Bengaluru: Two city-based elite institutes of national fame - Indian Institute of Science (IISc) and National Law School of India University (NLSIU) – were in the news for wrong reasons on Thursday.
At IISc more than 300 students held protest against the management for coming out with a proposal to cancel the subsidized food scheme (canteen facility), while at NLSIU the students were upset over the delay in action by the management against miscreants who allegedly vandalised the notice board, targeting two faculty members.
According to the agitating IISc students at the insistence of the MHRD, the institute management is now planning to cancel subsidized food inside the campus. A protestor told this newspaper that currently students and researchers are being offered subsidised food through canteens and now the institute wants to divert the fund.
“They want to develop the institute at the cost of students/researchers,” a student observed. The protests were withdrawn after the management assured to reconsider the proposal.
Budget crisis: However many students opposed the protest, saying the issue can’t be resolved at the institute level. “This is a non-issue, at least at the student level,” said a student from IISc, strictly on condition of anonymity.
“This has happened because of a major budget crisis at the Central Government, which is affecting us. The institute does have to function with a limited amount of funding.” He added that this is most likely a case of a few students instigating trouble. “These protests should be happening at the government level, not at ours. There is really nothing the Institute can do.”
It may recalled that in July 2013, IISc students had protested against the proposal to increase the mess bill of all the hostels inside the campus and later the proposal was dropped.
Meanwhile at NLSIU for the fourth consecutive day students came out in open against alleged vandalisation of notice boards allotted to two faculties on the campus. According to the sources, on Sunday night few students allegedly vandalized the notice boards and tried to set it on fire. According to the sources who the miscreants even wrote a graffiti on the wall targeting few faculty members.
A NLSIU official on condition of anonymity told this newspaper that the situation in the campus has worsened in last few days. “NLSIU is a prestigious institute and students from across the country are studying here. But unfortunately things are moving in a very bad shape,” he added.
No action: The sources also confirmed that even though such incidents are happening repeatedly, the management has not approached the police yet. “Only internal inquiry has been ordered and even if culprit caught, the institute will not punish them,” the souces added.
