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Dharna in Vadodara against proposed law aimed at snatching away varsity autonomy

An AISEC Gujarat note on dharna against Common University Act in Vadodara:
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The All India Save Education Committee (AISEC) along with Teachers' Union of all the universities organised an impactful dharna against Common University Act in Vadodara opposite to MS University jointly by AISEC, Abhivyakti ni Azadi, Baroda University Teachers' Association (BUTA), Baroda University Staff Association (BUSA) as well as Students against CUB. Eminent personalities like I. I. Pandya, Dr. Bharat Mehta, Dhiru Mistry, Amee Ravat, Ajay Dave, Narendra Ravat and others participated in Dharna. Prof. Hemantkumar Shah and Dr. Kanu Khadadiya, Joint Secretary, Gujarat Chapter, AISEC, specially came to participate from Ahmedabad.
Earlier, an impactful dharna against the Common University Act was organised in Ahmedabad.
Also H. D. Patel, President, Sardar Patel University Area Teachers' Association (SPUATA) as well as the former secretary, M. G. Mansuri also came from Vallabh Vidyanagar in solidarity with the Dharna. A signature campaign has been started both online and offline on this issue. Further it was decided to organise a state level Citizen's Convention in Ahmedabad on 20 September.
It is worth mentioning that Common University Act is aimed to snatch whatever autonomy is left with the universities. The democratic atmosphere of the university campuses will be destroyed. Senate, Syndicate and Students' Union elections will be eradicated. The teachers will be turned into government employees. The universities will come under total control of the government.
So there will be an atmosphere of fear in the university. And political interference will also increase. The chief interest of the government behind bringing this Act is to sell the property and land of universities.
It is also worth mentioning that two attempts were done to bring about this Act in 2004 - 05. But both the times they were foiled due to strong people's movement. At that time, eminent citizens like Prof. Devvrat N. Pathak, Prof. Dinesh Shukla, Prakash N. Shah, Mahesh Dave, Kirit Bhatt, I. I. Pandya, Nalin Anadkat, Dr. Bharat Mehta and others actively built up the movement under the leadership of AISEC. This is the third attempt. And even when most of these members are not there, yet the movement is gaining momentum.

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