NEW DELHI - Hundreds of students of the Jawaharlal Nehru University Thursday protested the human resource development ministry’s proposed fee hike and and withdrawal of hostel subsidies in the university.

The students assembled Thursday noon at Jantar Mantar, near the central shopping district of Connaught Place, where they raised slogans against the ministry’s recent circular to universities calling for massive fund cuts, fee hikes, levying of user charges for basic facilities and reduction in subsidies.

“This is not just a shameful blueprint to deny access to quality education to millions of poor students, but also an attempt to snatch away whatever little access that exists today,” said Sandeep Singh, the president of JNU Students Union.

The varsity is home to a large number of students from the poor sections of society belonging to the Scheduled Castes or the Scheduled Tribes.

“While students from backward areas of the country, workers and peasants are being asked to bear the brunt of ‘lack of resources’, the government is doling out millions to corporations,” Singh added.

The ministry has planned a 10 percent cut on non-plan expenditure, while the University Grants Commission has also asked for even higher cuts of up to 55 percent.

The cuts in funds will affect financing to conduct seminars and conferences, freeze recruitments, and cause massive retrenchment of contract workers, the students union held.

“But the biggest impact will be felt by the students community. The government expects students to bear 20 percent of total costs, including for basic facilities - library, computers, electricity, water and health facilities. This is essentially an ideologically and politically driven move to turn every institution of higher learning into an exclusive enclave of the rich and the privileged,” said Shephalika Shekhar, a student.