All India Students' Federation Explained

All India Students' Federation
Abbreviation:	AISF
Formation:	, Lucknow, United Province, British India
Type:	Student organisation
Purpose:	Scientific socialism^[1]
Headquarters:	4/7, Asaf Ali Road, New Delhi-110002, India ^[2]
Leader Title:	President
Leader Name:	Viraaj Devang
Leader Title2:	General Secretary
Leader Name2:	Dinesh Sreerangaraj
Main Organ:	Student's Action^[3]
Location:	India

The All India Students' Federation (AISF) is the oldest student organisation in India, founded in 1936.

Pre-independence

AISF was founded on 12 August 1936, with guidance and cooperation from the Indian independence movement.^{[4] [5]} The foundation conference of the AISF was held at Ganga Prasad Memorial Hall in Lucknow, with 936 delegates from across India.^[6] The conference was inaugurated by Jawaharlal Nehru, and presided over by Muhammad Ali Jinnah. The conference resolved to establish an All India Students' Federation, and Prem Narayan Bhargava was elected as the first general secretary.^[6]

The second conference of the AISF was held three months later, beginning on 22 November 1936 in Lahore. It mainly discussed and adopted the constitution of the AISF. The conference was attended by about 150 delegates under the presidency of Sarat Chandra Bose. The conference was also addressed by Govind Ballabh Pant. It passed a resolution condemning the intervention by Nazi Germany into the affairs of Republican Spain. The conference also agreed to affiliate the AISF with the World Students' Association.

Hemu Kalani, an AISF leader, was arrested by the British army in 1942 for leading the Quit India Movement, and publicly hanged in 1943 at the age of 19. AISF leader Kanaklata Barua was another student leader who died participating in the fight for independence.^[7]

An AISF delegation visited the Bengal state during the famine of 1943 and engaged in relief activities.^[8]

During the Royal Indian Navy mutiny in Bombay in February 1946, the AISF helped to mobilise students in support of the Naval Ratings.^[7]

AISF in independent India

After independence, the AISF concentrated its activities mainly on educational issues, anti-imperialism and anti-feudalism, providing a platform for student unity against common threats. The AISF played a central role in the Telangana Rebellion against the Nizam of Hyderabad.^[9]

The AISF continued to fight for Indian unity with the Goa liberation movement. Satyagrahis from across India entered Goa on 15 August 1955 and were fired upon. 23-year-old Karnail Singh Benipal was killed when he tried to save his leader V.D. Chitale.^[10] The general secretary of the AISF, Sukhendu Mazumdar, was present with AISF leader C. K. Chandrappan on 15 August at the Goa border to help the student satyagrahis.^[11]

The AISF participated in the Kothari Commission report, which provided the basis for broad educational reforms in India.^[12]

In the 1980s, during the Khalistan movement, the AISF, under the leadership of General Secretary Satyapal Dang, received armed training to counter Khalistan militants.^[13] Harpal Mohali, the AISF leader from Mohali, led movements in Panjab University. In response to his attempt to counter Khalistan, Mohali was shot by militants and left paralysed. Many AISF activists were killed fighting against Khalistan separatism.^[13]

State-level presence

The AISF has a strong presence in Kerala, Bihar, West Bengal, Tripura, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka,Rajasthan, Assam, Odisha, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, New Delhi, and Punjab, and in most universities in the country.

Activities

Protest and demands

• The AISF protested against the National Education Policy in 2019^[14] and the proposed increase in university fees.^{[15] [16] [17] [18]}
• AISF members were active in multiple Citizenship Amendment Act protests in 2019.^{[19] [20] [21] [22]}
• During the COVID-19 pandemic in India, AISF activists called for the distribution of essential products in various states.^[23] The federation set up COVID-19 helpline numbers in various states to help students,^[24] and also distributed facemasks and hand sanitiser.^{[25] [26]}
• The AISF held a hunger strike in August 2021, demanding a fresh job calendar in Andhra Pradesh.^[27] The federation has also campaigned against the privatisation of schools and colleges in the state.^[28]
• AISF activists protested against alleged errors in results of the Railway Recruitment Control Board's Non-Technical Popular Categories (RRCB NTPC) exam, during Bihar Bandh, in Patna on 28 January 2022.^{[29] [30] [31]}
• The AISF organised a national convention, "Reject NEP 2020" against the National Education Policy (NEP) on 15 May 2022 in Chennai. The convention called for a united front of students and teachers of all educational institutions for the withdrawal of the NEP, the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) and the Common University Entrance Test (CUET).^{[32] [33]}

Other social work

The AISF runs Sramajibi Canteen and is involved in various other social work.^[34]

LGBT issues

The AISF actively supports LGBT rights. In 2022, AISF state committee member Nadira Mehrin became the first transgender person to contest in a student union election at Kerala University,^{[35] [36]} and also contested as the AISF candidate for chairperson of Sree Sankaracharya University of Sanskrit (SSUS), the first time a transgender person had led a candidates' panel for a university election in the state.^{[37] [38] [39]}

Motto and organisational structure

The organisation's original motto, reflecting its focus on peace, progress and scientific socialism, was "Freedom, Peace and Progress". This was amendedat the 1958 National Convention, and the motto since then has been "Study & Struggle".^[40]

The administrative structure of the federation includes:

1. National executive body
2. State executive body
3. State administrative body
4. District administrative body
5. Block level committee
6. Institutions level unions

AISF National Conferences

National Conference	Year	Place	President	General Secretary
1 (Founder Conference)	12–13 August 1936	Lucknow (Uttar Pradesh)		Prem Narayan Bhargava
2	22 November 1936	Lahore		Prem Narayan Bhargava
3	1–3 January 1938	Madras		Ansar Harvani
4	1–2 January 1939	Calcutta		M.L.Shah
5	1–2 January 1940	Delhi		M.L.Shah
6	25–26 December 1940	Nagpur
7	31 December 1941 to 1 January 1942	Patna		Perin Bharucha
				Prashanta Sanyal
8	28–31 December 1944	Calcutta		Satyapal Dang
9	20 January 1946	Guntur		Satyapal Dang
10	3 January 1947	Delhi		Annada Shankar Bhattacharya
11	29–31 December 1947	Bombay	Satyapal Dang	Annada Shankar Bhattacharya
12	23–27 July 1949	Calcutta	Susheela Madiman	Annada Shankar Bhattacharya
	1950	Calcutta	Susheela Madiman	Sukhendu Mazumdar (Acting general secretary)
	1952	Calcutta	Susheela Madiman	Annada Shankar Bhattacharya
13	1–5 January 1953	Hyderabad	Harish Chandra Tiwari	N.R. Dasari
14	5–8 January 1955	Lucknow	B. Narsingha Rao	Sukhendu Mazumdar
15	2–4 January 1959	Udaipur	Vidyasagar Nautiyal	Hiren Dasgupta
16	25–27 October 1961, but it could not be held due to natural disaster	Kanpur
17	29 December 1965 – 2 January 1966	Pondicherry	Joginder Singh Dayal
18	21–23 December 1969	New Delhi	Bant Singh Brar	Ranjit Guha
19	20 January 1974	Cochin	Shambhu Sharan Shrivastava	Aziz Pasha
20	1–9 February 1979	Ludhiana	Atul Kumar Anjan	Amarjeet Kaur
21	28–31 January 1983	Trichy	Atul Kumar Anjan	Amarjeet Kaur
22	13–16 December 1985	Guntur	Ravindra Nath Rai	T. Laxminarayana
23	15–18 February 1991	Bokaro	Ravindra Nath Rai	Soni Thengamom
24	7–9 February 1996	Hyderabad	Rahul Bhaiji	T. Srinivas
25	18–21 October 2000	Jalandhar	T. Srinivas, Ramakrushna Panda	Vijendra Kesari
26	3–6 January 2006	Chennai	P. Muralidhar, Jinu Zakariya Oommen^[41]	Vijendra Kesari
27	13-15 February 2010	Puducherry	Paramjit Dhaban	Abhay Taksal
28	28–30 November 2013	Hyderabad	Valli Ullah Khadri	Vishwajeet Kumar
29	27–30 September 2018	Anantapur, Andhra Pradesh	Shuvam Banerjee^[42]	Vicky Mahesari
30	28–1 September–October 2023	Begusarai	Vicky MahesariViraaj Devang	Dinesh Sreerangaraj

Present leadership

At the 30th AISF National Conference, held in September to October 2023 in Begusarai, Bihar, Vicky Mahesari from Punjab was elected as National President and Dinesh Seerangaraj from Tamilnadu was elected as General Secretary.^[43]

On June 30, 2024, Viraaj Devang from Maharashtra who served as National Treasurer was elected as the New National President.^[44]

Notable leaders

• Aruna Asaf Ali- Indian educator
• G. R. Anil - Minister of Food and civil supplies in Kerala
• Atul Kumar Anjan - senior CPI leader and national secretary.
• A. B. Bardhan - Former General secretary of the Communist Party of India
• Kanaklata Barua - Independence activist
• C. K. Chandrappan - Parliamentarian
• Satyapal Dang - Former minister in the government of Punjab
• Inder Kumar Gujral - Former Prime Minister of India
• Hemu Kalani - Sindh independence activist and Student leader, hanged to death by British
• Amarjeet Kaur - General Secretary of All India Trade Union Congress
• V. S. Sunil Kumar - Former Minister of Agriculture in Kerala
• O. N. V. Kurup – Malayalam poet & former leader
• Muhammed Muhsin - Member of the Kerala Legislative Assembly representing Pattambi constituency
• Biswanath Mukherjee - Former leader of the Communist Party of India and one of the founder of AISF in Bengal.
• P. K. Vasudevan Nair - Former Chief Minister of Kerala
• P. Prasad - Minister of Agriculture in Kerala
• D. Raja - Current General secretary of the Communist Party of India.
• K. Rajan - Minister of Revenue in Kerala
• Malayattoor Ramakrishnan – Malayalam writer and former leader
• J. Chinchu Rani - Minister of Animal Husbandry in Kerala
• Suravaram Sudhakar Reddy - Former General secretary of the Communist Party of India.
• Karpoori Thakur - Former Chief Minister of Bihar
• Rajaji Mathew Thomas - Former Vice-President of World Federation of Democratic Youth (WFDY) and Former MLA in Kerala
• M. Vijayan - Indian structural biologist
• Binoy Viswam - National secretary of AISF and Former minister in the Government of Kerala

See also

• List of Indian student organisations

External links

• • Constitution of AISF

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Notes and References

1. News: AISF fought heroically for freedom | Hyderabad News - Times of India. The Times of India. 17 September 2001 . 4 January 2020.
2. Web site: AISF - Official. www.aisf.org.in. 1 December 2020.
3. Student Politics in British India and Beyond: The Rise and Fragmentation of the All India Student Federation (AISF), 1936–1950. South Asia Multidisciplinary Academic Journal. 2019. 10.4000/samaj.6488. Wilkinson. Tom. 22. 226826101. free.
4. Web site: History. All India Students Federation . https://web.archive.org/web/20180610115012/http://aisf.in/history/ . 10 June 2018 . 9 March 2019.
5. Wilkinson . Tom . 15 December 2019 . Student Politics in British India and Beyond: The Rise and Fragmentation of the All India Student Federation (AISF), 1936–1950 . South Asia Multidisciplinary Academic Journal . en . 22 . 10.4000/samaj.6488 . 226826101 . 1960-6060. free .
6. News: AISF has it genesis in Lucknow University | Lucknow News - Times of India. The Times of India. 15 March 2016 . 4 January 2020.
7. Web site: Lotha . Arhoni . Role of All India Students Federation In Freedom Struggle (1936-1947) . 2015 . 23 March 2021.
8. Satpal Dang: My Friend & Colleague, My Ideal . A. B. Bardhan . A. B. Bardhan . Tehelka . June 2013 . 23 April 2021 . 24 October 2017 . https://web.archive.org/web/20171024095907/http://www.tehelka.com/2013/06/satpal-dang-my-friend-colleague-my-ideal/ . dead .
9. Student Politics in British India and Beyond: The Rise and Fragmentation of the All India Student Federation (AISF), 1936–1950. Tom. Wilkinson. 15 December 2019. South Asia Multidisciplinary Academic Journal. 22. 1 December 2020. journals.openedition.org. 10.4000/samaj.6488. free.
10. Web site: Karnail Singh: The Unsung Young Hero of Goa Liberation (By: PRAJAL SAKHARDANDE, PANAJI). Goa News. 1 December 2020.
11. News: For him, personal was also political. C. Gouridasan. Nair. The Hindu. 23 March 2012. 1 December 2020. www.thehindu.com.
12. Book: Radical Politics in Meghalaya: Problems and Prospects. 9788178357423. Gupta. Susmita Sen. 2009. Gyan Publishing House .
13. Communist legend. Venkatesh. Ramakrishnan. 12 July 2013. Frontline. 1 December 2020.
14. News: Seeking public feedback on draft education policy an eyewash, say experts . 28 February 2022 . The New Indian Express . 8 July 2019.
15. News: AISF protests against high fee in private schools. 28 February 2022. The Hindu. 25 June 2019.
16. News: All India Student Federation opposes fee hike in engineering colleges. 28 February 2022. Hans India. 24 June 2019.
17. News: PTI . 'Make education affordable to all': Hundreds protest in Delhi against fee hike . 28 February 2022 . The Times of India . 23 November 2019 . en.
18. News: Punjabi University students raise voice against 10% semester fee hike . 28 February 2022 . Tribune . 10 July 2021 . en.
19. News: Baruah . Sukrita . Youth bodies, student unions join forces to oppose CAA in Delhi . 28 February 2022 . The Indian Express . 25 December 2019 . en.
20. News: AISF holds protest march against CAA, NRC, NPR . 28 February 2022 . The Times of India . 23 January 2020 . en.
21. News: Anti-CAA protest: AISF members stop train at Rajendra Nagar railway station in Patna . 28 February 2022 . ANI News . 19 December 2019 . en.
22. News: AISF meet against CAA-NPR in Hyderabad . 28 February 2022 . The Siasat Daily . 4 March 2020.
23. News: Excelsior . Daily . Distribution of ration, essential items continues . 28 February 2022 . Daily Excelsior . 17 April 2020.
24. News: Student wings of political parties join efforts to help the Covid-hit . 28 February 2022 . Hindustan Times . 20 April 2021 . en.
25. News: एआईएसएफ ने विद्यार्थियों के बीच मास्क बांटा . 28 February 2022 . Hindustan . 8 April 2021 . hindi.
26. News: जवानों व आमजनों को AIYF/AISF ने किया मास्क वितरण, सोशल डिस्टेंसिंग अपनाने की अपील . 28 February 2022 . Khabar Bastar . 30 March 2020.
27. News: ANI . Andhra Student Unions To Hold Hunger Strike Demanding Fresh Job Calendar . 28 February 2022 . NDTV . 28 July 2021.
28. News: Bandari . Pavan Kumar . Tension erupts in Anantapur as students protest against merger of aided college in govt. . 28 February 2022 . Hans India . 8 November 2021 . en.
29. News: PTI . Railways reaches out to 2 lakh aspirants over RRB exam protests . 28 February 2022 . The Hindu . 4 February 2022 . en-IN.
30. News: Bihar Bandh: Protests Over Incorrect Railway Exam Results . 28 February 2022 . Outlook . 28 January 2022 . en.
31. News: RRB-NTPC Protest: पटना में AISF छात्रों ने मैकडोनाल्ड में की तोड़फोड़, दरभंगा में RJD कार्यकर्ताओं ने रोकी रेल, JAP कार्यकर्ताओं की पुलिस से झड़प . 28 February 2022 . TV9 . 28 January 2022 . hi.
32. News: AISF to hold 'Reject NEP 2020' convention on May 15 . 15 May 2022 . The Hindu . 11 May 2022.
33. News: Education Ministers from three States slam NEP . 15 May 2022 . The Hindu . 15 May 2022.
34. News: Chatterjee . Akash . Assembly 2021: Can the Left become the proverbial dark horse in West Bengal? . 28 February 2022 . The International Magz.
35. News: Meet Nathira, the first trans person to stand for student elections at Kerala Uni . 28 February 2022 . The News Minute . 9 October 2018 . en.
36. News: Nair . Jaikrishnan . Kerala's CMS College opens its gate for transgender students . 28 February 2022 . The Times of India . 9 June 2019 . en.
37. News: Transwoman student to lead AISF candidates' panel in Kerala . 4 March 2022 . The Times of India . 25 February 2022 . en.
38. News: Praveen . M. P. . Transwoman leads panel in Sanskrit varsity union polls . 4 March 2022 . The Hindu . 25 February 2022 . en-IN.
39. News: Nadira to create history; transwoman named chairperson candidate in Kalady University . 4 March 2022 . Keralakaumudi Daily . February 2022 . en.
40. Web site: AISF - Official. www.aisf.org.in. 1 December 2020.
41. Web site: AISF Poised to Face New Challenges. 4 January 2020.
42. News: All India Students Federation national convention on Sept 27. 24 September 2018. Hans India. 4 January 2020.
43. Web site: 29th National Conference of All India Students Federation. 6 November 2018. ਭਵਿੱਖ - ਵਿਦਿਆਰਥੀਆਂ ਅਤੇ ਨੌਜੁਆਨਾਂ ਦਾ ਬੁਲਾਰਾ. 14 July 2019.
44. News: വിരാജ് ദേവാംഗ് എഐഎസ്എഫ് പ്രസിഡന്റ് . Janayugom Online . ml . 30 June 2024 . 1 July 2024.