About NSUI

With 40 Lakh Members and a presence in 15,000 Colleges across the country, NSUI is the World’s Largest Progressive Student Organisation. We stand for Freedom, Opportunity and, Justice for all. Students are nation builders. NSUI is YOUR platform to set the national agenda.

History of NSUI

Since our inception on 9th April, 1971, NSUI has been the lighting torch of student activism which has been passing from one generation of student activists to another. This torch has remained ignited with the idea of safeguarding the rights of student community alongside instilling a sense of citizenship among students. Student activists have been identified, groomed and moulded into leaders in various fields proficient to represent the Nation.

Pre- Independence Movement

Student movement reached its apex during the struggle for independence due to strong participation of students from all sections of the society. Prior to 1950, the student activism of the Indian National Congress were carried out by the youth wing of the AICC.

The student movement in Kerala and West Bengal gained momentum and resulted in the formation of the West Bengal Chhatra Parishad and the Kerala Students’ Union under the vast Congress canvas. Taking inspiration from these, Smt Indira Gandhi laid the foundation of the NSUI on 9th April 1971 to represent the voice of millions of students irrespective of their caste, creed, religion or region.

In 2007, Shri Rahul Gandhi brought about a revolution by democratizing the organization with open membership process and electing office bearers at all levels. This transformation process allowed many young leaders, without political background, to emerge from the grass root.

Our Mission

The mission of the NSUI is “To empower the student community to create responsible citizens and leaders based on the values of democracy, secularism, liberty, quality & equality”.

Our Values

Our values underlie our work, how we interact with each other and the path we choose to fulfil our mission.Our cardinal values broadly are Secularism, Democracy, Inclusive Development, Social Justice and Nationalism.

Secularism

Secularism and democracy are the twin pillars of our Nation and the very foundation of our society. From time immemorial, vast majority of us strongly believe in secularism, religious tolerance, peace and humanity – Smt Indira Gandhi, 1967.

Secularism is the bedrock of our nationhood, secularism is defined as “Sarva Dharma Samabhava”, which allows every religion to flourish in our country. Every community, every caste, every linguistic group must be allowed freedom to flourish, prosper and develop, yet they must be woven into one, unified India – Rajiv Gandhi in October 1986.

Democracy

I have envisaged, a democracy established through non-violence. There will be equal freedom for all. Everybody will be his own master. It is to join a struggle for such democracy that I invite you today – Mahatma Gandhi.

Today countries where democracy was born are all much wealthier than India, and skeptics might say that it is too soon for India to talk about social democracy. In every country, where social democracy took root, it was built by brick by brick over many generations and was further energized by economic growth. In those countries, social democracy not only proved to be good politics, it also turned out to be good economics. It brought the state, business and labour onto a common platform in pursuit of a shared vision : the vision of a more equal, more caring society – Smt Sonia Gandhi during her address at the 10th Indira Gandhi Conference, 2010

Inclusive Development

We have achieved political freedom, but our revolution is not yet complete and is still in progress. Political freedom without economic progress will not make people happy. Therefore it is critical to raise the living standards of our people and remove all that comes in the way of economic growth of the nation. Fruits of the cultivation should go to the tiller of the soil and the possession of the land should go to the farmer – Jawaharlal Nehru during in his address to the US Congress October 13, 1949.

Development is not about factories, dams and roads. Development is about people. The goal is material, cultural and spiritual fulfillment for the people. The human factor is of supreme value in development – Rajiv Gandhi

Social Justice

To say that a human being, because of his birth, becomes and untouchable, unapproachable or invisible, is to deny God – Mahatma Gandhi

As long as you do not achieve social liberty, whatever freedom is provided by the law is of no avail to you – Babasaheb Dr BR Ambedkar

Is there anything more important than development? Yes there is: Izzat (dignity). There can be no development without dignity. What does government mean? It means ensuring the dignity of every citizen, women, young, old, dalit and adivasi – Rahul Gandhi