FTII row: Students want govt to settle 'core' issues urgently

As yet another meeting with the government failed to yield any results, agitating students of FTII today said they expected a more "proactive" approach by the Centre to resolve their "core concerns with an urgency".
The students, who have been demanding removal of TV actor Gajendra Chauhan as well as four society members of the prestigious institute, held the fifth round of talks with Union Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore in Delhi for about three hours today to find a resolution to the matter, although the parleys remained inconclusive.
In a statement issued after the talks that ended without any timeline for future dialogue on the issues leading to the 131-day-old strike, the FTII Students' Association (FSA) said it still awaited a "proactive" approach by the Ministry "in terms of resolving our core concerns with an urgency that respects staggering amount of time the students have sacrificed in their academics".

The students of the premiere government institute have been boycotting classes since June 12 questioning the purported "political" appointments on the FTII body and credentials of Chauhan to head the FTII saying he lacked stature and vision for the job.
"The students have great faith in their collective wisdom that has taken them this far... Standing up for their rights as students and as citizens of this great secular nation and strive for development of an inclusive and tolerant nation. In this collective wisdom, we will now decide the future course of action and in what form they can continue to move forward while making discontent at the functioning of the FTII as clear as they always have," the statement added.