs.