TISS urges protesting students to end strike

GUWAHATI: The Guwahati campus of the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) has expressed regret and dismay over the decision of a section of its students who are on hunger strike since Monday. The TISS administration urged protesting students to withdraw their fast immediately so that talks can be facilitated on the continuation of the post-matric scholarship scheme, which caters to the needs of students from the disadvantaged category who are going to join the institute in future.
On February 21, students across all four campuses of TISS - in Mumbai, Tuljapur, Hyderabad and Guwahati - went on strike in protest against the institute's decision to seek hostel and dining hall payments from students who receive post-matric scholarship.

Deputy director (acting) of TISS Guwahati campus, Kalpana Sarathy, said, "The specific demands of current students regarding exemption from hostel fees and dining hall dues were acceded to but the agitation by the students has to be withdrawn immediately to allow discussions on all issues." The TISS has issued a notification as per the directives of the ministry of human resources and development (MHRD) and constituted a committee with reference to the ongoing student protest. The committee has to submit its report by March 31.

The TISS students' union had called off the strike on March 2 and student councils from other campuses also called off their protests on March 5 after the TISS authority assured to look into their grievances. However, a group of TISS Guwahati students from underprivileged sections are on an indefinite fast from Monday, demanding continuation of the post-matric scholarship scheme, catering to the needs of reserved category students who belong to the SC, ST and OBC categories.

"They demanded an immediate response from TISS on a matter that has serious financial implications and requires many deliberations," said Sarathy.

A communique from TISS Guwahati said until 2014, the fund received by the institute from the respective state governments by way of scholarship amount was far less that the fees to be paid by the students. "Following the government's Direct Benefit Transfer scheme being introduced from 2014-15, the scholarship money is directly remitted to the students' bank accounts, who are then required to transfer the same to the institute. The institute has an accumulated deficit of more than Rs 20 crores," said Sarathy.