The Indian Express (Delhi Edition)
TISS suspends Dalit PHD student for 2 yrs for ‘anti-national activities’
Students’ body says decision due to participation in Delhi march against Centre
THE TATA Institute of Social Science (TISS) has suspended a PHD student for two years for “repetitive misconduct and antinational activities”, with the Progressive Students Forum (PSF) alleging that the decision was linked to the student’s participation in a protest march in Delhi in January against alleged anti-student policies of the central government.
The suspension order, dated April 18, also debars the student, Ramadas Prini Sivanandan, from all campuses of TISS and refers to a show-cause notice sent to him on March 7, questioning his participationin the march along with a list of other activities on mumbai campus of the institute.
The order states that a committee constituted following the notice submitted its recommendations on April 17.
The show-cause notice said accused Ramadas of misusing the institute’s name by participating in the protest under the banner of –Psf-tiss.sincep sf is not a recognised student body of the institute, the notice says, Ramdas using the name created a wrongful impression of the institute funded under the Ministry of Education. The Parliament march in January was organised under the banner of United Students of India, a joint platform of 16 student organisations, against the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020.
Ramadas, a PHD scholar from Dalit community, is a former general secretary of the PSF. He is currently member of central executive committee of Student
Federation of India (SFI), which is the umbrella body of PSF. He is also joint secretary of the SFI Maharashtra State Committee.
The institute, in its March 7 show-cause notice, had also raised objections to social media posts by Ramadas from January, calling upon students to join screening of the documentary “Raam Ke Naam” — a national award-winning documentary by Anand Pat ward han—on january 26, calling it“a mark of dish on our and protest against the Ram Mandir inauguration in ayodh ya ”. t hep sf on Friday said that it has been officially screened in TISS multiple times. “The current TISS administration... wants to censure voices even in the online space ,” it stated.
The show-cause notice listed out other activities such as screening of banned BBC documentary on campus and conducting sit-in outside the TISS director’s bungalow at late night with loud sloganeering.
While Ramadas did not want to comment on the happenings, a student closely associated with him said that he has responded to all notices issued by the institute.
The PSF alleged that actions of the administration highlight the support to the ruling BJP government at the cost of the future of students coming from marginalised backgrounds.
The PSF in a statement said, “Ramadas is also a meritorious student, receiving the National Fellowship for Scheduled Castes by the Ministry of Social Justice, Government of India, for excelling int heug c-net examination. the autocratic actions of the TISS administration are a direct attack on marginalised students who hope to pursue higher education in public-funded institutions.”
Stating that Ramadas is more like a political activist than a student, a senior administrative official from the institute said, “He has been involved in many violations of discipline codes made for students.”