TISS authorities 'targeting' Adivasis, Dalits: Eviction notice to PhD scholars

Counterview Desk 

In a scathing letter to the Director, the Dean of Student Affairs, and  the Associate Dean of Student Affairs of the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), Mumbai, members* of the civil rights group All India Inquilabi Youth and Students Alliance (ALIYSA) have sought immediate withdrawal of the recent eviction notices to PhD scholars to vacate the campus in 24 hours. The letter disputes the claim by the TISS authorities that the scholars have taken beyond 5 years of time in completing their doctoral work. 

"It is common knowledge that between 2019 to 2020, the students were off campus for over two years due to the COVID lockdown. Thus, they have only spent 3.5 years on the campus during their doctoral work", the letter states, regretting, the targeted students are mostly from vulnerable communities -- SC, ST, OBC, De-notified and Nomadic Tribes. 

Text: 

We are writing this letter, as members of ALIYSA (All India Inquilabi Youth and Students Alliance) to express our deep dismay and anguish at the recent eviction notices sent to at least 12 PhD scholars to vacate the TISS Mumbai campus in 24 hours, issued from your office. We demand your immediate intervention, in a fair manner, to withdraw these eviction notices and ensure a dignified stay and completion of studies for these PhD students of TISS.

ALIYSA is an All-India non-partisan alliance of students and youth who have come together through NAPM (National Alliance of People’s Movements) to build solidarity for justice and equity for the youth and students across India. Coming from varying backgrounds of privileges and marginalisations, we stand beside every young person facing discrimination and injustice. 

As a premier social sciences institute, TISS is considered a progressive institution in the country, with a legacy for upholding social justice values, both academically and institutionally. However, in the past decade, multiple such issues have come up where TISS has failed to ensure a just academic environment. Through academic and grassroots work, causes of social justice can be furthered and the values imbibed in our Constitution upheld. Students in university spaces and educational institutes have faced injustice and exclusion multiple times in recent years.   

We are pained to know that the recent eviction notices are an addition in this spree of arbitrary actions where PhD scholars are being unfairly targeted. They have been asked to move out of the campus without appropriate notice or intimation. It was only some time back that the students had requested the administration for an extension to complete their thesis writing till September, to which your administration had agreed. 

In a statement, you have claimed that scholars have taken beyond 5 years of time in completing their doctoral work. However, it is common knowledge that between 2019 to 2020, the students were off campus for over two years due to the COVID lockdown. Thus, they have only spent 3.5 years on the campus during their doctoral work. Further, as an old academic institution, TISS administration must be well-aware of the rigorous demands of a PhD program, that often extend beyond 5 years. Your statement comes across as a blame on students for taking more than 5 years. 

We also want to highlight that most of the scholars who have been served with these notices come from vulnerable communities -- SC, ST, OBC, De-notified and Nomadic Tribes. The costs involved in higher education at TISS are not easily affordable for all the students and hence the issue of pending balances cannot be pinned down on students. TISS states in its vision that it works for a “…just society that promotes and protects dignity, equality, social justice and human rights for all”.  It seems that the recent notices are instead violating these values for the scholars from vulnerable communities.  

Several scholars who are served the notices have been active in critically questioning  actions of the administration

It is a struggle for students to reach university spaces to realise their dreams. When they succeed in that, a treatment of this sort breaks them and their dreams. Without giving prior intimation, serving such notices and only providing 24 hours to vacate the campus is beyond reason and any measure of the principles of natural justice. Educational institutions are meant to undo historical injustice faced by students from marginalized backgrounds and not perpetrate them further through such arbitrary actions. 

Just a month ago, your institute had issued a mass termination notice to over 100 teaching and non-teaching staff across your four campuses which was retracted after the strong public condemnation. The recent notices after such mass termination are not just concerning but deeply disturbing.  They put a question mark on the future of students at this 'premier' institute.

It has also come to our notice that several scholars who are served these notices have been active in critically questioning the actions of the administration in the past. In light of this, the notices to these students look like motivated targeting of the politically conscious and articulate students and this depicts the anti-democratic nature of your administration. 

Your public notice also states that it was merely a ‘request’ after ‘letting the scholars overstay in the campus with free meals, not paying semester fees and not completing their thesis work as well’. However, this claim is unsubstantiated, since several students who have received notices have been paying for availing these facilities. 

You have been unfairly accusing students of 'defaming the reputation of your institute and being politically motivated'. However, it is such arbitrary decisions and acts of repression on the student community that precipitate the situation and contribute to the downfall of the spirit and reputation of TISS.

We, at ALIYSA, strongly condemn the eviction notices and demand their immediate retraction. The students must be allowed a dignified graduation from PhD. 

We look forward to your immediate intervention and fair, necessary action in this regard. Jai Samvidhan!  

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