 Welcome to NewsClick. We have with us Dr. Vikram Singh, General Secretary of SFI All India. He is going to talk to us about the students and the youth issues and how they have been affected during the BJP government in the past three years. Welcome to NewsClick, Dr. Vikram. So, Dr. Vikram, there have been a lot of attacks on the students, especially the university students. What do you think are the reasons for these attacks? Actually, the basic reason about all these attacks is the ideology of the ruling party that is against democracy. At the one hand, they are implementing the policies of new economic policies. And the second hand, they are trying to curb all the democratic forces, the democratic content from the campuses. When you are implementing the new economic policies, it means this content is there among the students. So, the various issues and there are protests. Even for the single voice of content, they are seeing it as a resistance to their ideology and they are attacking that. That is why in IIT, what happened? The small discussion, they do not want to have a discussion which is a basic character of the universities. So, I mean, in that context, you are from Himachal. But there, students face problems in the state university as well. What are the things there? How do students take care of this pressure? As far as Himachal is concerned, the specificity of Himachal is that the student movement is completely connected to the basic issues of the students. And they mobilize on the basis of that. And there is a kind of strong unity in the students. Because of that, the day-to-day issue, when it comes to them, the broader political issue, they are able to fight against it as well. But you will see the basic character of Himachal. We are able to fight, but the sacrifices that the students have to give to the students, the kind of courage they face there, that too are completely different from ours. It is unique. The amount of leadership you have, there will be N number of cases, they must have been cut in jail for a long time. They must have given exams from there. That is why they are able to face the problems they face and fight against them. And in these three years, Modi had promised, he had promised that he would be youth-friendly, he would be student-friendly, he would bring progress. And he had all the hope. But what are the students thinking about these 2 crore jobs, or what are the youth thinking about? Actually, there is a truth that when Modi was in the campaign, the students' dreams, the youth's dreams, they were able to hit them. And the students were able to appeal to the students in terms of employment and development, and in a very limited way, the students were able to rally as well. But it is very unfortunate that we have gone through 30 years. It was that we were going to get a job. The issue of a particular job, that we were talking about 2 crore, we are currently seeing that it is ending. It is happening in two ways. First, your government sector job is ending. You are doing a disinvestment, you are finishing your existing job. And the second private sector job, as it is a mandate, there is a continuous crisis, because of that, there is a retreatment, the jobs are being closed. So, even in the private sector and in the government sector, there is a continuous crisis. So, the issue that they said that they would give us a job, that has been given to the entire BJP government, a big word to India, the word, it has only been used as a word, it cannot be translated on the internet. How many jobs have been lost? 1.2 million jobs have ended in the last 4 months. It is only in 4 months. It tells us that our India is going towards this sector. So, there is a severe job loss in all the sectors, both in private and the government sector. And also the government is hell bent on privatizing the existing government bodies. So, in this context, you have from your organization and the youth organizations, you are having a convention on reservation in private sector, am I right? I think the biggest issue in India is unemployment. It is on the opposite side, because we are saying that India is a youth, it is a youth, it is a youth, it will not go away from speaking. The youth will have to give work in their hands, use their energy, otherwise it will become very difficult. So, the whole India is trying to make a commitment, that is, where the real issue is being lost. So, we are trying that the first issue of unemployment is in the central debate, in the discussion. We are talking about that, that is why we are having this convention. Second, we are floating in this convention, this issue is being raised, that the reservation has to be given in private sector. Because if you look at it, reservation is not just a joke in the government, because when the government does not have a job, even the existing posts are being destroyed. So, it can be a part of the state policy to show the reservation, that we are a welfare state, we want to do good, we want to grow inclusive. But when you do not have a job, then why would the reservation be there? Because the existing public sector, the existing public sector, they are also doing disinvestment, they are also finishing it, they are private, so the big sector in today's date is private. There is no reservation in private sector, there are no affirmative actions. That is why we are trying that the reservation in the private sector, will have to be included in the big sector, that is why they are trying to raise the issue. So, but don't you think there will be a severe opposition because the minister Tarajand Gelot, he has said in April that it is difficult to have reservations in private sector, because there is no consensus from the private sector, then how do you think you are going to take this to the people for this issue? This will only happen through people's pressure. If we look at the public pressure, people's pressure and the democratic movement, it will be the same with the private sector. And they have to say that there is no consensus in private houses, there is no consensus in them, they also tell themselves, why not? Because you will see that the private sector is taken from the government, from your resources, from the land, even now Dr. Finan is the capital, we used to say that he was the capital, so the capital is also taken from the public sector bank. So, if the state's will is there, then it can be done, because the resources are for the state, the private sector is to say that the state is a sponsored private, its profit is for the private resources of the state, so if the state says, then you have to do it, but it will happen with people's pressure. There was a notification and they applied for that advertisement, but there was no call back. There was Jodhka too, Jodhka said that they interviewed the recruiters in private sector, and they were hell bent on not recruiting from SCST and they were anti-reservations. So, how do you think you are going to build pressure then, if there is a resentment from the recruiters? Your ruling class, upper caste is still existing, the caste is in the market, also in the operation, because all your entrepreneurship, Dhoog is controlled by upper caste, and in that too, various studies say that your small entrepreneurship near SCSTs is less, and its star is small, so you have to go to the same boss who is in the upper caste, who is watching from the same mirror, who doesn't have to come, that's why you have to do the reservation there, that's why you have to fight for it, and it will happen when the ones who touch it, who have the right to fight for it. It is difficult to talk now, but I feel that through this convention, we will float the topic, and just like in India, on the question of social justice, people are mobilizing, people are mobilizing for their rights, I feel that in the coming time, this will be a big issue, and the government will have to be forced on it, and be forced to go against the people's will, and have to do it. Leaving that for a larger, I mean politics, but the immediate issue is this, the UGC circular on the net, limiting it to only 6% of the total applicants, there are reports that around 6 lakh people apply every year, and they have reduced before it was two times a year, now they have reduced it to one time a year, so that means they are reducing the chances of people to qualify for net, or what is the politics you think? Basically, this is a classical example of neoliberal policies, means in policies which are broader, general level opportunities are reduced, then your social welfare means are over, you will see that opportunities have to be forced on them, if it was two times a year, then you reduced it to one time, that means 50% of it is over, and the top 15 that you used to take from that 50%, you are reducing it to 6%, that means 25%, and that 25% also means that they have said that the various categories that they make, so that means for SCSCs, one has been forced, on one side you are saying that there is a net mandatory for teaching in higher education, there is a net mandatory for research, and various documents of MHD say that we need quality teachers, we need research for the growth of India, on the other hand, you are closing the research scholar and teacher on the entry level. Some people say that the practice of Brahmins, that Phule told that without education everything is lost, that means he said that without education wisdom was lost, without wisdom power was lost, and without power the Shudras were ruined. Do you think there is some conspiracy to prevent the marginalized groups from entering into higher education, because if you see all the leaders from the marginalized communities had received higher education, and they have urged the people from marginalized communities to seek the highest education for liberation. So do you think it is ploy from the Brahminical forces to limit their entry into higher education? We are talking about the typical classical Sagesh, but the existing structures are also trying to limit the people who had reached there. What is the reason? The reason is that the people who were just saying that education is not just employment, education also gives the power to think, and especially higher education. It is also compulsory to do 10th, to do 8th, because the market needs a semi-skilled labor. But when the higher education comes to an improvement, then those people are not just earning their livelihood, they are leading the social movement. They are also showing the alternate ways. They are telling that there is also an alternate way, and this society cannot live on. That is why when the revolution happened in the last 50 years, they saw that the resistance is high, intellectually, even in the movement. Now they are trying to finish off the section that came in, and the entire measures that are trying to end the entry point in higher education, how much you will be able to reach in 6%, they are trying to finish it off. Are you hopeful or do you think the Brahminical forces will have an upper hand in this attack on the higher education and commercialization of education? Do you think all the progressive forces and marginalized forces will come together? Basically, these three years, the last three years, give us hope. I don't remember the way in which I have seen such resistance in my life. When the media had to debate on these issues in the prime time, which is far away from it, then they also tell me that when there is an increase in the movement, but the level of resistance, the level of movement, not only organized movement, where the movement is coming, people are coming out, at various levels, at various sectors, they tell us in their own way that there is no time for them to come. That is the time of indolence, and through indolence, the rights of our people, the rights of our people, they will achieve it, and those who are trying to suppress them, Dalit, SES, minorities, OBCs, they will not be able to suppress them in the coming time, because they have understood that the resources they have, they do not belong to them. The resources are of India, the majority of India, and the majority of India is not of the Brahmins. It belongs to the common people, it belongs to everyone. That is why in the coming time, there is a lot of hope, there is a time of indolence, and the time of indolence is the time of indolence. Thank you, Dr. Vikram, for giving time with the news click. We will get back to you on some other issue.