The Jawaharlal Nehru University Students’ Union has alleged that the university has the subscription of important journals over paucity of funds. Making the announcement at a press conference, the students’ body shared documents of the Library Advisory Committee meeting held last month.
Jawaharlal Nehru University Students’ Union (JNUSU) also said that it had got a letter from the administration advising them not to hold the press conference outside the library since such activities within 100 metres of the administration block have been prohibited by the Delhi High Court.
The JNUSU, however, said the press conference was held 800 metres away from the administration block.
It alleged that seven subscriptions were dropped by the varsity. These include EBSCO -International Security and Counterterrorism, Wiley Subject Collection Journal, Nature Journals, Sage Journals, Cambridge Journal, Cell Press Journal and Science Direct, the JNUSU said. It further accused the varsity administration of cutting down library funds from Rs. 8 crore to Rs. 1.7 crore.
Rubbishing all the claims, the university said it had been allocating an amount of Rs. 1.70 crore to the library every year for books and journals from its grant received annually from the University Grants Commission (UGC).
“However, in the year 2012, the UGC gave one time bulk grant to JNU under the 12th Plan for five years from which an extra amount was allocated for the next five years. Now that the 12th plan has ended the library is running with its regular annual grant,” the varsity had said earlier.
“At the moment, some of the journals that were freely available through INFLIBNET and paid by the UGC are under review and the situation is expected to be sorted out soon,” a varsity official said.
The JNU students union, however are not sure if the journals might be renewed next year.