Seth Anandram Jaipuria Colg (SFI UNIT)

n of India takes upon itself the task of organizing the students in schools, colleges, universities and other educational institutions of the country and also Indian students studying abroad under its banner to build a powerful and well-knit student movement for the upliftment and betterment of the student community.


2 The students’ Federation of India fights for the realization of its aim to establish a democratic, scientific, secular and progressive educational system ensuring education and job for all that calls for the implementation of comprehensive land reforms, elimination of the stranglehold of international finance capital and indigenous monopoly capitalism. The Students' Federation of India aims to accomplish this by organizing the student community in the struggles of the wider democratic movement of the workers, peasants, and other progressive forces.



3 The Students' Federation of India as a forward-looking and progressive student organization shall inscribe on its banner, "Independence, Democracy and socialism". It shall fight all such alien trends and tendencies that are disruptive of our struggle for the emancipation of our people and country.



4 The Students' Federation of India will continuously work to ensure all necessary facilities for complete and meaningful education - hostel, library and laboratory, sports and games, athletics and physical training, culture and entertainment, and other educative and social activities - that will be adequate and within the reach of all students. The Students' Federation of India will continuously fight for the attainment of all just and democratic rights of students. It will fight and work for the right of students to democratic and independent expression and conduct, to form unions and associations, to assemble, to participate in the management of educational institutions and in all activities connected with the academic and other aspects of student life. The Students' Federation of India will strive to develop the Students' urge for more and more knowledge and to inculcate among students the practice of self-education and self-discipline. The students' Federation of India will further strive to develop close-knit relations between teachers, non-teaching staff, guardians, students and the rest of the academic community, and foster mutual respect and regard between them. The Students' Federation of India will untiringly resist any attempt to drive a wedge between the students and the rest of the academic community. It will also oppose all attempts to alienate the student community from other democratic and toiling sections of our people.



5 The Students' Federation of India, while stressing the duty and necessity of the student community for diligent and industrious study of the humanities and the sciences to equip themselves with adequate knowledge and enlightenment, simultaneously seeks to encourage and promote their thirst for political and social knowledge and consciousness. The students should thus be adequately prepared, on leaving school or college, to play their rightful role as conscious citizens of this fast changing society of our times.



6 The Students' Federation of India pledges to fight for equality of all, irrespective of religion, caste, gender, language, and race and as part of this struggle, commits to fight for the empowerment of the disadvantaged classes, castes, tribes and communities, the women, and other marginalised sections of the society and for the protection of the rights of the linguistic, ethnic, racial, religious and other minorities. The Students' Federation of India upholds the constitutionally guaranteed rights for minorities to run and manage educational institutions in the country. However it should be ensured that these institutions are not run with a commercial motive to earn profits and misutilised for spreading irrational and fundamentalist ideology.



7 The Students' Federation of India stands firmly in defense of secularism, the complete separation of state and polity from religion. The Students' Federation of India declares its uncompromising opposition to all forms of religious fundamentalism, bigotry and communalism, and pledges to fight against all forms of communal violence, terror, and in particular communal fascism. The communal forces divide the student community thus weakening their struggles for educational and employment rights. The Students' Federation of India unflinchingly confronts all attempts to destroy the unity of the students and the people at large on religious and communal lines and with unfailing sincerity addresses itself to the task of promoting communal harmony and patriotic unity of the people against the anti-national forces of communalism.



8 Students Federation of India is strongly opposed to all forms of gender discrimination and oppression in every sphere of life. The prevalence of age-old evil traditions like sati and dowry portray the deplorable condition of women in our country. It commits to fight all patriarchal values and practices which draw their basis both from the remnants of feudal relations, outmoded ways of thought, and from the commodification of women under capitalism. SFI shall fight for the emancipation of women and demands equality of access to education for girls. SFI stands and strives for a progressive and gender sensitive ethos and curriculum.



9 The Students’ Federation of India is vehemently opposed to all forms of caste discrimination and oppression. SFI strives to eradicate the inhuman practice of untouchability, all forms of social oppression and fights for the abolition of caste system. It supports reservations for the dalits, the adivasis and other backward castes and communities in the area of education and employments and demands its extension to the private sector too. The Students' Federation of India is of the considered opinion that other forms of deprivation like economic, regional, and gender-wise backwardness should also be taken into account in providing reservations. It also raises its voice for the fulfillment of the existing stipulation of reservations and new provisions wherever required for all other disadvantaged categories (physically challenged etc.).


10 The Students' Federation of India staunchly opposes all kinds of narrow, separatist parochialism and chauvinism, be it on linguistic provincial regional, or ethnic lines. The Students' Federation of India strives for a democratic realignment of power between the Union and the state governments with emphasis on decentralization of power to strengthen the federal character of the nation in order to safeguard national unity and to ensure balanced development. The Students' Federation of India fully supports the developmental aspirations, both material and cultural, of the various nationalities in the Indian Union within the territorial integrity of the country and extends full cooperation to their legitimate and democratic struggles against the oppressive and authoritarian policies of the State.


11 The socially unplanned and uncontrolled capitalist path of development with the sole objective of reckless profiteering has precipitated dangerous environmental degradation. The Students' Federation of India is committed to environment- friendly development and will strive along with progressive peoples' movements for protection and sustenance of environment.


12 The cultural diversity of our country is facing multi-pronged attacks. On one hand the onslaught of market-oriented consumerist values is deforming our cultural foundations while on the other hand aggressive communalism is seeking to impose a Manuvadi cultural hierarchy in the name of 'cultural nationalism'. The Students' Federation of India firmly resists all attempts to mutilate the mosaic of our varied and pluralistic culture while firmly rejecting the influence of the colonial-feudal culture. It stands committed to steadfastly promote development of people's culture based on modern, scientific progressive and humanitarian values.



13 The Students' Federation of India works towards protecting identity, languages and culture of indigenous, tribal communities while fighting against their exploitation and dispossession for their overall development and helping them to integrate with the main- stream social life. At the same time, the Students' Federation of India struggles for the development of education, welfare and integrity of tribes by defending their rights. The rights of the tribal people should be protected according to the Schedules V and VI of the Constitution of India, especially at a time of intensifying attack of imperialist globalisation.



14 The Students' Federation of India is committed to strengthen the mass democratic movement in our country in order to advance the struggle for socio-economic emancipation of the people. The students' Federation of India, along with other progressive forces, stands committed to fight against the stranglehold of feudal and casteist values and rituals that severely impair the advancement of democratic consciousness among the masses. A radical social reform movement together with the fight against feudal land relations along with other democratic and progressive forces is an important part of Students' Federation of India's agenda to develop democratic consciousness among the vast toiling sections.



15 The Students' Federation of India as an organization and movement inspired by anti-imperialist, democratic, and socialist ideas, is pledged to combat the onslaught of imperialist globalisation and domination in all areas of student and public life. The Students' Federation of India simultaneously is pledged to protect the unity and integrity of our country from the onslaught of communal and separatist forces. It extends its solidarity to all the progressive forces of the world fighting for freedom, independence, territorial integrity, democracy, and socialism against imperialist aggression. The Students' Federation of India is committed to work in close coordination with all the progressive, democratic, and socialist forces around the world and earnestly work for building a powerful international Student movement in defense of world peace. independence, democracy and socialism against imperialism.



16 The Students' Federation of India seeks to establish warm and friendly relations with all other organizations and associations of students, youth and the academic community, which are pledged to work for independence, secularism, democracy, peace, and socialism. It is prepared to unite with all those who are willing to join hands with it on specific issues and demands, and jointly act with them for the redress of the Students' grievances.



17 The Students' Federation of India places this programme before the student community and calls upon the students, youth, women, middle classes, peasants, workers and all other forces interested in the democratic advancement of our country to unite for the fulfillment of these tasks and join hands to build a prosperous life for all our people. Description
Today SFI is the largest student organisation in India.Though SFI is active throughout India, it is most prominent in student politics in the states of Kerala, West Bengal, and Tripura. It also has some pocket of influence in Tamilnadu and Andhra Pradesh. It has a strong base in the universities all over Kerala and West Bengal . It has a few other strong-holds which include Jawaharlal Nehru Univer...See More
General Information
STUDENTS' FEDERATION OF INDIA

UPDATED PROGRAMME

Our Heritage

1.1 The Students' Federation of India inherits with pride the anti- imperialist, patriotic, secular, democratic, and progressive legacy of the Indian people's struggle for national liberation from the British colonial rule. It carries forward the heritage of the progressive student movement of our country which has always considered itself an inseparable part of the broader struggle for social transformation. It is this legacy that the Students' Federation of India holds aloft in its slogan of "Independence" Democracy, and Socialism!''

1.2 The Students' Federation of India cannot be oblivious of the fact that our country had to suffer centuries of colonial slavery and ruthless exploitation of foreign imperialism and native feudalism. This led to mass-scale poverty, hunger, misery and aggravation of social evils for the vast majority of the people and forced them to lead a sub-human life. The growing consciousness against the social evils saw the birth of a social reform movement led by great rational thinkers. The people's fight to put an end to the British colonial rule and feudalism gave birth to the historic national movement for independence, in which students played an active role.


1.3 The formation of the All India Students' Federation on 12th August 1936 marked the consolidation of the progressive and radical trends within the Indian student community and the beginning of the organised student movement in India. The distinctive character of AISF was the manner in which it organised within its fold students irrespective of their political affiliation under the slogan of anti-imperialism. Also, on the world-scale, rapid advances were being made in the USSR vis-a-vis the deepening crisis in the industrially advanced capitalist countries, which attracted students to the Left ideology.


1.4 The debates during the formative years of the AISF saw the crystallization of the two basic premises that have since guided the progressive student movement. The first is the right and the necessity of students to organize themselves in defense of their rights and to struggle for an education system that would meet the needs of the vast majority of our people. The second is the recognition that such a struggle can be successful only when combined with the broader struggles of other sections of the people.


1.5 The post World War II years, which brought about the decisive defeat of fascism, also witnessed massive popular resistance worldwide against colonialism. During this period, the national liberation struggles in various countries gained momentum, and India was not an exception. The AISF stood in solidarity with the mass struggles, at times playing a significant role. As a culmination of these struggles, our country finally attained political independence. However, these were also the times when the communal divide aided by the British was deepening that finally led to the partition of the country.


1.6 Independence in 1947 brought high hopes that the progressive and democratic ideals of the freedom struggle would be realized. In the initial decades, significant achievements were registered in building up a democratic polity and breaking the colonial stagnation of the economy. These, however, were halting and inadequate to meet the needs of our vast millions. This was because the process was fraught with contradictions -- the central one being that the new regime adopted a capitalist path of development on the basis of a historic compromise with landlordism and imperialism. As a result, the stranglehold of feudal and semi-feudal relations remained largely intact. Consequently, neither economic growth nor democracy could have a stable base. In the sphere of education too, while there was some progress in the post-independence period, it was in the main limited to a privileged few, and the Constitutional directive for universal and compulsory primary education remained largely unfulfilled.


1.7 The different perspectives regarding the policies of the ruling class led to a serious rift in the student movement. A section of the leadership insisted on supporting the line of the then Congress government, thus making student movement tail the government's policies. An opposing section stood for mobilizing the student community against the government policies. Due to the dominance of the former view, the AISF by the decade of sixties was robbed of the potential of struggling against the anti-student and anti-people policies of the then Congress government. This forced various state unit organizations to function independently. It became essential to build a new militant organization moored in the earlier fine tradition of the AISF, which led to the formation of the Students' Federation of India (SFI) at an all India conference held from 27-30 December 1970 at Thiruvananthapuram.


1.8 The Students' Federation of India, since its inception, successfully championed the slogan of 'Study & Struggle' and effectively countered the disruptive theory of 'student Power' that ascribed to the student community the leadership of social revolution. The Students' Federation of India stood firmly against attacks on democratic rights and fought against the imposition of emergency. Its slogan of "Education for all, Jobs for all'' found a strong appeal within the student masses of the country, rallying them to the fold of the movement and the organization. The Students' Federation of India consistently stood in solidarity with the anti-imperialist national liberation movements across the globe.


1.9 The introduction of new education policy in 1986 saw a renewed attack on the public education system. Students' Federation of India initiated a united struggle against these proposals intended to drastically curtail the scope of education in the government sector. SFI was able to withstand the anti-reservation stir against the Mandal Commission recommendations due to the principled position it had taken. It fought in defense of the unity and integrity of the country, for communal amity, social justice and made heroic sacrifices in these struggles.


1.10 The Students' Federation of India is fully aware of the fact that the imposition of the neo-liberal economic policies on our country is disastrous to the vast majority of the people, which deprives large sections of students from access to education and employment. On the other hand. the right wing communal forces systematically undermine even the modest democratic and secular content of our education system to propagate their politics of hate and religious frenzy in an attempt to draw a wedge between different communities. Students' Federation of India has been at the forefront of struggles against this dual danger, in defence of students' rights and for upholding the secular, democratic character and sovereignty of our Republic


1.11 The earlier generations of the student community played their proud and glorious role in fighting for the achievement of political independence from the British. Following their example, it is the historic and patriotic duty of our generation of students to take an active interest in the struggle for elimination of the evil legacies of dependence, backwardness and poverty, and laying the foundation for a really free, prosperous, and progressive future for our people. The Students' Federation of India presents before the student community a programme that guides them to achieve a democratic, scientific and progressive education system. It commits to carry forward the uncompromising struggle for the establishment of a socialist society, a social order free from all kinds of exploitation.