KOZHIKODE: Almost four years ago, the then vice-chancellor of Calicut University, Dr M. Abdul Salam issued an order making it mandatory for research scholars to ‘punch’ on the campus. The researchers under the banner All Kerala Research Scholars Association (AKRSA) started a protest against the move which later spread as a movement in which teachers, staff and public also took part. The period witnessed many unique modes of protest including White Rose revolution, 24-hour research protest, hungry research protest, begging protest, etc.
In March, 2017 the university officially issued an order withdrawing the rule after a Syndicate committee recommendation. Research scholars are celebrating the successful culmination of the four-year protest on March 22 with a series of cultural programmes, debates and talks in campus. “Research is not an office job and it cannot be put into a fixed time frame. We tried to explain this to the authorities concerned in many ways. The unique protests helped us to get more attention and more participation from inside and outside the campus,” said one of the protest leaders Vivek P.
It was during the Syndicate meeting on February 29, 2013, implementation of mandatory punching system for researchers was decided. On March 13, the University issued order stating the fellowship amount will be withheld for those who refused to punch from October 2013. In March 2014, the scholars started indefinite research protest and refused to get out of the University Library.
Later, another protest named as White Rose -2 (named after the non-violent, intellectual resistance against Hitler) was also held. During the protest days, many eminent personalities from different walks of life addressed the protests including present Speaker P. Sreeramakrishnan, KEN Kunjahammed, former Vice Chancellor Prof. K.K.N Kurup etc. During the commemoration on Wednesday, students who participated in the protest and staff who had supported it were invited.
