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One week on: FTII protests continue in Pune, but hunger strike called off temporarily
Although there has been no official communication from the ministry, students have received verbal assurances from both Singh and Parmar that the demands of the students will be discussed in the emergency governing council (GC) meeting to be held on December 27 in New Delhi
Post a meeting with BP Singh, chairman of the institute and Ashok Parmar, joint secretary, five Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) students who have been on a hunger strike since December 16 temporarily called it off on Monday, although protests and boycotting of classes is still underway.
Although there has been no official communication from the ministry, students have received verbal assurances from both Singh and Parmar that the demands of the students will be discussed in the emergency governing council (GC) meeting to be held on December 27 in New Delhi.
Initially, four students Aadhith V Sathwin, president, FTII student association (FTIISA); Rajarshi Mujumdar, general secretary, FTIISA; PR Manikandan, cultural secretary, FTIISA and Vivek Allaka, member of the FTIISA began the indefinite hunger strike on December 16 protesting the 10 per cent yearly fee hike and exorbitant entrance exam fees while one more student joined the hunger strike on December 19.
“It is only after we went on a hunger strike that we finally got the attention of the authorities, that too after years of attempts to communicate with the authorities regarding the issue,” said Aadhith.
Further, students have received a letter from the registrar, FTII, stating that two students will be allowed to present their case in the upcoming meeting, but won’t be allowed to be part of the discussions.
However, students condemn the representation conceded to the students in the governing council which shows a clear lack of interest in having a meaningful dialogue. “The director has an undemocratic attitude which is evident from the removal of students and head of departments from the academic council and hence, we will continue partial shutdown to criticise the stance of the FTII authorities till our demands are met. The students also claim that they will be forced to resort to more drastic measures if their demands are not met even in the upcoming meeting,” added Aadhith.
