Nearly 30 graduating students of the prestigious Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) protested against Union minister for environment and forests Jairam Ramesh in Mumbai on Wednesday over proposed nuclear power projects and boycotted their annual convocation ceremony where the minister was
the chief guest.
The students - some carrying placards, others sporting yellow-and-black t-shirts with anti-nuke slogans, several more sporting black bands - greeted the minister by raising slogans when he arrived at the TISS Deonar Campus to deliver the convocation address Wednesday afternoon.
"We are protesting against the 9,900-MW Jaitapur Nuclear Power Project in Ratnagiri in Maharashtra and other mega-projects in Orissa and Jharkhand. Thousands of common people are being displaced or uprooted there," said Pranab Doley, an organiser of the protest.
He said that since the student community is feeling strongly about these huge developmental projects, they decided to boycott their own convocation ceremony in which they would have been presented their coveted degree certificates at the hands of the minister.
"It is our own ceremony, organised for us. It is a once-in-a-lifetime occasion, but we decided to forfeit it in the larger interests of the people of the country," Doley told IANS.
Anticipating protests, the police had deployed tight security outside the venue, but the students were allowed to protest peacefully.
When some of them attempted to get too close to the minister, the security personnel stopped them, but the minister waved them away and interacted with the students.
Later, Jairam Ramesh went inside the auditorium for the convocation ceremony even while the graduating batch, which included half a dozen girls, remained outside.
After the function, Doley said the students would submit a memorandum to the minister and also quiz him on the various controversial projects coming up around the country.