It was through the notification published by CBSE dated 6th June that the students got to know that the upcoming NET exam will be held on 19 November 2017, which means the NET exam scheduled for July 2017 is being effectively skipped. It has been also reported in newspapers that the UGC has decided to reduce the cap of students qualifying for NET to 6%. Till the NET exam conducted in January, 2017, 15% of the eligible students were issued NET qualification. Thus, it can be seen that the scope of NET and JRF qualification is being drastically reduced by the UGC and MHRD silently. This move will gravely scuttle the opportunities of the students trying for teaching profession or aspiring to pursue higher research. Beside this, it is also important to note, as the JRF (Junior Research Fellowships) forms only a fraction of the number of NET qualification, with much less number of students qualifying for NET every year, the number of Junior Research Fellowships will also decrease. Thus, this is nothing but an attempt to impose a fellowship cut in higher education in a surreptitious manner. Further, with the 2nd June 2017 UGC notification that proposes to make NET qualification a mandatory criterion for enrolment in PhD in category-3 universities (a major chunk of the colleges/ universities in our country come under this category), this 6% cap and scuttling of biannual exam are bound to further shrink the scope of research for hundreds of students. It is also not even clear to the student community as to how the reservation policy and the provision for relaxation in eligibility for SC/ST, OBC and PH/VH students would be applicable with this restriction of 6%.
On 15 June, Students from JNU, DU, Jamia, MG University of Haryana staged a protest at the UGC Headquarters demanding immediate restoration of the Biannual Cycle of UGC NET and ensure that the NET Exam is held twice a year as per the existing norm. They demanded the UGC to revoke the restrictive 6% cap for qualification of the UGC NET. The protest was also joined by the SFI, JNU COLLECTIVE and students from M G University, Haryana.
