Ramadas’s suspension has created an uproar in the student fraternity. He was also formerly the general secretary of the Progressive Students’ Forum (PSF) at TISS Mumbai.

A student Sabrang India spoke to narrated the arrival of the suspension letter. As per the student, the charges against Ramadas are for participation in a protest march at Jantar Mantar. Ramadas was a coordinator and speaker for the march titled Parliament March which was organised by Opposition leaders and the student coalition, United Students of India in January 2024. Additionally, he was also charged for making a Facebook post recommending people to watch Anand Patwardhan’s acclaimed documentary, Ram Ke Naam.

Sabrang India spoke to a student on ground who stated that the order has suspended the student and barred them from entering each of TISS’ campuses, located in Mumbai, Hyderabad, and Tuljapur, for two years.  The university has stated that these actions are not in the interest of the nation or the university. “It seems like TISS does not want to permit students to have personal opinions,” the student told Sabrang India.

The Progressive Students’ Forum, an organisation in TISS, released a statement on the suspension, and marked it as a grave threat against students, “If a student dares to express their opinion publically, they will be hunted down by the administration and labelled ‘anti-national’—especially if the student comes from a marginalised background—so much for an Institute that takes pride in its academic excellence and freedom.”

The statement also accuses the TISS administration of prioritising to take out such actions against anti-government protests, instead of improving the hostel conditions and other infrastructural facilities. It has termed this step as an “an open warning to all students of TISS against organising and calling out the anti-student policies of the administration.”

This is not the first time TISS has been criticised for curbing freedoms. In January 2024, students at TISS, Mumbai were troubled after they witnessed a bar on lectures, seminars, and other activities on campus, after a notice was issued by the institution in January where the TISS administration prohibited students from organising any events until additional guidelines are provided by the institute. According to the Free Press Journal, there were no such guidelines issued by the university even after two months of the order. TISS Mumbai had also barred all protests against the Ram Temple inauguration in Uttar Pradesh in January this year.

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Booked for Sedition at LGBTQ rally, two former TISS students get protection from arrest

Progressive Students’ Forum raises concern over TISS registrar’s ‘communal’ social media posts

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“Only a broken system shuts down instead of engaging in a dialogue. #injusTISS. How can a higher education institute shut down indefinitely in between an academic year, risking the future of entire student body?”

Twitter users on Tuesday questioned a sine die order by Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), Hyderabad administration to quell protests going onwithin the institute for eight days now.

Students of the premier institute for social sciences have been on strike since Monday July 8 demanding a revision in the hostel fees. The student bodies feel that the increase in fees will detrimentally affect Dalit and Adivasi students from seeking admission.The main demand of the students protest has been for the institute to lower the feestructure.

After the institute’s operations were moved to a different campus, reports indicate that a ‘new private service provider’ asked students for six months accommodation fee to be paid in advance. This means that for students, beneficiaries of the government of India post-metric scholarship (GoI-PMS) a payment of Rs. 54,650 at one go, which students protested is far too high.
The protest has been marked by a shocking show of arrogance by the academic authorities: s Dalit and Adivasi women were allegedly being asked to wait on the streets at 11 pm in the night because of their inability to pay the fees. Many students have had to vacate their hostels in the middle of the academic session again on grounds of being unable to pay up!

It was when the meetings with administration didn’t bear any fruitthat eight students went on a hunger strike on July 11 and more pledged to join if demands were not met. However, there has been not much response from the administration, apart from calling the protests ‘illegal’ and ‘unlawful’. More seriously, two students on hunger strike fell gravely ill and one had to be admitted to the hospital. So far, the administration, instead of initiating dialogues with the students, announced a ‘sine-die’ closure of the campus from July 15, Monday till the protests stopped.

The Student Action Committee member said, “Even though voices of dissent have been miffed by putting an undemocratic order of closure of academic activities, the protests will continue.”

On Tuesday, students and supporters took to twitter to express their grievances:

Expressing solidarity with the protesting students the student body based in JNU, Birsa Ambedkar Phule Students Association (BAPSA) noted, “There is a palpable fear that many existing students might be forced to drop out of the course owing to high fees. This is a serious attempt to push students coming from a certain background outside of university spaces.”

Senior activists including Medha Patkar, Aruna Roy and Binayak Sen  have also written  to the administrative heads of both TISS Mumbai and Hyderabad asking the admin to “take necessary steps to ensure that Dalits, Adivasi and other students from marginalized backgrounds have access to hostel and other amenities.”Referring to recurring protests in various TISS campuses, including the one in Mumbai in February 2018 and Guwahati in March this year, the activists say, “It is a very unfortunate state of affairs that students have to repeatedly keep protesting for their legitimate demands…”

A petition condemning the sine die closure has been circulated by the well-wishers of the students. The petition notes, “These are the third round of protests on the question of access and availability of hostel facilities for Dalit and tribal students. It is worrying that instead of engaging with the burning question of diversity and inclusivity in academic spaces, the TISS administration has chosen to shut down the institute. This is despite the fact that the protests were democratic and peaceful in nature.”

The students have demanded that TISS should revoke the sine die order immediately, and take all steps necessary to ensure that students from marginalised communities can avail of hostels and other amenities.  

Statement can be signed here:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScXWQrx2c54tZaLqoxw9ujUPycv-AA1iWxIoaaF_kCjSAJyMA/viewform?usp=sf_link
 
 

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The notice said, “Acknowledging the reputation of the Institute, you had applied for the course to pursue higher studies and were admitted after following the due process of administration.” It went on to say that how, before taking admissions, students had access to its “handbook” and the Institute admitted the students after they were found to “comply with the requisite formalities.” The notice said “in spite of the assurances by the institute”, the students started TISS Bandh agitation “demanding waiver in the payment of Dining Hall charges and Hostel fees which are payable on actual basis.” The notice further accused students of indulging in “unlawful activities” alleging that the students obstructed the ‘peaceful movement’ of people and materials within the campus.

In another ridiculous allegations, TISS also accused students of “organising/participating special lectures/ talks/ cultural events at the Main gate which created obstruction…”, “obstructing the normal and peaceful movements inside campus by placing banners and posters on main roads”, obstructing the administration block etc.

Students of TISS have continued their protest for almost three months. In the course of the struggle, several other issues of mismanagement of funds, GoI-PMS scholarships etc. were highlighted by the students. Despite appeals from various democratic and progressive sections, the TISS administration refused to engage in a mature dialogue with the students. The institute has, since, indulged in various diversionary tactics so that the students end their protests. However, realising that the steps suggested by the administration can have grievous consequences for not just the current batches, but also upcoming batches making the university space more exclusionary, the students have continued their peaceful protests, urging authorities to come to the table for talks.
The students are yet to hear from the Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Caste commissions.

The students allege that in this background, the notice is nothing but, “an act of intimidation and aggression against the petitioners who have appealed to the commissions to get justice” The students say that the ‘independent’ committee constituted by the institute is “yet to interact properly” with the students.

The students believe that the said notice goes against the actions of the institute itself since it had constituted the independent committee to investigate the issue. They say that it also goes against the ruling of the Bombay City Civil Court, where the hearing is due on June 19. In its first hearing on March 28, the court had upheld students’ rights to peacefully protest for their demands. It had also advised the institute to resolve matters internally. It had suggested that students were not any long time-activists or outsiders as the institute was trying to portray.

In the statement that they released they pointed out that the administration has also back-tracked from the “Plan of Action” that it offered on March 10. They said that through a notification issued on May 6, the institute backtracked on the promises of revised fees.
The students say that rather than opening dialogue with them or coming up with a sustainable solution, the institute has resorted to intimidating tactics in order to quell their protest. The students from most marginalized sections, SCs, STs, OBCs, NT-DNTs and women are likely to get impacted by this move of the institute.

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Students said, “This is perceived as an act of extreme moral deficit of the TISS administration. Instead of a direct and constructive engagement with the students for addressing their legitimate demands they have resorted to false narratives and intimidation tactics through the interference of police force.”
 
On March 23, 2018 the students started a protest rally at 2 pm. The students undertook the rally to highlight that even after 31 days of protests, there was no concrete dialogues undertaken with the students regarding the demand charter. The students demanded the resignation of the Registrar, the Dean SPO, the Dean Students Affairs and the Section Officer after it became clear that they hid important information from students regarding the OBC NC GOI PMS Maharashtra scholarship. Students reached registrar’s office and waited to meet him. But, even after six hours there was no word from him. At around 9.30 pm, Dr. Parashuraman, TISS ex-director who doesn’t hold any office position anymore, came to dissuade students from protesting and even managed to humiliate the students present there.
 
Meanwhile, some faculty members entered the registrar’s office from the back door and took away some files. Students were later accused of stealing these. Following this, students demanded an immediate meeting with acting director Shalini Bharat and other faculties Prof. Vijat Raghavan, Prof. Shahajahan and the registrar CP Mohan Kumar. Students started blocking the registrar’s office on Saturday, March 24, as even after over a month of continuous protests, the administration was not willing to address the students’ legitimate demands.

 
Students at TISS campuses across Mumbai, Guwahati, Hyderabad and Tulajpur began their strike on February 21, 2018 protesting a roll back of fee exemptions for GOI-PMS scholars. The scholarships were originally designed for students from disadvantaged backgrounds to encourage them to enter academia.
 
In the ensuing days protests have seen lots of twists and turns and upheavals. Right from ex-director Prof. Parashuraman telling students that the institute was doing students a favour by facilitating fee exemptions, to a section of students’ union betraying the protest of students to UGC officials visiting the campus. After the UGC officials visited the campus, an arrear of 11 crores was released to the institute but this will not go towards the fees exemption. Since then students have expanded their demands and asked the institute to make their accounts and deficits transparent. Students are strongly against attempts to privatise the institute.
 
And on Monday March 26 today the administration has shut down the secretariat, hostel offices and blocked wi-fi in a bid to retaliate against the students for blockading the admin bloc. Students express that the administration might also try other harsher moves like shutting down the water and food supply in order to cut down the protests.

However, they have noted, “The students however have gained a higher resolve to continue the peaceful blockade of the admin block until the authorities agrees to an honest and sincere meeting with the student body.”
 
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— TISS cutback of scholarship funds for SC-ST-OBC students aimed at reducing their presence in higher education
— Education a constitutional right, says Adv Prakash Ambedkar; calls for rally to Vidhan Sabha in support of TISS Students

The post Shame! After HCU and JNU Police enter TISS campus appeared first on SabrangIndia.

The BHARIP president addressed the protesting students of TISS along with Rekha Thakur, General Secretary Of BHARIP and said that education is a constitutional right to be guaranteed by the state. But the current and previous governments are acting like it is a family responsibility. Further, he said the fight for educational rights have been going on for long and it is appreciable that TISS students have been fighting not only for their rights but for the future generations also. The issue of scholarship, said Adv. Ambedkar, is such that in colleges in small towns, students have not been paid scholarship and had to discontinue their education. He also added that the fight is against the management and also against the state.

In a Government resolution released 10 days ago, the Maharashtra government said that the state will only fund 30% of OBC scholarship. It was declared that BHARIP will submit petitions to the District Social Justice department regarding the issue and will see that the issue of scholarship is raised in the current session of Vidhan Sabha. Rekha Thakur, General Secretary of BHARIP also spoke in support of the students strike.The students also handed over a memorandum to Adv.Prakash Ambedkar regarding their demands.

Fahad Ahmed, the General Secretary of TISS Students Union said that the students are trying to have a dialogue with the administration, but if the demands are not met then they might be forced to go on a hunger strike to claim their rights. The current fight is for guaranteeing the rights of affirmative action initiated by Babasaheb Ambedkar, he added.

According to a recent update, TISS administration has appointed a Empowerment Committee to address the issue of the students. The committee consists of various senior faculty members as well as SPO Dean Vijay Raghavan. This committee was appointed after repeatedly failed negotiations with the the Acting Director Shalini Bharat. After the formation of this committee, the students have consistently raised questions regarding the “power” that this committee holds. The students have stated that they do not wish to dialogue with the Empowerment Committee and would like to dialogue with the governing body of TISS to address the issue.

So far the demands which have been met are partial in nature, and their is no mechanism the institute has worked on for the upcoming batches. None of the issues put forth by the OBC GoI PMS scholars and upcoming batches have been concretely addressed till date.

Courtesy: Two Circles
 

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SC/ST and OBC students receive aid under the Government of India’s Post-Matric Scholarship Scheme. Without the aid from the institution they would be required to pay in full the fees and mess charges, both of which have also been steeply increased recently. Reimbursement would be made only if and when the central government releases funds to the institution.

Financial aid has been stopped for OBC students since 2015, leading to an approximately 9% drop in admissions from this category.

The behavior of the authorities is completely arbitrary and untenable. The 2016-18 class found aid abruptly withdrawn in 2017. The 2017-19 class found aid withdrawn at the time of admissions. The students union demanded that the illegal decision be immediately revoked. Further they demanded that TISS continue to make timely provision for aid as otherwise SC/ST and OBC students would be unable to bear the financial burden of paying full fees.

TISS authorities initially ignored the demand but four days into the boycott action students were even denied the breakfast which had been prepared for them.

The vindictive reaction of the authorities to protests against the decision to deny financial aid to students who have a constitutional right towards affirmative action is an alarming indication of the speed with which the current central and state governments are privatizing higher education. It is most unfortunate that authorities and administrators at educational institutions are not resisting such actions but falling into line with them at the expense of corrective measures to promote social justice.

Higher education has been chronically starved of funds and pushed towards marketization over the past 25 years under pressure from the World Bank and then by the central government’s refusal to pull-out of the ill-conceived commitment made in 2005 to offer Higher Education as a ‘tradeable service’  for regulation by the World Trade Organization- General Agreement on Trade in Services (WTO-GATS). However, since 2014 decisions taken by the central and state governments are,
 

• Slashing educational budgets, introducing a 30%-70% division of market contribution and government grants for higher education, and aggressively forcing institutions of higher education to resort to fee hikes, to replace scholarships/ grants with loans, and resort to privatization, commercialization and marketization of the entire higher education sector;
• Denying the majority of young people in the relevant age group (i.e. 18 – 24 years) from gaining access to higher education. The report of the National Sample Survey (NSS) 2014, shows as many as 44.81 million Indian students are too poor to pursue higher education. The private expenditure per student on education for general courses has increased by 175.8%, and that for technical/professional and vocational courses has almost doubled from the 2007-08 NSS report to the 2014 NSS report;
• Targeting, with clear Manuvadi intention, SC/ST and OBC students whose access to higher education is already less than 10% as more than 90% cannot complete Class XII due to privatization policies that have led to dismantling of the state-funded school system.

The special rapporteur of the United Nation’s Human Rights Council on the right to education had clearly stated in a June 2015 report that “privatization negatively affects the right to education both as an entitlement and as empowerment” and “breeds exclusion and marginalization, with crippling effects on the fundamental principle of equality of opportunity in education.”

The latest decision of the central government accepting the UGC’s new formula for implementing SC/ST and OBC reservations in teaching posts, by calculating on a department-wise basis instead of on total posts in the university/ college, makes it clear that the TISS withholding of scholarship funds for SC/ST and OBC students is part of a strategy to significantly reduce the presence of these sections in higher education.

With SC faculty at a mere 7.22% and ST at only 2.2% of total faculty in India’s 716 universities and 38,056 colleges, it was expected that appointments to the currently 35% vacant faculty positions would play a major role in correcting this negative trend.

However, the new formula will significantly reduce representation of SC/ST and OBC faculty in all future recruitment drives. (Indian Express, 2 March 2018) AIFRTE strongly condemns these negative policy decisions which deny the SC/ST and OBC citizens their right to equality and social justice.

The government’s present strategy violates the Constitutional commitment to affirmative action and social justice. AIFRTE is forced to reach the unavoidable conclusion that this is calculated policy and is aimed at undoing even the limited attempts made earlier to prevent higher educational institutions from shutting their doors to those discriminated against on the basis of caste, creed, gender, tribal, and disability conditions.

AIFRTE therefore demands,
 

• That financial aid be immediately secured and provided to all SC/ST and OBC students at TISS;
• That scholarships be provided (without introducing discriminatory eligibility conditions such as NET) and enhanced for all students who are unable to afford the fees;
• That fees be strictly regulated in all higher educational institutions by including students union and faculty association representatives in all appropriate bodies so that no arbitrary decisions are implemented;
• That the Central Government immediately rejects the UGC’s `new’ formula. SC/ST and OBC reservation in faculty should continue to be calculated on the basis of the university/college taken as a whole.

—
*AIFRTE spokesperson
 

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By Daisy Katta, TwoCircles.net

Amidst rumours that the ‘Chalo TISS’ call was not given by the Students Union, Fahad Ahmad, General Secretary-TISS Students Union-clarified, “The Students Union is just an Executive Body and the final decision-making ability lies only with the General Body. Some members of the Students’ Union have gone against the constitution of TISS SU and violated it by not considering the General Body decision before giving out a false statement to the administration and the media about calling off the strike. As the General Secretary of the Student Union at TISS, I would like to clarify that the strike will go on unless all our demands are addressed by the TISS administration. According to the Article 1 of the TISS constitution its states, every final decision concerning the students lies with the General Body.”

Even as the TISS strike entered Day 13, the TISS administration has not come out with any concrete and sustainable solution to resolve the GOI PMS issue, despite the students time and again brought in to the administration notice the high number of dropouts which the institute has witnessed since 2015, when the fee waiver was rolled back.

Meanwhile, the student protests are still going strong. Different students groups in the institute including the Johar-Adivasi Students Forum, The North East Students Group, OBC students Forum, TISS Queer Collective, and Ambedkarite Students TISS have come up with strong statements in condemnation of the unilateral decision taken by few Union members saying that they will back off from the strike without consulting the General Body. The statements have also retaliated that the strike will continue till all demands, raised for the current and upcoming SC, ST OBC students are met of all the campuses.

The ‘Chalo TISS’ call also saw TISS Alumni coming in solidarity with the protesting students as they collected more than 800 signatures, from Alumni to a strongly worded letter to the administration asking for a continuation of fee waiver. Additionally, students from Mumbai University, IIT Bombay and IIPS have also lent their support.

Courtesy: Two Circles
 

The post ‘Chalo TISS’ earns solidarity from across India over scholarship protests; strike enters day 14 appeared first on SabrangIndia.

 
Responding to a call given by its students’ union, over 500 students blocked the main gate protesting the rollback of financial aid to SC, ST and OBC students (including religious and other minorities). The blockade at the main gate continued on Thursday, as the administration had on Wednesday asked for a 24-hour time period in order to respond to students’ demands. The students feel that this could be the tactic of the administration to delay any commitments on their part and take the steam off the struggle which is currently seething with the outrage of the students on an extremely anti-students move.

 
Archana Soreng, TISS students’ union president elaborated on the need for the protest saying, “The first method we adopted was that of negotiations with the administration and we have been in a constant state of dialogue for past one month. But now we are at the end of the semester and suddenly we are intimated that the financial aid will be stopped for the students. We are left with no option but to protest this move.” As per a press release issued by the Union, students from across Hyderabad, Guwahati and Tuljapur campuses have also joined the protests.

The students who were earlier eligible for the Government of India Post-Matric Scholarship (GoI-PMS) will be most impacted by the decision of the institute to rollback financial aid for students. This exemption was in line with the institute’s policy to facilitate the entry and sustenance of students from marginalized background into spaces of higher education, since it boasts of values of social justice and its expertise in training students for social work and empowerment.

“I took admission in the 2016-2018 batch and before that there was no such notification about a hike. Even the UGC guidelines say that the entire fees structure has to be explained in the prospectus of the institute so that students can apply with the knowledge of the fees structure. Here we are witnessing a situation in which the students came to know only at the final stage of admission process that they will not be able to get the financial aid or otherwise, in the middle of their courses. How is that fair,” questioned Archana who has been at the forefront of the protests since yesterday.
 
Oddly enough, a statement issued by TISS registrar, callously shrugs off all responsibility on TISS’s part as a University, and appears to transfer the blame to the Government of India. It reads:
“The Government of India Post Matric Scholarship is paid by the Social Welfare Department/Tribal Welfare Department of the respective state government on receipt of an application submitted by the student. The institute plays no role in the scholarship disbursement process, except certifying it. These scholarships are transferred directly to the bank accounts of students. The institute has not stopped the facility. TISS is following all the guidelines of the Government of India.”

 
Over the past many years, there has been a slow rollback of all forms of financial aid to students, accompanied by drastic measures such as exponential increase in fees, introduction of surveillance, biometric data collection for attendance and other administrative purposes as well as a host of other unpopular moves.

Highlighting the contradictions in the values and actions of the premier institute, Archana said, “The institute’s moves go against the ethos of social justice. Why can’t the institute come up with a proposal for students from marginalized backgrounds and update it on their website? Currently nothing is mentioned about the institute’s erratic moves on fee structure and hikes as well as rollback of aid.”

Currently, the average fees of TISS amounts to an exorbitant sum of Rs. 70,000-80,000 per semester. While on the one hand the institute cites curtailing in fund allocation a reason for rollback of such aid, it is not hard to notice the expansion it is making in its logistics, wherein several new centers have been opened up recently. An estimated number of more than 500 students will be impacted by this specific move. The enrolment of students from OBC category already saw a drop of 9%, as per the claims of students’ union.
 
The atrocious fees amounts charged by TISS are not at par with any of the other Central university fees such as JNU, EFLU, HCU etc. The institute has tried to defend the high fees that it charges by calling itself a Premier Institute. It also compares itself with other elite institutions such as IITs and IIMs, though their exclusivity is well known.
 
“Though the immediate issue for us is fighting the fee rise, this is definitely part of a larger policy measure in which institutions of higher education are rapidly being privatised. If an institute becomes an A grade institute, and has a fees structure of Rs. 9 lakh how can one imagine that students will be able to afford this. Even the faculties are bound to be impacted by this kind of privatisation,” asks Soreng.

In a statement released on February 21, the concerned alumni of TISS alleged, “These actions will result in complete absence of students from oppressed communities to participate in higher education in TISS, as the financial aid and GoI-PMS cannot match the fees. Also, with the introduction of Direct Bank Transfer of scholarship, the institute has washed its hands off any responsibility of providing fee exemption arguing that the scholarship is an individual transaction between the student and the government.”
 
Drawing attention to the anti-students’ nature of the current dispensation, Shefali Saini, a student of MPhil at TISS said, “The government is completely against the students from marginalized sections. It has been anti-students from the time it came into power. The current regime wants the hegemonization of knowledge in only a few hands, namely those from the upper caste, class privileged people and they want to completely disregard the historic struggles of disenfranchised communities to enter the spaces of higher education. In last few years the specific targeting of Muslims, Dalits, Adivasis and others has been evident. Hence I feel that such moves of the government should be resisted across campuses.”
 
Apart from demanding a retract of the notification for present GOI-PMS students to pay for fees (tuition, DH and Hostel), the charter of demands also includes demands for exemptions from DH and Hostel Fees for the students of BA MA integrated programme and a symbolic representation of the Office of Dean SPO from SC ST OBC category. Students have also sought disclosure of quantum of losses by TISS due to payment of scholarships, year-wise details of funding from UGC and other relevant expenditures such as on dining and hostel facilities.

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https://sabrangindia.in/article/universities-ferment-modi-government-slashes-scholarships

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