GUWAHATI, March 12 (MExN): Continuing its protest, students of the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) Guwahati on Monday started an indefinite hunger strike. The students of TISS are protesting the institute’s decision to withdraw the fee waiver given to SC, ST and OBC students, eligible for last year’s Government of India Post Matric Scholarship (GoI-PMS). Students have not attended classes since February 21 and the protest has been going on at all campuses of TISS – Mumbai, Hyderabad, Tuljapur and Guwahati. A press release from the GOI-PMS Students Association of TISS stated that its aim in holding the protest was to ensure that no aspiring students abandon their opportunity to study in a good educational institution because of their poor economic background. The association contended that the institution’s move to withdraw the fee waiver contradicts the vision that the institute claims to endorse towards “Social Justice” and “Re-imagining future”. “The vision for setting up TISS Guwahati campus was to create human resource and knowledge contributing to build just and peaceful societies across the Northeastern states,” the association added. Pointing out that the majority of students enrolled from the region belong to poor economic background, the association maintained, “Without the fee waiver, the chance for these aspiring students to get admitted into the institute would become a distant dream.” “We believe that this will further widen the gap of social disparities.”
