DUSU: Priyadarshini Manifesto is putting women students in focus, says NSUI

National Students’ Union India (NSUI) has been the talk of the campus for its targeted approaches to various students this student election. They have released the women’s manifesto titled ‘Priyadarshini’ and plan on releasing a separate manifesto for North-Eastern students as well, apart from the General Manifesto.

The 13-point manifesto seeks to address certain women-centric issues, but for the most part, they’re generic issues that have been laboriously repackaged to seem like they’re women’s concerns. After all, a demand for open gyms, physiotherapists and a protein diet are hardly specific to women. Arguably, men are very much part of the target group for such campaigns, particularly when it comes to topics like sports infrastructure (which has been a topic of conversation after the Rio Olympics).

Among the demands, the manifesto asks for the presence of Female Police Constables to be deployed outside campuses and bus stops. They also want CCTV cameras on college premises. On the face of it, this appears to be addressing the issue of women students’ safety on campus. However, there is also a certain militarisation barely disguised in here. It’s worth noting that similar proposals have seen protests in the past.

Similar guidelines were spelled by the University Grants Commision in its report ‘Safety of Students on and off Campuses of Higher Education Institutions.’ However, such Orwellian guidelines were rejected by student leaders, activist and teachers.

On question of whether the police and camera presence will restrict movement of students and violate their privacy, NSUI National General Secretary Angellica Aribam said, “We are demanding cameras only in common areas, outside campuses and student-heavy markets of Kamla Nagar and Satya Niketan for safety purposes. These cameras will not be placed inside classrooms to violate student privacy.”

She further added, “The female constable presence is not to militarise the campus or to disrupt democratic functioning of students. The idea behind it is that first and second year female students who are new to campus may feel hesitant about approaching cop cars. The presence of a friendly female constable makes it more likely for students to report crimes.” However, for this to be implemented in reality, what will also be essential is a gender sensitization course for the constables. Horror stories abound in campus of how female constables have dismissed complainants, often rudely.

Another concern that comes up in the Priyadarshini manifesto is whether this is yet another collection of promises or if it is actually possible to get the funds allocated for the provisions its listed. Subsidised sanitary napkins, open gyms and CCTV cameras don’t come cheap, after all.

Aribam sounded confident: “DUSU has enough fund for the promises to be materialised and we will of course demand additional allocation of funds as well.” If the first part of her statement is true, one wonders why improvements haven’t been made despite the existence of funds. “Had ABVP wanted to do what they have promised again and again for past three years, they could have easily done it,” Aribam said of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP). “They even had the added advantage of their parent body ruling in central government and could have requested more funds. All ABVP has done is spread hooliganism. They beat a teacher at Shri Ram College of Commerce, assaulted Kirori Mal College’s principal and further, their moral policing goes on for students.”

The manifesto is seen to have missed the issue of women’s accommodation and travel safety, but Aribam claimed that more issues would be discussed in the general manifesto that releases on September 6. The general manifesto, however, has neither made any pressing demands for women hostels nor for their travel safety.

The most burning question, however, remains that despite an entire women’s manifesto being brought out to woo female voters, NSUI has only one female contestant in the final list (Vinita Dhaka for the post of Secretary). For a party of such scale and membership, it seems odd that only three women were able to make the provisional list and only one made it to candidature.

Aribam claimed that candidate selection procedure does not discriminate between men and women. She said, “As we have always stood up for women’s issues, we do not feel the need to field women candidates just for the sake of representation. It depends on the credibility, hard work and dedication of the candidate, and not simply on them being a man or a woman.”

It’s a little difficult to believe, however, that so few women have the “credibility” and “hard work” in the party.

That said, the idea of preparing separate manifesto is a good move and one that is likely to sharpen the focus on women’s issues. However, the application and materialisation of these demands remains to be seen, given the not-so-vast resources and reach of DUSU.