Nationality of 82 JNU students 'unavailable', RTI activist to write to PM

RTI activist Sudheer Swami has said that he'll write to the PM after an RTI query revealed that the nationality of 82 foreign students in Jawaharlal Nehru University remains unavailable. The RTI request was filed by Swamy on January 1.

Jaipur: After an RTI query revealed the nationality of 82 foreign students in Jawaharlal Nehru University remains unavailable in the list of foreign students registered in the monsoon and winter sessions 2019- 20, RTI activist Sudheer Swami who filed the query said he would soon write to the Prime Minister and Home Minister bringing these facts to their notice to ensure action.

Speaking to a news agency, he said, "I was informed that those sloganeering about 'Azadi' were not part of JNU. Many people also informed me that anti-national activities in the university are being promoted by outsider-students. So, I filed an RTI application to know who these students are. The reply clearly says the nationality of 82 students is not known".

He said he was discussing the issue with a lawyer who would send a notice to JNU and the government as well, he said.

"The question is how can a university be so negligent that it doesn't even look into the nationality of a student before giving him admission? A proper inquiry needs to be made", he said.

The RTI response confirms that out of 301 students enrolled for 44 courses, 35 students have come from Korea, 16 from Japan, 25 from Nepal, 7 from Syria and Bangladesh each, 24 are from China, 21 from Afghanistan, 13 from Germany and 10 from the US.

The RTI request was filed on January 1 and the response was filed on January 14 this year.

To another RTI question, it was revealed that 4,251 MPhil students are studying in the university, 2,877 are post-graduate students, 1,264 are undergraduates, 282 are part-time students and 131 are for Mtech/MPH courses.