Days after Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) issued a circular stating that their staff and faculty members cannot participate in any protest during duty hours, some students of Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (IIT-B) said they were recently discouraged by members of the students council from distributing pamphlets on the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) and National Register of Citizens (NRC) on campus. However, a spokesperson for IIT-B said they have not been asked by any higher authority to control student protests on campus.
Some students alleged that at IITs across India, the management, through the student councils, was trying to stop activities against CAA and NRC on campus. “We wanted to spread more awareness about CAA and NRC, so we made pamphlets which we wanted to distribute on and off campus. But surprisingly, our own elected student council members didn’t allow us to do so. We’ve been told all IITs have been asked to control and avoid any voices against CAA and NRC,” said a student of the institute, on condition of anonymity.
However, the IIT-B spokesperson, denied the same. “We don’t even know which students are protesting where at any time of the day, because no one has contacted us for permission to stage a protest within campus limits. If there are any problems, they should contact us directly,” said the spokesperson.
Last Thursday, staff members and students of various higher educational institutes from across the city, such as TISS, IIT-B, SNDT Women’s University, HR College, among others, participated in a protest against the implementation of CAA and NRC at August Kranti Maidan, along with thousands of other citizens. On the same day, a circular signed by TISS’s acting registrar MP Balamurugan, was released, stating that as TISS is funded by the government of India, staff and faculty members cannot join any protests against the government during working hours. It said participation of faculty members in protests during working hours was against the conduct rules and absence owing to the same would be treated as unauthorised. Teachers, however, said they had taken half-day leaves to join the protest.
{{/usCountry}}Last Thursday, staff members and students of various higher educational institutes from across the city, such as TISS, IIT-B, SNDT Women’s University, HR College, among others, participated in a protest against the implementation of CAA and NRC at August Kranti Maidan, along with thousands of other citizens. On the same day, a circular signed by TISS’s acting registrar MP Balamurugan, was released, stating that as TISS is funded by the government of India, staff and faculty members cannot join any protests against the government during working hours. It said participation of faculty members in protests during working hours was against the conduct rules and absence owing to the same would be treated as unauthorised. Teachers, however, said they had taken half-day leaves to join the protest.
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