According to officials the talks will be held today in Mumbai and it is likely that Information and Broadcasting secretary Sunil Arora may participate in the discussions with students.
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The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) has agreed to examine a demand for an enhanced delegation of financial powers and flexibility in purchase of hardware etc to the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) in order to enable the students to do their creative work. We will meet the secretary on October 10. A ministry source told TOI a meeting with Rathore may take place next week. These discussions rallied around the transition of the institute to one of national importance and the need to overhaul the institute’s infrastructure.
Urs said, “We had fairly elaborate discussions with the Secretary of I&B Ministry and briefed them on the issues, including the unfair appointments in the FTII society and its nature of functioning that have led to the current crisis on the campus”.
The students and Raje also reiterated their desire of turning FTII into an institute of national excellence on a par with the reputed institutions across the world.
Films Division director general Mukesh Sharma has been asked to study the demand and give his report within a fortnight. “Our agitation continues”, said Vikas Urs, a representative of the FTII students’ association. The meetings were held at the Films Division in Mumbai. Besides calling for the annulment of the appointment of Mr. Chauhan as chairman and other members of the institute perceived close to the Sangh Parivar, the students demanded a review of the existing system of appointments, based on transparency.
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“When we would have the next round of talks, these demands would be on top of the agenda”, he said. TOI had earlier reported that in the last two meetings held in Mumbai last week, the ministry officials had agreed to revoke the appointments of Anagha Ghaisas, Narendra Pathak and Rahul Solapurkar but refused to revoke Chauhan’s appointment as “they did not have the mandate to do that” along with the nomination of Shailesh Gupta.
